IWD: Hey, What’s up With Women?

By: Sam Burzinski
Blog Content Contributor

Well, here we are, folks. Yet another International Women’s Day, the day in which we celebrate roughly 50.5% of the world’s population, at least according to the US Census Bureau. Aren’t women cool? I say this without a single lick of irony in my tone here: women are cool, awesome and generally necessary to the functioning of modern society! Girlboss! I think if we accepted that as a general fact, plenty of the world’s problems would be no more.

As a man, I will admit that writing an article for International Women’s Day made me somewhat uncomfortable in the same way that writing a Black History Month article as a white person made me uncomfortable. What would I have to say about the current state of women in the world? Not much substance, that’s for sure. This, as many conundrums do, gave me an idea: what’s up with women?

I don’t mean that title as “something’s wrong with women and we need to get to the bottom of it!” No, I intend to give the rest of this article space to women I know in my personal life and ask them all, “Hey, what’s up with you? What have you been up to? Any nifty achievements or accolades? Eat anything good in the past week?” I figured anything that they end up saying would be more substantial to the overall celebration of women than I could ever end up putting to print.

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Emily Burzinski, a senior at the University of Texas at Dallas, longtime sister of the author: “This Wednesday for International Women’s Day, I’ll be hosting Taly Goody, TikTok star and law firm owner, at an event for Women Pursuing Law on Campus. I’m also anxiously awaiting the final bits of information about law school so I can plan and begin the next new, exciting stage of my life. I’ve also been honing my solitaire skills, and I’d challenge anyone to have a higher ranking on Microsoft solitaire than me. Oh, and I just got new glasses because it probably wasn’t safe for me to drive at night anymore.”

Gabriella Taverna, a sophomore at Texas State University: “I’ve been progressing on research regarding training a machine learning model and have been waiting back to hear from various summer REU programs in the areas of engineering and machine learning. I have had lots of tests recently and am very excited about spring break. I wish I had more good news to share, but that’s what’s been going on with me.”

Ann Baumann, high school senior, summer camp coworker: “Yesterday, I got super hyper before sleeping and posted a bunch of stuff on my story, and then realized that I would be a lot happier if I was with other people. Oh! And I got offered a full tuition scholarship to my 2nd choice college, which is a pretty cool accolade.”

Emily Sobel, a freshman at the University of Washington: “Well, I was recently put in charge of an improv club on campus, and yesterday, I had a Caprese sandwich from the dining hall, which was delicious. I just finished doing tech for a cabaret-based concert-style show on campus based on the works of Dave Malloy, and it was pretty swell. Everyone was really fantastic and I had a ton of fun doing it…we had a ‘Great Comet’ (A/N: Dave Malloy was the composer for the Broadway musical “Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812”) section of the show, and everyone was so amazing in it; the audience cried every night at the end of it.”

Shelby Breda, a sophomore at Texas State University: “I’ve been good! Homework has been kicking my ass, especially because spring break is so soon and I don’t really want to do anything for school anymore, but the nice weather is making me very happy. I also performed in a ten-minute play festival for the theatre troupe I’m the Vice President of, which was super cool to put that together literally from the ground up; so, that’s a win for women I think.”

Phoebe Sheward, a senior at the University of North Texas: “[laughs] Yeah, you know me, I live a pretty calm and insular life, so not much goes on. Two days ago, I finished [the video game] ‘Shadows Over Loathing’, which was really fun. Going through the finale made me realize how much I had missed, so I’ll have to go back and replay to find that stuff. I ate pizza today, which was really good–I highly recommend trying creamy garlic parmesan instead of regular marinara; it’ll change your life. I also submitted my preliminary research questions for one of my two capstone projects next semester. Pretty exciting, but also terrifying! And I’m anxiously awaiting for the youth involved in the Outdoor Ethics awards [for BSA Venturing] to let me know their progress because that’s going to be so fun to work through with everyone.”

Faris Sanders, a senior at Texas State University: “I feel really lucky to be able to be involved with multiple groups – both on and off-campus; especially [the Texas State] Comedy Association. It’s meant a lot to me to be able to be the first Stand-Up comedy chair.”

Cindy Graham, a kindergarten teacher and aunt of the author: “Besides surviving teaching kindergarteners, I don’t have many cool accolades at the moment. I do stand by my quote to college students: ‘Don’t just stand there, bust a move!’ I really think that applies to so much. Enjoy college life. Accept responsibility and don’t blame others. Get a job so you can be financially responsible. Be the voice to support women’s rights. Be the voice to ban assault rifles so elementary school children are safe. And if all else doesn’t apply, turn on a song and DANCE! It will bring a smile to your face!” She then linked me to the 1989 hit “Bust a Move” by Young MC.

Shelby Porter, a veteran of the Disney College Program: “Well, I’m back to waitressing currently, and while the money is good, people can be quite awful sometimes. I’ve also leaned much more into my Barbie aesthetic, and it’s made me very happy recently.”

Morgan Hegemier, a high school junior, summer camp coworker: “I had this awesome birthday party yesterday and we hired these reptile people to come out, so I got to hold a bunch of snakes and reptiles. But the best part was this insane python – a Burmese, to be specific. This guy was at least eight feet long and is expected to get up to 20 feet in the future. I had a great time and cloaked myself in the snake-like Britney Spears and was also a woman while this was happening. Although [being a woman] didn’t affect the situation, I would like to say it made me feel powerful. 10/10 birthday and I encourage other women to hold large snakes if they are looking for an enjoyable time.”

Emily Hanna, a sophomore at Texas State University: “I’ve been really good lately! I just joined an acapella group and I’m about to join the Pre-Law club, so I’m a little nervy about that. I’ve also been following my New Year’s resolutions. I never make New Year’s resolutions, but its been a good step forward. It’s mostly been about being a better communicator while also respecting my own boundaries.”

Amy Burzinski, a special education elementary teacher and mother of the author: “I worry for the mental and physical health of women in the generations coming behind me. I hope they continue to use their voices and power of assembly to support each other, individual rights and choices. It saddens me when women allow men to make decisions about their health and bodies. That being said, I enjoyed watching “Gone with the Wind” yesterday, and I can’t wait to see “Cocaine Bear” on the big screen! It’s Girl Scout cookie season, and we should all be helping out young female entrepreneurs with building their communication skills and meeting their targets. It’s the least that we can do!”

And then, in sort of a non sequitur, my mother remarks: “A young female cross-country skier just made history by winning a world competition. First American in history to do so.”

Featured Image by Michele DuPont, KTSW Multimedia