A1: Gatekeepers: Bitchslap with a Birkenstock

What am I doing? Not a Masters (NaM) Unit 1: The Stories I Tell Myself The Assignment Unit 1 asks me to reflect on why I don’t look at my creative work in the same way I look at other kinds of work. The Gatekeeper Story — Find a way to write about the moments when people discouraged my creative work. Think about times parents, teachers, authorities told me my work doesn’t count or were dismissive of it. What did I do in the moment? What is still left over from that? In response, I’ve written three short pieces to underscore how pervasive dismissal can be. The Essay Discouragement for women has as much to do with patriarchy and capitalism as it has to do with lack of self awareness or the realities of child development on the part of parents, teachers or other figures of authority. Adults speak to girls differently than they do to boys, and we are reminded of our subservient worth to the collective whole more regularly. The lack of women in history teaches us that our passions and…