To really appreciate this anecdote, you need to know a bit about the delightful children's book series "The Magic Treehouse." This wildly popular series features a brother and sister, Jack and Annie, who travel back in time courtesy of their magic treehouse. Each book is set in a different time period. It's essentially historical fiction for kids and it's often taught in second grade.
Here's the story...
This afternoon I was painting and listening to my iPod on the kitchen dock when the kids came home from school. The girls joined me at the kitchen table with their after school snacks. Katie was watching me work and Abby was doing homework. Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" came on. (For those not familiar with the hit dance track, it urges self acceptance to all, and specifically to gays, lesbians and bisexuals.) When the line, "Don't be a drag, just be a queen" kept repeating, I explained to Katie that a drag queen was a male entertainer who dresses up as a woman when he performs on stage.
Abby looks up from her mathwork and says nonchalantly, "Oh, I know about those. They're in my Jack and Annie books." "They are?" I asked, shocked. Now I haven't read every one of the more than 50 books in the series, but attending an all-male review would have been atypical to say the least.
"Yeah, in one book they go way back in time to visit a man who wrote plays. Back then women weren't allowed on stage, so men dressed up as women."
Once again, Shakespeare proves timeless.
No comments:
Post a Comment