6:37pm ~ The next young woman is someone that I know quite well, however I won't ultimately know her until the end of her life, me. For the next four postings I'll highlight times in my life when I was faced with humility, served on a pewter platter. I did nothing to deserve these words that momentarily soured my soul. You can't call it constructive criticism and definitely can't say any of these exchanges were a playful tête-à-tête. The words that were expressed came from a world where it is Okay for people to speak to others so harshly, especially women, and especially young women. The first story, is of a teacher, an older male teacher. A man who hunted bears as a sport. I can't even remember his name or what he taught, that's the type of positive impression he had. I believe it was my first or second year of high school, we were going through roll-call and when he got to my name 'Heidi', he exclaimed, "well that name is far too pretty for you, shouldn't your name be something more like Helga?" What does that even mean? At that time I was so mortified I quickly sat down. Now years later, I rarely I think of this insecure person, a coward of man, but I do think to my adult self "how dare that man try and tamper with my impressionable psyche"... strike 1 (Photo, high school me with one of my friends ;) . . #adaywithoutwoman #womansmarch #internationalwomensday #standup #standtogether #equalityforall #highschoolisonlymisfits #poppypunch