08
Nov
2005
The Black Hawk College/Ebony Expressions production on October 28 of Healing Waters: I Will Carry My Sister's Pain observed October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month by prying open the eyes of the audience to the daily reality of pain, fear, abuse, and humiliation experienced by abused women as they struggle to raise children and carve out a life.
Domestic violence is a pattern of behaviors that people use against their intimate partner to gain control within the relationship. In addition to physical assault, victims describe behaviors such as intimidation, threats, humiliation, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and social isolation. The very nature of this crime is devastating; it hurts when someone we care about would harm us physically or emotionally.
The reader's theatre performance by the Healing Waters for Domestic Violence ensemble created and guided by Shellie Moore Guy spoke to the pain as well as the victory of surviving domestic violence by highlighting the stories of eight women who have "been there" and now feel it is time to help others through the power of their testimonies.
If it is true that repetition penetrates the thickest skull, then the play was supremely successful by deliberately pounding home the fact that domestic violence occurs more often than we care to admit and demonstrating how people can inadvertently get trapped into such a cycle of abuse.
With beat-downs of one kind or another as a common denominator; one after another the women told horrific stories of physical and verbal abuse that took us far beyond the convenient excuse: "Oh, he's just crazy." They told stories of survival under terrifying circumstances. The audience got a voyeur's glimpse of the face of humiliation and the soul of despair.
The mostly female audience vacillated from stunned silence to shame to wanting to apologize to "I feel you" to encouragement to "Let me help you." Men in attendance were caught like deer in the headlights, feeling all of the above, but a bit more guilt because as supposed family caretakers we too had seen it with that "It ain't my business" shield and refused to acknowledge the destructive effects on the victims, the children, the community, and ourselves.
"Today was the first time that many of us shared our private stories," said Shellie Moore Guy. "But we understood that at some time we would be responsible to help someone else. And we believe that stories have great power, and they heal."
The fact these women were here confidently telling us their stories was a tribute to their growth, their survival, and their courage. These women, who had recaptured their dignity and self-respect, presented us with powerful views of reality, its lows and its highs. Guiding us through the process of accepting one's own powerlessness and the universal commonness of oppression and the courage of their testimony commands our respect and inspires our gratitude for sharing their stories.
Healing Waters was not unique simply because we ordinarily choose not to acknowledge domestic violence; rather the play challenged our capacity for caring and understanding, despite the circumstances attending these situations, and forced us to think about the people involved.
Nate Lawrence
East Moline
Damage Caps Help Doctors but Don't Lower Insurance Costs
Referring to reforms passed in August, including a cap on noneconomic damages people can receive in medical-malpractice lawsuits against doctors and hospitals, Bill Leaver, CEO of Trinity Health System, said, "The recent reforms are a great start, but we need to continue to pursue and encourage the Illinois state legislature for more reform if we expect to get medical insurance premiums down." (See "Doctors, Businesses Push for More Medical-Malpractice Reform," River Cities' Reader Issue 552, October 26-November 1, 2005.)
That's odd. A cap on noneconomic damages was presented as a panacea for high medical-insurance premiums.
I have suspected for some time that doctors have a subtext. Under the guise of needing to lower medical-malpractice premiums, a valid concern, doctors pushed hard for a cap. Even if a cap did not prompt a reduction in premiums, which proved to be the case in a considerable majority of the other states where tort reform was passed, medical malpractice could be practiced without paying a meaningful price for doing so.
A cap has strengthened the financial standing of doctors, but is devastating for victims of medical malpractice, especially children, the elderly, and stay-at-home parents.
Michelle Geyer, whose cherished seven-year-old daughter died as a result of medical malpractice, said, "They're telling me that Jessie's life is worth only $250,000."
Jessie died in California, a state that imposed a cap on noneconomic damages in 1975. President Bush has repeatedly cited California's cap as a model for so-called tort reform. Incidentally, tort reform did not lower insurance premiums for doctors in California. Insurance reform did.
Who will speak for the Jessies of this country? Not doctors. Not far too many politicians. Not the president. The public must do so if victims of medical malpractice are to receive their constitutional right to have a jury decide what recompense is appropriate for them.
Jane Marshall
Dover, Tennessee
Correction
In last week's commentary "Voters Have the Power," the record of former Mayor Pat Gibbs was incorrect. Gibbs was not in office for votes on incentives for Lee Enterprises and Sentry Insurance. He supported but as mayor did not vote on incentives for Brammer. And he took no public position on development proposals for 53rd Street and Eastern Avenue.
Domestic violence is a pattern of behaviors that people use against their intimate partner to gain control within the relationship. In addition to physical assault, victims describe behaviors such as intimidation, threats, humiliation, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and social isolation. The very nature of this crime is devastating; it hurts when someone we care about would harm us physically or emotionally.
The reader's theatre performance by the Healing Waters for Domestic Violence ensemble created and guided by Shellie Moore Guy spoke to the pain as well as the victory of surviving domestic violence by highlighting the stories of eight women who have "been there" and now feel it is time to help others through the power of their testimonies.
If it is true that repetition penetrates the thickest skull, then the play was supremely successful by deliberately pounding home the fact that domestic violence occurs more often than we care to admit and demonstrating how people can inadvertently get trapped into such a cycle of abuse.
With beat-downs of one kind or another as a common denominator; one after another the women told horrific stories of physical and verbal abuse that took us far beyond the convenient excuse: "Oh, he's just crazy." They told stories of survival under terrifying circumstances. The audience got a voyeur's glimpse of the face of humiliation and the soul of despair.
The mostly female audience vacillated from stunned silence to shame to wanting to apologize to "I feel you" to encouragement to "Let me help you." Men in attendance were caught like deer in the headlights, feeling all of the above, but a bit more guilt because as supposed family caretakers we too had seen it with that "It ain't my business" shield and refused to acknowledge the destructive effects on the victims, the children, the community, and ourselves.
"Today was the first time that many of us shared our private stories," said Shellie Moore Guy. "But we understood that at some time we would be responsible to help someone else. And we believe that stories have great power, and they heal."
The fact these women were here confidently telling us their stories was a tribute to their growth, their survival, and their courage. These women, who had recaptured their dignity and self-respect, presented us with powerful views of reality, its lows and its highs. Guiding us through the process of accepting one's own powerlessness and the universal commonness of oppression and the courage of their testimony commands our respect and inspires our gratitude for sharing their stories.
Healing Waters was not unique simply because we ordinarily choose not to acknowledge domestic violence; rather the play challenged our capacity for caring and understanding, despite the circumstances attending these situations, and forced us to think about the people involved.
Nate Lawrence
East Moline
Damage Caps Help Doctors but Don't Lower Insurance Costs
Referring to reforms passed in August, including a cap on noneconomic damages people can receive in medical-malpractice lawsuits against doctors and hospitals, Bill Leaver, CEO of Trinity Health System, said, "The recent reforms are a great start, but we need to continue to pursue and encourage the Illinois state legislature for more reform if we expect to get medical insurance premiums down." (See "Doctors, Businesses Push for More Medical-Malpractice Reform," River Cities' Reader Issue 552, October 26-November 1, 2005.)
That's odd. A cap on noneconomic damages was presented as a panacea for high medical-insurance premiums.
I have suspected for some time that doctors have a subtext. Under the guise of needing to lower medical-malpractice premiums, a valid concern, doctors pushed hard for a cap. Even if a cap did not prompt a reduction in premiums, which proved to be the case in a considerable majority of the other states where tort reform was passed, medical malpractice could be practiced without paying a meaningful price for doing so.
A cap has strengthened the financial standing of doctors, but is devastating for victims of medical malpractice, especially children, the elderly, and stay-at-home parents.
Michelle Geyer, whose cherished seven-year-old daughter died as a result of medical malpractice, said, "They're telling me that Jessie's life is worth only $250,000."
Jessie died in California, a state that imposed a cap on noneconomic damages in 1975. President Bush has repeatedly cited California's cap as a model for so-called tort reform. Incidentally, tort reform did not lower insurance premiums for doctors in California. Insurance reform did.
Who will speak for the Jessies of this country? Not doctors. Not far too many politicians. Not the president. The public must do so if victims of medical malpractice are to receive their constitutional right to have a jury decide what recompense is appropriate for them.
Jane Marshall
Dover, Tennessee
Correction
In last week's commentary "Voters Have the Power," the record of former Mayor Pat Gibbs was incorrect. Gibbs was not in office for votes on incentives for Lee Enterprises and Sentry Insurance. He supported but as mayor did not vote on incentives for Brammer. And he took no public position on development proposals for 53rd Street and Eastern Avenue.
