Diana Elizabeth Jordan
Disability: 3 Varied Perspectives
Performed by Diana Elizabeth Jordan
River
By Vincent Terrell Durham
What’s wrong with your little girl is what people in our town would ask my grandmother. She don’t listen when I tell her to pick up her room. Thinking my grandmother didn’t understand their question. They would ask again. What’s wrong with your little girl? My grandmother would respond. She don’t know how to put a dish in the sink to save her life. She ain’t got no maid. She got a grandmother. Put that plate in the sink, girl. Again, what’s wrong with your little girl?
My grandmother would square her shoulders and say, why don’t you tell me what’s wrong with my little girl. I gave you two answers and you don’t like none of them. What’s wrong with my little girl? It depends on the day, it depends on her mood, it depends on what’s going on in the news. On April 4th 1968, she was real sad. We was watching the news and word came that Martin Luther King Jr has been killed in Memphis. She was in love with the sound of Dr. King’s voice, What’s wrong with my little girl. She couldn’t sleep last night, I told her to turn that monster movie off because it would give her bad dreams. But she loves her some vampires and werewolves. She loves them up until it is time to go to bed. What’s wrong with my little girl. It depends on the day, it depends on her mood, it depends on what’s going on in the news.
My grandmother is gone and I am not a little girl but the question still remains: What’s wrong with her? It depends on the day. It depends on my mood, it depends on what’s going on in the news.
The Poem
By Neil Marcus
If there were a country called disabled,
I would be from there,
I live disabled culture, eat disabled food,
Make disabled love, cry disabled tears,
Climb disabled mountains and tell disabled stories.
If there was a country called disabled,
I would say she has immigrants that come to her
From as far back as time remembers.
If there was a country called disabled,
Then I am one of its citizens.
I came here at age 8. I tried to leave.
Was encouraged by doctors to leave.
I tried to surgically remove myself from disabled country
But found myself in the end, staying and living there.
If there was a country called disabled,
I would have to remind myself that I come from there.
I often want to forget.
I would have to remember…to remember.
In my life’s journey
I am making myself
At home in my country.
Peach Pie
By Diana Elizabeth Jordan ©dej2014
New York! My you gentlemen have sure traveled far. My husband Franklin he was Buffalo. He was a college man, went to college in Washington D.C. He was such a handsome man. We met at church. Never thought I‘d meet wonderful man like him, after all I was cooking and cleaning for Mrs. Millie Simpson at the time thinking I was going to be an old maid but he took me away from all that. He said Bessie Mae with your cooking and my business smarts that we should start our own restaurant and so after we got married that’s what we did. We called it Ida May’s Home Cooking. Named it after my mama ‘cause she taught me everything I know about cooking and she learned from my grandmamma who was the main cook in the house on the plantation where she was born. We loved having our restaurant and people would come from miles around we even had some white folks like yourselves.
The world can be a very cruel place…I was away in Savannah with my girls seeing my baby sister Jenny when they came in the night and got him. Neighbors say they could hear those men laughing as if what they was doing was some type of sport or game. Even though I was away in Savannah I had an uneasy feeling the entire day. Pastor Reynolds talks about forgiveness but I must confess it is not easy for me. They say time heals all wounds but it has been 5 years since those men did what they did and I miss him every single minute of every day.
It has been hard but I have kept this place going and I kept that dream Franklin and I had and both our girls will be the first girls on either side of our families to go college. Ruth will graduate this year wants to be a teacher and my baby Ester is in her first year wants to be a doctor can you imagine that? Having my girls helps me so much.
Well just listen to me gabbing away. Franklin use to say I could talk the ear off of corn…. Let me see what I have the kitchen. They have to be cold plates because of the lateness of the hour, but I promise it will be delicious. And I can top it off with some slices of my peach pie that I made from scratch and some glasses of ice tea. Well you gentlemen sit tight and I’ll be right back.
Performed by Diana Elizabeth Jordan
River
By Vincent Terrell Durham
What’s wrong with your little girl is what people in our town would ask my grandmother. She don’t listen when I tell her to pick up her room. Thinking my grandmother didn’t understand their question. They would ask again. What’s wrong with your little girl? My grandmother would respond. She don’t know how to put a dish in the sink to save her life. She ain’t got no maid. She got a grandmother. Put that plate in the sink, girl. Again, what’s wrong with your little girl?
My grandmother would square her shoulders and say, why don’t you tell me what’s wrong with my little girl. I gave you two answers and you don’t like none of them. What’s wrong with my little girl? It depends on the day, it depends on her mood, it depends on what’s going on in the news. On April 4th 1968, she was real sad. We was watching the news and word came that Martin Luther King Jr has been killed in Memphis. She was in love with the sound of Dr. King’s voice, What’s wrong with my little girl. She couldn’t sleep last night, I told her to turn that monster movie off because it would give her bad dreams. But she loves her some vampires and werewolves. She loves them up until it is time to go to bed. What’s wrong with my little girl. It depends on the day, it depends on her mood, it depends on what’s going on in the news.
My grandmother is gone and I am not a little girl but the question still remains: What’s wrong with her? It depends on the day. It depends on my mood, it depends on what’s going on in the news.
The Poem
By Neil Marcus
If there were a country called disabled,
I would be from there,
I live disabled culture, eat disabled food,
Make disabled love, cry disabled tears,
Climb disabled mountains and tell disabled stories.
If there was a country called disabled,
I would say she has immigrants that come to her
From as far back as time remembers.
If there was a country called disabled,
Then I am one of its citizens.
I came here at age 8. I tried to leave.
Was encouraged by doctors to leave.
I tried to surgically remove myself from disabled country
But found myself in the end, staying and living there.
If there was a country called disabled,
I would have to remind myself that I come from there.
I often want to forget.
I would have to remember…to remember.
In my life’s journey
I am making myself
At home in my country.
Peach Pie
By Diana Elizabeth Jordan ©dej2014
New York! My you gentlemen have sure traveled far. My husband Franklin he was Buffalo. He was a college man, went to college in Washington D.C. He was such a handsome man. We met at church. Never thought I‘d meet wonderful man like him, after all I was cooking and cleaning for Mrs. Millie Simpson at the time thinking I was going to be an old maid but he took me away from all that. He said Bessie Mae with your cooking and my business smarts that we should start our own restaurant and so after we got married that’s what we did. We called it Ida May’s Home Cooking. Named it after my mama ‘cause she taught me everything I know about cooking and she learned from my grandmamma who was the main cook in the house on the plantation where she was born. We loved having our restaurant and people would come from miles around we even had some white folks like yourselves.
The world can be a very cruel place…I was away in Savannah with my girls seeing my baby sister Jenny when they came in the night and got him. Neighbors say they could hear those men laughing as if what they was doing was some type of sport or game. Even though I was away in Savannah I had an uneasy feeling the entire day. Pastor Reynolds talks about forgiveness but I must confess it is not easy for me. They say time heals all wounds but it has been 5 years since those men did what they did and I miss him every single minute of every day.
It has been hard but I have kept this place going and I kept that dream Franklin and I had and both our girls will be the first girls on either side of our families to go college. Ruth will graduate this year wants to be a teacher and my baby Ester is in her first year wants to be a doctor can you imagine that? Having my girls helps me so much.
Well just listen to me gabbing away. Franklin use to say I could talk the ear off of corn…. Let me see what I have the kitchen. They have to be cold plates because of the lateness of the hour, but I promise it will be delicious. And I can top it off with some slices of my peach pie that I made from scratch and some glasses of ice tea. Well you gentlemen sit tight and I’ll be right back.
PHOTO DESCRIPTION:
A dark skinned, kinky-haired woman in a black and floral top stands in front of green palm frond. She smiles widely.
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Opulent Mobility by A. Laura Brody is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
The Opulent Mobility license refers to the exhibit and its audio descriptions. Individual artworks are the property of the individual artists.