Another brilliant piece from a GUNNAS WRITING MASTERCLASS writer
That’s my passion – social justice, and that’s what I usually write about. But, this piece is an exercise fromThe Gunnas Writing Masterclass. It is fictitious, and any connection to the facilitator of the class probably has some Freudian explanation (but little foundation).
Once upon a time there was not much life for women – apart from ornament or trophy. However, the woman in the picture I drew from the lucky dip (I will call her Ella for now) looks like she has a bit of ‘attitude’. The era looks Edwardian, maybe Victorian, and Ella is showing some leg, for heaven’s sake, and her dress is hitched up over her knee by a non-domestic animal from the cat family.
This animal (I assume is male and will call Milos) would no doubt run with feline grace if he had open space and freedom to move. Every day the woman would need to make sure her companion got exercise. Otherwise, he would become stir-crazy and might make a run for it, possibly causing considerable damage to himself and anyone or anything in his path.
One day, Ella decided she was sick of having to wear hats and dresses and meet the expectations of lady-hood. So, she whipped off her clothes, exchanged them for the gardener’s, put Milos on a lead, and they both made a run for it into the hills beyond the homestead.
Because of this escapade, Ella was grounded for two weeks, and Milos was sent to the zoo. And because of that, Ella decided to abandon her inheritance, and remake herself as an artist.
Ella is now a stand-up comedian, writes, teaches, runs classes for people like me, and has changed her name to Dev. She lives happily ever after – with no superannuation fund, no private health insurance, no private schools, a wreck of a car, lots of love, and the minimum of housework.
I think the shift has been a good one.
Thanks, Catherine Deveny for a great day, great material, and great facilitation.
Joan Beckwith writes about social justice on her website and Facebook page as follows:
Website: www.2020socialjustice.com
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/2020socialjustice