I did it! I did it!

I did it! I did it!

Excuse me. What did you do?

After the professional installation of a new WiFi router, I had to figure out, by myself, why my Echo Alexa (AI) unit would not connect to the internet. I did it, yay! You go, girl!

Um, Jan, folks might seem a bit puzzled by how suffused you are with JOY regarding what appeared to be an ordinary action - connecting Echo to the internet.

Okay, Okay. I’m outing myself. I was brought up as a Texas girl of the 1950s and 1960s: black patent leather shoes, poodle skirts, HARD plastic pink hair curlers (ouch), bouffant hairdos (OMG, the hairspray!), Home Ec….. Wait, wait, let’s just stop with Home Ec, that eponymous symbol of all things female during the 50s and 60s.

Home Ec(onomics.) For girls NOT REQUIRED to take Home Ec in later years, here’s a spiffy definition: “Historically, the purpose of these courses was to professionalize housework and to emphasize the value of "woman’s work" in society...

Huge sigh.

And, BOYS?? Boys were sent to Shop, “teaching the basics of home repair and craftsmanship, useful skills that could potentially be parlayed into a career.”

Let’s just call this for what it was. A culturally-created female disability (eeeek!), classified as disabled from taking a Shop course because, well, I was a girl and (heaven forbid) had two X chromosomes, but no Ys! (Did this particular cultural disability inhibit functional use of hammer and nails? Inquiring minds would like to know.)

Fortunately, I had a conniving mother who convinced the educational overseers that my participation in High School Forensics, rather than Home Ec, would do no lasting damage to my two X chromosomes and future participation in “women’s work.”

Nonetheless, I never learned how to work with tools, use three-dimensional thinking for building things, or have any concrete understanding of technology. The makings of a great internal block. I admit to being envious of women much younger than I who have true tool facility. Apparently, a decade after me, a female’s two X chromosomes no longer needed protection from tools and technology. (I might break a fingernail!!!)

Major head shake.

Over beaucoup years, I bought into my not-so-small internal block about building and technology skills. My default mode was composed of two parts: 1) I’m intimidated by ALL things building and technical (cuz I’m a female); 2) I’m gonna call someone else to do it for me (cuz I’m a female.) Part 2 was a consistent winner and worked well until….

….this pandemic thing came along. THEN all my easy avenues for outside help dried up. It was just me…poor ol’ Jan with a SHOP deficit. Soooo, a new journey began. Once I’d encounter a technical or assembly conundrum, I decided to frame it as “PLAYTIME.” Jan-is-playing-and-having-a-good-ol’-time! Whoopee! And, you know what, looking through this particular “playful” prism allowed me to detach from my judgments when performing a shop or technology task and just enjoy it. Playtime is fun and unburdened by “shoulds.”

Soon I found myself just nipping right along, dealing with computer quandaries. Oh, try this, not that. Yep, that worked! Wow! On to the next snarl….Each success bolstered my confidence. My beloved neighbors even began asking ME, of ALL people, for computer software assistance. Me!! I don’t know if my 2 X chromosomes were standing up straighter, but my internal spirit of “oh, wow, look at me doing this stuff AND I’m a girl!” had certainly grown a backbone.

Is there a moral to this story? You betcha. Regarding those ol’ SHOP internal blocks, I’ve decided my theme song for engaging with them is “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” (Cyndi Lauper.) I didn’t learn the Shop skill set in high school, but I’m certainly having a good time with them now. And, oh yes, I’ll nix any coming-down-the-pike culturally-shaming “shoulds” which try to define my wholeness by my chromosomes! (I sincerely hold this sentiment for both men and women. Just-be-you!)

❤️Enjoy reading “This Being Human Thing?” Please consider sharing with others. Who couldn’t use more heart and humor?