Chinaka Hodge: What will you tell your daughters about 2016?
Chinaka Hodge: Zer kontatuko diozu zure alabei 2016ari buruz?
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.
strewn about our morning papers,
egunkarietan barreiatuta,
of our sisters, spouses, small children.
faksimile bustiak.
when she asks, as she certainly should,
urte honi buruz galdetzen duenean,
we didn't own it outright.
ez zela erabat gurea.
for every way we used our privates
gure atal intimoak arautzeko legeak
heltzen zituzten bitartean,
that enforced them.
betearazten zituzten gizonentzat.
gerraldi hori,
izan zituen urtea,
utzi genuen,
against the outlines of our fallen,
eroritakoen silueten kontra,
kantatu genien.
urte hartan,
and moved with courageous abandon
alde egin genuen urtea
hasi ginen urtea ere izan zen,
ducked and parried,
uzkurtuta eta tinko,
collected death threats,
batutako heriotza mehatxuak,
"35 urte ditugu,
and found a running mate,"
bikotekidea aurkitzeko unea"
beldurrak lotsarazten gintuen soilik,
shamed nothing but fear,
eta, esan nahi genuen,
to be docile or small.
otzana edo txikia izateko.
that we were women,
emakumeak ginela,
and some of us did not,
beste batzuk ez,
whether that made us real
horrek erreal egiten gaituen,
or heir to your triumph,
zure garaipenaren ondorengoak,
teetering towards woman,
helduko dio sakratuki,
Were you fearful or fearsome?
Beldurtia edo beldurgarria zinen?
zure damuaren paretak?
in the year it was time?
unea zenean?
which bones had to break?
zer hezur hautsi behar izan zituen?
eta ongi al zaude, ama?
about the arc of your brow,
bekaina okertzen baduzu,
already carried so much, wants to know
eta jakin nahi du
zer argi babestu zenuen desagertzetik?
what light did you keep from extinction?
lotan geratu edo iratzarri zinen?
or were you roused?
zer egin zenuen zure pribilegioarekin?
what did you do with your privilege?
or directly into the flame?
edo sugarrari so egin zenion?
or treat it like a liability?
edo oztopotzat zenuen?
of "nasty" or "less than"?
engainatu zituzten?
or a clenched fist?
irakatsi zenuen?
drawn on my face like a dagger,
daga bat bailitzan,
zuretzat lekua egiteko".
soberakin ustelak egon arren.
in spite of crooked odds.
in the company of courage,
ausardia aldamenean,
when you just had yourself.
zeure burua besterik ez zenuenean.
eta ahizpak aldamenean,
and the sisters beside them,
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