Janet Denison Howell

Today Tuesday January 31, 2012 the Woman of the Day is Janet Denison Howell the Virginia State Senator representing the 32nd district in Fairfax County. She has proudly served the residents of the 32nd Senate District since 1992. Janet has used her position in the Senate to benefit the residents of Northern Virginia. She currently has several important responsibilities and is using them to champion change in Richmond.

She was born to Edward Fulton and Elsie (Lightbown) Denison. Her father was a prominent economist at the U. S. Department of Commerce and the Brookings Institution, and fellow Oberlin alumnus.
Mrs. Howell taught in the Philadelphia school district, 1968-1969, and was a legislative assistant in the Virginia State Senate from 1989 to 1991.

Janet was a community leader for more than 15 years prior to her election to the Senate. As a former PTA president and head of the Reston Council of PTAs, Janet worked hard to increase the quality of local schools and Virginia's fine colleges and universities. She was president of the Reston Community Association for three years, expanding the association's activities and accomplishments in land use, transportation and healthcare. She served five years on the State Board of Social Services, including a term as its chairman.

Janet has received numerous awards for her community service. She was named National Child Advocate of the Year by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Senator of the Year by Virginia Sheriffs Association, Distinguished Leadership Awardee by the Coalition for Mentally Disabled Citizens, Legislative Champion by the League of Conservation Voters, and Legislator of the Year by the Alzheimer's Association.

Called the "Technology Senator" because of her work in that area, Janet was presented the first Lifetime Achievement Award by the Northern Virginia Technology Council. She serves on the Joint Commission on Technology and Science.

She is the first woman to serve on the prestigious Senate Finance Committee. In this capacity she has focused on education, transportation, human services and public safety. She is a leader in streamlining and downsizing state government as well as instituting cost-reduction measures.

Janet's responsibilities on the Finance Committee have grown dramatically in recent years. She is one of six budget conferees who negotiate the final budget with House conferees. She is also chair of the Public Safety Subcommittee which oversees over $3 billion yearly in programs including State Police and local police, juvenile justice, prisons and jails. She is working with the McDonnell administration to reform prison re-entry programs so as to imrove public safety by reducing recidivism. She is also engaged in a multi-year effort to provide appropriate services for persons with mental illness who too often tragically end up in our jails and prisons.

Janet chairs the Virginia Crime Commisssion which reviews all matters dealing with crime and punishment. Over the years, she has been nationally recognized for reforming Virginia's domestic violence laws and establishing the Sex Offender Registry. Janet also was chief patron of the Omnibus Mental Health Law Reform Legislation.

As chairman of the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee, Janet's responsibilities include all election law and confirmation of gubernatorial appointments.

In addition to her chairmanships, Janet serves on the Education and Health Committee, Courts of Justice Committee, Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, and Joint Commission on Technology and Science.

Clearly, Janet takes seriously the trust the voters have placed in her. She works full-time to make state government responsible and responsive.

While she is obviously a very accomplished woman with a passion for service to her state and its constituents’ that is not why she is today’s Woman of the Day. She is the woman of the day because she did this:

To protest a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, Virginia State Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) on Monday attached an amendment that would require men to have a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before obtaining a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication.

"We need some gender equity here," she told HuffPost. "The Virginia senate is about to pass a bill that will require a woman to have totally unnecessary medical procedure at their cost and inconvenience. If we're going to do that to women, why not do that to men?"

The Republican-controlled senate narrowly rejected the amendment Monday by a vote of 21 to 19, but passed the mandatory ultrasound bill in a voice vote. A similar bill in Texas, which physicians say has caused a "bureaucratic nightmare," is currently being challenged in court.

Howell said she is not surprised her amendment failed.

"This is more of a message type of an amendment, so I was pleased to get 19 votes," she said.
She pointed out that there are only seven women in the Virginia senate, and six of them voted in favor of her amendment, along with 13 male senators. Sen. Jill Vogel (R-Fauquier County), the sponsor of the mandatory ultrasound bill, voted against it.

Keep on fighting for womens equality in these barbaric legislations Senator Howell! Kudos to you our AWU Woman of the Day!

Abbey Watson

Today’s Awesome Woman is Abbey Watson. At the recent Powerlifting Federation national competition in Oklahoma City, Abbey set 28 records, including 8 world records. What makes her truly impressive is that she is only 13 years old!

New powerlifting world-record holder is a 13-year-old girl from Coloradosports.yahoo.comLike many female power lifters, Abbey Watson can be misunderstood. Holding eight different world records for her relatively slight weight class -- 105.75 pounds -- not to mention 23 U.S. and Colorado state records. To achieve that success, Watson spends at least three very early mornings a week in t...

Rachel Maddow

Rachel Maddow, the wicked smart host of her own show on MSNBC is the picture of awesomeness. A relatively young (38) accomplished TV personality, she is also a Rhodes Scholar, who did her doctorate at Oxford University in Political Science. 

Rachel was born and grew up in the Bay area of California, and Graduated from Stanford University. She was the first openly gay American recipient of the Rhodes Scholarship. 

With all these achievements, she still comes across as a genuinely nice person. Her combination of humor and humility I think, are what makes her such a success.

Another thing that sets her apart from most of the political talk shows, is that she welcomes differing viewpoints, and when someone who disagrees comes on her show, she listens, treats them respectfully and has a real conversation. 

The biggest plus for her show, is she DOES HER HOMEWORK! When she covers a subject, she does so thoroughly, and educates her audience. She always asks the experts she invites, if she,” has it right”; I have never heard one correct her. She has had politicians and pundits call her names, accuse her of lying and even assert that she is running for office – she is not! To underscore her integrity, when she finds that she has made an error on her show, she comes on the air, broadcasts the error, and the correction and apologizes. 

Rachel does a great job of calling out those in power, and those in the media who are not doing their jobs. She pokes holes in puffery, and points out fallacies. Her interviews are interesting and thought provoking. Not to mention , she mixes a mean cocktail!

Barbara Marshall

Today Tuesday January 24, 2012 The WOD is US Navy Veteran Barbara Marshall. She is the founder of the Steps-N-Stages Jubilee House, which provides shelter, support and services to homeless female veterans. Barbara was featured in an episode of the show “Extreme Home Makeover” First Lady Michelle Obama lent a hand in the season nine premiere episode, which featured the Marshalls, a military family based in Fayetteville, NC. Hundreds gathered for the unveiling of the new Jubilee House.

Barbara Marshall, a 15-year Navy Veteran, is fighting to end homelessness among her fellow women veterans. She became passionately committed to her cause when she noticed that so many of our troops were living on the streets after risking their lives to protect their fellow Americans. Our women veterans were coming back from deployment and then finding themselves homeless, without jobs and in really tough situations. Barbara decided to take it upon herself to help these women and their children. This formidable woman established The Steps-N-Stages Jubilee House in Fayetteville using her own money. Jubilee House offers shelter, support and services such as mentoring and life coaching to homeless female veterans. Barbara's life is dedicated to these women... they are her mission, her family, her passion, by bringing them into the Steps and Stages Jubilee House she gives them a chance to get back on their feet.

Although it is a really amazing opportunity for these women, Barbara does not make it easy for them. They call her Drill Sergeant because they have three months to get their stuff together and focus on what needs to be done and then another family comes in and the entire process starts again. Steps and Stages Jubilee House is a transitional house. It is the first step of getting homeless women off the streets into the work force.

Unfortunately, Jubilee House needed additional space and resources. Barbara needed help so the team at Extreme Home Makeover stepped in to help her continue her very important work for our Nations Veterans. First Lady Michelle Obama arrived at the house in time to welcome the family back from the Disneyworld vacation the show sent them on. The Shows host, Ty Pennington showed her the desk he had been working on for Barbara. He asked the First Lady if she would write a personal note for a space on the desk. Mrs. Obama was happy to oblige. She also asked to know if he wanted her to hammer anything.

Here is a breakdown of what they did for Barbara Marshall and her Steps-N-Stages Jubilee House

• The new Jubilee House is built in classic American Heritage style with an efficient, eco-friendly log home. The added space will allow Barbara to house at least twice as many people as before.
• The entire West Wing of the house is dedicated to Barbara and her family.
• The dining room is huge and welcome since the old house didn't really have such a space.
• There's a wall of achievement made up of plaques showcasing vets with a words of encouragement from the soldiers written on the inside.
• Sabrina makes an American Flag mosaic made up of photos of veteran and active duty soldiers. Many of the pictures come from soldiers serving at nearby Fort Bragg.
• The backyard is an oasis with a White House playhouse complete with the Truman Balcony. The First Lady hands the American flag to Paul to place atop the replica.
• The glass panels on the beautiful new greenhouse are perfect for allowing lots of natural light.
• Ty created the "Veggie-tube," which is a vacuum tube that sends vegetables to the kitchen. It's hardly a necessary household item, but that doesn't mean it isn't totally cool, too.
• The East Wing is filled with booths in a multi-purpose area perfect for skill-building. A representative of the College of Charleston informs Barbara that a scholarship is being established in her name.
• The new play area has a soundproof wall so the kids can play while others work in peace. Johnny reveals that the walls all slide and move to make maximum use of the space. There's also an interactive gaming floor that allows you to do things like kick Ty's face on a computer-generated puck.
• There's a full complete kitchen upstairs, too. Jubilee House resident Judy Hilburn's name is engraved on a center island. When she gets her own place, she'll be able to take the island with her.
• Barbara is blown away by her beautiful new bedroom. Above the bed sits a flag that was presented by the First Lady to represent the men and the women who have served our nation all over the country and the world.
• Ty shows Barbara the personalized note from Michelle Obama that is part of her desk in her own little Presidential retreat area.

Barbara now has the tools she needs to continue her good work for the returning Veterans and their families.

Christine Jorgensen

The Awesome Woman of the Day is Christine Jorgensen (1926 - 1989), the first person whose male-to-female sex reassignment surgery became, in 1952, a mainstream news item. She grew up as George William Jorgensen, Jr., in a blue-collar family in Bronx, New York, living as an uncomfortable child inside a boy's body that, according to some sources, never fully developed into male adulthood.

After Jorgensen did a tour of duty in the Army, she studied and worked in the fields of photography and dentistry. With access to doctors and information when working as a dental assistant, she began taking a form of estrogen. She then made her surgery arrangements through her medical connections and traveled to Denmark where, under the direction of Dr. Christian Hamburger,  the removal of her male genitals was done. (Several years later she had a vaginoplasty when the procedure became available in the U.S.) She chose the name Christine in honor of Dr. Hamburger.

Jorgensen's return the the United States after her first surgery was a major media event in 1953. She stepped off the airplane into an excited sea of cameras and news reporters. Given the tightly defined gender roles of that time, and the prevalence of violent homophobia in our culture, her decision to "go public" -- very public -- was immensely courageous. A common joke going around was that, "She went abroad, and came back a broad." She conducted herself in that press event with incredible grace:



Apparently, Jorgensen's carpenter-contractor father from the Bronx was quite supportive of her and did not withdraw his paternal love -- after her surgery he built a house for her in Long Island. There she met Howard T. Knox, a typist, and in 1959 the two announced their engagement to be married. Sadly, because Jorgensen's birth certificate still said she was male the marriage license was not granted.

Jorgensen used her publicity for more than personal fame, making appearances on talk shows and speaking on college campuses throughout the 1970s and 80s about her experience. In 1970, she sent a telegram to Spiro T. Agnew asking him to apologize for calling one of his adversaries "the Christine Jorgensen of the Republican party." (No apology was forthcoming.) In addition to assuming the role of a public figure on the speaking circuit, Jorgensen worked for years as a stage actress and nightclub entertainer. (A recording of her performance at The Frog Pond restaurant in Hollywood is available in the iTunes Music Store.)

Christine Jorgensen embraced a course of action that was so radical for her time, and by thrusting her story into the public arena she opened a pathway for other queer and gender-queer individuals, and for straight women whose societal role in the 1950s had been reverted from Rosie the Riveter to the demurring housewife whose place in the scheme of things was as much a prison form many women as sexual mis-assignment was for Jorgensen (and countless others). And perhaps even straight men saw their gender role become more malleable from that point forward -- with the realm of acceptable possibilities for a man's character broadening from the iconic square-jawed image of a dominance and controlled emotions in 1950 into today's stay-at-home dads and Burning Men.

Of course gender and gender roles have never been set in concrete, but it was Christine Jorgensen who had the courage to help us reexamine our belief that they are, and to step out into new territory that allows us to become who we are rather than force ourselves miserably into a mold.

Queen Margaret of Scotland

Margaret of Scotland was from the Saxon royal family, which was defeated by William the Conqueror in 1066. She was born in Hungary and traveled with her family as a child to England. She spent some time in a convent and wanted to become a nun. However, when the upheavals in England forced the family to flee, (hoping to return to Europe) their ship was blown off course and foundered off the coast of Scotland. There they stayed as guests of King Malcolm III of Scotland.

Margaret, under pressure from family, reluctantly married the king. Though she would have preferred to enter a convent as a nun, she made it her goal to give her all to being the best wife and queen possible. She became Scotland’s most beloved queen and was later (ca thirteenth century) canonized.

As Queen, she invited the poor villagers to her wedding feast, setting the stage for the rest of her reign. Her life from that point forward was spent helping her subjects, especially the poor. She was known to give her own clothing and many other possessions to them. The king, who reportedly was devoted to her, referred to her as, “my little thief”, because of her repeated ‘withdrawals’ from his treasury to feed and help the poor.

She did much to civilize the king and his court, bringing Scotland into the eleventh century with improving their manners and educating them, as well as making improvements to the royal households.

Margaret did the same for the clergy as well, bringing more of the Benedictine order to Scotland and educating those already there. Her reforms brought the Scottish church in line with the Roman church.

Margaret also was in favor of and worked for educating ALL girls. At that time, most countries gave only minimal education to girls of nobility, and none at all to the poor. Margaret changed that for Scotland. Celtic countries were alone then in their belief of women’s education. She was held up as the epitome of a just queen, and did charitable works for the poor and orphans daily.

Biographies report that the royal couple had a much more loving relationship than was common for that era. The king indulged Margaret in most things and respected her intellect. She was able to influence him in matters of state as well as at home; and was his most trusted adviser. Malcolm was illiterate when they married and Margaret read to him; legend having her teaching him to read.

The queen bore eight children (at least eight reached adulthood) and was a more involved mother than was common among royalty. Her children were raised with a sense of responsibility and were expected to uphold her high ethical standards. She held herself to even higher standards and spent much of her time praying and fasting for her sins. (She more than likely was anorexic, which led to her death in her 40s).

Their children went on to become kings and queens, three of their sons were kings, David reigning for 30 years; and known as one of the best rulers Scotland ever had. Their daughter Edith (Matilda) married Henry I of England.

more here:

Saint Margaret of Scotland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org

Saint Margaret of Scotland (c. 1045 – 16 November 1093), also known as Margaret of Wessex and Queen Margaret of Scotland, was an English princess of the House of Wessex. Born in exile in Hungary, she was the sister of Edgar Ætheling, the short-ruling and uncrowned Anglo-Saxon King of England. Margar...

Angela O'Brien

♥ ♥ ♥ The Awesome Woman of the Day is Dr. Angela O'Brien - Dr Angela O’Brien is a Barrister-at-law, Victoria, Mediator, Arbitrator and independent consultant with specialist expertise in the areas of dispute resolution, education and the arts.

In 2008 she was appointed the first female president of The Institute of Arbitrators & Mediators Australia. The Institute aims to serve the community, commerce and industry by facilitating efficient dispute resolution methods including arbitration, mediation, conciliation and adjudication. Angela's mother-in-law is Margaret (Peg) Lusink, first Victorian woman appointed as a judge to a superior court and Peg's mother was Joan Lusink, who became Victoria's first woman Queen's Council in 1965. Now that's a family for inspired women!

In 2009, she retired from the University of Melbourne, where she was an Associate Professor, Deputy Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Discipline Chair of Creative Arts in the School of Culture and Communication, Faculty of Arts. Prior to these roles, she was foundation Head of the School of Creative Arts (2001–2004), University of Melbourne and Dean of the School of Studies in Creative Arts, Victorian College of the Arts (1995–2000). She has also worked in the vocational education sector in Australia and England and has specialist expertise in curriculum development and review, educational management and dispute resolution in the tertiary sector. and federal and state councillor for the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU). She was foundation President of the Victorian chapter of the Shakespeare Globe Centre and active in the annual Shakespeare Schools’ Festival for a decade (1990-1999).

Dr Angela O'Brien | Polyglot Theatre

www.polyglottheatre.com

Dr Angela O’Brien is a Barrister-at-law, Victoria, Mediator, Arbitrator and independent consultant with specialist expertise in the areas of dispute resolution, education and the arts. In 2009 she retired from the University of Melbourne where she was an Associate Professor, Deputy Dean of the Schoo...

Betty White

Because yesterday was her 90th birthday, the Awesome Woman for Wednesday, January 18, 2012 is Betty White, U.S. television star, comedian, author, producer, and animal rights activist. She was born in Illinois, but she was brought up in Los Angeles (trivia fact - she went to the same high school that Angelina Jolie went to).

Her first job was working at a television station as an "assistant," but she went on to develop and produce a television series, which makes her one of the first female producers in Hollywood. http://www.biography.com/people/betty-white-9542614?page=1

She became a prolific guest star on situation comedies, talk shows, and game shows, where she met her third husband and the love of her life, Allen Ludden, in 1961, but she's probably best known for her roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Golden Girls (each of which is remarkable in its own right for the portrayals of women who are not dependent on men and who are supported by their networks of female friends). [Id., except for the editorial comment about the tv shows [;)]

Today, she is such a cultural icon of female badassery that the President of the United States called her on her birthday (and requested her long form birth certificate to prove her age).




Many happy returns, Ms. White.

For more information:

http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2012/01/17/happy_90th_birthday_betty_white

http://www.wic.org/bio/bwhite.htm

Ann Dunham

 

After a very difficult evening with my children (young adults) I found myself doubting the kind of mother I am, have I given them too much? Am I not giving them enough? Will they be prepared for the world? Have I done My JOB? The job of mother is usually thankless and let’s face it Hard! No matter how good your intentions we all make mistakes, we are all human. So today I decided to honor a mom who was not perfect but I think we can all agree did an amazing job raising her kids, I mean after all her son grew up to be the first Black President of the United States.

Today January 17, 2012 the WOD is Ann Dunham the mother of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama.

In an interview, Barack Obama referred to his mother as "the dominant figure in my formative years ... The values she taught me continue to be my touchstone when it comes to how I go about the world of politics."

Stanley Ann Dunham (November 29, 1942 – November 7, 1995), was an Americananthropologist who specialized in economic anthropology and rural development. Born in Wichita,Kansas, Dunham spent her childhood in California,Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas and her teenage years in Mercer Island, Washington, and the majority of her adult life in Hawaii and Indonesia.

Dunham studied at the Honolulu University of Hawaii Manoa campus, and the University of Hawaii Manoa's East–West Center, where she attained a bachelor's in anthropology or mathematics and master's and Ph.D. in anthropology. Interested in craftsmanship, weaving and the role of women in cottage industries, Dunham's research focused on women's work on the island of Java and blacksmithing in Indonesia. To address the problem of poverty in rural villages, she created microcredit programs while working as a consultant for the United States Agency for International Development. Dunham was also employed by the Ford Foundation in Jakarta and she consulted with the Asian Development Bank in Pakistan. Towards the latter part of her life, she worked with Bank Rakyat Indonesia, where she helped apply her research to the largest microfinance program in the world.

On August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state to be admitted into the Union. Dunham's parents sought business opportunities in the new state, and after graduating from high school in 1960, Dunham and her family moved to Honolulu. Dunham soon enrolled at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. While attending a Russian language class, Dunham met Barack Obama, Sr., the school's first African student. At the age of 23, Obama Sr. had come to Hawaii to pursue his education, leaving behind a pregnant wife and infant son in his home town of Nyang’oma Kogelo in Kenya. Dunham and Obama Sr. were married on the Hawaiian island of Maui on February 2, 1961, despite parental opposition from both families. Dunham was three months pregnant. Obama Sr. eventually informed Dunham about his first marriage in Kenya but claimed he was divorced. Years later, she would discover this was false. Obama Sr.'s first wife, Kezia, later said she had granted her consent for him to marry a second wife, in keeping with Luo customs.

On August 4, 1961, at the age of 18, Dunham gave birth to her first child, Barack Obama II. After one semester at the University of Hawaii, Ann Dunham withdrew from college to help care for her new family. Soon after, Barack Sr. accepted a scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University. Acknowledging her husband's life quest of revitalizing Kenya's economy, Dunham decided to remain behind in Hawaii. In 1964 Dunham filed for divorce in January 1964, which Obama Sr. did not contest. Obama Sr. received a M.A. in economics from Harvard in 1965 and in 1971, he came to Hawaii and visited his son Barack, then 10 years old; it was the last time he would see his son. In 1982, Obama Sr. was killed in a car accident, or possibly murdered

Approximately one year later after her divorce, Dunham returned to the University of Hawaii. With help from her parents and government food stamps, she was able to juggle a full schedule of classes while caring for her son. Despite life as a struggling young mother, Ann Dunham earned her undergraduate degree in four years. During her tenure at the University of Hawaii, Dunham became romantically involved with fellow student Lolo Soetoro.

Polite, even-tempered Soetoro was an international master's student from Indonesia. In 1967 he proposed to Dunham. Once married, Ann changed her surname to Soetoro and the new family relocated to Indonesia near the city of Jakarta. In 1970, Ann gave birth to daughter Maya.

Ann Soetoro was often grieved by the quality of life for local Indonesians. Those who were close to her say she was compassionate almost to a fault, and would give money to countless ailing beggars. As Ann became more interested in Indonesian culture, her husband Lolo began working for a Western oil company.

Bored by the domestic, traditional course her marriage had taken, Ann intensified her focus on formal education. She began teaching English in the American Embassy. In the mornings she would give Barack Jr. his English lessons, and in the evenings she would give him books on civil rights and play him Mahalia Jackson's gospel songs.

When her son was 10 years old, Ann sent him back to Hawaii to attend prep school and reside with his grandparents. One year later, Ann and her daughter also returned to Hawaii. Here she enrolled in graduate school at the University of Hawaii to study cultural anthropology of Indonesian peoples. In 1980 she would file for divorce against her husband Lolo.

After several years of schooling, Ann Soetoro returned to Indonesia for doctoral level fieldwork. Wishing to remain with his grandparents, 14-year-old Barack Obama Jr. declined to join his mother. Once back in Indonesia, Soetoro began working for the Ford Foundation studying women's employment concerns. From 1988 to 1992 Soetoro helped install a microfinance program in Indonesia where small business owners could gain small loans. Many credit Soetoro's research with informing fiscal lending policies, making Indonesia a world leader in microfinance loans.

Through the years, Ann and her daughter would move around the world to Pakistan, New York, and back to Hawaii. In 1992 Ann Soetoro finally finished her doctoral dissertation: a 1,000-page analysis of peasant blacksmithing. In 1994 during a dinner party in Jakarta, Soetoro complained of stomach pains. Months later she was diagnosed with ovarian and uterine cancer. She died on November 7, 1995 at the age of 52.

In his 1995 memoir Dreams from My Father, Barack Obama wrote, "My mother's confidence in needlepoint virtues depended on a faith I didn't possess... In a land [Indonesia] where fatalism remained a necessary tool for enduring hardship ... she was a lonely witness for secular humanism, a soldier for New Deal, Peace Corps, position-paper liberalism."[In his 2006 book The Audacity of Hope Obama wrote, "I was not raised in a religious household ... My mother's own experiences ... only reinforced this inherited skepticism. Her memories of the Christians who populated her youth were not fond ones ... And yet for all her professed secularism, my mother was in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I've ever known." "Religion for her was "just one of the many ways — and not necessarily the best way — that man attempted to control the unknowable and understand the deeper truths about our lives," Obama wrote.

Marie Bonaparte

Monday’s Awesome Woman of the Day is Princess Marie Bonaparte (1882-1962), a pioneer in sexual research on women’s orgasms.

Bonaparte, a great-grandniece of Napoleon, was unable to have an orgasm during intercourse and instead of just accepting it and doing whatever women were supposed to do instead, she set out to find why. After discovering she could orgasm through masturbation (not exactly the sort of behavior that was encouraged, btw), she theorized that the distance of a women’s clitoris from her vagina might be a factor in how easily a women could have an orgasm through intercourse. She interviewed 243 women, took their measurements and discovered that, indeed, distance mattered. Women with a clitoris to vagina distance of one inch or less were most able to have an orgasm through intercourse, while women with a greater distance had greater difficulty.

According to this fascinating (and quick read) “The Rule of Thumb: Vagina Types and Variability of Female Orgasm,” (http://blog.museumofsex.com/the-rule-of-thumb-vagina-types-and-variability-of-female-orgasm/):

Since Marie’s research, consistent findings in numerous similar studies have led to the development of the Rule of Thumb. Evolutionary biologist and professor at Indiana University, Elisabeth Loyd, describes the Rule of Thumb based on the length between the tip of your thumb and it’s first joint – if the space between the clit and vagina is shorter than this length, vaginal orgasm is easier; if the space between the clit and vagina is longer than this length, chances are penetrative sex alone won’t do the trick.

I will let you go now if you want to see how the Rule of Thumb works for you...

p.s. i know, i know, white Euro chick on MLK day. but this is who I was feeling today and i'm working for free here.
http://blog.museumofsex.com/the-rule-of-thumb-vagina-types-and-variability-of-female-orgasm/blog.museumofsex.com

Gloria Gaynor

Today's Awesome Woman is singer Gloria Gaynor, simply for giving us the most kick ass empowering disco song ever.

Meryl Streep

Today (Tuesday January 10, 2012) the WOD is Meryl Streep, the incredibly talented, smart, beautiful and compassionate American Actress. Considered by many movie reviewers to be the greatest living film actress, Meryl Streep has been nominated for the Academy Award an astonishing 16 times, and has won it twice.

She was born Mary Louise Streep on the 22nd of June, 1949, in Summit, New Jersey. Her father, Harry Streep Jr, was an executive at a pharmaceutical company, while mother Mary was a commercial artist. Mary was 35 when she had Mary Louise, her first child. Soon would come Harry III, now a choreographer married to actress Maeve Kincaid (longstanding star of the soap opera The Guiding Light), and Dana, now a bond salesman.

Meryl's early performing ambitions leaned toward the opera. She became interested in acting while a student at Vassar and upon graduation she enrolled in the Yale School of Drama. She gave an outstanding performance in her first film role, Julia (1977), and the next year she was nominated for her first Oscar for her role in The Deer Hunter (1978). She went on to win the Academy Award for her performances in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Sophie's Choice (1982), in which she gave a heart-wrenching portrayal of an inmate mother in a Nazi death camp.

A perfectionist in her craft and meticulous and painstaking in her preparation for her roles, Meryl turned out a string of highly acclaimed performances over the next 10 years in great films like Silkwood (1983); Out of Africa (1985); Ironweed (1987); and A Cry in the Dark (1988). Her career declined slightly in the early 1990s as a result of her inability to find suitable parts, but she shot back to the top in 1995 with her performance as Clint Eastwood's married lover in The Bridges of Madison County (1995) and as the prodigal daughter in Marvin's Room (1996). In 1998 she made her first venture into the area of producing, and was the executive producer for the moving ...First Do No Harm (1997) (TV). A realist when she talks about her future years in film, she remarked that "...no matter what happens, my work will stand..."

Meryl is known for her ability to master almost any accent. She frequently plays real-life characters: Julia Child, Ethel Rosenberg, Karen Silkwood, Karen Blixen, Roberta Guasppari, Lindy Chamberlain, Susan Orlean and Margaret Thatcher.

She is an international role model for women and girls everywhere and helps numerous charities regularly. Most notably, she is the National Spokesperson for the National Woman's History Museum to whom she has donated significant amounts of money and hosted numerous events.

Margaret Ogg

♥ ♥ ♥ Today's Awesome Woman is Margaret Ogg (1863-1953) Margaret Ogg is best known for her extensive political, social and feminist activities. She was one of ten children born to a Presbyterian minister. She was a poet, writer and an accomplished musician, playing viola in the family quartet, as well as holding membership with the Musical Association.

She wrote under the pseudonym "Ann Dante" (Andante). Ogg loved wildflowers and as a result of outings to the Daffodil Farm at Sunnybank and many picnics to Mt Gravatt, St. John's Wood and Petrie, she wrote the poem titled "Out in the Bush". She was active in Brisbane literary circles and also sub-edited the Presbyterian Austral Star.

A staunch monarchist and anti-socialist, Ogg actively toured outback townships in Queensland promoting women's suffrage, and encouraging pioneer women to become involved in state and national affairs. As founder, co-founder and member of many Queensland women's organisations, she was consistently at the forefront of political and social campaigns to secure reforms for Queensland's women and children.

At various stages of her life she was the only woman executive-member of the National Political Council, organising secretary of the women's central committee of the Queensland Deaf and Dumb Mission, and co-founder of the Queensland Bush Club. Through persistently lobbying the State government, Ogg was instrumental in having the Criminal Code Amendment Act 1913 passed, as well as the Testators' Family Maintenance Act 1914 through which widows were entitled to a
proportion of the husband's estate.

Margaret Ogg was multitalented, intellectual, community minded and quick witted. Shortly before her death, in a letter dated 28 October 1946, Miss Ogg wrote:
"No woman can do more than her little bit - often falling far short of intention, but it has been my privilege to have as co-workers some of the finest women in Queensland, and the success and development which attended our efforts was, and is due to their loyalty and self-sacrifice, without which no sure foundation can be laid".

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ogg-margaret-ann-7887

Marion Davies

Today January 3, 2012 the WOD is Marion Davies...inspired by Susan Reinhard and her satus " Today is Marion Davies's birthday and she was so NOT Susan of "Citizen Kane", a talented comedienne and a savvy lady who sold her gift jewels and bought LA real estate and could bail old man Hearst out in later years, she was said to be one of the great broads of all time."

Marion Davies, born Marion Cecilea Douras on January 3, 1897 in the borough of Brooklyn, New York, was one of the great comedic actresses of the silent era and into the 30's. She had been bitten by the show biz bug early as she watched her sisters perform in local stage productions. She wanted to do the same. As Marion got older, she tried out for various school plays and did fairly well. Once her formal education had ended, Marion began her career as a chorus girl in New York City and eventually found herself in the famed Ziegfeld Follies. But she wanted more than to dance. Acting, to Marion, was the epitome of show business and aimed her sights in that direction. Her stage name came when she and her family passed the Davies Insurance Building. One of her sisters called out "Davies!!! That shall be my stage name," and the whole family took on that name. Her first film was Runaway, Romany (1917) when she was 20. Written by Marion and directed by her brother-in-law, the film wasn't exactly a box-office smash, but for Marion, it was a start and a stepping stone to bigger things. Marion remained busy, one of the staples in movie houses around the country.

When Marion moved to California, she was already involved with William Randolph Hearst. They lived together at Hearst's San Simeon castle, a very elaborate mansion, which stands as a California landmark to this day. At San Simeon, they threw very elaborate parties, many of them costume parties. Frequent guests included Carole Lombard, Mary Pickford, Sonja Henie, Dolores del Rio - basically all of top names in Hollywood and other celebrities including the mayor of New York City, President Calvin Coolidge and Charles Lindbergh. Had she been without Hearst's backing, she possibly could have been more successful. He was more of a hindrance than a help. Hearst had tried to push MGM executives to hire Marion for the role of Elizabeth Barrett in The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934). Louis B. Mayer had other ideas and hired producer Irving Thalberg's wife, Norma Shearer instead. Hearst reacted by pulling his newspaper support for MGM without much impact. By the late 1930's Hearst was suffering financial reversals and it was Marion who bailed him out by selling off $1 million of her jewelry. Without her the Hearst Corporation might not be where it is today. According to those who knew her, this selfless act was just one example of Marion’s character. Hearst's financial problems also spelled the end to her career.

At the end of the twenties, it was obvious that sound films were about to replace the silents. Marion was nervous because she had a stutter when she became excited and worried she wouldn't make a successful transition to the new medium, but she was a true professional who had no problem with the change. Time after time, film after film, Marion turned in masterful performances. In 1930, two of her better films were Not So Dumb (1930) and The Florodora Girl (1930). By the early 30s, Marion had lost her box office appeal and the downward slide began.

Although she had made the transition to sound, other stars fared better and her roles became fewer and further between. In 1937, a 40 year old Marion filmed her last movie, Ever Since Eve (1937). Out of films and with the intense pressures of her relationship with Hearst, Marion turned to more and more to alcohol. Despite those problems, Marion was a very sharp and savvy business woman.

When Hearst died, Marion did not really know what was going on. The night before, there had been a lot of people in the house. Marion was very upset by the large crowd of family and friends. She said it was too noisy and were disturbing Hearst by talking so loud. She was upset and had to be sedated. When she woke, her niece, Patricia Van Cleve Lake, and her husband, Arthur Lake, told her that Hearst was dead. Upon Patricia's death, it was revealed she had been the love child of Davies and Hearst. Marion was banned from Hearst's funeral.

After the death of Hearst in 1951, Marion married for the first time at the age of 54, to Horace Brown. The union would last until she died of cancer of the jaw on September 22, 1961 in Los Angeles, California. She was 64 years old.

Marion started lots of charities including a children's clinic that is still operating today. She founded the Marion Davies Children’s Clinic, now part of the UCLA Medical Center.

She was very generous and was loved by everyone who knew her. She went through a lot, even getting polio in the 1940's.

Eva Zeisel

The Awesome Woman for Wednesday, January 4, 2012, is Eva Zeisel, who died last week on December 30 at the age of 105.

She was an amazing industrial designer, whose tableware, especially was uniquely elegant, organic, and nurturing. "All my work is mother-and-child," Zeisel once said. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-eva-zeisel-20120101,0,6670974,full.story

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/eva-zeisel-groundbreaking-designer-dies/2012/01/02/gIQA8272WP_gallery.html#photo=3

From the above-cited L.A. Times obituary: After becoming interested in Russian art and culture, she moved to Ukraine. She quickly rose through the ranks of pottery design and production in the Soviet Union, and by age 29 was art director at the state-run Porcelain and Glass Industries.

Her life took a terrifying turn in 1936, when she was arrested on trumped-up charges that she had plotted to assassinate Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. She was imprisoned for 16 months, spending most of it in solitary confinement. Her confinement included torture and brainwashing, and became the basis for her friend Arthur Koestler's stark 1941 novel about totalitarianism, "Darkness at Noon."

"You never knew when the door would open and you would be shot," Zeisel said many years later. "So you learned to rule out the future."

When she was released, Zeisel later said, she thought the guards were taking her to be executed. She arrived in Vienna just six months before Hitler annexed Austria and then fled to London, where she married Hans Zeisel, a lawyer she had known in Vienna. The couple arrived in the U.S. with $64." Id.

By 1942, the Museum of Modern Art had asked her to design a set of dishes. Her iconic all white set was very different from the typical gilt and floral patterns then being produced in the US and very much altered the tableware landscape in this country. Id.

Through the 40s and 50s, she designed for numerous entities from Noritake to Sears Roebuck, and when midcentury modern aesthetic began to fall out of favor during the sixties, she turned to writing and protesting the Vietnam War. Id.

Her work remained influential, and, byt the 1980s, she was back at it. In 2002, the documentary Throwing Curves was made about her. http://www.evazeiseloriginals.com/TC_Open.mov

And in 2005 , when she was 99 years old, she she received the National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement by the National Design Museum, Smithsonian. And she kept working and making new designs. http://www.evazeiseloriginals.com/meeteva.shtml

For more information, see: http://www.evazeiseloriginals.com/index.shtml

Eva Zeisel dies at 105; ceramic artist and designer known for her tableware

www.latimes.com

Eva Zeisel, one of the most influential industrial designers of the 20th century who created lyrical yet practical tableware and ceramics, has died. She was 105.