A. Andrews
Bio
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Stories (2/0)
As a Woman, I Take Pride in My Historical Patchwork Quilt
"It’s no-thing, not no-uhn. Abbie, how do you say it?” My relaxed spring day has been interrupted, not by the chirping of birds or the mowing of grass, but by a debate that has plagued my multi-dialectal house for almost a decade. I respond to my step-father with the reply I always give when I am asked, as if one day the answer will change: I say ‘no-uhn’. Despite my honesty, I am met with a look I can only describe as the parental ‘I’m not angry, just disappointed’ glare. “But that’s wrong! There’s a ‘T.’” My mum returns fire as I play the part of an umpire in an impassioned verbal tennis match. “It’s wrong to you, but that’s the way we say it, so it’s right!”
By A. Andrews6 years ago in Wander
The Post Marriage Name Change: Outdated Tradition or a Matter of Personal Choice?
I sit across from my mother’s oldest and dearest friend; Louise, a woman of 42 who considers it an achievement to have avoided marriage for almost four and a half decades. During a family gathering and midway through a passionate feminist speech, she declares she has no intention of taking her fiancé’s surname. “You bloody well will! It's tradition!” This threatening statement came from a feisty 82-year-old lady who had, so far not uttered a word from the recliner in which she slumped: the soon-to-be bride’s grandmother. Her reanimation at the mere mention of opposing this custom sparked a debate in my mind. Has the tradition of name-taking dissipated under the bright, white spotlight of feminism, individualism, and our pre-conceived notions of gender stereotypes?
By A. Andrews6 years ago in Viva