What Time Is It?

11/6/2016

It's that time of the year folks.  We set the clocks (in our mind anyway) last night.  The girls who wake up between 7:00 and 7:30 every morning, switched to 6:30 today.  I don't mind the brighter mornings, but I dread the darker evenings that come too early for me.  

As I type, I have my "sun box" turned on.  It's easy for me to slip into a depression or perhaps a more accurate word would be go into a funk, at this time of the year.  Once the clock moves backward, I have to work harder to keep my head (the mental part) above water.  Staying positive is not just something I should do, it's something I must do.  At least I recognize what a downward spiral looks and feels like.

This afternoon, I will schedule the week's television shows.  Obviously, Tuesday the only think that will be on, is election coverage.  You just have to pick the channel you prefer to watch.  I'm not loyal as far as news goes to any specific channel.  It's news - same story - different anchors.

Amazon has a series out at the moment called "Good Girls Revolt".  Jeff and I watched several episodes last night and enjoyed them very much.  The time is the 60's, when music was at it's best (my opinion only), mini-skirts was a thing, smoking in planes and offices had not yet been banned.  What you also see, is how the women researchers are subjected to being told to get coffee, allow themselves to be called "girl" among other names.

One of the characters, whose appearance on the show was Nora Ephron, and because she was a woman during that time, she was also a researcher.  In reality, before her death in 2012, she was the writer on 16 films (Harry Met Sally being one) and had 8 written essays.

While I watched the dehumanization of the women on the show, I could clearly recall my own experience as a young woman working in an office in the 60's.  We were basically nobody.  My first job was with a CPA firm.  One job I had was to clean out the partners' ashtrays, a job that no woman would undertake today.  And harassment was alive and well when I entered the work force.  I was fired from a job because I couldn't type fast enough.  The typing was done on a paper tape and the job was to type legal descriptions of properties.  You know, the kind - the eastern most part of parcel 64 is aligned along the ......................  When I was fired, I was told that I would never be able to make a living typing.  I was young and annoyed, so when I returned to my desk, I took scissors to several of my paper tapes.  My rationale for this was: if my typing is no damn good, then you better be sure I'm not leaving my "worthless" typing behind!  Doubt I would have the nerve to do something like that today.  But in my time I guess I was a bit of a bad ass.

At the same title company, we had to ask to go to the bathroom.  And were supposed to do our business quickly and get right back to typing.  That sort of behavior is no longer part of the current office culture.  Things have changed dramatically since I started out at the age of 18.  As for the typing, I had 46 years of typing before I left work in 2013.  I was, touting my own horn now, a very good and fast typist (now called secretary).  I could basically type while my boss dictated to me.  

So if you have time and long for a 60's refresher of our "hippie dippy" days, check out the show.  I'm sure it will bring back memories for you, as it did for me.

Happy Sunday.

P