History. Herstory. Our story.

We moved between Canada and Europe several times while I was growing up, so my formal schooling has some gaps. Notably, in math and history. 

I can do simple math in my head, thanks to the rigours of my German middle school’s drills, but algebra and trigonometry escape me. Every school system taught math differently and I was never able to make it all add up. By the time I reached high school in Canada, I entered the remedial math stream and graduated with unremarkable knowledge in that subject. 

History is non-existent in my school memories, except for King Henry VIII of England, whom I remember only for his six wives: Catherine of Aragon, Divorced. Anne Boleyn, Beheaded. Jane Seymour, Died. Anne of Cleves, Divorced. Catherine Howard, Beheaded. Catherine Parr, Survived. And my most vivid memory of those six comes not from the classroom but from a movie. 

Genevieve Bujold played Anne Boleyn in Anne of a Thousand Days. The scene that remains crystal clear in my mind five decades on is of her rising up from the birthing bed in a scream of rage at hearing that her baby is a girl not the much desired boy that would have saved her life. Henry had Anne executed for giving him the girl-child who, after he dies, becomes  Elizabeth I. Not too shabby a successor to his throne, really, but how was Henry to know that? 

History is by definition that which has already happened. How then to make it relevant and lively for its students? I say tell it like a story. Like that film about Anne Boleyn, for example — it’s only a tiny slice of history but I have remembered it. 

My friend Sally collaborated with a local songwriter to tell her own story through song, and they made a video that contains two songs. Each one tells the story of courage and love and persistence in the pre-Stonewall riot days, before we had invented the LGBTQ2 moniker. I invite you to watch it and see history brought alive in this creative way. It fired my spirit and warmed my heart. I hope it does yours, too. Watch it here. [Song 1 is at about the 4-minute/20-second mark. Song 2 is at 16:28]

Sally's Song 

by Orit Shimoni (March 2021)

All the girls loved Elvis, but I loved Doris Day.
When she sang about a secret love, 

I knew there had to be a way.

Well, I was smart to keep my mouth shut,

Even back then I was no fool.

I played kissing games with Billy

To fit in with the kids at school. 

There was no word for what I was,

There was nobody to ask.

I only found out later kids like me

Can grow up dying by the hands of a flask.

I lost my mama, I lost my dad,

With my own truth I stumbled around.

And if I knew anything at all,

I had to leave this too small town.

Then came the big city,

I met another one like me,

She came and opened up my eyes

A thriving underground to see.

And though we hid out on the streets,

Always hiding out in the open,

At least between the walls

We finally knew that we weren't broken.

Oh but they chased us, threatened arrest,

So how could we ever get any rest.

Imagine yourself strapped to a bed 

Getting forced to electrocute your head --

And then one night in '69 the cops stormed a bar called Stonewall,

But by then the queens, they'd had enough

They brought their fists into the brawl,

Wigs came off, high heels went flying, feather boas bright,

We'd had enough, the time was now, we stood up for the fight.

It took courage, it took humour, it took cooperation,

But slowly with our rainbow flag we won our liberation

And I know exactly who I am and I'm free to love out loud,

But it took so much to get here, and for that I'm surely proud. 

And it's not that I'm not scared, or that I'm not worried still,

As far as I'm concerned, we're only half-way up the hill,

Hate still marches far away and even in these parts

And we must keep on fighting 'til we've won all their hearts,

We must keep on fighting 'til we've won all their hearts. 

——-

Land acknowledgement: I respectfully recognize that I live on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.

Photo credit: "Anne Boleyn" by lisby1 is marked with CC PDM 1.0