The Shardissey

The usual journey of a woman's life takes her thru three personae/stages/roles:
maiden,
mother,
crone.

The crone role may have been respected in pre-agricultural cultures, but has often been dissed during patriarchal periods (at least in European and Indic cultures). Lately, some feminists and neo-pagans have been trying to reclaim "crone"; but for most speakers of English, the word remains a cruel insult. Each Halloween, commercial "culture" still depicts the old crone as an evil pseudo-"witch".

Biologically, fem writer/peformer Shar Rednour comes lately and chaotically to menarche (the start of menstruation). Behaviorally, she enters maidenhood as a "gold-star lesbian", giving up her virginity to a woman.

Then, just a few years later, she begins approaching menopause (the opposite of menarche).
Is this progeria? No, this "high femme" dyke is coming out again, this time as a chromosomally intersexed person (neither XX nor XY).

Only later, after time-warping from start to finish of her reproductive life,
does she become a parent, by adopting a baby.
So her odyssey runs from maiden to crone to mother.

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She told this story eloquently at the 8 February 2005 session of Michelle Tea's Radar Reading Series, at SF's main library. Daisy Hernandez, Greg Wharton, and Juba Kalamka also gave excellent readings.
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Next Radar time, on 29 March,
please look for
Amy Mahoney,
Jewelle Gomez,
Troung [Truong?] Tran,
and Jamison Green.

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-- event report by

ErHom

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