The Influence of One Woman If you ask readers to name two successful African American women writers you will probably hear Alice Walker and Toni Morrison in reply. But if you go back another generation the reply, if the respondent is savvy in history and literature, has to be Zora Neale Hurston. But she was […]
Iconic W: Can White Women Be Woke?
I had written quite a bit, about Wonder Woman for the W post, but like some earlier entries, I held off on publication, and am glad I did. I still adore the concept of a wonder woman, not to be confused with a superwoman, but a concept I love even more is the concept of […]
Iconic V: Women Are Not Weaker Vessels
I knew from the first thought of doing the challenge this year that I wanted to do the word vessel for the letter V. Women being thought of as vessels is a problematic, but common concept. I suspect it is one of the most harmful iconic visualizations of women in the world. I do not […]
Iconic U: Umiaq, Ursula, and Ubiquity
I had the best of plans for the letter U. I had decided early on that the perfect word for the letter U in this years’s challenge was the word Umiaq, which would give me opportunity to talk about gendered toolkits and tools, not pink hand drills, but real distinct tools that are women’s boats […]
Iconic S: The Sabine Women
This story that is told about Rome’s founding, formulation, and populating, and has bothered me for a long time. The story is usually called The Rape of the Sabine Women. Current attempts to make the story title less horrific has it being called The Abduction of the Sabine Women. It seems that every painter from the […]
Iconic R: Aretha's R-E-S-P-E-C-T
I created this image last year to pay homage to the 50th anniversary of the recording of the song, Respect, by Aretha Franklin on Valentines Day. Otis Redding wrote the song, but Respect as Aretha interpreted it, became an anthem for women and the downtrodden. Was it the song or the woman, or both that made […]