“Letter to Ma” by Merle Woo

Reading of “Letter to Ma” by Merle Woo from This Bridge Called my Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa Eds. Fourth edition. State University Press of NY, Albany: 2015. Pages 138-145. Recorded 2/23/22. 25 minutes.

Grades: Grades 8-12, college and beyond

How would I teach this?

Ask your students to read the letter aloud or listen to it once before you ask them to do anything with it. Then introduce an exercise that draws on their writing skills and deepens their comprehension.

My first thought was to have students read and listen to Woo’s letters and do a Windows/Mirrors Exercise. To do this, students make two columns: “Windows” for things they hear that are new to them; “Mirrors” for things that reflect their own experience. As they listen to the letter for the second time, they write down parts of what they hear in one of the two columns.

I choose this piece because it reminded me so much of my conversations with my own mother– a white Cuban woman who keeps her past to herself. There are lines that make me cry whenever I read them. I was happy to feel these connections across difference-which Audré Lorde tells us are so generative in movements for justice and understanding.

But in reading Woo’s letter a few times, I thought that doing a Windows/Mirrors exercise with students would only reinforce barriers of gender, race and class instead of making those divisions more porous. Sometimes, asking students to read something with the question “Is this me or not me?” makes that division, that “or,” too solid.

Instead, I would ask my students to find moments of feeling. These can be feelings that Woo expresses or feelings that the student has. Don’t pressure them to identify the feelings just yet. That can feel intimidating. But have them underline or mark off these moments of feeling. Then list the page numbers on the board, read a few passages aloud as a class and try to find the words to describe the feelings.

Here’s an example of what I mean.

“What deepens the chasms between us are our different reactions to these forces. Yours has been one of silence, self-denial, self-effacement; you believing it is your fault that you never fully experienced self-pride and freedom of choice.” (Woo, page 139)

What are the feelings here? (This list is by no means exhaustive. Note that many of the feelings overlap. That is fine. Just get the students generating language.)

Frustration

Grief

Sadness

Anger

Loss

Tenderness

What are the reasons behind these feelings? (This is something students could write privately about, discuss in pairs, or talk through as a class. I’d be wary of this last option since sometimes when feelings are the topic, a few students do most of the talking.)

Frustration at her lack of connection with her mother / at her mother for not understanding her / at American racism

Grief at the loss of connections she could have had with her mother

Sadness at her mother’s pain

Anger at a global economic system that made her mother suffer so acutely / anger at her mother for being silence

Loss at what she and her mother could share if her mother would recognize and deal with her own pain

Tenderness as she tries to heal her mother’s pain

Being something of a teacher without a class right now, I made up this list myself. It is perhaps revealing of my own feelings of loss for the relationship I could have had with my own mother. If you do it with students (or other teachers), you will find that more varied feelings come up.

By finding moments of feeling rather than concentrating on similarities and differences, you ask students to deepen their connections with the author, with themselves, and with others without focusing so much on where the boundaries lie. You ask students to explore the personal behind the political with precision and, I hope, without judgment. It is an exercise that encourages students to see these particular feelings as, if not universal, then shared by many.

Stray thoughts:

• What is it like listening to a white woman read the words of an Asian American woman?

• This piece was written in 1980. What language feels dated? (For instance, the gender/sex distinction)

• Would the author appreciate my idea of finding the universal in her particular experience or does that recreate the same pattern that she condemns of white people presenting their experiences as universal?

• I choked up three times in reading it aloud. I wonder if the listeners can hear it.