Coaches and publishers write prompts to motivate writers to spin off creations based on the prompt or ideas generated by it.
Not all writers, not even all online writers, are bloggers. People also write, podcast, and create video streams for posterity, as journals, and as subject reference articles. So, these monthly prompts are published to help writers and creators of all sorts. In keeping with the mission of this site we hope to encourage individuals to use online journals to understand their own lives, and live life fully, while sharing wisdom accumulated through time.
This begins the second year for the Women’s Legacy Project to post monthly prompts intended to help chroniclers of all sorts consider events, topics, and people related to the month with 30 to 50 handcrafted prompts.
Inspirational Women of January
Zora Neale Hurston born on January 7, 1891 (died 1960) was an author and anthropologist who was a pioneer of African-American and African-Carribbean folklore, and a student of Franz Boaz, thus making her an academic sister of Margaret Mead. Her best known work is Their Eyes Were Watching God. Alice Walker championed a rediscovery and reinterpretation of Hurston’s groundbreaking work and rule-bending behavior in the 1970s and 80s. Transcendent work such as Hurston’s has an ubiquitous influence that can be unappreciated or unattributed as it is mistakenly thought to be a cultural shift rather than a shift sparked by individual innovation.
Joan Baez, folk singer and songwriter, was born in January, on the 9th in 1941 supports human and civil rights, is a peace activist, and is a founder of the Humanitas International Human Rights Committee (1979). A seminal force in the early 1960s folk music scene on both coasts, she and Bob Dylan often performed together including at the March on Washington. She continues to perform in support of causes in which she believes.
Merija Gimbutas was born on January 23rd 1921 who passed away in 1994 was author, emigrated to Boston, began with Lithuanian beliefs and rituals, folklore, and ancient practices, wrote The Prehistory of Modern Europe (1956) and The Civilization of the Goddess (1994). She was instrumental in laying a foundation for the idea of matriarchy in prehistory, a contested view, but should be appreciated for her recognition of the goddess influence in early old world culture and myth. Her influence on feminist thought was ground-breaking and shifted inquiry in the field.
Mary Lou Retton, first and only American woman to win a gold medal in the All-Around in gymnastics at the Olympics (1984) and first American woman to win a gold medal in gymnastics, and first woman featured on a Wheaties cereal box was born on January 24, 1968.
50 Years Ago in Music
one huge prompt with nested prompts & contextual prompts
The top Billboard single for January 1967 was I’M A BELIEVER by the Monkees.
Some of BillBoard (USA) Magazine’s top singles for January 1967:
I’M A BELIEVER –•– The Monkees (Colgems)
SNOOPY VS. THE RED BARON –•– The Royal Guardsmen (Laurie)
GOOD THING –•– Paul Revere and the Raiders Featuring Mark Lindsay (Columbia)
WORDS OF LOVE –•– The Mamas and the Papas (Dunhill)
GEORGY GIRL –•– The Seekers (Capitol)-8
NASHVILLE CATS –•– The Lovin’ Spoonful (Kama Sutra)
WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL –•– The New Vaudeville Band (Fontana)
KIND OF A DRAG –•– The Buckinghams (U.S.A.)
COLOR MY WORLD –•– Petula Clark (Warner Brothers)
THAT’S LIFE –•– Frank Sinatra (Reprise)
KNIGHT IN RUSTY ARMOUR –•– Peter and Gordon (Capitol)
DEVIL WITH A BLUE DRESS ON AND GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY (Medley) –•– Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels (New Voice)
TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS –•– Otis Redding (Volt)
MELLOW YELLOW –•– Donovan (Epic)
(I’m Not Your) STEPPIN’ STONE –•– The Monkees (Colgems)
GALLANT MEN –•– Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen (Capitol)
WILD THING –•– Senator Bobby (Parkway)
GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME –•– Tom Jones (Parrot)
MUSIC TO WATCH GIRLS BY –•– The Bob Crewe Generation (DynoVoice)
Context
Linda Ronstadt’s first official recording on The Stone Poneys was released at the end of January 1967. This heralded a significant step in folk evolving into folk rock. As can be seen in the above pop filled list, on air music was not reflecting the changes happening in the world of music.
The Mantra-Rock Dance, the so-called “ultimate high” of the hippie era, was an event that took place The Avalon ballroom in San Francisco, featuring Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Moby Grape, beat poet Allen Ginsberg and A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada on January 29, 1967 as a fundraiser for the “Hare Krishnas,” the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
This event marked a melding of east and west, beat and world music, spoken word, western music and spirituality in ways that still reverberate through our culture today. What an emblematic start to the year of the Summer of Love?
Upon A Winter’s Day
10 prompts associated with January/Winter
What comes to mind when you think of:
- Inauguration
- Winter Break
- Three Kings Day
- MLK Day
- New Years Day
- Resolutions
- 12th Night
- Janus God of Gateways
- Wulfmonuth
- Hot Toddy
Icons, Emblems and Events
January fun facts
- Gemstone: Garnet – Garnet, the birthstone for January, signifies eternal friendship and trust. The word garnet is derived from a word that means seed, at the stone resembles a pomegranate seed. is the name of a group of minerals that comes in various colors all the way from the deep red to vivid green.
- Flower(s): Carnations or snowdrops
Snowdrops in the snow
in various colors of red, pink and white are the flowers associated with the month, and connote affection, deep love, distinction, happiness, fascination, and fidelity. - Astrological sun signs shift from Capricorn to Aquarius on January 20th.
January in U.S. History
- January 22, 1973: Supreme Court decision in Roe vs. Wade insures a woman’s right to abort a pregnancy.
- January 27, 1967: Tragedy strikes the U.S. space program as a deadly fire in the command module kills Apollo astronauts Lt. Col. Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Lt. Col. Edward H. White, and Lt. Cdr. Roger Chafee .
- January 28, 1986: U.S. space shuttle Challenger explodes one minute and 12 seconds after liftoff, killing the seven crew members. Among the crew was school teacher Christa McAuliffe.
At least 50 ideas you can use as prompts are listed or embedded above. If you find these to be useful, please let me know (tweet @nerthus) or let me know on the WLP’s FB Page. If you use these prompts online, please link back to this article!