“How high does the body count have to go before we call this an epidemic?” -regarding each year, an estimated 30,000 women die of gynecologic cancers.
“In a coherent thinking society, we would recognize there is a cancer epidemic in this country. In a clear thinking society, we would take responsibility rather than remain in denial about the seriousness of this issue,”
“Give Love, Give Life is oriented toward recognizing, acknowledging and respecting the feminine part of life. The women in our lives – grandmothers, mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, aunts, nieces and cousins – are what make us whole as human beings. It’s time to do something good for the women.”
The Olympian [Lisa Pemberton] caught up with Trudell after a speaking engagement in Minnesota. Here are excerpts from the interview:
Lisa Pemberton: Tell us about your spoken word tour. What can folks expect at your performance at Evergreen?
John Trudell: I call them poetry talks. I read poetry and I talk about things. … It’s not so much a benefit as it is an event about awareness, and to promote the message of Give Love Give Life.
How did you get involved in this cause?
In 2002 or 2003, I worked with a woman, Marcheline Bertrand (mother of actress Angelina Jolie), and she had ovarian cancer. We started doing these benefits for ovarian and other gynecological cancers. After the second event, we realized that the issue is good and valid, but there are so many women that can’t even access health care. We thought it would be better to (work toward) getting women and children access to health care. Marcheline passed in January 2007, and I just kept it going.
Why should folks care about this issue?
If you really think about it, any culture that does not look out the for the interests of the women and children first isn’t really a culture. We need to really figure out: Are we really a culture here? Do we have a culture? It’s just the right thing to do.
What are your poems about?
About all the nutty stuff that goes on in my head. (laughs) My poetry is basically my interpretation of what’s going on around us. … But really, I look at it that I write lines. They end up getting used as rhymes or lyrics or whatever, but I look at them as lines. They come to me one line at a time. It’s a real hunt sometimes.
What do you enjoy about writing?
In some ways, it’s a therapy. It’s an outlet. I think it’s safer for the world that I write poetry – that I write my lines.
Is there anything you would like to add?
I would just like people to check out the Web sites (www.givelovegivelife.net or www.myspace.com/givelovegivelife), and if they agree, then we ask them to participate. They can pass the information along to people they think would agree, and communicate to the candidates that they need to prioritize national health care for the women and children of America. …We’re not asking anybody to change who they are, if they’re conservative or liberal or anyplace in-between. We’re looking at this as a way we can get some meaningful dialogue happening. ~