Sure, the outcome of the DNC roll call was no surprise, but I wanted to see history happen. Around me, editors, fellow reporters, page designers, copy editors and Web producers bustled through their evening routines, ringed by the flat-screen TVs that hover over the Free Press open floor plan. I alone watched one of the TVs as each state made their Miss America pageant mini-speeches and cast their ballots. I didn't want to be stuck in my car when history was made.
The children's book "Girls Can Be Anything" envisioned
My mind was approximately 700 miles — and three-plus decades — away from Detroit in the kitchen of my long-sold house in suburban Boston, where a rickety bookshelf held dozens of children's books, most notably a beloved copy of "Girls Can Be Anything. "
It was a feminist picture book that envisioned a world where a woman could be president of the United States 43 years earlier. The slip of post-Steinem reading material, illustrated with simple drawings, was a surprise in my otherwise conservative upbringing, but I loved it. And it's still referenced by my parents and siblings to this day.
In it, a kindergartner named Marina (A Soviet spy? A reasonable question, considering the era.) repeatedly encounters trouble while playing with her best friend Adam. When he suggests they play hospital, she's forced to be the nurse. She discusses it that evening with her parents, who explain women can be doctors, too. The next day, he proposes they play airplane — with him as the pilot and her as the stewardess. That night, Marina's parents again set her straight. Then, they discuss playing president; Adam offers to let Marina be the first lady. That becomes the big conversation topic at home that night,
Mrs.'s are a bit dated, but remember the era. That exchange inspired Marina to tell Adam that she IS going to be the first female American president. He agreed to play her way and served as the pilot of Air Force One who flew her everywhere to give speeches (after which he gave speeches).
Regardless of your politics, of whether or not you will vote for Hillary Clinton, acknowledge that it was an important moment in history.
Like it didn't matter if you agreed with Sandra Day O'Connor's policy positions when Ronald Reagan appointed her to the U.S. Supreme Court. Or if you felt Sally Ride was too delicate for space travel. Or if you rooted for Manon Rhéaume. Or if you liked Kathryn Bigelow's movie "The Hurt Locker." Tuesday was bigger than blue states versus red states, Democrats versus Republicans; it was about a country coming together to mark — not necessarily, celebrate — a huge first.
Perhaps I was reminded of that little pig-tailed girl who dropped her R's at the end of words and who believed with all her heart that nothing could stop her dreams. Maybe it was my love of history, underscored by almost a decade writing about the subject every Sunday for the Free Press.
I decided to reach out to the author. Klein died in 1989, so I put my journalism skills to work and tracked down one of author Norma Klein's daughters, Jennifer Fleissner, to say thank you. (I now realize that she's the "Jenny" on the dedication page who "when she grows up, would like to be a painter, join the circus, and work at Baskin-Robbins, making ice cream cones. Long story short, she became an associate professor of English at Indiana University, Bloomington.)
Fleissner got back to me by phone and said that her mother's book hadn't come to mind, because she's on vacation and not even watching TV.
"The moment you said it, my mother would've been in tears of joy that it was happening," said the 49-year-old New York native. "My mother was a very avid feminist and raised me as well. She was good friends with Letty Cottin Pogrebin (a founding editor of Ms.magazine])"
I asked her whether her 10-year-old son has read "Girls Can Be Anything." The answer was yes.
"I don’t think it would dawn on him for boys and girls to do different things," Fleissner explained.
Childhood expectations today are different than they were in the 1970s. A change for the better, without question. But the gender pay gap still exists. So does discrimination in health care. And inflexible workplace parenting policies.
Maybe I'll write an aspirational children's book about that called "Girls Can Have Anything."
The children's book "Girls Can Be Anything" envisioned
My mind was approximately 700 miles — and three-plus decades — away from Detroit in the kitchen of my long-sold house in suburban Boston, where a rickety bookshelf held dozens of children's books, most notably a beloved copy of "Girls Can Be Anything. "
It was a feminist picture book that envisioned a world where a woman could be president of the United States 43 years earlier. The slip of post-Steinem reading material, illustrated with simple drawings, was a surprise in my otherwise conservative upbringing, but I loved it. And it's still referenced by my parents and siblings to this day.
In it, a kindergartner named Marina (A Soviet spy? A reasonable question, considering the era.) repeatedly encounters trouble while playing with her best friend Adam. When he suggests they play hospital, she's forced to be the nurse. She discusses it that evening with her parents, who explain women can be doctors, too. The next day, he proposes they play airplane — with him as the pilot and her as the stewardess. That night, Marina's parents again set her straight. Then, they discuss playing president; Adam offers to let Marina be the first lady. That becomes the big conversation topic at home that night,
Mrs.'s are a bit dated, but remember the era. That exchange inspired Marina to tell Adam that she IS going to be the first female American president. He agreed to play her way and served as the pilot of Air Force One who flew her everywhere to give speeches (after which he gave speeches).
Regardless of your politics, of whether or not you will vote for Hillary Clinton, acknowledge that it was an important moment in history.
Like it didn't matter if you agreed with Sandra Day O'Connor's policy positions when Ronald Reagan appointed her to the U.S. Supreme Court. Or if you felt Sally Ride was too delicate for space travel. Or if you rooted for Manon Rhéaume. Or if you liked Kathryn Bigelow's movie "The Hurt Locker." Tuesday was bigger than blue states versus red states, Democrats versus Republicans; it was about a country coming together to mark — not necessarily, celebrate — a huge first.
Perhaps I was reminded of that little pig-tailed girl who dropped her R's at the end of words and who believed with all her heart that nothing could stop her dreams. Maybe it was my love of history, underscored by almost a decade writing about the subject every Sunday for the Free Press.
I decided to reach out to the author. Klein died in 1989, so I put my journalism skills to work and tracked down one of author Norma Klein's daughters, Jennifer Fleissner, to say thank you. (I now realize that she's the "Jenny" on the dedication page who "when she grows up, would like to be a painter, join the circus, and work at Baskin-Robbins, making ice cream cones. Long story short, she became an associate professor of English at Indiana University, Bloomington.)
Fleissner got back to me by phone and said that her mother's book hadn't come to mind, because she's on vacation and not even watching TV.
"The moment you said it, my mother would've been in tears of joy that it was happening," said the 49-year-old New York native. "My mother was a very avid feminist and raised me as well. She was good friends with Letty Cottin Pogrebin (a founding editor of Ms.magazine])"
I asked her whether her 10-year-old son has read "Girls Can Be Anything." The answer was yes.
"I don’t think it would dawn on him for boys and girls to do different things," Fleissner explained.
Childhood expectations today are different than they were in the 1970s. A change for the better, without question. But the gender pay gap still exists. So does discrimination in health care. And inflexible workplace parenting policies.
Maybe I'll write an aspirational children's book about that called "Girls Can Have Anything."
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