Ody (O-dee) and Pene (Penny)—that was my introduction to one of the greatest classics of Western civilization, one of a few keys left to a literal prehistoric culture that gave rise to the ancient classical world I would later come to adore and pursue a degree studying. In tenth grade, I fucking hated The Odyssey.

Then, five years later, after more beginning and intermediate ancient Greek tutelage than is normal, I came face to face with this:

And like Calypso, I was enthralled. Homeric Greek is beyond beautiful, and the poetry of the language in the original is, well, epic.

But, the point of this post, and the reason for the title, is that faced with leisure time, my husband and I find ourselves in roles of Pene and Ody: I’m spinning or processing wool, and he’s fighting for his life in Fortnite. How did this happen? Personally, I hate that activities and dress are gendered at all.

And, yes, I can see you being puzzled that I should find this worthy of mention, but both of us have fought against set gender roles since we were children. He was the boy who took gymnastics. I was the short-haired girl who climbed trees and caught bugs. I loved Star Trek and Star Wars and played with action figures instead of Barbie dolls.

Gen X does not like your stereotypes, and we find ourselves disturbed to be fitting into them, even if they’re ancient Hellenic archetypes.