Date: Sat, 23 Aug 1997 05:46:03 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: i may have posted this before, but 


Radhika,

Very beautiful poem...I like how wonderfully you weave the mundane with 
the academic with stark reality with strong femininity...the ease with 
which your words seem to flow is impressive...a much belated "thank 
you" for sharing this with us.

-Manjusree



You wrote: 
>
>i'm posting it to share with a new e-friend of mine on this list...
>(and all new members - if any)
>_____________________________
>
>Looking for a point of entry     
>[or, what's the `point' of what i say ?]
>------------------------------------------------
>I remember talking to  a younger
>woman
>who they say 
>grew up in Brooklyn
>but
>masks it well.
>
>		Told her what  i might have
>		needed
>		to hear ten years 
>		ago.
>
>The Academy does 
>not speak
>to us.
>We have to make
>It
>speak
>to us.		
>		If we can.
>		(But *can* we?)
>
>			[And what's the `Us' about
>			when I may have grown up with 
>			more
>			material privilege
>			than her?]
>
>Us with less
>confidence
>perhaps
>
>			[at least that's 
>				a start...]
>
>Us who are easily
>overwhelmed
>overawed
>by words that
>float 
>
>
>
>
>[phallic signifiers?
>
>				very often.
>				very often.]
>
>on ether
>or not.
>
>			[Are we stupid,
>			 perhaps
>				?]
>
>what does it 
>mean
>when 
>how the people around
>us
>use words
>wields power?
>
>			
>What kind of comments
>am i
>			allowed 
>
>to make
>here?
>
>			am i literate 
>			enough?
>
>Seeking expression 
>and relevance
>in
>"Theories"
>(Practice)
>of  Gender
>of  Postcolonialism
>of  `Post'-modern
>ism
>
>	I experience the 
>	jagged  ends
>	of  the words
>	floating on ether.
>
>
>If
>there is pain and
>personal investment
>			that incites
>			discussion
>
>(and often, implicitly, 
>perhaps.
>couched,
>perhaps.			there is.)
>
>
>
>Can we not 
>speak
>of  it.
>
>			In our ivory towers of
>			ether?
>
>
>I cannot wave 
>aside
>			with statements
>			and  hopeful expectations
>			of a promised future
>
>the question of
>access.
>
>				Very often i
>				*feel*
>
>				a "woman"
>				the "other" -
>
>not only because of my
>physical body
>or
>skin colour
>
>			the words i use
>			will betray me
>			soon enough
>
>On ether too
>i have no
>mask
>
>				for long.
>
>
>
>
>
>********************************************************
>homepage::  http://www.pitt.edu/~gajjala/
>
>********************************************************
>
>