Hey Nerds,
Unless you live under a rock, you know that yesterday was Inauguration Day here in the United States. A day typically filled ceremonial grandeur, this year we saw a muted version of the pomp and circumstance.
Muted though it may have been, yesterday was still history in the making. For women across the country, it was a day we won’t soon forget–a WOMAN sworn in as the VICE PRESIDENT of the United States of America. If that weren’t enough, Kamala Harris is also the first African American and Asian American Vice President. She’s the friggin’ trifecta of breaking barriers.
Let’s get real. This Head Nerd is a 37 year old woman. My mother is a 71 year old woman. Be it 37 or 71, that’s too many years to go without a woman holding one of the highest offices of our government. And let’s get equally real; this isn’t me up on a soap box. Women make up 51.1% of the US population. It’s about time that the other (more than) half of the country sees someone who looks like them in a position of power. And we’re not done until that top spot is a Madam too. (And when there are nine.)
Hold up
Actually, let me get up on my soap box for a hot second. I’ve read some arguments that women aren’t fit to hold the office of President because they are inherently emotional. Or as the political expert, rapper T.I., once stated, women can’t be president because they “make rash decisions emotionally.” Did he walk back that statement? Hells yeah he did, but not before coming across as an ignoramus. (<– Not my original word choice, if you know what I mean.) But here’s the thing, I’m one of the least emotional people I know. Sure, I feel and exhibit emotions. And when I get mad, I can get REALLY mad. But when it comes to decision making, emotions don’t come into play.
Case in point: Through ample analysis, I decided to accept an early out from my safe and secure job, DURING A PANDEMIC, to go ahead and search for a new job. My leaving potentially helped secure a position for a colleague who maybe couldn’t find another position quickly. And my spreadsheet told me that if we cut the fat (read subscription boxes and meal kits), we could pay the mortgage and bills through the end of the year if I didn’t find a job right away. My decision was thought out and calculated.
But wait, there’s more
Want another example? A few years ago, my Nerd Partner 4 Life and I vacationed in New Zealand. We booked the trip as two one-ways, as we didn’t immediately know our return dates but wanted to make sure we could get seats on the outbound flight we wanted. When we arrived at the airport, the kiosk wanted us to scan our visas.
Fun Fact: We didn’t have visas. Because you didn’t NEED a visa if you were leaving New Zealand within a set amount of time, which we were. The problem? The one ways weren’t tied to each other. The system couldn’t tell when we were leaving New Zealand and therefore thought we needed a visa.
The ticket agent at DFW was insistent we needed a visa because the screen said we needed one. We didn’t have the time to go through this with her, as our flight was soon boarding. As my NP4L stood there declaring our trip was ruined and we should just go home, I called our shot–we’ll fly to LAX as planned, grab our bags there, and then deal with this issue en route. Once through security, I called a support line and got it all squared away. This happens ALL. THE. TIME. with airline employees who tend to book one ways. We made it to LAX, chatted up a ticket agent there who knew exactly what to do, and <boom> we had our boarding passes to Auckland and our trip was back on track.
Which one of us declared our trip was over? <Ahem> Not the one with a vagina.
Number 49
So with our 49th Vice President now a woman, I hope that we can, as a country, move forward. May this moment start the tidal wave of progress that our country sorely needs.
May we get to a day where women aren’t excluded from a work golf trip because the partner “doesn’t want to have to entertain and just spend time with his buddies” (who all happen to have penises). Here’s hoping that it doesn’t take the next generation of women 13 years before they make the same and then more as their NP4L, with a Masters degree he doesn’t have… That plumbers don’t assume you’re not the owner of your home or ask for the man of the house.
Here’s hoping we label assertive women as go-getters and not bitches. Women with ideas as visionaries and not opinionated. Mothers allowed to balance their professional aspirations and their familial ambitions. Women who don’t want to have children seen as committed workers, but not a slave to the machine.
And we have a total BAD ASS sitting at the (almost) top in 49. Vice President Harris. Madam Vice President Kamala Harris. God it feels good to type that.
So as they say in Hamilton, Raise a Glass to Freedom and here’s to hopefully better days to come for all the little girls out there who now see women can do anything. Even run the free world.
Cheers,
Head Nerd