do you remember me?

Presenter: Tonia Magras

Faculty Sponsor: Rachelle A. Dermer

School: Fitchburg State University

Research Area: Communication and Media Studies

Session: Poster Session 4, 2:15 PM - 3:00 PM, Auditorium, A21

ABSTRACT

"What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore—And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags  like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?"

Langston Hughes 

[Source: "Harlem" https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46548/harlem]

I was 18 years old and a freshman at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. It was May 4, 1987. I was raped by four  football players. Thirty-three years, 1 month, and 25 days later, I received a friend request from Dale – one of the four football players who raped me. I asked him a simple question, “do you remember me?”

This film is more than my story . The film depicts a day in a woman’s life as she recalls the trauma of being left maimed and injured because of four football players. It depicts a woman’s resilience and ability to know the difference between love and hate. It depicts a woman’s life, filled with joy that overcompensates for the void left at 18-years old. 

do you remember me? brings me one step closer to reclaiming my power over a rape. In this film, you don’t walk away feeling that the story has been concluded with a pretty bow. You walk away knowing that it never ends: the nightmares, the trauma, the stigma, and the pain. But you also walk away knowing that through love and care, there still is joy.

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