Something New
And Unexpected
The image is yellowed with age. The paper towel on which I sketched it is disintegrating.
Look in her eyes.
I call her “Your Majesty.”
She is the woman riding the ice cream cart in Lubbock, Texas one summer day in 1966.
Who turned off the music to tell the back of my bowed head, “That’s no job for a lady.”
Maybe not.
But the Texas Society of Architects thought enough of it to make me the first female to receive its coveted Jesse H. Jones scholarship award.
I look like her now.
And daily hope I have matured enough to be as kind in my notions of place and purpose as was she.
This remembrance brought to you courtesy of the reader who asked for it.
Her judgement was based on her trained beliefs as to what a proper "lady" was supposed to be doing. She absolutely denied that women are responsible for all facets of survival for themselves, their spouses, and their progeny, as well as anyone lucky enough to be in their sphere of influence. Back then, women were enslaved to their spouses. You were not. The breastitcles it took to forge your own path were forces to be reckoned with. And still she rises…
How many Substack readers know you are also an artist? Thank you for showing up with one of your sketches and the story behind it. Did you notice? Liza Donnelly, writer and cartoonist for 30 years for The New Yorker Magazine started a Substack after you did. She features sketches she does while observing people. You've been observing and sketching for more than 30 years, too. Liza and Heather Cox Richardson are starting a new thing, where Liza illustrates the words Heather writes. Anticipation and excitement are high? What does "history illustrated" look like? So, Susan, keep writing and keep sketching and keep sharing it. You have the whole package that the world wants to see.