REEMA ZAMAN LIVES THROUGH HER VOICE

Guest Speaker shares story of former silence

Photo By: Lisa Sellers

Reema Zaman turned life challenges and inequity into the driving force of her career. Once she found her voice after being pushed into silence, she now speaks in the spotlight for a living.

An author, actress, and public speaker, Zaman said, “I live through my voice,” and explained just how during the most recent “Mouths of Others” event, held in MHCC’s College Theatre on April 26.

With a background in acting, Zaman’s presentation wholly embodied her story, and made it blossom with life.

She told the story of her voice through vivid imagery of unstable living quarters and unhealthy people. Her stories of love and heartbreak were described through the old barn she and her ex-husband lived in, and through heart-shaped cakes, gifts and Valentine’s Day nightgowns that went ignored while he talked about the other women in his life.

Zaman’s mindset at the time was, “If I was so stupid to let this happen, I don’t deserve better.”

She was born in Bangladesh, briefly lived in Hawaii, primarily grew up in Thailand, and moved to the United States when she was 18.

Throughout her life, she had a recurring theme of being made to feel unequal to men. At age 11, her cousin tried to molest her, but, “Boys will be boys,” she was told. At 20, she was disowned and re-owned for speaking out assertively. She would submit to become more palatable until the point of becoming invisible. At 23, she was raped, but didn’t speak up out of shame.

As an actress, Zaman decided to speak only the words that were assigned to her, but it was the night that she sat in bed with her husband in her Valentine’s Day nightgown that she found her voice again.

Zaman said, “No.” It confused her husband because she interrupted him speaking about other women, so she repeated herself. He laughed, and then got angry, but she finally felt happy.

She left him and left the life of acting in sexist roles and modeling to become an author and a speaker.

Zaman realized that, “My true purpose is to use my voice to bring to life others’. Telling your story will free someone else from their nightmare,” she said.

She allowed every adversity to be an anniversary for her next talent. Instead of being quiet in the name of family, she decided to speak up for thousands.

Speaking out on sexual assault is extremely dangerous in a lot of countries, but in particular, Bangladesh. Zaman is one of just a handful of authors who have written on this subject. She was set to visit her birth country, but then she and her family decided it would be too dangerous.

“Progress in this world is ours to architect,” said Zaman. “We must set our voices free.”

Concluding her Mt. Hood presentation, she accepted audience questions. At the beginning of the event, by a show of hands, those attending learned that most of the audience was there for extra credit in one class or another – but, based on the questions that were asked, it was hard to believe.

Assault survivors and those close to survivors asked deeply personal questions, all centered around growth and the want to help others find their voices.

Zaman talked about how she relied on books to provide company in times when she couldn’t use her voice, but then started writing her own words that she needed to hear. She saw how strong the woman in her writing was, and aimed to become that person.

Zaman was the recipient of the 2018 Literary Fellowship, and teaches at (former Mt. Hood writing instructor) Lidia Yuknavitch’s Corporeal Writing Center in Portland.

Her debut memoir, “I Am Yours,” is due out in January 2019, and her speech here on campus provided a glimpse into the beautiful and emotional transformation readers can expect to discover.

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