Wordless Wednesday

Queen Meme Tuesday

1. Which historical figure do you admire the most? Why? Margaret Sanger is my historical hero. She was instrumental in giving women the right to have/use/own any birth control method they needed to use. She did whatever she could to empower women during her time, even if she did end up in jail, a few times, for it. She'd seen her own mother get worn out, and eventually die, from birthing too many children, and she stepped forward and did something about it!


2. Name the band or artist you'd like to see live in concert before you leave the planet or tell us about a concert or album that has already rocked your world. I want to go see Springsteen. He's been a favorite of mine for a long time

3. What's your favorite television show or series of all time?
Why should I care? MASH has to be one of my all time favorites. And, you should care because if you ever need a good laugh, this is the show that will give it to you.

4. Movies! I am so behind on the movie scene. What should I watch this weekend? Should I watch it alone or with someone? Julie, and Julia. Its good whether you do, or don't have someone with you. Everyone I know has enjoyed this movie

5. You are hopping on a plane tomorrow morning. Where did you choose to go and why?Anyplace warm, because I could use the vitamin D!

6. Who is your favorite author? What about their writing inspires you or simply entertains you? Recommend at least one book that you feel I must read. Diana Gabaldon is my favorite author, read the entire Outlander Series. Go ahead... I'll wait...

She's quirky, she is true to her characters, and she never fails to surprise me

7. Hobbies and passions. What brings you joy in your spare time? How did you get into it? I started knitting, especially to make a blanket for my Grandmother. Now, it relaxes me, and helps to settle my brain...

For more fun, go here

A new one...

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
2. List who gave the award to you and use a link to her blog (or hyperlink).
3. List 10 things that make you happy.
4. Pass the award on to other bloggers and visit their blog to let them know!

A new found bloggy friend gave me this award, Allie, who can be found here

As far as passing it along, well, ALL of you are favorites of mine. so ALL of you should take it if you want to play with it.

I will be more specific on the ten things that make me happy, though...

1. My family. I love living here with MM and MG, it makes me very happy

2. Our home. The land it sits on, the stuff on the walls, its perfect for us, we all love it here

3. being warm. Especially in this weather. Sitting here cozy, looking out the window at the snow that I don't have to go out in, today, that makes me happy

4. Home made Kahlua makes me happy

5. Knitting makes me happy

6. So does a good book

7. The fish make me happy, and relaxed (sigh, the other pets do, too, but sometimes, they raise my BP A LOT!)

8. Of course my Jeep makes me happy

9. sleep. makes me very happy

10. Life. right now it makes me happy...

Friday Mieography

Wilma Pearl Mankiller was born in Talequah, Oklahoma, the sixth of eleven children. Her father was Charley Mankiller, a full blooded Cherokee, and Clara Sitton, who was not. (full blooded Cherokee).

Her last name, Mankiller, is a traditional Cherokee military rank, and is "Asgaya-dihi" in Cherokee.

Charley had an allotment of lands, "Mankiller Flats", near Rocky Mountain, Oklahoma. However, the Army, in 1942, took over 45 allotments, in order to expand Camp Gruber. The Mankillers willingly left, under the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Indian Relocation Program. They were moved to San Francisco. They eventually found their way to Daly City.

Ar 17, Wilma married an Ecuadorian college student, Hector Olaya de Bardi. They moved to Oakland, where they had two children, Felecia and Gina.Wilma was going to school, first at Skyline College, and then San Francisco State. She was very involved in the San Francisco Indian Center. In the late 1960's, she joined an activist movement, and participated in the Occupation of Alcatraz Island. She also volunteered for the Pit River Tribe.

In 1977, she divorced Hugo, and moved back to Oklahoma with her two young daughters, wanting to help her own people. She had an entry level job for the Cherokee Nation. By 1983, she was the elected deputy chief. By 1985, she was the first female principal chief. She was elected twice more, before she decided to not run further, largely related to health reasons.

During her time as chief of the Cherokee nation, many problems arose related to her gender. The Cherokee nation was a very male dominated structure. This actually contrasts with traditional Cherokee cultures, where gender equality was emphasized. Wilma took great strides in re-instituting that quality of the Cherokee Nation. She got the men and the women of the nation to work collectively for the common good of the people. She promoted Self Help programs, with projects that included tribally owned businesses, and improving the Cherokee Infrastructure, like providing running water to the communities, and building a hydroelectric facility. She also improved federal-tribal relations. The Cherokee Nation citizens went from 55,000 to 156,000 while she was in office.

Wilma married Charlie Lee Soap, a full-blooded Cherokee traditionalist, whom she had met during her work with the nation. She also won many awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, induction into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame, and the National Womens Hall of Fame. She also wrote two books, her first, "Mankiller: A Chief and Her Nation" became a national best seller. She then co-authored a book called "Every Day is a Good Day: Reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women". She went on to author, or co-author 4 more books, including a cookbook of traditional Cherokee recipes.

Wordless Wednesday

Bonus Mieography

This is a repeat from last year. I'll probably repeat it again next year. Because she's just that good. And today is her day, too.

Coretta Scott was born in 1927, in Heiberger, Alabama. (near Marion). She was raised on a farm there that had belonged to her family since the civil war. During the depression, she, and her brother and sister picked cotton to help earn money for the family. She walked five miles a day to attend school in a one room school house, and, eventually, when she was ready for highschool, her mother, Bernice, hired a bus, and drove all the black students nine miles to Marion so they could go to school. While in highschool, she learned to play the trumpet, and piano, and was often the soloist singing at school recitals. She graduated at the top of her class, and continued onto college, in Ohio, where her sister was already attending.(her sister was the first black student to live on campus, actually.)In college, she chose a music and education major. She was a very active student, and also took part in the work-study program, was a camp counsellor, library assistant, AND a nursery school attendant. The color of her skin did not stop her from doing any of these things, until she tried to student teach. The local schools had no black teachers, and would not accept her. She ended up doing her teaching in a "demonstration school".Also at college, she took up another instrument, the violin, and continued singing and playing the piano. When she graduated, she decided she would become a professional singer, rather than a school teacher, and had been accepted by the New England Conservatory of Music, in Boston, with a scholarship. The scholarship only covered her tuition, however, and to pay for her bed and breakfast, she resorted to cleaning the stairwells of the house she lived in. Her dinner was usually peanut butter, and crackers. Her second year in Boston, the state of Alabama gave her some state aid, but she still had to watch every penny.It was while she was studying at the conservatory that she met Martin. He was a student in the Boston area, as well. They married in 1953. After she graduated from the conservatory, they went back to Alabama (Montgomery), and Martin began to work as a minister.Being that her husband was devoted to civil rights, she knew her life would be far from quiet. They had their first child 2 weeks before the the beginning of the Montgomery bus boycott. Less than a year into that boycott, their house was bombed. They went on to have three more children, and in total had 2 boys, and 2 girls.During the next few years, Coretta became a partner in the full sense of the word in her husbands work. She was beside him during the marches, went with him when he traveled to speak, and gave speeches herself when he was unable to do so. She was a part of the WOman's Strike for Peace, she was a delegate at the Disarmament Conference, in Switzerland, and, still keeping up with her music, she gave frequent concerts to benefit the the civil rights movement.In 1968, her husband was assassinated. Just four days after he died, she led a march of 50,000 people through the streets of Memphis, Tn. Later that year, she took his place in the Poor People's March to Washington. She would carry on his work.She found her way to many places in the following years. India, where she accepted an award that had been granted to her husband, Italy, where she had a special audience with the Pope. She preached at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, and started some plans to open the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, in Atlanta, Georgia. The center is now so large, thanks to her fund-raising, that it covers 3 full blocks, and has a library and archive of the Civil rights movement located inside. The man who was convicted of killing her husband died in prison, still protesting his innocence until the end. Coretta was convinced that he did not act alone, and with her son, appealed to President Clinton and Janet Reno for an investigation of his assassination. She brought with her evidence of a conspiracy to kill her husband that she had amassed for years. The decision remained that James Earl Ray had acted alone, and had killed Martin. Not satisfied, the King family filed a wrongful death suit against a restaurant owner who said he was paid to plan the killing. In December of 1999, a Tennessee jury found that the assassination WAS the result of a conspiracy, and had NOT been accomplished by a single killer.Coretta continued on, speaking and traveling, and spreading the word of civil rights her entire life. In August of 2005, she suffered a stroke, and a mild heart attack, and she passed away January 30th, 2006, at 78 years old.On Monday, I will be sure to remember MLK, and the good works that he did. But I will also be remembering his wife. Who was right beside him.

Friday Mieography

Marin Alsop was born in NYC, daughter of two professional musician parents. Her father, LaMar, is a violinist and concertmaster of the NYC Ballet Orchestra, and her Mother, Ruth, is a cellist, with the same orchestra.

She began playing the piano at age 2, and the violin at age 5. By the time she was 7, she had entered the Juilliard pre-college. By 9 she knew she wanted to be a conductor. She was very precocious, and started high school at age 12, and by 16 she was ready for college.

She attended Yale University, but followed her heart, and transferred to the Juilliard School of Music, where she earned both a bachelor's and masters degree, in violin. While she was there she founded a string ensemble, "String Fever". (She continues to play with them today) She also one the Koussevitzky prize as an outstanding student conductor while she was studying at the Tanglewood Music Center. While there, she studied under such illuminaries as Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, and Gustav Meier.

Starting her career, she went to Santa Cruz, California, where she was the director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. This festival specializes in contemporary orchestral music. She then was the music director of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, with the initial title of the principal conductor. She is now the orchestra's conductor laureate. She has also been the music director of the Eugene Symphony in Eugene, Oregon, the associate conductor of the Richmond Symphony in Virginia, and she was the first conductor ever to receive the MacArthur Fellowship.

In July of 2005, she became the first woman to lead a major American Orchestra, by becoming the musical director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In 1998, she assumed the orchestra's directorship, becoming the 12th music director. Her appointment was controversal, because some of the orchestra members were opposed to the manner in which the management appointed her, without their input. She met with the orchestra, and overcame their reluctance. They have since extended her contract into 2015.

She has instituted many great things since becoming the musical director, including an after school program called "OrchKids", where the underprivileged children from Baltimore receive free music instruction.

She has also branched out into Europe, by guest conducting with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the City of London Sinfonia. Also in England, she became the principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony for 7 years. She has also conducted in Paris, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy.

She is the first woman to record the complete cycle of symphonies by Brahms (with the London Philharmonic), and she was the first woman conductor to have tackled a Mahler symphony with a major orchestra (also London Philharmonic).

She is also a regular guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.