28 April 2016

Citizen of the world

This week, I took part in a ceremony during which I was granted Irish citizenship. I was one of a thousand people swearing allegiance to a new country, the place we call home.

In some ways it was a bit strange after the years of pledging allegiance to the United States of America as a child in school every day. But I am still American. I retain my US citizenship, which makes me a dual citizen. I am now actually a citizen of the EU and the US, which covers a lot  of territory. Both are democracies so there is no conflict.

In a sense, I've gone full circle. My parents left Europe to make a new life in the US. I left the US to find a new life in Europe. It feels good to be back here where I've found home.


27 April 2016

Gender bias



To make it more interesting, I'm going to write the character in my next novel as male, with the full intent of converting her to her rightful status as female. I am doing this to free myself of gender bias.

I have found that I, too, am guilty of gender bias even as a feminist. I found myself buying girls soft pink things for Christmas and giving boys cars and tools.  So this year I reversed it. I gave the boys soft plushy toys and the girls got flashlights and the oldest got a penknife, something I would have killed to get as a kid.  I'll have to talk to her to see if she appreciated it or thought I was nuts.

So my thinking is that if I write the character as a male but then change her to female, I may have succeeded in  removing that bias. But can I remove it if I know that it's going to change,  Only time will tell.

PS The girls loved their gifts!  Yahoo. The older one is a fisherman and she wanted a knife badly. Success.