Tag: #MeToo

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My Review of Rowena Tisdale’s The Heart Could Forget

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS ABOUT THE BOOK’S PLOT. I USE THESE TO EXPLORE THE SOCIAL THEMES AND DOUBLE STANDARDS IN OUR SOCIETY. IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE BOOK/DON’T WANT SPOILERS…READ NO FURTHER. YOU WERE WARNED!!!!

“Women are supposed to be very calm generally; but women feel just as men feel, they need exercise for their faculties, a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.” Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

http://rowenatisdale.com/books/

Conversation between me and Rowena Tisdale, the Sultry Scribe, when she approached me to review the Heart Could Forget:

RO: Are you sure you want to review this? It may not be the genre you typically read.

DM: I’ll give it a shot.

I do like to read outside of what may be my normal comfort zone. Much like my review of Ryen Leslie’s River, this was not a book I would have normally picked up in the book store on my own.

So why did I choose to read it?

I follow Rowena’s blog and I am intrigued by her sensual writing and characters and I wondered how that would translate into the genre of “Chick Lit.”

Unlike traditional romance, with it’s happily ever after ending, “Chick Lit” is a more fluid and less-defined category. The story revolves around a female protagonist and her evolution as a character. While it can have a happy ending, it doesn’t have to.

Themes

Chick Lit usually has deeper themes than traditional romance which is driven more by the will they/won’t they plot of the story. For myself, the biggest take away I got from Ro’s writing is still the prevailing double standard of expectations about sex and sexuality and roles that exist for men and women. Ro’s story (even though her MC, Sara is single), is almost a modernization of Anna Karenina or Madame Bovary, where men are rewarded and praised for following their passion and having multiple partners and extramarital affairs. Women on the other hand are cast into one of two categories: the good girls or the whores.

“Sometimes she did not know what she feared, what she desired: whether she feared or desired what had been or what would be, and precisely what she desired, she did not know.” Leo Tolystoy, Anna Karenina

Ro’s story opens with Sara, a 36-year-old single mom working in DC as an IT professional. She’s an empty nester, unsure what to do with her new found freedom after sending her beloved son away to college. Her friends want to see the lovely Sara, who has worked so hard her whole life to support herself and her son, find love.

By chance she meets DC’s most eligible bachelor, reporter Eric. A charismatic womanizer, everyone warns Sara (some of them quite snarkily) that she’s not Eric’s type, and that he’ll only break her heart. But Eric seems genuinely smitten. Eric sets about romancing Sara in a way she’s never experienced before. Admittedly, even I was a little in love with Eric by the end of part one of the book. The other part of me was looking at the remaining pages thinking two things:

  1. This is too good to be true
  2. There’s a lot of book left—something bad is about to happen

“Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed.” Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

Enter Nathan

So a little background on Sara. In her teens she was awkward and shy. She volunteered on a political campaign for a politician on whom she had a crush, Nathan Remington. In doing so she got raped by one of the adult staffers, and that was how her son came to be. She set aside her emotions attached to what happened in order to love her son, but she always carried a torch for Nathan.

One night, while waiting for Eric at a DC political event, she encounters Nathan again. The sparks instantly fly. Nathan takes her into a back room and they have passionate mind-blowing sex. Afterwards, he informs her that Eric has been cheating on her.

“I’m like a starving man who has been given food. Maybe he’s cold, and his clothes are torn, and he’s ashamed, but he’s not unhappy.” Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Sara is torn with guilt and passion. She cheated willingly on the man she loved, and she struggles to come to grips with just how much she enjoyed it. She also longs to have Nathan touch her and make love to her again. She experiences a sexual awakening, craving Nathan in a way she has never wanted anything before in her life.

Meanwhile she’s devastated by the revelation that Eric has been cheating on her.

As one might expect, Eric and Sara break up.

Nathan comes back onto the scene, demanding that Sara become his exclusive mistress. He sets her up to be a VP in the company in which she works and publicly be on the arm of one of his closest associates, since in the eyes of the public, he’s happily married. He can’t be seen to be cheating.

“Love. The reason I dislike that word is that it means too much for me, far more than you can understand.” Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

I have to admit, when I got to the part where Sara has sex with Nathan, I wanted to just throw the book across the room. For me, the idea of someone just casting aside everything they love for a fling is a tough pill to swallow. But maybe I have just never been overwhelmed by passion, like Sara is in this story. The other part about this was Nathan himself. He may be good-looking, charismatic, sexy, but he is possibly the most narcissistic and frightening male character I have read. I kept reading because I really want to know where this is going to go. Ro writes incredibly compelling characters, even if you want to slap some of them (Nathan).

“There can be no peace for us, only misery, and the greatest happiness.” Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Sara and Nathan embark on a very steamy and passionate affair. It’s obvious that Nathan is incredibly obsessed with Sara. His possessive, passionate behavior is all consuming. He desires nothing less than absolute control over Sara’s life. Sara gives in, allowing it to devour her.

Even as she experiences luxury that she has never known before, swept away in the glamour of being the mistress of one of the most powerful men in the country, she longs for the love she had with Eric. Part of her even wonders why she can’t have both.

“There are no conditions to which a person cannot grow accustomed, especially if he sees that everyone around him lives in the same way.” Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Sara’s devolution and evolution as a character is what really drives the story. Her change from the good girl, to high glamour mistress then back to normal speaks volumes about how our society views women who dare explore their sexuality outside what is deemed acceptable. In the high-stakes DC society in which she moves, the men are admired and praised for having mistresses. Women line up to throw themselves at womanizing Eric. Men applaud him for being able to have more than one woman at a time. When Eric and Sara are together, people constantly let her know that she’s not his type and she not only doesn’t belong with him, but she doesn’t belong in the DC political crowd. It’s subtle, but his behavior to her is similar to Nathan’s. He puts her on a pedestal, showering her with gifts and love. It’s okay for her to be his mistress. But when she’s another man’s mistress, she’s a gold-digger, a whore. Now much of his words and pain come from losing her, but it is still a vivid reflection of how women are treated in our society.

Meanwhile Sara submits to Nathan’s subjugation, because she is indeed desperately in love with him. She experiences the full wrath of society’s condemnation for her behavior. But before long it eats at her like a cancer. She loses her closest friends. But it is her son that calls her on her behavior. This is her true wake up call that brings her back to herself.

At the risk of putting too many more spoilers into this review, I will leave it to you to find where Sara goes from here. I will say this. Rowena’s book will make you angry. It will make you cry. If you like descriptions of passionate sex, you’ll love this. But it will also make you think. It will make you ask, why can’t she have both? Why is it that it has been over 140 years since Anna Karenina was published (written in 1873, published serially until 1877) and women are still punished for having sexual desire, while men get a free pass?

Reference

It’s been ages since I read Anna Karenina. I used this link below for the quotes in my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2507928

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned. My review of The Soul Web will be coming soon.

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The Odd Duck Creeper

As promised, Part Two of my sexual harassment blog on “Creepers”

*Names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

                Last July, as a present to myself for my 40th birthday, I decided to splurge and get my manuscript, Torched, professionally edited. It was a great learning experience and a lot of fun working a professional editor. But I thought I would relate a humorous conversation she and I had about my manuscript.

***Summarized this conversation for brevity, but you’ll get the point.

Editor: I really like your antagonist, Dennis. He’s a really great character. You have your romance going on in the foreground with creepy little Dennis in the background watching and plotting. How did you come up with him?

ME: Well, it’s funny you should ask that. There’s this one guy I used to work with, and he was kind of socially awkward. When I was working on my masters, I would stay in my office after hours late at night and work on my homework. He would come into my office and stare at me until I would notice him.

Editor: Wait—WHAT? Your serial killer is based on a real person? He would come into your office and stare at you?

ME: Uh—yeah. Really, it’s not as bad as it sounds. He was just a little awkward. He would just stare at you silently until you noticed him, then he would talk. Usually I just told him I was busy and he would go away.

Editor: OMG! That’s creepy.

ME: He just wanted to talk to someone. He would even bring me presents.

Editor: Presents? What?

And the more I talked and tried to convince her this wasn’t weird, the weirder it sounded.

Working in any field I think you encounter what I like to call, the ODD DUCK. If you have ever seen office space, he’s the Milton Waddams. Quiet, unkempt, usually not very popular. You won’t find him as the life of the office party. He’s usually hanging out in the corner by himself, just watching.

This particular co-worker of mine was an absolutely brilliant engineer and highly educated when you started talking to him. He and I often worked on jobs together so I got the chance to get to know him a little better than most. I also got to know more of his darker side. While brilliant, he had a definite chip on his shoulder when it came to women. Highly misogynistic, he would make terrible comments about women, but quickly follow them up with, “I’m just being honest.” And, of course, “I don’t mean you Daniella.”

He knew that I was an avid reader and a writer. I enjoy reading all genres, both fiction and non-fiction. Though when he found out that I wrote romance, this didn’t set well at all (even though I told him I wrote horror as well).

“Daniella you need to lay off that romance crap and read more war and killing stuff.”

He started bringing me presents. Which believe it or not were highly educational. One of his hobbies was history. He was really into history related to war. So he would bring me books, and being the person that I am, I’ll never turn down a free book. Usually he’d bring me non-fiction books or movies about war and killings. He did give me a fictional movie about the Templars, saying as he brought it into my office late one night after staring quietly at me for a while, “This is full of that romance crap you like. I’m sorry I bought it.”

Now before you think I was the only target of his affections, I wasn’t terribly worried because he did this to others. He would come into the office and stare at my alternate (who was a guy) and try to strike up conversations. From my interactions with him, I got the impression he had some sort of broad-spectrum autism. He often had difficulty just talking to people and would often wind up saying something incredibly in appropriate or offensive. To be honest, even though he could be quite insulting at times (and a little creepy the staring thing did get to you after a bit). I really felt that he was just kind of lonely. Having been somewhat of an outsider myself most of my life, I can relate.

So that was OD1. Let me relate the story of OD2…

*OD2 is reviewing a drawing package with me in my office. Not an unusual event as part of both our jobs. OD2 is also a little on the older and heavy-set side and has just come in from outside, so I presume that’s why he’s breathing like Darth Vader. He always does this, so I just shrug it off. He continually mumbles to himself while we go over the electrical portion of the work to be done on the project. He’s one of my odd customers that I deal with on a frequent basis here in Prudhoe and while I don’t mind his mumbling and heavy breathing, the smell of his greasy hair and his unwashed FR clothing does get to me after a while.

I’m sitting in my chair and he’s talking me through the scope of the electrical work as he leans over the one-line drawing, pointing out the changes he makes a strange snort. A glob of green-brown goop spatters across the white paper. It’s all I can do to not recoil from the snot rocket he’s just blown across the package. Without missing a beat, he wipes it away with his hand and keeps talking, mumbling and of course, heavy breathing. With as much stealth as I can muster, I pull a yellow post-it note from my desk and attach it to the page. I want to let our documentation tech know to re-print that one.

We finish the review, and he leaves. Admittedly, I’m laughing a little to myself over the yet another awkward OD2 encounter. I go down to the mechanical piping office to talk to my co-worker who has to deal with him on a fairly regular basis as well. As I relate the story, while both she and the other male engineer sharing her office start to laugh, they insist I close the door so they can tell me what he did while he was in her office (reviewing the mechanical portion of the same package).

“So what did he do?”

“Well we were reviewing the package,” O—- said, eyes wide. “And  he’s looking at me and talking about the pressures on the line, then all of a sudden he turns his head aside and says, ‘But you’re so hot,’ then turns back and keeps talking to me like nothing happened. He did it more than once.”

I look at C— the young EIT sharing her office and mentoring under her. “Yeah, I heard it too, it was so weird, like an aside in a cartoon or a movie.” They were both laughing, albeit, a little nervously.

“What a creep,” I replied. Then it hit me. The constant mumbling when he’s in my office. As some of you who follow me know, I don’t really hear that well. Due to a head injury, I sometimes have trouble processing speech. He was doing it to me too. I just couldn’t hear him/understand him. Of course, now we start talking to all of the other female engineers we know. Aaaaaaand as expected, Every single one of them has a weird/creepy OD2 story.

Now we wanted to write it off at first as maybe these guys are just socially awkward/clueless that their behavior is totally inappropriate. They have issues, so they just don’t understand. We had a lively debate with some of our male co-workers that really gave us pause. They felt that these guys knew exactly what they were doing, they were just using their awkwardness as an excuse to get away with inappropriate behavior.

What do you guys think after reading my descriptions of the ODD DUCKS? Are they truly clueless and just don’t know any better? Or are they taking advantage of the fact that they won’t be called on their behavior due to their awkwardness?

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned. We’re prepping for our first Chicken Run of the year, so my next blog post will be a humous story about the time I harassed the ptarmigan–shame on me!

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Creepy McCreeperton

Part 1 of my series on Sexual Harassment in the WorkPlace

I hear the door to my office creak open behind me. It’s late in the evening and I am in my office alone, trying to polish up a few things before I head back to camp for the evening. Before I can even turn around, he’s already barging in, moving closer to my desk.

“Hey Daniella, I heard that you have a cabin in the interior of Alaska.”

“Uhm…yeah. Do you have something electrical to talk to me about?” I ask, keeping a straight face. I know the answer to this question before he even opens his mouth. He’s a mechanical piping guy. He knows nothing and has nothing to do with what I do for work.

“Well, no.” He stammers.

“I don’t have time for chit-chat,” I reply bluntly. “I have deadlines and I am working. Please leave my office now. Thank you.”

His jaw drops. He glowers and stiffens a little, but he stomps out down the hall, slamming my door as he goes.

Now for some of you reading this exchange, this may seem a little harsh. We “girls” have been trained to be “nice,” “polite,” accommodating even. If I have learned one thing from my male co-workers, it’s that I am here to work. It is perfectly acceptable to draw distinct boundaries in the work place. Particularly around those who make me uncomfortable.

Now to give a little context around this particular exchange, there are many types of sexual harassers out there. The ones that we see in the news are the more overt kinds. You know, the ass-grabbers, the ones who make lewd comments and jokes, the ones who try to get girls drunk and assault them. I could go on and on, but I am going to focus on a subtler kind. There’s a kind of guy who flies under the radar, but quite frankly is possibly the biggest workplace predator, because he often escalates to these other behaviors, but he carefully selects his victim, grooming her to make it feel as if it is her fault when he makes his move. I call this guy, the Creepy McCreeperton, or how about just Creeper for short.

Now, throughout my career as a technician and engineer, I have had many male colleagues as mentors and friends. But there have always been clear boundaries established from the get go. The Creeper immediately starts trying to bend or push these boundaries.

Creeper moves in on his prey subtly, coming in to talk about work, but then moving on to other subjects, usually his favorite, sex. He works hard to find out what her interests are so he has ammunition. Creepers can be married or single. He’ll often open up to her about his own relationship problems, gaining her sympathy by trying to get her advice on his own relationship woes. Then he’ll try to get her to talk about her problems, so she can see just how much they have in common. The irony is that over the course of my career, it is usually the other men I work with know who the Creepers are, and warn me about them early on. Sadly, they don’t feel very empowered to do much about them.

The Creeper I mentioned above was notorious for stalking the young female engineers I worked with. He preyed on the fact they were too nice to tell him to go away. He always managed to come to their offices when they were working late or alone. He would often bring legitimate “work” to talk about so he had a reason to be there, but then sway to the subject to personal matters (sexual).

When they would tell me about it, I would try to drive home to them that they didn’t have to put up with this behavior. Establishing boundaries for professional behavior is perfectly acceptable. Guys don’t worry about being nice. We shouldn’t either. We should worry about being professional We’re here to do a job, not be someone’s eye candy.

Now, to give a little more info on said Creeper above, he didn’t give up after the incident in my office. He would try to find ways to talk about “personal” stuff with me, even though I made it clear I had nothing to say. Usually by trying to stop me in the dining hall or corner me in the gym and comment on my workout attire (yes, he was a true gem). I finally had to let him know that I had spoken with my supervisor about his behavior, and if he did not desist bothering me or other females in my department, we would be taking further action (further action was taken, because I guess he didn’t think I knew about the other women he was bothering).

Yes, I will add a small caveat here. We’re all adults, and some people do date in the work place. And that’s fine, but no one should feel coerced or harassed. It is acceptable to tell someone that their behavior is inappropriate without fear of reprisal. In fact, when I let my male co-workers the depth and level of was going on, they were outraged and incensed. It’s guys like that that give men a bad name. Most of the men I have worked with wouldn’t dream of doing anything like that. They have daughters, sisters and other female friends. They knew the guy was a “creep” but they couldn’t believe the lengths to which the guy would go.

We’re all human and we make mistakes. Speaking for myself, I have somethings said things I should not. People have said things around me that they should not. I try to give people (at least for the first offense) the benefit of the doubt that they are not trying to offend me and that they are a decent person. My usual response is something along the lines of crossing my arms over my chest, giving them a grin while I raise an eyebrow and saying, “Really?” And that’s more than enough for most of my technicians to know they’ve gone too far. We’re in a new era. Women are entering into professions and places that have been dominated by men for millennia. The amount of change in the industry both in attitude and support towards women has been staggering. There’s still along way to go. But that change needs to come with an open mind on both sides. We have to look at each other as human beings and partners, not adversaries.

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Pulling a Pig

So I shared this article yesterday, but I realized that this really bothered me. And when I mean really bothered me, the event I am about to relate happened over 14 years ago. I should be over it right? It was just something someone said to me. It wasn’t the first time I have been bullied or picked on for not fitting society’s standard of how a woman should look or act, and it wouldn’t be the last. But this particular encounter left me shaken to my core, and haunts me to some level until this very day. When I read this article, written by Stephanie Yeboah about her own painful experience, I was sitting waiting for an appointment. I broke down crying. Memories of that night came flooding back. I knew I had to share her article. I have included a link below:

https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/pull-a-pig-dating-pranks

The incident from long ago played on repeat in my head, keeping me awake last night. It had been something I had had shoved to the recesses of my mind, along with all of the other insults and snubs about the way I do and do not look. But reading Ms. Yeaboah’s experience, and the kind words I have gotten from friends after sharing her article, I decided to go ahead and relate what I went through, and why it bothers me so much to this day.

My apartment during college was in Seattle’s wonderful Capitol Hill Neighborhood. One of the things I enjoyed the most was the ability to walk from my apartment just a few blocks and go to any number of affordable restaurants, bars and shops. I had a favorite bar I would go to most nights since it was only a block and a half from my apartment. I would often bring a book or even my homework and get a beer and just enjoy the small, popular neighborhood pub.

One night, as I sat at a booth in the back, reading a book, a guy started to chat me up. Now this small dive had a group of definite regulars, but I had never seen this guy here before. This took me completely by surprise. If you follow me much or know me very well, I make mention often that guys don’t tend to notice me. I’d like to think that I’m not ugly per se, just incredibly average. But it was incredibly flattering to have someone (for once) notice me sitting alone and ask about what I was reading (It was my electromagnetics homework, exciting, literally. Do I know how to party or what?). He talked me up as if he was actually interested in me.

He sat down and offered to buy me a drink. I had already had a few, and I had class then next day. I declined. This seemed to irritate him. He kept pressing me to have another drink. I thanked him politely again but declined, growing more and more uneasy with his attention. Something seemed off. He became even more agitated. He continued to talk to me though. He finally invited me to leave the bar with him, stating that his place wasn’t far away. Feeling red flags popping up like daisies, I thanked him again but said I had class the next day, and I wasn’t interested.

Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say (in his mind). He stood over my table, balling up his fists, sputtering.

“Go home and study? You can’t be serious,” he said, slurring his words as he slurped his beer.

“No really. I have to get this done,” I said, tapping my pencil to my book.

“You can do that later, you should come home with me instead tonight, it’ll be a lot more fun than this crap.”

“No thank you,” I replied, putting up my hand. Inside, my heart was hammering. The bar was crowded. While he was making a commotion, no one was really paying attention, other than his group of friends standing near the pool tables watching and laughing. It dawned on me that they had put him up to this somehow. It was some sort of joke.

“What do you mean? You can’t turn me down,” he growled. The hair on the back of my neck stood up at his words.

“Thanks, but I’m really not interested. I have work to do.” I pointed to my book and notebook.

He flipped my book shut and leaned closer. “An ugly b—h like you should be grateful that a guy would even talk to you. Let alone take you home. I bet you go home and f–k your books.”

His words cut to the quick, but his body language and his demeanor made the bile rise in my throat. One part of me wanted to lash back, say something just as cruel and vicious. Many epic comebacks were whirling in my head. Fortunately, common sense prevailed. I refrained from saying anything, and managed to not cry while his d-bag friends dragged him out of the bar. He continued to slur obscenities about how ugly and unworthy I was as he stormed out with his buddies.

I sat at the table for a while, stunned. I waited long enough to be sure that they were gone before I shoved my books into my backpack and beelined it back to my building. I didn’t want to be caught alone on the street by him and his friends. Once home, I broke down and cried. I don’t consider myself a coward, but I was afraid to go back to my favorite dive bar for a long time.

As I mentioned before, this wasn’t the first time I had been bullied or snubbed for my looks or lack thereof, and it wouldn’t be my last. But this encounter left me shaken to my core.

I had never told my husband about it, and really, I tried not to think about it after that day. I just took it as a bad experience with a jerk and moved on. But after yesterday I told Ray about it and we had a long, interesting conversation. This scenario plays an integral part in encounters I have had, not just about my appearance, but my role as a woman in engineering and technical roles.

The man at the bar didn’t see me as a woman or even a person. He saw me as merely an object. Something to be used and discarded with no feeling. Something far inferior to himself. When I had the audacity to reject his advances, he couldn’t believe that this thing, this creature thought itself to be too good for a guy like him. It should be a given. I mean, in his mind and world, he’s entitled to far more beautiful women than I. Women’s bodies are at his disposal. I’m just a joke, a bet he’s out to win on a random weeknight with his friends. How dare such a lowly creature not only reject him, but humiliate him in front of his peers?

I have seen this same rage and frustration as I have advanced both in the Navy and as an engineer. While many men I have worked with have been fabulous peers, mentors and advocates, there are those who see my presence as a threat. There are some men who still see women as far inferior to themselves in every way. When a woman like me shows up in the workplace, they do everything they can to derail her career. It can be subtle, just minor disrespect on the jobsite. Or it can be blatant sabotage, cutting her off from information, spreading lies and rumors, trying to undermine her position.

It can be a tough pill to swallow sometimes. I have relied on my competence and my integrity to carry me through. There have been many times I have gone home and cried into my pillow, because, let’s face it crying at work is perceived as weakness (and I’m a total bawler).

I’m at a great point in my life. I have made a career out of not having to rely on how I look to succeed. I am considered a technical expert at what I do. When I walk into a facility or a jobsite at work, I’m greeted with comments of:

“So glad you’re here”

“We know the problem is going to get solved now”

“Daniella can fix anything”

Believe it or not, that feels infinitely better than being told I’m pretty. It’s something that no one can take away from me. It is not something I was born with, it’s something I earned. My biggest goal and mission in life with my writing, my engineering and my public speaking is to help others to achieve that same feeling, no matter who they are, where they came from, or what they look like.

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STEM Ambassador Talk

Me in Azerbaijan at the Temple of the Eternal Flame as part of a work trip in 2007

 

This week I am preparing to talk to a group of high school students at a summer camp about opportunities in engineering.  The technical focus of my topic going to revolve around my work with drones, but after reading the headlines this week, I am actually going to talk about something even deeper.

 

The Number of Female Chief Executives is Falling

                Claire Cain Miller, New York Times, May 23, 2018

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/23/upshot/why-the-number-of-female-chief-executives-is-falling.html

While I am on the engineering side of the fence, I agree with what she says in the article.  I have seen it throughout my own career as a technician, operator and engineer.  Yes, there are biases against women in the workplace, and many of them are not just because of their own choice, but because of perceptions on behalf of those in management above them.  The article is well worth the read, but I would like to speak to another issue the article misses.  Something more systemic that I see in society and new interns that I work with.  And it was summed up well in an article from the Chicago Tribune.

 

Teenagers may be losing interest in STEM careers, but the know they need tech skills to land a job

                Ally Marotti, Chicago Tribune, June 6, 2018

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-teen-girls-stem-career-ambitions-20180606-story.html

 

The crux of this article is that many young people use technology constantly, but they don’t see themselves as a part of it.  They don’t see the exciting career opportunities that may be available to them.  Let’s face it.  How are engineers portrayed but the media?  Boring, geeks in ties.

THIS IS WHY I AM A STEM AMBASSADOR

I think the answer is that more of us need to get out there and show these people the possibilities.  The world it is changing.  And while there is a lot of negativity out there, I believe it is changing for the better, if we can catch people and show them the limitless possibilities then we can energize them to want to struggle against the negative connotations associated with rising to the top.  We need to show them that engineering is more than sitting behind a desk and crunching numbers.  We need to show them that being a CEO is more than wearing a suit and saying, “You’re fired.”  If people cannot see where they would fit in leading a company or being an engineer, why should they want to fight for it in the first place?  Why should they put up with the sexual harassment, the discrimination, the lack of respect if they can’t see a positive side to it?

The more people with integrity, intelligence and vision that we can inspire to lead the world, the better the world will be.

Hiking in New Mexico. It is good to get away!