Some writing..

For those of you following my own writing "career" I have received a few recent nibbles on publishing my Middle Grade book that I finished writing.  While I follow up on those, inspired by recent events in my life I've started writing a nonfiction book based on my life.  It bounces back and forth in time before and after a defining moment in my life.  Here's a little snippet, would love to hear thoughts/suggestions:

After

            I was teaching my class about Greece today.  I had them do a lesson in which they were assigned a topic and given a website and then they had to write down the ten most important facts they learned about their topic.  As we began to share the information about Ancient Greece… my female-heavy class realized something entirely on their own (yes they are NINE years old): Greece was a male-driven society.

            The Ancient Greeks existed over 3,000 year ago.  In Greece, females weren’t allowed to go to school, females could not partake in theater or the arts and their parts were played by males, and girls in their early teens were married off to men in their late 30’s without their consent.  Even in Athens, the most progressive of Greek cities and the model for our own democracy here in the US, women did not have the right to vote.  One of my students raised her hand and informed the class that even in Shakespeare’s time women were still not allowed on stage.  In America, women didn’t receive the right to vote until 1920, well into our country’s heyday, and women are still paid less for doing the same jobs as men today.

            This got me thinking… for thousands of years men have had the upper hand in government, in business, and at home.  I have always been told that the reason men have left me heartbroken without an explanation on so many occasions was because they were “immature” or “naïve” or here’s my favorite excuse “that’s just how boys act.”  But women have been fed these excuses and lines for thousands of years.  When are the tables going to turn?  When are we going to be in power?  When are we going to stop letting men control our lives and take the driver’s seat in our own car (literally and metaphorically.)  It’s about damn time, ladies.