A to Z 24

I is for Infringe

A TO Z, A to Z 24, A to Z of 2024, Autoethnography, Permission to write

I like Oxford Languages, the dictionary company. Google uses them. I mention this because I was having a devil of a time finding the right word for this I entry. Google and Oxford just were not doing it for me. I had written a couple of drafts for other words but they just did not fit well with the memoir prompts themed to encourage women to write and to do so without any need for getting permission from anyone to do so.

So I broke out my handy iPad last evening and searched for i words pertaining to legal matters as I began to doze off to sleep. I finally stumbled over the word infringe. Hallelujah! That was what I was supposed to write about, obviously, or I wouldn’t have had such a strong response to seeing the word. Sometimes it is necessary to wait for inspiration.

In my rather compulsive manner of checking everything a couple of times to make sure I understood the proper usage, I ran across Dictionary.com’s synonyms that sorted out synonyms into a category: strongest matches. It started out with infringe – verb as in violate. Then it listed: “breach – contravene – disobey – encroach- impose – intrude -meddle – offend – trespass.

This was perfect. Every woman should seriously consider writing about being infringed upon.

We need not pander to prurient interests but in writing for legacy purposes using the word infringe as a main prompt and then writing about personal experiences each of the strong matches of the synonyms covers the world of indignities women still navigate in their lives.

I will do a few brief prompts to have you get the feel for how to use this infringement example through synonyms.

Breach: Discuss a rift or rupture you have faced, and perhaps healed, in your life. What role did others play in the process?

Contravene: Contemplate and discuss whether it has been more significant for you to go against a person or belief, or whether someone unjustly contradicting you has had more of an impact on your life.

Disobey: In order to remain whole and honest to your core, have you had to disobey your parents, teachers, or other authorities?

Encroach: Share a few times that you felt that your rights were usurped, or your personal space was intruded or impinged upon.

I think you get the idea.

Now do the same or something similar with the remaining aspects of of the verb infringe listed above: impose (dictate), intrude (impinge), meddle (hinder or tamper), offend (insult), trespass (poach).

Hex Signs

A TO Z, A to Z 24, A to Z of 2024, Autoethnography, Permission to write

When we write of what we know, because we grew up with the knowledge, I encourage you to ask yourself, “How do I know what I know?” If you don’t do this sort of research, and verify that what you know is real, you might end up furthering misunderstandings. One of the best examples of this is what I refer to as the hex effect which is writing about supposition rather than documented facts. The Pennsylvania Dutch word for practicing witchcraft is hexe. Perhaps one or two people did say that some other people were attempting to do harm or repel evil. But that is not well documented.

Far too many people assume that Hex signs, or the round painted symbols decorating barns, for the most part, in in Pennsylvania are related to putting a Hex on someone, means inflicting bad fortune on someone as through an evil spirit. The Pennsylvania Dutch, a term which does not refer to a specific ethnic or religious group, but rather to the German language speakers from several different groups who came into the area between the late 1600s and the early 1800s who were drawn together by a common language that over time combined into Deitsch, or Pennsylvania Dutch, a distinctive American hybrid of various dialects of German, High German, Swiss, and English.

These Deutche speakers were largely agrarian people with barns. They enjoyed decorating their barns with circular patterns incorporating symbols of stars, birds, and other pleasing, simple fare, such as hearts and flowers. There are geographic patterns in the distribution of signs.

To read more about this topic, check out the newletter of the Glencairn Museum .

I have yet to find any convincing evidence of these signsbeing related to anything evil. Most of the people who have written simple books on this subject did not include a bibliography and were not original practitioners of the painting practice.

Language changes. Do your research before you attribute meaning other than to say, “So-and-so told me about this word.”

An example of Pennsylvania Dutch people adopting words and practices of the Lenape tribe was when the Pennsylvania Dutch learned some of the Lenape ways and added them to their healing ceremonies (Braucherei); these German healers became known as “Powwow Doctors.”

Document where you learned of something and what source you used to verify that thing.

April Around the Corner

A to Z 24

April brings the A to Z Writing / Blogging Challenge.

This year,in Apri, I will be posting 26 posts, one for each letter of the alphabet. The topic “Permission to Write” will be the theme to guide me through the 26 posts.

This grouping of posts will, I hope, give you permission to write about anything, and all things. These will be enabling permissions rather than constraining prompts. Sometimes, as 21st Century woman, I find so many other tasks, to dos, and ought to dos, that I do not prioritize my writing with great importance. I suspect I am not the only person to put my needs, especially when it comes to writing, far lower on my to do list than it deserves. Far lower than I deserve.

Women need access to other women’s thoughts, writings, knowledge, and wisdom. If we do not write these down, record them, and at least attempt to preserve them in some fashion, then we are ill-serving our daughters, nieces, and all future women to repeat mistakes we made and from which they will not be able learn.

I am sharing what I believe are carefully crafted elicitation tools. Prompts , in their simplest form, can poke you and produce an answer to a question. An elicitation tool, named and used by social scientists, walks with you down a path into a private memory garden filled with reference to images, emotions, and even scents that are connected to experiences from your life.

This is the difference between, “When was your grandmother born?” and “Tell me about the first memories you have of your grandmother’s kitchen, porch, or garden.”

We have to ask the right type of question if we want to tell a nuanced story.

The Central web page for the challenge can be found here. However, this site is older, insecure, http web protocol and and not the secure https protocol that all online readers should look for when opening or reading a site.

The listing of the participating sites can be found here in this google doc.

To participate in the A to Z Challenge, you will need to register here. Why? So you can read and draw inspiration from other participants’ writings.

Enjoy, think, write!

A to Z 24

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