By Christina M. Okeson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
May 4, 1998

And now - some words from the Girls

Last week's decision by a principal at a high school in South Carolina to cancel a free concert by the folk duo Indigo Girls was the only responsible choice. Faced with cries from a community "polarized" by the possibility of 30 minutes of "rock 'n' roll" inundating schoolchildren with subversive, ominous lyrics (undoubtedly about what lesbians do in bed), what else could the man do?

all my life I've painted with anger's brush

It's been exhausting. Unending. The feeling that for every step forward I'm allowed to take, some ignorant, cowardly individual can, in a single spoken sentence, punch me backward through centuries with his words.

all the carnage of my journeys makes it hard to be living

The foretold result of building the one gay club in my college town next to a redneck bar inevitably results in my being followed one night by two men who call me "dyke" and "cunt" and invite me to reconsider my lifestyle choice by test-riding their dicks.

I have spent nights with matches and knives

Institutionally condoned self-hatred destroys the will to live. How many times will gay and lesbian teen-age suicide statistics cycle through people's brains before they finally get it? How much will be lost in the name of god or morality? How many graves will be dug for kids at that South Carolina high school?

Ragged down worn to the skin, warrior raging, have no fear

I will offer you sanctuary and understanding. I will teach you our history. Even though you feel alone and without hope, know that there are more of us out there than you think. Grow from the anger, take that which chokes and frightens you and find solace in community.

My life is part of the global life

Our celebrations cannot be stolen from us. Multitudes of breathing bodies undulate in self-recognition. I learn from those who have been beaten and scarred before me.

the mississippi's mighty but it starts in minnesota at a place where you could walk across with five steps

Little words. From a beginning when videotapes never caught police, either raiding butch/femme bars or raping those detained in custody, to film at 11 that no longer focuses only on the flagrant in pride marches, there are little signs of "steps."

Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good laugh

I will always be outraged. But I can also be outrageous. And in love with life. It hasn't always been about just getting through it. I remember how drunk I had to get before I could call my dad and tell him the truth about me...and him responding that he already knew.

A moment of peace is worth every war behind us

Respites are consolation for constant fighting. I appreciate subtleties more when I recognize them, because they are so often and easily overlooked.

I just got a letter to my soul

A wake-up call with a beautiful smile and long curly hair reminds me those moments of peace have to be earned. We place hope in the future of each other and in our family, and she is somehow able to convince me that I also have much to offer her.

To let this love survive would be the greatest gift we could give

To anyone. From the tokens of the New Right to the child who doesn't look twice at the clasped hands of two women or men: repeated, visible symbols that love is all that matters can help heal this world. Everything gained can so easily be lost when the battle rarely ebbs.

if we'd ever leave a legacy it's that we loved each other well

Expression of self through song began with spoken language. One principal's decision cannot be left unchallenged. Love in the name of judgment always comes with a price. My words are paper tigers

The lyrics quoted in this column are from various Indigo Girls songs.

Christina M. Okeson is a graduate student majoring in journalism and copy chief of the Arizona Daily Wildcat.