The end is just the beginning...
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We are halfway through 2021 and I feel as if it were 1976 and I were just born. This WGSS-2100 class has been mind bending and eye opening to me and I am offering myself acceptance for how out of touch I never realized I was. I had an elaborate Vlog planned for my final project and sadly, I have a version of strep throat that will just not allow that. So I am choosing my next best thing…a blog. The topics we covered in this class were deep and forward thinking. They were real and raw and intimidating at times. I felt vulnerable having to look within at things I had previously not realized. I thought these issues didn’t affect me but I was wrong. They indirectly impact my life via friends and family and that is enough for it to have mattered to me more. Now is the time for change and for me - this is accomplished by creating visual art. When I need to be reminded of something on an ongoing basis, the best way is to put it on the wall. I put up reminders in places I travel frequently and for this, I will print my art and place it on the wall above my desk.
This artwork contains not only the terminology used in this class but also some hidden visual reminders that I know are there, even if not visible to everyone. I integrated my writings from this class and a reminder that by definition, there IS hope. Even though they are just words, the topics in this class deserve validation and presence. They deserve to be not only heard but also seen, as do we all..no matter or race, religion, sex, creed, gender, sexual orientation, etc. We never start to grow and change until we accept that it is our right to do so. I am incredibly thankful for what this class brought to my life - today is the beginning of my mindsets end.
“…reframes family as people and animals we choose to bring close us, build intimacies with, and become familiars,”
Reading Rethinking the Family was the most powerful reality from this semester and it brought up a lot of emotions for me. It saddened me at moments, thinking about how patriarchy began its damage long before anyone realized what was happening. It made me feel joy when it talked about the shift in family dynamics over the past 6-7 decades and the fact that it highlighted LGBTQPAI+ issues warmed my heart. Not only do I come from a very small nuclear family; I am also one of 6 lesbian/gay persons in my immediate family – to patriarchy, I say - rethink the likelihood of that! The strongest thing I felt from this reading was reading “…Nair reframes family as people and animals we choose to bring close us, build intimacies with, and become “familiars,”. (Saraswati, 189) Familiars…what a beautiful word that for me holds inevitable truth.
The reading allowed me to really take a hard look at the friends and energy I allow into my space and make the wisest possible choices when chosen family is involved. I have had numerous conversations with friends and the little family I do have, about this reading. The truth is I have family that I do not choose, nor would I choose. It’s hard to swallow but it is okay because the power is mine.
Saraswati, L. Ayu, et al. Introduction to Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Oxford University Press Academic US, 2020.