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From: Anthony Lardaro
Date: 2/5/01
Time: 1:11:14 AM
Remote Name: 159.91.146.202
Reading this reminded me of something I learned in my Women Writers class last semester. Virginia Wolff, the famous women's rights activist, once gave a speech called "A Room of One's Own." In it, she explained how a woman needs both money and a quiet room of her own in order to write. But she also related the story of Julia Shakespere (I think she calls her Julia, I can't quite remember), the fictional sister of William. She explains how Julia was just as talented as her brother, but because she was a woman, her work was obviously not taken seriously, nor could she ever even dream of getting published. She ended up running away from home as a teenager, bearing the illegitimate child of a clergyman, and eventually committing suicide.
Now that I've shared such a pleasant tale, this raises questions--what if women had the same opportunities that men had to write freely and to make a career of it? So, I ask all of you, what if blacks had a room of their own? What if they had the chance to cover the stories that defined American history for prominent publications? The course that American journalism would have ran would have been strikingly different. But, as black journalists had to claw their way through ignorant newsrooms and miles of red tape, I think it's fair to say that the end result is merely the shadow of what could have been. Just something to think about.