Yesterday I happened to sit next to two women who impressed me. First, a Senegalese professor of African literature who teaches and writes about women in Senegalese society. She married before she finished high school, and had her first child at 18. Her daughter is now 42, making her 60. She went to France to earn her PhD. Did she go alone, were her children grown? I didn't ask. She was careful and articulate with her words, but there were such incongruous lines of thought, I didn't know where to place her. When she started studying literature, Senegal was freshly independent from the French. There was "no" African literature, so started with French. She told me this as a fact, but didn't express judgement. She said to me: "Women and men in Senegal have equal access to opportunities, these days, there is no problem. It is only that the women have to continue with the housework, so they have less time for research and their own projects. Instead of getting married at 18, they now wait until 23 - 25. You would be shocked at the expectations that Senegalese men have for their girlfriends. But in the case of foreign women, Senegalese men understand that they have their freedoms". I wondered, do Senegalese men really understand the relative freedom of western women? Accepting without thought or consideration and understanding are two very different things. (Especially when there is monetary motivation to accept). If they could understand would they adjust their moral grounding, would they be inspired to change? If women don't have such a loud of a voice in Senegal, how can Senegalese men ever grow to understand? I had been thinking to myself that so much is based in education. Yet this educated professor choreographed a graceful distinctly non contentious dance around an inherently contentious topic, which is the focus of her professional career. Is there an intellectual dishonesty in that? Was it humbleness that prevented her from admitting the challenges she overcame? But by not giving significance to the challenges she faced, was she politely writing off huge and structural problems in Senegal? Or was it me that did not understand, perhaps the logic to her carefully structured strategy, but to what end? Second, another mother, an African American here at the language center with her daughter. They attend the same college in Massachusettes, each earning their BA. Mother in International Studies, daughter in Environmental Science. They found a way to study abroad together.