Happy International Women’s Day !

Today, we celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women and indeed, we have so much to celebrate.

First and foremost, how wonderful it was to see Kathryn Bigelow make history last night by being the first female director in the 82-year history to win the Academy Awards and on top of that it was for a war movie. Bravo Bigelow! Yesterday also marked the death of the oldest living person in the United States, Mary Josephine Roy, who was a sports-loving, card-playing woman and if you can imagine, was born before Henry Ford built his first car. In the end, she outlived her husband by forty years, had two sons, eight grandchildren, thirteen great grandchildren and five great-great children. Now that is quite a legacy, don’t you think?

International Women’s Day has been celebrated since 1911—even before women were allowed to vote.

Today, in my journal I am going to take some time to reflect on the most influential women in my own life, both alive and dead.

TO ALL YOU MALE READERS– I just read that in Great Britain, male cosmetic sales are growing at twice the rate of those in the female market. There has been talk about males wanting to keep up and keep young. Perhaps you are all getting ready for your big day – International Men’s Day to be celebrated November 19 — so don’t fret, you will have your turn!

Namaste!

About Me

I am a memoirist, essayist, poet and teacher whose passion is keeping a notebook. My notebook is my muse and my alter ego. It contains personal snippets of my life and observations from the world around me. Diarist Anaïs Nin has been a great source of inspiration for me. My hobbies include writing, writing and more writing, but when I have extra time, I enjoy reading, walking, hiking, yoga, working out, cooking and hanging out with my family and Maltese Poodle, Spunky. In order not to become ensconced by the glare of my computer screen, I also teach in the UCLA Extension Writers' Program and in various conferences and festivals around the country. My pleasure comes from sharing my joy of journaling with professional writers and anyone interested in writing.

3 Responses to “Happy International Women’s Day !”

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1 satia March 8, 2010 at 4:16 pm

I wrote about IWD in my blog today too. And although I didn’t watch the awards, I read the list of winners and when I saw a woman had won for best director I thought, “She has to be the first because I’ve never heard of a woman winning before.”

But I would clarify one point . . . women had the right to vote as early as 1893 in New Zealand. American women may have had to wait longer although in the Wyoming Territory women were voting in 1869. So women could vote before 1911, it just depending upon where they lived. Conditions for women often vary from area to area. We’ve come a long way but there’s still room for improvement.

2 Jim Alexander March 8, 2010 at 8:41 pm

I don’t know if you can tell, but no makeup for me…so far.:-)

3 itslisa March 14, 2010 at 7:39 am

I just saw your post on Book Blogs and thought I’d come over for a visit. I enjoyed your blog and am trying to figure out how to follow it.

Diana’s Notebook