Emma Darwin, a Life Imagined

November 29, 2012 by Kate Robinson

REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION FROM JOHN VAN WYHE ED. 2002-. THE COMPLETE WORK OF CHARLES DARWIN ONLINE. (HTTP://DARWIN-ONLINE.ORG.UK/)

As we examine women’s contributions to history, we must be careful not to overstate or inflate their true involvement. With November marking the anniversary of Darwin’s publication of ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, I wrote an article about Emma Darwin after reading that she was the deciding factor in Charles’ Darwin’s publication of the book. I was amazed that Darwin placed the manuscript for his monumental work into Emma’s hands, and more or less told her that he’d destroy the pages if she thought it heresy, since evolution flew in the face of their strong and shared religious beliefs. Thus, while Emma is known to have said that she felt what Charles was publishing would condemn them both to hell, she is claimed to have approved it regardless. Not only did she approve it, she made margin notes and asked questions or pointed out places that needed clarification.

It seems that some authors have taken what was essentially an editorial role, one played out by spouses throughout history, and claimed it for much more than it was. When I requested permission to use the image of Emma Darwin included herein, I mentioned my astonishment at the story, and received a reply from a Darwin scholar who was just as astonished. Dr. John van Wyhe, who is the director of The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online, wrote asking for my reference source. I sent him back the author’s name of a book about the Darwins. His reply confirmed that Emma’s influence and contributions have been overblown, and are a myth perpetuated like others about Darwin. He confirms that such rumors have been republished in a great many sources, and thus seem valid for their repeated publication. However, says Dr. van Wyhe, that does not make them true. (For a graduate student, this warning is apropos, and reminds me to seek a more reliable or first-hand source for information, rather than trust paraphrasing on behalf of another researcher.) And, in my own defense, since I had never heard this story before, and assumed it was another case of women being belittled in historical accounts, I sought the author’s source, which I could not find. Thus, I feel especially glad that I was prescient enough to mention the purpose and subject matter of the proposed article when I requested permission to use the image.

I know that I asked back in September that we demand from historians and academic publishers the whole story of history. I asked that marginal peoples be included, whether those were women involved in early union formation, stories from the black perspective in the civil rights movement, or various other minorities whose names are not famous and whose contributions are all but forgotten. However, I also do not want mountains made of proverbial molehills. We don’t need to imagine influence. Rather, I ask that the everyday experience of individuals who lived in particular times be considered. This makes me think of the DIARY OF ANNE FRANK. Her diary is not remarkable for any reason other than that she lived in an extraordinary time and recorded in her diary her lived experience as a Jewish person, and that the journal survived and made it to print. These are the stories of history that we need so that we understand the past in a way that helps us imagine and bring forth a better future. We don’t need fake, embellished or exalted stories. As with the relationship between Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson, we may never know the reality of it or any of its truths. We may never know whether Emma Darwin had much influence over Charles’s publication of ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES like we know that Tabitha King weighs in on Stephen King’s stories before they reach the eye of a professional editor. As we seek to increase our knowledge not just of dates, places and famous male names, we should not make more of women’s contributions for the sake of imagining greatness. The plain story, like Anne Frank’s, is just as significant when viewed as a part of the overall history of a time and place.

Joy Harjo’s Poetry—Something for Which to be Thankful

First published November 22, 2012 at http://www.hercircleezine.com/2012/11/22/joy-harjos-poetry-something-for-which-to-be-thankful/

KATE’S KITCHEN TABLE, IN DETAIL

There are so many things for which I feel thankful. The poetry of amazingly talented women writers is one of these. It was over eight years ago that I first read Joy Harjo’s PERHAPS THE WORLD ENDS HERE in a book about Thanksgiving and creating family rituals to celebrate. To me, Thanksgiving is about gathering people together, sustaining one another with love and sharing the good fortune we have of plentiful food, and a home open to family, friends and strangers alike in which we may share such bounty.

Another other thing for which I’m thankful is the kitchen table. Joy Harjo captures the essence of the table in her poem, PERHAPS THE WORLD ENDS HERE, which she has graciously allowed me to reprint herein. My kitchen table (pictured in detail) with the paint, glue, marker and indentations from my children growing, creating, learning and discovering at it fills me with gratitude. At one time, my husband and I considered refinishing the table once the children were grown. Now, we cherish the marks. They remind us of the stages of our children’s lives. We revere the table itself, and give thanks for its solid-footed presence, its offering as a place and space where we are nourished, fight, make memories, dream and…oh, let the poem say it much more eloquently:

Perhaps the World Ends Here
By Joy Harjo

THE WORLD BEGINS AT A KITCHEN TABLE. NO MATTER WHAT, WE MUST EAT TO LIVE.

THE GIFTS OF THE EARTH ARE BROUGHT AND PREPARED, SET ON THE TABLE. SO IT HAS BEEN SINCE CREATION, AND IT WILL GO ON.

WE CHASE CHICKENS OR DOGS AWAY FROM IT. BABIES TEETHE AT THE CORNERS. THEY SCRAPE THEIR KNEES UNDER IT.

IT IS HERE THAT CHILDREN ARE GIVEN INSTRUCTION ON WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN. WE MAKE MEN AT IT, WE MAKE WOMEN.

AT THIS TABLE WE GOSSIP, RECALL ENEMIES AND THE GHOSTS OF LOVERS.

OUR DREAMS DRINK COFFEE WITH US AS THEY PUT THEIR ARMS AROUND OUR CHILDREN. THEY LAUGH WITH US AT OUR POOR FALLING-DOWN SELVES AND AS WE PUT OURSELVES BACK TOGETHER AGAIN AT THE TABLE.

THIS TABLE HAS BEEN A HOUSE IN THE RAIN, AN UMBRELLA IN THE SUN.

WARS HAVE BEGUN AND ENDED AT THIS TABLE. IT IS A PLACE TO HIDE IN THE SHADOW OF TERROR. A PLACE TO CELEBRATE THE TERRIBLE VICTORY.

WE HAVE GIVEN BIRTH ON THIS TABLE, AND HAVE PREPARED OUR PARENTS FOR BURIAL HERE.

AT THIS TABLE WE SING WITH JOY, WITH SORROW. WE PRAY OF SUFFERING AND REMORSE. WE GIVE THANKS.

PERHAPS THE WORLD WILL END AT THE KITCHEN TABLE, WHILE WE ARE LAUGHING AND CRYING, EATING OF THE LAST SWEET BITE.

I want to specifically recognize Native Americans who do not necessarily view Thanksgiving in the same way as those whose ancestors were immigrants to this country. I do not wish to appropriate Joy Harjo’s poem and use it to gloss over the genocide of Native Americans and celebrate what many consider a specifically American holiday. Rather, outside of the historical context, may this day be one on which we feel sincere gratitude, especially for Native Americans who welcomed many of our ancestors, even though those ancestors eventually betrayed the generosity extended to them.

On this Thanksgiving of 2012, I wish you joy to sing at your own table, and hope your suffering and sorrows are few.

PERHAPS THE WORLD ENDS HERE was originally published in THE WOMAN WHO FELL FROM THE SKY, W.W. Norton, 1994.

"Sweet Hell on Fire" Book Review

 First published at http://www.hercircleezine.com/2012/11/15/sweet-hell-on-fire-a-memoir-of-the-prison-i-worked-in-and-the-prison-i-lived-in/ on November 15, 2012.

I read Sara Lunsford’s SWEET HELL ON FIRE: A MEMOIR OF THE PRISON I WORKED IN AND THE PRISON I LIVED IN, and loved this very different kind of memoir from a woman writer. Sara is promoting the book with a Virtual Book Tour this month, and inContext is happy to be a part of that. I had a few questions for Sara about the book: its contents, the writing process and her forays into publishing, which she kindly answered. As part of the Virtual Book Tour, inContext is pleased to announce a BOOK GIVEAWAY! Submit a comment on this interview and be entered to win a copy. The book will be mailed the first week of December, with names drawn November 30, 2012.

Kate: What was the most difficult thing as a woman working in corrections?

Sara: Most people would think that it would be getting used to seeing hundreds of naked men a day. That really wasn’t a big deal for me. We all have bodies and they all have to be washed, dressed, etc. What was the most difficult for me was I had to learn not to apply the behavior patterns of most of these men to all men. There are good and bad people, male and female, in prison and out. I had started to paint everyone with the same brush.

Kate: What do you think needs to be done to make corrections work more welcoming for women?

Sara: Let me preface this by saying I know so many women who do The Job and do it well. I’d trust them with my life. But no one else needs to do anything to make corrections welcoming for women EXCEPT WOMEN. There are already adequate laws and policies in place. The perception that women are a risk and don’t belong in the environment isn’t going to change until so many of us stop getting involved with inmates and endangering our fellow officers. It isn’t always women that get caught up, but the majority of incidents with officer/inmate relations are women.

On the surface, it may seem like this isn’t a big deal. Aside from being a sex offense, because no one in your legal custody can consent to sexual activity, it leads to violence. This happens either through the introduction of contraband, inmates wanting the same thing other inmates are getting (sex, special privileges, etc.), or if the officer breaks off the affair. Riots have been started for less and that situation puts everyone’s life on the line.

Kate: How has your experience as a correction’s officer affected your life today? 

Sara: It’s affected me in so many ways. What I went through both personally and professionally was a baptism by fire. Those experiences made me actively choose the life I want and the person I want to be.

I took some of the little quirks of the job with me. I never sit with my back to a door, I won’t eat food I’ve left unattended, and I’m always planning in my head for any situation that could arise out of whatever is happening to me at the moment.

It’s made me a better writer, not only where craft is concerned, but it’s prepared me for people who don’t like my books and want to tell me about it personally. After having three hundred guys make disparaging comments about everything from my hair to the size of my butt, someone disliking my book is kind of passé as far as my ego is concerned.

Kate: Was the process of writing the book cathartic?

Sara: It was most certainly cathartic. I didn’t think it would be. When I started writing, I thought it was going to be just like telling the other stories about things that have happened to me. It wasn’t. After I got into the meat of the project, there were times it was like picking open an old wound, but cutting deeper. Catharsis happened when I realized that everything that had happened to me had been for a reason. Seeing this project as a whole gave me purpose: to help other people. 

I know that there are people who have gone through worse than what I went through, people who are suffering and think it’s never going to get better. But it did for me. I came through. I’m still here. I am living my best life. If I can help them do the same, then it was worth it.

Kate: How did publishers react to your book? 

Sara: My agent and I did a round of submissions and we got a lot of great feedback. The subject material was too gritty for some. My book opens with me on my hands and knees in someone’s brain matter. That’s a tough read, but it’s how things happened. I didn’t sugar coat anything.

I actually did have one rejection that stayed in my head for a while. The editor said that she thought the “heroine” (me) was a know-it-all in the beginning and a know-it-all at the end and she didn’t learn anything and that was boring. That floored me because I learned so much about myself, love, redemption, forgiveness. The days in this book totally changed my life—me.

I’ve had a lot of people say that I’m strong, but I don’t know if that’s the case. I’ve just lived the life I’ve been given, tried to fix my mistakes and ultimately decided to be happy. But I’m not worried about receiving support. I’d rather be the one giving it. I’ve already crawled out of that pit. Yeah, some bad things happened to me, but they’re over and done with. They can’t be undone. I’m at peace with that. So the best thing, the right thing for me now is to have a voice for those who don’t and try to help others where I can.

Kate: Thanks for being so open with us and sharing your experiences. I wish you every success with your Virtual Book Tour.

Sara: Thanks so much for having me at Her Circle.

Book Giveaway
Leave a comment at the bottom of this inContext interview anytime from November 15th-30th in order to qualify for a chance to win a copy of SWEET HELL ON FIRE: A MEMOIR OF THE PRISON I WORKED IN AND THE PRISON I LIVED IN. Entrants must be 18 years or older with an address in Canada or the United States. No purchase is necessary. The winner will be chosen randomly and notified by November 30, 2012. Her Circle Ezine respects your privacy and does not share email addresses with third parties.

Gains Made by Women in the 2012 Election

First published at http://www.hercircleezine.com/2012/11/08/gains-made-by-women-in-the-2012-election/ November 8, 2012

We women went out and voted in record numbers in the election this week in the U.S. Women of all colors, ethnicities, races, socio-economic statuses and sexual orientations voted to re-elect President Obama. Likewise, women’s votes (and women candidates) made great strides with states like New Hampshire sending all women senators and representatives to Washington, and also electing a woman Governor. Landmark evens like the election of Massachusetts’ first female senator in candidate Elizabeth Warren and the election of openly lesbian candidate Tammy Baldwin were standard in this election instead of a single incidence across the country. The voices of the less-often-heard-from were heard loud and clear in the act of voting.

Maine, Washington and Maryland passed laws adding these states to the number that allow same-sex marriage. Minnesota defeated a measure that would have defined marriage through a Constitutional amendment as between one man and one woman. While the fact that these things come to a popular vote on a ballot remains disturbing, steps forward cannot be denied with these positive results.

Republican candidates who make bogus claims about biology, which they clearly do not understand in even the most rudimentary manner, were ousted from positions and lost their elections. Those who would claim that “legitimate” rape (a phrase some of us are still wondering about the meaning of) cannot result in pregnancy were schooled on what happens when their views about abortion itself get taken to an extreme and demonstrate their ignorance of basic biological science. Those who claimed that women who underwent abortions after discovering pregnancies after rape were punishing the child or not valuing “God’s gift,” learned that not only are women tired of men trying to determine what goes on in their bodies, but also that we’re tired of being blamed as victims of what is a violent crime.

As if all of this news about gains made by women in office was not enough, I want to share something personal about this election. At 1:43a.m. EST on November 7, 2012, while I listened to news reports and the President’s acceptance speech, my daughter who is away at college sent me a text saying, “For the first time, really, I am proud to say I’m an American! And, it feels so good to be able to say that!” At that moment, I thought back to September 11, 2001 when the terrorist attacks occurred. That was when my daughter’s faith in her country began to wane—at the ripe age of six! Over the years, she has been grateful for our country and its freedoms, for the efforts of our troops in every conflict throughout history and for keeping us safe at home. She has appreciated the open discussion even if it has turned nasty at times. She’s appreciated the freedom to express her opinion, and realizes the privilege it is to live in a country where she, as a woman, will be able to vote at eighteen, and can seek not only education, but also have an almost equal chance at finding a job with that college education as a woman. (Some might argue that she’d be more likely than a man to get a job, while others would say that she’d get the job, but only because she’d work for 77% of what a man would be paid for the same position.) These (and more) benefits of being a citizen of the United States have not been lost on her. However, in this election, even more than in 2008, her hope (yes, that word from the Obama campaign) that real change can occur has been realized. She has not only come of age when this nation elected the first African American President, but also then re-elected him, and sent more women into Congress and various legislatures across the country. Here’s to you, women voters of America!