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nth annual Savannah SymphonyBenefit-Concert for SchoolsjaalL-
be’ p'F^senf&d on Wednesday, September 27 at Benedictine"1VIilitary
School, Savannah The pre-concert courtyard reception/auction begins at
76:30 p.m. and the doors open at 7:30 p.m. For ticket informafitm7“~ ■
icall the Catholic Schools,Office at 912-238-2344.
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Thursday, August 24, 2000
The Southern Cross, Page 5
Everyday Gr yces
Gender roles not just a matter of culture
A s a new parent, I was one
of those moms who was
very careful about gender
stereotyping. I made sure
my first child, a girl, did
n’t own only “girl” toys. I
bought her Matchbox cars,
trucks, puzzles, balls,
blocks. I was intent on mak
ing sure, through her play
Machines at Work.” While
he participated in Katie’s
productions, he was
enthralled with dressing
up as superheroes, and
one of his favorite play
things was a plastic suit
of armor and plastic
sword.
As much as I tried to be
experiences, that Katie Mary Hood Hart sensitive to cultural condi-
realized how much a girl can do.
Katie never played with cars and
trucks. She wasn’t wild about dolls,
either. Eventually, I discovered her
taste in toys didn’t reflect stereo
types so much as it reflected her
particular personality. She did enjoy
puzzles, balls, and blocks. But most
ly she loved to dress up and perform
in self-directed musicals and plays.
When my second child, a boy, was
bom, we already owned dolls and
tea sets, as well as cars and trucks,
so Jimmy was exposed to both tradi
tionally “girl” and “boy” toys. His
interest in vehicles seemed instinc
tive. One of his first utterances was
brrrr, his imitation of a tmck’s
engine. As a toddler, he loved Byron
Barton’s boldly illustrated book
tioning, I discovered that very
young children are not as condi
tioned to gender roles as I once
believed. Based on my experience,
differences in interests between
boys and girls are not necessarily a
result of the environment in which
they’re raised. A lot of their choices
in playthings and games seem to
result from natural inclinations.
However, as my children have
matured, they appear more sensitive
to cultural expectations. And their
environment becomes more influen
tial. As much as she loved playing
ball, I could not convince my
daughter at age nine to be the only
girl on a Dixie Youth baseball team.
Instead, she opted for girls’ softball,
which in our community at the time
was not taken as seriously as boys’
baseball.
To counter other cultural influ
ences, I tried to encourage Katie to
excel in math and science, subjects
traditionally dominated by boys.
Indeed, with two daughters, I have
focused a lot of my energy encour
aging them to feel competent in a
culture that seems to consider a
woman’s appearance more valuable
than her character and contributions.
However, because I was so preoc
cupied with my daughters’ experi
ences, I overlooked another trou
bling influence, and that is the influ
ence of cultural conditioning on my
two sons. Perhaps too confident that
simply because they are male my
sons will thrive, I neglected to con
sider the pressures they face. It hit
home with me one spring, however,
when my then 10-year-old son won
an award for a poem he wrote for
his school’s Young Authors’
Program. Only when I saw him
standing with the other award win
ners did I realize he was the only
boy in the fifth grade to be so hon
ored. But I was really astonished,
and so was Jimmy, when we saw his
photo in the school newspaper and
realized that he was the only boy in
the entire school of fifth through
eighth graders to win a Young
Authors’ trophy that year. His being
the only boy wouldn’t have seemed
as significant if Jimmy hadn’t been
teased by some older boys because
he won a poetry award. Jimmy took
their comments in stride, but that
sort of teasing would never have
been inflicted on a girl.
In my preoccupation with ensur
ing my girls thrive in what has been
a male-dominated society, I over
looked the need to help my boys
nurture those aspects of their per
sonalities that go against society’s
expectations for them. Just as I hope
my daughters, and all girls, feel
comfortable with science and sports,
so I hope my sons, and all boys,
write poetry—as often and openly
as their heart’s desire.
Mary Hood Hart lives with
her husband and four children
in Sunset Beach, N.C.
Southern Cross photographer
wins award
J onas N. Jordan, volunteer
staff photographer for The
Southern Cross, has won
recognition from his
employer, the Savannah
District, U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers.
Jordan, the district’s pho
tographer, was named 1999
Team Member of the Year in
the non-engineering/scientif-
ic fields for the district.
In giving the award, the
Corps cited Jordan’s “repu
tation for excellence and
professionalism in photography not
only throughout the Corps but also
among regional news and photogra
phy organizations.”
As his gift of stewardship to the
Diocese of Savannah, Jordan has
served as chief photographer for The
Southern Cross for the last 10 years in
his spare time.
“Jonas lends his exceptional talent
to the newspaper to illustrate the life
of the Catholic Church in south Geor
gia,” said Barbara D. King, Director
of Communications for the diocese.
“His commitment to stewardship
enables a newspaper on a limited
budget to provide photos in color and
black and white that are of the highest
professional quality.”
Jordan also contributes
his photographic talents
to his parish, Our Lady
of Lourdes in Port
Wentworth. Every year
he mentors aspiring pho
tographers in the public
school system in
Savannah.
He accompanied
Bishop J. Kevin Boland
on a pilgrimage to Rome
in 1999, documenting
the trip with his camera.
Jordan was inspired by the late,
Sister Julian Griffin, Diocesan Vicar
for Social Ministry, to pursue his
dream of becoming a photographer.
While he was working as a mechanic
at a Volkswagen dealership in
Savannah in the 1970s, Sister Julian
stopped by for repair work on her car.
An amateur photographer who main
tained a dark room of her own, Sister
Julian encouraged Jordan to pursue
his dream of studying photography.
Following his studies he was hired
• by the Corps of Engineers.
Jordan and his wife, Teri, also a
Corps employee, have a daughter,
Juliette, who is a student at Saint
Vincent’s Academy in Savannah.
Jonas N. Jordan