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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. 0^ 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