In this Book
- Risk, Courage, and Women: Contemporary Voices in Prose and Poetry
- Book
- 2007
- Published by: University of North Texas Press
summary
This unique collection of narratives, essays, and poems includes an original interview with Maya Angelou and pieces by Naomi Shihab Nye, Pat Mora, Rosemary Catacalos, and many others. Each work relates how women have demonstrated courage by taking a risk that has changed their lives. The Introduction explores courage not as a battlefield quality, but as the result of thoughtful choices demonstrating integrity and self-awareness. Each section opens with a description of its organization and the significance of individual pieces. Themes include sustenance for living, faith in the unknown, the courage of choice, the seams of our lives, and crossing borders. The book begins with a conversation with Dr. Maya Angelou, the embodiment of a courageous woman. She urges readers to "Envision" and concludes the book with the wish "Good morning," inviting all to join her in a new day reflecting "The Power of One." Voices of racial and ethnic diversity speak throughout the work, underscoring both difference and unity in the female experience. Including role models for university audiences and powerful reflections of life experiences for older readers, this work serves many purposes: a textbook in Literature or Women's/Gender Studies classes, a focus for book study groups, and a source for providing perspective during quiet moments. All net proceeds from book sales will go to the WINGS nonprofit organization, recipient of Oprah's Angel Network award, providing uninsured women with free breast cancer surgery, radiation, counseling, and follow-up treatments such as chemotherapy. "I wish women could see themselves free. Just see and imagine what they could do if they were free of the national and international history of diminishment. Just imagine, if we could have a Madame Curie born in the nineteenth century, suppose that twenty other women had been liberated at the same time? That's what I wish for women: See it. Try to see yourself free. What would you do?"--from "Sources of Courage: An Interview with Dr. Maya Angelou"
Table of Contents
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- Acknowledgments
- pp. xiii-xiv
- Strong Women
- pp. xv-xvi
- Introduction
- pp. 1-20
- Sustenance for Living
- sustenance for living
- pp. 27-29
- one moment on top of the earth
- pp. 30-32
- the face that
- p. 36
- down the dublin road
- pp. 37-38
- standing ground
- p. 39
- walking home
- pp. 40-49
- garden of isabel
- p. 50
- el jardín de isabel
- p. 51
- unlike cain angel-like
- pp. 52-56
- in the language of silence
- pp. 57-58
- art for the sake of the soul
- pp. 67-74
- faith in the unknown
- faith in the unknown
- pp. 77-78
- the soul’s source
- pp. 79-80
- ithaca, on the landing
- pp. 89-91
- hints from a cancer victor
- pp. 95-101
- hoops of fire
- p. 102
- red dirt road
- p. 107
- of birth-mother and daughter
- pp. 108-112
- the courage of choice
- the courage of choice
- pp. 115-117
- begin again
- pp. 124-127
- night is my friend
- p. 139
- doshite human rights?
- pp. 149-150
- rahab’s scarlet cord
- pp. 151-152
- walking out
- pp. 159-160
- seams of our lives
- seams of our lives
- pp. 165-168
- traveling words
- p. 169
- jared found
- pp. 170-175
- the pinochle game
- pp. 176-182
- false prophet
- p. 183
- purple passion
- p. 184
- facing masks
- pp. 195-197
- now where are you?
- pp. 198-199
- two aisles
- p. 200
- final touches
- pp. 201-203
- judgment of dissolution—found poem
- pp. 204-205
- belfast: a woman’s story
- pp. 206-211
- the real self
- the real self
- pp. 217-219
- when i am asked
- p. 220
- enroute from japan
- p. 221
- two warriors
- pp. 222-225
- the clearwater
- pp. 226-237
- doña feliciana
- pp. 238-239
- swallow wings
- p. 241
- my heart beats for you
- pp. 242-244
- a heart to run
- pp. 245-247
- lilith whispers
- pp. 252-253
- judith mourns
- pp. 254-255
- dancing on the edge of the ledge
- pp. 256-259
- no position is a position
- pp. 260-261
- unlearning not to speak
- pp. 262-263
- confessions of a compulsive overachiever
- pp. 264-270
- crossing borders
- crossing borders
- pp. 273-276
- ruth marantz cohen: une vie exceptionelle
- pp. 277-280
- the telling of it
- pp. 281-286
- conversion: the trail of a resident alien
- pp. 287-293
- we who believe in freedom
- pp. 294-298
- turbulent odyssey for justice*
- pp. 299-305
- dancing in the dark
- pp. 306-307
- learning english: chorus in many voices
- pp. 309-310
- sharecropper’s daughter
- pp. 312-320
- questioning
- p. 321
- no traveler
- pp. 323-324
- stone house
- pp. 325-326
- elegy for an angel
- p. 327
- next year in jerusalem
- pp. 328-341
- on the pulse of morning
- pp. 342-345
- contributors’ biographies
- pp. 347-361
Additional Information
ISBN
9781574413861
Related ISBN(s)
9781574412338
MARC Record
OCLC
294907464
Pages
384
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No