Thanksgiving Day and Reminisces

I’m grateful for living now, for the advancements and changes that I’ve seen over the past half century.  Reduced discrimination, increased opportunities, amazing technology. 

Distance from events changes our perspective.  I can even be grateful for those people in my life when I was young who told me “girls can’t do that” and “college is wasted on girls, especially you.”  Those statements hurt, but gave me the drive to prove them wrong.  Pushed me right into an A average and advanced degree in oceanography.  

As an undergraduate I had several classes where I was either the only woman or one of two women, and I went to a large state school (FSU).  In graduate school I was one of three women students in the department.  We had one woman professor.  One!  A woman of awesomeness, a full professor with a PhD in physics who held a joint appointment in Oceanography and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics. (*waves*  Hi, Ruby, if you ever see this.)  There were cruises where I was the only woman on board. 

There was discrimination.  The professor who graded the women lower for the same answers as the men.  We ended up in the department chair’s office over that one.  :)   The chief scientist on a cruise who gave me the 2 to 4 watch (that’s 2 pm to 4 pm AND 2 am to 4 am - the absolute worst shift) and ‘joked’ it would put me in my place and teach me women didn’t belong at sea.  That was my first deep water cruise and my first as the only woman in the scientific party.  A hurricane formed over our sample site (Anita) and we ran for port at the same speed the storm was building.  Sitting in the galley with my life jacket after a 4 am shift, along with more than half the crew, I was told I needed to get a knife before my next cruise (they assumed I’d be back; they were right) and a lively discussion ensued on the merits of fixed blade vs switch blade which included demonstrations.  I was quizzed on how to determine where I was relative to the door if we capsized.  Fifty knot winds, 10 meter seas (on a 100 meter vessel) for two days, chugging along at 13 knots was a hell of an initiation.  The wooden fruit bowl in a macramé hanger near the entrance to the galley was swinging to within a foot of the ceiling.

I bought a knife.  Not the type recommended, but one I was comfortable carrying.  It lived in the pocket of my jeans whenever I was at sea. 

I am grateful for all the people who encouraged me over the years, the folks who still encourage me when I tackle tasks I’m not sure I can manage.  Who remind me my toolbox is deep, my knowledge base broad. 

Attitudes have changed.  What was once not even considered as realistic (women firefighters, multiracial marriage, same sex marriage) is now either mainstream or moving in that direction.  

There are still challenges.  Discrimination isn’t gone.  Climate change has been ignored by policy makers for too long - drought killed more civilizations than wars ever did.

We can’t let those with small imaginations and limited ideas prevent us from following our dreams and accomplishing our goals.  I'm grateful I learned that lesson early.