SRPS - Blog Around

"Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim." Nora Ephram

I just love that quote. And I love this essay Tom Hanks wrote for Time magazine.

Women 2.0 has a great list of female founders they saw at the Google I/O developers conference that wrapped up last week.

I love this RedBubble t-shirt design!

The Gameologicial Society has a fantastic interview with game writer Rhianna Pratchett.

There isn’t a great deal of understanding about what writers actually do, how they do it, and why. At the moment, we don’t have enough experienced storytellers calling the shots in the industry. Consequently, our narrative literacy is still low. Writers are treated as typists of other people’s ideas, rather than professionals with a specific set of skills, gained over many years of living and breathing stories. In fairness, this is a two-way street, and writers themselves need to be more proactive about the best way to utilize their skills and experience. They need to be prepared to fight for the space and agency they need to do their job.

I think the Emily Windsnap series, written by Liz Kessler and beautifully illustrated by Sarah Gibb, will be my next ink on paper book purchase. It comes highly recommended by a children's librarian friend, so it has to be good!

Marie Brennan has an interesting post up on the SFnovelists.com Science Fiction and Fantasy Novelists blog about how just because history may not remember all the exceptional women doesn't mean they didn't exist.

When we talk about people like this — the exceptions to the rule — we aren’t scrounging through the dust-bin, trying desperately to find tokens we can hold up as a sop for women and minorities. We’re taking off the filters that make us dismiss those people as tokens.

I could not help but laugh very much out loud while reading Amanda LaPergola's review of Prometheus and Snow White and the Huntsman. I saw them both on the same night as well, and while I thought about blogging my review, I decided I really didn't want to. Her review pretty much sums up my thoughts on both movies.

While I know I still owe you all a more comprehensive review of Brave, please accept this post about the interactive comic instead.

Speaking of Brave, Ms. Magazine says, "If you like Brave, you'll love Korra." OK, then. I'll have to check it out.

The Frisky quotes Geena Davis on how we're not done creating gender equality:

If we’re not showing boys and girls that they share the sandbox equally when they are young, that girls have the same value as boys, then it’s never going to change.

BetaBeat has super slideshow on the tales of eight young women who learned computer science in high school.

OMG OMG OMG! Her Universe is adding lots and lots of new shirts (Star Trek, Dr. Who, and so much more! to their line up! Including this Uhura tee:

I've been reading a lot of posts over on Women Talk Sports, what with the Olympics coming up and all. This one about Emily Geraghty, an Irish Karate champion, was quite inspirational.

Conversely, this article on BuzzFeed about how Sarah Robles, the likely gold-medal champion and strongest women in America, lives in poverty because she isn't getting the same level of endorsements other more conventionally attractive female athletes receive.

I have been watching lots of TV over the last month or so. And while I may not be writing about it all, I'm certainly doing a lot of critiquing in my head. Which is why this Racialicious post about how criticizing a women-centric show's lack of diversity isn't the same thing as women-hate. Hear hear!


What are you reading/blogging/posting these days?

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SRPS - Blog Around

King Golden Hair by Barbara Stefan

In my most favorite class this semester, we spent a lot of time discussing stories communities tell about themselves and how that can be directly tied to their beliefs. We read several texts, and we were asked each time to not only talk about the story itself, but the reason the author chose that particular story, how it reflects his/her own purposes, and what was left out, and how that also reveals his/her purposes.

I was reminded of this lesson in media literacy when I saw this blog post by Maria Tatar in The New Yorker, about other articles celebrating newly discovered, unpublished folk stories curated by Franz Xaver von Schönwerth, and seemingly left out of the infamous Grimm Fairytale collection. As it turns out, these stories have been recorded, and exist in libraries today. But I'm curious to know why these stories were not included the Brothers Grimm collection, and why they fell out of common usage? And what does that say about them and their beliefs?

Even more importantly, the Brothers Grimm, who were responsible for establishing the folklore canon we have today in Anglo-American cultures, may have been wary of telling stories of persecuted boys, having suffered much in their own early lives. It is no accident that we refer these days to Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm almost as if they were a couple. The brothers lost their father at a young age and worked hard to educate themselves and to keep their fragile family intact. They studied law together and worked side by side for decades, taking notes, copying manuscripts, editing texts, and famously creating index card entries for their monumental dictionary of the German language. Is it any surprise that they might have found tales about quarreling brothers or male-sibling rivals less than congenial?

While they may not be ancient folktales passed down over generations, these drawings by koralie have a magical fairytale aspect

I am terribly sorry that I neglected to blog about Wollstonecraft, the fantastic kickstarter project for a series of pro-girl, pro-math, pro-science, pro-awesomeness novels for young women. But, it looks like enough of you saw it anyway, since they more than met their goal!

For Women's History Month, I wrote a three part series about Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States. Recently, the Georgian Gentleman wrote about Dr. James Barry, who rose to the rank of Inspector General of Hospitals in Great Britain, after serving in the British Army medical corps. Only he was a she. And her secret went with her to her grave.

Dr Barry was a fiery and bombastic red-head who had a reputation for being prickly: frequently taunted for being effeminate and for having a high pitched voice Barry responded with angry outbursts. She compensated for her lack of stature (she was five foot tall in her stocking-ed feet) by wearing three inch risers in her shoes, and wore over-sized clothing. Anyone getting too personal in their remarks was likely to be challenged to a duel – reportedly she fought on several occasions and is believed to have been injured in one and reportedly shot an opponent in another. Unbelievably, the dashing young doctor even nurtured a reputation as a ladies’ man – perhaps to deflect attention.

It's a couple of years old, but this clip of Snow White offering advice to young girls tickled my humor bone after my recent review of Mirror Mirror.

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SRPS Blog-Around

Happy Friday the 13th! So many great links this week, so let's get started!

If you haven't seen Tavi Gevinson of Rookie in her TEDxTeen presentation, you really need to take 8 minutes to check it out. I expect to see more great stuff from her and her generation!

And speaking of Stevie Nicks, did you see her on Up All Night last week?

Also last week there was this Big Deal Gaming Conference in Boston. I didn't get to go, sadly. But I got to see some great photos from my friends on G+ and Facebook and Tumblr.

Pokket, over at MMORPG has a good wrap-up video:

It looks like it was a great time for everyone involved, which is to be expected. PAX Prime is our major vacation destination, and maybe some day we'll be able to swing a trip to PAX East. In the meantime, I'll console myself by watching videos and reading blogs, like this great write-up by Geeks Playing Games -- including a photo of a woman in a Dr. Who Tardis skirt:

Awesome Tardis skirt; photo: geeksplayinggames.com

Actually, so much great cosplay at PAX East.

Mass Effect 3 Cosplayers; photo: Kotaku

Assassin's Creed cosplayers; photo: dynamiclunch

Little Sisters; photo: amandarenz

Uh... so many things; photo: urdnoteve

Link, Link, and Link... laughing with a salad; photo: summerhop

I really *should* know, but I don't; photo: visiblespectre

Speaking of awesome gaming stuff, there's a great Kickstarter project for a new tabletop RPG, Witch Girls Book of Shadows.

Witch Girls: BOS isn't just about us printing a book, it's about bringing table top RPGs to a new and overlooked demographic. Part of your future funding will go towards printing Quick-Character Creation guides to give away for free organizations for girls and schools to help introduce kids to Role playing games and the world of witch girls adventures as well as a larger print run.

Seems like a worthy cause. I'm all about bringing empowering games to girls!

And, lest you think I ran out of cool videos, have you seen the Lizzie Bennet Diaries?

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SRPS - Highlights

First off, I want to wish a super happy birthday to Marilu Henner, who I grew up watching on Taxi! Here she is with the rest of the cast, singing Lullaby of Broadway:

And her bad hair day (haven't we all been there before?):

Aside from this being Easter weekend (happy face: I can have booze again!), it's also PAX East (sadface: I'm not there with my friends). So, to honor all the awesome geekiness going on in Boston this weekend, here's a fantastic illustration of a gamer girl posted by tiltawhirls on tumblr.

A while back, Two Nerdy History Girls had a great post about what women blacksmiths wore in the 18th century:

Women's Adventure Magazine had an interview with Emily Ross, a 14 year old girl who is already an expert on adventure:

When I was little, I would attach our old dog, Buck, to a plastic sled and have him carry me around outside. I’m 14 now, and dogs still pull me around, only now there are eight of them and we tend to charge through 110 miles of bitter cold rather than roam the woods near my house.

And speaking of women and sports, have you seen the latest Gatorade G Series commercial?

Georgian Gentleman had a wonderful post about early American wax artist and spy, Patience Lovell Wright:

Raganwald's Posterous had a great post, A Woman's Story, about a young black woman in Canada during the 1950s, who fought the odds to become a successful computer programmer, who is, as it turns out, his mother.

There's been lots of great fan-art about The Hunger Games, but this one made me laugh out loud:

Oh, and did you see An Imagined Girls Night With Katniss Everdeen, Hermione Granger, Bella Swan And Buffy Summers? It's also LOL-worthy!

Bella: You guys! It’s not like that!! Plus, he’s totally convenient to have around when I need some attention and I’m not getting it from vampire man.
Katniss: What’s the deal with you people and dating vampires? You guys should try humans sometime.
Hermione: Preach.
Buffy: There’s nothing wrong with vampires. Minus their emotional unavailability, lack of reflection, and penchant for really rough sex.
Bella: The rough sex is great, although it’s super awkward that we have to keep buying new pillows every time.
Katniss: This conversation is getting weird. Can I have some of those Doritos?

So, on that note... I'm going to go feel sorry for myself for not being able to attend PAX East, and the cruise photos on G+. If I see any good costumes, I'll let you know!

Feel free to post your links in the comments!

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Weekly Wrap-Up

Sorry I've been MIA this week. I'm trying to get stuff back into balance in my personal and school life, and then I can spend more time online. In the meantime, here are some links to fun stuff that's come across my screen this week:

The Mary Sue shared a story from NBC Los Angeles about Virginia Hankins, the first female knight to joust at the country's oldest Renaissance Faire.

There's a great new gaming blog for women, and people who love women: Gaming As Women.

Also in the gaming world, if you haven't been following Pretty Gamer's Puppeteers Series, you should. It's all about the women behind the avatars.

Border House had a great write up about why we need more stories about Immoral Women.

Although I'm not usually a fan of pink-ifying of normally non-pink items, I'm totally in love with this pink droid made for a girl who has cancer (h/t to The Mary Sue).

Gender-Focus shared some great videos of Vancouver Kids Pink Project 2 events, where schoolkids wore pink shirts to raise awareness about bullying.

If you haven't seen it yet, you should check out Sandra Fluke's appearance on The View.

Shakesville shared some great photos of First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with Aneesa Ahmed of Maldives, at the 2012 International Women of Courage Awards ceremony at the US State Department.

Two Nerdy History Girls has a great post in honor of Women's History Month about the new book by Louise V. North, by In the Words of Women: The Revolutionary War & the Birth of a Nation 1765-1799.

And for more great reading about women in history, check out Shakesville's Aphra Behn's Reading Room - Women's History Month Edition, Part 1.

Viva la Feministe wrote abut Raising Empowered Daughters for International Women's Day.

I sooo want a pair of these Wonder Woman Converse All Stars!

Have a great weekend!

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Weekly Wrap-up

So much really good stuff this week!

First off, Oh No They Didn't has about a zillion stills from The Hunger Games. SQUEEEEE!

Two Nerdy History Girls, who always have great stuff, wrote about the blending of fiber arts and patriotism in a young girl's education: Painting & Stitching 'Caliope & Clio' as a Schoolgirl Accomplishment, c 1810

Continuing the fiber arts thread (see what I did there?), Symmetry Magazine has some great photos of some amazing quilts of the Large Hadron Collider. I just love geek arts and crafts! (h/t Feminist Philosophers)

elle, phd. has a cute video of her adorable godson giving a presentation about Marian Anderson, as well as a great link for more info about her life.

Jewish Women's Archive has a fun remembrance of the inimitable Sophie Tucker. 

Variety has a report that Sophia Coppola has selected Emma Watson for her film about teenaged burglars who hit celebrity homes. Color me intrigued!

SexyBeast host a roundtable with the women from Community, and it is awesome!

The folks at Gender Focus reminded us of this hilarious rap, A Lady Made That:

And, last, but certainly NOT least, there's a new Hunger Games clip:

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Weely Wrap-up

Some of the awesome things that I've seen over the last couple of days.

OK, not really the Hunger Games. I'm still reading it, I admit it. I'm sure it's clear by now I'm a slow reader. But this Lana Del Rey "Hunger Games" video is awesome (if a bit spoilerish):

Hillary Rosner writes about her experience with selling science stories to women's magazines:
Their So-Called Journalism, or What I Saw at the Women’s Mags

elle, phd has been running a great series for Black History Month, highlighting black women who deserve more recognition. So far: Addie Wyatt, Constance Baker Motley, and Maggie Lena Walker.

MadArtLab shared a great music love song for the Internet: Oh Internet -- A Love Song.

Sady Doyle writes about Occupy V-Day: All You Need (to Protest) Is Love

Betty White raps with electro dance artist Luciana, in their new music video "I'm Still Hot:"

Yes, Betty. You sure are!

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SRPS Movie Night - The Iron Lady

One of my goals for 2012 is to see as many female-centric movies as possible on their opening weekend, using my dollars to, hopefully, send a message to Hollywood that I'm willing to give them my money for good films about women who are interesting, complex, and inspiring.

So, I made it a point to get out to see The Iron Lady today, even though I had lots of work to do, and a house to get ready for a party this weekend. Oh, and a trip to the DMV. (I treated myself to a bag of popcorn to make up for that bit of nastiness.)

My initial thoughts on the movie are this: Meryl Streep is truly an acting goddess, and we should all worship her forever and ever. Any project she shows even the slightest bit of interest in should be immediately green-lighted.

But that doesn't really tell you anything about the movie, other than her performance alone is well worth the ticket price. You see her as Thatcher in her 30s and 40s as a Member of Parliment and Education Secretary, in her 60s and early-70s as Prime Minister, and again, today, in her 90s. Her portrayal of these different ages of a powerful woman is beautifully wrought. There were very few moments when I was aware I was watching Meryl Streep. Most of the time, I had no trouble believing it was actually Margaret Thatcher.

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, and as a middle-aged woman learning how to appreciate her power and seeking to use it to actually do something in life.

But we also see her as an elderly, but still not frail, woman who is experiencing some flashbacks and hallucinations about her previous life. I found this method very comfortable. I enjoyed the interleaving of modern events and historic memories. It seemed very natural, and much more interesting than just a start-to-finish story.

I like that the writer didn't pull any punches when showing Mrs. Thatcher as politically-driven, but also didn't make this a political movie. Fans of Mrs. Thatcher may be disappointed that this isn't a film showing off her politics. Critics of Mrs. Thatcher can sit through every scene and not feel like throwing things at the screen.

And, yes, even all these years later, people are still quite divided about her as a politician.

I was born in 1970, and I came of age during the Reagan/Thatcher era. Although I am American, I was at least nominally aware of what was going on in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Fauklands, etc. I was never a fan of Mrs. Thatcher, as I have nearly always identified as a Progressive or Liberal. But I still admired her as a woman who led an important country, and opened doors for future women to enter politics and be taken seriously.

We get to see her entering the male world of British politics, and earning her place to lead it for 11 years. Whatever you think of what she did while there, she achieved a lot just by being there.

As entertainment, the movie falls a bit flat. I wonder how much context we should be able to infer, rather than be told directly. There are news clips showing the events of the day, but to someone not familiar with the history, it may be a bit confusing at times. The production team is from the UK, and I suspect that the writers were writing from a strictly British point of view, and didn't intend to give everyone a lesson in recent British history.

Which is a long way of saying if you're not familiar with the Thatcher years in Great Britain, it might be worthwhile to do a quick study of the issues before seeing the movie. But it isn't completely necessary.

Meryl Streep's performance will more than make up for any confusion you may have. I highly recommend seeing this movie, regardless of what you think of Mrs. Thatcher. Just seeing a woman who is that passionate, that driven, that strong, is inspiring. I may not agree with most of what she did, but I respect that she was able to do it.

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Weekly Wrap-Up

First, I want to say I'm so very excited to see The Iron Lady tonight! I hope you're planning to see it yourself! You just know Meryl Streep is going to be amazing.

In fact, if you needed more evidence of actually HOW awesome Ms. Streep is, check out her visit with Ellen, where she explains why she donated her full salary from the movie to the Women's History Museum.

While we're on the subject of historical women, Two Nerdy History Girls has been running some great clips of Victorian women speaking on camera about their experiences. The latest is an interview with Princess Alice, Queen Victoria's granddaughter.

Going even further back in history, The Mary Sue shared a piece about Anna Morandi Manzolini, a 18th century artist who helped further scientific and medical understanding by creating realistic wax sculptures of human anatomy.

On a sad, modern note, Kathleen Edward, the Michigan girl dying of Huntington's disease, and whose strength in the face of horrific cyber bullying was an inspiration to many, has passed away. If you don't know the story, it's worth reading, here and here.

I just learned that my childhood heroine, Billie Jean King, will be in my neighborhood this weekend, speaking at the Charles Schultz Museum. I might just have to clear my schedule to go hear her speak!

And, lastly, I leave you with this little nugget of awesomeness: Awesome Women Rock reminds us, You're Never Too Old to Dance.

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Weekly Wrap-Up

Here's a couple of the interesting things that have come across my screen over the last week or so.

One of my Google+ friends has a self-published book that looks quite intriguing: Pride and Prejudice and Curling Rocks. The Pride and Prejudice part caught my eye, and knowing a little about Andy's love of curling, I just had to buy a copy for my Kindle. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, because I'm so busy with all the books for my various book clubs. But I fully intend to read it soon!

Speaking of book clubs, as though I'm not bad enough about reading the entire book for my monthly in-person book club, I joined two online book clubs!

The first is the Women's Adventure Magazine book club. The current read is Becoming Odyssa: Adventures on the Appalachian Trail, by Jennifer Pharr Davis. So far, it's an enjoyable read, and I'm already jonesing for a backpacking trip this summer.

The other online book club is the Geek Girls Book Club. The first book is Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline, which should be quite entertaining. The Prince listened to the audio book last month and I heard him laughing out loud quite often.

Need something to entertain AND rock you? Check out FunnyNotSlutty.com's collection of 10 Women Who Rock Comedy.

LiveScience. com tells how 18th Century French female botanist, Jeanne Baret, was recently honored with the naming of a plant similar to one she discovered while traveling the world on a research vessel while posing as a man.

Wired.com had a great story about the first rollercoaster, supposedly invented by the ultimate Self-Rescuing Princess Queen, Catherine the Great.

Did you know that there's such a thing as a Christmas Witch? Yeah, and she's cool! She comes to your house, cleans up, and leaves you a treat in your shoe!

And finally, I wanted to give a shout out to any of our princesses who are struggling with depression. You're not alone. We all have to fight that demon at times. I myself am just starting to come out of a dark hole myself. So it was really inspirational to read The Bloggess' posts this week, starting with her birthday post about her present to herself. I want a copy of that print myself.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Or at least a bearable one. I'm looking forward to lots of great things for this blog in 2012. I hope you'll stick around.

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Weekly Wrap-Up

This really awesome video about Victoria Schmidt, CosPlayer extraordinaire! Seriously. I am amazed at the level of effort she invests in her costumes! (h/t to The Mary Sue)

And then there was this fantastic write up about gender-bending cosplay and how incredibly OK it can be within the geek culture.

"We spend so much time pondering new possibilities that when someone comes up to us and says, 'Hey, I’m different,' we get excited. We give them a big hug and say, 'No worries. We love different here.'” Or as I always say, "Normal is weird. And weird is normal."

And speaking of CosPlay (with the emphasis on "play"), have you checked out Superheroes are for Girls Too lately? I don't know who Miss Martian is, but I really dig the hair!


Nicole DeBoom is the bomb. I met her a couple of years ago when she came to host a booth at the Vineman expo here in Santa Rosa. I was so impressed with how genuinely friendly and supportive she was. I'm not your typical athlete, and nowhere near the stature of someone like Nicole. But she treated me like every other triathlete she met that day. It was pretty awesome.

And her company, Skirt Sports is pretty cool too. I love my Skirt running skirt. The fabrics are great and I like how the styles are available in sizes for women who aren't professional athletes.

So when I saw this story about her efforts to get women out "moving and grooving," I knew I had to share it with you all.


And, finally, if you follow SRPS on Facebook, you've probably already seen the link to another really great Ms. Magazine post about how Hermione is a true feminist. (spoiler alert for folks who haven't seen the movie yet)

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Weekly Wrap Up

Just a few of the pretty cool things that I've enjoyed over the last couple of days.

Self-Rescuing Princess on a Bike: I love all of the new Road ID ads that keep popping up during the Tour de France coverage we're watching religiously at our house. Each features Bob Roll (aka Bobke) asking a different cyclist if they want to go for a ride, usually in the middle of the night, or the middle of a broadcast, etc. I'd already seen the commercials with Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen, and even Ben King. But this one surprised me!

Alison Starnes is an amazing professional cyclist. Too bad it's so difficult to find coverage of women's cycling, because you'd be amazed by what she can do!

A really nice write up on Ms. Magazine about Hermoine Granger. I haven't seen the last movie yet, but I'm hoping to soon! "Unlike most of the wizarding world, Hermione sees the people and creatures that have been written out of history and, in true feminist fashion, is determined to write them back in."

Then there was the news of the inaugural Google Science Fair, where all the top three finishers were all girls! Amazing!

And, lastly, I'll leave you with this really fantastic, super-interesting talk by Jane Goodall. It's nearly an hour, but totally worth every minute.

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SRPS Highlights

Just a quick sampling of the great media out there by some of my favorite Self-Rescuing Princesses, or topics that seem like something SRPS-related:

If you didn't catch last week's interview with Betty White on Tavis Smiley, I highly recommend it. What an amazing woman. So funny. So brave. So strong. I love hearing about how she got involved in acting, and telling stories about working on the Mary Tyler Moore Show and Golden Girls. She was there to plug her new book, which I just may have to read.

The best part: when she makes Tavis Smiley crack up at the end. Pure comedy genius.

I'm reading Rosanne Barr's article in the New York Magazine about her thoughts about being asking to comment on Charlie Sheen's recent public troubles. I have always admired Rosanne. I proudly stand behind my love of her sitcom as well as her standup. It takes serious ovaries to do what she's done. And without her, would we have Ellen or other women comedians? In the article, she talks about the sexism and classism she had to confront in Hollywood while making her ground-breaking show.

Best line: “Cry all you want to, but you figure out a way to put my name on the show I created, or kiss my ass good-bye.” Be sure to read it with your sarcasm filter on. Biting, political, feminist comedy is best done with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

It looks like Bridemaids is getting some good reviews and some mixed reviews. My friends who have seen it are all raving. I hope to see it soon. Maybe this weekend, if the world doesn't come to an end. If I do see it, I'll certainly post a review.


And, finally, with all the fuss over the J.Crew ad with a young boy with toenails painted pink, this article from Smithsonian Magazine, from April, about the history of gender-ized baby colors is still rather timely. Basically, it's a preview of a book coming out later this year by historian Jo B. Paoletti.

Takeaway line: “There is a whole community out there of parents and kids who are struggling with ‘My son really doesn’t want to wear boy clothes, prefers to wear girl clothes.’ ” She hopes one audience for her book will be people who study gender clinically. The fashion world may have divided children into pink and blue, but in the world of real individuals, not all is black and white.

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