Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
Sometimes, though, it’s … well, not.
In fact, much of the time life sort of goes along in a way that could almost be considered typical. Stereotypical, even, odd as that sounds.
When I first read a recent piece on Jezebel lamenting the lack of strong female mentor characters, I was totally on board. The fact that fictional mentors for young women are frequently power-hungry super bitches, arrogant (and, naturally, handsome) men, or “real characters” that often happen to be flamboyantly homosexual is inarguable.
That being said, though … so the hell what?
I am a voracious reader. Sometimes, in fact, I think I need a 12-step program for my addiction to literature. I also love movies.
Why?
Because it allows me to escape from my own life, to gain perspective, to think about other things.
If somebody made a movie about my life, it’d be pretty freaking boring. And I have female mentors, several of them in fact. Furthermore, they are real characters.
- One of my teaching mentors has an obsession with Def Leppard that has led to tattoos in odd locations and guitar picks displayed in glass boxes on the mantle.
- One of my life mentors recently sent me a picture of a shell she found on the beach shaped like a penis in a desperate attempt to get me to fly to North Carolina for Thanksgiving.
- One of my writing mentors is … well, the inimitable Sarah Taylor-Spangenberg, which speaks for itself.
- One of my motherhood mentors told me once that plastic Solo cups are the best way to keep your kids from knowing what you’re drinking.
And so on.
These are, all four and many more that I’m not bringing up, incredibly strong woman that I …
