boys can flamenco, too

Graham constantly ponders the difference between boys and girls. He tries to categorize them by saying girls like pink and boys are firefighters.

Hoping to change society's stereotypes one kid at a time, we're trying to teach his little preoperational mind that, yes, sometimes boys have long hair, and, yes, sometimes girls are firefighters.

Taking him to a flamenco performance in Barcelona couldn't have been a better teaching tool. There were men with long hair and they danced, get this, solo. They did not lead the women, and the women did not follow the men. Each dancer expressed him or herself alone. The women were real women, not like the images of impossibly skinny mannequins plastered all over the city. They flaunted their passion and fullness with tight dresses, stern faces, and deep, rich voices.

I suppose the best way to learn something is to experience it, and I like to think that Graham soaked in a huge lesson about gender and socialization and culture at that flamenco show.

Here's hoping his little brain will remember it...

p.s. more to come on our exciting adventures in Barcelona and how we came home to a new kitchen!

p.s. again. sorry I don't have any photos because we are still having camera problems.