Every three months, the feminist kids' magazine KAZOO honors a different inspirational woman with a maze. For the most recent issue, creator Erin Bried had planned one called "Road to the Whitehouse" featuring Hillary Clinton. That was when she thought Clinton would win the election. When that didn't happen, she considered picking someone else. Instead, though, she decided to leave Clinton in and make the page into a message about not giving up.
The maze now has the name "Thank You Hillary! Progress Is Not A Straight Line" and highlights the former Secretary of State and First Lady's accomplishments. While she didn't win the presidency, the game points out, she was the first woman major-party nominee in the country, and she "taught us valuable lessons along the way: dream big, work hard, respect one another, and no matter what happens, never ever give up."
That is, after all, the kind of message she'd want her fans — especially young girls — to hear. Her most retweeted election tweet was a quote from her concession speech expressing those exact sentiments:
And to all the women and especially the young women who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion. Now, I know, I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling but someday someone will and hopefully sooner than we might think right now. And to all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.
"She hadn’t shattered that 'highest and hardest glass ceiling,'" Bried tells Bustle over email. "But after watching her concession speech, where she was so full of grace, I realized that though she did not win, she’d still succeeded. She’d given us all hope."
Bried started KAZOO with the goal of teaching little girls they could be more than the role society cut out for them, and she continues to believe Hillary can serve as an inspiration for her readers. "Whether you agree with her politics or not, Hillary Clinton is a barrier breaker, a hard worker, and a patriot," she says.
"Progress is not a straight line" — made literal by the maze — was "a comforting thought, especially when it feels like we’re going backwards right now," Bried added. "We've been reading a great deal about how politicians or nations are 'playing the long game' and we want the world to know that we are playing it, too. We continue to lift up our readers — girls, ages 5-10 — who will, one day, run the world."
