Hey Lady, Can You Fix My Car??

When I was in high school, it was a requirement that girls take Home Economics — the boys, Wood Shop and Auto Mechanics. As I recall, those were obligations that had to be met in order to graduate, just like PE was.  There was no getting out of them.  I actually liked Home Ec all right and it made a solid base for the love of cooking, baking and sewing that I have to this day  — but good grief, why the heck did anyone assume that sewing and cooking wouldn’t be useful skills for everyone to have or that girls wouldn’t have loved woodworking and auto repair?  I remember Marisa Tomei as the star witness in “My Cousin Vinny” and I feel a teensy bit cheated — there’s no telling what I could have done with a brake or exhaust system.  I coulda been a contender.