(#27) Trash For Teaching (May 25, 2014) – Part 3 (Letting Down My Gender! (Sorry, Women))

June 4, 2014

Aurora De Lucia doing a silly pose as she opens a boxPicking up from yesterday –

She really wanted to finish this bed, and time was at least somewhat of the essence since we were within probably the final 45 minutes that crafting was allowed. The guy who was doing most of the cutting still wasn’t free due to him cutting another child’s project.

However, there was an extra saw available. So, she asked if I’d cut the legs.

Okay, sure. I took stagecraft. I can saw something.

I know I’ve talked about my incredible lack of upper body strength on this blog before. But I’ve actually been doing a very intense workout class during lunch breaks at work. So, I’m stronger than I’ve ever been before.

While the hand sawing was taking longer than I wanted, I was actually mildly impressed – maybe not impressed, but at least pleased – with my ability to even do it.

But since it was taking a bit of time, I did a little sheepishly ask her, “Did the other person do this faster when you cutting the legs earlier?”

She said yes. (Oof.) Then, she said “of course though, because he was a boy.”

Oh no! Mia! I tried to explain to her that being a boy doesn’t inherently mean that he’s stronger or better at cutting or working with tools. It just means that this girl specifically (me) isn’t as strong as I should be. But please don’t think so gender role-y.

Aye, aye, aye. I’m letting down my gender too often. (Though I’m really trying to get stronger – in every sense of the word! There may be a day where I don’t let you down, ladies – maybe.)

So we cut and attached the legs. Then she started working with her styrofoam (what she’d brought back for the mattress) trying to lay it out in a way that made sense to her.

She didn’t think the pieces fit well together. I asked if she wanted to go look for bigger pieces with me, but she said no – she decided the styrofoam was actually too hard for a mattress anyway.

She thought for a second about the softer options she had. She looked around a bit more in the bins by us, before ultimately deciding to attach the fabric right to the bed itself instead of making a mattress.

This is where I’ll pick up tomorrow.

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