This posting isn't directly related to poetry, I suppose, but because it is personal to me, I know how much the politics and religion in my schooling has influenced my work.
I went to a very small (class of 88 students) Roman Catholic High School in a small city in the Midwest (it is a bit depopulated now). 77 graduating and one not (sent to military school) reported in for the reunion booklet; I don't know how many attended the reunion.
Of the married women, I am the only woman who kept her name. One classmate's wife kept her name. Five women are not married. (Of them, one I know is twice divorced.) No one reported a same sex significant other; one reported a pet.
Of the women reporting employment:
4 elementary school teachers, 1 former elementary school teacher 2 stay at home moms and 4 homemakers 5 nurse / med tech (1 male nurse, 1 male doctor) 1 part-time attorney (3 male attorneys)
3 self-employed
12 in likely part-time jobs (bookkeeper for a small business, fundraiser, etc.)
Number of children reported (of the women):
2: 11
3: 9
4: 1
5: 1
grandchildren: 1
Number of children reported overall: 124
Likely divorces (children but no spouse, name change but no spouse): 5 Men reporting female significant others: 2
number of classmates married to high school sweethearts: 8 (seemed a large number!)
Writers: female: 1; male: 4