This blog excerpt comes from my post on the Southern Honey Pilgrimage. I was thinking, as I often do, about how exposed I feel everytime I am plain speaking, describing a thing as it is.
I understand the power and necessity of Black women telling their stories, but for me there is always a bit of hesitancy. It is as though the internalized oppressive beliefs about visibility and appropriateness get kicked up and suck breath and words from my mouth. I feel the need to stay quiet, so as not to draw attention to myself. I feel that though, I am speaking my truth, and know that I am having a common experience, I am not supposed to speak about it, and if the experience is to be spoken about, then there must be someone more appropriate to tell the story than I. So in these fearful moments, I remember the truth. I know that I am the best and only person to tell the stories I know. In order to thrive Black women must be able to speak openly about life as we know it.
Cynthia C Harris
ART|HEALTH|LIBERATION
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Published by Cynthia C Harris
She is a self-described Writer/ Performance Artist/ Dancer/ Activist/ Health Educator/ Everyday Magical Waterfixin HooDoo Woman and proud southerner. A natural sign watcher, very much in tune with her surroundings, Ms. Harris finds it almost impossible not to hear the stories hovering around people. Growing up in a multi-talented family, she always felt at peace pursuing her creative interests. However when it came time to choose a career, Cynthia chose to focus on her parallel interest in health and graduated from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University with a BS in biology in 1999. Her subsequent work in the field of women’s reproductive health research fed her appreciation for the analytical and gave her the opportunity to study human behavior, leading her to not only be a vocal advocate for women’s health issues, but to create stories of empowerment. Her first performance piece, “Phrases of Womanhood”, has been performed since 2002 in Tennessee and Georgia by the Phoenix Ensemble under the direction of Ms. Helen Shute-Pettaway. Her performance piece, “Why Won’t She Leave?” has been presented nationally since its debut in 2005.
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