St. Patrick's Day deferred...
2021.03.18
Song of the day:
Video of the day:
Women’s History Month
On March 17 in…
1910, Camp Fire Girls is established as the first interracial, non-sectarian American organization for girls.
1917, Loretta Perfectus Walsh became the first woman to join the navy and the first woman to officially join the military in a role other than a nurse.
1956, Irène Joliot-Curie died. She was the daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie and became an eminent chemist in her own right. In 1935, along with her husband Frédéric Joliot-Curie she received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the discovery of artificial radioactivity.
2000, Julia Roberts becomes the first female actor to earn $20 million for a single film in Erin Brockovich.
On March 18 in…
1933, Unita Blackwell, an American civil rights activist and the first black woman mayor elected in Mississippi, was born in Lula, Mississippi.
1964, Bonnie Blair, a speed skater, and five time Olympic gold medalist, was born.
1970, Dana Elaine Owens (known professionally by her stage name Queen Latifah) was born. She is an American rapper, songwriter, singer, actress, and producer and has long been considered one of hip-hop's pioneer feminists.
What I would have posted yesterday…
Ah, St. Patrick’s Day…the day for the Irish. And everyone else because why not?
I’ve always known I had some Irish in me (7% per Ancestry DNA). I was named after my great grandmother, Carrie Estelle O’Rear, who happened to be born on St. Patrick’s Eve (e.g. March 16). It could be a thing. As my mom said, she was a true daughter of St. Patrick. She was born in 1898 and got married at the age of 15 - can you imagine?! But that was normal back then. She had four children, one of whom died at two weeks of age. The remaining children were my two great uncles, Harlan and Joe, and my grandmother, Wilma. We called my great grandmother Mama (Maw-Maw), and while I only got a few short years with her - I was 10 or 11 when she died - my mom considers her a great influence on her life. I suppose, therefore, she’s been a great influence on mine as well.
There are a lot of stories my mom could tell, and maybe I’ll have her do a guest blog post at some point, but a few things I remember…eating sugar cookie dough that had been rolled and wrapped in wax paper then stored in the deep freeze; the way she made me “round potatoes”, which are basically French fries in a flat round shape. My mom and I both make our fries the way she did. I remember the time she came to Wyoming and we went to the mountains and found snow. I’m not sure she’d ever seen it before that day.
It’s pretty cool to know your great grandmother. I’m well aware that not everyone gets that chance. And I got to know two of mine, plus a great grandfather. I cherish the short time I had with them.
We found time for a little St. Patrick’s Day fun at work, and while my heart is still heavy from the attack in Atlanta, I definitely needed the joy.
It definitely wouldn’t be St. Patrick’s Day without some Irish prose…please enjoy these words from the great Irish poet, Seamus Heaney.
The Railway Children
We were small and thought we knew nothing
Worth knowing. We thought words travelled the wires
In the shiny pouches of raindrops,
Each one seeded full with the light
Of the sky, the gleam of the lines, and ourselves
So infinitesimally scaled
We could stream through the eye of a needle.
It's always a good day to quote Seamus Heaney! Your staff looked very festive yesterday!