Category Archives: Women Issues

“Waiting for Rain (Again)” – Poem by Jamaican Poet Tanya Shirley

17 Sunday Nov 2024

Posted by in Poetry, Women Issues

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Jamaican Poet Tanya Shirley
Photo Credit: Mel Cooke/Jamaica Gleaner

My Poetry Corner November 2024 features the poem “Waiting for Rain (Again)” from the second poetry collection The Merchant of Feathers by Jamaican poet Tanya Shirley, published by Peepal Tree Press (UK, 2014). The collection was longlisted for the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. (All excerpts quoted are from this collection.)

Born in 1976 in the Caribbean Island nation of Jamaica, Tanya Shirley holds a BA (Honors) in English Literature from the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica. In 2000, she gained an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland, USA. For over fifteen years (2002-2018), she was an adjunct lecturer in English Literature at the University of the West Indies (Mona). She lives in Jamaica.

Who is the merchant of feathers? Why feathers? In the epigraph of her poem “The Merchant of Feathers III,” Shirley quotes Psalm 91, verse 4 (King James Bible) that speaks of God’s protection: He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

But the merchant of feathers in Shirley’s poetry collection is not the Lord. As gleaned from the three poems bearing this title, it is the diversity of women from all walks of life who populate this collection. They are indomitable women who have learned to navigate the complexities of being female and have survived. As a woman, I can relate with their stories.

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The Writer’s Life: Telling Our Stories About Harassment in the Workplace

27 Sunday Oct 2024

Posted by in The Writer's Life, Women Issues, Working Life

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Photo Credit: New York City, Sexual Harassment Prevention

In Chapter Sixteen of my work in Progress, I share my experience of sexual harassment as a public high school teacher by a government official. It was a period of my life that I had buried deep in my subconscious until my best friend insisted that my second novel should be about my life in the convent. Sadly, she passed away before I had completed the final revision of The Twisted Circle: A Novel, dedicated in her memory.

Although I had extensively explored my final year in the convent for the novel, I struggled over several months to complete this chapter. I even considered leaving it out altogether. To share the real-life experience of a dark period comes with its own challenges. To have failed and be rejected had left a deep emotional wound. To expose and uproot the shame requires self-forgiveness.

As I also share in Chapter Sixteen, harassment in the workplace is not limited to the male sexual pervert or predator. We can also suffer harassment from the female boss or colleague who, for a variety of reasons, perceive us as a threat. Sister Albertus, a fictitious name, was my female co-worker and tormentor.

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The Writer’s Life: The Men of God

25 Sunday Aug 2024

Posted by in Religion & Spirituality, The Writer's Life, Women Issues

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Fishermen – Photo by Sirikul R – Pexels

In Chapter Fourteen of my work in progress, I share my encounters with a few priests who did not live up to their role as spiritual leaders of their flock. Due to the sensitive nature of the topic, I’ve adapted a prosaic narrative style. Do let me know if this style works. Inspired by the Biblical quote heading the chapter, I’ve given them the fictitious names of fish.

While not all priests are predators, their fellow priests, bishops, and archbishops are complicit by their silence and cover-ups.

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Thought for Today: Abortion and Euthanasia are not Health Care

11 Sunday Aug 2024

Posted by in Health Issues, United States, Women Issues

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Front Cover: Mandate for Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise by the Heritage Foundation
Photo Credit: The Heritage Foundation

Goal #1: The Secretary [of the Department of Health & Human Services] should pursue a robust agenda to protect the fundamental right to life, protect con­science rights, and uphold bodily integrity rooted in biological realities, not ideology.

From the moment of conception, every human being possesses inherent dignity and worth, and our humanity does not depend on our age, stage of development, race, or abilities. The Secretary must ensure that all HHS programs and activities are rooted in a deep respect for innocent human life from day one until natural death: Abortion and euthanasia are not health care.

A robust respect for the sacred rights of conscience, both at HHS and among gov­ernments and institutions funded by it, increases choices for patients and program beneficiaries and furthers pluralism and tolerance. The Secretary must protect Americans’ civil rights by ensuring that HHS programs and activities follow the letter and spirit of religious freedom and conscience-protection laws….

Excerpt from “Chapter 14: Department of Health and Human Services” by Roger Severino from Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project by The Heritage Foundation, Washington DC, USA, 2023 (p. 450)

Roger Severino is Vice President of Domestic Policy at The Heritage Founda­tion. As director of the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from 2017 to 2021, he led a team of more than 250 staff enforcing civil rights, conscience, and health information privacy laws. Roger sub­sequently founded the HHS Accountability Project at the Ethics & Public Policy Center. He holds a JD from Harvard Law School, an MA in public policy from Carnegie Mellon University, and a BA from the University of Southern California.

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The Writer’s Life: Choosing Childlessness as a Young Nun in a Patriarchal Church

28 Sunday Jul 2024

Posted by in Guyana, Religion & Spirituality, The Writer's Life, Women Issues

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Rosaliene (right) and Celeste (fictitious name) with Bishop Guilly SJ – First Vows and Receipt of Religious Habit – Georgetown – Guyana
Photo taken by Father Bernard Darke SJ for the Catholic Standard Newspapers

In Chapter Thirteen of my work in progress, I share my failure in living the religious vows as a celibate and childless woman in a patriarchal church. In retrospect, I have come to realize that the Guyana Mission, established during the British colonial period and headquartered in the United States, was not prepared for dealing with young women who challenged the lingering colonial mindset within the community.

The 1970s was a decade of great social-political-economic upheavals in our fledgling nation. The 1976 government takeover of all schools owned and run by the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations struck a decisive blow for the religious community accustomed to its autonomy. By abandoning my teaching post in Guyana’s hinterlands, I unwittingly became the first casualty for the religious community, as discussed in more detail in Chapter 16.

While the sisters struggled to adapt to the country’s new ways of thinking and being, three of the youngest professed local nuns, all trained in the United States, left the community. Of the seven of us, trained at the newly established novitiate in Guyana, only three stayed to make final or perpetual vows.

Nowadays, here in the USA, the patriarchal religious right would like to turn back time to the “Golden 1950s.” Make America Great(er) Again, they implore, bowing down before their Anointed One. A faithful disciple, now sharing the pulpit, believes that “childless cat ladies” shouldn’t have the same civic rights as women with children. What an upside-down world for women who are childless by choice or for biological reasons!

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The Writer’s Life: A Purpose-driven Life

02 Sunday Jun 2024

Posted by in The Writer's Life, Women Issues

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During Mass on Entrance Day – Convent Chapel – January 14, 1971

In Chapter Twelve of my work in progress, I share my experience of adjusting to convent life. The captioned photo was taken during Mass on our Entrance Day. That’s me on the left carrying the chalice. Celeste (fictitious name) served within the religious community until her death in November 2021. The laywoman with glasses, seated in the pew on the right, is my invitee and senior high school geography teacher, another influential woman during my adolescent years.

As far as I know [Celeste used to keep me up to date with news], only two nuns who welcomed the two of us into the community that day are still alive today. I honor the memory of the Sisters in Christ who, by their exemplary life, shaped my formation into the purpose-driven woman I still am today.

Instead of featuring the life of a particular nun, I decided to focus on adjusting to convent life (Chapter 12) and on the three religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience (Chapter 13) that define the life of the religious woman.  

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“To Enter My Mother’s House” – Poem by Trinidadian Poet Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné

19 Sunday May 2024

Posted by in Poetry, Women Issues

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Front Cover Painting and Design by Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné
Photo Credit: Peepal Tree Press
Trinidadian Poet and Artist Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné
Photo Credit: Trinidad & Tobago Newsday Newspapers

My Poetry Corner May 2024 features the poem “To Enter My Mother’s House” from the debut poetry collection Doe Songs by poet and artist Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné, published by Peepal Tree Press (UK, 2018). The collection won the 2019 OCM Bocas Prize for Poetry.

Born in 1986 in the twin-island Caribbean nation of Trinidad & Tobago, Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Literatures in English from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus, where she later completed a Creative Writing Course in Poetry, taught by award-winning Trinidadian poet Jennifer Rahim (1963-2023).

Danielle was raised by her two grandmothers: Her maternal grandmother is of East Indian descent; her paternal grandmother is African and Chinese. One of her grandmothers was a secondary school English teacher who introduced her to reading and writing poetry at an early age. But it was not until joining Jennifer Rahim’s creative writing class that Danielle saw the power of poetry and committed to the craft.

“Poetry speaks not only of your brain and soul, but of your belly, your bones,” she said in a 2010 interview with Caribbean Literary Salon. “It is that bare truth and intensity that I love so much about poetry… the physicality of those simple words.”

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The Writer’s Life: Entering a Male-dominated Workforce

28 Sunday Apr 2024

Posted by in The Writer's Life, Women Issues, Working Life

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Barclays Bank DCO – Water Street Head Office – Georgetown – British Guiana – Circa 1950s

In Chapter Eleven of my work in progress, I share my experience of entering a male-dominated workforce at the age of eighteen years. It’s the period October 1969 to December 1970. The term “sexual harassment” was not yet in use to describe male sexual overtones and intimidation in the workplace. According to a Wikipedia article, the term was first used in May 1975.

In November 1969, while I entered a new phase in my life as a young woman, hundreds of thousands of protestors took to the streets across America to call for an end to the Vietnam War. In the United Kingdom, John Lennon of The Beatles rock band returned his MBE medal in protest to the British government’s support of the war. Richard Nixon’s inauguration as President of the United States in January 1970 eventually brought a withdrawal of all US troops in 1973.

On February 23, 1970, Guyana became the first Republic in the Commonwealth Caribbean. The country’s official name is the ‘Cooperative Republic of Guyana.’ Queen Elizabeth II, the Head of the British Commonwealth, entered her eighteenth year on the throne. Later in the year, Sir Edward Heath replaced Harold Wilson as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

On Guyana’s radio waves, Peter, Paul and Mary were “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” Simon & Garfunkel offered us a “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” while The Beatles urged that we “Let It Be.” The Jamaican reggae artist Bob Marley & the Wailers released their first album “Soul Rebels.”  

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The Writer’s Life: Challenge of re-creating an unrecorded life

24 Sunday Mar 2024

Posted by in The Writer's Life, Women Issues

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Kowsilla (1920-1964) – Leonora Village – British Guiana

Since I had already featured Kowsilla of Leonora on International Women’s Day in 2013, I had decided not to share her expanded portrait in Chapter Nine of my work in progress. I changed my mind the day that our former president and current presidential candidate called the black- and brown-skinned migrants/refugees at our southern border “animals.” “[They’re] poisoning the blood of our country,” he said on another occasion. His remarks hurt. It matters not that the blood of these people has fueled and continues to fuel our giant corporations worldwide. Kowsilla (1920-1964) was such a person.

Kowsilla’s abruptly shortened life was so inconsequential to the powerful British sugar producers that her ultimate sacrifice at Plantation Leonora only merited a brief description in our local newspapers. In recalling those early days of growing up in then British Guiana, I regard her as a worthy and memorable representative of the rural working-class women of her generation. With little information about her life, I took on the challenge of re-creating her story.

To tell her story, I turned to Kowsilla’s ancestral history as a descendant of Indian indentured laborers. I found Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture by Gaiutra Bahadur (The University of Chicago Press, 2014) an excellent resource. What strong and courageous women! I also considered the cultural norms of the rural East Indian population during Kowsilla’s early years.

I hope that I have done justice in re-creating her unrecorded life.

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The Writer’s Life: Looking at oneself through the hourglass

03 Sunday Dec 2023

Posted by in Religion & Spirituality, The Writer's Life, Women Issues

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Closest resemblance to my handsome seminarian

In the last three chapters, I’ve shared the stories of three women who played important roles in shaping the person I would become: Mother, Auntie Katie, and Auntie Baby. In Chapter Six of my work in progress, I tell the story about the handsome, young seminarian who entered my life and changed its course: Michael (fictitious name), my first love. At thirteen years old when we first met, I had already developed a close relationship with Jesus, but it was Michael who set me on the path to the religious life.

My deepening relationship with Jesus was a well-guarded secret. To speak of my love for Jesus was out of the question. As I’ve mentioned in an earlier chapter, we were not a family of huggers and kissers. What’s more, those three little words “I love you” were not uttered among us.

For right or wrong, good or evil, truth or deception, I was shaped by the society that sustained me. During those early days of youthful innocence, our country was undergoing political, economic, and social upheavals that would later remold my self-identity.

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