Ok…so Friday, Allie and I were in New Orleans for this communications conference where she was presenting her paper. Before her presentation, we were invited by one of her professors to sit in on one of the Teacher presentations. Professors sometimes write articles related to their field for professional journals or newspapers etc. This panel was basically on the South…different aspects. One was on the south and college basketball; comparing the players to slaves, the schools to plantation owners and we (the audience) as the front porch…sitting and watching. The next professors was on Southern Hospitatlity..she focused on the drinks of the south…who knew you could write an entire paper on just drinks…another was on the injustice in the south and how we are portrayed in the media since before the Civil war to now…interesting…but the one that REALLY got my attention was the professor from a state college in Texas. Her paper surrounded the idea of the Southern Belle. How the SB was the picture of morality and purity and was protected by the patriarchal society of the day. I didnt know where she was going with that until she started using the word feminist and womens health…she basically said that the southern belle, the woman who cannot stand up for herself and must be protected by a man is the same as the pro-life women today. She talked about the law that was recently passed in Texas and how the Lt. Gov described the angry mob in the Senate gallery comparing them to the Occupy Wallstreet people. She said this with quite a bit of smirk in her voice and on her face.Then saying that the legislators used their bill as a guise for womens health. My heart was pouding so hard, my necklace with the Texas pendant was jumping off my chest. Allie kept saying mom…mom….mom….calm down… hahahaha… I told her she needed to leave. Thankfully that professor was the last to speak and I went up to each panel member to tell them good job…even the professor from Texas…When I got to her, it went something like this: Me: Hi, my name is Lisa Simmons. You did a nice job of presenting your paper and Im sure it was a difficult one to write... My husband is in the Texas House.(she smiles) He was a co-author on that bill you were talking about and I was there when the people were dragged out of the chamber. Prof: (suddenly started shuffling her papers). Me:(I didnt have enough time and I didnt want to get into an argument with her, so I just said), It sounds like youre saying that women who are pro-life (pointing to myself) are incapable of being strong and need a man or someone else to stand up for us. And if we were strong we certainly wouldnt be making the decisions we make. Prof: Oh, no-no, thats not what I meant at all. Im sorry you took it that way. I couldnt cover everything in depth (shuffling shuffling shuffling papers) Me: I understand. Just wanted you to know that theres another side to the story. Thanks for your time. One of the few times I would have loved to have had a recording going. #dontmesswithtexasbabies
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 13:20:28 +0000
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