Nature…by Elizabeth Cady Stanton

“Nature never repeats herself, and the possibilities of one human soul will never be found in another.”-Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Short bio:
Widely credited as one of the founding geniuses of the women’s rights movement, Elizabeth Cady Stanton used her brilliance, insightfulness, and eloquence to advocate for many important issues. In addition to being one of the first women’s rights activists, she was also a dedicated abolitionist, and advocated in favor of temperance.

Check out the whole story at: http://www.greatwomen.org/women-of-the-hall/search-the-hall/details/2/148-Stanton

Energetically, Diane Tegarden

Origins of Mother’s Day

Dear Wordmeisters,
According to the www.care2.com website:

Mother’s Day celebrations date back at least as far as ancient Greece, where worshipers observed a spring day in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the gods.

In 17th century England, Christians celebrated “Mothering Sunday,” the fourth Sunday in Lent, to honor the Virgin Mary and other faithful Moms.

The first Mother’s Day celebrations in the USA took place in West Virginia in 1908, at the urging of Ana Jarvis. Ana’s own mother had passed away several years earlier, and it had been her dream to reunite families divided by the Civil War with a day dedicated to Mothers.

The idea quickly caught on, and in 1914 Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday of May to be the official Mother’s Day.

To put it simply, Moms are the BEST!

Huge hugs,
Diane T. and furfamily

We can break the two party system, Vote GREEN!

Did you know that there are 133 Green officeholders as of Thursday, May 10, 2012?

For more information on truly alternative choices for political office visit The Green Party at: http://www.gp.org/index.php

There are two women and a Native American man running for President in 2012, so if you want to support the environment and help break the two party system, consider voting GREEN!

Energetically, Diane Tegarden

31 Days of Notable Women-Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, famous first, poet

Corinne Roosevelt Robinson was born on September 27, 1861 in New York City, the fourth and youngest child of Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt.

She began writing at an early age, through the encouragement of her friends, in particular Edith Wharton who helped critique her poetry. In 1911, she published her first poem, “The Call of Brotherhood”, in Scribner’s Magazine. Her first book of poems of the same title was published in 1912. This volume was quickly followed by One Woman to Another and Other Poems (1914) dedicated to her daughter, also named Corinne, commemorating the loss of Robinson’s brother Elliott and son, Stewart. Other volumes of poetry by Robinson include Service and Sacrifice (1919) dedicated to her brother Theodore Roosevelt, The Poems of Corinne Roosevelt Robinson (1924), and Out of Nymph (1930) dedicated to Charles Scribner. She also wrote the prose memoir My Brother Theodore Roosevelt (1924). In 1920, Robinson became the first woman ever to address a nomination convention speaking before a crowd of 14,000.

 Bio from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinne_Roosevelt_Robinson

31 Days of Notable Women- meet Yemeni’s “Iron Woman”

Tawakel Abdel-Salam Karman (born 7 February 1979) became the international public face of the 2011 Yemeni uprising that is part of the Arab Spring uprisings. She has been called by Yemenis the “Iron Woman” and “Mother of the Revolution.”. She is a co-recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first Yemeni, the first Arab woman, and the second Muslim woman to win a Nobel Prize and the youngest Nobel Peace Laureate to date.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawakkul_Karman

31 Days of Notable Women- Maude MacBride, Irish Freedom Fighter

Maude Gonne MacBride  (1865-1953) was an Irish Nationalist, I.R.A. leader and actress. She was born of an Irish father and English mother, in Aldershot, England. Her mother died in 1871 and she was educated in France and in 1882 moved to Dublin when her father was posted there. Her father died in 1886 leaving her independently wealthy. She developed tuberculosis and moved back to France to recover where she met Lucien Millevoye, editor of “La Patrie”. They agreed to work for Irish and French nationalist causes. They had two children. After a couple of years she returned to Ireland where she aided people in County Donegal who were the victims of mass evictions. Her work was so successful she had to go back to France to avoid arrest.

She co-founded Inghinidhe na hEireann (Daughters of Erin), a revolutionary woman society.

Source cited: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irelandlist/1916.html

31 Days of Notable Women- Ellen Sirleaf, first African female head of state

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born 29 October 1938) is the 24th and current President of Liberia. She served as Minister of Finance under President William Tolbert from 1979 until the 1980 coup d’état, after which she left Liberia and held senior positions at various financial institutions. She placed a very distant second in the 1997 presidential election. Later, she was elected President in the 2005 presidential election and took office on 16 January 2006. She successfully ran for re-election in 2011. Sirleaf is the first and currently the only elected female head of state in Africa.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Johnson_Sirleaf

31 Days of Notable Women- Dorothy Thompson, war correspondent

Dorothy Thompson was born in Lancaster, New York, in 1894. While studying at Syracuse University she became a suffragist and was involved in the campaign to obtain the vote for women. After the First World War Thompson went to Europe to become a freelance writer. After working for the Philadelphia Public Ledger the New York Post appointed her head of its Berlin bureau in Germany.

In 1928 Thompson married novelist Sinclair Lewis. After interviewing Adolf Hitler in 1931 she wrote about the dangers of him winning power in Germany. A strong opponent of Hitler and his government, in 1934 Thompson became the first American correspondent to be expelled from Nazi Germany.

Source: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAthompsonD.htm

31 Days of Notable Women- Frances Perkins, first woman to serve on a presidential cabinet

Fannie Coralie Perkins was born in Boston in 1880 and quickly realized that her life would be based around helping others. Perkins, who later changed her name to Frances, worked with Jane Addams at the Hull House in Chicago and later worked for the Tammany Hall political machine and then-governor of New York, Al Smith.

However, it was a coincidental incident that made Perkins become so passionate about workplace reform. In 1910, Perkins was eating lunch in Greenwich Village when she heard the alarm bells at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. From this moment on, Perkins dedicated her life to reforming workplace conditions.

In 1933, FDR appointed Perkins to Secretary of Labor, making her the first female to serve in a presidential cabinet. Although Downey pointed out that this achievement was monumental, she insisted that Perkins is still “one of the least-known, most important social progressives in history.”

Perkins continued to rise in fame, as she was involved in an enormous expansion of government and regulations as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal. She championed the establishment of a minimum wage and a social security program for all workers.

Source cited: http://cornellsun.com/print/35946

31 Days of Notable Women- Isabella Crawford, an Irish Canadian poet

It’s Irish Heritage Month as well as Women’s History Month, so what better time to introduce you to an Irish Canadian woman who is not only a favored poet but a famous first in Irish literature.

Isabella Valancy Crawford (25 December 1850 – 12 February 1887) was a Canadian writer and poet. She was one of the first Canadians to make a living as a freelance writer.

“Crawford is increasingly being viewed as Canada’s first major poet.” She is the author of “Malcolm’s Katie,” a poem that has achieved “a central place in the canon of nineteenth-century Canadian poetry.”

Source cited: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Valancy_Crawford