A Cosmopolitan Girl

A Cosmopolitan Girl

Determined, realistic, and self-confident are not words that I hold to a specific gender. That might be the difference between someone who was born in generation x and the baby boomers and earlier. According to society these few words are associated with the male gender, since most of society that is able to determine what is and what is not acceptable are older we are labeled as a whole to have come to these conclusions. Perhaps June Jordan, the writer of Memo: 1980 knew something that the rest of society did not. And it might be that her revolutionized way of thinking was foreshadowing on what was to come. Hopefully through out my analyzing and explication I can come to what Jordan was trying to get across to us the readers. And if not I will have my own opinion on what Memo: 1980 means and that is what poetry is all about for the reader come to their own conclusions of what they have read, and hopefully have developed more analytical skills.

The opening three lines of June Jordans Memo: 1980 When I hear some women say she has finally decided you can spend time with other women. I wonder what she means: her mother? My mother? (Jordan pg. 158 lines 1-4) Leads me to believe the writer is referring to the jealousy women seem to have towards one another. Women say it is not jealousy, but then why is it women make awful assumptions about other women before knowing their first names or hearing a hello out of their mouths. Women tend to assume that other women are fake, annoying, and even to the extent that these other women are trying to take ones place. Women who deny these actions are lying, because we all do it. June Jordan also backs this up with the line Ive always despised my women friends.(line 5) ...

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...not loser her place in society. Meaning that she knew women had higher roles than playing follow the leader. She did not want the influence of other people to changer her own ideas. Yes, it might have been lonely being a cosmopolitan girl at the time because many people were not open to her ideas of being an individual, but at least she had her own stand in the world. I highly believe that Jordan wrote this for herself as a reminder, but maybe she also was writing it for other women who had the same ideas as her but were to intimidated by the opposite gender to say anything, or maybe even men, to let them know that they are not the all mighty high and powerful ones and that things were soon going to change.

Works Cited

Jordan, June. Memo: 1980 Literature Reading and Writing The Human Experience. Donna Erickson. New York: St. Martins Press, 1998. Page 158.