I Was Cleopatra

For the Left to Write Book Club we read Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff. This post was inspired by the book.

I was one of those people who was involved in a ton of stuff in high school. I was a swimmer, a soccer player, a dancer, a cheerleader, on the newspaper staff, but there was one thing I was not: An actor. I cannot act to save my life. I can speak publicly, but when it comes to taking on another persona... Forget it. Yet, I was chosen as the emcee of our variety show my senior year. Our variety shows always had a theme that ended with Knight (our mascot) in place of Night. Clever, huh?

Anyway, I was chosen to be the emcee. For this particular year, the emcee was Cleopatra. And I was supposed to act like her. I think the fact that I was the darkest girl who auditioned and don't get stage fright had a lot to do with me getting the part. Well, that and the fact that the director was one of my teachers who knew my personality. I just acted like myself. I doubt anyone was impressed by my ability to channel Cleopatra.

In the end I did alright, but it wasn't really that big of a stretch... After all, my personality tends to be strong, direct, sometimes aggressive. I'm pretty good at influencing people and can read a situation really well.

Like Cleopatra, I've often been misunderstood. Isn't that the unfair plight of a strong woman?

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy of Cleopatra: A Life. To see how others were inspired by this book, visit From Left to Write.