The Other Woman

About the Book

The Other Woman is a pun of a title since it departs from conventional usage of that term, and rather describes the pilgrimage of the author - a black octogenarian born in Chicago in the 1920s to a family of privilege, and at the end of life experiences a stunning revelation: her own, "other-ness" emerges. Simeon has spent a lifetime proving her belief that LOVE IS NOT GENDER SPECIFIC, and that labels for the sexual preferences of individuals are meaningless.

This is the story of a normal, healthy, ordinary woman whose marriage to a "normal" man produced two "normal", mentally healthy sons, who in turn have become productive, professionals and excellent parents in their own right. It is the story of many romantic relationships with women - all upstanding, progressive, ambitious women who were significant contributors to society, none of whom thought of themselves as categorically, Lesbian. Many utilized their relationship with Simeon towards greater gains professionally and personally. One married a college President.  All discovered their own sexual appetites. No one was damaged in the process. No one was abused.

About the Author

My entire career has been driven and advanced by my innate talent for writing. At age 15 my high school English teacher identified this and wrote to my Mother in 1938 that she should nurture and encourage it but I chose career paths that promised econo­mic security and even a bit of prestige for a black child born in racist America in the 1920s and attending high school in the 1930s. So after forty plus years as a pro­fessional teacher, social worker, and finally Psychologist, writing for others -my bosses, my professors, et al, I have finally settled into writing for myself and writing about myself, and above all writing about a subject dear to my heart

All academic pursuits led to this subject — Gender, and its ramifications. Loyola University at Chicago gave me a Jesuits’ philosophical foundation earning a PhB degree there.- which was an enigma kind of credential - and worth little on the job market place.  But having been one of the few black graduates in the class of 1946, gave me some distinction. White girls in great numbers were not finishing college in that year. Twelve years, 2 marriages, 2 children and a "creative" divorce (a term yet to be launched in the vernacular) freed me to again return to my passion for writing. Only this time I was going to "put my money where my mouth was" and live out the "gender thing". I had added a supplement - labeling. Gender with a twist; Gender with an attitude. Down with labels! "Don’t you dare try to peg me".

1 honed my writing skills, through work as one of Richard J.’s lieutenants and "cabinet members" in the illustrious Chicago Poverty Program - a model for the nation in 1965, and added a Master’s Degree from The University of Chicago then I took off to San Francisco, where I lived my beliefs with a same-sex partner and my teen-age son. Leaving a conservative, supportive, Catholic family behind, and a family-system I had endured and loved for a lifetime, I said my Chicago goodbyes in a most elegant venue—the Seven Continents Restaurant at O’Hare airport.  Armed with prestigious degrees, a flair for writing, and a "black-is beautiful" mantra of the 1960s 1 felt confident that I could change the world about Gender.  At age 83 I am still trying.