Engender Zine February 2019

engender

february 2019

a production of the

Visit us in the RMC women.rice.edu facebook.com/RiceWRC

contents “Dancing in Infinity” Suzanne Zeller “Mary Oliver was my teacher” Anonymous "Sky-High Wilderness" Anonymous

Xxxx Xxxxxx

“Scrambled Eggs” Jennifer Fu "Lather Up, Bitch" Brianna Garcia "Embrace" Suzanne Zeller "I-10" Helena Martin "Black Chipped Nails" Helena Martin "Santa Fe" Sarah Torresen "Lengue e Parole" Anonymous "the End is near" Suzanne Zeller

Suzanne Zeller

Mary Oliver was my teacher.

She taught me to cry, laugh, and see miracles in the mundane.

Mary Oliver, a poet, died on January 17th.

"Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting — over and over announcing your place in the family of things."

Anonymous

Anonymous

Lather Up, Bitch Brianna Garcia Sitting on stone to purge and standing in steam to baptize and bowing over holes to pray for cleansing.

Nacirema and our ritual of hygiene at the altar where altered minds control willing eyes, and hands and water govern this place to hide bodies and hate bodies— When did I trust my soul to surfactants?

Topography amplified by light and context, I soothe myself: pores minimally impact happiness but the plate is bright and clarity is false and reflective and the hard white is cold beauty against the hot blemish of swollen skin and salves soothe better than sense.

Who finds rest in this room?

This box where you shit and shower and evaluate your worth as a woman.

Jennifer Fu

Rice University's

Critical Approach to the

VAGINA MONO LOGUES ({}) February 21, 22, 23 @ 7pm Sid Rich Basement

The Vagina Monologues are a diverse collection of monologues originally written by Eve Ensler in 1996 centered on the experiences of women with vaginas. This show is performed annually on thousands of college campuses, internationally, and is part of a larger global political movement called V-day, which works to end violence against women by increasing awareness through events and fundraising millions of dollars.

Directing The Vagina Monologues has been an incredibly thought-provoking, important, and impactful experience for us as directors, and our hope is that the production will involve the Rice community to also think critically about the show – its values as well as its shortcomings. Therefore, this year, we are calling the show, “Rice University’s 2019 Critical Approach to the Vagina Monologues,” aiming to be more transparent about the limitations of the play’s engagement with feminism.

Through this approach we hope to address the dangers of essentializing the vagina as a symbol of womanhood, and the implications for trans women especially and those who do not identify their experience of being a woman with the anatomical body parts. It is critical to understand that not all women have vaginas, and not all vagina-havers identify as women.

While Eve Ensler’s monologues are powerful, it should be evident that no show can ever encompass the full diversity and range of womanhood, so this year we have included an “Intermission” in which members of our community have given voice to their own lived experience performing cultural works, poetry, and literature that more personally relates to themselves.

Please, feel uncomfortable, feel empowered, feel angry, feel confusion, and actively reflect on how all the monologues may or may not relate to you.

We have an amazing cast and crew that have worked incredibly hard to put on what is going to be an incredible show with 10% of the funds going to V-Day and the rest being donated to the Houston Area Women’s Center. Please stay after the show for an informal chat about the show and come to the diversity dialogue on March 1st in the RMC Minor Lounge, where there will be more reflection on the show's approach to feminist issues.

Ishani Desai, Kaarthika Thakker, & Mandy Qua, Vag Mon Directors 2019

I-10

By Helena Martin There’s a long line of gray weaving through Texas like veins I’m running through it and in it, in silent contemplation Doppler whines pass me by, and I am one of them Flat lines morph into hills and I drift between slumber and caffeine fronted anxiety.

The bush is endless out here: a sea of deep green blue against the orange of the setting sun I am in a dream lulled to sleep by the push and pull of the wind against the truck The crack on the windowpane aligns with the horizon A silver lining to the coral like image of foliage on rock Overhead birds of prey scatter from the binary light of a cell tower I wonder how close i am to the border, a metaphor to my own heritage I am almost in Mexico in the same vague and liminal way a girl with pale skin and light hair can only be almost Mexican One generation away from a passport I joke with friends One generation away from belonging I think quietly Texas is a land of liminal space. It was almost Mexico, almost independent.

I am almost.

Three quarters between San Antonio and El Paso in the seeming endless bush of the hill country I am nowhere in particular and in the grandest of somewheres Stratified hills are carved everywhere and we drive through their wounds Sat here listening to a podcast on sexual assault I am trapped and absent I can feel the weight of my experience pushing me out of my body In the seat next to me i wonder if he feels the weight of my experience too There is a distance here between two strangers of limited acquaintance, sharing at most the 5 hours it took to get this far.

The truck like myself is heavy on the ground, the clouds stretch thin and grey above If I squint they resemble the cigarette smoke that escapes through the window, nicotine fills the empty car but dissipates in the boundless land Here and now I stretch my legs against the boundaries of the passenger seat I wonder when my turn to take the wheel will come

Suzanne Zeller

playlist and art by Helena Martin

Sarah Torresen

Suzanne Zeller

see you in the next issue of

engender!

We welcome all original content, both visual and written. Anything from commentaries to comics to recycled academic papers. We want your thoughts represented!

Submit to zine@rice.edu

Editors in Chief Ishani Desai Sarah Torresen Editors Suzanne Zeller

Cover artwork by Suzanne Zeller

want to submit something to the next edition of engender? send your submission to zine@rice.edu!