What objects tell the story of your life?
“Who’s taking you to the dance?” I found the note from middle school on my desk and it brought me back to the first time where I realized how pervasive gender bias was. It seemed as though the craze over the upcoming dance was a virus and all of the middle schoolers had been infected. I never quite bought into the whole phenomenon, despite friends surrounding me who all lauded it as the most important event in all of middle school. After all, what’s so important about fancy dresses and dancing? In reflecting how this pervasive tradition was treated by my class – through endless lunchtime conversations, text messages, and Facebook posts – I now realize that the institution of dances reinforces many of our culture’s damaging attitudes towards women. The version of my peers and me that took form through the dance was not one that I valued or even recognized. Trying to resist being drawn into the obsession, I took a step back and observed the drama unfolding before me. I saw how my...