Finding Things
In preparation for moving to Buffalo so that I can begin work on my PhD, I have had the opportunity to go through a number of things that were in storage while I was in Wales.
It has been a bizarre and amazing experience.
Among the things that I have found have been a number of journals. As it turns out, I'm an obsessive journal writer, both online and out in the world. What is interesting about being an obsessive journaler is that you can see the development of an idea.
In 2001 while I was studying abroad, I had the opportunity to audit this class on Women and Gender in Indian Society. I didn't take it for credit, although I should have because I really would have enjoyed the research I would have done for it (things you realize in hindsight.) Part of the coursework involved a trip to visit an women's group in the area surrounding our city. It was a profound experience for me. It occurred to me that while Feminism in America seemed to make the statement, " I can do what you can do." Feminism in India seemed to say something completely different. It seemed to say, "What I am doing here has value." This women's group in the hills had gotten a large number of men in the village to stop drinking and bring home more of their paychecks so that stuff could get done around the house and in the village. They had also put together a small fund that they were using to send children to school. I thought that was amazing. I still do.
