Kickass Women

History is filled with women doing all kinds of kickass stuff.

Smart Girls

Watch these girls... they're going places!

Inspiration

Need a dose of inspiration? Here you go.

SRPS Entertainment

Some of my entertainment recommendations with awesome female characters and stars.

She's Crafty!

Some of the awesome items made by kickass women!

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Happy Birthday - Geraldine Doyle

Today would have been the 90th birthday of Geraldine Hoff Doyle. If you don't know who she was, don't feel too bad. I only heard of her recently myself.



If she looks familiar, it's because she was very likely the model for the "We Can Do It!" poster.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Happy Birthday - Patricia Schroeder

Young women today look up to Wendy Davis, as well they should! In the 1970s and 80s, we had our own feminist icon in politics: Pat Schroeder.


She was the Congresswoman for Colorado for as long as I could remember. We could always rely on her to stand up for women and minorities and I'm certain whenever she was on TV our whole house went quiet.

Reading about her work prior to serving in Congress (for 24 years, starting in 1973 at the age of 32!), I learned how truly amazing her life has been.

Her father was an aviation insurance sales man, and her mother was a public school teacher. She'd been born in Portland, Oregon, but hers was a military family, and they moved between Texas, Ohio, and Iowa when she was younger.

Her determination to do something useful in life started early. Having already received her pilot's license, she put herself through college by operating a flying service, as well working as an insurance claims adjuster on the side. In 1961, she graduated magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota, with a degrees in philosophy, history and political science.

She then pursued a law degree from Harvard, where she faced a level of sexism that would make MadMen look like a cake walk. One of her professors would call the few young women in his class to the front and force them to answer all kinds of questions from the male students. The dean made his dislike of women clear at the earliest possibility. He invited all 15 of the women in the law class to attend a luncheon where he informed that when he had been forced to admit them, the increased the number of male students by the same number, because he couldn't stand to think of these ladies taking their places.

Despite suffocating level of sexism, she persevered, and graduated in 1964, at which she and her husband (a law school classmate) moved to Denver. Because she'd been told that no law firm would hire a woman, she instead took a job working for the federal government as a field attorney for the National Labor Relations Board. Two years later, she set up a private practice and began teaching law classes. It was also at this time she began volunteering as council for Planned Parenthood.

In 1972, she ran against the incumbent congressional representative for her district, and won. The media made her out to be a housewife who just one day decided to run for office. But that's probably just because at the time they just couldn't imagine a woman actually having that kind of ambition. When she went to the capital to be sworn in, people kept assuming she was "just the wife" and that her husband was there to serve. They figured it out pretty quickly, though she still had to endure sexist comments from her fellow representatives.
Claiming her seat in Congress proved thornier than the campaign. One of only 14 women in the House of Representatives, Schroeder confronted a male–dominated institution that frowned not only on her feminist agenda but on her mere presence. She likened the atmosphere there to that of “an over–aged frat house.” One male colleague remarked, “This is about Chivas Regal, thousand–dollar bills, Lear jets and beautiful women. Why are you here?” Another asked how she could be a mother of two small children and a Member of Congress at the same time. She replied, “I have a brain and a uterus and I use both.” Still another male colleague sneered, “I hope you aren’t going to be a skinny Bella Abzug!”
Source: History, Art & Archives
She didn't bother trying to hide her role as mother, and was known to carry diapers in her bag and keep crayons in her office.
“One of the problems with being a working mother, whether you’re a Congresswoman or a stenographer or whatever, is that everybody feels perfectly free to come and tell you what they think: ‘I think what you’re doing to your children is terrible.’ ‘I think you should be home.’ They don’t do that to men.”
She became the first woman to serve on the House Armed Services Committee, which was a rude awakening to the powers that be in Washington.
Infuriated that a young woman sat on his committee, Chairman F. Edward Hébert of Louisiana, a Dixiecrat and 30–year veteran of Congress, made Schroeder share a chair with Ron Dellums, an African–American Democrat from California, during the organizational meeting for the committee. As Schroeder recalled, she and Dellums sat “cheek to cheek” because the chairman declared “that women and blacks were worth only half of one regular Member” and thus deserved only half a seat.
Source: History, Art & Archives
Schroeder and the other Democrats made sure to elect a different chairman when the time came.



In 1991, when Clarence Thomas was up for appointment to the Supreme Court, and Anita Hill (who also has a birthday today!) was trying to make her case, it was Congresswomen Patricia Schroeder, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Louise Slaughter and others who marched to the Senate and demanded they giver her a fair chance to speak.

"Chairman Biden grudgingly put her on the witness list but not in prime time. He also rejected the other women who stepped forward as witnesses. It was painful to watch the Democratic Senators on the Judiciary committee — those cowardly lions — quiver and quake. They were pitiful, and no help at all."

What I recall the most about her time in office is her work for the Family and Medical Care Leave Act, which she'd started on years before it finally passed in 1993. True to her feminist ideals, she wanted to create programs that helped balance the requirements of work and caring for family members. Many of the laws we enjoy today are a direct result of her work then.

It is our job as modern feminists to step in where she and her generation left off.
"Freedom isn't something you give to people as a wrapped up package. It's something each generation has to continue to monitor and work on all across the board."


Patricia Schroeder is in the National Women's Hall of Fame. She was honored with a Foremother Award by the National Research Center for Women and Families in 2006 for her lifetime of achievements.

So, on this, her 74th birthday, I want to say thank you. Thank you, Patricia Schroeder, for your years of service, and for being such a fantastic role model for my generation of feminists. I hope we, along with the current generation, can make you proud.





For more info:

Makers from PBS has an excellent series of clips from an interview with her: Congress's Millionaires 

Wikipedia: Patricia Schroeder

US House of Representative: History, Art & Archives Biography

National Women's History Museum: Patricia Schroeder

Politic's The Arena: Profile



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Shout out - Major Tammy Duckworth
In 2004, while studying for a Ph.D. in political science with a focus on political economy and public health in southeast Asian at Northern Illinois University, she was deployed to Iraq. On November 12, 2004, the Black Hawk helicopter she was co-piloting was hit by a rocket propelled grenade. She fought to land the helicopter as safely as possible, which she did.

Role Model - Billie Jean King
One of the things I remembered was the talk about Billie Jean King and her Battle of the Sexes with Bobby Riggs. I was only 3 when it took place, but it had a lasting effect on how women in sports were treated. At least in my world. And, as such, she was always someone I could point to as doing what she wanted anyway, what needed to be done, even when the odds were against her...

Movie Night - The Iron Lady
My more careful thoughts about the movie are a bit more complicated. It's not that I didn't enjoy the movie. I did. I liked the story. I liked the mixing of modern times in with history, and the mix of political with personal. I liked seeing the whole life of such a strong woman who influenced history. We see her as young woman starting out with passion and verve...


Shout-out: Princess Myrcella: down and out?

OK, so it's not really Princess Myrcella, obvs, but Aimee Richardson, the actress who, until recently, played her on Game of Thrones has had what is pretty much the most awesome response to being let go.



Good thing there are lots (LOTS) of things princesses can do these days, right?

(via: WinterIsComing.net)

Kickstart This!

Here's this week's list of super fantastic SRPS-approved Kickstart projects that deserve some extra attention!



Julie Beryl Olsen has written and illustrated Sucker-Punching Anorexia, a picture book about understanding eating disorders and how to beat them. As a recovered teenager herself, she's perfectly positioned to reach out to other sufferers, and speak the language they'll understand, as well as help family and friends looking for ways to help ED victims in their lives.
This book will use art, honesty, poetry, and humor to bash stereotypes, give readers an in-depth look at what it's like to have an eating disorder, explain symptoms, and provide advice on how to sucker-punch that monster on your shoulder.


We're two crazy Texas girls trying to make it to Canada for Shambhala, which is one of the most epic festivals of the summer. We've both been approved for press passes, but we need a little love to make it there without panhandling/hitch-hiking. $400 will at least cover the cost of gas on the way up there.
I know there are lots of wacky projects on Kickstarter, and I don't usually even think about considering most of them. But there's just something about this that I find kinda fun and adventurous. I don't know anything about these two young women, Maranda and Jacki, but I have to hand it to them: they're just quirky enough to get my attention.



Tara Abbamondi is a comic artist who wants to create a comic travelogue about her journey to Ireland to do further research into her ancestry. What's a comic travelogue, you ask? Good question.
For those that may not know what a comic travelogue is, it’s essentially a comic documentation of a trip taken for various reasons. Since I started drawing comics, I’ve been in love with the idea of travelogues. The idea of “tagging along” on someone’s journey of self-discovery as they travel to places they’ve never been, and sharing, in a sense, all those new experiences with them.



Kei Everet is "just a strange little creature that works freelance as an artist across the web (who) enjoys fancy beers, old cartoons and dead things." She's done the crowd-funding thing before for her Prehistoric Sticker Set, and now she's back working on Skull Creatures -- stickers again, and also buttons, magnets, postcards and charms, all with cute and gory images featuring, you guessed it: skulls.




I keep hearing from you all about The Switch, and I had to keep saying, "It's coming on a future Kickstart This! post." Well... it's finally THAT post! If you haven't already put in your contribution, please, please consider doing so! It's already funding, but their stretch goals are just as awesome, and just as important.

Help us tear down the socially-constructed walls that limit trans actors and creators from telling our own stories and representing ourselves in TV and film.
Yes! Having the opportunity and platform to tell our own stories and finding representation in TV and film is something I think we can all get behind!

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Quote of the Day

You really, really don't.



You Don't Have to Be Pretty. You don't owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don't owe it to your mother, you don't owe it to your children, you don't owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked "female".
This fantastic quote comes from Erin McKean, the fabulously crafty and smart seamstress and blogger over at A Dress A Day, in a great post about the concept of prettiness. Go read it now!

Monday, July 28, 2014

Music Break - Maddie & Tae

A couple of friends have shared this great video today and I've already watched it a half dozen times. It's not without it's flaws, to be sure. But the sheer awesomeness of these two ladies and their apparent disdain for "bro-country" is wonderful to watch.

And then, you can go listen to this interview.
"We're like, you know, if you love us as much as you say you do, shouldn't you know our name?" 
Yes! The women in many bro-country songs are just name-less pretty things, not actual people. They're just props for the singer.
"Looking good for the boys is not all we have to offer for them. We're bring a voice for the girls in country music."
Hell yes! Finally, all those women who enjoy the music can now also enjoy the lyrics! Bonus!


Happy Birthday - Myrtle Lawrence

Myrtle Lawrence (July 27, 1891 -- May 19, 1980)

Myrtle Lawrence was sharecropper and labor organizer who worked within biracial Southern Tenant Farmers' Union from 1936 to 1943, and was honored on the 1976 Bicentennial Freedom Train Exhibition.

Myrtle Lawrence relaxes on her front porch, 1937. Photographer: Louise Boyle. Photo source: Kheel Center

Myrtle Terry was born in the hill country of Alabama, near Sulligent, along the northwestern border with Mississippi. Her grandparents had been white pioneers to Lamar County, a cotton-producing area hit hard when the price of cotton dropped in the 1893 depression. Myrtle was orphaned at the age of three, and she and her older brother and sisters were sent to live with relatives, moving when whomever had taken them in could no longer support the children. She began working in the cotton fields by the age of six. In all of her childhood, she only went to school for two weeks. Her labor was needed in the fields.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Mary McLeod Bethune: suffrage and civil rights work

This is the second post in a three part series about Mary McLeod Bethune, each covering one of the three main periods of her life -- her childhood, education, and the foundation of her mission school, her work for suffrage and civil rights, and her legacy as a national political figure. More to come in the next few weeks.

Mary McLeod Bethune in the 1920s. Photo source: About.com

Mary McLeod Bethune's work with her school was remarkable in itself, and had she only focused on that, she would still be heralded for her contributions to society. But she did not. She could not. Her experiences trying to improve the lives of young African American women showed her that there was much work to be done -- both for their race and for their gender.

Unfortunately, the two were not neatly addressed in the larger political realm. Prominent suffrage organizations did not welcome women of color, and many were openly racist in their attempts to court southern white women. Civil rights organizations did not typically welcome discussions around the specific issues faced by women of color, and institutionalize sexism prevented women from taking a more active role in setting the agenda. Neither of these barriers stopped her or other African American women from organizing and acting on their own for the betterment of their race and gender, though. For African American women, the two aspects were necessarily intertwined, and could not easily be teased apart. This intersectionality of race and gender informed her every action.

Mary McLeod Bethune at a Mother's Day celebration. Photo source: Mary McLeod Bethune House Facebook Page

Typical of her era, Bethune believed that women were the spiritual center of the home and community, and the best way to improve the standing of her race was to improve the standing of young African American women. This was her primary goal when she set out to create her school. She designed the curriculum to give her girls a good start in life, including religious teachings and domestic skills alongside reading, writing and math. In addition to the Three Rs, she advocated the Three Hs. "They will be trained in head, hand and heart. Their heads to think, their hands to work, and their hearts to have faith."

In 1909, she attended the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) annual conference, where she gave a speech about her school. Members were so moved by her passion and determination, they took up a collection for her school on the spot. Mary Church Terrell, the president of NACWC, was so impressed with her charisma and her ability to motivate others, she predicted that Bethune would eventually take on the role of president of that organization. (Spoiler: She did!)

Mary McLeod Bethune with graduating class, c.1928. Photo source: Florida Memory

Serving her community
While tending to her school, Mary was disheartened that several of her students who were ill had been turned away from the local hospital, being told it was for whites only. Her response? She opened her own hospital and nurses training school, and named it after herself. In 1911, just a few years after opening her school, the Mary McLeod Hospital and Training School opened. Not only could they provide services for sick and injured students and community members, but they would now be able to train black nurses who would be able to branch out into other communities and deliver much-needed medical services as well as find well-paying jobs as personal nurses.

Her community service didn't stop there, though. While running her school and tirelessly fund-raising, she was also active in a number of organizations and women's clubs that engaged in civil rights and social work. In 1912, as part of the Florida chapter of the National Association of Colored Women, she joined the Equal Suffrage League, a group founded by fellow educator Sarah J. Garnet to advocate for voting rights for African American women. And in 1917 she was elected to the position of president of the Florida chapter of the NACW.

Mary McLeod Bethune in front of Daytona Cookman College and Institute (Industrial School), c.1925. Photo source: Flickr

While working to secure the rights for women to vote, she was also encouraging black men to register and vote, even in the face of staunch opposition from local whites. Keep in mind that while the 15th Amendment legally gave black men the right to vote in 1870, in many Southern areas they were turned away by one scheme or another. Bethune offered night classes to all who wanted to learn how to read in order to pass the literacy tests.

Once the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, she celebrated by raising enough money for over 100 black women to be able to afford to pay the poll tax in order to vote. She was so successful in her efforts to register African Americans, men and women, that she roused the anger of the Ku Klux Klan, 80 of whom confront her and threatened to burn down her school. She did not relent, and instead stayed up all night guarding her students. The KKK never showed up. On election day, she and her 100 followers proudly marched down to the court house to cast their ballots for the mayor of Daytona.

Mary McLeod Bethune, Ida B. Wells, Nannie Helen Burroughs and others at a Baptist Women's gathering in Chicago. Photo source: Mocada Museum

She was quite busy in 1920. She was elected to serve on the National Urban League's Executive Board, where she could put her experience in community organizing and education into service toward the larger goals of the Urban League movement to remove barriers to black education and employment opportunities. She also founded and served as the president of Southeastern Federation of Colored Women (SFCW), where she used her leadership position to open an alternative school for delinquent girls. The state-run school was for whites only, and knowing the severe need for similar services for African American young women, she funded the school through the SFCW and her own accounts until she finally convinced the state to appropriate funds several years later.

As the story of her determination and bravery spread, she was sought out to speak publicly on the behalf of civil rights. So now, in addition to her work at the school, her fund-raising, and her club efforts, she was also traveling the nation to rally support, inspire more activists, and serve on a more national scale. It was at a meeting with the scholar W.E.B. DuBois where he remarked that, as a black man, he could not even check out one of his own books at the local library that she got the idea to open her school's library to the general public. In so doing, she created the first source of free access to books for blacks in Florida at the time.

Mary McLeod Bethune with Ethyl Ellison, Eulalia White, Doris Wesley, and others. Photo source: Thelma Patten

Going National
In 1923, she became the first female president of the National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools. And then, in 1924, true to the prediction of Mary Church Terrell, she accepted the position of national president of the NACWC, the most prestigious position available for a black woman at the time. Under her leadership, the 200,000-member NACWC lobbied for a federal anti-lynching bill, prison reform, and other pressing social issues faced by women and society in general. In keeping with Bethune's belief that financial security for women was key to success, the NACWC offered job training for women.

One of her leadership goals while president of the NACWC was to create a national headquarters located in Washington, D.C., complete with a professional executive secretary and all the cache and recognition that would come with that achievement. And she did it. The organization purchased property at 1318 Vermont Avenue (now the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House), becoming the first black-controlled organization to have a permanent base in the nation's capital.

Mary McLeod Bethune Council House, Washington, D.C. Photo source: Capital Reach

It was because of her growing national influence that she was invited to a luncheon co-hosted by the mother of the governor of New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1927. She entered the party to witness horrified stares from several prominent Southern ladies. As the only African American attending, she was likely a shock to their delicate sensibilities. But the senior Mrs. Roosevelt simply led her into the dining room and seated her in the place of honor and cordially introduced her to her daughter-in-law, Eleanor. The two became fast friends.

Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt visiting Lucy D. Slowe Hall, women's dormitory for Negro war workers, c. 1943. Photo source: Yale Photogrammar

And it was then that her national influence really began to blossom.

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Happy Birthday - Septima Poinsette Clark
Septima Poinsette was born on May 3, 1898, in Charleston, South Carolina. Her father had been born a slave, and worked as a caterer after the Civil War. Her mother was born free in Charleston, but was taken to Haiti during the Civil War. After the war, she worked as a launderer, but did not work for whites, and refused to let her daughters work in white houses...

Happy Birthday - Amelia Earhart
[N]ow and then women should do for themselves what men have already done - occasionally what men have not done--thereby establishing themselves as persons, and perhaps encouraging other women toward greater independence of thought and action. Some such consideration was a contributing reason for my wanting to do what I so much wanted to do.

Women's History Month - Charlotta Bass
Charlotta Amanda Spears Bass was born in Sumter, South Carolina (the year is unclear, some sources say 1874, some day 1879, or even 1880). She was the sixth child out of eleven children. Very little is known about her early life. When she was twenty, she moved to Providence, Rhode Island, to live with her brother. There, she took a position working for the Providence Watchman...

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Kickstart This!

Here's a selection of wonderful Kickstarter projects that deserve some attention!

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Quote of the Day

"The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself." Anna Quindlen

It's true. We have this notion in our culture that if we just try harder, we can be perfect. Or, at least we should always be trying to be closer to perfect. We should try to do everything, have it all, be the complete package. But is that really fair?

How much of who we are is being turned down, hidden, or otherwise denied? How much of what makes each of us the beautiful, unique, amazing people we are is being down-played just to try and please someone else?

How would our lives look differently if we lovingly accepted our true selves, and supported each other in our individual quests?

Friday, July 18, 2014

She's Crafty - Birds of a Feather Edition

My desk in our office, as well my sewing table in my craft room both look out over our back yard and the trees that seem to be a popular gathering space for local birds of all kinds. I've seen black-capped night herons, cedar waxwings, and even a great egret a couple of time. And that's in addition to the regulars -- finches and chickadees and the like.

In honor of my feathered guests (and entertainment), here's a selection of some super cute bird-themed crafts!

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Music Break - Colbie Caillat

Colbie Caillat is back with another great song. This one is reminds us that we shouldn't have to try so hard to impress others when true acceptance comes from within ourselves. Obviously, this one is getting a lot of play in the SRPS computer cave.



I've read a couple of mixed revues of this song, and even one that's claiming it's shaming women.

I don't get that at all. I get "do you like you?" She's not saying women shouldn't wear make up or hair extensions, or go running, or enjoy shopping. She's saying that we shouldn't have to do all these things to make other people like us -- that our worth shouldn't come from the things we do for others. That we should just be ourselves, for ourselves.

What do you think?


Try

Put your make-up on
Get your nails done
Curl your hair
Run the extra mile
Keep it slim so they like you,
do they like you?

Get your sexy on
Don't be shy, girl
Take it off
This is what you want, to belong, so they like you
Do you like you?

You don't have to try so hard
You don't have to, give it all away
You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up
You don't have to change a single thing

You don't have to try, try, try, try
You don't have to try, try, try, try
You don't have to try, try, try, try
You don't have to try
Yooou don't have to try

Oooh Oooh

Get your shopping on,
at the mall, max your credit cards
You don't have to choose,
buy it all, so they like you
Do they like you?

Wait a second,
Why, should you care, what they think of you
When you're all alone, by yourself,
do you like you?
Do you like you?

You don't have to try so hard
You don't have to, give it all away
You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up
You don't have to change a single thing

You don't have to try so hard
You don't have to bend until you break
You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up
You don't have to change a single thing

You don't have to try, try, try, try
You don't have to try, try, try, try
You don't have to try, try, try, try
You don't have to try

You don't have to try, try, try, try
You don't have to try, try, try, try
You don't have to try, try, try, try
You don't have to try
Yooou don't have to try

Oooh Oooh

You don't have to try so hard
You don't have to, give it all away
You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up
You don't have to change a single thing

You don't have to try, try, try, try
You don't have to try, try, try, try
You don't have to try
You don't have to try

Take your make-up off
Let your hair down
Take a breath
Look into the mirror, at yourself
Don't you like you?
Cause I like you

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Kickstart This!

Here's a selection of wonderful Kickstarter projects that deserve some attention!



Amie Lockwood has created a beautifully illustrated children's books which break social norms. Tired of bedtime stories that reinforced old stereotypes and gender norms, she created Adventures of Alex.
The story starts with Alex, an inquisitive child with red hair and the courage of a lion. Along the way, we meet her friends, their parents and the people in their lives. To a child, The Adventures of Alex series are fun, entertaining stories. To an adult, they’re an important and easy way to entertain children without subjecting them to the stereotypes often found in children's literature. The world is diverse and so are our stories.


I think we can all relate to the desire to float through life sometimes, especially when things on the ground are too painful or scary to deal with. Nicola Murphy and Katy Wright-Mead have written a touching and beautiful short film, Float, about a young woman who has to make the brave to come back down and face reality.
In today's world, with the alluring ability to manipulate our public persona, we often disconnect from our authentic selves. It takes courage to be an individual, to face pain, and to learn and grow. To deny ourselves this experience is to risk losing sight of our deep desires, and ultimately ourselves. Parker is a young female puppet of society (both literally and figuratively). With the help of her "go-getter" boyfriend she has constructed the perfect persona for herself, but when her dying father fails to recognize his only daughter, Parker is faced with the decision to float farther from reality or face what is waiting for her on the ground.



When I saw the listing for Recipes for the Dead, I literally made a "squee" sound, out loud. And then my next response was, 'Issue Three?! Why haven't I heard of this before?!' 
Recipes for the Dead is a Victorianpunk-manga-ish comic series that follows the mad adventures of an ambitious baker who just wants to lift her pastry shop out of bankruptcy. Making one reckless decision after another, she attracts the attentions of a sinister neighbor, accidentally concocts a recipe that captivates demonic beings, and finds herself suspiciously much too charming to the boy who never paid attention before.



I love simple, beautifully designed games, and Tabula clearly fits the bill!
Made entirely of wood and designed to be self-contained, Tabula is its own box. The game closes in on itself to become an sleek tabula, "tablet" in Latin. The name Tabula also comes from "Tabula Rasa", meaning "blank slate" - the board starts as a blank slate that then becomes filled with the tiles.





Like a lot of us, I grew up with this image plastered everywhere. And while I knew a little about the story behind it, it wasn't until I started to learn more about the women in the war effort that I started to really understand what it meant. And then I read Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy, and fell in love with the women working in the Detroit factories, many of whom were trying to make ends meet while their husbands or brothers were off fighting overseas. I'm curious to learn more about Jessica L. Folk's Poster Girl, and although it's already funded, you can be sure I'll be looking out for it at local film festivals! -life
"Poster Girl" follows the tale of a young married woman as she discovers that life is not so simple once her husband is off at war and she's facing a life she never thought she'd have. She goes off to work in the factories and the antics that ensue flip her world upside down. Watch her become Rosie and lead women on the march toward equality!

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Quote of the Day


“One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Monday, July 14, 2014

Mary McLeod Bethune: early life, education, and school

This is the first post in a three part series about Mary McLeod Bethune, each covering one of the three main periods of her life -- her childhood, education, and the foundation of her mission school, her work for suffrage and civil rights, and her legacy as a national political figure. More to come in the next few weeks.

Mary Jane McLeod Bethune (July 10, 1875 – May 18, 1955) was a dedicated educator and civil rights leader. She is best known for starting a school for black students in Daytona Beach, Florida (now Bethune-Cookman University). She is also known for her role as an advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and as a friend to Eleanor Roosevelt.


Mary Jane McLeod was born on July 10, 1875, in a log cabin on a small rice and cotton farm near Mayesville, South Carolina. She was the fifteenth of seventeen children. Both of her parents and several of her older siblings had been born as slaves. After emancipation, her mother continued to work for her former owner, while her father farmed cotton near a large house called 'The Homestead.' Her parents worked incredibly hard to be able to buy their farm and provide a strong financial foundation for their children.

Friday, July 11, 2014

She's Crafty - Microscopic Edition!

I'm back! Yes! After taking a semester off to deal with wrapping up school stuff, I've returned!

One of my most exciting goals for the next couple of weeks is to clear out my craft room and get back to making fun stuff. Just for fun. You know... not for school.

As inspiration, I've been looking at clever, beautiful fiber arts projects by others. There are SO MANY of really creative folks out there making gorgeous things. Lately I've been especially fascinated with folks taking images of cells and amoeba, and scaling them up for us to enjoy the beauty of the microscopic world.


Karen Kamenetzky's quilts are simply stunning. This piece is titled Cellular Dance, and I'm in love with the vibrant colors and detailed stitching.

For something on a slightly smaller, more crafty scale, these microbe cross stitch pieces by Alicia Watkins are super cute! You can buy them already completed, or make your own from her kits. Who doesn't want her very own representation of the toxoplasmosis? Perfect for any cat-lover, right?


I cannot stop staring at this piece titled Ovum 58x47 by Betty Busby. Its brilliant colors capture more than simply the details (not at all simple!), but also the 'magic' of the life-giving force.





While I love quilts and other fiber arts, I also enjoy seeing (and making) 3D pieces. This enlarged Amoeba by Leisa Rich is fun and colorful, and brings together several different techniques.



As for wearable art, this scarf with cell structures is gorgeous and functional! Michele Banks's painting have been beautifully transferred to silk with a magnificent result.

What are you making these days?