thoughts on being a woman

yesterday i had a group presentation in my english class.  i was nervous, but i put my hands on my hips (this helps me) and stood up tall and disregarded all my pre-constructed sentences that i wrote in my little notebook.  my job was to speak about the last portion of the book Crusade for Justice by Ida B. Wells. 

this woman traveled America speaking out against the injustice of un-tried lynchings of African Americans.  it's a wonder i haven't learned about her until my senior year of college, especially as she worked alongside other "greats", including Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony. 

and then, right in the height of her activism (it seemed), Wells got married and had kids.  others saw her succumbing to "weakness" and "domestication", but she never saw herself that way.  she raised these kids to be fighters against racism, and began speaking and traveling again, even when her kids were still nursing babies.  she mothered with the same strength and integrity that she exhibited from city hall platforms and church meetings.      

this presentation came at just the right time for me.  i have been thinking about what it truly means to be a strong + fierce  + feminine woman who doesn't back down to injustice, and doesn't resist to be all that i am.

i think of my own mom!  who traveled to Sarajevo to visit friends and serve... in her twenties... by herself... TWICE!  and then fast-forward to Hungary, where i remember going with her to a Hungarian college dorm to lead English clubs, even when the students only wanted to talk about politics.  and all along, we all crave her chocolate chip cookies like it's no one's business. :) 

i'm glad i can read about people like Ida B. Wells... and i'm so thankful to be the daughter of my strong and beautiful mother.  who would have thought that my last random non-social work class would make me think so much?