My mother won a prize as a new high school grad in the mid-fifties. She was tied for best grades in the entire city of Montreal, Canada. Her reward was not college but a couple of years as a secretary before marrying my father and moving to the U.S. She kept her Green Card for over fifty years, never becoming a U.S. citizen.
At first, she told me that I could hopefully expect to end up as well as she did, married and with a family to raise. Then in the seventies she read Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem and went to community college to study to become a paralegal. My sister and I, in high school, took turns making dinner after school so Mom could go to class and study.
In contrast, Dad always went after what he wanted. He was the first in his family to attend college and was adamant that all four of his children would go to good colleges and graduate, which we did. Mom started her four-year higher education when I did, she graduated summa cum laude with a degree in accounting and aced her CPA exam first time out. I graduated deans’ list. Late bloomer?
Work seemed daunting at first but I was smart and could do it easily. It just required much time and effort and a lot of thinking outside the box to problem-solve thorny legal issues. The toughest thing for me was looking young, being a single female and being taken seriously in terms of subject matter, pay and figuring out how not to be hit on by wayward legislators every day.
Friends married, had kids. I was happy to be in the thick of policy/politics and still learning new things every day. So I kept it up, not seeing myself like the wives of my male colleagues, with whom I had less and less in common. We were good friends, but in a fashion limited by their routines.
So when did I become a dreaded childless cat lady? Or did I? Yes, I’m married nearly 22 years, childless at 65, and have had only two cats in my life, now passed. I was fighting for the rights of voters, gays and lesbians, and crime victims. I was making things better for all people of my state.
I had, and have, something to offer and I care about my country and its people of all colors, gender affiliations and faiths. I have a stake in the world around me and no-one can tell me otherwise. Not JD Vance, not anybody.
The next few months, after the Kamala honeymoon, will be brutal, and when she wins, it won’t be over. Trump is telling people they don’t need to vote (!) and that they can vote this time but in four years there will no longer be a need for Americans to vote because he will have taken care of things. That is hellishly frightening. Voter suppression will be rampant, along with chicanery, law-breaking, inane legal battles and perhaps even political violence.
Those of us who want to retain/return to the rights we fought for and deserve need to be in it for the long haul, because if the executive and SCOTUS have their way, there will be no Constitution, no United States of America as we know it. I PREFER FREEDOM!!! Dee
Cooking with Dee 