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Category: Women’s History

Published on Leave a comment on Women Wearing the Pants

I felt I owed it to my Olson forbears to watch the Vikings: Valhalla series on Netflix. It's quite entertaining. There's something for everyone. Blood and guts. Sweaty hot bodies. Cool ships. And facial hair that would put ZZ Top to shame.

Freydis is a force to be reckoned with

The series takes place about a thousand years ago, and boy, does it show. My Viking ancestors live up to their barbaric reputation. Let's just say if you're at a shindig where pretty much everyone is carrying an axe, and a dude rolls in a big wooden chopping block, it's probably time to ghost.

But in other aspects, ancient Scandinavian culture was downright civilized. Take gender equality, for example. Some women were allowed to own property. Some held positions of political power. And we all know about shield maidens and Valkyries.

Here we are a thousand years on, and there's still plenty of cultures where women can't own property, or drive a car. But it's the aspect of military service that really captured my attention. In the Netflix series, both this one and its predecessor, women were often allowed to join the menfolk on the battlefield. In real life, not so much.

So when I unearthed a link to an article about the estimated 400 women who fought in the American Civil War - 900 YEARS LATER - only got away with it because they were disguised as men, that got me thinking. If there were 400 that we know of in that war alone, there had to be more, right?

Of course there were! Throughout the ages. Lots of different times and places.

They tended to fall into a couple of different categories. One I'll call 'Til Death Do Us Part. When their man got called up, they insisted on tagging right along with him. But instead of joining in a more traditional female role as a cook or laundress for their husband's fighting unit, they opted to masquerade as men.

Frances Clayton aka Jack Williams and her husband apparently had one of those marriages that they did everything together. When I say they fought a lot, I don't mean bickering about leaving the toilet seat up. They served during the American Civil War in the Union Army together for nearly two years, until hubby got shot during the Battle of Stones River and died right next to her.

The 'stache just sells it

Loreta Janeta Velaquez really gives off a spoiled brat, Scarlett O'Hara vibe. The whole time I was reading about her, I got the feeling she thought of the entire escapade as a lark - especially when I learned her hero was Joan of Arc. When her husband joined the Confederate cause, she insisted on accompanying him. He refused, of course. So she waited until after he left, then purchased a custom fit uniform and fake facial hair and traveled to Florida as 'Lieutenant Harry T. Buford' looking for him. Her husband was stunned when she showed up. But because she showed up with a regiment of over two hundred volunteers, that somewhat ameliorated his dismay. Cue the happy ending - except the husband died soon after.

Hannah Snell @ The Trustees of the British Museum

Hannah Snell aka James Gray had a little bit different motivation than being separated from her true love. Soon after their daughter was born, her no-good husband dumped her and joined the British military. I guess he figured that's one place she wouldn't come looking for him. He was wrong. Sadly, their daughter didn't survive very long. After she died, Hannah enlisted in the British Army, bent on tracking him down. I don't know about you, but I have zero trouble imagining her towering inferno of rage at this point. When she had a close call being discovered, she switched gears and joined the British Marines instead. She saw plenty of military action, as far away as India, where she got shot multiple times in the lower body. Legend has it that rather than risk having a doctor discover her true gender, she opted to dig the bullet out of her groin area herself. Hannah retired from the military in 1750 after she discovered her ex was literally an ex, having been executed after being convicted of murder. I'm starting to see a pattern here.

Not every impersonator was chasing her man. Revolutionary War hero Deborah Sampson fought against the British as 'Robert Shurtleff' for nearly two years before being discovered. Her sole motivation appears to be patriotism, pure and simple.

Some, like Sarah Edmonds and Oronata Rondiani, sorta fell into it. They dressed as men to aid in escaping an unfortunate situation (for Sarah, an arranged marriage; for Oronata, forced to go on the lam for murdering her attacker during a rape), and found their disguise offered many unanticipated benefits. For Margaret Ann Bulkley, dressing as a man may have been the only way she could achieve her dream of becoming a physician. Their new identities led them to stints in the military. Edmonds eventually married, one hopes with a more palatable match, and had a family. Rondiani died in combat; Bulkley spent the rest of her life as Dr. James Barry, a career military surgeon.

Cathay Williams

Former slave Cathay Williams doesn't really fit into either of my two categories. She may have been just an extraordinarily practical sort. She was initially impressed into service in the Union Army as cook/washerwoman. Something about military life must have appealed to her. After the Civil War ended, she enlisted as a man, William Cathay, and served a few more years. She is more famously known as the only female member of the Buffalo Soldiers.

Click-O-Rama

Anne Bonny

Not all of the hardy masquerade crew I discovered down this rabbit hole served in the military.

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Published on 4 Comments on The Girl With the Beautiful Hair


Martha Matilda Harper turned a hair tonic recipe into a beauty empire. Image from this article.

The year was 1882. The steamship Norseman left the northern shore of Lake Ontario in Canada.  Many of its passengers were headed south across the lake to Rochester, New York. 25-year-old Martha Matilda Harper was among them. She brought what little she owned with her to make a new start in America. With only sixty dollars and a recipe for hair tonic, Harper would revolutionize American business.

Martha Matilda Harper was born in 1857 near Oakville, Ontario. She was one of ten children. Her family struggled to make ends meet. When Martha was seven, her father sent her away to work for some relatives. She cooked, cleaned and hauled water for them. What little money she earned, she sent back to her family. Martha worked as a maid for various families for more than twenty years.

One of Martha’s employers was a doctor. He was very interested in natural remedies. He taught Martha how to make a hair tonic from special ingredients. Martha used it to keep her hair clean and healthy. It really worked! Soon Martha’s dark brown hair reached all the way to the floor. It was thick and shiny.  Martha was proud of her hair and worked to keep it in good condition.

When the doctor moved away in 1882, Martha decided to move to America. She had heard from a friend that America was a land of opportunity. So she packed up all her belongings and purchased a one-way ticket to Rochester aboard the Norseman.

Once in Rochester, she became a maid for the Roberts family. But she had a secret wish: she wanted to have her own business. She knew her hair tonic recipe was unique. She had an idea of how to turn her recipe into a business. She would create a pleasant shop where women could come and get their hair washed with her special tonic. She would also offer head and neck massages, and special treatments called facials to keep their skin looking its best. Every product she used was made from pure, natural ingredients. She created the recipes herself, based on what she had learned from the doctor.

The odds were against Martha. She was a poor working girl. In the late 1800s very few women had jobs outside the home. Of these, even fewer owned a business. But Martha did not let this stop her. Her employers, the Roberts, believed in her. They let her use their garden shed as a workroom to mix her hair tonic. She worked for the Roberts during the day and worked on her business at night.

Finally the day came when Martha was ready to start her business. She wanted to rent a space in Rochester’s finest building. The owner of the building was not interested. He thought her business would fail and she would not be able to pay her rent. But Martha had made some important friends in Rochester. One was a lawyer whose office was in the same building. He persuaded the owner to let her have an office on a trial basis. The owner agreed. In 1888, the Harper Shop opened for business. Martha had a picture of herself taken, showing her beautiful floor-length hair. She placed it on the door of her business. The picture, and her hair, became her trademark.

Martha was taking a big chance. In 1888 there were no hair salons in Rochester. Women had their hair groomed by their servants in the privacy of their homes. Facial products were not generally in use.  Business was slow at first, but eventually word got out. Women from the finest families in Rochester heard about this new shop. At first they came out of curiosity. They came back time and time again because they loved the experience.

The Harper Shops were clean as a whistle with tasteful decorations and a pleasant staff. At first, Martha was the only employee. As business grew, she trained other women to work for her. She hand-picked girls with backgrounds similar to hers. Most were servant girls who wanted to make a better life for themselves. Martha trained them on how to use her products and how to give massages and facials. But she also trained them on how to please the customers. Their number one job was to make sure the customers were comfortable and happy.

Women of the 1800s had extremely long hair. Most did not have the type of bathroom plumbing we have today. Washing the hair was a time-consuming and messy process. Often they washed it by leaning forward into a tub or basin filled with water. Martha thought of a better way. She designed a padded reclining chair so that her customers could sit back in comfort while she washed their hair. She also designed a sink with a special cutout for the customer’s neck. Customers leaned back and relaxed in the special chair while Martha washed their hair. The wet hair and cleaning products stayed in the sink, not in the customer’s clothes or eyes.

Martha’s business was a great success. Soon she opened other shops in other cities. She hired and trained many girls to work for her. Each Harper Shop was built to look the same as the original. All of the girls were trained in the exact methods used by Martha herself. Each time Martha opened a new shop, the person she chose to run it became the owner of the shop. The owners shared in the profits of the Harper business. Martha’s goal was this: whenever a customer stepped into one of her shops, they would find it the same as every other Harper Shop. It would have the same products, services, and courteous help. She also wanted her ‘girls’, as she called her employees, to share in the profits of the company. In this way she felt they would all work together to make the company a success.

Martha’s ideas worked. At the height of her success in the 1930s, there were more than 500 Harper Shops in operation around the world. Martha’s rags-to-riches story was famous. Her customers included movie stars, millionaires, and presidents. Yes, even men enjoyed the relaxing head and neck massages. Martha’s hair tonic was thought to help postpone baldness.

Martha Matilda Harper died in 1950 at age 92. After her death, her fame declined. Today few have heard of her. But reminders of her pioneering ideas are everywhere. Many modern hair salons still use the basic design of the reclining chair she invented in 1888. Many women now own their own business. In Martha’s time, this was highly unusual. She gave many women the help they needed to succeed. Her business model, with shops built alike and individually owned, is what we now call a franchise. Giants in the franchise industry include many familiar names, especially most fast food businesses. Martha might be sad to know she has been largely forgotten, but she would probably smile every time she drove past a McDonald’s.

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Published on 2 Comments on It’s In The Cards

Charles is king of the pack. Anyone can tell that just by looking at him. His golden crown fits snugly atop his head. He wears a royal robe, brilliantly colored and elaborately designed. In his left hand he holds a mighty sword above his head. Though once vast, Charles’ kingdom now numbers only 51. He ruled supreme until an upstart known as ‘Ace’ took charge.

You may know Charles by one of his more familiar nicknames: the King of Hearts. The King of Hearts is named for King Charles I, or Charlemagne, after the great emperor who ruled most of Europe in the 700s. On some cards, his robe is lined with fur to indicate he is first among kings.

In fact, all playing cards that show a person on them have names. These cards are called court cards or face cards. During the 1400s playing cards became very popular in Europe. French manufacturers made more cards than any other nation. It was their idea to name the face cards. They are named for four of the greatest kings in the history of the ancient world.

The King of Spades is David, after the biblical King David. Long ago David ruled the kingdom of Israel. According to the Bible, as a young man David defeated the giant Goliath with a simple slingshot. Once he became king, David captured the city of Jerusalem and made it his capital.

The King of Clubs is named for Alexander the Great. More than two thousand years ago Alexander was king of Macedonia, a country near Greece. He conquered most of the known world before his death at age 33. Look carefully at the King of Clubs and you will usually find a ball-like object, or orb, somewhere in the design. The orb represents the world that Alexander ruled.

All of the kings in a pack of cards are holding swords except for the King of Diamonds. Instead of a sword, he is holding an axe. The King of Diamonds represents Julius Caesar, a general and leader of the mighty Roman Empire. The month of July is named for him. The words ‘kaiser’ and ‘tsar’, both meaning a type of king or great leader of people, come from the word ‘Caesar’.

The ladies of the pack were not overlooked. The Queen of Hearts was known as Judith. Judith lived during biblical times. She was a hero to her people after she killed the leader of an enemy army. Her story was very popular during medieval times, when playing-cards became popular in Europe. Another popular figure was Rachel, biblical wife of Jacob. People loved this couple’s romantic love story. The Queen of Diamonds is named for her.

The Queen of Clubs was a mystery figure named Argine. No one knows who Argine was. Some think her name is a word puzzle, for if you rearrange the letters they spell regina, which is the Latin word for ‘queen’. The Queen of Spades is called Pallas after the Greek goddess of war. Sometimes called Athena, she appears in Greek stories fighting bravely alongside her generals, giving them wise advice and leading by example. She was one of the most popular gods in the ancient Greek religion.  

No royal court is without its servants. In ancient times the king’s man was called a knave. Knave could mean anything from a young servant boy, to a soldier, to a prince. Sometimes it even meant scoundrel or villain. In a deck of cards, ‘knaves’ are now known as ‘jacks’. Charlemagne’s knave, the Jack of Hearts, was known as La Hire. La Hire was a French soldier who lived during Charlemagne’s time. He served with the French heroine Joan of Arc when she led her people in war against the English. He was known for his heroic exploits. The Jack of Hearts carries a battle axe as his weapon. Charlemagne’s cousin Ogier is more familiar to us as the Jack of Spades. Ogier was known for his skills with a sword, as shown on his card. The Jacks of Hearts and Spades are the only two face cards that are shown in profile. They are looking to the side and we only see half of their faces. For this reason they are sometimes called the ‘one-eyed jacks’.

The Jack of Diamonds was once known as Roland, a member of Charlemagne’s court. Later this card was renamed Hector. Some think it was named for Hector of Troy, a mighty warrior of that ancient kingdom. Others think he was Ector, another noble figure and half-brother to Lancelot of the King Arthur legend. Speaking of Lancelot, he was the Jack of Clubs. According to legend, Lancelot was a skilled archer. This is why the Jack of Clubs carries an arrow.

Named court cards gradually faded in popularity. Today they are known simply as kings, queens and jacks. But if you know where to look, you can dig deeper into the secrets of the pack. Grab a deck and pull out the face cards. Look hard for clues to their identity. Orbs, arrows and swords are more than fancy decorations. They are hints to what’s in the cards.

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2

Published on 2 Comments on Let Us Eat Cake
Nom nom!

When you get to be my age, 'firsts' get harder to come by. But when my daughter got engaged I had a few, including: I attended my first-ever 'bridal expo'.  She lives on the Left Coast and I live sort of on the Right, So when I noticed there was a wedding-themed event in my town, I thought I would go check it out and send my daughter some pictures of the various offerings in case there was anything she found worthy.

The expo was basically what I expected. Lots of booths devoted to DJs, bridal salons, caterers, cakes, and so forth. Man, there was a lot of cake. Beautiful towering sweetness everywhere I looked. With samples! The pressure to gorge myself was intense. I am happy to report an iron willpower magically asserted itself, the likes of which has not been seen since Bill Clinton gave up fast food, and I avoided at least a 500 calorie hit.

But I digress.

As I wandered through the event, the historian in me marveled at the various traditions on display. Some were relatively new, like the photo booth and the bouquet-tossing-basketball-hoop-thingie. But most had their roots in centuries past. 

Take those wedding cakes, for example. We can trace their roots to just about any time homo sapiens threw a party: there was food involved. Some foods eventually grew to have certain significance at the event. For the Ancient Romans, it was bread. (So glad we moved past the 'wedding bread' era!) In medieval times, the wedding bread evolved into a tower of sweets over which the bride and groom were challenged to kiss without knocking it over. I wish I had known about this 30-odd years ago. I would have loved the challenge of kissing over a 5'-10" cake at my wedding.

Cakes have changed in other ways, even in modern times. Today's cakes are to their 19th century predecessors what Abe Lincoln's log cabin is to the White House. Sure, they both sheltered presidents. But one definitely shows more craftsmanship and refinement!

The perfect groom's cake

At the expo, I saw about two dozen cakes in just about every shape, size and color you can imagine. They were decorated with gift boxes and flowers and ribbons and ducks and shotgun shells and beer bottles (not all on the same cake, mind you, but if you were into that, someone could probably make it for you). The popularity of inventive and elaborate wedding cakes has pushed the traditional white cake aside. Initially, white icing was preferred. White not only symbolized the purity and virginity of the bride. It also indicated the bride's family was able to afford the fancier, whiter sugar, which until the beginning of the 20th century was more difficult to process and therefore was more expensive. Nowadays, white cakes seem retro and quaint, sort of like the purity and virginity thing.

Speaking of quaint, it bears mentioning that of all the cakes on display, only ONE had the little plastic bride and groom on top. I would tell you what my daughter had to say about the little plastic bride and groom idea, but it is NSFW.


These two are not on the guest list

Overall, it was a fun and informative day at my first bridal expo. I escaped without succumbing to shock (diabetic or financial). Some other interesting stuff churned up while I was checking out wedding lore. What's this I hear about someone paying us a bride dowry?

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Published on Leave a comment on Man Hunt, 50s Style

It's a gem of an article

One of the bright shining lights of the University of Georgia student population published a very handy how-to on hunting/gathering a husband while at college. Her article includes a wealth of information on how to meet the right kind of men, how to compete with other females for their attention, how to maintain their interest, how to cement the deal, and so forth. Ladies (and gentlemen, I suppose), this is the De Beers Mine of relationship advice.

It occurs to me single women my age could also benefit from this type of advice, but do not often find themselves enrolled in college surrounded by scores of eligible bachelors. One must adapt! Step by step, here are my tweaks to the original.

Step 1. Location, location, location! The author emphasizes the importance of attending college because, after all, that's where the men are. News flash: the female 50+ demographic is woefully underrepresented on campus. I suppose you could take the original advice and enroll in college, but I wouldn't recommend it for two reasons.

  • I don't know about you, but college has become hella expensive in the 30+ years since I last stepped foot in a student union.
  • Even if you do have the dough, colleges are overflowing with nubile female 20-somethings. You will have to spend at least the cost of tuition on nips and tucks to have a prayer of competing with them, even if your surgical end result is the (figurative and hopefully not literal) mother of all cougars.

So here's my suggestion: change the location! The author's advice to go where the eligible men are is sound. Her mistake is in assuming there is only one location to find favorable ratios of acceptable men! I am not telling you anything new by suggesting you change the word 'college' to 'driving range' and many of her tips will still apply, as you will see below. Where else can you find a man-to-woman ratio of 10:1 or better, and the admission fee is a blessedly reasonable $5 for a bucket of balls (2/$8 on Senior Tuesday)? Note I am not guaranteeing 100% of them are prime candidates, but neither are 100% of the guys you meet at college.

Step 2. Locale + attire = success! In other words, know your environment and select the proper plumage to attract your ideal mate. As when hunting live game on the college campus, it is important to appear as if you belong in the golf driving range environment. Select the right outfit, but not too right - you don't want to look like one of those bright red Gummi worms on the end of a fish hook. No! We are going more for a Venus flytrap effect - you want to attract attention, but in a very organic way.


Crocs say you have just given up

The golf world is a strange, alternate fashion universe, as anyone who has ever watched a men's pro tournament on a color TV can attest. Migraine-inducing colors and plaids are just as acceptable as drab solids. Polyester is okay, believe it or not, but absolutely no denim!  At the driving range, there are a few wardrobe Do's and Don'ts that are non-negotiable if you want to sell it, girl! Some tips to ensure you blend seamlessly into the driving range environment: 

  • Footwear - actual golf shoes are most desirable, with athletic sneakers a distant second. Avoid SAS, flip flops, and tatty house slippers. Also, nothing gives away your status as complete golf poser quite like wearing a pair of dingy, faded Crocs. In fact, best not to wear them outside of the house at all, regardless of your destination. 
  • Collared golf style shirt - sleeveless is okay if you still dare to bare your upper arms.
  • Golf skirt or shorts - they should have at least two side pockets and preferably cover a large quantity of your cellulite/varicose veins. Extra points for skorts.

Shoes and clothes are important, but your best quality accessory on the driving range takes a little more effort. That would be your swing. I don't care how much Lady Hagen golf swag you score on clearance at TJ Maxx - like the man said, it don't mean a thing if you ain't got that swing.

Don't despair - you don't have to break the bank on golf lessons unless you are bored and rich, in which case you probably don't need to be reading this article. But if you are not bored and rich, just work on your swing in the privacy of your living room by imagining you have a large bucket full of horse manure which you want to pick up by the handle with both hands and swing in a modified half U-shaped arc so that it cracks that good-for-nothing ex of yours right below the jaw and spews its aromatic contents all over the $300 Ralph Lauren polo shirt his trophy girlfriend gave him on their first trip to Bermuda.

Step 3. The author's next suggestion is actually a combination of high tech and clever staging. She suggests taking plentiful photographs of one's self while out and about with friends, and using a popular photo effect app to create the right mood. One assumes these are to be broadly distributed via social networking sites.

In addition, the content of the photos must be just right - any other friends in the photos must be nearly, but not equally or more attractive than you. We want to send the message that you are indeed the prime selection in your peer group.

With all due respect to the college-age author, I just don't see 50-somethings getting overly excited about using a special effect on perfectly good photographs that make them look like something you found wedged under the cushion of a moth-eaten 60s-era sofa at the local Goodwill. So let's skip the high tech special effects, shall we, and focus on the second half of her advice: staging. 

Assuming you have taken my advice to heart and acquire the appropriate attire and swing, where you place yourself at the driving range is of critical importance. 

  • If the range has artificial turf as an option, I would definitely recommend parking it there. You are taking a risk of appearing amateurish by not selecting the more professional real grass, but chances are your balls will perform better and therefore draw male attention to your swing. Like flies to honey!
  • Go ahead and tee up every freakin' ball, no matter what club you are using. If you have the right swing and a little wiggle, no one is going to notice the tee, believe me. 
  • Try to find a range that has half walls between hitting stations to avoid unfortunate accidents. More than one budding romance has been nipped by a shanked ball to the temple and the accompanying exchange of insurance information and ambulance ride to the emergency room. No half walls available? At least you will know up front how good their insurance is.
  • If you have a decent swing, you can dispense with actually hitting the ball altogether. Go ahead and buy a bucket just for appearances. Set it nearby, tip it over so that a few balls dribble out of the basket and onto the ground. Then ignore them, and swing away! So what if no one sees the flight path of any of your balls? If you have a convincing swing, observers will just assume you hit the bejeezus out of it and they lost it in the glare. 

Strike a pose!

Equally important as the where in this phase is the who - perhaps the most valuable tip offered by the author is whom you are seen with. If you feel you need a wingwoman or three, by all means invite some friends along. But make sure you are the best golfer, or at least have the best golf swing, of the group. Leave Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam at home. In fact, if you have any friends who have never played golf, they are the perfect backdrop for your debut. Next to their frenzied hacking, you will look like Babe Frickin Didrikson. 

Step 4. Assuming steps 1-3 have gone swimmingly, your Oscar-worthy driving range performance has attracted your prey and the mating dance begins. The author advises some restraint here, but at our age, who are we kidding? Of course there will be sex - isn't that the point of this whole charade? -  so don't quibble over the 'when'. Instead, focus on the quality of the act. Classy not skanky, to paraphrase the author. Your golf swing may be suspect, but there's no need for your postgame to fail.

At last, we come to the portion of our show where we should have an advantage over the 20-something college crowd. After 30+ years of being sexually active and the advent of cable TV, there's no excuse! Prepare ahead of time with some personal grooming and common sense protection, people. The stuff that could happen when you were in your 20s can still happen, and worse (with one notable exception - thank you, menopause!!). At age 50+, who wants to be bothered with penicillin shots and bottles of RID??

Step 5. Assuming steps 1-4 have been well executed, step 5 is when the trap slams shut. Once your prey has expressed interest, do what must be done to prevent his escape, including eliminating his desire to escape. Become the PGM - Perfect Golf Mate.

  • Appear content to watch any and every men's professional golf tournament on television, from start to finish. All. Four. Days. 
  • Be able to discuss the advantages of stiff shafts without giggling uncontrollably. 
  • Learn how to regrip clubs without passing out from the glue fumes. 
  • Never, ever buy him anything but plain white golf balls. 
  • Never, ever buy him cutesy cartoon character head covers. If you think the topic of head covers belongs in the Step 4 discussion, FAIL. 

The little blue box

Step 6. The author's final step is formal engagement, including but not limited to: the little blue box, residential gated community, late model German auto, country club membership and full time nanny. Step 6 definitely needs some tweaking for our purposes.

  • Think outside the little blue box. It's fine for the never-been-married, Desperately Seeking Status demographic. Your new man will be more impressed if you prefer a vacay to Pebble Beach or the British Open.
  • Hang on tight to the country club membership, insisting on one with other amenities to amuse yourself while your new beau hits the links. 
  • Trade the auto for a tricked out golf cart instead - cheaper insurance, better mileage, and maintains the PGM illusion. 
  • For the 50+ set, it's safe to say we can eliminate the nanny - unless your prey - I mean, partner -  is 20+ years your junior. 

Now isn't that all better?  Sometimes advice is like a vintage suit - it's not one-size-fits-all, but a few quality alterations can make all the difference. So hit the range and bag your man. Let me know if you need a wingwoman. My spastic Charlene Barkley golf swing will make you look like Arnold Frickin Palmer.I

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Published on Leave a comment on A Good Walk Spoiled

Photo from Library of Congress

In honor of National Golf Lovers Day, may I present Miss Katharine Harley, winner of the 1908 U.S. Amateur Golf Championship at the Chevy Chase Club, Chevy Chase, Maryland.

If you have a moment, check out this interview with Miss Harley in the New York Times. 100 years on, and hand-wringing over the future of the sport is the same as it ever was. She holds the popularity of tennis as one of the factors to blame for waning interest in golf. As more of a tennis person, I find her comments ironic. Tennis, like many other sports, is always worried about the 'leaky bucket' of players being lured away by other sports such as golf.

Miss Harley also confesses she did not take up the sport seriously until 'about three weeks' before the championship! Okay, full disclosure: she goes on to explain she had been playing golf for seven years prior to that, so I guess she had some experience to fall back on. Then, as now, the length of time a round of golf takes to play was problematic in attracting new players. Then, as now, the short game proved to be the deciding factor in her victory.

I have dabbled in golf. I had heard it was not particularly female-friendly. I am sorry to report I did find this to be the case. My female golf friends were awesome. But the chauvinistic and patronizing attitudes of the male players and golf course staff put my tail in a knot just about every time I played.

Best of luck to all the gals out on the links past and present. Go out there and represent for those of us who don't have the patience.

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Published on Leave a comment on Look Good, Play Good

I was amused by a recent article speculating on the popularity of yoga pants far outstripping the popularity of yoga. Apparently people are eschewing the expense and effort of actually taking a yoga class, opting to just wear the yoga outfit instead. Why didn't I think of that??

It's about time a women's clothing fad is something that is both comfortable and has a reasonable expectation to be flattering on most. Farewell, stripper platform heels! Sayonara, overalls and flannel shirts! Bring on the leggings and ballet flats! And what's all this squawk about the dreaded 'camel toe'? If you ask me, it's a small price to pay for comfort. The current women's athletic wear industry is a godsend, with its stretchy yet firming miracle fabrics and built-in shelf bras. 'Twas not always so. We've come a long way, baby.

Improving and maintaining one's health through physical activity has been around since the Greeks jogged up the steps of the Parthenon. Those nice ladies pictured below playing beach volleyball notwithstanding, exercising for health was directed more towards the gents until gender equality arrived on the scene 2500 years later. Around the turn of the 20th century in the U.S., two activities in particular resulted in women becoming more active and therefore needing a wardrobe update: bicycling and basketball.

Early bicycle manufacturers were so considerate to design a model that allowed women to keep their legs together.

Nowadays, keeping their legs together is the least of this team's worries.

The Colombian women's bicycling team. They must have held an 'Ugliest Uniform Design' contest. Winner!

A century ago, women were lucky to be allowed out unaccompanied and let the sun touch their delicate complexions. It was too much to ask that they be allowed to wear comfortable clothing as well. Heaven forfend any ankles might show.

Girls playing tennis at what would become Texas Women's University, Denton, ca 1904. Source: SMU digital collection.

Tennis togs have lightened up considerably since then.

JK - this is not an actual tennis outfit. Model Bar Refaeli has a new lingerie line. Why she is wearing it on court is a mystery to me.

Golf has always been a big ask for women, both for its misogyny and its [lack of] fashion sense. I can confirm the game's reputation for being misogynistic. I once had a lesson from a pro who stated I would never develop a quality golf swing because I was too, ahem, well-endowed. Looking at these outfits, I'm not sure what would get in the way the most - the boobs or the skirt.

Nowadays the view is definitely better, but golf clothes still have a ways to go IMO.

The widest swing of the athletic fashion pendulum has to be women's swimwear. Bikinis were all the rage in ancient Rome. Too bad the fad got lost in the shuffle until 1946.

Image result for ancient rome bikini

 In the early years of recreational swimming, one risked literal drowning by being weighed down in these hideous outfits to avoid risking personal shame by swimming in something more comfortable. 

Thanks to a fabric shortage during World War II and an enterprising French designer, we no longer have to swim in our pajamas. However, there were some bumps along the road. The Chicago police department, among others, had a hard time adjusting to the new paradigm. Swimsuit Patrol had to be the most popular beat at the station!

  

Exercise for fitness has cycled in and out of popularity since the days of laurel wreaths and togas. The most recent wave has surged forward to compete with our hundred-year obsession with American team sports. It it too much to hope more modest exercise fashions will cycle back as well? I was all for the less-is-more fashion philosophy until I reached middle age. Now the last thing I need is athletic wear that exposes the sun damage/wrinkle/cellulite-inducing sins of my past. If I don't push away from the keyboard and get some exercise, I'm gonna wish tennis skirts still covered the ankles. Time to put on my yoga pants and watch a yoga video.

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Published on Leave a comment on The Statue Formerly Known As An Egyptian Lighthouse

Have you read Matthew Goodman's Eighty Days, the story of two intrepid female journalists who were the 19th century version of Amazing Race contestants? The book is filled with history nerd goodies. Its brief passage about the Statue of Liberty sent me down a very satisfying rabbit hole. And why, you may be wondering, is the Statue of Liberty included in a book about a race to circle the globe in 1889? Keep reading, and you will find out.

Liberty's torch arm displayed in Madison Square Park, NYC

Statue of Liberty fun facts:

  • The Statue of Liberty debuted on what was formerly known as Bedloe Island in the New York harbor in 1886. Bedloe was artist Frederic Bartholdi's second choice as a location for his work. Originally he hoped to install a large statue of a woman holding a torch as a lighthouse for the newly completed Suez Canal. But Egypt was low on cash - their cotton profits nosedived when blockades of the Confederacy lifted after the Civil War, and American cotton was back on the market. So Bartholdi had to look elsewhere for a potential location (and buyer!).
  • After the Union victory in the Civil War resulted in keeping the union, well, a union (and abolished slavery in the process), a movement arose in France to honor these achievements (The U.S. - France on-again, off-again relationship was ON). It was suggested by one of France's movers and shakers, Eduoard de Laboulaye, that France commemorate our achievements with a grand gesture. Luckily for Bartholdi, Laboulaye was a friend and likely knew Bartholdi had that lady statue project in mothballs. And thus the Statue Formerly Known As An Egyptian Lighthouse was born. Miss Liberty cost about $250,000, all funded by donations from the French people.
  • So the statue was built and paid for, but what to place it on? You can't just set a 150-ft. tall copper structure weighing almost half a million pounds on the bare ground! As part of the gift deal, the U.S. agreed to pay for a pedestal since the generous French folk underwrote the statue. The pedestal ended up being just as big of a project, almost the same height as the statue and exceeding its cost by $20,000. But in a post-Civil War, Reconstruction economy, contributions lagged. Portions of the still-disassembled statue were put on display in New York City and elsewhere to generate buzz. It was not until Joseph Pulitzer (yes, that Pulitzer) published this heartfelt appeal in his newspaper, The World, that donations poured in. Most were under $1.*

We must raise the money! The World is the people's paper, and now it appeals to the people to come forward and raise the money. The $250,000 that the making of the Statue cost was paid in by the masses of the French people- by the working men, the tradesmen, the shop girls, the artisans- by all, irrespective of class or condition. Let us respond in like manner. Let us not wait for the millionaires to give us this money. It is not a gift from the millionaires of France to the millionaires of America, but a gift of the whole people of France to the whole people of America.**

  • The pedestal's architect, Richard Morris Hunt, was the first American to attend the prestigious Ecole des Beaux Arts academy in Paris. He also founded the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
  • Made of copper (think pennies), Liberty was originally brown for her first 30-40 years until the green patina we are so familiar with today gradually appeared.
  • The project engineer, in charge of designing an interior framework capable of maintaining structural integrity, was Alexander Eiffel (yes, that Eiffel).
  • Liberty's completion was celebrated with New York City's first ticker tape parade.

    Charlotte Bartholdi at left sans crown
  • Bartholdi is said to have modeled Liberty's face after his mother, Charlotte. This means either he was eligible for Son Of The Year, or had no money to pay models.

 

 

*This is the connection to the Eighty Days story - one of the two female globetrotters worked for The World.
**Quote (and much other info in this post) from the National Park Service's Statue of Liberty page.

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Published on Leave a comment on Ellen Ochoa: Still Leading The Way

Like many who grew up in the 1960s, I'm a huge space nerd and as a by-product also a big sci-fi fan.

I'll shell out for just about any sci-fi movie. Watching The Martian, which BTW was fantastic (but as great as the movie was, of course the book by Andy Weir was even better), and more recently a re-run of Gravity on TV (great special effects; sappy internal conflict aka pity party), I was reminded of why we don't send stupid people into space. NASA's astronaut training program is highly selective and rigorous, as well it should be.

I had the privilege of writing a children's biography of one of these space geniuses several years ago. Ellen Ochoa was the first female Hispanic astronaut in space. I felt some kinship with her when I discovered

  • we share a birth year
  • we're also both female, natch
  • we love to read
  • we had a hard time deciding on a major in college

and that's where our paths digress. Dr. Ochoa finally settled on physics for her bachelor's. Let's just say, I didn't. She got that 'Dr.' in front of her name studying electrical engineering at Stanford. She has some patents in optics. And of course there's the whole astronaut thing.

Although she was a bright kid, Ochoa never considered becoming an astronaut because there was no such thing as a female astronaut. Imagine that! Oh, the irony of growing up in the 1960s. But when she was in grad school at Stanford, guess what happened? Or should I say, guess WHO? Yep, Sally Ride broke the glass ceiling in space in 1983, and Ellen started getting ideas. It took her a couple of tries and a year of training, but she made history as part of space shuttle Discovery's crew in April 1993. She was also a crew member for the first time the space shuttle docked with the International Space Station in 1999. Ochoa completed a total of four space flights and has logged more than a thousand hours in space.

Her last space flight was in 2002, but Ochoa was hardly put out to pasture. She continued a career at NASA. Dr. Ochoa is currently the director of the Johnson Space Center (second woman director; first Hispanic director). Something tells me if she ever found herself in a pickle like Sandra Bullock's character in Gravity, there would have been a lot less pity party, and a lot more git 'er done.

Note: the original version of this post first appeared on my blog in May 2016.

Published on Leave a comment on Unbound: A Brief History of Undergarments

Legend says she constructed the prototype from two hankies and some ribbon

I've had the idea for this topic sitting around in my drafts folder ever since I learned that bras were originally designed to reduce the silhouette of the bosom, not enhance them. During the Roaring Twenties, the Flapper look was all the rage. It was as far from the previous style as one could get, from neckline to hemline. It dispensed with corsets altogether, thank goodness!  But as most of us ladies know through sad experience in the 1960s, the majority of the female population benefits from a little support up there, whether it is pushing up, pushing out, or pressing flat. Enter one Mary Phelps Jacob, a plucky New Yorker who invented the modern brassiere out of frustration with corsets.

Some interesting tidbits (yeah, yeah, insert bosom wordplay if you must):

 

  • Ms. Phelps used a nom de bra and marketed her new invention as 'Caresse Crosby'. That's a name made for a romance novel if I ever heard one.
  • She sold her idea to Warner Brothers Corset Company. Warner's Bras is still in business. They do not have any apparent connection to the movie studio of the similar name. However, they are the inventors of the alphabet cup sizing method still in use today.

Flappin' in the breeze 

As for the nether regions, modern undies also came on the scene in the first half of the twentieth century. Prior to that, there was a time when nothing was worn under all those heavy long skirts. Fresh air was considered good for the privates. In the 1800s, a light garment known as pantaloons added an extra layer, especially welcome in chilly climates. Initially they covered only the legs and were open nearer the top (some might say crotchless), for ease in answering the call of nature. Eventually they came to look more like a loose set of capri pants. As dresses shortened and became more form fitting, unmentionables needed to evolve as well. More items of interest:

  • Some think the modern ladies' brief is based on the design of a baby's diaper. Now that you mention it . . .
  • Wearing form-fitting undies daily is a relatively recent (20th century) development. Prior to that time, they were only worn during a certain time of the month to keep feminine hygiene products in place.

And with that, we'll stop and save that whole discussion for another blog post. You gents reading this can exhale now.


This post originally appeared in the 2016 A to Z Blog Challenge.