WORDPLAY HERO’S JOURNEY CIARA ALLEN FRANNIE FOLSOM KATELYN NIMIC
ARCH BOOKS NEW YORK
WONDERLAND
LONDON
NEVERLAND
OZ
TORONTO
Wordplay: Hero’s Journey An Arch Book/published by arrangement with Harris House, Inc. PUBLISHING HISTORY Harris House edition published 2020 Swift Publishing edition/2019 RBG Publisher edition/1993 Steinem Education edition/1971 Anthony&Stanton edition/1920 Sojourner House edition/1851 All rights deserved. Copyright © 2020 by Ciara Allen, Frannie Folsom, and Katelyn Nimic. Mural by Ana Leovy. Mural covered with phonetics by Ciara Allen. Gender analysis provided by Building Without Bias by Hannah Rozenberg. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the authors, so you must ask very nicely. The authors do ask that all readers of this book that might be tempted to mansplain the content to any other readers, please refrain, lest legal actions be taken. ISBN 4-101-13197-3 Published simultaneously in the United States and Wonderland Arch Books are published by Arch Books, a division of Crazy Feminist Publishing Group, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Arch Books” and the portrayal of the RBG collar, is not Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries because this is not in fact a real published book.
This book is dedicated to
THE WITCHES, THE SHREWS, AND THE MADWOMEN
“My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant to be your own person, be independent.” - RUTH BADER GINSBURG
Hero was walking to her car after an eventful day at work. She was telling a friend all about it over the phone. “Yes she did! Can you believe she called me that? What a crazy bi-...” Hero stopped and stared at the barrier. What were the chances?
Hero had never noticed this parking garage before. She started reading the words on the outside. All of the words on the bottom seemed kind of nasty but the words at the top were different.
“WordPlay....” Hero peered into the parking garage. “Well just a peek wouldn’t hurt!”
Hero explored. Everywhere she looked there were these big words. Hero thought about all of those times growing up when her parents reminded her to be “ladylike.” Hero remembered the time she started crying during a fight with her boyfriend and he told her she was always being too “fragile.” Hero remembered just last week when her co-workers kept ignoring her suggestions and told her to stop being so “bossy.” Hero thought about just moments ago on the phone when she nearly called her boss a... Hero felt angry and ashamed.
Hero didn’t want to look at these words anymore. It was then she noticed what looked like a doorway in the big loop of words at the center of the garage. She wanted to know where it went. Once inside the letters, Hero realized it was... an obstacle course? How strange! But why was it here? Hero started climbing through it. To her surprise she found herself climbing up as well as around.
While climbing, she found herself reflecting on those words she had read that now felt so far below.
“Why did those words sting so bad? They’re just words... right?”
Hero emerged from the obstacle course at the top of the parking garage. “WOW!” Hero looked around. Everywhere she looked there were people playing on these huge words. It was a bit like downstairs... but these words were different. While those words seemed to bring her down, these words made her smile. Hero wanted to join in!
Hero CONNECTED...
...and REFLECTED...
...and PLAYED!
Hero felt safe and seen and refreshed. It was then time to go.
Hero walked down the ramp back to the first floor feeling lighter than she had in a long time. But once back down she was again reminded of all of those negative words and memories. This time, though, they didn’t weigh on her like they did before. Now she knew that the world possessed so many better words. Hero looked at the path before her and saw that it was paved with words that felt right and true. Hero walked down them, acknowledging each as she passed. “I don’t need to be confined by other’s definition of ‘ladylike’. I’m an individual and can make my own definition. I’m dignified!” Hero took a step forward. “I’m not ‘fragile’, I’m empathetic and in touch with my feelings!” Hero took a step forward. “And I’m not ‘bossy’! I’m opinionated and no one is ever going to convince me that having a voice is bad!” Hero took a step forward. “Anyone using those words over there to describe woman or anyone else is small-minded and threatened by strong minds!” Hero stepped out of the parking garage and back into the light.
Hero looked at the people walking past on the street with a new thoughtfulness but was momentarily startled as a catcall was bellowed from a passing car and a woman waiting at the corner nearly jumped out of her skin in alarm. The car disappeared down the road to both women’s relief but something didn’t sit right with Hero. “The world needs to change,” thought Hero, “but how?” Hero looked back at WordPlay. She hurried down the sidewalk to the other woman. “Hi! I’m Hero. I’m sorry that happened! Some people have no concept of respect. Have you ever been to WordPlay before?”
THE END
THE MAKING OF
WORDPLAY HERO’S JOURNEY
Due to the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, the world is in a state of crisis and upheaval, but this isn’t the first time this has happened. The theory of the Backloop is that the state of society at peace can only last so long before a crisis - like a war or a pandemic - sends society into a “backloop.” The backloop can be a time of panic and destruction BUT the silver lining is that it also gives way to many opportunities for growth and development. The status of women is one thing that the backloop has consistently restructured. Before the Black Plague, women were only acknowledged in society by their marital status - maiden, matron, and widow but after the plague new ideas developed including the more complex concepts of womanhood and femininity. Before the American Revolution, women were seen as morally corruptible things that needed to be kept in check by their fathers or their husbands but after, public perception completely flipped and they instead became the moral and virtuous backbones of the family. World War II is well known for a major shift in women’s lives as they played a vital role in the war effort working on the home front and filling a void men had previously occupied. If all of these backloops were able to restructure perceptions and attitudes toward women, why not this one? The idea for WordPlay came out of the desire to investigate the language used to describe women and femininity. There are so many negative words that are used against women - words like bossy or clingy - while more often than not - the positive ones are only meant to describe the physicality of femininity. The hope for this redevelopment project, and this book based off of it, is that we learn to leave behind all of the negative rhetoric that is used to keep women and people who identify with femininity down and instead bring into the light all of the positive feminine language we have at our disposal. This project was created as a giant, adult-centered playground and park located in an existing downtown parking garage at the highly trafficked intersection of 9th and O Street in Lincoln, Nebraska. The goal of this project is to transport the user back to childhood, a time of growth and learning, by redesigning typical playground structures into an educational commentary on gender biases. Just as children learn by playing, WordPlay engages adults on the site through play while also asking them to reflect on learned gender biases, stereotypes, and divisions. In the book you watch the main character, Hero, go on a journey of self-discovery as she reflects on giant sculptural words scattered throughout the parking garage. These words work to deliver both the message and the activity of the park. The
negative words of the first floor appear stark and cold - they are reminders of the demeaning or rude language that is too often applied to feminine people. The top floor on the other hand is filled with brightly colored words that show the variety of positive feminine language available to us. These words have been formed into the play equipment that activates the park. “Brave” forms the handholds of a merry-go-round. “Joyful” frames a swing set. “Intuitive” acts as a set of seesaws and it sits at the base of a mural that depicts more positive words written in international phonetics. These are the words we want visitors of the park to remember when they leave. The letters themselves are constructed with metal frames concealed by steel veneers with various color and safety coatings. A few of the words on the top floor light up and glow at night. Those words are constructed out of the same metal frame but the veneer is devised of a translucent heavy plastic. About Hero: Hero is a name from Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” In the play, the character Hero is a woman who adheres to society’s expectations for a wellbehaved young lady, but due to the cruelty and blindness of that same society, she is shamed and punished anyway. This book’s Hero will not meet the same fate. Hero is also a reference to the story structure concept of “The Hero’s Journey.” In this structure the hero is called to adventure, faces trials, and crosses thresholds into other worlds that challenge them and change them. This book and the project’s site was designed to follow that structure as our Hero travels through the other world of WordPlay and leaves a changed woman.
STICKS AND STONES MAY BREAK ME, BUT WORDS HAVE FORMED ME.