"It's definitely the 'A' list, and I wouldn't ever associate J.K. Rowling with the people on that list," says senior Andy Vaz. "From the moment we walk through the gates of Harvard Yard, they constantly emphasize that we are the leaders of tomorrow. They should have picked a leader to speak at commencement. Not a children's writer. What does that say to the class of 2008? Are we the joke class?"
Sure, makes sense. Except for the fact that J.K. Rowling, a former single mother who didn't have the privilege of a Harvard education, used little more than her own wits to build a media empire and can now buy and sell your 22-year-old ass ten times over because she's one of the richest women in the world. Maybe you don't feel you can look to her as a leader. But surprise - the world has more types of people in it than male Harvard grads. To less-privileged women in particular, Rowling's example is a powerful one, and the fact she was invited to give Harvard's commencement speech sends a message beyond campus boundaries - it says that women like her can not only be honored, but their opinions can be listened to. Dismissing her accomplishments, and claiming that being addressed by her is beneath you, is showing a profound and embarrassing ignorance about the realities of modern life and society.
Fifty years ago three English housewives set off on a remarkable adventure. Anne Davies, 35, Eve Sims, 25, and Antonia Deacock, 26, who had no previous experience of overland expeditions, embarked on a journey everyone said could not be done by women: a 16,000-mile drive to India and back, and a 300-mile trek on foot into Zanskar, the remote Tibetan Buddhist kingdom.
She's become a bit of a campy icon, but, seriously, she portrayed one of the first vocal feminists on television as Maude (Dorothy Zbornak wasn't any slouch in that department, either), and deserves all the credit for that she can get.
I have occasionally shared with people my strategy of appearing nice and pliable, because it's so much easier to get away with things. If they don't see it coming, they can't stop it, you know? Apparently, Marjane Satrapi ascribes to a similar philosophy:
"It is better not to look like what you are; it is better to look like a bourgeois woman because then all the doors are open for you and then you can just go and make hell. That is much more exciting."
Wow, if there ever were a piece to be featured here on my blog, this one from io9 is it: Bio-Art Is Not a Crime, an interview with director Lynn Hershman Leeson about her new film, Strange Culture, her old films (all with heavy doses of technology and art exploration), the role of women in technological innovation, and the challenges of female filmmakers. It's all my favorite discussion topics rolled up into one.
I have yet to become familiar with much of her work: Lynn's first film, 1997's Conceiving Ada, has been on my list to see for a long time, but tracking down a copy wasn't easy (finally have it in my GreenCine queue). But it's a scientific time-travel story involving Ada Lovelace (Lord Byron's daughter, and the first computer programmer) and actress Tilda Swinton, so I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy it. Time to bump it up in the queue, I think.
Florence Foster Jenkins, who lived in the early part of the Twentieth century, wanted nothing more than to become a singer. No matter that her voice was, to put it mildly, weak. She used the fortune she came into halfway through her life to fund a series of concerts. The comedic value of her shows proved so great that by the time she gave her final performance, she sold out Carnegie Hall.
Moral of the story? In her own words: "They can say that I couldn’t sing, but they can never say that I didn’t sing!
The movie re-imagining of the classic Nancy Drew was pretty lackluster here in the States, but is now seeing its release over in Britain. Diane Shipley, on the Guardian Film blog, has a few things to say about it and its cinematic themes:
So why has Hollywood stripped Miss Drew of her healthy self-esteem? I believe this points to one of Tinseltown's biggest blind spots: single women. Single women on film, especially if they are young, must always be a bit sad - unsure of their own worth and looking to a man for validation.
I haven't seen the new Nancy Drew movie, but I was unimpressed with the previews and reviews. And I'm completely disheartened to think the movie sapped the character of all the poise and confidence I loved her for in the first place.
What makes it even worse is that Shipley is absolutely correct when it comes to Hollywood trends - you don't see women like that on movie screen often. Nancy Drew would have been the perfect opportunity to put one up there. Now, it appears, we'll still have to wait.
I've encountered this magazine before, but since it's very much targeted to male geeks, I'll admit it didn't really grab my interest. I like that they covered Tina Fey, though, in an apparently quite classy way.
Via GeekSugar (which is targeted to super-girly geeks - I guess a happy medium is hard to find), I also found a clip of Tina discussing the magazine and her own geekiness on Conan:
One of the top stories on Digg the other day was Google search results: "'She invented' ... did you mean 'He invented?'" It was the result of an argument between a boyfriend and girlfriend about how women had not invented anything significant, and it would appear that Google is on the boyfriend's side. But the internet itself says otherwise. So I took the opportunity to write an article about exactly what she has invented.
Grace Hopper: You may refer to her as "Admiral." She developed the very first compiler for computer programming languages, and was a recognized pioneer in the computing field, with extensive military accomplishments. More here, and here.
Ida Henrietta Hyde: She invented the microelectrode, which "electrically (or chemically) stimulates a living cell and records the electrical activity within that cell" (source). More here.
Isabella Karle: She developed new methods of x-ray crystallography, using electron diffraction and then x-ray diffraction to study molecule structure. More here.
Stephanie Kwolek: She invented Kevlar, which has been used in a range of products from bicycles to body armor. More here.
Rosalyn Sussman Yalow: She was one of two scientists who created the radioimmunoassay (RIA) technique, which helps detect diseases such as diabetes. More here.
Mary Anderson: She invented the windshield wiper. Not as glamorous, perhaps, but I bet you'd have a hard time without it. More here.
Hedy Lamarr: The classic Hollywood actress who also co-created a significant method of frequency hopping, an early form of spread-spectrum technology, which is the basis for much of modern wireless communication. More here.
The movie re-imagining of the classic Nancy Drew was pretty lackluster here in the States, but is now seeing its release over in Britain. Diane Shipley, on the Guardian Film blog, 
One of the top stories on Digg the other day was