by Heather Plett | Jan 5, 2005 | Uncategorized
I LOVE this story about a secret language created by women for women to help them survive and thrive in a male-dominated society. It just seems like such a unique way to cope with the oppression and gain a little power. I’m sure it drove the men CRAZY that their wives and daughters were communicating and keeping journals in a language they couldn’t understand! It reminds me of the “code language” Fern and I or Laurel and I used to create when we were kids. We would spend hours creating symbols for all the letters, writing notes with the new symbols, and then trying to decipher each other’s notes. This article gives me great glee. Too bad the last woman with the language died.
China’s last woman proficient in the mysterious Nushu language, probably the world’s only female-specific language, died at her Central China home earlier this week. She was in her 90s.
Yang Huanyi learned to read and write the language as a little girl. Chinese linguists say her death put an end to a 400-year-old tradition in which women shared their innermost feelings with female friends through a set of codes incomprehensible to men.
Yang was born in Jiangyong County in Hunan Province where many people believe the language originated.
She learned the language from seven sworn sisters in the county who were regarded as the most authoritative speakers and writers of the language. Yang became its only survivor by the end of the 1990s, after the seven had passed away.
Until her death Sept. 20, it remained a mystery as to how old Yang was. During an interview with Xinhua in 2002, she said she was 94. Authorities in her hometown, however, said she was 98 when she died.
The letters, poems and prose Yang wrote were collected and compiled by linguists in Qinghua University into a book published early this year.
Although some linguists are trying to learn the female language, experts say Yang was more authoritative and unaffected by mandarin Chinese, in which she was totally illiterate.
None of Yang’s children and grandchildren inherited her proficiency in the unique language.
Nushu characters are structured by four kinds of strokes, including dots, horizontals, verticals and arcs.
by Heather Plett | Jan 5, 2005 | Uncategorized
“We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us….
“I remember two cases of would-be suicide, which bore a striking similarity to each other. Both men had talked of their intentions to commit suicide. Both used the typical argument – they had nothing more to expect from life. In both cases it was a question of getting them to realize that life was still expecting something from them; something in the future was expected of them. We found, in fact, that for the one it was his child whom he adored and who was waiting for him in a foreign country. For the other it was a thing, not a person. This man was a scientist and had written a series of books which still needed to be finished. His work could not be done by anyone else, any more than another person could ever take the place of the father in his child’s affections.
“This uniqueness and singleness which distinguishes each individual and gives a meaning to his existence has a bearing on creative work as much as it does on human love. When the impossibility of replacing a person is realized, it allows the responsibility which a man has for his existence and its continuance to appear in all its magnitude. A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the ‘why’ for his existence, and he will be able to bear almost any ‘how'”.
(Written about the author’s experience and observations in a concentration camp.)
by Heather Plett | Jan 5, 2005 | Uncategorized
Here’s the Viktor Frankl quote:
“To draw an analogy: a man’s suffering is similar to the behavior of gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. This suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the ‘size’ of human suffering is absolutely relative.”
by Heather Plett | Jan 5, 2005 | Uncategorized
Ah, the smell of Old Spice. I kept an old bottle of Dad’s. I couldn’t bear to throw out something that smelled like him. I dug it out of a box just now, and now I have the smell of it on my hands. I didn’t mean to – just came across it while I was looking for something else. It’s not quite right though. It’s missing all the nuances that used to mix with the Old Spice smell – the hint of animals and fields and his own human smell. His Sunday smell. I can still see him splashing it on just before we left for church. It belongs with his black leather Bible and his Sunday clothes.
I still miss him like crazy. I still have those moments when the pain chokes me with sudden and unexpected strength. The moments don’t come as often any more, but they still come. And they still grip my throat and make it hard to breath. Viktor Frankl talks about how suffering is like a vapour – it moves into you and occupies every inch of the empty room of your body, soul, and spirit. Grief is like that too. It takes over my whole body when it comes.
by Heather Plett | Jan 4, 2005 | Uncategorized
Nikki and Julie pooled their Christmas money (gifts from Memere & Pepere) and decided to get a computer game. They wanted Sims, ’cause they’d played it at their cousins’ house and liked it. It seemed like an interesting idea – they get to build houses, create families to live in the houses, etc. At least they get to be creative instead of blowing people up on the screen. So we went to buy it – stood in a ridiculously long line-up in the electronic games store and made the purchase.
We got home, and Marcel took a look at the box and said “we can’t load this up for the girls!” Sure enough, on closer inspection, it turns out the game is rated “T” for Teen and that it contains “mature sexual content”. What the !@#!@! What appears to be a harmless computer game – certainly one of the most harmless looking in the game store – has SEXUAL content? What ever happened to Pacman and Donkey Kong? (I know, I’m aging myself.) Now every game has to have either sex or violence? I’m not a prude and I’m not big into overly restrictive censorship, but this is a little ridiculous. Is there NO moderation when it comes to video/computer games?
I went to return it and found out that the original Sims game didn’t have the sexual content – that you could just make the people kiss, but that was it. Oh – and they could have a baby, but the baby just appeared without any graphic detail. But then with the newest “improvements” to the game, you can make a couple make out and hop into bed together. Call me square but I just don’t GET IT!! The original game isn’t made alone any more, so you have no choice but to buy it with the “mature sexual content”. Excuse me, but I don’t want my kids to learn about sex from a COMPUTER GAME!
Fortunately, they had some pre-owned copies, so I didn’t have to go home empty-handed and disappoint the girls. I wanted to boycott it and say “screw-it” to a company that feels they have to give in to the pressure to add sexual content, but there’s a fine line between making a point, and ticking off the kids. At least, with buying a pre-owned copy, the company didn’t make any money off me. That’s small comfort.
But my question these days is – whaddaya do with “pre-teens” who feel they’re too old for Barbie Dolls, Freddie the Fish games, and animated movies, but they’re not ready for teen content yet? It seems there hasn’t been enough attention paid to marketing for the “in-between” crowd. (Other than Mary-Kate and Ashley, I suppose.)
