Wednesday's Word of Wisdom

"I said nothing . . . . She was looking at me, expecting something. She wanted me to tell her that I knew what it was like, but I wouldn't tell her." - Corregidora, Gayle Jones (1975 , 64)

Gayl Jones (born November 23, 1949) is an African American novelist, poet, playwright, professor, and literary critic from Lexington, Kentucky. [1] After earning the Frances Steloff Award for Fiction while attending Connecticut College, she graduated with a Masters in creative writing at Brown University. The same year, she published her first book Corregidora.

Silence is an oft forgotten skill. In a day of internet, e-mails, text/instant messaging, smart phones, and the like, we're all innunadated with the need to speak, most times saying needless nothing. As in the scene above, Women of AUTHENTIC, we "[look] at you, expecting something." Unfortunately, in today's male-dominated, heterosexist, etc. society, sometimes the fear and discomfort of your powerful silence creates unncessary and fruitless action that manifests as

women putting in work to be, and aid in, the exploitation of a man's fantasy of womanity and beauty.

Don't just say anything. Say something from head to toe, from heart from soul. Be heard AND listened to.

It's Hump Day, ladies. Take a moment to shut yourself away and embrace the power of your silence. Like granmamma used to say (and all ya'll granmamm's used to say this),

"Think before you speak."

You may find that you're speaking much without uttering a sound.

AUTHENTIC Women, you are brillant and strong and beautifully vulnerable and intelligent and great...without uttering a sound.

Happy Hump Day!