Benvenuto! This is the first installment of what I hope will be an ongoing blog that will consist of my thoughts and comments about life as a second generation Italian American woman, who also considers herself to be a citizen of the world. 

 

I bring a writer’s sensibility to these postings as well as a woman’s point-of-view. I’m also an independent scholar of the Divine Female/Dea Madre with a strong interest in the Black Madonna and what Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum (and others) calls the Dark Mother. What that means to me is that I hold within my heart the vision of justice with compassion, equality among all peoples, and transformation. I’m an activist as well as a writer and I often use my words to speak truth to power. 

 

I chose the title “Second Sight” for my blog as a spiritual and political “play on words.” As a second generation Italian American, I often write about the impact of assimilation and my need to remember and embrace my family’s mother-culture. So much has been lost/silenced in my family’s original cultural memory. I feel an insistence to excavate and bring to light that which has been buried, forgotten. 

 

As a feminist/spiritualist, I believe in the power of women’s voices, too long silenced in a world that all too often values the male perspective over the female. My clarion call is to make room for both perspectives. I have no desire to negate the male in preference for the female. I merely wish to throw open the doors and windows and help create more breathing space for the female voice, which (to me) includes the voice of the Other, the subaltern peoples of the world—whether they live across the globe or in my own back yard.

 

Balance is important—in one’s personal life and in the socio-political-spiritual lives of humans on Earth. Righting the balance takes patience, grace, a willingness to speak out and stand up for what one believes in. Most of all, I believe it requires fierce kindness—a compassion that holds the frailty of humankind in its heart without flinching, then boldly names, and works to rectify, injustice.

 

Lest you think I’m a humorless bore, I want to assure you that I wholeheartedly stand in solidarity with Emma Goldman: “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be a part of your revolution.”

 

Andiamo!

 

Mary