PDF (PhD Thesis) - UWE Research Repository - University of the ...

Whinging Women?
Gossip, whinge, nag
Don‘t they ever get tired of hearing their own voices?
Voices shouting into the hurricane
Brought back by the bouncing boomerang
So fragmented as to make no sense
Gossip, whinge, nag
And within such a censoring and tremulous voice
A voice inaudible above the cacophony and clatter
Wistfully wishing to be heard
But who is willing to listen?
Clare Hopkinson 8/3/05
In March 2005 I wrote the poem above during a SOLAR 3 workshop. I was
in the midst of our whinging co-inquiry cycle at the time. I found I
unconsciously linked being ‗unheard‘ with gender and a feeling of
powerlessness, which later became important ideas for this inquiry. The
poem questions whether the ‗whinger‘ might have a legitimate complaint
that is ignored paradoxically because of the whinging process. Jon felt she
could interrupt the whinging process saying:
I always sound like a moaning, whinging person, but I
actually consciously stop myself” (Final interview 22/6/06).
I found this difficult to achieve and explored my own whinging in the
following creative autobiographical piece. It was written for another
SOLAR 3 workshop and drew upon Moskowitz‗s chapter (1998 p.37) ―The
Self as Source‖ for its inspiration. She suggested creative writing could be
a reflective process to encourage looking at ―disintegrated parts of
ourselves and our experience‖ to provide personal insight and new ways
of managing and viewing our experience.
In this piece I try to capture the thought processes in whinging and
reflecting and attempt to portray my thoughts ‗out loud‘. I use the device of
‗Breaking News‘ to show the interruptions as they happen in everyday life
142