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Abby's picture

'Place To Be'

All I can say is that I'm stunned.  Reading Stryker's work was close to overwhelming.  I agree with many of the previous posts; the style of "My Words to Victor Frankenstein..." is exquisite.  The Linda Kauffman connection came to my mind as well while reading this piece.  I wonder what Kauffman would have to say about Stryker's use of her own personal testimony in such a powerful way (not that she leaves it at that...).  I can't imagine an essay like this being written in any other way, being separated from the personal journey Stryker shares with us.

This makes me think that perhaps the individual and the greater whole really are inseparable.  Maybe what goes on inside of us, what goes on with our bodies can only be understood through connecting it to a greater, bigger vision.  I'm reminded of the 'monstrous benediction' at the end of Stryker's essay: "May your rage inform your actions, and your actions transform you as you struggle to transform your world."  Maybe world making is really what we're all in the process of doing.  If a world in which all are fee to exist and prosper is not a reality, then we must be in the process of creating that world; in the process of carving out places for all of us to be.

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