It's been a year to think about sisterhood, with the debate that kicked off at my alma mater at the beginning of the school year (read NYT article here and HuffPo article on the College's resolution here).
What I read with most interest (and, I admit, a twinge of sadness) were the last few paragraphs of the NYT article, describing a conflict at the end of "America the Beautiful."
And crown thy good with "____"-hood from sea to shining sea!
I loved filling in the blank with "sister" instead of "brother." In fact, "America the Beautiful" is part of the standard repertoire of lullabies at our house, and I've always sung it "sisterhood" to my boys.
Until recently, that is. One night, Patch asked why the song was about sisters, since he had brothers. Valid point. I answered truthfully that I sang the song often with my Wellesley College sisters, so that's how I liked to sing it. We debated what we could put in that blank, since singing "brotherhood," Patch reasoned, would make me sad since that's not how I liked to remember the song (smart cookie!).
For awhile we sang, "childhood," in honor of all children. Then that became "personhood" to not exclude adults. Lately, though, the preferred method is just for me to pause and each boy pick some kind of "-hood" they want to bestow upon the world. Current favorites are "awesome-hood" (Wm) and "canine-hood" (Patch); Ian prefers a silent pause.
With the Wellesley debate tempered down after the March decision to admit trans-students but keep the pronouns in the feminine, and my own internal house debate about how to sing the song settled about the same time, I hadn't thought much about sisterhood in a few months.
Until I read in the WaPo this morning about Sweet Briar College's very likely final graduation ceremony and closing, that is. The description and celebration of sisterhood resonated. I hope the few remaining women's colleges open their doors to those women now searching for an institution at which to finish their studies. And that the few women's colleges left can keep "crowning thy good with sisterhood" rather than hear the refrain of "another one bites the dust."
What I read with most interest (and, I admit, a twinge of sadness) were the last few paragraphs of the NYT article, describing a conflict at the end of "America the Beautiful."
And crown thy good with "____"-hood from sea to shining sea!
I loved filling in the blank with "sister" instead of "brother." In fact, "America the Beautiful" is part of the standard repertoire of lullabies at our house, and I've always sung it "sisterhood" to my boys.
Until recently, that is. One night, Patch asked why the song was about sisters, since he had brothers. Valid point. I answered truthfully that I sang the song often with my Wellesley College sisters, so that's how I liked to sing it. We debated what we could put in that blank, since singing "brotherhood," Patch reasoned, would make me sad since that's not how I liked to remember the song (smart cookie!).
For awhile we sang, "childhood," in honor of all children. Then that became "personhood" to not exclude adults. Lately, though, the preferred method is just for me to pause and each boy pick some kind of "-hood" they want to bestow upon the world. Current favorites are "awesome-hood" (Wm) and "canine-hood" (Patch); Ian prefers a silent pause.
With the Wellesley debate tempered down after the March decision to admit trans-students but keep the pronouns in the feminine, and my own internal house debate about how to sing the song settled about the same time, I hadn't thought much about sisterhood in a few months.
Until I read in the WaPo this morning about Sweet Briar College's very likely final graduation ceremony and closing, that is. The description and celebration of sisterhood resonated. I hope the few remaining women's colleges open their doors to those women now searching for an institution at which to finish their studies. And that the few women's colleges left can keep "crowning thy good with sisterhood" rather than hear the refrain of "another one bites the dust."
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