Women and men communicating: who's from Mars?(speech of Anita Taylor, professor of communication and women studies)(Transcript)

Address by ANITA TAYLOR, Professor of Communication and Women Studies, Executive Editor of Women and Language

Delivered to the University Old Town Lecture Series, Old Town Hall, Fairfax, Virginia, October 21, 1998

A decade ago I was fortunate to spend a spring living on the side of Southern California mountain, a spot I shared with some interesting companions who adopted me. I'm not sure whether it was California New Age or mountain fog, but I experienced a heightened state of consciousness, and I made contact with representatives of another world. This is a group of beings whose resources were not expended in wars or civilizations continually set back from destruction of one war after another. Most of their research investment had not gone to weapons and destructive technology, so their communications and transportation technology are much advanced over ours. They could; and were: surveiling us ... all the while eluding detection by those marvelous listening devices we've set up to know if there is intelligent life "out there."

They were trying to decide whether to drop their shields and make contact with us. So they had sent individuals to study our civilizations much as we once sent anthropologists all over the world studying "primitive" groups. I benefited then from sharing the report of their contact, She-he, who was studying the U.S. educational system. I shared much of that report with my colleagues and others in a lecture reprinted in Vital Speeches in 1988. At that time these beings decided against making contact with us. We were too violent (40 armed conflicts were occurring around the world at the time, not to mention the combat in the streets and homes of the U.S.) and too primitive. They couldn't take the chance of opening their words and technology to us.

But much has happened in 10 years. The Soviet Union is no more; the U.S. is now the undisputed world leader, in economics, industry and military. We're living in a dramatically altered world in which changes continue at an accelerating pace.

Then, this past year I spent time in our desert southwest ... another world unto itself. There, where ancient Black Rock hunches on the horizon, watching over Spider Rock, home of Holy Spider Woman who taught the Navajos to weave, and where the centuries old petroglyphs of Monument Valley stand mute in awe of the power of wind and water to change earth's face, I again became aware of our visitors from outer space. On the night of a full moon amidst the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon, I heard a voice call my name. To my delight, my friend, She-he, was back. Those advanced beings are out there still, watching and listening to us. Once again I became an informant. I want to share with you part of She-he's report. I think you'll find it interesting.

She-he's report:

As you know, I'm a member of the team studying the changes during the hast decade on planet earth's richest continent, which is known as North America. The three of us working on this project have divided the task. North America has three of the planet earth …