Chinaka Hodge: What will you tell your daughters about 2016?
Chinaka Hodge: Cosa racconterete alle vostre figlie di questo 2016?
Poet, playwright, filmmaker and educator Chinaka Hodge uses her own life and experiences as the backbone of wildly creative, powerful works. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
con la voglia di caffè
strewn about our morning papers,
sparsi sui nostri giornali,
of our sisters, spouses, small children.
spose, giovani figlie.
di quest'anno, perché sicuramente lo farà,
when she asks, as she certainly should,
era troppo tardi.
we didn't own it outright.
abbiamo affittato la libertà
non l'abbiamo veramente avuta.
for every way we used our privates
su come usavamo le nostre parti intime,
le nostre pieghe morbide,
di avere il permesso,
that enforced them.
che le hanno costrette.
di questo tempo di guerra,
la scena del delitto del night club,
against the outlines of our fallen,
accanto ai profili dei nostri caduti,
and moved with courageous abandon
e pianto con coraggio
affrontato le armi
ducked and parried,
schivato e parato,
collected death threats,
ricevuto minacce di morte,
abbiamo detto:
and found a running mate,"
e trovare un candidato",
shamed nothing but fear,
vergognandoci solo della paura,
ovviamente,
to be docile or small.
essere docili o piccole.
per la prima volta che eravamo donne,
that we were women,
questo giuramento di solidarietà.
and some of us did not,
e altre no,
whether that made us real
se questo ci rendesse reali
or heir to your triumph,
erede del vostro trionfo,
teetering towards woman,
vacillando verso la donna,
Were you fearful or fearsome?
Avevi o facevi paura?
le pareti del tuo rimorso?
in the year it was time?
in questo anno?
which bones had to break?
che ossa ha dovuto spezzare?
della vostra fronte,
about the arc of your brow,
already carried so much, wants to know
avete già sostenuto tanto, vuole sapere
what light did you keep from extinction?
che luce avete protetto dall'estinzione?
or were you roused?
cosa avete fatto col vostro privilegio?
what did you do with your privilege?
or directly into the flame?
o dritto alla fiamma?
o l'avete considerato un peso?
or treat it like a liability?
of "nasty" or "less than"?
"cattiva" o "meno di"?
o un pugno chiuso?
or a clenched fist?
sulla mia faccia come una daga,
drawn on my face like a dagger,
malgrado previsioni sghembe.
in spite of crooked odds.
in the company of courage,
in compagnia del coraggio,
when you just had yourself.
in cui avevate solo voi stesse.
and the sisters beside them,
e le sorelle insieme a loro,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Chinaka Hodge - Writer, educatorPoet, playwright, filmmaker and educator Chinaka Hodge uses her own life and experiences as the backbone of wildly creative, powerful works.
Why you should listen
Chinaka Hodge is a writer and educator from Oakland. She received her BA from NYU’s Gallatin School and studied Writing for Film and Television at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts MFA program. Her work has been featured in Believer Magazine, Teen People Magazine, Newsweek, San Francisco Magazine, on PBS and NPR, and in two seasons of HBO’s Def Poetry. She was an Associate Producer on Simmons Lathan presents Brave New Voices for HBO.
She is a Cave Canem Graduate Fellow, was a playwright-in-residence at SF Playwrights Foundation and serves as a Visiting Editor at The California Sunday Magazine. She is an inaugural Senior Fellow at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
Chinaka Hodge | Speaker | TED.com