To women: a short love poem from Fandango
I raise my glass and propose a toast
To women for all they bring to the table
And even when it feels at times that I can’t live with them
I can’t image what life would be like living without them
You go, girl!
Written for Sadje’s What Do You See prompt. Photo credit: Getty images under license from Unsplash+.
Aria was a quiet and introverted woman who tended to avoid confrontations. She preferred to remain silent and keep to herself, believing that it was the best way to protect herself from the negativity in the world. Although she was aware of the problems that existed, she didn’t think she, as a single individual, could do much about them.
Recently, though, her emotions began to stir as she saw how women were being treated around the globe. She’d watch the news on TV or read articles in the newspaper about abused and battered women and she would begin to seethe with pent-up anger. “Stay silent,” a persistent voice inside her head whispered. But then another voice, a tiny spark in the darkness, countered, “Silence is violence, Aria.”
Aira was inspired to take action after seeing a news report about a women’s rally at city hall the next day. She hand-painted a large sign with the words “Silence is Violence” and brought it with her to the event. Upon arriving, Aria was uplifted by the voices of hundreds of other women chanting that phrase. Despite feeling anxious, she held her sign up high and joined in the chanting. Aria couldn’t recall the last time she felt so alive.
Written for Melissa’s Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge. Photo credit: Justin Essah on Unsplash.
Rita Rudner, American comedian
Written for Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday prompt.
The idea behind Who Won the Week is to give you the opportunity to select who (or what) you think “won” this past week. Your selection can be anyone or anything — politicians, celebrities, athletes, authors, bloggers, your friends or family members, books, movies, TV shows, businesses, organizations, whatever.
This week’s Who Won the Week winners are four American women, Brooke Downes, Sophia Denison-Johnston, Adrienne Smith, and Libby Costello.
These four women set a new Pacific record after rowing from San Francisco to Hawaii in 34 days, 14 hours and 11 minutes. The California-based group of friends managed, through storms, sickness, and exhaustion, to arrive in Honolulu, breaking a new world record for the fastest women’s crossing of the 2,400-nautical-mile stretch from California to Hawaii.
Rowing an average of 70 miles per day, the group was motivated by daily messages from fans, and during one stretch, an escort from a whale. But the final 3 miles were the most emotional, said team member Libby Costello: “We recognized it was the last time that we were going to have just the four of us, maybe ever.”
The four rowers were unsupported, carrying all their own food and making water with a desalinator. They rowed in non-stop shifts – two hours on, two hours off, so that a pair were always rowing while the other two slept.
After a month of nothing but ocean, seeing the green land of Oahu for the first time as they neared Hawaii was “insane.” They crossed the finish line and took in the “special moment” before they rowed the final few strokes to the pontoon to be met by friends and family.
“It was still only us on the boat,” Brooke Downes said. “We realised it could be the last time that we were alone together. We played our favorite songs while we saw so many people that were there to watch us finish.”
Congratulations Brooke, Sophia, Adrienne, and Libby on your feat of speed and endurance and for being holders of a new world record.
So who (or what) do you think won the week?
If you want to participate, write your own post designating who you think won the week and why you think they deserve your nod. Then link back to this post and tag you post with FWWTW.
Linda G. Hill has asked us to use “product” and “produce” in today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt.
The United States Supreme Court yesterday overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that guaranteed a woman’s right to obtain a legal abortion, thus allowing states to criminalize the act of terminating a pregnancy.
When I saw the two words Linda wants us to use for our posts, it made me think about how, in the eyes of six conservative Supreme Court justices, the majority of Republicans, and most Christian conservatives, the primary role of women in America is to produce a product, and that product happens to be babies.
They believe that women should have no choice in the matter. Women should not be able to decide for themselves whether or not they want to produce the product. If they happen to get pregnant, no matter the circumstances, they must produce a baby.
But once the “products” have been produced, the Vu six conservative Supreme Court justices, the majority of Republicans, and most Christian conservatives don’t give a shit about what happens to those products. The producers are on their own. They are expected to feed, clothe, shelter, and nourish the products that they produce. But those that demanded that they produce these products have moved on to other righteous battles, like banning contraception, gay marriages, or whatever other personal and private human “rights” their narrow-minded, fundamentalist views wish to take away.
But on the bright side, if every woman must produce babies, all these babies will create a larger market opportunity for the producers of firearms, enabling them to sell even more of their products. Then the products that these women produce can be more easily shot and killed by the products these gun manufacturers produce.
This is the circle of life in New America (or maybe the Divine Republic of Gilead).
This, That, and the Other 