labels & lies

I belong to several listservs and have been participating in a debate over the meaning of the word “Feminist,” why some people choose to use it and some people don’t. The opinions that have been presented have both enlightened and saddened me.

I am a Feminist but didn’t always use that label to describe myself. And that’s exactly what it is, it’s a label. It’s a label that describes one of my beliefs and how I act upon those beliefs. It’s a label that I have willingly chosen as a definition of myself. But it doesn’t accurately reflect who I am because of the preconceptions and stereotypes people have about Feminists.

I am a Feminist, but that is only one part of what makes me uniquely me. And my ideas and values are different from my sister and from my best friend and from her sister, although each of them is also a Feminist. And I will continue to be a Feminist for reasons I have stated too many times to count. And I will always be aware that too many people will let that label misinform them about who I am and what I stand for.

death of a princess

The Death of Princess Diana shocked the entire world last weekend. While many will argue that Diana only accomplished living her privileged life as badly as possibly, others will argue that she used her notoriety to make an impact. Whatever your opinion of Di may have bern, one thing is for certain: the world is mourning the loss of its fairy-tale princess.

I remember my mother waking me up at 5 am to watch the royal wedding. It was something out of storybooks, something that wasn’t supposed to happen in real life. But there she was, a 19-year-old becoming a princess. Though through her life we learned that fairy tales cannot come true. We learned that if your prince comes for you, you had better look at him closely. We learned that “happily ever after” doesn’t exist. And we learned that fame and fortune do not bring peace and harmony. Good-bye Diana.

girl vs. niña

I am not a girl, so don’t call me that. I am a woman, una mujer, female. To those of you who are monolingual (and you have my sympathies on that) girl may not be such a big deal. To me the word girl means niña, which means little girl.

I’m approaching my 26th birthday, why would anyone want to call me niña? Why would anyone dare, unless they were making a comment on my maturity, my capability, my authority, my status? When someone says, “I met a girl…” I get a mental picture of an 8-year-old en trenzas. If someone said “Conocí a una niña . . .” it would sound funny, peculiar and absurd if they were talking about anyone over the age of 13.

I won’t even go into the Feminist views on the word girl, most of which I share just on principle. I am not a niña, so don’t call me girl and I’ll promise not to assign any four-letter words to you either.

mission statement

It is my mission in life to succeed. Of course, exactly what succeed means is what’s giving me the headaches. Whose value system do I use to measure the success of my life? The church’s? Well, that would probably be a good choice as far as my character is concerned, but since I’m not an active member of any church, that might be a problem. My parents’? There’s another good suggestion, but my parents and I don’t agree on a lot of things and I shudder to think of analyzing myself and my actions from their point of view. My friends’? Well, it’s true that I agree with them on most of my opinions, but my ambitions aren’t in sync with theirs. In fact, ambition is a word widely considered as a joke among them. So, how do I measure the achievements of my life? Which role models, community leaders, or other personalities are there to use as a guide? Oh yeah, I just remembered, there aren’t any out there. Oh well, maybe I can wait a few years and accumulate a few more achievements before I try to do this measurement of success thing again.

Lorna Dee Cervantes

Lorna Dee Cervantes is an accomplished and award-winning poet, a restless activist, and an insightful artist. I was fortunate enough to study with her briefly, and, while my poetry may never reach the potential she envisioned, it is better because of her influence. She writes, teaches, and lives as a Chicana and a Feminist; she is a role model in a world where few exist for Latina/Chicana/Mexicana writers. This week’s feature is the suggested reading is of her poems. Enjoy!