Time Marches On, Equality Should Too...

A reconstruction of
my general thoughts
in 1993.

I remember sitting in Biology in 1993. I was bemoaning the fact that my latest sibling was on the way and I said to my teacher (shout out to Mr. O'Callaghan!) 'When the kid's my age, I'll be thirty!' I was in shock, and filled with - let's face it - the understandable disgust an almost fifteen-year-has about their parents procreating. He answered back, 'There's nothing wrong with being thirty,' and that was that. End of conversation. I think he expected me to do some Biology, or something.

It's still clear as day in my head. Except now, the unborn baby being discussed in Room 36 of the science block, is himself, about to turn thirty. This post is not about him. Although Happy Birthday to my brother etc etc. Many happy returns of the day, yadda yadda. It's about me. Of course I'm making this about myself. 

The basic and obvious point that springs to mind is, doesn't time fly? It's been three decades since that exchange happened. Three decades of having that particular brother in the family, and three decades since I was in Year Ten, getting distracted in Biology by my own dramas. It feels like yesterday.

It doesn't look like yesterday, however. It'd be weird if it did. I'm definitely older, wider, (also wiser, but predictive was right first time) wrinklier, greyer, and hormonally all over the place. It's visibly clear that time has passed. Thirty years of time. And even though the hormonal part has caused carnage in recent years, I'd still refuse the chance to turn back the clock. I like being older. I like the fact that my face doesn't look like it did in my Uni photos. I dye my hair for now, but I'm intrigued about not bothering at some point. It's all a bit of fun. Noticing the changes and working with them.

It's what made me most annoyed about the recent Top Gun: Maverick movie. You know, the long-awaited sequel to Top Gun? Everyone I spoke to seemed to think it was an exceptional film. The Academy Awards deemed it worthy of six nominations. But all I could think was, why hasn't Maverick changed in thirty six years? His reckless personality, his dislike of authority, his leather jacket - they all survived the fictional leap through the decades. He rides the same motorbike, he has the same hair cut and colour (OK it's a smidge longer but still) and when the beach volleyball scene happens with the younger pilots, he's jumping and leaping all over the place. Like he did in the first film. On the one hand... good for him? I suppose. On the other, let it go, Tom! Maverick would have been a much more interesting character if you'd thought about the nuanced ways he'd changed over time. 

All this is in my head for a reason. I'm currently editing the second Leeza McAuliffe book. Her story started when Leeza McAuliffe Has Something To Say was published in 2019. She was ten. Now, it's 2023 and I'm writing her experiences as an eleven to twelve year. There are some aspects of Leeza's character that are easy to write. Puberty, high school, friendships, and family are fairly universal. I've written from experience as well as checking with youngsters to pinpoint modern day accuracies. So far so good. But Leeza does not live in isolation. She's a modern day character living in the modern world. When I started creating her from scratch (around 2017) that world was a very different place. Now, six years later, it's all change. Far right governments are on the rise, the rolling back of rights seems to be a daily news item, and the UK government's latest bill is - IMHO - an amoral disgrace. 

Of course, specific news items are not going to make it into Leeza's daily diary entries. That would date the book immediately. But the vibe of those changes has altered things. Screeching headlines about 'wokeness' weren't around when I was writing the first book. (Back then, the press were pushing other aspects of the culture war.) As a bright girl with no inherent dislike of people with different experiences, she's not transphobic or homophobic. She's not racist, (although as I'm a white writer and I've not specified her ethnicity, she's default white with the unconscious bias that brings.) And she has no truck with misogyny, living as she does, with a mother who happily flaunts her inclusive feminism all over the place. My job, as the writer of this fictional character, is to reflect who she is without seeming preachy. The story has to flow naturally without sounding like Leeza has an agenda (which would ultimately be my agenda). The characters have to behave the way they authentically would, based on what we know about them. Even so, the values that Leeza has, make her appear far more progressive now, than she was in the first book. The book that narratively took place one year earlier, but was actually written five or six years before. 

Maybe it's because of this that Tom Cruise and his creative team decided Maverick should stay as he was. It's much easier to pretend nothing's changed. If I make Leeza unaware of the injustices around her, or simply self-centred, I can ignore these concerns. It'd be far less headachy to write. But Leeza, like all of us, is shaped by the society in which she lives. She can either accept injustice and cruelty and let it pass her by, or she can be confused and frustrated by the inequalities she sees in the world. It's no spoiler to say, I've chosen to make her go with the latter. Either way, it gives me lots to think about as I tidy up the draft each day.

Phew, look where we ended up! When I started this Ramble, I'd planned to open with the Biology class anecdote, reference the fact that thirty years has flown by, and then see where it went. Of course, it got political! It always does with me. But like Gary Lineker, if I've got a platform (lol, mine's tiny!) I'm going to use it. So let's be clear. Trying to reduce or eradicate the rights of other people, is bang out of order. The most vulnerable groups in society are getting used as political footballs so horrendous people with all the power, can score points. It's grim. It needs to be fought. I can write that on this blog, and I can subtly and naturalistically include it in the outlook and experiences of my fictional characters. Either way, I can't not. 

Reading this back, perhaps I wouldn't refuse the chance to turn back the clock a few years. But not to get rid of my wrinkles. For political purposes only. As time continues to fly, the world around us should progress onwards too. In recent years, it's done the opposite.

Have a lovely week, folks.