war

"At the time, it was better to be a man than to be a woman, because women were on the same level as animals" explains Pashe Keqi in a recent article in La Stampa about an old Albanian custom (original article on page 17 of La Stampa from June 29th, 2008). What Pashe means is the history of the "sworn virgins", woman who vowed to essentially become men. The tradition first started about 500 years ago, and today there are still 40 women living who went through their whole lives with all the rights and duties of a man.

In a country rife with conflicts and wars, families were often left without a male to fend for them. But since the women had no rights and thus could not take on the jobs needed to sustain a family, a man was needed as the head of family.

I am a writer; I write poetry about my feelings. About my despair, and about my hate. About who I am, and how I've pulled off the foolishness of falling in love. About what, exactly, I have become.

I write short stories about travellers, I write short stories about time-travel and education. I write novellas about war, novellas about killers and those who stand against them; I write novellas about the after life, and the end of the world.

But I don't write about feminism. I don't write from a feminist point of view. I write about men and women, priests and priestesses. I write about women who are tall and thin, who have seen, and caused, death.

I've been reading through everything I missed, and let me tell you I have twenty or so tabs left to check out. But I don't know how long I have online, so let's get this up now, yes? Yes. KK. WARNING: violent. Could be triggering.

There's a post that Micki is going to war. I wish her all the best, knowing that...war is something I both love and hate. It may tear people away, and you can never be sure they will come home alive. So I hope, for the sake of Micki, her family, and all of us here, that she comes back alive and relatively unharmed.

But then Heather and Irmelin believe that war is unfeminist in many ways. But why? Is it not traditional that women will not fight? A woman should have every right to fight for what she believes in! If she believes in a conutry, if she believes in fighting to prove everyone wrong, if she believes in...she should act upon it.

“The blood is the life.” -Dracula

When we amble into the open air, our hands are already sticky with its sap. Its metallic tinge is the first taste to welcome us: “Here is Earth. It is raw, it is red, and it is forged by this power.”

As far back as the calendars have scratched at stone walls, men have forged this world in the blood of violence, war, and rape. It is a history that we hail with grins and songs, thanking those who have died to conquer our bounty. We covet the heroes whose faceless names we write in our books and poetry, holding close to our breasts a cultural bonding that “this is ours”.

But it is not mine.