So due to a variety of circumstances—the main one being an inopportune power outage—I missed the finale of So You Think You Can Dance. And it took a bit but I finally tracked it down and watched it. And I must say it was worth the effort.

And when I went to look something or other up online I noticed that it is (so says Google) 90 years since the ratification of the 19th Amendment. I actually wrote a few papers on Elizabeth Cady Stanton back in college, which is neither here nor there. Although one of them got me accused of plagiarism.

For which I was acquitted, thank you very much.

But the first thing I thought of was from a history class.

Back in high school all my friends (well, a lot of my friends) were in a different program than I was, so they were all placed in advanced classes. I, on the other hand, was not. So I took the standard classes for each grade.

Except math, strangely. My worst subject. That was a bit of a humdinger.

Anyway, there were a handful of kids in the same boat as me. And we didn’t necessarily sit together, but I think there was like this unspoken understanding of kinship between us. I actually had conversations with them in later years and they would mention  that exact thing, so it wasn’t my feverish imagination.

And there was one kid who we all assumed was part of this club, because he seemed relatively smart. But there we were in history class one day and he and his friends would not stop talking. This kid in particular would not shut up. And he was really cocky about it, like he was too good to be in that class and didn’t have to listen to anyone.

After some time, the teacher told him if he wanted to talk so badly maybe he should give the lecture. More eye rolling. Finally the teacher said, “Okay. If you’re so smart why don’t you explain to the class what suffrage is.”

This kid looked him square in the eye and in the most condescending voice he could possibly muster he said, “Duh. It’s about women. Suffering.”

He got kicked out of our club.