Origin Story
News broke that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade just as Jennifer and I entered the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. We had planned the day to take in beauty and art. What we experienced was something very different.
The weight of injustice was compounded as we walked through room after room of didactic, patriarchal art. Scenes of powerful men were displayed next to statues of rape.
We came across the sculpture of Adam and Eve being exiled in shame from the Garden of Eden, and it brought to mind a bumper sticker on my cousin's car: "Eve was framed." High art of the Rennaissance and low art of the American bumper sticker. Both stuck with me, but in this case, the bumper sticker carried greater meaning.
We had wine after we left the museum. "Abort the patriarchy!" we toasted, each knowing it was an impossible wish.
In Grief
It was also in Florence that summer afternoon in 2022 that Jennifer told me that her cancer had metastasized. She didn't want to talk about it. She wanted to enjoy Italy, so we did.
Two years on, my beautiful friend is gone.
A common piece of advice for those in grief is to pick up a habit or a hobby of the person you miss. Jennifer wrote poignantly about her fight for a good life in the face of cancer. And she lived life so very well.
I have chosen to write this in her spirit. I can no longer have conversations with her, but I can still hear her: some things are out of our control, but we do what we can. It might not be enough, but it is also everything.
With Open Eyes
Everyday actions, beliefs, and language uphold patriarchal structures. It's everywhere when you look around Uffizi, but it is also everywhere when we look at our everyday environments.
This is a call to action to open our minds to new narratives, to be critical of norms and traditions, and to interrogate exactly how this patriarchy is entwined in our lives.
A Writing Prompt
Where were you when you heard about Roe being overturned? What was your experience processing the news? And how do you see the world differently today?
Image credit: George Frederick Watts, 1881. Source. The artwork is in the public domain.
