Against All Odds (Freewrite #29: First African in Space)
Freewriting
The prompt for today was much more specific and peculiar than usual: first African in space. As it's international women's day, there was no other way than to have the protagonist be a female.
Against All Odds
Ever since she was a child, Zaya was told that she could never fulfill her dreams. She wanted to become an astronaut; and her parents did not want her to grow living in a world of fantasy. They shot her dream down. Nobody makes it out of this town. Why does she think she can make it out of this world?
The school in their system lacked technology. Her parents still pushed her to go to school, even though it meant more sacrifices for them. It was difficult to live in poverty, and they could not fulfill all her needs. However, this was typical in their town, so they did like anyone else would do. They got along. Zaya was a brilliant student, but that could not be equivalent to an astronaut.
Decades later, there she was, travelling through space in a rocket ship. Her parents were there with her, in memory. She remembered those many times they tried to convince her to become a teacher or a nurse. Yet there she was, the first African in Space.
My new poetry collection, Welcome to the Sombre Days, is published as paperback on Amazon as paperback and ebook on Kindle. Each day, I am sharing another poem from the book on Steemit. Here are the available parts so far:
Chapter 1: Puppet Strings
#1 - Dancing Queen
#2 - Fruitcake
#3 - The Best of Both Worlds
#4 - Applause
#5 - Hush!
#6 - Inside Me (1)
#7 - Ink-chanted (1)
art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics
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Beautiful and definitely one of the best contributions to Women's Day I've heard and read all day! I was having a hard time with today's prompt, mainly because I'm doing this serial freewrite thing, but even without this I hadn't really thought about a female astronaut ... so much for Women's Day on my part, sigh ...
Yeah, I understand how difficult this prompt would be, especially if you're doing a series. It's kind of why I had the idea of doing that but I didn't. The freewrite is about letting go all inhibitions, and having it as a series would mean constricting my creativity.
I'm glad to see someone else make the protagonist of their story a woman as well!
I knew it was international woman's day but totally forgot about it while writing my freewrite honestly. Thanks for bringing it to my attention and once again good work showing support for the great woman of the world!
I'm not a huge fan of internaional days and such. Too many posts that focus too much on women in specific things; whereas I prefer incorporating women into our normal work. We don't have to go out of our way and make a post about women to honour them :)
I agree whole hearted with your words here @poetrybyjeremy. It's very similar to the commercialization of love in regards to what valentines day is in its current form. We should be showing appreciation and love for those we care about daily, not on a specific day. I also see the potential of things falling out of balance if we forget that we need one another for this world to exist in its greatest form. No gender or person is higher than the next.
Yes, exactly! I'm not a big fan of Valentine's or any of that sort. I mean, except my birthday. My birthday is a huge deal. I am the greatest gift to humanity. Haha, jokes aside, I do agree with what you say. Same reason I don't do pride week. I'm prideful every day, and I'm going to do that by trying to be an activist any chance I get. I get that awareness has a huge impact on things (depends on the culture/society, as well), but it is just not me to put a huge effort onto one day or event. Be an activist every day, or never.
Wait but I am the greatest gift to the world.... this is awkward ;D hahaha
Full stop man! Being an activist means you are active in your beliefs all the time, not just when it suits your social media's feed. Keep on spreading this word man because from my point of view you have it figured out! Best of luck to you in all that you do and I hope to see more of your work in the future. Cheers!
Yeah. Not to criticise those activists who do increase even more awareness during those weeks. At times, a little bit of awareness helps the cause, it' s just not my way of doing things. Cheers :)
Lovely story of a girl keeping to her dream despite her family's poverty and the wishes of her parents (as well intended as they may have been).
Today's prompt comes to you as an advertisement in the Freewrite Gazette. It's right above the Lost & Found on page 2. (Side note, if anyone has found a left prosthetic leg - last seen Tuesday night at Mugsy's Pub - please return it to Eugene at the Rec Center.)
Let's say I find such prosthetic leg that you mention, would I get anything from Eugene?