Tuesday, March 17, 2015

The Second Shift: Working Families and the Revolution at Home by Arlie Russell Hochschild, Anne Machung

I read this for my Work, Women, and Family class.

The premise is that women who are mothers and work outside the home work a second shift when they get home from work in order to take care of their home and children.

The books tells the story of some couples who and how they navigate this second shift.

I found it an interesting read but it also made me a little angry and some of the men and some of them women too. But the idea of a second shift and how to more equally share the responsibility that comes with rising a family when both parents work sparked conversation and debate in my class. It also provided some really good food for thought.

(Finished February 27, 2015)

Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir by Liz Prince

I was walking around at The Odyssey (independent bookstore across the street from campus). I saw the cover of this book and it jumped out at me.

Dakota has been going through a struggle with gender identity and we had been talking about the past year spent living as "he" but now feeling like that didn't fit so we were going back to calling her "she".

I saw the cover of Tomboy and it jumped out at me. So I picked up the book and read the inside front and back cover. This book felt custom made for my sweet kid. So I bought it and was so excited to get home.

Dakota read it first. Then she loaned it to our LUK worker Kathy (who we are so lucky to have) and now I have read it.

It's a graphic novel about Liz, who spent her life feeling like she was not "girly" and was more interested in things people were trying to tell her were for boys. She didn't like makeup, dresses, and the thought of needing a bra was horrific.

She much preferred her baseball cap, comfy men's t-shirts, baggy boys jeans, and ghostbuster toys.
It took her a very long time to feel comfortable in her own skin and realize that she was a she, just not by society's definition of what made someone a girl.


(finished March 17, 2015