Kickstart This!

OK, so this Kickstarter for the picture book for The Princess Who Saved Herself doesn't actually need your help. They've already nearly quadrupled their original asking, and are on their 2nd stretch goal. But I wanted to share it with you anyway, because... well... I kinda love it.

I mean, I've been a JoCo fan for what feels like forever. I was trying to remember whether I went to my first JoCo concert before or after my first PAX. I dunno. The two are twisted up together in my memory.

Most of his songs are about his life, or his wild imagination, and as a nerd I can totally relate to them, even though they're about dudes. When we used to play Rock Band at our game nights, every one would crowd into the TV room to sing along to "Code Monkey," "Skullcrusher Mountain," and "Still Alive." But still, I kinda hoped he'd do a few more songs about kickass women. (I secretly believed the curlers in "Curl" were women, but I don't think it's clear.)



When he came out with "The Princess Who Saved Herself" I was overjoyed! All my geek girl friends were agog over it. Finally we had a song that was for us! Because we had all saved ourselves. Repeatedly. Like... you know... how I came up with the name of this blog.

But there are so many reasons to love this. I love that she's a rocker, and a badass who fights dragons. But I think the most awesome is that they made the main character a little brown girl! Like... how cool is that?!



So, go check it out. Throw in your $20 and get a copy of the book when it's finished. Get two, and share one with your favorite little self-rescuing princess.

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Self-Rescuing Princess of the Week - Lauren Rojas

Twelve year old Lauren Rojas's science project for school wasn't your typical science fair fare. Instead of building the ubiquitous baking soda volcano, she wanted to test the effects of altitude on air pressure and temperature. So she built a weather balloon, attached several cameras to record the view, and a high altitude computer to track the changes in temperature, air pressure and altitude. And then she added a little something extra.

She wanted to send her Hello Kitty doll on the trip, so she build her a little rocket to travel in, and attached it to the scientific equipment.

She launched the rocket from Antioch, California, where it was buffeted by strong winds as it rose to its highest point, over 93,000 feet up! When the balloon burst, it sent Hello Kitty back down, to land nearly 50 miles away. Lauren recovered the equipment, with the help of several adults, as it was tangled in a tree 50 feet off the ground, and completed her assignment. And, then, for good measure, made this awesome video.

Best. Science. Fair. Entry. Ever.

(source: NY Daily News)

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Self-Rescuing Princess of the Week - Brittany Wenger

I know it's only Tuesday, but I'm pretty sure it's safe to call it already! Google has announced the winners of the 2012 Google Science Fair. And, again, the Grand Prize winner is an innovative and enterprising young woman!

Winners of the 2012 Google Science Fair. Photo: Google

Brittany Wenger, from the US, won the prize for the 17-18 age category, as well as the Grand Prize, for her work, "Global Neural Network Cloud Service for Breast Cancer."

Brittany's project harnesses the power of the cloud to help doctors accurately diagnose breast cancer. Brittany built an application that compares individual test results to an extensive dataset stored in the cloud, allowing doctors to assess tumors using a minimally-invasive procedure.

Basically, a doctor enters the information about the mass into the database, and her algorithm can predict whether it is cancer with a 99.1% accuracy, reducing the number of malignant false negatives.

Brittany Wenger at her data input site. Photo: The Out-of-Door Academy

The other winners are quite impressive as well!

Jonah Kohn, also from the US, won the prize for the 13-14 age category for his work, "Good Vibrations: Improving the Music Experience for People with Hearing Loss Using Multi-Frequency Tactile Sound."

By creating a device that converts sound into tactile vibrations, Jonah's project attempts to provide the hearing impaired with an improved experience of music.

And Iván Hervías Rodrígues, Marcos Ochoa, and Sergio Pascual, of Spain, won the 15-16 age category for their work, "La Vida Oculta del Agua (The Secret Life of Water).

Iván, Marcos, and Sergio studied hidden microscopic life in fresh water, documenting the organisms that exist in a drop of water, and how those organisms influence our environment.

Well done, all!

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Self Rescuing Princesses of the Week - Daniella Paola & Alex Shilko

Don't you just love it when you're able to apply something you've learned from one part of your life to a problem you encounter in another part? Like when you find an organization technique that helps you sort through work problems, but also works well for cleaning out your closets?

Or, like Daniella Paola and Alex Shilko, you see a problem with injuries in your after-school activities, and apply the scientific techniques your learned about in class to find a solution? And, even better, get an award for it?

A firsthand encounter with a sports injury during a field hockey game inspired two Smithfield High students to investigate the effectiveness of athletic mouth guards as a Rhode Island Science & Engineering Fair project and brought home a First Grant Award for their effort last weekend.

Seems they saw an opponent hit in a field hockey game last fall, suffering a mount and jaw injury because her mouth guard was not properly worn. These two budding scientist decided to investigate whether the injury could have been prevented if the mouth guard had been worn correctly, and to further test which mouth guards worked best.

They ran a series of experiments where they assembled sets of plaster teeth, and dropped various weights on them, simulating the approximate weight of different sports equipment that tends to cause the most injuries -- baseballs, softballs, field hockey balls, etc. Each set of "teeth" was protected by one of three popular mouth guard brands covering the range of prices, with a fourth set unprotected.

But their experiment didn't stop there.

In the next set of their experiment they obtained a set of dentures and headed to a lab at Brown University to an Instron machine, which can compress objects until failure. They put the mouth guards on the false teeth and tested.

They hypothesized the more expensive mouth guard would perform highest. Instead, they were surprised to learn that the mid-range mouth guard worked the best, giving the wearer the most protection. They took their findings to the Rhode Island Science & Engineering Fair, where they won the top award.

The excitement wasn't only about receiving the award. They also enjoyed being around other science-minded young people.

"We are both really interested in science and to see all the different exhibits was awesome," Alexa said. "The atmosphere with everyone loving the same thing was pretty cool."

Alexa plans on becoming a pharmacist, while Daniella is interested in biomedical engineering.

Bravo!

source: valleybreeze.com

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Self-Rescuing Princess of the Week - Kirtana Vallabhaneni

Kirtana Vallabhaneni, Photo: BBC News

Seventeen year old Kirtana Vallabhaneni is a science fair rock star, as proven by her recent award in The Big Bang Fair, in Birmingham, England, as part of the University of Liverpool's research project working to identify the cause of pancreatic cancer.

Ms Vallabhaneni, who was part of the project team working to isolate cells in the pancreas that can be targeted with chemotherapy, said she was "so happy" with the win. 

Not only did she beat out 360 other contestants in the contest which was between students, 11 to 18 years old, competing in science, technology, engineering and math, she wowed the judges, who included several scientific celebrities, including space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Sir Tim Hunt, and the Science Museum's inventor in residence Mark Champkins.

Dr Aderin-Pocock said she was "delighted" with Ms Vallabhaneni's work.

"The country's science and engineering industry has an incredibly bright future ahead of it if Kirtana and her fellow finalists are anything to go by," she said.
"It's these talented individuals who will inspire others to think about science and engineering in a new and exciting light."

And she is exciting! And excited. 

"Everything that I've worked for over the last year has come together," she said.
"The fact four finalists were female shows that there are strong opportunities for women in science and it proves they don't have to follow convention and stereotypes.

She certainly is a great role model for young women who have a passion for science and research.

"I'm so passionate about what I do and I hope that with this success, I can instil the same kind of passion I have for science in other young people.
"If I can do it, they definitely can."

Hear hear!

source: BBC News

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Self-Rescuing Princess Role Model - Shelagh Gordon

Shelagh Gordon

If you don't know who Shelagh Gordon was, you're not alone. She wasn't famous. I'd never heard of her until well after her death and funeral. But after reading Catherine Porter's Toronto Star article about her life and the impact she had on nearly everyone she ever met, I wish I'd known her.

It's usual that a death notice in the newspaper would create so much interest. That a writer for the same newspaper would read a death notice and feel compelled to attend the future and interview the mourners is remarkable.

But 55-year-old Shelagh’s death notice stopped me. “Our world is a smaller place today without our Shelagh,” it began. “Our rock, our good deed doer, our tradition keeper, our moral compass.” It stated she was the “loving aunt and mother” to a list of names, without differentiating among them. And it mentioned she was a “special friend” to two people — one a man, the other a woman. The secrets tucked here were intriguing. I called Shelagh’s sister Heather Cullimore with a request. Would she let the Star come to her funeral and ask the people gathered there about her life?

Years ago, when I was entering my 30s and worried that I hadn't achieved anything in my life, a good friend gave me this to ponder: What if your purpose in life is just to be a good friend to the people in your life?

Sitting in the fourth row at her funeral, I could see myself in Shelagh. She lived a small life, as do most of us, untouched by war, disease, poverty. Her struggles were intimate. But the world she carefully assembled was rich and meaningful in ways she never grasped.

That was a new way of thinking about life and my approach to it. I may not be able to change the whole world, but I could at least improve my little corner of the world. I may not be able to help everyone who needs help, but I can reach out to those around me. Which is exactly what Shelagh did.

They all call her a second mother and best friend. Her sisters call her their epoxy. She glued together the gaps in their lives — arriving in the middle of the night when one kid needed to go to the hospital, picking their kids up from school in emergencies, hauling out their garbage when they’d forgotten to. She’d call from the grocery store to announce chicken was on sale and what else did they need?

We all spend a lot of time thinking about what will make us happier in our lives. We worry about what we don't have, and how powerless we are. When we hear the phrase, "Follow your Bliss," we think, Yeah, but that doesn't pay the mortgage. We save our happiness for when we're thinner, when the kids are out of diapers, when we go on vacation, when we retire.

But there are some people who seem to have everything they need, even without actually owning very much. They just exude genuine happiness.

Her living room was lush and creamy, her kitchen warm with wood floors, and treasures were scattered everywhere — a wooden birdhouse and rusted bell in her kitchen, two heart-shaped stones on the radiator by her bath, an angel-shaped knob above her mirror. Wedged into one corner of her bathroom, where the wainscoting of two walls meets, I found a small white stone with the word “strength” on it.

They seemed like totems, reminding Shelagh to not save life for the weekends, but delight in it here and now.

How often do we stop and think about what we do have, what we can change in our now? What can we add to each day to honor the preciousness of our lives? It's clear that Shelagh's life, even studied afterward, has already influenced even more people. Catherine Porter, the author, writes what many must be feeling after reading the article.

Wandering around her house one recent afternoon, I fished one of her mud-caked Blundstones from the closet and slipped it on, wondering “What is a life worth?”

In the past, I have often answered this question with achievements — campaigns, masterpieces, spiritual or literal changes to humankind and the world. The measure, I’ve thought, is Sophie Scholl or Charles Darwin or Nelson Mandela.

Shelagh’s life offers another lens. She didn’t change the world forcibly, but she changed many people in it. She lightened them. She inspired them, though she likely didn’t realize it. She touched them in simple ways most of us don’t because we are too caught-up and lazy.

Her life reveals that it doesn’t take much to make a difference every day — just deep, full love —and that can be sewn with many different kinds of stitches.

What a lovely reminder to work with what we have, be grateful for our blessings, and take each day like the gift that it is.

As her family and friends spoke of her, my thoughts kept pulling to my own life. Do I love as deeply as Shelagh? Do I exult in the small pleasures of life the way she did? How do I want to be remembered?

If you know someone like Shelagh, take a moment to tell him or her how much you love them. Tomorrow is not guaranteed for anyone. 

Read the whole article and see more photos, and a great video: Shelagh was here — an ordinary, magical life

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Amy Lowell

Doing my research for other birthdays for today, I came across an entry for Amy Lowell. I have to admit I've never heard of her before, but found myself reading her biography and looking for some of her poems.

According to the Wikipedia entry for her:

She never attended college because her family did not consider that proper for a woman, but she compensated with avid reading and near-obsessive book collecting.

She gave herself the education she was denied because of her sex:

She put herself through a "rigorous" reading program, using her father's 7,000-volume library and the resources of the Boston Athenaeum.

...

Perhaps Lowell's poetry was not sufficiently recognized during her lifetime, but she did write more than 650 poems, and she is now acknowledged as the first American woman poet to see herself as part of a feminine literary tradition, reflected in poems such as "The Sisters." What her contemporaries did realize was that Lowell made things happen for American poetry through her own innovations and her support of other poets.
(source: english.illinois.edu)

And, just in time for Valentine's Day, her poem Petals:

Petals

Life is a stream
On which we strew
Petal by petal the flower of our heart;
The end lost in dream,
They float past our view,
We only watch their glad, early start.
Freighted with hope,
Crimsoned with joy,
We scatter the leaves of our opening rose;
Their widening scope,
Their distant employ,
We never shall know. And the stream as it flows
Sweeps them away,
Each one is gone
Ever beyond into infinite ways.
We alone stay
While years hurry on,
The flower fared forth, though its fragrance still stays.

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Self-Rescuing Princess of the Week: Evie Truxaw

I've written about my friend-farmers over at Tierra Vegetables a couple of times on my other blog. I adore those people and their produce. I count so many of the people there as my friends. I feel very fortunate to have developed such a great relationship with the people who grow my food.

Evie is a regular at the farm stand. She and her husband Wayne, and his sister Lee, are the heart of Tierra, along with so many others who work to make sure we can get the freshest, most wonderful vegetables, fruits, beans, cornmeal, spices, chilis, peppers and flowers each week. Evie is there at the front of the farm stand with a smile and a hug for everyone who comes in. She is the kindest, smartest, funniest, most open person you would ever care to meet. She is a rock star.

And she is also a cancer survivor. Back in early winter of 2009, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. After surgery, several rounds of chemotherapy, and an extended recovery, she is doing great. She's back at the farm stand full time, smiling, hugging and chatting with everyone. Her hair has grown back in a fun post-cancer 'fro.

And tomorrow morning she will run 6 miles as part of the Human Race to raise funds for the Airport Club's Cancer Wellness Program -- a program that she herself participated in when she was sick. They provide nutrition, exercise, and social programs for cancer patients, free of charge. Before this week, I had never heard of this program. Now I'm sold on its importance to my community. Especially because it was there to help Evie in her time of need.

Most awesomely, she's calling her run the F*** Cancer run. Well, when I heard that, I had to join her, right? I mean, if she can go through all that chemo and fight her way back to health, the very least I can do is run 6 miles with her (or, more likely, behind her as she leaves me in the dust).

Evie, you are an amazing woman, and I'm happy to be able to count you among my self-rescuing princess friends. Rock on, sister!

PS. If you want to donate to help the Cancer Wellness Program, you can do so at Evie's fund-raising page, or mine.

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SRP of the Week - Nelle Harper Lee

Do you have a favorite book? What character has influenced you through the years? Any stories that stick with you? Places and people you like to revisit?

For me, it has always been To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. I don't remember when I first read it. I don't recall if it was for school, or for fun. Or both. But I fell in love immediately. I knew the people. They are my people. Scenes in the book feel like scenes from my memories, and are peopled with the same types of characters. I feel like I know the smell of Scout's family home, and I imagine it smells a lot like my Granny's house.

As much as I love the people in TKaM, I really love Scout, and the relationship she has with Atticus. What a profound experience to see a child being treated like a rational, thinking person. Atticus doesn't dumb down his interactions with his children. And he doesn't try to shield them from the very real, very terrible events happening around them. Instead, he talks to them. A lot. About deep subjects. And he helps to guide them in their thinking.

But I reserve most of my adoration for Scout. What a great, active, adventurous, smart, brave little girl! You just know she's going to grow up to be someone so awesome, you'd want to know her. Or be her.

There isn't a lot of information about Nelle Harper Lee available online, although I was able to find a couple of informative pieces. One, a biography on the National Endowment for the Arts' Big Read site, was quite detailed. It tells of her tomboy childhood (and friendship with Truman Capote), introduction to literature, attempts to "fit in" in college, and eventually her departure for New York City. One gets the impression that she is a unique character, one who never quite meets others' expectations, nor really cares much to try. It is tempting to place our own expectations on such an enigmatic figure, but that isn't quite fair either.

She is a private person, who strives to remain private, even in the face of outlandish attempts to corner her into giving an interview. But even when she is telling you to take a flying leap, she is cordial and smiling. A true Southern woman, I suppose.

Certainly a true Self-Rescuing Princess!

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Dolley Madison - Self-Rescuing Princess of the Week

I was stuck on who to feature in today's blog. I wanted to find a SRP from the Civil War, but my brief research showed me that I would need to do some more extensive research. Although there are plenty of stories of women serving as nurses and spies, and even soldiers, on both sides of the conflict, the stories I was able to find online weren't in-depth enough for my liking.

When I found myself becoming far too frustrated (and hungry) to continue my research, I decided to stop and have lunch and catch up on my TiVo queue. And, lo and behold, my TiVo saved me, because it still had last week's American Experience's documentary about Dolley Madison for me to watch.



Before watching this documentary, my only real knowledge about Dolley Madison is that she was beloved by the public at the time she was First Lady, she served ice cream, and she saved the portrait of George Washington when the British attacked the White House. I didn't know how she become Mrs. Madison, what she did to become so beloved (I guess I assumed it was for her charm and beauty), or what happened to her after the fire.

Now I do know all those fact, and more. And I firmly believe she deserves a place among the ranks of Self-Rescuing Princesses.

Did you know she was a Quaker? She was raised in a Quaker family in rural Virginia, who freed their slaves in response to the degree given by their religious leaders, and moved to Philadelphia to start over.

Did you know that she had already been married before she met James Madison? Yes, she married a man her father knew, and had two sons. During a Yellow Fever outbreak in Philadelphia, both her husband and youngest son died, and she was very ill.

Did you know that James Madison was already very famous and in his 40s when he saw her, and was smitten. It is not clear that she married him because she loved him or because he was famous. Or, more likely, a combination of both.

Did you know that when she traveled to Washington, D.C., with her husband, who had been named the Secretary of State for President Jefferson, the nation's capital was effectively a rural city built on a swamp. As compared to national capitals of Europe, it was a shocking wilderness.

Did you know that Thomas Jefferson, in his attempt to establish a different etiquette from the monarchies in Europe, went so far as to alienate most international diplomats? Seeing this, Dolley Madison, became a kind of behind-the-scenes social diplomat, smoothing matters between different parties.

Did you know that it is likely through her efforts that her husband was elected president. Through her behind-the-scenes diplomacy, she had developed a rather extensive network of friends and political allies, which she then lobbied for her husband's campaign.

Did you know that when she was attacked by Federalist politicians, she laughed off the terrible things they suggested about her. In one case, after a lengthy diatribe, she responded with, "It was as good as a play!" How's that for a response to a troll? I think I may add that to my repertoire.

Did you know she was the one to set the role for the future First Ladies for the next 200 years? She made herself the public face of her husband's administration. She considered her role as First Lady as a full time job. She wrote to women around the country, asking them for recipes to use in the White House. Her fashion sense was copied by women around the country. Everything she did was to further her husband's agenda. In fact, it was her idea to open the inaugural ball to the public -- anyone who could afford the ticket could enter.

Did you know that she was instrumental in helping calm the ferocious nature of politics of the time? When she was in the White House, the republic was precariously close to failure. Federalist and Republicans were in constant battle, figuratively and literally. Duals were so common that there was a park that was regularly used by Representatives. Boy, and you thought modern politics was brutal! She was the first to open up the White House for informal parties that brought together the different politicians, and even the public, to help them socialize and create relationships across the aisles.

Did you know she was the first to decorate the White House? Previously, President Jefferson had brought his own furniture to Washington, D.C. Dolley decided that it was an important statement about the future of the nation that the White House have its own decor, designed with an eye to the future. She commissioned appointments and furniture that was specifically made in America, and of a design style that was distinctly American.

Did you know that after the British burned Washington, D.C., it was likely her efforts to lobby to keep the national capital there, rather than move it back to Philadelphia, as so many were suggesting.

Did you know that when she died in 1849, she was afforded a state funeral? The entire government stopped for her funeral, which was attended by the president and his cabinet, diplomats, members of the senate and congress, and thousands of citizens turned out to honor her legacy.

Sure, she had more than her fair share of hardships. Her father lost his fortunes and suffered from alcoholism. Her son failed her, squandered what little income she had later in life, and broke her heart repeatedly. And although she often mentioned her desire to free her slaves, she never did. Instead, she had to sell them off, one by one, to pay her debts. It wasn't until near the end of her life that she was able to stand up to her son, and demand better behavior from him.

But what Self-Rescuing Princess doesn't have challenges? The fact that she was able to overcome her father's failure and her first husband's death, to rise to such a high level in the national esteem is truly inspirational.

"There is a secret in life, better than anything a fortune teller can reveal: We all have a great hand in the forming of our own destiny." - Dolley Madison

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