The Herland Voice : v.19: no.10(2001)
- Title
- The Herland Voice : v.19: no.10(2001)
- Description
- The Herland Voice is the monthly publication of Herland Sister Resources, a womanist organization with a strong lesbian focus based in Oklahoma City.
- Date Issued
- 2001-10
- Rights
- All rights reserved by Herland Sister Resources. Contact UCO Archives & Special Collections for the permission policy on the use, reproduction or distribution of these materials.
- Is Part Of
- Herland Voice
- Creator
- Herland Sister Resources
- Date
- 2017-09-02T17:00:52Z
- Date Available
- 2017-09-02T17:00:52Z
- Subject
- Oklahoma
- Type
- application/pdf
- extracted text
-
October, 2001
CELEBRATION OF OKLAHOMA
WEEK 1: GHOSTSAND ECHOES
CITY'S GLBT HISTORY!
Editors note: The following article is an email letter being
circulated on the Internet from Robin Morgan, a noted feminist
author. It offers a perspective on the aftermath ofthe September
11 attacks which is not readily found in the mainstream media.
GayOKC.comandtheSocialJusticeCommitteeofthe
First Unitarian Church invite Oklahoma Cityto celebrate
GayandLesbianHistoryMonthandNationalComingOut
Day with "A CELEBRATION of Oklahoma City' s Gay
andLesbianHistory!"at 7PMonThursday, October 11 at
the First Unitarian Church, 600W. 13th Street, Oklahoma
City.
The main event will be a panel discussion where each
panelist will reflect on his or her experience overthe years
as a gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered Person in
Oklahoma City.
Immediately following the panel discussion, audience
members will be invited to Come Out, in commemoration of
National Coming Out Day!
A reception willfullow, and those who wish to do so are
encouraged to join the panelists in "break-out" groups and
engage in further discussion.
Paula Brown willmoderatethepanel which includes Bill
Rogers, Paul Thompson, Pat Reaves, Keith Smith, Don
Kay, Lee Burris, and Jacqueline Gatewood.
Interpreting forthe deafwill be provided.
ABOUTTHEPANELISTS:
Bill Rogers is currentlythe board chair ofthe Cimarron
Alliance Foundation. Bill served on the Oklahoma City
Human Rights Commission, and was involved in organizing
the very first Gay Pride Parade in Oklahoma City.
Paul Thompson is currently the male co-chairofthe
Oklahoma Gay and LesbianPolitical Caucus and member
ofthe board ofthe Oklahoma City chapter ofthe NAACP.
AlongtirneGLBTRightsactivist,Paulhasbeeninvolvedin
OGLPC since its founding as Oklahomans for Human
Rights.
Pat Reaves is a long-time member of the board of
Herland Sister Resources.
(Continued on page 6)
Dear Friends,
Your response to the email I sent on Day 2 of this
calamity has been overwhelming. In addition to friends and
colleagues, absolute strangers- in Serbia, Korea, Fiji, Zambia.
all across North America- have replied, as have women's
networks in places ranging from Senegal and Japan to Chile,
Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, even Iran You've offered moving emotional support and asked for continued updates. I
can't send regular reports/alerts as I did during the elections
last November or the cabinet confirmation battles last year.
But here' s another try. Share this letter as you wish.
I'll focus on New York- my firsthand experience-but
this doesn't mean any less anguish for the victims of the
Washington or Pennsylvania calamities. Today was Day 8.
Incredibly, a week has passed. Abnormal normalcy has
settled in Our usually contentious mayor (previously bad
news for New Yorkers of color and for artists) has risen to
this moment with efficiency, compassion, real leadership.
(Continued on Page 3)
Diversity Celebration and
Candlelight Vigil, 7 PM Thursday,
,
I October 4 at St. Paul's Cathedral, 127NW
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Herland Sister Resources
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7th, Oklahoma City, OK
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Her/and Supper Club, 5:30 PM,
October 6 Meet at Her/and
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Her/and Board Meeting, 4:30 PM
Sunday, October 21
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/ Her/and is open Saturdays from 1-5PM.
I are located at 2312 NW 39, OKC, OK
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Volume 19Number IO
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www.herlandsisters.org
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2312 N.W. 39, OKC, OK 73112
SAINT SYBIL
Dear Saint Sybil,
I am really fed up to here with taxes. Federal taxes,
state taxes, social security taxes, property taxes, sales taxes
- practically halfmy income goes to some kind oftax, And
I don't see that much ofit isformy benefit ... ok, I'm willing
to pay some for defense, but otherthan that, what do I get?
I think what bugs me more than anything is the amount of
salestaxandpropertytaxlpay,andforwhat? Forschools!
For whom? For other peoples children!
Listen, I made areasoned, well-considered choice, and
I gave up the (I might say selfish, self-centered!) option of
having someone to carry on my genes, and the built-innurse
to look after me in my old age, and all that, and chose notto
havekids. Idon'thavethern,Idon'tmissthern,Idon'twant
them; and I sure as heck resent having to pay for everyone
else's.
Every time I look up, they're raising my taxes "to
improvethe schools." Whyisitmyresponsibility, Sybil, to
constantly be paying for otherpeoples kids?
Angrily,
Miss Ann Thrope
Dear Ann,
EvenifyouwereneveraGirlScout, Iknowyouknow
that one ofyour major responsibilities in your short life on
earth is to leave it better than you found it, How are you
going to do this? Plant a garden, good. Work against
poverty, great. Work for animal welfure, and for conservation, and try to stop the mad obliteration of so many
different lifeforms; wonderful. Campaign against domesti~
violence andotherformsofabuseto women, super. Write
a book exposing the ghastly inhumane meat rendering plants
-I know, Upton Sinclair already did it, but it could be done
again. Go try to stop the dreadful killings ofstreet urchins
in various SouthAmericancities.
Ah, street urchins-that reminds me ofthose brats using
your hard-earned tax money in school, in particular. The
one easiest thing you can do to fulfill your responsibilityto the
world and its future is to take care of and educate your
children - yes, yours. Ann. These children are yours.
True, you are spared the "twenty-four seven "ofraising
them. but they are the future ofthehumanrace, and in many
ways, yourfuture.
From a practical viewpoint, these kids are going to be
the ones whose taxes pay your social security checks. They
are going to be the ones, in thirty years, who will oversee the
Page 2 Her/and Voice October, 2001
nursing home you are living in, and who will give you care
there, and who will run the insurance companies that decide
v,rhetherornot you are worth prescribing good medicine to.
They will be the police officers and firefighters and city
planners who make your life safe and pleasant. They'll b~
legislators passing laws of critical concern to yo~, and
ethicists guiding the world to value, or undervalue, the old,
which you will be bythen: old.
But. besides these self-serving reasons for happily
paying more taxes to help our children, the one overriding
purpose of every species, whether primate, kangaroo,
cottonwood or catfish, is to further that species; and ifyou
don'thaveasenseofallchildrenasbeingyourpurposeand
future and responsibility, not to mention your immortality,
then you need to take a deep breath and get back in touch
with the universe. . . . Galileo was correct, youknow, when
he said some five hundred years ago that the world does not
revolve around us. And really, the more you think about
it, don't you think maybe those people who escape the
diapers and the sleepless nights and the staggering childrearing costs should paymore in taxes for schools? Sounds
fu.irtome ....
Cordially,
Sybil
p.s. Youhaveonemore responsibilityto fulfill, Ann: oversight ofyour school boards and local government officials.
to be sure the money you will now so happily render the~
is used wisely, for the good ofallchildren, not just a favored
fuw.
D
Herland Board of Directors:
Laura Choate
Jacqueline Gatewood
DlH
Ginger McGovern
Pat Reaves
Judy Walden
The Voice is published by: Herland Sister Resources, Inc.
2312 N. W. 39th, Oklahoma City, OK 73112.
The Voce is offered
as an open forum for communly discourse. Articles reflect the
opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Her/and Sister
Resources. Unsoicited articles and letters to the editor are
weeomed and must be signed by the writer wih tun name and
address. Upon request, letters or articles may be printed under
a pseudonym or anonymously.
Subscrptions lo The Voce are
free upon request although a donation is requested to meet
pubication and distribution costs.
www.herlandsisters.org
WEEK
1: GHOSTS AND EcHos
(continued from page 1)
The city is alive and dynamic. Below 14th Street,
traffic is flowing again, mail is being delivered, newspapers are back . But very early this mo ming I walked east,
then south almost to the tip ofManhattan Island. The 16acre site itself is closed off, of course, as is a perimeter
surrounding it controlled by the National Guard, used as
a command post and staging area for rescue workers .
Still, one is able to approach nearer to the area than was
possible last weekend, since the law-court district and
parts o fthe :financial district are now open and (shakily)
working. The closer one gets the more one sees - and
smells - what no TV report, and very few print reports,
have communicated. I find myself giving way to tears
again and again, even as I write this.
Ifthe first sights oflast Tuesday seemed bizarrely like
a George Lucas special-effects movie, now the directorial eye has changed: it's the grim lens ofAgnes Varda,
jux1aposed with images so surreal they could have been
framed by Bunuel or Kurosawa.
This was a bright, cloudless, earlyautumnalday. But as
one drawsnearthe site, the area looms outofadense haze:
one enters an atmosphere ofdust, concrete powder, and
plumes of smoke from fires still raging deep beneath the
rubble (an estimated 2 million cubic yards ofdebris). Along
lower 2nd A venue, I 0 refugeratortractor-trailertrucks are
parked, waiting; ifyou stand there a while, an NYC Medical
Examinervanarrives-witha sagging body bag. Thick white
ash, shards of broken glass, pebbles, and chunks of concrete cover street after street of parked cars for blocks
outside the perimeter. Handprints on car windows and
doors-handprints sliding downward- have been left like
frantic graffiti. Sometimes there are messages finger-written
in the ash: "U RAlive."You can look into closed shops,
many with cracked or broken windows, and peer into
another dimension: a wall-clock stopped at9: I 0, restaurant
tables meticulously set but now covered with two inches of
ash, grocery shelves stacked with
and produce bins
piled high with apples and melons- all now powdered
chalk-white. A moonscape of plenty. People walk unsteadily along these streets, wearing nosemasks against the
still particle-full air, the stench ofburning wire and plastic,
erupted sewage; the smell ofdeath, ofdecomposing flesh.
Probably your TV coverage shows the chain-link fences
aflutterwith yellow ribbons, the makeshift shrines ofcandles,
flowers, scribbled notes of mourning or of praise for the
cans
rescue workers that have sprung up everywhere-especially in front offirehouses, police stations, hospitals. What
TV doesn't show vou is that near Ground Zero the streets
for blocks around are still, a week later, adrift in bits of
paper- singed, torn, sodden pages: stock reports, trading
print-outs, shredsofappointmentcalendars,halfofa 'ToDo" list . What TV doesn't show you are scores of tiny
charred corpses now swept into the gutters. Sparrows.
Finches. They fly higherthan pigeons, so they would have
exploded outward, caught midair in a rush offlame, wings
on fire as they fell. Who could have imagined it: the birds
were burning.
From a distance, you can see the lattices ofone ofthe
Towers, its skeletal bones the sole remains, eerily beautiful
in asymmetry, as if a new work of abstract art had been
erected in a public space. Elsewhere, you see the transformation of institutions: The New School and New York
University are missing persons' centers. A movie house is
nowarestsheher,aBurgerKingafirst-aidcenter,aBrooks
Brothers' clothing store abodypartsmorgue, a record shop
ahaven for lost animals. Libraries are counseling centers.
Ice rinks are morgues. Abankisnowasupplydepot: inthe
firstfourdays,itdistributed 11,000respiratorsand 25,000
pairs of protective gloves and suits . Nearby, a mobile
medical unit housed in a Macdonald ' s has administered
70, 000 tetanus shots. The brain tries to process the numbers: "only" 50,000 tons of debris had been cleared by
yesterday, out ofl .2 million tons. The medical examiner's
office has readied up to 20,000 DNA tests for unidentifiable
cadaver parts. At all times, night and day, a minimum of
I 000 people live and work on the site.
Such numbers daze the mind. It's the details - fragile,
individual - that melt numbness into grief An anklet with
"Joyleen" engraved on it - found on an ankle . Just that:
an ankle. A pair of hands - one brown, one white clasped together. Just that. No wrists. A burly welder
who drove from Ohio to help, saying softly, 'We ' re
working in a cemetery. I'm standing in - not on, in - a
graveyard. "Each lamppost, storefront, scaffolding, mailbox, is plastered with homemade photocopied posters,
a racial/ethnic rainbow of faces and names: death the
great leveler, not only of the financial CE Os - their
images usuallyformal, white, male, older, with suit-andtie - but the mail room workers, receptionists, waiters.
You pass enough ofthe MISSING posters and the faces,
names, descriptions become familiar. The Albanian window-cleaner guy with the bushy eyebrows.
(continued page4)
Her/and Voice October, 2001 Page 3
WEEK
1: GHOSTS AND EcHos
(continued from page 3)
The teenage Mexican dishwasher who had an American
flag tattoo. The janitor's assistant who' d emigrated from
Ethiopia. The Italian-American grandfather who was a
doughnut-cart tender. The 23-year-old Chinese American
junior pastry chefat the Windows on the World restaurant
who' d gone in early that day so she could prep a business
breakfast for 500. The firefighter who ' d posed jauntily
wearing his green shamrock necktie. The dapper AfricanAmerican midlevel manager with a small gold ring in his
ear who handled "minority affairs" for one of the companies. The middle-aged secretary laughing up at the camera
from her wheelchair. The maintenance worker with a
Polish name, holding his newborn baby. Most ofthe faces
are smil~g; most of the shots are family photos; many are
recent wedding pictures ....
I have little national patriotism, butl do have a passion for
New York, partly for our gritty, secular energy ofendurance,
and because the world does come here: 80 countries had
offices in the Twin Towers; 62 countries lost citizens in the
catastrophe; an estimated 300 ofour British cousins died,
either in the planes or the buildings. My personal comfort
is found not in ceremonies or prayer services but in
watching the plain, truly heroic (a word usually misused)
work of ordinary New Yorkers we take for granted every
day, who have risen to this moment unpretentiously, too
busy even to notice they're expressing the splendor ofthe
human spirit: firefighters, medical aides, nurses, ER doctors, police officers, sanitation workers, constructionworkers, ambulance drivers, structural engineers, crane
operators, rescue workers "tunnel rats" ....
Meanwhile, across the US, the rhetoric ofretaliation
is in full-throated roar. Flag sales are up. Gun sales are up.
Some radio stations have banned playing John Lennon's
song, "Imagine." Despite appeals from all officials (even
Bush), mosques are being attacked, firebombed ; Arab
Americans are hiding their children indoors; two murders
in Arizona have already been categorized as hate crimesone victim a Lebanese-American man and one a Sikh man
who died merely for wearing a turban. (Need I say that
there were not nationwide attacks against white Christian
males after Timothy Mc Veigh was apprehended for the
Oklahoma City bombing?)
Last Thursday, right-wing televangelists Jerry Falwell
and Pat Robertson (our home-grown American Taliban
leaders) appeared on Robertson' s TV show "The 700
Club," where Falwell blamed "the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists and the gays and lesbians ... the
Page 4 Her/and Voice October, 200 I
American Civil Liberties Union, People for the American
Way" and groups "who have tried to secularize America"
for what occurred in New York. Robertson replied, "I
totally concur." After even the Bush White House called
the remarks "inappropriate," Falwell apologized (though
he did not take back his sentiments); Robertson hasn 't
even apologized. (The program is carried by the Fox Family
Channel, recentlypurchased by the Walt Disney Companyin case you 'd like to register a protest.)
The sirens have lessened. But the drums have started.
Funeral drums. War drums. A State of Emergency, with
a call-up of 50,000 reservists to active duty. The Justice
Department is seeking increased authority for wider surveillance, broader detention powers, wiretapping of persons (not, as previously,just phone numbers), and stringent press restrictions on military reporting.
And the petitions have begun. For justice but not
vengeance. For a reasoned response but against escalating retaliatory violence. For vigilance about civil liberties.
For the rights ofinnocent Muslim Americans. For "born bing" Afghanistan with food and medical parcels, NOT
firepower. There will be the expectable peace marches,
vigils, rallies . ... One member of the House of Representatives - Barbara Lee, Democrat of California, an African
American woman -lodged the sole vote in both houses of
Congress against giving Bush broadened powers for a war
response, saying she didn't believe a massive military
campaign would stop terrorism. (She could use letters of
support: emailher, ifyou wish, at barbara.lee@mail.house.gov)
Those of us who have access to the media have been
trying to get a different voice out. But ours are complex
messages with long-term solutions-and this is a moment
when people yearn for simplicity and short-term, facile
answers.
Still, I urge all of you to write letters to the editors of
newspapers, call in to talk radio shows, and, for those of
you who have media access - as activists, community
leaders, elected or appointed officials, academic experts ,
whatever -to do as many interviews and TV programs as
you can. Use the tool of the Internet. Talk about the root
causes of terrorism, about the need to diminish this daily
climate of patriarchal violence surrounding us in its statesanctioned normalcy; the need to recognize people' s
despair over ever being heard short of committing such
dramatic, murderous acts; the need to address a desperation that becomes chronic after generations of suffering;
the need to arouse that most subversive of emotions empathy-for "the other"; the need to eliminate hideous
economic and political injustices, to reject all tribal/ethnic
hatreds and fears , to repudiate religious fundamentalisms
of every kind.
Especially talk about the need to understand that we must
expose the mystique of violence, separate it from how we
conceive ofexcitement, eroticism, and "manhood"; the need
to comprehend that violence differs in degree but is related in
kind, that it thrives along a spectrum, as do its effects- from
the battered child and raped woman who live in fear to an
entire populace living infear.
Meanwhile, we cry and cry and cry. I don' t even know
who my tears are for anymore, because I keep seeing
ghosts, I keep hearing echoes.
The world's sympathy moves me deeply. Yet I hear
echoes dying into silence: the world averting its attention
from the screams of Rwanda . . .
Ground Zero is a huge mass grave. And I think:
Bosnia.Uganda.
More than 6300 people are missing and presumed
dead (not even counting the Washington and Pennsylvania deaths). The TV anchors choke up: civilians, they say,
my god, civilians. And I see ghosts. Hiroshima.Nagasaki.
Dresden. Vietnam.
I watch the mask-covered mouths and noses on the
street turn into the faces of Tokyo citizens who wear such
masks every day against toxic pollution. I watch the scared
eyes become the fearful eyes of women forced to wear the
hajib or chodor or burka against their will . ..
I stare at the missing posters' photos and think of the
Mothers of the Disappeared. And I see the ghosts of other
faces. In photographs on the walls ofHolocaustmuseums. In
newspaper clippings from Haiti. In chronicles from Cambodia .. .
I worry for people who' ve lost their homes near the site,
though I see how superbly social-service agencies are trying
to meet their immediate and longer-term needs. But I see
ghosts: the perpetually homeless who sleep on city streets,
whose needs are never addressed .. . .
I watchnormallyunflappable New Yorkers flinch at loud
noises, parents panic when their kids are late from school.
And I see my Israeli feminist friends like Yvonne, who' ve
lived with this dread for decades and still (even yesterday)
stubbornly issue petitions insisting on peace . .. .
I watch sophisticates sob openly in the street, people
who've lost workplaces, who don'tknow where their next
paycheck will come from, who fear a contaminated water or
food supply, who are afraid for their sons in the army, who are
unnerved by security checkpoints, who are in mourning, who
feel wounded, humiliated, outraged. And I see my friends like
Zuhira in the refugee camps of Gaza or West Bank, Palestinian women who have lived in precisely that emotional
condition-for four generations.
Last weekend, many Manhattanites left town to visit
concerned families, try to normalize, getaway for a break. As
they streamed out ofthe city, I saw ghosts ofother travelers :
hundreds ofthousands ofAfghan refugees streaming toward
their country' s borders in what is to them habitual terror,
tryingtoescapeadrought-suckedcountrysowar-devastated
there's nothing left to bomb, a country with 50, 000 disabled
orphans and two million widows whose sole livelihood is
begging; where the life expectancy ofmen is 4 2 and women
40; where women hunch in secretwhispering lessons to girl
children forbidden to go to school, women who risk death by
beheading - for teaching a child to read.
The ghosts stretch out their hands. Now you know, they
weep, gesturing at the carefree, insulated, indifferent, golden
innocence that was my country' s safety, arrogance, and
pride. Why should it take such horror to make you see? the
echoes sigh, Oh please do you finally see?
This is calamity. And opportunity. The United States what so many of you call America - could choose now to
begin to understand the world. And join it. Or not.
For now my window still displays no flag, my lapel sports
no red-white and-blue ribbon. Instead, I weep for a city and
a world. Instead, I cling to a different loyalty, affirming my unflag, my un-anthem, myun-prayer- the defiant un-pledge of
a madwoman who also had mere words as her only tools in
a time of ignorance and carnage, Virginia Woolf: "As a
woman I have no country. As a woman I want no country.
As a woman my country is the whole world."
If this is treason, may I be worthy ofit.
In mourning- and absurd, tenacious hope,
Robin Morgan
September 18, 200 I
l:l
Robin Morgan is anaward-wiTU1ingwriter.feminist leader. political
theorist, journalist, and activist. She has published 17 books, including
six ofpoetry. two offiction, and the now-classic anthologies Sisterhoodls
Power{Ul (Random House/Vintage Books, 1970), and Sisterhood ls
Global (Doubleday/Anchor, 1984; Feminist Press edition 1996), andher
own acclaimed The Demon Lover: On The Sexualitv Of Terrorism
(Norton, 1989). Herlatest books ofpoetry are Upstairs Jn TheGarden
(Norton, 1990)and A Hot January: Poems 1996-1999(Norton, 1999),
and her memoir, Saturdav 's Child was recently published (Norton,
December 2000).
These texts are Copyrighted 2001 by Robin Morgan, all rights
reserved. They may be sharedfreely for NonCommercial purposes ONLY.
but ri1aynot be posted on websites orpublished in print, electronically. or
in wry other mmuzer without the author 's express permission. Jn lieu of
payment, the author would be grateful ifpersons so moved would make
a donation via check to: The Sisterhood Is Global Institute. Atwater
Library, 1200 Avenue Atwater, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3Z JX4
(website:www.sigi.org).
Jn response to numerous requests, the audioofthese texts, readaloud
by the author together with her other Reports from New York's Ground
Zero, is being made available on CD by The Engine Company, nonprofit,
;;olely at cost (US $6. 99 including shipping andhandling). To order. emai I
TheEngineCompany@aol.com
Her/and Voice October, 2001 Page 5
CELEBRATE DIVERSITY
On October 4 at 7 :00 pm a vigil to Celebrate Diversity
andStopthe HatewillbeheldatSt. Paul's Cathedral, 127
NW 7th in Oklahoma City. The vigil is a part ofa national
campaign against hate violence. The celebration at St Pauls
will be followed by a candlelight procession to the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
Speakers forthe event include Representative Kevin
Cox, memberofthe Oklahoma House ofRepresentatives;
Pat Fennell, ofthe Latino Community Development Agency;
Cinda Hughes, Native American talk show host, Reverend
Cathy McCallie, Pastor ofthe Church ofthe Open Arms
and Ms Phonng Ahn Cong-Tran, editor of the Viet Bao
Newspaper. Mary Catherine Reyno Ids, Sister Veronica
and the Villa Teresa Children' s Choir will perform.
Event organizers say the event is designed as a call for
people offuithand conscienseact nonviolently as individuals
for healing in our communities; oppose hate violence directed at anyone; and to raise a united voice forthe loving
spirit ofinclusion and acceptance.
The event is organized by the Oklahoma Council on
Violence Prevention and the Interfaith Alliance of Oklahoma. Co-sponsors include the CimmarronAlliance Group
and Foundation, the Episcopal Diocese ofOklahoma, the
Human Rights Alliance ofCentral Oklahoma, Mayflower
Congregational Church, the Pride Network Inc, Say No to
Hate and the YWCA of Oklahoma City. Herland Sister
Resources is one ofalargenumberofcommunity organizations supporting the celebration.
D
LAURA FRIEND
AGE 11
Page 6 Her/and Voice October, 200 I
NGLTF RESPONDS TO FALWELL
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Lorri L. Jean issued the following statement in
response to Jerry Falwell's assertion that "gays and lesbians," among others, are to blame for the tragedies in New
York City and Washington, D. C.:
'The terrible tragedythat has befullen oumation, and
indeed the entire global community, isthe sad byproduct of
:funaticism. It has its roots in the same funaticism that enables
people like Jerry Falwell to preach hate against those who
do not think, live, or love in the exact same way he does.
'The tragedies that have occurred this week did not
occur because someone made God mad, as Mr. Falwell
asserts. They occurred because ofhate, pure and simple. It
is time to move beyond a place ofhate and to a place of
healing.We hope that Mr. Falwell will apologize to the U.S .
and world communities.
''Ourheartsgoouttothevictimsofthisweek'stragedies
and their friends and fumilymembers. We are thankful to the
police officers, firefighters, paramedics and other em~r
gency personnel who are working tirelesslyto lead the relief
effi>rts."
D
OKC GLBT HISTORY CELEBRATION
(continued from page 1)
Keith Smith is a long-time political activist who currently works as a lobbyist. Keith is one ofthe founders of
Central Oklahoma Stonewall Democrats, and last year was
the first openly-Gay delegate from Oklahoma selected to
attend the Democratic National Convention.
Don Kay is vice president of OFFAIDS and chair of
Friends ofthe Winds.
Lee Burris is well known in our community as a
business owner and female impersonator. He currently
owns Ingrid's Kitchen.
Jacqueline Gatewood is the founder ofthe AfricanAmerican Lesbians Support Group at Herland Sister Resources.
D
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WWW.HERLANDSISTERS.ORG
prisoner of war
by Mary Reynolds
now they lead him down the steps of the courthouse
people calling out his name
theres an open wound running through this city
and they think that hes to blame
a little storm of people wanting answers
hurling accusations at the center
who silent only stares back unbelieving
he is a prisoner of war
black smoke curls gently to the westward
its a beautiful spring day
silence steals the screams of the afflicted
better get out of the way
there s silence at the checkout at the grocery store
as people who 've forgotten what they 're looking for
stand and gaze as one into the dark interior
they 're prisoners of war
they just found out they 're prisoners of war
sometimes this feeling catches up to me
and i want to run and hide
but my feet refuse to move
my arms hang useless at my side
cause somewhere way down deep inside
you know its nothing new
up to now you 've just been lucky
it hasn t come so close to you
i see smoke along the Washita
at the rising of the sun
i see the pride of East Virginia
rushing headlong to the guns
Rachel weeping for her children
Cassandra scans the skies in vain
smoking shores of Hiroshima
a Buchenwald bound train
its the halls of Montezuma
its the King David Hotel
its just another chapter
in a book called war is hell
and now its playing in my living room
at jive and six and ten
a science fiction movie
that doesn t have the sense to end
complete with screaming metal aliens
and gaping maw of death
and its going to be a long time
before i draw an easy breath
i am a prisoner of war
i am a prisoner of war
so once again the strong put on their armor
and walk into the fire
and the rest of us bring treasures up and stories
helpless peering through the wire
into a garden where courage and compassion
go hand in hand with hatred and contempt
the searing faces of a two-edged sword
we 're all prisoners of war
we 're all prisoners of war
copyright 1995 mary reynolds
Her/and Voice October. 2001 Page 7
Herl and Sister Resources
2312 N.W. 39
Oklahoma City, OK 73112
NonProfit Org.
U .S. Postage
PAID
Oklahoma City, OK
Permit No. 861
Address Service Requested
Support our
Supporters
Page 8 Her/and Voice October, 2001
REBECCA R. HOLT, Ph.D.
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
321 -2148
P.O. Box 5119
Norman, Okla. 73070
Individual - Couples
Family Therapy, Retreats
-
October, 2001
CELEBRATION OF OKLAHOMA
WEEK 1: GHOSTSAND ECHOES
CITY'S GLBT HISTORY!
Editors note: The following article is an email letter being
circulated on the Internet from Robin Morgan, a noted feminist
author. It offers a perspective on the aftermath ofthe September
11 attacks which is not readily found in the mainstream media.
GayOKC.comandtheSocialJusticeCommitteeofthe
First Unitarian Church invite Oklahoma Cityto celebrate
GayandLesbianHistoryMonthandNationalComingOut
Day with "A CELEBRATION of Oklahoma City' s Gay
andLesbianHistory!"at 7PMonThursday, October 11 at
the First Unitarian Church, 600W. 13th Street, Oklahoma
City.
The main event will be a panel discussion where each
panelist will reflect on his or her experience overthe years
as a gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered Person in
Oklahoma City.
Immediately following the panel discussion, audience
members will be invited to Come Out, in commemoration of
National Coming Out Day!
A reception willfullow, and those who wish to do so are
encouraged to join the panelists in "break-out" groups and
engage in further discussion.
Paula Brown willmoderatethepanel which includes Bill
Rogers, Paul Thompson, Pat Reaves, Keith Smith, Don
Kay, Lee Burris, and Jacqueline Gatewood.
Interpreting forthe deafwill be provided.
ABOUTTHEPANELISTS:
Bill Rogers is currentlythe board chair ofthe Cimarron
Alliance Foundation. Bill served on the Oklahoma City
Human Rights Commission, and was involved in organizing
the very first Gay Pride Parade in Oklahoma City.
Paul Thompson is currently the male co-chairofthe
Oklahoma Gay and LesbianPolitical Caucus and member
ofthe board ofthe Oklahoma City chapter ofthe NAACP.
AlongtirneGLBTRightsactivist,Paulhasbeeninvolvedin
OGLPC since its founding as Oklahomans for Human
Rights.
Pat Reaves is a long-time member of the board of
Herland Sister Resources.
(Continued on page 6)
Dear Friends,
Your response to the email I sent on Day 2 of this
calamity has been overwhelming. In addition to friends and
colleagues, absolute strangers- in Serbia, Korea, Fiji, Zambia.
all across North America- have replied, as have women's
networks in places ranging from Senegal and Japan to Chile,
Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, even Iran You've offered moving emotional support and asked for continued updates. I
can't send regular reports/alerts as I did during the elections
last November or the cabinet confirmation battles last year.
But here' s another try. Share this letter as you wish.
I'll focus on New York- my firsthand experience-but
this doesn't mean any less anguish for the victims of the
Washington or Pennsylvania calamities. Today was Day 8.
Incredibly, a week has passed. Abnormal normalcy has
settled in Our usually contentious mayor (previously bad
news for New Yorkers of color and for artists) has risen to
this moment with efficiency, compassion, real leadership.
(Continued on Page 3)
Diversity Celebration and
Candlelight Vigil, 7 PM Thursday,
,
I October 4 at St. Paul's Cathedral, 127NW
I
I
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Herland Sister Resources
I
7th, Oklahoma City, OK
r
I
i
Her/and Supper Club, 5:30 PM,
October 6 Meet at Her/and
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Her/and Board Meeting, 4:30 PM
Sunday, October 21
I
/ Her/and is open Saturdays from 1-5PM.
I are located at 2312 NW 39, OKC, OK
I
Volume 19Number IO
)
www.herlandsisters.org
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Wei
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2312 N.W. 39, OKC, OK 73112
SAINT SYBIL
Dear Saint Sybil,
I am really fed up to here with taxes. Federal taxes,
state taxes, social security taxes, property taxes, sales taxes
- practically halfmy income goes to some kind oftax, And
I don't see that much ofit isformy benefit ... ok, I'm willing
to pay some for defense, but otherthan that, what do I get?
I think what bugs me more than anything is the amount of
salestaxandpropertytaxlpay,andforwhat? Forschools!
For whom? For other peoples children!
Listen, I made areasoned, well-considered choice, and
I gave up the (I might say selfish, self-centered!) option of
having someone to carry on my genes, and the built-innurse
to look after me in my old age, and all that, and chose notto
havekids. Idon'thavethern,Idon'tmissthern,Idon'twant
them; and I sure as heck resent having to pay for everyone
else's.
Every time I look up, they're raising my taxes "to
improvethe schools." Whyisitmyresponsibility, Sybil, to
constantly be paying for otherpeoples kids?
Angrily,
Miss Ann Thrope
Dear Ann,
EvenifyouwereneveraGirlScout, Iknowyouknow
that one ofyour major responsibilities in your short life on
earth is to leave it better than you found it, How are you
going to do this? Plant a garden, good. Work against
poverty, great. Work for animal welfure, and for conservation, and try to stop the mad obliteration of so many
different lifeforms; wonderful. Campaign against domesti~
violence andotherformsofabuseto women, super. Write
a book exposing the ghastly inhumane meat rendering plants
-I know, Upton Sinclair already did it, but it could be done
again. Go try to stop the dreadful killings ofstreet urchins
in various SouthAmericancities.
Ah, street urchins-that reminds me ofthose brats using
your hard-earned tax money in school, in particular. The
one easiest thing you can do to fulfill your responsibilityto the
world and its future is to take care of and educate your
children - yes, yours. Ann. These children are yours.
True, you are spared the "twenty-four seven "ofraising
them. but they are the future ofthehumanrace, and in many
ways, yourfuture.
From a practical viewpoint, these kids are going to be
the ones whose taxes pay your social security checks. They
are going to be the ones, in thirty years, who will oversee the
Page 2 Her/and Voice October, 2001
nursing home you are living in, and who will give you care
there, and who will run the insurance companies that decide
v,rhetherornot you are worth prescribing good medicine to.
They will be the police officers and firefighters and city
planners who make your life safe and pleasant. They'll b~
legislators passing laws of critical concern to yo~, and
ethicists guiding the world to value, or undervalue, the old,
which you will be bythen: old.
But. besides these self-serving reasons for happily
paying more taxes to help our children, the one overriding
purpose of every species, whether primate, kangaroo,
cottonwood or catfish, is to further that species; and ifyou
don'thaveasenseofallchildrenasbeingyourpurposeand
future and responsibility, not to mention your immortality,
then you need to take a deep breath and get back in touch
with the universe. . . . Galileo was correct, youknow, when
he said some five hundred years ago that the world does not
revolve around us. And really, the more you think about
it, don't you think maybe those people who escape the
diapers and the sleepless nights and the staggering childrearing costs should paymore in taxes for schools? Sounds
fu.irtome ....
Cordially,
Sybil
p.s. Youhaveonemore responsibilityto fulfill, Ann: oversight ofyour school boards and local government officials.
to be sure the money you will now so happily render the~
is used wisely, for the good ofallchildren, not just a favored
fuw.
D
Herland Board of Directors:
Laura Choate
Jacqueline Gatewood
DlH
Ginger McGovern
Pat Reaves
Judy Walden
The Voice is published by: Herland Sister Resources, Inc.
2312 N. W. 39th, Oklahoma City, OK 73112.
The Voce is offered
as an open forum for communly discourse. Articles reflect the
opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Her/and Sister
Resources. Unsoicited articles and letters to the editor are
weeomed and must be signed by the writer wih tun name and
address. Upon request, letters or articles may be printed under
a pseudonym or anonymously.
Subscrptions lo The Voce are
free upon request although a donation is requested to meet
pubication and distribution costs.
www.herlandsisters.org
WEEK
1: GHOSTS AND EcHos
(continued from page 1)
The city is alive and dynamic. Below 14th Street,
traffic is flowing again, mail is being delivered, newspapers are back . But very early this mo ming I walked east,
then south almost to the tip ofManhattan Island. The 16acre site itself is closed off, of course, as is a perimeter
surrounding it controlled by the National Guard, used as
a command post and staging area for rescue workers .
Still, one is able to approach nearer to the area than was
possible last weekend, since the law-court district and
parts o fthe :financial district are now open and (shakily)
working. The closer one gets the more one sees - and
smells - what no TV report, and very few print reports,
have communicated. I find myself giving way to tears
again and again, even as I write this.
Ifthe first sights oflast Tuesday seemed bizarrely like
a George Lucas special-effects movie, now the directorial eye has changed: it's the grim lens ofAgnes Varda,
jux1aposed with images so surreal they could have been
framed by Bunuel or Kurosawa.
This was a bright, cloudless, earlyautumnalday. But as
one drawsnearthe site, the area looms outofadense haze:
one enters an atmosphere ofdust, concrete powder, and
plumes of smoke from fires still raging deep beneath the
rubble (an estimated 2 million cubic yards ofdebris). Along
lower 2nd A venue, I 0 refugeratortractor-trailertrucks are
parked, waiting; ifyou stand there a while, an NYC Medical
Examinervanarrives-witha sagging body bag. Thick white
ash, shards of broken glass, pebbles, and chunks of concrete cover street after street of parked cars for blocks
outside the perimeter. Handprints on car windows and
doors-handprints sliding downward- have been left like
frantic graffiti. Sometimes there are messages finger-written
in the ash: "U RAlive."You can look into closed shops,
many with cracked or broken windows, and peer into
another dimension: a wall-clock stopped at9: I 0, restaurant
tables meticulously set but now covered with two inches of
ash, grocery shelves stacked with
and produce bins
piled high with apples and melons- all now powdered
chalk-white. A moonscape of plenty. People walk unsteadily along these streets, wearing nosemasks against the
still particle-full air, the stench ofburning wire and plastic,
erupted sewage; the smell ofdeath, ofdecomposing flesh.
Probably your TV coverage shows the chain-link fences
aflutterwith yellow ribbons, the makeshift shrines ofcandles,
flowers, scribbled notes of mourning or of praise for the
cans
rescue workers that have sprung up everywhere-especially in front offirehouses, police stations, hospitals. What
TV doesn't show vou is that near Ground Zero the streets
for blocks around are still, a week later, adrift in bits of
paper- singed, torn, sodden pages: stock reports, trading
print-outs, shredsofappointmentcalendars,halfofa 'ToDo" list . What TV doesn't show you are scores of tiny
charred corpses now swept into the gutters. Sparrows.
Finches. They fly higherthan pigeons, so they would have
exploded outward, caught midair in a rush offlame, wings
on fire as they fell. Who could have imagined it: the birds
were burning.
From a distance, you can see the lattices ofone ofthe
Towers, its skeletal bones the sole remains, eerily beautiful
in asymmetry, as if a new work of abstract art had been
erected in a public space. Elsewhere, you see the transformation of institutions: The New School and New York
University are missing persons' centers. A movie house is
nowarestsheher,aBurgerKingafirst-aidcenter,aBrooks
Brothers' clothing store abodypartsmorgue, a record shop
ahaven for lost animals. Libraries are counseling centers.
Ice rinks are morgues. Abankisnowasupplydepot: inthe
firstfourdays,itdistributed 11,000respiratorsand 25,000
pairs of protective gloves and suits . Nearby, a mobile
medical unit housed in a Macdonald ' s has administered
70, 000 tetanus shots. The brain tries to process the numbers: "only" 50,000 tons of debris had been cleared by
yesterday, out ofl .2 million tons. The medical examiner's
office has readied up to 20,000 DNA tests for unidentifiable
cadaver parts. At all times, night and day, a minimum of
I 000 people live and work on the site.
Such numbers daze the mind. It's the details - fragile,
individual - that melt numbness into grief An anklet with
"Joyleen" engraved on it - found on an ankle . Just that:
an ankle. A pair of hands - one brown, one white clasped together. Just that. No wrists. A burly welder
who drove from Ohio to help, saying softly, 'We ' re
working in a cemetery. I'm standing in - not on, in - a
graveyard. "Each lamppost, storefront, scaffolding, mailbox, is plastered with homemade photocopied posters,
a racial/ethnic rainbow of faces and names: death the
great leveler, not only of the financial CE Os - their
images usuallyformal, white, male, older, with suit-andtie - but the mail room workers, receptionists, waiters.
You pass enough ofthe MISSING posters and the faces,
names, descriptions become familiar. The Albanian window-cleaner guy with the bushy eyebrows.
(continued page4)
Her/and Voice October, 2001 Page 3
WEEK
1: GHOSTS AND EcHos
(continued from page 3)
The teenage Mexican dishwasher who had an American
flag tattoo. The janitor's assistant who' d emigrated from
Ethiopia. The Italian-American grandfather who was a
doughnut-cart tender. The 23-year-old Chinese American
junior pastry chefat the Windows on the World restaurant
who' d gone in early that day so she could prep a business
breakfast for 500. The firefighter who ' d posed jauntily
wearing his green shamrock necktie. The dapper AfricanAmerican midlevel manager with a small gold ring in his
ear who handled "minority affairs" for one of the companies. The middle-aged secretary laughing up at the camera
from her wheelchair. The maintenance worker with a
Polish name, holding his newborn baby. Most ofthe faces
are smil~g; most of the shots are family photos; many are
recent wedding pictures ....
I have little national patriotism, butl do have a passion for
New York, partly for our gritty, secular energy ofendurance,
and because the world does come here: 80 countries had
offices in the Twin Towers; 62 countries lost citizens in the
catastrophe; an estimated 300 ofour British cousins died,
either in the planes or the buildings. My personal comfort
is found not in ceremonies or prayer services but in
watching the plain, truly heroic (a word usually misused)
work of ordinary New Yorkers we take for granted every
day, who have risen to this moment unpretentiously, too
busy even to notice they're expressing the splendor ofthe
human spirit: firefighters, medical aides, nurses, ER doctors, police officers, sanitation workers, constructionworkers, ambulance drivers, structural engineers, crane
operators, rescue workers "tunnel rats" ....
Meanwhile, across the US, the rhetoric ofretaliation
is in full-throated roar. Flag sales are up. Gun sales are up.
Some radio stations have banned playing John Lennon's
song, "Imagine." Despite appeals from all officials (even
Bush), mosques are being attacked, firebombed ; Arab
Americans are hiding their children indoors; two murders
in Arizona have already been categorized as hate crimesone victim a Lebanese-American man and one a Sikh man
who died merely for wearing a turban. (Need I say that
there were not nationwide attacks against white Christian
males after Timothy Mc Veigh was apprehended for the
Oklahoma City bombing?)
Last Thursday, right-wing televangelists Jerry Falwell
and Pat Robertson (our home-grown American Taliban
leaders) appeared on Robertson' s TV show "The 700
Club," where Falwell blamed "the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists and the gays and lesbians ... the
Page 4 Her/and Voice October, 200 I
American Civil Liberties Union, People for the American
Way" and groups "who have tried to secularize America"
for what occurred in New York. Robertson replied, "I
totally concur." After even the Bush White House called
the remarks "inappropriate," Falwell apologized (though
he did not take back his sentiments); Robertson hasn 't
even apologized. (The program is carried by the Fox Family
Channel, recentlypurchased by the Walt Disney Companyin case you 'd like to register a protest.)
The sirens have lessened. But the drums have started.
Funeral drums. War drums. A State of Emergency, with
a call-up of 50,000 reservists to active duty. The Justice
Department is seeking increased authority for wider surveillance, broader detention powers, wiretapping of persons (not, as previously,just phone numbers), and stringent press restrictions on military reporting.
And the petitions have begun. For justice but not
vengeance. For a reasoned response but against escalating retaliatory violence. For vigilance about civil liberties.
For the rights ofinnocent Muslim Americans. For "born bing" Afghanistan with food and medical parcels, NOT
firepower. There will be the expectable peace marches,
vigils, rallies . ... One member of the House of Representatives - Barbara Lee, Democrat of California, an African
American woman -lodged the sole vote in both houses of
Congress against giving Bush broadened powers for a war
response, saying she didn't believe a massive military
campaign would stop terrorism. (She could use letters of
support: emailher, ifyou wish, at barbara.lee@mail.house.gov)
Those of us who have access to the media have been
trying to get a different voice out. But ours are complex
messages with long-term solutions-and this is a moment
when people yearn for simplicity and short-term, facile
answers.
Still, I urge all of you to write letters to the editors of
newspapers, call in to talk radio shows, and, for those of
you who have media access - as activists, community
leaders, elected or appointed officials, academic experts ,
whatever -to do as many interviews and TV programs as
you can. Use the tool of the Internet. Talk about the root
causes of terrorism, about the need to diminish this daily
climate of patriarchal violence surrounding us in its statesanctioned normalcy; the need to recognize people' s
despair over ever being heard short of committing such
dramatic, murderous acts; the need to address a desperation that becomes chronic after generations of suffering;
the need to arouse that most subversive of emotions empathy-for "the other"; the need to eliminate hideous
economic and political injustices, to reject all tribal/ethnic
hatreds and fears , to repudiate religious fundamentalisms
of every kind.
Especially talk about the need to understand that we must
expose the mystique of violence, separate it from how we
conceive ofexcitement, eroticism, and "manhood"; the need
to comprehend that violence differs in degree but is related in
kind, that it thrives along a spectrum, as do its effects- from
the battered child and raped woman who live in fear to an
entire populace living infear.
Meanwhile, we cry and cry and cry. I don' t even know
who my tears are for anymore, because I keep seeing
ghosts, I keep hearing echoes.
The world's sympathy moves me deeply. Yet I hear
echoes dying into silence: the world averting its attention
from the screams of Rwanda . . .
Ground Zero is a huge mass grave. And I think:
Bosnia.Uganda.
More than 6300 people are missing and presumed
dead (not even counting the Washington and Pennsylvania deaths). The TV anchors choke up: civilians, they say,
my god, civilians. And I see ghosts. Hiroshima.Nagasaki.
Dresden. Vietnam.
I watch the mask-covered mouths and noses on the
street turn into the faces of Tokyo citizens who wear such
masks every day against toxic pollution. I watch the scared
eyes become the fearful eyes of women forced to wear the
hajib or chodor or burka against their will . ..
I stare at the missing posters' photos and think of the
Mothers of the Disappeared. And I see the ghosts of other
faces. In photographs on the walls ofHolocaustmuseums. In
newspaper clippings from Haiti. In chronicles from Cambodia .. .
I worry for people who' ve lost their homes near the site,
though I see how superbly social-service agencies are trying
to meet their immediate and longer-term needs. But I see
ghosts: the perpetually homeless who sleep on city streets,
whose needs are never addressed .. . .
I watchnormallyunflappable New Yorkers flinch at loud
noises, parents panic when their kids are late from school.
And I see my Israeli feminist friends like Yvonne, who' ve
lived with this dread for decades and still (even yesterday)
stubbornly issue petitions insisting on peace . .. .
I watch sophisticates sob openly in the street, people
who've lost workplaces, who don'tknow where their next
paycheck will come from, who fear a contaminated water or
food supply, who are afraid for their sons in the army, who are
unnerved by security checkpoints, who are in mourning, who
feel wounded, humiliated, outraged. And I see my friends like
Zuhira in the refugee camps of Gaza or West Bank, Palestinian women who have lived in precisely that emotional
condition-for four generations.
Last weekend, many Manhattanites left town to visit
concerned families, try to normalize, getaway for a break. As
they streamed out ofthe city, I saw ghosts ofother travelers :
hundreds ofthousands ofAfghan refugees streaming toward
their country' s borders in what is to them habitual terror,
tryingtoescapeadrought-suckedcountrysowar-devastated
there's nothing left to bomb, a country with 50, 000 disabled
orphans and two million widows whose sole livelihood is
begging; where the life expectancy ofmen is 4 2 and women
40; where women hunch in secretwhispering lessons to girl
children forbidden to go to school, women who risk death by
beheading - for teaching a child to read.
The ghosts stretch out their hands. Now you know, they
weep, gesturing at the carefree, insulated, indifferent, golden
innocence that was my country' s safety, arrogance, and
pride. Why should it take such horror to make you see? the
echoes sigh, Oh please do you finally see?
This is calamity. And opportunity. The United States what so many of you call America - could choose now to
begin to understand the world. And join it. Or not.
For now my window still displays no flag, my lapel sports
no red-white and-blue ribbon. Instead, I weep for a city and
a world. Instead, I cling to a different loyalty, affirming my unflag, my un-anthem, myun-prayer- the defiant un-pledge of
a madwoman who also had mere words as her only tools in
a time of ignorance and carnage, Virginia Woolf: "As a
woman I have no country. As a woman I want no country.
As a woman my country is the whole world."
If this is treason, may I be worthy ofit.
In mourning- and absurd, tenacious hope,
Robin Morgan
September 18, 200 I
l:l
Robin Morgan is anaward-wiTU1ingwriter.feminist leader. political
theorist, journalist, and activist. She has published 17 books, including
six ofpoetry. two offiction, and the now-classic anthologies Sisterhoodls
Power{Ul (Random House/Vintage Books, 1970), and Sisterhood ls
Global (Doubleday/Anchor, 1984; Feminist Press edition 1996), andher
own acclaimed The Demon Lover: On The Sexualitv Of Terrorism
(Norton, 1989). Herlatest books ofpoetry are Upstairs Jn TheGarden
(Norton, 1990)and A Hot January: Poems 1996-1999(Norton, 1999),
and her memoir, Saturdav 's Child was recently published (Norton,
December 2000).
These texts are Copyrighted 2001 by Robin Morgan, all rights
reserved. They may be sharedfreely for NonCommercial purposes ONLY.
but ri1aynot be posted on websites orpublished in print, electronically. or
in wry other mmuzer without the author 's express permission. Jn lieu of
payment, the author would be grateful ifpersons so moved would make
a donation via check to: The Sisterhood Is Global Institute. Atwater
Library, 1200 Avenue Atwater, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3Z JX4
(website:www.sigi.org).
Jn response to numerous requests, the audioofthese texts, readaloud
by the author together with her other Reports from New York's Ground
Zero, is being made available on CD by The Engine Company, nonprofit,
;;olely at cost (US $6. 99 including shipping andhandling). To order. emai I
TheEngineCompany@aol.com
Her/and Voice October, 2001 Page 5
CELEBRATE DIVERSITY
On October 4 at 7 :00 pm a vigil to Celebrate Diversity
andStopthe HatewillbeheldatSt. Paul's Cathedral, 127
NW 7th in Oklahoma City. The vigil is a part ofa national
campaign against hate violence. The celebration at St Pauls
will be followed by a candlelight procession to the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
Speakers forthe event include Representative Kevin
Cox, memberofthe Oklahoma House ofRepresentatives;
Pat Fennell, ofthe Latino Community Development Agency;
Cinda Hughes, Native American talk show host, Reverend
Cathy McCallie, Pastor ofthe Church ofthe Open Arms
and Ms Phonng Ahn Cong-Tran, editor of the Viet Bao
Newspaper. Mary Catherine Reyno Ids, Sister Veronica
and the Villa Teresa Children' s Choir will perform.
Event organizers say the event is designed as a call for
people offuithand conscienseact nonviolently as individuals
for healing in our communities; oppose hate violence directed at anyone; and to raise a united voice forthe loving
spirit ofinclusion and acceptance.
The event is organized by the Oklahoma Council on
Violence Prevention and the Interfaith Alliance of Oklahoma. Co-sponsors include the CimmarronAlliance Group
and Foundation, the Episcopal Diocese ofOklahoma, the
Human Rights Alliance ofCentral Oklahoma, Mayflower
Congregational Church, the Pride Network Inc, Say No to
Hate and the YWCA of Oklahoma City. Herland Sister
Resources is one ofalargenumberofcommunity organizations supporting the celebration.
D
LAURA FRIEND
AGE 11
Page 6 Her/and Voice October, 200 I
NGLTF RESPONDS TO FALWELL
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Lorri L. Jean issued the following statement in
response to Jerry Falwell's assertion that "gays and lesbians," among others, are to blame for the tragedies in New
York City and Washington, D. C.:
'The terrible tragedythat has befullen oumation, and
indeed the entire global community, isthe sad byproduct of
:funaticism. It has its roots in the same funaticism that enables
people like Jerry Falwell to preach hate against those who
do not think, live, or love in the exact same way he does.
'The tragedies that have occurred this week did not
occur because someone made God mad, as Mr. Falwell
asserts. They occurred because ofhate, pure and simple. It
is time to move beyond a place ofhate and to a place of
healing.We hope that Mr. Falwell will apologize to the U.S .
and world communities.
''Ourheartsgoouttothevictimsofthisweek'stragedies
and their friends and fumilymembers. We are thankful to the
police officers, firefighters, paramedics and other em~r
gency personnel who are working tirelesslyto lead the relief
effi>rts."
D
OKC GLBT HISTORY CELEBRATION
(continued from page 1)
Keith Smith is a long-time political activist who currently works as a lobbyist. Keith is one ofthe founders of
Central Oklahoma Stonewall Democrats, and last year was
the first openly-Gay delegate from Oklahoma selected to
attend the Democratic National Convention.
Don Kay is vice president of OFFAIDS and chair of
Friends ofthe Winds.
Lee Burris is well known in our community as a
business owner and female impersonator. He currently
owns Ingrid's Kitchen.
Jacqueline Gatewood is the founder ofthe AfricanAmerican Lesbians Support Group at Herland Sister Resources.
D
Subscribe to the online edition
of The Voice at
WWW.HERLANDSISTERS.ORG
prisoner of war
by Mary Reynolds
now they lead him down the steps of the courthouse
people calling out his name
theres an open wound running through this city
and they think that hes to blame
a little storm of people wanting answers
hurling accusations at the center
who silent only stares back unbelieving
he is a prisoner of war
black smoke curls gently to the westward
its a beautiful spring day
silence steals the screams of the afflicted
better get out of the way
there s silence at the checkout at the grocery store
as people who 've forgotten what they 're looking for
stand and gaze as one into the dark interior
they 're prisoners of war
they just found out they 're prisoners of war
sometimes this feeling catches up to me
and i want to run and hide
but my feet refuse to move
my arms hang useless at my side
cause somewhere way down deep inside
you know its nothing new
up to now you 've just been lucky
it hasn t come so close to you
i see smoke along the Washita
at the rising of the sun
i see the pride of East Virginia
rushing headlong to the guns
Rachel weeping for her children
Cassandra scans the skies in vain
smoking shores of Hiroshima
a Buchenwald bound train
its the halls of Montezuma
its the King David Hotel
its just another chapter
in a book called war is hell
and now its playing in my living room
at jive and six and ten
a science fiction movie
that doesn t have the sense to end
complete with screaming metal aliens
and gaping maw of death
and its going to be a long time
before i draw an easy breath
i am a prisoner of war
i am a prisoner of war
so once again the strong put on their armor
and walk into the fire
and the rest of us bring treasures up and stories
helpless peering through the wire
into a garden where courage and compassion
go hand in hand with hatred and contempt
the searing faces of a two-edged sword
we 're all prisoners of war
we 're all prisoners of war
copyright 1995 mary reynolds
Her/and Voice October. 2001 Page 7
Herl and Sister Resources
2312 N.W. 39
Oklahoma City, OK 73112
NonProfit Org.
U .S. Postage
PAID
Oklahoma City, OK
Permit No. 861
Address Service Requested
Support our
Supporters
Page 8 Her/and Voice October, 2001
REBECCA R. HOLT, Ph.D.
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
321 -2148
P.O. Box 5119
Norman, Okla. 73070
Individual - Couples
Family Therapy, Retreats
-
October, 2001
CELEBRATION OF OKLAHOMA
WEEK 1: GHOSTSAND ECHOES
CITY'S GLBT HISTORY!
Editors note: The following article is an email letter being
circulated on the Internet from Robin Morgan, a noted feminist
author. It offers a perspective on the aftermath ofthe September
11 attacks which is not readily found in the mainstream media.
GayOKC.comandtheSocialJusticeCommitteeofthe
First Unitarian Church invite Oklahoma Cityto celebrate
GayandLesbianHistoryMonthandNationalComingOut
Day with "A CELEBRATION of Oklahoma City' s Gay
andLesbianHistory!"at 7PMonThursday, October 11 at
the First Unitarian Church, 600W. 13th Street, Oklahoma
City.
The main event will be a panel discussion where each
panelist will reflect on his or her experience overthe years
as a gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered Person in
Oklahoma City.
Immediately following the panel discussion, audience
members will be invited to Come Out, in commemoration of
National Coming Out Day!
A reception willfullow, and those who wish to do so are
encouraged to join the panelists in "break-out" groups and
engage in further discussion.
Paula Brown willmoderatethepanel which includes Bill
Rogers, Paul Thompson, Pat Reaves, Keith Smith, Don
Kay, Lee Burris, and Jacqueline Gatewood.
Interpreting forthe deafwill be provided.
ABOUTTHEPANELISTS:
Bill Rogers is currentlythe board chair ofthe Cimarron
Alliance Foundation. Bill served on the Oklahoma City
Human Rights Commission, and was involved in organizing
the very first Gay Pride Parade in Oklahoma City.
Paul Thompson is currently the male co-chairofthe
Oklahoma Gay and LesbianPolitical Caucus and member
ofthe board ofthe Oklahoma City chapter ofthe NAACP.
AlongtirneGLBTRightsactivist,Paulhasbeeninvolvedin
OGLPC since its founding as Oklahomans for Human
Rights.
Pat Reaves is a long-time member of the board of
Herland Sister Resources.
(Continued on page 6)
Dear Friends,
Your response to the email I sent on Day 2 of this
calamity has been overwhelming. In addition to friends and
colleagues, absolute strangers- in Serbia, Korea, Fiji, Zambia.
all across North America- have replied, as have women's
networks in places ranging from Senegal and Japan to Chile,
Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, even Iran You've offered moving emotional support and asked for continued updates. I
can't send regular reports/alerts as I did during the elections
last November or the cabinet confirmation battles last year.
But here' s another try. Share this letter as you wish.
I'll focus on New York- my firsthand experience-but
this doesn't mean any less anguish for the victims of the
Washington or Pennsylvania calamities. Today was Day 8.
Incredibly, a week has passed. Abnormal normalcy has
settled in Our usually contentious mayor (previously bad
news for New Yorkers of color and for artists) has risen to
this moment with efficiency, compassion, real leadership.
(Continued on Page 3)
Diversity Celebration and
Candlelight Vigil, 7 PM Thursday,
,
I October 4 at St. Paul's Cathedral, 127NW
I
I
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Herland Sister Resources
I
7th, Oklahoma City, OK
r
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i
Her/and Supper Club, 5:30 PM,
October 6 Meet at Her/and
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Her/and Board Meeting, 4:30 PM
Sunday, October 21
I
/ Her/and is open Saturdays from 1-5PM.
I are located at 2312 NW 39, OKC, OK
I
Volume 19Number IO
)
www.herlandsisters.org
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Wei
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2312 N.W. 39, OKC, OK 73112
SAINT SYBIL
Dear Saint Sybil,
I am really fed up to here with taxes. Federal taxes,
state taxes, social security taxes, property taxes, sales taxes
- practically halfmy income goes to some kind oftax, And
I don't see that much ofit isformy benefit ... ok, I'm willing
to pay some for defense, but otherthan that, what do I get?
I think what bugs me more than anything is the amount of
salestaxandpropertytaxlpay,andforwhat? Forschools!
For whom? For other peoples children!
Listen, I made areasoned, well-considered choice, and
I gave up the (I might say selfish, self-centered!) option of
having someone to carry on my genes, and the built-innurse
to look after me in my old age, and all that, and chose notto
havekids. Idon'thavethern,Idon'tmissthern,Idon'twant
them; and I sure as heck resent having to pay for everyone
else's.
Every time I look up, they're raising my taxes "to
improvethe schools." Whyisitmyresponsibility, Sybil, to
constantly be paying for otherpeoples kids?
Angrily,
Miss Ann Thrope
Dear Ann,
EvenifyouwereneveraGirlScout, Iknowyouknow
that one ofyour major responsibilities in your short life on
earth is to leave it better than you found it, How are you
going to do this? Plant a garden, good. Work against
poverty, great. Work for animal welfure, and for conservation, and try to stop the mad obliteration of so many
different lifeforms; wonderful. Campaign against domesti~
violence andotherformsofabuseto women, super. Write
a book exposing the ghastly inhumane meat rendering plants
-I know, Upton Sinclair already did it, but it could be done
again. Go try to stop the dreadful killings ofstreet urchins
in various SouthAmericancities.
Ah, street urchins-that reminds me ofthose brats using
your hard-earned tax money in school, in particular. The
one easiest thing you can do to fulfill your responsibilityto the
world and its future is to take care of and educate your
children - yes, yours. Ann. These children are yours.
True, you are spared the "twenty-four seven "ofraising
them. but they are the future ofthehumanrace, and in many
ways, yourfuture.
From a practical viewpoint, these kids are going to be
the ones whose taxes pay your social security checks. They
are going to be the ones, in thirty years, who will oversee the
Page 2 Her/and Voice October, 2001
nursing home you are living in, and who will give you care
there, and who will run the insurance companies that decide
v,rhetherornot you are worth prescribing good medicine to.
They will be the police officers and firefighters and city
planners who make your life safe and pleasant. They'll b~
legislators passing laws of critical concern to yo~, and
ethicists guiding the world to value, or undervalue, the old,
which you will be bythen: old.
But. besides these self-serving reasons for happily
paying more taxes to help our children, the one overriding
purpose of every species, whether primate, kangaroo,
cottonwood or catfish, is to further that species; and ifyou
don'thaveasenseofallchildrenasbeingyourpurposeand
future and responsibility, not to mention your immortality,
then you need to take a deep breath and get back in touch
with the universe. . . . Galileo was correct, youknow, when
he said some five hundred years ago that the world does not
revolve around us. And really, the more you think about
it, don't you think maybe those people who escape the
diapers and the sleepless nights and the staggering childrearing costs should paymore in taxes for schools? Sounds
fu.irtome ....
Cordially,
Sybil
p.s. Youhaveonemore responsibilityto fulfill, Ann: oversight ofyour school boards and local government officials.
to be sure the money you will now so happily render the~
is used wisely, for the good ofallchildren, not just a favored
fuw.
D
Herland Board of Directors:
Laura Choate
Jacqueline Gatewood
DlH
Ginger McGovern
Pat Reaves
Judy Walden
The Voice is published by: Herland Sister Resources, Inc.
2312 N. W. 39th, Oklahoma City, OK 73112.
The Voce is offered
as an open forum for communly discourse. Articles reflect the
opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Her/and Sister
Resources. Unsoicited articles and letters to the editor are
weeomed and must be signed by the writer wih tun name and
address. Upon request, letters or articles may be printed under
a pseudonym or anonymously.
Subscrptions lo The Voce are
free upon request although a donation is requested to meet
pubication and distribution costs.
www.herlandsisters.org
WEEK
1: GHOSTS AND EcHos
(continued from page 1)
The city is alive and dynamic. Below 14th Street,
traffic is flowing again, mail is being delivered, newspapers are back . But very early this mo ming I walked east,
then south almost to the tip ofManhattan Island. The 16acre site itself is closed off, of course, as is a perimeter
surrounding it controlled by the National Guard, used as
a command post and staging area for rescue workers .
Still, one is able to approach nearer to the area than was
possible last weekend, since the law-court district and
parts o fthe :financial district are now open and (shakily)
working. The closer one gets the more one sees - and
smells - what no TV report, and very few print reports,
have communicated. I find myself giving way to tears
again and again, even as I write this.
Ifthe first sights oflast Tuesday seemed bizarrely like
a George Lucas special-effects movie, now the directorial eye has changed: it's the grim lens ofAgnes Varda,
jux1aposed with images so surreal they could have been
framed by Bunuel or Kurosawa.
This was a bright, cloudless, earlyautumnalday. But as
one drawsnearthe site, the area looms outofadense haze:
one enters an atmosphere ofdust, concrete powder, and
plumes of smoke from fires still raging deep beneath the
rubble (an estimated 2 million cubic yards ofdebris). Along
lower 2nd A venue, I 0 refugeratortractor-trailertrucks are
parked, waiting; ifyou stand there a while, an NYC Medical
Examinervanarrives-witha sagging body bag. Thick white
ash, shards of broken glass, pebbles, and chunks of concrete cover street after street of parked cars for blocks
outside the perimeter. Handprints on car windows and
doors-handprints sliding downward- have been left like
frantic graffiti. Sometimes there are messages finger-written
in the ash: "U RAlive."You can look into closed shops,
many with cracked or broken windows, and peer into
another dimension: a wall-clock stopped at9: I 0, restaurant
tables meticulously set but now covered with two inches of
ash, grocery shelves stacked with
and produce bins
piled high with apples and melons- all now powdered
chalk-white. A moonscape of plenty. People walk unsteadily along these streets, wearing nosemasks against the
still particle-full air, the stench ofburning wire and plastic,
erupted sewage; the smell ofdeath, ofdecomposing flesh.
Probably your TV coverage shows the chain-link fences
aflutterwith yellow ribbons, the makeshift shrines ofcandles,
flowers, scribbled notes of mourning or of praise for the
cans
rescue workers that have sprung up everywhere-especially in front offirehouses, police stations, hospitals. What
TV doesn't show vou is that near Ground Zero the streets
for blocks around are still, a week later, adrift in bits of
paper- singed, torn, sodden pages: stock reports, trading
print-outs, shredsofappointmentcalendars,halfofa 'ToDo" list . What TV doesn't show you are scores of tiny
charred corpses now swept into the gutters. Sparrows.
Finches. They fly higherthan pigeons, so they would have
exploded outward, caught midair in a rush offlame, wings
on fire as they fell. Who could have imagined it: the birds
were burning.
From a distance, you can see the lattices ofone ofthe
Towers, its skeletal bones the sole remains, eerily beautiful
in asymmetry, as if a new work of abstract art had been
erected in a public space. Elsewhere, you see the transformation of institutions: The New School and New York
University are missing persons' centers. A movie house is
nowarestsheher,aBurgerKingafirst-aidcenter,aBrooks
Brothers' clothing store abodypartsmorgue, a record shop
ahaven for lost animals. Libraries are counseling centers.
Ice rinks are morgues. Abankisnowasupplydepot: inthe
firstfourdays,itdistributed 11,000respiratorsand 25,000
pairs of protective gloves and suits . Nearby, a mobile
medical unit housed in a Macdonald ' s has administered
70, 000 tetanus shots. The brain tries to process the numbers: "only" 50,000 tons of debris had been cleared by
yesterday, out ofl .2 million tons. The medical examiner's
office has readied up to 20,000 DNA tests for unidentifiable
cadaver parts. At all times, night and day, a minimum of
I 000 people live and work on the site.
Such numbers daze the mind. It's the details - fragile,
individual - that melt numbness into grief An anklet with
"Joyleen" engraved on it - found on an ankle . Just that:
an ankle. A pair of hands - one brown, one white clasped together. Just that. No wrists. A burly welder
who drove from Ohio to help, saying softly, 'We ' re
working in a cemetery. I'm standing in - not on, in - a
graveyard. "Each lamppost, storefront, scaffolding, mailbox, is plastered with homemade photocopied posters,
a racial/ethnic rainbow of faces and names: death the
great leveler, not only of the financial CE Os - their
images usuallyformal, white, male, older, with suit-andtie - but the mail room workers, receptionists, waiters.
You pass enough ofthe MISSING posters and the faces,
names, descriptions become familiar. The Albanian window-cleaner guy with the bushy eyebrows.
(continued page4)
Her/and Voice October, 2001 Page 3
WEEK
1: GHOSTS AND EcHos
(continued from page 3)
The teenage Mexican dishwasher who had an American
flag tattoo. The janitor's assistant who' d emigrated from
Ethiopia. The Italian-American grandfather who was a
doughnut-cart tender. The 23-year-old Chinese American
junior pastry chefat the Windows on the World restaurant
who' d gone in early that day so she could prep a business
breakfast for 500. The firefighter who ' d posed jauntily
wearing his green shamrock necktie. The dapper AfricanAmerican midlevel manager with a small gold ring in his
ear who handled "minority affairs" for one of the companies. The middle-aged secretary laughing up at the camera
from her wheelchair. The maintenance worker with a
Polish name, holding his newborn baby. Most ofthe faces
are smil~g; most of the shots are family photos; many are
recent wedding pictures ....
I have little national patriotism, butl do have a passion for
New York, partly for our gritty, secular energy ofendurance,
and because the world does come here: 80 countries had
offices in the Twin Towers; 62 countries lost citizens in the
catastrophe; an estimated 300 ofour British cousins died,
either in the planes or the buildings. My personal comfort
is found not in ceremonies or prayer services but in
watching the plain, truly heroic (a word usually misused)
work of ordinary New Yorkers we take for granted every
day, who have risen to this moment unpretentiously, too
busy even to notice they're expressing the splendor ofthe
human spirit: firefighters, medical aides, nurses, ER doctors, police officers, sanitation workers, constructionworkers, ambulance drivers, structural engineers, crane
operators, rescue workers "tunnel rats" ....
Meanwhile, across the US, the rhetoric ofretaliation
is in full-throated roar. Flag sales are up. Gun sales are up.
Some radio stations have banned playing John Lennon's
song, "Imagine." Despite appeals from all officials (even
Bush), mosques are being attacked, firebombed ; Arab
Americans are hiding their children indoors; two murders
in Arizona have already been categorized as hate crimesone victim a Lebanese-American man and one a Sikh man
who died merely for wearing a turban. (Need I say that
there were not nationwide attacks against white Christian
males after Timothy Mc Veigh was apprehended for the
Oklahoma City bombing?)
Last Thursday, right-wing televangelists Jerry Falwell
and Pat Robertson (our home-grown American Taliban
leaders) appeared on Robertson' s TV show "The 700
Club," where Falwell blamed "the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists and the gays and lesbians ... the
Page 4 Her/and Voice October, 200 I
American Civil Liberties Union, People for the American
Way" and groups "who have tried to secularize America"
for what occurred in New York. Robertson replied, "I
totally concur." After even the Bush White House called
the remarks "inappropriate," Falwell apologized (though
he did not take back his sentiments); Robertson hasn 't
even apologized. (The program is carried by the Fox Family
Channel, recentlypurchased by the Walt Disney Companyin case you 'd like to register a protest.)
The sirens have lessened. But the drums have started.
Funeral drums. War drums. A State of Emergency, with
a call-up of 50,000 reservists to active duty. The Justice
Department is seeking increased authority for wider surveillance, broader detention powers, wiretapping of persons (not, as previously,just phone numbers), and stringent press restrictions on military reporting.
And the petitions have begun. For justice but not
vengeance. For a reasoned response but against escalating retaliatory violence. For vigilance about civil liberties.
For the rights ofinnocent Muslim Americans. For "born bing" Afghanistan with food and medical parcels, NOT
firepower. There will be the expectable peace marches,
vigils, rallies . ... One member of the House of Representatives - Barbara Lee, Democrat of California, an African
American woman -lodged the sole vote in both houses of
Congress against giving Bush broadened powers for a war
response, saying she didn't believe a massive military
campaign would stop terrorism. (She could use letters of
support: emailher, ifyou wish, at barbara.lee@mail.house.gov)
Those of us who have access to the media have been
trying to get a different voice out. But ours are complex
messages with long-term solutions-and this is a moment
when people yearn for simplicity and short-term, facile
answers.
Still, I urge all of you to write letters to the editors of
newspapers, call in to talk radio shows, and, for those of
you who have media access - as activists, community
leaders, elected or appointed officials, academic experts ,
whatever -to do as many interviews and TV programs as
you can. Use the tool of the Internet. Talk about the root
causes of terrorism, about the need to diminish this daily
climate of patriarchal violence surrounding us in its statesanctioned normalcy; the need to recognize people' s
despair over ever being heard short of committing such
dramatic, murderous acts; the need to address a desperation that becomes chronic after generations of suffering;
the need to arouse that most subversive of emotions empathy-for "the other"; the need to eliminate hideous
economic and political injustices, to reject all tribal/ethnic
hatreds and fears , to repudiate religious fundamentalisms
of every kind.
Especially talk about the need to understand that we must
expose the mystique of violence, separate it from how we
conceive ofexcitement, eroticism, and "manhood"; the need
to comprehend that violence differs in degree but is related in
kind, that it thrives along a spectrum, as do its effects- from
the battered child and raped woman who live in fear to an
entire populace living infear.
Meanwhile, we cry and cry and cry. I don' t even know
who my tears are for anymore, because I keep seeing
ghosts, I keep hearing echoes.
The world's sympathy moves me deeply. Yet I hear
echoes dying into silence: the world averting its attention
from the screams of Rwanda . . .
Ground Zero is a huge mass grave. And I think:
Bosnia.Uganda.
More than 6300 people are missing and presumed
dead (not even counting the Washington and Pennsylvania deaths). The TV anchors choke up: civilians, they say,
my god, civilians. And I see ghosts. Hiroshima.Nagasaki.
Dresden. Vietnam.
I watch the mask-covered mouths and noses on the
street turn into the faces of Tokyo citizens who wear such
masks every day against toxic pollution. I watch the scared
eyes become the fearful eyes of women forced to wear the
hajib or chodor or burka against their will . ..
I stare at the missing posters' photos and think of the
Mothers of the Disappeared. And I see the ghosts of other
faces. In photographs on the walls ofHolocaustmuseums. In
newspaper clippings from Haiti. In chronicles from Cambodia .. .
I worry for people who' ve lost their homes near the site,
though I see how superbly social-service agencies are trying
to meet their immediate and longer-term needs. But I see
ghosts: the perpetually homeless who sleep on city streets,
whose needs are never addressed .. . .
I watchnormallyunflappable New Yorkers flinch at loud
noises, parents panic when their kids are late from school.
And I see my Israeli feminist friends like Yvonne, who' ve
lived with this dread for decades and still (even yesterday)
stubbornly issue petitions insisting on peace . .. .
I watch sophisticates sob openly in the street, people
who've lost workplaces, who don'tknow where their next
paycheck will come from, who fear a contaminated water or
food supply, who are afraid for their sons in the army, who are
unnerved by security checkpoints, who are in mourning, who
feel wounded, humiliated, outraged. And I see my friends like
Zuhira in the refugee camps of Gaza or West Bank, Palestinian women who have lived in precisely that emotional
condition-for four generations.
Last weekend, many Manhattanites left town to visit
concerned families, try to normalize, getaway for a break. As
they streamed out ofthe city, I saw ghosts ofother travelers :
hundreds ofthousands ofAfghan refugees streaming toward
their country' s borders in what is to them habitual terror,
tryingtoescapeadrought-suckedcountrysowar-devastated
there's nothing left to bomb, a country with 50, 000 disabled
orphans and two million widows whose sole livelihood is
begging; where the life expectancy ofmen is 4 2 and women
40; where women hunch in secretwhispering lessons to girl
children forbidden to go to school, women who risk death by
beheading - for teaching a child to read.
The ghosts stretch out their hands. Now you know, they
weep, gesturing at the carefree, insulated, indifferent, golden
innocence that was my country' s safety, arrogance, and
pride. Why should it take such horror to make you see? the
echoes sigh, Oh please do you finally see?
This is calamity. And opportunity. The United States what so many of you call America - could choose now to
begin to understand the world. And join it. Or not.
For now my window still displays no flag, my lapel sports
no red-white and-blue ribbon. Instead, I weep for a city and
a world. Instead, I cling to a different loyalty, affirming my unflag, my un-anthem, myun-prayer- the defiant un-pledge of
a madwoman who also had mere words as her only tools in
a time of ignorance and carnage, Virginia Woolf: "As a
woman I have no country. As a woman I want no country.
As a woman my country is the whole world."
If this is treason, may I be worthy ofit.
In mourning- and absurd, tenacious hope,
Robin Morgan
September 18, 200 I
l:l
Robin Morgan is anaward-wiTU1ingwriter.feminist leader. political
theorist, journalist, and activist. She has published 17 books, including
six ofpoetry. two offiction, and the now-classic anthologies Sisterhoodls
Power{Ul (Random House/Vintage Books, 1970), and Sisterhood ls
Global (Doubleday/Anchor, 1984; Feminist Press edition 1996), andher
own acclaimed The Demon Lover: On The Sexualitv Of Terrorism
(Norton, 1989). Herlatest books ofpoetry are Upstairs Jn TheGarden
(Norton, 1990)and A Hot January: Poems 1996-1999(Norton, 1999),
and her memoir, Saturdav 's Child was recently published (Norton,
December 2000).
These texts are Copyrighted 2001 by Robin Morgan, all rights
reserved. They may be sharedfreely for NonCommercial purposes ONLY.
but ri1aynot be posted on websites orpublished in print, electronically. or
in wry other mmuzer without the author 's express permission. Jn lieu of
payment, the author would be grateful ifpersons so moved would make
a donation via check to: The Sisterhood Is Global Institute. Atwater
Library, 1200 Avenue Atwater, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3Z JX4
(website:www.sigi.org).
Jn response to numerous requests, the audioofthese texts, readaloud
by the author together with her other Reports from New York's Ground
Zero, is being made available on CD by The Engine Company, nonprofit,
;;olely at cost (US $6. 99 including shipping andhandling). To order. emai I
TheEngineCompany@aol.com
Her/and Voice October, 2001 Page 5
CELEBRATE DIVERSITY
On October 4 at 7 :00 pm a vigil to Celebrate Diversity
andStopthe HatewillbeheldatSt. Paul's Cathedral, 127
NW 7th in Oklahoma City. The vigil is a part ofa national
campaign against hate violence. The celebration at St Pauls
will be followed by a candlelight procession to the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
Speakers forthe event include Representative Kevin
Cox, memberofthe Oklahoma House ofRepresentatives;
Pat Fennell, ofthe Latino Community Development Agency;
Cinda Hughes, Native American talk show host, Reverend
Cathy McCallie, Pastor ofthe Church ofthe Open Arms
and Ms Phonng Ahn Cong-Tran, editor of the Viet Bao
Newspaper. Mary Catherine Reyno Ids, Sister Veronica
and the Villa Teresa Children' s Choir will perform.
Event organizers say the event is designed as a call for
people offuithand conscienseact nonviolently as individuals
for healing in our communities; oppose hate violence directed at anyone; and to raise a united voice forthe loving
spirit ofinclusion and acceptance.
The event is organized by the Oklahoma Council on
Violence Prevention and the Interfaith Alliance of Oklahoma. Co-sponsors include the CimmarronAlliance Group
and Foundation, the Episcopal Diocese ofOklahoma, the
Human Rights Alliance ofCentral Oklahoma, Mayflower
Congregational Church, the Pride Network Inc, Say No to
Hate and the YWCA of Oklahoma City. Herland Sister
Resources is one ofalargenumberofcommunity organizations supporting the celebration.
D
LAURA FRIEND
AGE 11
Page 6 Her/and Voice October, 200 I
NGLTF RESPONDS TO FALWELL
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Lorri L. Jean issued the following statement in
response to Jerry Falwell's assertion that "gays and lesbians," among others, are to blame for the tragedies in New
York City and Washington, D. C.:
'The terrible tragedythat has befullen oumation, and
indeed the entire global community, isthe sad byproduct of
:funaticism. It has its roots in the same funaticism that enables
people like Jerry Falwell to preach hate against those who
do not think, live, or love in the exact same way he does.
'The tragedies that have occurred this week did not
occur because someone made God mad, as Mr. Falwell
asserts. They occurred because ofhate, pure and simple. It
is time to move beyond a place ofhate and to a place of
healing.We hope that Mr. Falwell will apologize to the U.S .
and world communities.
''Ourheartsgoouttothevictimsofthisweek'stragedies
and their friends and fumilymembers. We are thankful to the
police officers, firefighters, paramedics and other em~r
gency personnel who are working tirelesslyto lead the relief
effi>rts."
D
OKC GLBT HISTORY CELEBRATION
(continued from page 1)
Keith Smith is a long-time political activist who currently works as a lobbyist. Keith is one ofthe founders of
Central Oklahoma Stonewall Democrats, and last year was
the first openly-Gay delegate from Oklahoma selected to
attend the Democratic National Convention.
Don Kay is vice president of OFFAIDS and chair of
Friends ofthe Winds.
Lee Burris is well known in our community as a
business owner and female impersonator. He currently
owns Ingrid's Kitchen.
Jacqueline Gatewood is the founder ofthe AfricanAmerican Lesbians Support Group at Herland Sister Resources.
D
Subscribe to the online edition
of The Voice at
WWW.HERLANDSISTERS.ORG
prisoner of war
by Mary Reynolds
now they lead him down the steps of the courthouse
people calling out his name
theres an open wound running through this city
and they think that hes to blame
a little storm of people wanting answers
hurling accusations at the center
who silent only stares back unbelieving
he is a prisoner of war
black smoke curls gently to the westward
its a beautiful spring day
silence steals the screams of the afflicted
better get out of the way
there s silence at the checkout at the grocery store
as people who 've forgotten what they 're looking for
stand and gaze as one into the dark interior
they 're prisoners of war
they just found out they 're prisoners of war
sometimes this feeling catches up to me
and i want to run and hide
but my feet refuse to move
my arms hang useless at my side
cause somewhere way down deep inside
you know its nothing new
up to now you 've just been lucky
it hasn t come so close to you
i see smoke along the Washita
at the rising of the sun
i see the pride of East Virginia
rushing headlong to the guns
Rachel weeping for her children
Cassandra scans the skies in vain
smoking shores of Hiroshima
a Buchenwald bound train
its the halls of Montezuma
its the King David Hotel
its just another chapter
in a book called war is hell
and now its playing in my living room
at jive and six and ten
a science fiction movie
that doesn t have the sense to end
complete with screaming metal aliens
and gaping maw of death
and its going to be a long time
before i draw an easy breath
i am a prisoner of war
i am a prisoner of war
so once again the strong put on their armor
and walk into the fire
and the rest of us bring treasures up and stories
helpless peering through the wire
into a garden where courage and compassion
go hand in hand with hatred and contempt
the searing faces of a two-edged sword
we 're all prisoners of war
we 're all prisoners of war
copyright 1995 mary reynolds
Her/and Voice October. 2001 Page 7
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