Culture Club

SO now that we've established that Rhena's pipes are in good working order, I figured it was safe to go out in public without TOO much fear of spontaneous combustion.


So have I said this yet??? I've recently decided that Wednesdays will be my CULTURE DAYS. I figured that since I'm back to living in an area that actually has museums, art galleries and the such... it's high time I get out there and check some stuff out. (Not that the tumbleweed viewings in Reno weren't TOTALLY AWESOME...... but this town seems a little more my speed.)

So today, Rhena and I ventured downtown. (actually UPtown Charlotte, but who's keeping score?) We went to the Levine Museum of the New South, and checked out an exhibit called Purses, Platforms, & Power.

I found it very cool that I was taking my 6 month old daughter to an exhibit about the power of women and the struggles they have overcome since and during the 70's. Is Rhena too young to know how much the road has been paved for her? perhaps. Was it ironic for me to be viewing a feminine-empowerment exhibit while I myself have conformed to the 50's stereo typical image of a stay at home mom? yeahhhhh, but no.

Just because I'm personally providing the care for my daughter in our own home on a 24 hour basis does not take away from who I am and what I have accomplished and overcome as a woman. Having a baby doesn't remove the fact that I attended a male-dominated university and was outnumbered 30-to-1 in my degree of aircraft engineering (or graduated as class president!). No longer having a paying job does not take away my professional achievements in an 'old boy club' company like Boeing. Wasn't it I who managed and supervised over $11 million dollars worth of projects one year in Amazon??? "No fellas... my hardhat was not pink, and yes... I created those autocad drawings."

Stereotypes? yeah.... I dealt with them. The sideways glances, the eye rolls in the beginning of my meetings, the rumors of promiscuity after promotions.... they came from all angles in my
years. Even now I get the looks.... as if being a stay-at-home-mom isn't good enough, or I'm not living up to my potential; career, personal or otherwise.

So the fact remains that no matter what I've done, at whatever stage of life... there's always been at least a critic or two to tell me what I'm doing is wrong or not good enough.

You know what I say to that?


screw 'em.


I'm very happy in my life, thank you very much. But yet---- this must be said. .

... I appreciate all that has been done by my predecessors to allow me the freedom to choose what exactly makes me happy. Without them, I would not have the chance to have 'been there, done that', and would have a very very limited perception of what my life could and should be like. (I also need to include my parents in this group of people, as without their constant support, I couldn't have done jack-shit...) AND FINALLY---- I salute the women (and men, but today is about the ladies) who continue to be out there now, allowing my daughter freedoms that I can't even dream of yet. Rock on, Ladies...... rock on!