Between the 1920s and 1940s, hundreds of debutantes signed up to be horse-riding couriers for the Frontier Nursing Service, a network of nurse-midwives in the rural mountains of Kentucky. Smithsonian Magazine tells the story of what they did, and why. "They got to wear pants, they got to act independently,” historian Melanie Beals Goan explains, adding that couriers were “really clinging to this idea of a nostalgic, isolated place where traditional American values continue to survive. Part of [the couriers’] adventure is the idea that they’re escaping from [parental] authority, but also that they’re going to go back in time to this really quaint place.”
My friend Wallflower wore a dress to work today.
She doesn’t wear dresses…
like,
ever.
But she found a dress of hers she wore in her late teens early 20s, it survived the wash and it actually still fits. And she decided she wanted to wear it.
Yeah. Let that soak in y’all. Wallflower is a beast. A dress from 30yrs ago still fits her.
Earlier today, I asked her how it was going at work… you know, to ask what the reception was like of people seeing her in a dress. Her response was awesome. Something to the effect of “no one has said anything. I think they’re scared of me.”
That got me to thinking… what kind of energy is she giving off today compared to her already “get shit done” attitude she has at work. Like is it (n x 3) where n=her typical energy? You know is it like “don’t mess with me today cuz I am feelin’ this dress, these combat boots and I will cut you” type of energy.
So, yeah. To see a #woman feel more confident than normal and in a dress?… friggin’ awesome. So cool to see her just exude it, like confidence is flowing out of her pores and you can taste it in the air as she runway-walks past you. In doing so, confidence is spilling over onto the floor, even when she’s dropped some of her armor and is showing her softer side… when she shows a more feminine aspect of who she is. I wanna be like that!
sigh
So many of the women i’ve met here, cis and trans, are so damn strong. They are so bad ass, intelligent, articulate, funny, witty and yes… gorgeous as well. And if you’re wondering who those women are I’m talking about…
You. I’m talking about you. Yes, you, girlfriend who is reading this.
I feel really fortunate to have met these women and have then welcome me into the sorority of women. I guess this post is rather apropos as we near the end of #WomensHistoryMonth.
Y’all are so damn awesome.
Thanks for the lesson @Waitnwallflower
You’re a bad ass.
#WomensNonfiction 17.
The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II - by Svetlana Alexievich
Alexievich is a Nobel Laureate mostly known for "Voices from Chernobyl", but her other books are great too. In this one she interviewed hundreds of women who fought in WWII in the Soviet army, or as partisans.
This one a difficult read, with a lot of dark stories. But it is very much worth reading.
#WomensNonfiction 16.
Dorothy Parker: What fresh hell is this? - by Marion Meade
I really enjoyed the collection of Dorothy Parker's short stories, so I decided to read her biography. It was fascinating and often amusing, although in a slightly different way than I'd expected.
Dear Dorothy was a hot mess. In all the best and worst ways possible.
#OnThisDay, 27 Mar 1997, Pamela Gordon becomes the first woman to be Premier of Bermuda, after winning a party leadership election. Her party, the United Bermuda Party, was centre-right.
The United States Congress passed the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote in 1920. But 50 years before that, Louisa Ann Swain, a grandmother in Laramie, Wyoming, cast her ballot on the way to the bakery to buy yeast. The BBC explains who she was, how that happened, and why Swain wasn't actually the first female voter in the U.S.
#OnThisDay, 25 Mar 1941, the first WRNS arrive at Bletchley Park in the UK. They operate the Bombe machines used for decoding German Enigma machine messages. Their work helps shorten World War 2.
Mary of Egypt reportedly converted to Christianity during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. One of the earliest pilgrim accounts of Jerusalem is that left behind by a Roman woman named Egeria: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egeria_(pilgrim)
(I've gotten slow on my thread of women & #Christianity, so I may not get to modern times, but we'll see how much I can fit in this weekend.) #WomensHistoryMonth
14.5/?
Empress Eudoxia (d. 404) supported Nicene orthodoxy against rival theologies, collected relics to Constantinople, and joined an alliance against John Chrysostom, the patriarch of Constantinople, because of his rabid denunciations of feminine finery. Chrysostom absurdly compared her to Herodias and himself to John the Baptist, but he was deposed, reinstated, and deposed again. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aelia_Eudoxia
Melania the Younger was perhaps the wealthiest woman in the Roman Empire, and married to her almost equally wealthy cousin Pinianus. They decided (after some difficulties) to "give up the world" and spent years liquidating their vast estates, leaving Rome shortly before it was sacked in 410. They moved to Jerusalem and signed up for church alms (welfare), and Melania founded a community of nuns. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melania_the_Younger #WomensHistoryMonth
17/?
For concluding #WomensHistoryMonth we want to introduce to you another wonderful female #emdiplomacy scholar: Lisa Hellman who recently was inaugurated as professor of global history at Lund University: