10 March 2008

How good is good?

My husband works with a guy who broke up with a girl because she was a kindergarden teacher and didn't want to be anything else. He said she had no ambition.

Shortly afterwards, this guy asked me: "So...what do you...DO?" When I told him I was a cartoonist, he said "Of what? Anything I'd know?"

I was still in the early stages of getting "Jenny" off the ground and wasn't really telling anybody about it so, instead, I told him about the military newspapers I'd worked for in the past. He just shrugged and changed the subject.

It reminded me of Ellen Burstyn's line in "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" when she was arguing with Kris Kristofferson in the middle of the diner. She yelled that she was going to Monterey because she was a singer. He yelled back, "Well, are ya any good?" And she retorted, "I'm as good as I am!"

That's what I wanted to say to this misogynist friend of my husband's but it didn't fit anywhere into the conversation.

I'm as good as I am. Whether you know my work or not.

~ jewls

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jenny,

What did this guy do, if "all she was is a kindergarten teacher"? It's a shame he felt that way but it sounds like she got off easy.

jennyspouse.com said...

He's an Aeronautical Engineer and a military pilot. But he'd never have gotten there without his kindergarden teacher. :-) ~ jewls

Marine Wife said...

Hm-m, reminds me of the guy Stretch worked with who complained about the slow "fat" woman in the commissary he kept getting stuck behind as he was getting his bachelor supplies one day. Upon further questioning, it was revealed that the woman wasn't standing up straight and had a small baby with her as she pushed/leaned on her cart. Sounded to me like a woman who had just given birth and this idiot was annoyed because she was moving too slowly for him!

btw, I love your work!