something, do whatever manly
tasks needed to be done, but then
they would go to an area that was
only for men and hang out and
drink while the women cooked and
cleaned. But my mom had been
working in the city all year, too, and
Patricia Noah didn’t stay in
anyone’s kitchen. She was a free-
roaming spirit. She insisted on
walking to the village, going where
the men hung out, talking to the
men as equals.
The whole tradition of women
bowing to the men, my mom found
that absurd. But she didn’t refuse to
do it. She overdid it. She made a