I used to work for a guy who was an old school task master.  This guy loved to work and wanted you to share his work ethic.  10 hour days at minimum.  Maximum dedication to the JOB.   He expected it from all his employees.   Work work work and advance the project.  Hitting it hard every minute of every day.  “We have a small staff” he used to say “and we beat them by outworking them”

When I first started working for him, I thought, Oh this will last for about six months I’m not made for working with THIS guy. 

I worked for him for ten years .

I wouldn’t have changed it for anything.  I learned more from this guy than I ever did in school. I owe this guy my career in many ways.  Lets call him “The Boss”

He was a pretty conservative guy I think but he told me a story that I thought was pretty interesting.   It seems this boss of mine was working for a local computing company and he needed a specific kind of programmer.  One person who applied happened to be what the boss described as a “one of those cross dressing guys who acts like a girl”  The Boss hired him.   The other guys in the company, and in those days all these firms were hard charging “mad men” style old boys clubs, said..”where the hell did you get this beauty queen”?

The Boss said…”I don’t give a shit what he dresses like or does with his personal time, he can code his ass off and works like a dog”

The new hire worked for The Boss for years.  Go figure, you never would have pegged the boss for a champion of LGBT rights, but maybe he was just ahead of his time.

I thought of this boss of mine after seeing Kevin Costner’s performance as Al Harrison in Hidden Figures.  He believed in getting the job done no matter your skin color, sexual identity or preference is.   Get the job DONE as in done!   Harrison, as played by Costner (and his usual unfortunate attempt at an accent) portrayed him like that he  just wanted to get the job done and didn’t give a shit about anything else.  Prove your value, based on your abilities and work ethic alone.

What wonderful storytelling in this uplifting film about three formidable women in the segregated south who would not commit the sin of suppressing their God given intellect, drive and patriotism in the face of bigotry and the multiple indignities that people of color had to endure in this county.

These remarkable women just worked harder.  Unstoppable. And they did it for reasons above and beyond money.  They did it for the good of their country.

Hidden Figures

The three actors in the lead rolls Taraji P. Henson as Kathrine Johnson, Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughn, and Janelle Monáe as Mary Jackson honor the women they play with dignity, humor, humanity and intellect.    Henson is the center of the movie as the math genius that NASA counts on to double check it’s formulas for the John Glenn Friendship 7 flight against a flawed IBM(don’t get me started) mainframe.    She does more acting with a pair of glasses than most actors do in whole films.    Spencer is a force in her role as the computer science pioneer, a trailblazer who would be that  no matter what color her skin was, or what gender she was.  I have to tell you though that Janelle Monáe is a revelation.  Her portrayal of Mary Jackson as the first female engineer of color at NASA was packed with determination, righteous indignation and not a little bit of humor.   I found out that Ms. Monáe is a singer of some notoriety.  All I know is if she brings as much life to her music as she did to this role then these are going to be some damn good records.

It’s good to remember that in many ways America was a less evolved place not so long ago, in my lifetime even. (I’m old)   Especially when certain segments of our society…you know what?  ..no more mincing words, allow me to rephrase, especially when the right wing extremists currently controlling our government seem to be hell bent on normalizing and/or legalizing all kinds of discrimination based on their “deeply held beliefs”    I think that makes this film so much more important this year than it may have been a year go.

We do get the art we need, when we need it, don’t we?

I saw this film, about these three formidable, smart, industrious  women who stood up and with sheer force of will changed a culture, the night before millions of other  formidable women around the world, stood up and with their talents, energy and humor stood up and said “unacceptable”.

Clearly I really enjoyed this film, even without the obvious parallels to the current moment and I think everyone should see it and if you have girls, bring them with you.  So go do that. Okay then.