Waves of Women

“Here’s to strong women. May we know them, may we raise them, may we be them.”

-Unknown

I know the controversy of excluding people based on gender. This is not, and never will be my intention. My call, my work, is for the women who have been marginalized for too long. The people whose power, whose worth, whose face-value has been labeled based on their birth-given or chosen identity. Women, who bear the gift of bearing life, who nurture the life already in the world, who are capable of any corporate man’s job, but are unwilling to sacrifice the reality of being a human… my work is for you.

I would love for the men to join us, and I trust the future generations to grow into a world that is more open and inclusive than the one that exists now, but there are gaps that must be acknowledged. We’ve raised a species of girl that puts others first, and men who put themselves first, without teaching each one the value of the other. Now we have girls who don’t know their power, and men who believe too fiercely in their power. The balance is off. There are plenty of men strong enough to be soft with these women. To allow us the space to feel wild emotion, and to talk through it. But we need men soft enough to feel the wild emotion, and to act on it with the same amount of conviction that they blindly follow the world of numbers, and probability, and profit with.

Women, partially because of our upbringings, and partially because of our ties with the moon, are able to see and feel and witness our world as it is. Our sadness for the current state of things is an important part of the widening consciousness of how humans are participating. I say women, I speak for the women, because as a woman I am done remaining silent. I am tired, from the social level of trying to navigate antedated niceties, all the way up to the big business level of trying to make exponential profit where resources are limited.

I am tired of being ashamed of my sadness. For war, for our lack of health care and education in America, for the corruption that sprouts from too much poverty and power in opposition, for the incessant dramas of battling self-worth, and for the world we are raising our children in that is addicted to phone screens and instant gratification. I am tired of being silent about how desperately we all need to slow down. To stop, for just moments of each day, to say hello and thank you to what we have already.

Lastly, as women, womxn, or however it is that you identify yourself, our bodies are our choice. Our bodies are made of this earth that we inhabit, and we belong only to ourselves and that earth. No man should have a say about what enters or leaves our bodies, and I am not open for negotiation on this topic. Alabama has illuminated the filth of our country, that does not acknowledge women as human beings, and I am here to say no. For what its worth, the more voices we have speaking, the more ears there are to listen.

I say women, I speak for women, because I believe in women. And as a woman, I am here to start making waves with words and illustration, hoping to ride and share waves with other women making waves. This ocean is ours, we sing to the same moon.