Strong Women ...

With few exceptions, I endow my female characters with strength and determination.

Growing up, I was surrounded by strong women.  They had to be; the men in my family were mostly drunks and gamblers.  If you’ve read Little Gangsters, you’ve already met some of them.

Left high and dry with three young daughters in Tofield, Alberta during the great depression when her husband took a powder, my grandma became a moonshiner to make ends meet.  When she moved to Vancouver she became the only independent bootlegger in East Van and faced down the local mob boss with an unloaded shotgun - which so impressed him he took her under his wing.

Of her three daughters, one became my mom who would sneak a five or ten out of my dad’s wallet when he passed out drunk so she could pay the mortgage at the end of each month.  One of my aunts married a poor man and headed south, carving a ranch out of the woods above Tigard, Oregon.  The third sister gut shot her husband after he slapped her around at a party - he lived and she ended up in Essondale mental hospital.

My godmother was a strong woman as well; she had to be - she was married to one of Vancouver’s two mob bosses.  Last I saw her was at their 50th wedding anniversary, which is pretty good considering her father told her the man she married would leave her destitute and pregnant within six months.

When I was in my twenties I was shocked to learn that some men abused their wives and girlfriends and couldn’t wrap my head around why the women put up with it.  As mean as he was, I couldn’t imagine my dad ever raising a hand to my mom - he’d have to sleep with one eye open for the rest of his life.  Sure, he slapped me around at every opportunity, but hit my mom?  Never.

I guess even degenerate drunks have strong survival skills.

So it’s natural that my female characters be strong; Chelsea, young Jesse and grown Jesse, Angel, B_, the firecracker female lead in my current project, and Olive in BETWIXT are all amalgams of strong women I’ve known in my life.  Even Carrie – though beat down by her family and the world – showed a strong will where matters of the heart were concerned.

This all came naturally to me.

When I returned to college as an adult, I had to take a course called “Feminist Studies’ as part of my program.  I was convinced I was in for a semester of female radicalism, but instead I learned that I was already a feminist.  I just never thought of myself that way.

Now, with four granddaughters, I have become a radical feminist, and the state of the world being what it is, I think it’s time for the men in charge to leave the keys on the desk and let the women take over.  I truly think they’ll do a better job.