Life as a Woman

Now and then...

I just finished listening to Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and I have to say it’s a book that young women today should read to understand how far we’ve come baby! When I climb on the seated elliptical trainer for my 35 min session, which I need to do at least 4 times a week after going through a cardiac rehab class, after having a heart attack, I have to listen to books on my phone as it’s too difficult to read. And I can’t just dumbly stare off into space for 35 minutes without getting very antsy. So to encourge myself to keep up the practice, I have to listen to books. I don’t know why I don’t listen to podcasts, after all I spent many years doing radio news. I think it’s all about going through the rigamarole of figuring out the software to use and then doing the research on what I want to listen to. So if any of you out there have recommendations for me, bring them on!

Anyway, in listening to it, I only had one complaint - that the women who was the narrator didn’t get a pronouncer for Jack La Lane - LANE, like in street. Everytime she mispronounced it, it drove me crazy!

But it brought me back to the bad old days of the 60s and 70s when woman could not have a credit card in their own names. Yes, it was 1974 when women could finally do that and it took a law to make it so. (https://www.forbes.com/advisor/credit-cards/when-could-women-get-credit-cards/) I remember my first credit card was for a store I worked at back then called the Fashion Bar in Colorado Springs, CO.

When I was in high school in Massachusetts (1964-69) not only were girls ONLY allowed to wear skirts, said skirts had to touch the floor when you knelt down on your knees. I also had to fight to get into a mechanical drawing class in my senior year that was only “supposed” to be for boys. They offered home ec for girls. But I had been doing home ec for years by then as I was the oldest girl in a single parent family and my mom worked. I was “Mother Superior” to my younger sister and brother. I think that’s part of the reason why I never really wanted kids, as I was forced into helping my mom raise the young ones. Big thanks to Planned Parenthood which provided women’s healthcare for me and all those other women who didn’t have doctors.

My mom worked for Ratheon as a secretary. But she was NOT given a moving allowance like the men who worked for the company. So that meant we had to sell or give away all of our belongings except for a few clothes and go live with other relatives for a couple of months before mom made enough money to buy plane tickets for us to join her out there. This was in the middle of my senior year of high school. I had come from a very small school in Mass. with only 45 kids in my senior class to a new school in Colorado Springs where there were 500 kids.

Yes, this is what led to me becoming a Feminist. And was the impetus for my Domestic Considerations series of work. See more from the series at anntracy.pixels.com

The mid 70s were also the time that I had a summer stock gig at the Iron Springs Chateau in Manitou Springs, CO. But I knew my days as a triple threat were quickly coming to a close due to my back problems as a former modern dancer. So I had the idea of becomming a radio journalist. I was able to go back to school at our local community college and because NOW (thank you) had filed an injunction against all the radio stations in Denver, because there were NO women on the air, I landed a job there. I was the first female voice on KTLK radio - doing news from midnight to 6 am. They were a rock station and buried the news overnight. The men I worked with were not quite as bad as the ones Garmus writes about, but they were really mean and dismissive.

But I worry about the young women coming up right now with a huge attack on reproductive health being led by self-serving religious zealots who want us all to submit to their way of religious thinking. Please support Planned Parenthood. Women should be able to make CHOICES about their own bodies.