Small changes

I read Small Changes by Marge Piercy when it first came out in the 1990s.

The description of different women's lives, their relationships with men and what it is like to be a woman in the working world dominated by men rang frighteningly true.

I wanted to reread it to see how much had changed. Or had I changed?

I remember trying to read Atlas Shrugged at 15, 20 and 24. The first time I couldn't get into it, the second time, I thought it was wonderful and the final reading I saw it as claptrap. I only wish some of our alleged leaders could see through it.

On this reading of Small Changes, I saw much that was still relevant. The scenes of Cambridge was like going back to my years living in the region. The personalities of the characters still rang true, although I had less patience with some of them not to see wrongs sooner, but that was through the filter of my maturing and society changing slightly.

Perhaps, where I saw the least change was in the workplace where the power structure is usually male.

Having become a published writer since www.donnalanenelson.com since then, I wanted to edit some of it. There was a bit too many conversations espousing the author's philosophy which did not negate the philosophy itself.

When I look at the position of and attitudes toward women in society today, I saw more technological progress than changes for women...small or otherwise.