August 18, 2003
I live a very small life these days. It wasn’t always so. Once I was sought after by art teachers and teaching artists all over the state to help them figure out how to work the educational system. After all, I was working alongside some of the highest officers of that system, and I learned how it works so that it could be worked. And I loved to tell its secrets.
When I was in my 40s and 50s, I loved a good challenge, figuring out how to get around that male-dominated hierarchy. I often won – not because of any great brains or brawn on my part, but because I was patient and persistent, and the guys usually underestimated my creativity in finding ways to get things done around the roadblocks they set up to keep the power in their own laps, so to speak.
Before I retired to take care of my mom, I had a lot in input coming into my life – people, ideas, challenges, adventures. Now, it’s pretty much all output. Not much coming in. Except for blogging. (Oh, I have close women friends with whom I go to the movies, talk, hang out, vent, commiserate, and all that. They offer wonderful support, but not much challenge. And that’s fine with me.)
So, after dinner today, after I parked my mom on the bench outside our building and set out for a long walk in the adjacent park, I began to have this fantasy about a mock battle: Rage Boy vs The Crone. (I would even give him top billing because I’m the contender.)
We could stage a public bout on that free Sunday of BloggerCon. Have a bake-off or a poetry slam. Mud wrestling is an option, I suppose.
Of course, I wouldn’t expect to win. It’s the same old brains and brawn thing that I would have to contend with. But I can be creatively cunning. And I am persistent.
Nah. He would probably only get nasty and mean, as is his preference it seems, and I’d probably cry. But not until after I emasculated him, of course.
I think that I prefer to keep this challenge virtually painless. And btw, Bubala, it takes more than a paintball to destroy a “familiar.”
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Old Comments (3)
Richard on 19 Aug 2003
If I were a gambling man, I would (of course) put my money on you, Elaine, any day of the week. Rage untempered, after all, is but a flash in the pan. The wisdom of The Crone is Eternal (with a capital "E"!).
ARJ on 19 Aug 2003
I don't have any spare money to make any wagers, but I would sell a kidney to see that match! I bet you & RB both could pull in an excellent pay-per-view deal.
Ken on 19 Aug 2003
I might have to rethink attending the conference just so I can cheer for you.