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Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize
With a shout of 'Whoopee!', Rita Moir bounded onto the stage at the 2000 B.C. Book Prizes gala and delivered an impassioned winner's speech in which she addressed the future of writing, bookselling and community activism. This acceptance speech, described as a rant by the National Post, criticized newspaper magnate Conrad Black's ownership of her local Kootenay newspaper (Black also owned the National Post at the time).
Here's part of what Rita Moir said. ""I wish to thank my mother. I get so damned sick of women being put down and dismissed, especially older women. I want to thank her and all of us younger ones who have had the brains to understand that our culture, our strength, is based on waking up and listening to them. And I want to thank my dog, my buddy Connor. Without him, I could never have travelled the thousands and thousands of miles of this country. My old dog Connor stayed with me longer than any man, and was certainly more faithful!
"A year or so ago on CBC Radio there was a phone-in deal for Mother's Day. They asked 'What saying did your mother leave you with? The one you'll always remember?' It was all the usual stuff. Wear clean underwear in case you're in an accident. If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all. I stood staring at the radio, thinking, 'Surely-to-God the mothers of this world said more thought-provoking and inspiring words than that!' So I phoned CBC's talk-back line and told them what my mother said, her words that I'd like to embroider on a pillowcase. Whenever I got in trouble as a young reporter, whenever I stirred the pot too hard, I'd call my mother and her words were a gift to me, words that both soothed and fortified.
"HONEY, she'd say, JUST REMEMBER, IF YOU'RE NOT ON SOMEBODY'S SHIT LIST, YOU'RE NO DAMNED GOOD. Those words are in Buffalo Jump and they are my sustenance when I am too tired or scared to go on. In this book I have found my voice not on the coattails of a man-not through a man's political campaign, not through a job, nor through love-and I have found other women's voices, too. I am now very worried that voices of women, and also the voices of all of us here in this room, are being silenced by economic pressure and market forces. I believe it is crucial for writers to become active in our communities, whether that be through the Writers Federation, or the Writers' Union, or whatever works for you in your community. And that our organizations work together. Because I am worried that eventually the big box bookstores and market forces will determine not only what is sold, but what is published, what is written, or who can afford to write it.
"I am concerned we will lose our small bookstores in our communities. I believe that if we don't resist, our culture will no longer be part of our common vocabulary, our daily lives. It will be owned and commodified, and only the wealthy will be able to produce it. The rest of us will consume it as if our dreams and culture could be dumped in a bargain bin at Wal-Mart. I don't want our work Wal-Marted; I don't want our culture Wal-Marted. That's why we must work so hard, from the smallest reading group to the biggest cultural service organization, to resist this big box power. At the same time we must build a culture that is our lowest common denominator, and therefore our highest. To rephrase a saying from the women's movement: We need a culture that is as common as a common loaf of bread, and so shall we rise.
"CBC Radio never did play that saying when I phoned in to their talkback- line but I know they're taping these speeches tonight. So this is my subversive way of finally getting it on air. Here's my gift to you for Mother's Day, my mother's saying. HONEY, IF YOU'RE NOT ON SOMEBODY'S SHIT LIST, YOU'RE NO DAMNED GOOD!";
Here's part of what Rita Moir said. ""I wish to thank my mother. I get so damned sick of women being put down and dismissed, especially older women. I want to thank her and all of us younger ones who have had the brains to understand that our culture, our strength, is based on waking up and listening to them. And I want to thank my dog, my buddy Connor. Without him, I could never have travelled the thousands and thousands of miles of this country. My old dog Connor stayed with me longer than any man, and was certainly more faithful!
"A year or so ago on CBC Radio there was a phone-in deal for Mother's Day. They asked 'What saying did your mother leave you with? The one you'll always remember?' It was all the usual stuff. Wear clean underwear in case you're in an accident. If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all. I stood staring at the radio, thinking, 'Surely-to-God the mothers of this world said more thought-provoking and inspiring words than that!' So I phoned CBC's talk-back line and told them what my mother said, her words that I'd like to embroider on a pillowcase. Whenever I got in trouble as a young reporter, whenever I stirred the pot too hard, I'd call my mother and her words were a gift to me, words that both soothed and fortified.
"HONEY, she'd say, JUST REMEMBER, IF YOU'RE NOT ON SOMEBODY'S SHIT LIST, YOU'RE NO DAMNED GOOD. Those words are in Buffalo Jump and they are my sustenance when I am too tired or scared to go on. In this book I have found my voice not on the coattails of a man-not through a man's political campaign, not through a job, nor through love-and I have found other women's voices, too. I am now very worried that voices of women, and also the voices of all of us here in this room, are being silenced by economic pressure and market forces. I believe it is crucial for writers to become active in our communities, whether that be through the Writers Federation, or the Writers' Union, or whatever works for you in your community. And that our organizations work together. Because I am worried that eventually the big box bookstores and market forces will determine not only what is sold, but what is published, what is written, or who can afford to write it.
"I am concerned we will lose our small bookstores in our communities. I believe that if we don't resist, our culture will no longer be part of our common vocabulary, our daily lives. It will be owned and commodified, and only the wealthy will be able to produce it. The rest of us will consume it as if our dreams and culture could be dumped in a bargain bin at Wal-Mart. I don't want our work Wal-Marted; I don't want our culture Wal-Marted. That's why we must work so hard, from the smallest reading group to the biggest cultural service organization, to resist this big box power. At the same time we must build a culture that is our lowest common denominator, and therefore our highest. To rephrase a saying from the women's movement: We need a culture that is as common as a common loaf of bread, and so shall we rise.
"CBC Radio never did play that saying when I phoned in to their talkback- line but I know they're taping these speeches tonight. So this is my subversive way of finally getting it on air. Here's my gift to you for Mother's Day, my mother's saying. HONEY, IF YOU'RE NOT ON SOMEBODY'S SHIT LIST, YOU'RE NO DAMNED GOOD!";
Submitted on January 12, 2005 in By David.
