Art

When I tell people who aren't Mormon that Mormons take for granted that God is an embodied Woman (married to an embodied Man), I'm suddenly reminded of how very Pagan Mormons are and how very cool that is. Unfortunately, Mormons have barely scratched the surface of what this means and who She is, and historically haven't been too interested in delving deeper. Several BYU scholars have remarked at this oddity, and I couldn't more emphatically recommend that everyone read this review on their research. 

Because of many of the points in this article Mormons, despite their theological makeup, have been reticent to artistically imagine Mother God and to me this is a real shame.  However, female deity is hardly a new idea. In fact, it's one of the oldest ideas out there. Check it out. 

And so, lucky lucky me, I get to see how others have filled in the gap. Welcome to The Met, house of depictions of Mother God and Her daughters. 

Today I'm grateful for the belief I have in a Mother in Heaven who is mindful of Her daughters and sons. And for those courageous enough to try to bring her to life in the minds and hearts of others.

Inspiration

Women who've broken the rules in the past, and who do so now, even in the quietest of ways, are my greatest inspiration.

what's on the menu?

I believe a woman's life is significant, no matter her destiny. I believe that the majority of women share a lot of common ground. I think a lot of women also think their daily tasks are so insignifant that they feel it's not worth recording them.

One book I really want to read but haven't yet is A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. It is based on the diaries of Martha Ballard, a wife, mother, homemaker and midwife in Maine in the mid to late 17th century. She was not a fastidious journal-keeper, but she was a frequent one. Ballard was audacious and confident enough to feel that her daily goings-on warranted recording. Years later, Ulrich won the Pulitzer for compiling and editing Ballard's journals. There's no way Ballard could have known what her journal would bring about, but she did it anyway.

One of those daily tasks that consitute common ground among women is the feeding of themselves and their families. Now this isn't the sole responsibility of women in every society or household, but it is a task many women are either given or a task that is often taken up by women.

In my house, I do the majority of the cooking for several reasons:
Derrick is an awful cook.
I enjoy cooking.
I'm relatively good at it.
If I want to stave my hunger before 8 o'clock, I'm going to have to do it.
I feel comfortable being responsible for this since I am at home in the early evenings and Derrick isn't.

Martha Ballard sometimes documented the meals she would make, among other household tasks. To follow in her noble example, and to someday leave a legacy for my own grandsons and granddaughters, I will do the same this week.

Monday: Pumpkin soup with pumpkin (obviously), chicken stock, sliced potatoes, celery, milk and onion.

Tuesday: Too tired to cook. We had leftovers of pumpkin soup and eggplant parmesan (note that I chose to eat the yummiest before Derrick could get to it).

Wednesday: Masman curry.

Thursday: Bratwurst with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut (my dad would be so proud!).

Friday (tomorrow): Banana squash with pork loin and pinto beans (the last two will go in the crockpot so I don't have to worry about it until it's time to eat).

Three things make NOT eating out and eating homecooked meals easier for me:
Bountiful Baskets with fresh produce each week.
Costco for meat, milk, eggs, cottage cheese and yogurt every two weeks.
My planner: I take stock of what we have every night and write what we'll have for dinner on the next day's agenda.

So enough of my boring life. What tasks of your foremothers would you be interested to know more about? or, how or do you handle the task of feeding your family?

complications of modesty

I have very mixed feelings about modesty talks, in church or in other forums. Certainly there are types of clothing that I wouldn't wear, or encourage my daughter to wear. Certainly some clothing can be appropriate in some venues while being inappropriate in others. Certainly I think people can wear clothing that draws too much attention to the body and not enough to themselves as complete human beings.

But what I hear often is that women in particular should be modest in order to protect men from sexual thoughts, and to protect women from men and themselves. This is rhetoric I try to stay far away from.

First of all, I'm not convinced that men are beasts who can't control their thoughts. I think the majority of men are conditioned by their cultures to see certain things as sexual. Women's breasts, for instance, have been ridiculously hypersexualized in many Western cultures. In other cultures, however, breasts are not sexualized at all. They are seen as tools to feed babies. And what about hair in many Islamic nations? And what about ankles in Victorian England? In short, there is no prescribed notion of what is sexual. We simply learn to interpret what is or is not sexual from our culture.

Strong evidence also suggests that how women dress does not correlate with sexual violence, such as rape or other assaults. Culture is the greatest predictor of rates of violence against women. If a man can rape or assault a woman sexually with little retribution legally or socially, he, or other young boys or men, learn very quickly that this is an acceptable action to take. In some parts of Africa and Afghanistan, a man is absolved legally from raping a woman as long as he offers to marry her afterward (even if she refuses). Even if he doesn't offer marriage, women are so afraid of the social retributions of having been raped that men often get away with it. A culture that implicates a victim as responsible for the crime is a strange one indeed.

Since women's protection from men doesn't correlate with modesty, why do we talk about it as if it does? I become very impatient with rhetoric that indicates this. If for no other reason, I think often "protecting" women's modesty sometimes perpetuates the view that women's bodies are inherently sexual. Women's bodies (and men's bodies for that matter) are not inherently sexual. What they do with their bodies can be sexual. A woman wearing a bikini to a beach, or walking down the street in a short skirt does not indicate sexual behavior. This is very different from porn where women and men are doing blatantly sexual things with their bodies. The qualm I have with modesty talks is that I feel they teach women, and the men who overhear, that women's bodies are sexual. Period.

My question is, when and where does it stop? Burqas are a clear indicator of what can happen when women's bodies are viewed as purely sexual. In her book Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi discusses the wearing of the veil and burqa to some length. The setting is Iran. Khomeini and his supporters have already overthrown the Shah. Khomeini has made the wearing of the veil, then the burqa compulsory. Nafisi hosts a weekly literature class at her home for a number of handpicked students. A student of Nafisi's tells her that one day she and some schoolmates were standing on the sidewalk eating apples. Some guards standing nearby approached and then told the girls they were eating their apples too seductively. What?!

I, like most normal mothers, want to teach my daughter to dress in ways that are appropriate; ways that represent her as a multi-faceted human being with a wide range of characteristics. I want to teach her how to protect herself; to warn her of the dangers of being alone at night or in certain places, of date rape, of drugs and alcohol, and how to be a good judge of character (but even these things, unfortunately, do not stop rape from happening. Only would-be rapists can do that.). I want to teach her to be careful, because even though her body is certainly not to blame, some people out there are just sick perverts who have been conditioned to absolve themselves of all responsiblity.

In Toni Morison's book, The Bluest Eye, Pecola is a poor girl frequently told by people and by her culture that because she is black, she is ugly . More than anything, she wishes for a pair of blue eyes in order to rectify the situation. Then, she believes, she would be beautiful. Her friends, Frieda and Claudia, also black, are aware that the view that blackness equals ugly is a common one, but they have the wonderful gift of knowing that "the Thing to fear" isn't why they don't fit the beauty criteria, it is the Thing that teaches others that blacks are ugly and whites are beautiful. I hope to teach Lissie that it is the same with her body. The Thing to fear is not her body, but the thing that renders all girls' and womens' bodies as purely sexual.

traditions II

If you participated at all in my post about traditions-how to celebrate them or how to make them work for you and your family-get a load of this tradition started by one of my professors.

In my political economy of women class on Wednesday we talked about...drumroll...periods. Can you sense why I freaking love this class? We talked about historical and current views of the menstrual cycle and why it has been viewed as "yucky" or "unclean"; we talked about how little women are trained to know their own bodies and what signs to look for during their menstrual cycles; we talked about what the negative effects of the pill can be and how natural family planning works and there were guys in the room listening all the while. It was amazing.

But the thing we talked about that caught my attention most was how women can be affected by their introduction to their own menstrual cycle. Understandably, there are women who hate their periods. Cramps, messiness, expensive measure to control it; these are all things many women deal with on a monthly basis.

Our professor talked about the importance of coming-of-age rituals. For instance, in my church boys of 12 traditionally become deacons (which allows them to pass the sacrament, collect fast offerings, and visit members in their homes with their fathers; girls are given no such service opportunity). I don't see it this way, but some members of my church (my professor is one of them), view menstruation and reproduction as the female equivalent of deaconhood/priesthood. Members will often celebrate their son's transition as a deacon by giving them a gift, such as a set of scriptures, or throwing them a family party. It is something to be celebrated.

But do many Mormons have an equivalent celebration for girls who have recently menstruated*? No. At least not among the white Mormon families that I ever knew growing up and none that I know now.

My professor decided she wanted her daughter's experience to be different. So when her daughter started her period at age 14, she had a plan. Her daughter's only condition was that her friends not be involved. Okay. Said professor had her daughter think of the women she admired most in life (one of them is a co-professor in this class). Mother and daughter wrote up invitations for a celebration at the house in the daughter's honor and these women were invited to come-the only condition was that they had to bring a gift that symbolized what womanhood meant to them. Mother/professor made her a special necklace. Red velvet cake was served at the party (hahaha!).

I was impressed and motivated to do something similiar for my daughter(s) when the time comes. I don't want my daughter to be ashamed or embarrased by her biology or to view it in other unsavory ways. After all, because of my own period, I was able to receive the greatest gift of my life-her! Any comments? Would you be inclined to do something similiar? If so, how would you change it to accomodate your family?


*There are exceptions to this, notably among Mormons that are Navajo. Some of them celebrate female menstruation with a well-worn and beautiful tradition called Kinaalda. There may be other groups that have similiar traditions, but they are in the minority in the wide spectrum of what is known as Mormon culture.

Off the Shelf: A Woman's Path

Lately I've felt really drawn to female-driven narratives. Memoir has never been one of my favorite genres, but I find myself picking up and exploring more women's memoirs than ever before.

This particular book, which I picked up at Pioneer Books (of course), was a delightful surprise, and the premise is one that I resist and embrace at the same time, if such a thing is even possible. It is simply this:

"In the act of moving from one place to another, somehow a space is created where, if we're lucky, a moment of clarity alights on us and offers a window into our natures, and the nature of everything around us. . . .the act of travel is a potent way indeed of calling forth that inner knowledge. To relearn what we already know on the deepest level; to wake up to it and allow it to change us. Such is the power of the spiritual journey" (xvi).

So now you know the premise, but what is this book exactly? It's a compilation of essays and book excerpts written by women who encountered some sort of enlightening, spiritual experience while they were in the act of moving from one place to another. It has some big names like Maya Angelou, Anne Lamott and Diane Ackerman, but there are some less-known women, and to be honest, I found some of their stories the more compelling and personally applicable.

In many of these essays, the writers were searching for closure or healing. Some were searching for an essential, but missing, part of themselves. Others were just going on with their normal lives and had an unwelcome and surprising epiphany. Two different women found themselves volunteering at two different centers of Mother Teresa's around the world. Another was fleeing from America and the racism she encountered there only to realize that "Expatriation is an unacceptable way for me to respond to the agony of racism. There is no physical place I can go to escape human suffering--my own or anyone else's. There are no untroubled countries. However, as the result of traveling my inner roads, following my dreams and intuitive leanings, I now know that I can be transported to a place of peace. . . .That sacred place of inner calm is my home in the world. It must travel with me wherever I go" (184).

These are wise words for any woman. We must create a home within. Just because no one else can do it for us, however, doesn't mean we do it by ourselves. For this woman it meant discovering the music cherished by her ancestors; for others it could be a beloved friend or mentor; a religious leader; Jesus. The point is, we're not alone, even if the work we do is ours to do.

As I said, I embrace the idea of travel as a means of spiritual awakening while simultaneously pushing against it. How and Why? I personally feel that travel can be an enormous source of enlightenment for many, but it's not a cure-all. The idea that everyone should abandon everything to go and "find themselves" is rather suspect. Wherever you go, there you are and that's a fact. I suppose this is the same reason I resist Elizabeth Gilbert's style of self-discovery ala Eat Pray Love. It's just not do-able or desirable for every woman.

At the same time, however, I do think that opening oneself to the unexperienced may just be part of a formula for enlightened transformation. A favorite quote in the book is "A woman's path need not always take her many miles from home. It will, however, always invite her to let go of where she's been, and to be open to the Mystery of where she's going. Grace will be her guide and will ask her to trust in her own wisdom. In this way, a woman's path will invariably lead her back to her true self, and no path is ever more valuable than this" (58).

I've told you what I think, but what do you think? Do you buy any of this? Have you ever personally experienced a moment of such transformation, whether it was on the other side of the world or a few miles from your own home, or even in your own home? Please share.

Editors: McCauley, Lucy, Amy G. Carlson, Jennifer Leo. A Woman's Path. Traveler's Tales, Inc. 2000.

Off the Shelf: Half the Sky

It's rare for nonfiction to take my breath away like Half the Sky did. And yet here I am, still breathless, and almost at a complete loss for what to say about this book. It was just that good.

*

Merging my passion in women's issues and empowerment with my intense interest in all things International Development, this book was an impeccable blend of powerful human interest stories and rigorous, expansive research.

*

Half the Sky is an unprecedented publication in the Development world. Though movers and shakers have long struggled to draw attention to issues such as sex-trafficking/slavery, rape warfare, "honor" killings, maternal and infant mortality rates, and female genital cutting, this book is the first compendium to address all of those issues and discuss them in detail.

*

Though the body of the work certainly includes research and often macabre statistics, the author's greatest attention is devoted to the women who were interviewed about their own experiences. The stories of women like Srey Rath, a Cambodian girl forced into the sex trade with little chance of escape; Usha Narayane, a brave Indian woman who stood up to a brutal gangster in her village, freeing the women there from his awful legacy; and, a Pakistani woman who was raped and who broke tradition by seeking retribution, Mukhtar Mai opened a school, offering better opportunities for all people in her village. Their stories show the resilience of women around the world.

*

This book is just incredible. I didn't want to put it down. I got mad at Derrick this morning for taking too long to say goodbye; all I wanted to do was finish the book and then memorize everything it said.

*

Though I don't perhaps agree with every solution posited by the authors, I did come to respect many of their conclusions, as well as their ability to be persuaded by evidence they hadn't expected. Several times in the book they remark: "We thought we'd see this", or "We agreed initially with this position", but they changed their minds. This is a trait I admire so much it's one of the reasons I started to prefer The Economist to any other news source, but I digress.

*

What else can I say? This is one of those books I honestly wish every single person would read. Please do.

Mommies Dream Too

We encourage our children to dream, and to dream BIG. We teach our children they can do and have everything. But when we become adults, and mommies in particular, is this just another fantasy we shuck off while passing it down to our kids, kind of like Santa or the Easter Bunny?

Derrick and I lived in Boston for a regrettably short amount of time (9 months) while he completed a Master's program. I was expecting and working as a Nanny without any real idea when I would be able to finish my bachelor's degree. It was a special time for us as a married couple and a fun time since we were living in such a neat area, but personally, I felt a little discouraged with my life trajectory. Even more so after the following story:

Setting: Our Ward Halloween Party -

We were meeting couples and young families in our ward. One couple had been in Boston for a while and we asked them for tips about how to explore the area. The wife, with clearly no intention of making me feel awkward, asked: "Well, what do you like to do?" The question caught me off guard. I wasn't really sure what to say. So I started mumbling answers not disimiliar to the cliche descriptions found in the "looking" classifieds: reading, long walks on the beach, etcetera, etcetera. She looked at me and said, "Oh, well, I'm really into art. There are a lot of really great museums in the area." I felt so boring.

I walked away from that encounter more discouraged than ever. I was boring. I felt like a blank slate that had no writing on it. Perhaps I was a bit melodramatic. After all, in my defense, I had terrible pregnancy brain; plus, I'd just come home from a Mormon mission, where my personal identity was essentially a name badge and my own interests had definitely taken a backseat.

That being said, I had a lot of work to do and I've been doing it determinedly ever since.

One of my favorite books, Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History, makes the point that so-called "well-behaved" women are the ones who are forgotten easily, mainly because they don't take themselves or their interests seriously. The author writes, "Most well-behaved women are too busy living their lives to think about recording what they do and too modest about their own achievements to think anybody else will care." So what does the author argue makes "misbehaved women"? Those naughty women who dare to take their interests and passions seriously, regardless of the interest.

Gretchen Rubin, in her book The Happiness Project, describes a serious turn in her own personal development. Always recognizing but being ashamed of her interest in children's literature, she decided to stop categorizing her personal hobbies and interests as, well, illegitimate. She "came out of the closet", as it were, and formed a group of adults equally interested in kidlit. One of her main "Commandments" of happiness was one I instantly admired: "Be Gretchen". Of course, for me this means, "Be Jen", or "Be ___" for whoever you are. This simply means: stop thinking of your own interests as unworthy of note.

To take my interests really seriously I had to return to school. And it likely means that I will be in school for a while. This might be true for other women too. Other women, however, might find that school isn't required to take their passion seriously. It might mean forming a group of people who have a similiar interest, as it did for Rubin. Or it might mean simply allocating some money to a specific hobby. It might mean working, or it might mean devoting a bit more time to something: like a photography class, or a private reading hour. Or it might mean blogging, or keeping a journal, or scrapbooking. The bottom line? It doesn't matter what "it" is, as long as you treat it with the respect it deserves!

A few months ago, to get a better, more visual idea of what our "its" were, my sister-in-law and I bought a few supplies, cut up some magazines and worked at creating our own Dreamboard. Now, this task might seem juvenile, or high-schoolish. And yes, it's even recommended, so I hear, in a book called The Secret, a book whose ideas I definitely don't subscribe to. However, I found the task enjoyable and it reaffirmed the importance of dreaming regardless of where we are in life, or our family status. It also helped me realize the importance of alligning my life goals with my interests so I can look back on my life and feel content.

So, here's to dreaming big!

What are some of your dreams? What interests do you want to take more seriously?

Local Study Hits Home

Photo from theacademicmom.com

A recent study highlighted in the Deseret News last week made me feel both pleased and discouraged. The article pointed out that Utah women lag behind in higher education, much more so than women in other states. The study indicated that Mormon women in particular have a difficult time reconciling higher education with family. The article left me feeling pleased because women in this area, most of whom are of my faith, place high priority on family and child-rearing. It upset me for a few reasons. Before I go further, however, let me make it very clear that the purpose of this blog post is not to admonish all women, and especially Mormon women to pursue educational and career goals, whatever the cost. There are so many considerations to be made depending on the woman, her interests and her family, that I have absolutely no interest in making broad statements about women and what they should or should not do.

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That being said, the article did discourage me because so many women feel, rightly or wrongly, that pursuing an education and raising a family are mutually exclusive pursuits. That may be true of some women and their families, but certainly not all. One quote in particular resonated with me. Susan Madsen, business management professor leading the Utah Women and Education Project, stated: "LDS young women get that it's important to go to college. That's not the problem. . . They don't see options. They do not see that one evening a week they could go to class and their husband could watch the kids. It's all or nothing." As the article outlines, many Mormon women do begin college, and it's highly encouraged; but finishing is given less emphasis and consequently, many of those women don't graduate. Anecdotally, I know several women who've waited until their children leave home to finish their degrees. A woman in my Navajo class is 69 and finishing her degree in Political Science. Props to her! But it doesn't have to be that way.

-

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Mormon woman and professor in Harvard's History Department had finished her bachelor's degree in English shortly after getting married and before having children. After moving to Boston for her husband's education and having several children she says:

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"By that time I realized that there was life after marriage. . . We were just getting started out. I had these little kids and not much money. It occurred to me that I could do a lot with small amounts of time if I was organized. It was very hard at first, but I became disciplined. The whole experience convinced me that I could handle taking a class or two, and eventually I started thinking about the long term. So Gael and I came up with the money for me to take one course. We thought that if I got a masters in English, at some point I could teach part-time. That seemed like it would be a nice outlet while my kids were growing up. It was a one-year masters program that took five years for me to do" (Kimball 94).

-

Ulrich certainly is a success story for women who decide to abandon the "all or nothing" fallacy. She continued her education, won a Pulitzer, and landed the teaching position she now occupies while raising four children she describes as "terrific people. They can do anything" (98). And guess what? Her marriage even survived the transition she discusses above. In fact, her marriage became stronger and more interdependent. I'm confident that many women in Utah Valley who harbor regrets over not finishing their degrees could have equally happy stories to tell in a few years' time.

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Works Cited:

Kimball, James. Mormon Women: Portraits and Conversations. Handcart Books, 2009.

In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: of the need for female mentors

Alice Walker, famous author of The Color Purple and Pulitzer Prize winner, had a problem. Before she had won that well-earned Pulitzer, she faced an existential crises of sorts. Her way out? A much-needed mentor. She begins her essay, "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens" thus:
"I became aware of my need of Zora Neale Hurston's work some time before I knew her work existed." But it wasn't just Hurston's work Walker needed, it was Hurston herself. Attempting to research "voodoo practices among rural Southern blacks of the thirties" for a story, she discovered that there seemed to be little to no research she could trust. "A number of white, racist anthropologists and folklorists of the period had, not surprisingly, disappointed and insulted me. They thought blacks inferior, peculiar, and comic, and for me this undermined, no, destroyed, the relevance of their books."






How fortunate that she then came across Zora Neale Hurston's book, Mules and Men. Hurston, trained at Barnard College, was an anthropologist and a respected writer interested in black life in the American South. "Because she immersed herself in her own culture even as she recorded its 'big old lies,' i.e., folk tales, it was possible to see how she and it. . .fit together." Walker was soothed by Hurston's "assurance that she was exposing not simply an adequate culture but a superior one. That black people can be on occasion peculiar and comic was knowledge she enjoyed. That they could be racially or culturally inferior to whites never seems to have crossed her mind." In short, Zora Neale Hurston provided Alice Walker with the confidence and inspiration to pursue her then-current direction. Walker wanted to be a great African-American writer and she is.

Like Walker's unexpected but welcome discovery of Hurston, I began to discover a need for Laurel Thatcher Ulrich before I knew who she was. I was a little familiar with her work. After all, I had purchased her book, A Midwife's Tale, more intrigued by the title and the fact that it had also won a Pulitzer than by Ulrich's personal story, of which I knew nothing. It wasn't until I had purchased a second book, Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History, and began to read that I thought she might be the mentor I had been in search of. Reading in the introduction, Ulrich reveals a little of her own story:

"I was not only a thirty-six-year-old housewife enrolled in a graduate seminar in early American history. I was a thiry-six-year-old wife and mother who with a handful of friends in the Boston area had helped to found an independent periodical devoted to the "twin platforms of Mormonism and feminism."

Obviously, this unexpected interest of hers in Mormonism intrigued me. She continues, "Both 'isms' mattered: despite my flirtation with the women's movement, I too went to church even when it snowed." So I looked her up on (where else?) Wikipedia. Guess what? She's an active member of the Mormon church, teaches institute in Cambridge, and has an illustrious position in Harvard's history department. She's also a self-identified mormon and feminist. Fancy that. When I read about her that day, my eyes watered with gratitude and relief. No joke.

-

Her balance more than anything else is incredible to me. Embracing not only feminist ideology and an active church membership, but also a career and family makes her a wonderwoman in my eyes. But, like Alice Walker, who never met Hurston (who had died years before, buried in a pauper's grave Walker found and decorated with a gravestone), I may never meet Ulrich, having moved away from the Boston area unaware of her existence. We may go back, at which time Ulrich and I will become bosom friends. (hollow laughter) But until then, I'm just grateful to know about her, read about her and read from her.

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Walker and I had different backgrounds, experiences and interests that led us to our need for additional feminine support and validation. Walker was a southern black woman who wanted to be a writer, I'm a mormon white woman who also desires something outside of the established norm. However, I think the differences between us are irrelevant; we found what we needed, after all.

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So I'm curious. What mentors have you needed or found? Why and how?

Mormon Women and Career Preparedness

Because I'm a dedicated member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and a self proclaimed "Mormon", my blog may highlight aspects of my life or attitudes that can be attributed to Mormonism. One of these, and one I think is very admirable, is the idea of Provident Living. The sum total of this idea can be found in self-reliance and emergency preparedness. For those of you who are mormons or who know mormons well, you may already know that this includes food storage: a surplus of food consistently kept in the home in case of catastrophe, economic or otherwise. This also includes a 72-hour kit in case of environmental disaster. But Provident Living also details the necessity of wisely taking care of our personal health, spirituality and finances while also taking advantage of employment and educational opportunities, thus lessening our chances of being reliant on others. What a great idea, right? But because so many women who share my faith are dedicated homemakers, the idea of further education and employment can seem out of reach, exhausting, or even oppositional to their familial goals.

I recently heard this startling statistic from one of my BYU professors: about 80% of mormon women are single, either because they haven't had the opportunity or inclination to marry, are widowed or divorced. I was shocked (though this statistic hasn't been verified by the reliable source itself, so until I see it with my own eyes let's just say I was shocked but dubious as well). So it seems women in my church, either out of choice or necessity have had to do some serious re-thinking in terms of career-preparedness.

Though I haven't received a lot of verbal flack for my tenacious pursuit of my undergraduate degree and ambitious preparation for graduate school while also caring for a small child, I've wondered at times how many unspoken thoughts have trailed through others' minds about whether or not I have my "priorities straight". Perhaps I shouldn't even waste the energy it takes to think about this, but it nevertheless happens from time to time. All I can say to those who may think this is: what a crock!

To me, a woman pursuing her education and heightening her earning power is just another extension of provident living. Why wait for undesirable, tragic events to impell us to become breadwinners? And since the unthinkable likelihood of my husband dying in a traffic accident is on par or much greater than some cataclysmic natural disaster causing me to pull out my food storage or 72 hour kit, I think I'm doing my part to become a "provident liver". Of course, just like other emergency preparations, a desire to increase one's earning power can be taken to extremes ("work double shifts? why, yes!"), and, of course, getting multiple college degrees isn't the only or most important way to become a provident liver, I think it is important, appropriate and completely justified for women to pursue their educational and career goals in order to benefit themselves and their families.

A little feminist rant from yours truly

I've been feeling bugged today. The reason for my annoyance can be traced back to a discussion in one of my literature classes in which we discussed the importance - or unimportance - of preserving "the canon", that tried and true collection of salient literature that has carried us to where we are today. I respect the canon. I agree that it has left a literary legacy that numerous authors have been able to build on. Additionally, its effect upon masses of people cannot be easily dismissed. The trouble with the canon, however, is that though it is important, protecting the canon at all costs includes using a standard of judgement that can be exclusive.

For some, this is a good thing. In the words of one of my classmates, it means that "the cream will always rise to the top." But what if the canon fails to reflect the truth of a particular time period? Or of life for enormous groups of people? For example, I took a late Renaissance literature class and would have had absolutely no clue that women were even putting pen to paper in the late 1600s had I not done some studying on my own, my professor being a "canon protector". Sure we studied Jonson, Donne, Herbert, Vaughan and Bacon. It was great. But what did women have to say about life and their situation during the late Renaissance? What about Margery Kempe or Mary Herbert? What about Mary Wroth and the ever present "anonymous" writer? What about freaking Queen Elizabeth? And hmm...what about people of color?

This is where the class discussion took a more disturbing turn. The classmate previously mentioned essentially insinuated that women just hadn't been capable of producing "cream". He couldn't help notice, as both an english and philosophy major, that women just hadn't contributed to these fields as men had. He continued that perhaps women just weren't rational enough, at which point I became extremely pissed off.

Huh. Women not rational enough for philosophy? So that explains it. I'm glad we have that so tidily cleaned up. Now whenever I note that men are at the forefront of certain professions I can say to myself, "women just aren't rational enough" and feel better.

My question is, how is it somehow excusable in the minds of certain persons to make ridiculous generalizations about women, even when we've learned that making those same generalizations about other entire groups of people is morally and intellectually reprehensible?

Let's take one very important profession. Neurosurgery. Wow. Not a lot of female neurosurgeons. In fact, I could pretty much guarantee you that female neurosurgeons are outnumbered significantly by male ones. This must mean women aren't rational enough for neurosurgery. Or smart enough. Or whatever easy mental solution you have for this issue. Easy, right? But wait, how many of those neurosurgeons are people of color? If they, too, are vastly outnumbered by white male neurosurgeons this also must mean that they are somehow deficient just as women are, right? Wrong.

Dr. Ben Carson is widely considered the best pediatric neurosurgeon in the world. He has directed the pediatric nuerosurgery unit at Johns Hopkins for years. And he is an African-American. Hmm...so it seems my classmate's simple formula has suddenly become a bit more complicated. Unless you believe the case of Ben Carson is a fluke, which is stupid.

Perhaps there are more Ben Carsons out there who, given the opportunity, will change the face of neurosurgery as we know it. Perhaps there are women who will do the same. I don't doubt it for a second. I just wish the idiot (confused individual) in my class didn't either.