Lessons in Chemistry
October 11, 2023
What I am about to admit will make some very angry. But I am willing to own it.
My name is Jenn. And I dog-ear book pages.
It’s true. I purchase books and fold over pages that feel important. That I want to return to.
I picked up this gem, Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, just based on the way it stood out on the display in the bookstore. I figured it would provide some light summer reading. And before I even cracked it open, friends began telling me how much they loved it.
I started to notice its brilliance around the fifth chapter. It pulled me in. And, although set in the 1950’s and 60’s, I saw myself.
It is said that books, and any art for that matter, provide either a mirror to reflect or a window to highlight the new. This one was most certainly a mirror for me.
What happened then still happens now.
And some old experiences came bubbling to the surface.
As Elizabeth navigates unequal pay and treatment as a female in the workplace, I was reminded of the time when I was told by my superior that a male colleague who had less experience got a new position instead of me because “he was the breadwinner of his household.”
And the times when I made less money than colleagues with the same exact job title, same responsibilities, and less experience but their gender was different from mine.
And how some men I have been a student of and worked for, men steeped in fear and inadequacy and wounding and pain, have unexpectedly lashed out in absolute rage, desperate to demonstrate their power over another.
And while these memories are still so present in my mind to this day, this brilliant and beautifully crafted story serves as another reminder that we have come so far and yet have to much further to go.
May we all continue to focus on kindness and equity. Lifting those around us up. And, as Brene Brown says, “share power with…and inspire people to develop power within.”
P.S. I just learned this beautiful story is being brought to life through film. It will be available beginning this Friday and I am here for it!!