I recently reread Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, Big Magic. I was fascinated by her idea that we are visited by creative ideas. She indicates that we are most often too busy or have our attention focused elsewhere to notice them, that we say no to them without even thinking about it. This idea has resonated with me and I have been trying to have a more open mind and pay attention when these ideas surface.
Almost forty years ago, I took my first college engineering course, EF1010 Intro to Engineering. It was the class where we learned about each of the branches of engineering. This was the era when the engineering school had the requirement that freshmen "dress" for class. That meant no casual clothes. It was easy to spot me, the only female in the class, the only person wearing a skirt to class. It was an especially memorable day when the professor pointedly told me, in front of the entire class class, which branch of engineering was best suited for females.
I did go on to get an engineering degree in the major that the prof said would be best for a female but I think that was, in part, because it was where the females felt the most ‘safe’ and respected, not that it was the thing we wanted most to do. I never ended up working as an engineer. I did not like the person I would have had to become to “make it” in that environment.
In a recent closet clean out, I found my drafting textbook from that Intro Engineering class. Every time this book has surfaced in the last forty years, I have contemplated tossing it but have not been able to bring myself to do it. I took drafting in high school and LOVED it. I went to college with my dad's old drafting tools and a brand new Hello Kitty mechanical pencil. I wanted to like that intro class but it was filled with bad experiences. For some reason I have hung on to the book. This time, when I saw the book, it was like Elizabeth Gilbert described, an idea came to me and I was open to it. I will be creating some art with its pages. I am excited about the project and am finally getting joy from this old drafting book. Maybe I can exorcise some demons at the same time.
