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Hello Kitty Talks Back--A Research(ed) Poem




Poetic Inquiry:  Hello Kitty--A Feminist (symbol)?

Hello kitty teacher feminism
Dressed as HK to share my poem with my AP students
In response to Dr. Sandra L. Faulkner's Hello Kitty Goes to College: Poems about Harassment in the Academy, and after reading a lot about poetic inquiry as a method of qualitative research, including the book Poetic Inquiry: Vibrant Voices in the Social Sciences,  I wrote the following research(ed) poem in response.  I had the honor of presenting this poem to my cohort of scholars in the doctoral program at Appalachian State, and my professor skyped Dr. Faulkner so that she was present for my performative enactment.  It was an amazing experience to share my work with the woman who inspired it, a person who is helping pave the way for poetics in research and women in academia, and she was so kind and encouraging.
Hello Kitty Talks Back

Thank you, Dr. Faulkner
for giving me voice
when I had none,

for unsilencing me
[I was NOT an elective mute],

for helping Others understand
me—I’m not just a capitalistic whore
pedaling my wares*
(or myself as some Profs might think),

for generating empathy for me as victim
& empowering me to become more than
-victim
-pissy cat
--partly cat &
--partly Asian;

for helping me find my voice
again as a feminist standpoint scholar,
teaching young men & women that
sexual harassment isn’t
“just guys being guys”
& that although playing tennis with the judge
can make a man part
of the Good Ole Boy’s club
it’s not right.
No longer invisible; we won’t STAND for it.

I am Hello Kitty,
hear me speak….


*which now include the
geek-chic brand
in honor of smart cats everywhere.  Meow!



B. Faulkner   
2-27-2012  
Sawmills, NC  
10:30 am
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