Gray powered geniuses

In the ancient world water was dangerous to drink and the women of the family would brew beer as a safe alternative. I heard about my great grandmother's prowess with alcoholic beverages from her daughter. But it was a little bit hush hush because if the beer was potent, men would get drunk and then blame the women for putting a spell on them and making them act silly. They were called witches and burned at the stake for their ability to make men inebriated. Grandma only made enough brew for her own family or select visitors. You would hope that her husband wouldn't accuse her of witchery, but one had to be careful. Hence the closely guarded secret of beer making amongst the women of my family. My Gran remembers the drink as akin to ginger beer, slightly tart, very sweet and just a little bit heady. Children were fed on the "new beer" which had an alcohol level of .001 % but Grandpa Alf would imbibe on the fully fermented stuff and was often seen riding his pennyfarthing bike down the roads of their town, singing at the top of his lungs with his pet pig and goose waddling behind him. He had bought the animals to be eaten for some special occasion, but they were given names and you know what happens when an animal has a name. They don't get cooked. I have mentioned Grandpa Alf before for his skill with a fiddle and his outgoing ways once he had a few pints under his belt. Grandma Emma, on the other hand, was a real lady and would tut and sniff disdainfully and find a quiet corner to read her book or her sewing. Granny Gladys was never much of a drinker, but a small glass of sherry or a beer shandy was acceptable. I suppose beer shandy brought back the taste of her mother's brew. As Granny Gladys aged, she would take a nip of brandy before bedtime to relax her mind and help her sleep. Yup, that is not for me. I have gone down the Vitamin B12 route with drops under my tongue to aid my crazy mind and soothe my body. What I get from this story is that the women in my family were very inventive and frugal. As I prepare my very own perfume, shampoo, deodorant and lip balm in the kitchen out of ordinary ingredients, I feel I am walking in their shoes. Part witch, part scrooge, part inventor and wholly weird. 

In that vein, have you checked out the list of the world's ten top geniuses? Isaac Newton, Galileo, etc etc. 9 white men and one white woman. No people of colour and a real lack of feminine representation. Surely there were geniuses amongst the fairer sex? Or do we not label them a genius? Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein. Pure genius. Freda Kahlo and her vibrant use of colour? Definitely up there with Picasso and Monet et al.  Have you heard of Judith Love Cohen? Aerospace engineer and amazing woman. She was in labour with her son, Jack Black, while also working on a problem with some schematics, she phoned her boss and told him she had fixed the problem and then gave birth. We downplay the abilities of women because we think they are too emotional, their focus is on beauty and family and whatever other excuse we can find. Men, on the other hand, are excused for their eccentricities and bad behaviour by labelling them a genius and therefore worthy of our forgiveness.  And people of colour? Have any of you seen the movie "Hidden Figures"? Yes, those women were geniuses. NASA tried european women in the job, but the women of colour out performed them hands down. Now, let's put this into context. Those women came from homes still affected by slavery. Most of their grandparents had worked in cotton fields and plantations with little to no schooling. Even their parents would not have achieved university degrees. Amazing, inspiring, great women. They stepped up and stood out from the crowd. Genius. I was speaking to my sister-in-law about her children and she told me her son is a Radio Astronomy engineer. He travels to Ghana to install a Radio receiver and he speaks at conferences on his subject. We laughed because all of our children are better educated than we are. Her son is the closest we have to a rocket scientist in our family. My mother left school to work at age 15. I have a tertiary education but all my kids have outstripped me in the academic field. And yet we are privileged, we have our white skin to give us a head start. We can go into the bank and ask for loans without being frowned upon. I think we should start a trend where we tell women that their skills are worthy of note. A genius in the home, a genius as an author, a genius in their workplace. Why limit the term to old white men? Nope, I am claiming the title genius for myself. If you inspire, uplift and lead others, you are a genius. Joan of Arc ... genius. A young untrained girl led the French army to victory against a foe that had stumped the best of the male generals. Her reward? Burnt at the stake. All she needed to complete the disgrace is to have brewed beer and be called a witch.

I was aquajogging, yes, again. I go twice a week and jog for an hour. Anyhow, not to bore you, but yesterday I was striding through the water when I looked down and way down on the bottom of the pool was a man, eyes wide open, staring at me. I freaked out and let out a yell. I was very proud of myself that I hadn't 'discoloured' the water at the same time. But anyway, the man, Zion is his name, popped up and apologised. Apparently he is practising for a diving holiday where he hopes to catch plenty of crayfish. With heart pumping and nerves jumping I continued on. He then proceeded to swim underwater from one end of the pool to the other while I did my pedestrian thing of getting in 4,000 steps. I got home and was too frazzled to start my Inktober assignment. Each October the art community does a challenge of drawing an ink image every day of the month. 1st was "Backpack", then "Discover". You can interpret it however you want. I have seen one image of Christ holding the cross as a backpack and another with a bag filled with wool and a cat playing with it. Perhaps I will start on the 2nd and discover my inner genius and draw amazing things to delight the eye? Some people are soooo clever. Me, I need a geni to visit me and prod and poke me to try something innovative. My idea of backpack is a version of "The Town Musicians of Bremen". That old story from my childhood where animals stand on each other's backs to scare off some robbers. Four animals, all old and ready to be put out to pasture. They never reach Bremen, where they were supposedly heading, but instead move into the robbers' discarded home. The donkey, the dog, the cat and the cockrell pooled their resources and ended up being too scary to face. It gives one hope that even though our bodies might be decaying, our minds are still as sharp as ever. Mistreated by those they have served, they make the best of a bad situation. Gray power. Strangely enough this story is told throughout the world. Western stories feature domestic animals and the Eastern version is of 'inferior' animals. What are inferior animals I wonder? Japan, Indonesia, Korea etc tell the almost identical tale to the Scandinavian or the American versions. Even South Africa has its own story of the animals. I wonder if I should draw it with African animals all piled up on each other? Will give it some thought.