Lemons, Lava, and Lessons in Power
Last week I went on a spring break adventure to southern Italy with my daughter Kate, who is studying fashion this year in Milan. It would have been a mother/daughter sidecar roadtrip except I learned that one needs an International Driver’s Permit to rent a motorized vehicle in Italy. I didn’t have time to get one, so those visions of zooming around twisty Italian roads, wind in our hair, will have to wait for another day. *Sigh*
After a day wandering the gorgeously chaotic winding alleyways of Naples, where 1980s soccer star Maradona is still regarded as a saint (shrines and murals seemingly on every street corner, more for him than for The Madonna!) despite leaving that city in disgrace due to his affinity for cocaine and organized crime (but I digress), we made our way to Minori, on the Amalfi coast, to enjoy the Easter weekend.
Minori is a charming former fishing village nestled in a coastal nook and surrounded by steep terraces of lemon groves. Lemons are essential to the economic power of the Amalfi coast. In the old days they were key to warding off scurvy for fishermen and sailors who inhabited or frequented these shores, which were tied to major Mediterranean trade routes. Nowadays the unusually large and fragrant lemons cultivated here are prized for their sweet flavor and aroma, a coveted base for recipes, fragrances, and the ubiquitous limoncello that have become staples for the tourist economy here. When not enjoying lemon-flavored treats, Kate and I wandered along parts of the Sentieri di Limoni, or lemon path, which skirts around the upper edges of the town and its terraced lemon groves and winds around to other nearby coastal towns. As we wandered we came upon a plaque informing us that, while lemon harvesting has been a communal endeavor, it was traditionally women who transported the lemons in large baskets on their heads from terraces to paths to ships waiting at sea. Amazing feat when you consider these baskets weighed 50 kg on average. Now, Kate and I are in decent shape though we found ourselves winded by the rather steep climbs and descents of the Sentiere di Limoni. With 50 kg baskets of lemon on our heads? Not a chance! Once again, I am in awe of the power of women, in this case that their physical power was the engine of the economic power of the region for so long. (It’s only fairly recently that the lemons are transported down the steep hillsides via a pulley system).
Our next stop was Pompeii, which many of you know was an ancient Roman city buried by lava and ash nearly 2,000 years ago when nearby Mt. Vesuvius erupted. The suddenness of the eruption essentially froze the city into a veritable time capsule. This has made it easier for archaeologists to learn details about daily life of the Pompeiians, including women. While written histories of Roman societies of the time tended to exclude information about women, except as seen through the eyes of men, here it is on full, frozen-in-time display. The archaeological evidence tells us that many women were actively involved in civic, religious and business life. They rose to power in trade and industry. They served as high priestesses and, though they weren’t allowed direct involvement in politics, as political advisors. Even the working class women were active in the city’s economy as shop-keepers, waitresses, actresses, painters and musicians. Women’s activities, both major and minor, had a direct bearing on the success of the community in ways that traditional sources of information leave out. It takes a freeze-frame of a captured moment in time to reveal their real contributions, the power they held and wielded, usually in service of their community and not in carrying out warfare and the conquering of other lands. Ultimately, their power was thwarted by a force even more powerful than them: mother nature.
Women are powerful beings, though we have an uneasy relationship with the notion of power. Maybe because the term is too often associated with ‘power over,’ and that doesn’t sit right with many women. What about introducing some other prepositions: ‘power to,’ ‘power from,’ ‘power with.’ Perhaps most potently: Power Together.
We’ll be exploring the relationship of women and power at Sidecar Summit Vietnam. Still 4 spots left as of this writing. September 12-15 in lovely Hoi An, Vietnam. Let’s change how we think about, and relate to, power. Lemons and lava not included.
Yours in exercising power without 50 kg of lemons on our heads,
Bridget
