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Hear Me, See Me: Incarcerated Women Write, edited by Marybeth Christie Redmond and Sarah W. Bartlett. Orbis Books, 2013. These two women founded an organization in which incarcerated women could express their thoughts in writing. These incarcerated were allowed paper and pencil, and
a place of comparative quiet to pour out their hearts and minds. What marvelous stories and reflections came forth from these women who were sometimes without hope and courage! Sister Helen Prejean predicts that this book will become a classic in the growing body of prison literature.
One director of the Insight Prison Project affirms these writings as subjects of breathtaking honesty, surprising humor, and hard-won self confidence. Some women had endured horrible abuse, separation from their children, the pain of incarceration, and deep longing for freedom. Did the two editors have anything in common with these incarcerated women? Yes, for the women in prison speak with universal fears, hopes, and
dreams, which Marybeth and Sarah also experience on a different level.
Here are a few excerpts from the book: (Each woman gave her first name as identification).
My past abuse led up to my addictions. I've been violated so many ways-and not yet completely healed. It's small because I no longer let my past control me. I no longer hide like a coward behind drugs
and codependency......I am a survivor. Shawna H
I'm scared, actually terrified.
This way of life has molded me.
This is who I am:
No dreams, no
ambitions, no responsibility. DG
When I am always around my sister, she wants me to be ashamed; and when I 'm not around my sister, I am not ashamed. The reason my sister makes me
feel ashamed is because her life is better that mine.
But I love my baby sister. Jess
The two authors aim to write and encourage writers who will enhance the dignity of the person. They do not believe in "fluff" writings or high-profile news. Hence, their enthusiasm for this type of writing from incarcerated women.
(Thanks to Sr. Irene Hartman OP for this review) Paperback and Kindle
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Saint of the Week
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St. Marianne Cope (1838-1913): January 23
On January 23, 1838, a daughter was born to Peter and Barbara Cope of Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany. The girl was named after her mother. Two years later the Cope family emigrated to the United States and settled in Utica, New York. Young Barbara worked in a factory until August 1862, when she went to the Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis in Syracuse, New York. After profession in November of the
next year, she began teaching at Assumption parish school.
Marianne held the post of superior in several places and was twice the novice mistress of her congregation. A natural leader, three different times she was superior of St. Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse, where she learned much that would be useful during her
years in Hawaii.
Elected provincial in 1877, Mother Marianne was unanimously re-elected in 1881. Two years later the Hawaiian government was searching for someone to run the Kakaako Receiving Station for people suspected of having leprosy. More than 50 religious communities in the United States and Canada
were asked. When the request was put to the Syracuse sisters, 35 of them volunteered immediately. On October 22, 1883, Mother Marianne and six other sisters left for Hawaii where they took charge of the Kakaako Receiving Station outside Honolulu; on the island of Maui they also opened a hospital and a school for girls.
In 1888, Mother Marianne and two sisters went to Molokai to open a home for "unprotected women and girls" there. The Hawaiian government was quite hesitant to send women for this difficult assignment; they need not have worried about Mother Marianne! On Molokai she took charge of the home that St. Damien de Veuster [May 10, d. 1889] had established for men and boys. Mother Marianne changed life on Molokai by introducing cleanliness, pride
and fun to the colony. Bright scarves and pretty dresses for the women were part of her approach.
Awarded the Royal Order of Kapiolani by the Hawaiian government and celebrated in a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, Mother Marianne continued her work faithfully. Her sisters have attracted vocations among the Hawaiian
people and still work on Molokai.
Mother Marianne died on August 9, 1918 and was beatified in 2005 and canonized seven years later. americancatholic.org site
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