Stealing Stephen Sondheim’s plant for the aesthetic. 1991.
Katharine Hepburn aka the best neighbor in the world.
Women have always been healers. They were the unlicensed doctors and anatomists of Western history. They were abortionists, nurses, and counselors. They were pharmacists, cultivating healing herbs and exchanging secrets of their uses. They were midwives, travelling from home to home and village to village. For centuries women were doctors without degrees, barred from books and lectures, learning from each other, and passing on experience from neighbor to neighbor and mother to daughter. They were called “wise women” by the people, witches or charlatans by the authorities. Medicine is part of our heritage as women, our history, our birthright.
Witches Midwives and Nurses: A History of Women Healers– Barbara Ehrenreich & Deirdre English (via northernmade)
Mary Sherman Morgan: America’s First Female Rocket Scientist (1921-2004)
During the Space Race, the US had a weight problem. It wanted to launch rockets into space, but their fuel just wasn’t efficient enough. Toss in enough fuel to lift the rest of the rocket, and you wouldn’t be able to lift all the heavy rocket fuel. With the Soviets having just launched Sputnik into space, what was the US to do?
Enter Mary Sherman Morgan.
She was an unlikely hero for the US Space program. She had no college education. She’d had a child out of wedlock (in the 40s!). But she was great at what she did – which was making explosives. Soon thereafter, she invented the rocket fuel Hydyne, which was instrumental in launching Explorer-1, a feat for which lead engineer Wehner von Braun got most of the credit.
Being overlooked was just fine with Morgan, though. She actively avoided the limelight at every opportunity. This combination of her overwhelming humility and the top-secret nature of her work resulted in no newspaper being able to verify the obituary her son submitted after her death. “My mother,” he said, “had done such a good job of erasing herself from existence by not allowing anybody to write about her… nobody could verify that she ever even existed.”
Since then, her son has worked tirelessly to build a legacy for her – writing a book and a stage play, trying to get as much information declassified as he possibly can. The rest, he puts out for independent verification.
Actually, the first person to ever have their name associated with an original written work was Enheduanna, a Sumerian princess and priestess born in 2285 BC.
In other words, the FIRST AUTHOR IN HUMAN HISTORY was a woman.
I love this because you have Elizabeth who couldn’t even defend herself in the first one to becoming this master sword fighter and leader of ALL pirates. You watch Will who was just this angsty little brat head over heels for Elizabeth become this grown man who faced all his demons.
and then there’s Jack
“Elizabeth who couldn’t even defend herself”
Do you mean…
Elizabeth who improvised a weapon when pirates invaded her bedroom
Elizabeth who could have run for the exits but instead went straight for the swords
Elizabeth who demanded to speak with a pirate captain and then used the leverage she had to get him to agree to her demands
Elizabeth who CAME AT BARBOSSA WITH A GODDAMN KNIFE and then fucking STABBED HIM when she couldn’t get away
Elizabeth who was trapped on a tiny island with nothing but crates of rum and a man she couldn’t stand and who used those supplies to summon a rescue party for herself
Elizabeth who made a rope out of sheets and climbed down the back of a ship to save the day herself when no one would listen to her about how dangerous the pirates were
Elizabeth who snuck onto the Black Pearl, knocked two cursed pirates straight off their ship, and rescued Jack’s entire crew
Elizabeth who rowed straight back into danger without any backup instead of running away with everyone else
Elizabeth who came to Will’s rescue with a blunt object and a one-liner
Elizabeth who proceeded to team up with Will to take down all the remaining pirates in the cave
Elizabeth who – without being asked or told what was going on – faked unconsciousness to create a distraction for Will’s rescue of Jack
Elizabeth who stepped in front of a ring of muskets, successfully protecting Jack and Will from being shot or captured
Elizabeth may have learned some impressive sword tricks in the later movies, but she was a Badass from day one.
In 1912, when Milunka Savic was 24, her brother was called up to serve in the first Balkan War. We’re not sure if Milunka took his place or just went along, but we do know that she assumed a male identity and became a highly decorated soldier in the Serbian army. She apparently kept her gender a secret through the First Balkan War and into the Second, when a Bulgarian grenade wounded her so severely that her gender was revealed to the field surgeons.
Savic was called before her commanding officer. They didn’t want to punish her, because she had proven a valuable and highly competent soldier. The military deployment that had resulted in her gender being revealed had been her tenth. But neither was it suitable for a young woman to be in combat. She was offered a transfer to the Nursing division. Savic stood at attention and insisted she only wanted to fight for her country as a combatant. The officer said he’d think it over and give her his answer the next day. Still standing at attention, Savic responded, “I will wait.”
It is said he only made her stand an hour before agreeing to send her back to the infantry. She fought for Serbia through World War I, receiving honors from several different governments for her distinguished service. Some believe her to be the most decorated female in the history of warfare. She was decommissioned in 1919 and fell into a life of relative obscurity and hardship. She died in Belgrade in 1973 at the age of 84.
Kimchi and Justice 