And now for the answers…………

1. This scientist’s book, The Silent Spring, helped launch the environmental movement.

1. a.       Rachel Carson – Met with denial and hostility by chemical companies, her book managed to bring the negative effects of pesticides into the spotlight, leading to a ban on DDT, and inspiring a movement which eventually led to the development of the EPA

2. b.      Jane Goodall –An expert on chimpanzees, she has worked extensively with conservation efforts & animal welfare issues
3. c.       Marie Curie – Polish chemist & physicist famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity

 

2.  This creative businesswoman became America’s first black woman millionaire.

1. a.       Oprah Winfrey – One of the most influential women in the world, Oprah has in the past topped the Forbes list of Wealthiest Black Americans

2. b.      Madam C.J. Walker — The daughter of former slaves, she became a pioneering businesswoman, developing, marketing & distributing hair care and beauty products for women of color

3. c.       Bessie Smith—A popular blues singer of the 1920s & 30s, she was the highest paid black performer of her day

 

3.  In 1849 she became the first modern-day woman doctor of medicine in the United States.

1. a.       Elizabeth Blackwell – Raised in a family that prized education and equality, she applied to at least 16 medical schools before Geneva College (now Hobart College) in New York finally accepted her

2. b.      Clara Barton – This teacher, nurse and humanitarian is best remembered for organizing the American Red Cross
3. c.       Florence Nightingale – This “Lady with the Lamp” is often referred to as the founder of modern nursing

 

4.  Who was the first woman leader of a Muslim country in modern history?

1. a.       Indira Gandhi — The first woman to become prime minister of India, she served from 1966-77 and 1980-84

2. b.      Benazir Bhutto—At the age of 29 she became chairwoman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, and later served as Pakistan’s 11^th prime minister, 1988-90 and 1993-96

3. c.       Mame Madior Boye – The first (and so far only) prime minister of Senegal, from 2001-2002

 

5.  Who was the first woman admitted to the bar in the U.S. in 1869 (and where?)

1. a.       Arabella Mansfield (Iowa)         Yay for Iowa!

2. b.      Myra Colby Bradwell (Illinois)
3. c.       Charlotte E. Ray (Washington, D.C.)

 

6.  She was Upper Iowa’s first African-American alumna.

1. a.       Elizabeth Alexander – A pioneer woman living near what is now Fayette, she proposed the idea of a college in 1854
2. b.      Zinita B. Graf –This noted Shakespearean actress was a 1913 graduate of Upper Iowa University & is rumored to still have a “ghostly” presence on campus

3. c.       Susan Angeline Collins—Graduating in 1879, she later became a missionary in Africa

 

7.  Regarded as one of the greatest ballerinas born in America, she was the first Native American to become a prima ballerina.

1. a.       Madonna Mary Swan-Abdalla – Battling through tuberculosis and being confined for years to an Indian sanatorium, she eventually recovers, becoming a Head Start teacher and is named Native American Woman of the Year
2. b.      Sarah Winnemucca –An educator and activist, she is also known as the first Native American woman to secure a copyright and to publish a book in the English language

3. c.       Maria Tallchief—Taking ballet and piano lessons from the age of three, she went on to an illustrious career as a dancer, later co-founding the Chicago City Ballet in 1981

 

8.  She took her position as “First Lady” seriously, traveling the world to gather information about the concerns of workers, children, minorities, and the poor.  She also wrote a daily newspaper column and made frequent radio broadcasts.

1. a.       Lady Bird Johnson – Concerned with environmental protection, she launched a “Beautification” campaign to inspire communities to clean up neighborhoods and highways

2. b.      Eleanor Roosevelt – A humanitarian who championed equal rights, she was a powerful opponent of segregation.  She transformed the role of First Lady, forming her own staff, holding press conferences, and often traveling the country in place of her husband, who had limited mobility

3. c.       Rosalynn Carter – Politically active during her White House years, she often sat in on meetings, and was a close adviser to her husband.  She is an advocate for many causes, including mental health research

 

9.  After being refused permission to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall, she performed instead an Easter Sunday concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a crowd of 75,000, with millions more listening to the radio broadcast.

1. a.       Mary McLeod Bethune – An American educator and civil rights activist, she was also an advisor to Franklin D. Roosevelt
2. b.      Lena Horne –Talented actress, singer, and Broadway performer, she was relegated to minor roles in Hollywood during the 40’s & 50’s.  As she became increasingly disenfranchised with Hollywood she took a more active role in the fight for civil rights

3. c.       Marian Anderson – In 1939 this celebrated classical singer became a figure in the fight against prejudice when she was denied performing by the Daughters of the American Revolution.  With the help of President Roosevelt, the venue was moved to the Lincoln Memorial.  Anderson went on to break other color barriers, including becoming the first black person to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in NYC in 1955.

 

10.  She opened “Hull House” in a run-down Chicago neighborhood, a community center to improve conditions for poor immigrants.

1. a.       Susan B. Anthony – One of the most prominent leaders in the fight for women’s rights, she was arrested in 1872 for voting in the presidential election

2. b.      Jane Addams – This role model for women focused on the needs of children, public health, the uplifting of communities, and the right to vote.  In 1931 she became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

3. c.       Elizabeth Cady Stanton – Contemporary of Susan B. Anthony, she is often credited for initiating the first organized women’s rights and women’s suffrage movements in the U.S.

 

11.  Who was the first Asian-American elected to Congress?

1. a.       Patsy Mink of Hawaii

2. b.      Judy Chu of California
3. c.       Maya Lin of Ohio – Maya Lin is best-known as the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

 

12.  In what country was the first medical school for women founded?

1. a.       Switzerland
2. b.      France

3. c.       Japan

 

13.  What country was the first to grant women the right to vote (in 1893)?

1. a.       New Zealand

2. b.      Finland
3. c.       United States

 

14.  An award given out annually by the American Library Association is named after this first Latina librarian of the New York Public Library.

1. a.       Pura Belpre – Born in Puerto Rico, she moved to New York in the 1920s where she became an advocate for the Spanish-speaking population, instituting bilingual story hours, buying Spanish language books, and implementing programs based on traditional holidays

2. b.      Gabriel Garcia Marquez – This author is best known for his novels One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera
3. c.       Julia Alvarez – Born in 1950, this Dominican-American is known for her novels How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and In the Time of the Butterflies

 

15.  What was the first American college to admit women and men on an equal basis?

1. a.       Harvard (Massachusetts)
2. b.      Columbia (New York)

3. c.       Oberlin (Ohio)

How many did you get right?

“We cannot silence the voices that we do not like hearing. We can , however, do everything in our power to make certain that other voices are heard.” Deborah Prothrow – Stith

“In the adjustment of the new order of things, we women demand an equal voice; we shall accept nothing less.” Carrie Chapman Catt   

Harriet Tubman.  Mother Teresa.  Cleopatra.  Rosa Parks.  Joan of Arc.  Susan B. Anthony.  Anne Frank.  Throughout time, remarkable women have spoken for those whose voices could not be heard.  This month we pay homage to the women who fought so hard for equality, whether it be in the ability to attend school, vote, join the armed forces, overcome violence, speak one’s mind, or marry who they desire.  Learn about some more amazing women in today’s quiz — how many do you know?  (answers will appear in next post)

1.  This scientist’s book, The Silent Spring, helped launch the environmental movement.

1. a.       Rachel Carson
2. b.      Jane Goodall
3. c.       Marie Curie

 

2.  This creative businesswoman became America’s first black woman millionaire.

1. a.       Oprah Winfrey
2. b.      Madam C.J. Walker
3. c.       Bessie Smith

 

3.  In 1849 she became the first modern-day woman doctor of medicine in the United States.

1. a.       Elizabeth Blackwell
2. b.      Clara Barton
3. c.       Florence Nightingale

 

4.  Who was the first woman leader of a Muslim country in modern history?

1. a.       Indira Gandhi
2. b.      Benazir Bhutto
3. c.       Mame Madior Boye

 

5.  Who was the first woman admitted to the bar in the U.S. in 1869 (and where?)

1. a.       Arabella Mansfield (Iowa)
2. b.      Myra Colby Bradwell (Illinois)
3. c.       Charlotte E. Ray (Washington, D.C.)

 

6.  She was Upper Iowa’s first African-American alumna.

1. a.       Elizabeth Alexander
2. b.      Zinita B. Graf
3. c.       Susan Angeline Collins

 

7.  Regarded as one of the greatest ballerinas born in America, she was the first Native American to become a prima ballerina.

1. a.       Madonna Mary Swan-Abdalla
2. b.      Sarah Winnemucca
3. c.       Maria Tallchief

 

8.  She took her position as “First Lady” seriously, travelling the world to gather information about the concerns of workers, children, minorities, and the poor.  She also wrote a daily newspaper column and made frequent radio broadcasts.

1. a.       Lady Bird Johnson
2. b.      Eleanor Roosevelt
3. c.       Rosalynn Carter

 

9.  After being refused permission to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall, she performed instead an Easter Sunday concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a crowd of 75,000, with millions more listening to the radio broadcast.

1. a.       Mary McLeod Bethune
2. b.      Lena Horne
3. c.       Marian Anderson

 

10.  She opened “Hull House” in a run-down Chicago neighborhood, a community center to improve conditions for poor immigrants.

1. a.       Susan B. Anthony
2. b.      Jane Addams
3. c.       Elizabeth Cady Stanton

 

11.  Who was the first Asian-American elected to Congress?

1. a.       Patsy Mink of Hawaii
2. b.      Judy Chu of California
3. c.       Maya Lin of Ohio

 

12.  In what country was the first medical school for women founded?

1. a.       Switzerland
2. b.      France
3. c.       Japan

 

13.  What country was the first to grant women the right to vote (in 1893)?

1. a.       New Zealand
2. b.      Finland
3. c.       United States

 

14.  An award given out annually by the American Library Association is named after this first Latina librarian of the New York Public Library.

1. a.       Pura Belpre
2. b.      Gabriel Garcia Marquez
3. c.       Julia Alvarez

 

15.  What was the first American college to admit women and men on an equal basis?

1. a.       Harvard (Massachusetts)
2. b.      Columbia (New York)
3. c.       Oberlin (Ohio)

 

How often do you step outside and just appreciate what you see, hear, and smell without rushing to your destination, or being engrossed in your ipod or cellphone?  I recently read noted environmentalist Rachel Carson’s Sense of Wonder, a book based on an essay that encourages adults to share with children the astonishing variety of life around us — from the lush moss on the ground, to the birds at the ocean’s edge, to the sound of the wind in the treetops.  I appreciated that she stressed that you don’t have to be able to identify those mosses, birds, and trees by name, but instead just impart curiosity, appreciation, and as the title states, a sense of wonder.

 A couple passages I especially liked:

“It occurred to me that if this were a sight that could be seen only once in a century or even once in a human generation, this little headland would be thronged with spectators. But it can be seen many scores of nights in any year, and so the ligths burned in the cottages and the inhabitants probably gave not a thought to the beauty overhead; and because they could see it almost any night perhaps they will never see it”.

 
“If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength”.

The day I finished reading this I actually took the dog for a walk in the woods.  I’m always appreciative of nature, but this walk proved especially fulfilling; in addition to a soaring hawk we saw a little silvery fish leaping from the stream, two white-tailed deers bounding through the woods, and an entire flock of ducks taking flight.  With the book fresh in my mind, I especially enjoyed the things I saw and heard.

 I encourage everyone to take some time to slow down and just look and listen to the awe-inspring beauty that is all around us.

A few random thoughts of the week:

• The Hunger Games movie comes out this week.  Who’s attending a midnight showing?  I’m anxious to see it, but I think I can wait until the frenzy settles a bit.   I’m betting  it will actually be tamer than the books – I wonder if people realize how gory the books actually are.  Don’t get me wrong — I love the books, but promotions I’ve seen have it geared towards families which I find a bit strange.  The premise, after all, is a televised fight-to-the-death. 
• After 244 years, the Encyclopedia Britannica is ceasing its print edition.  Like seemingly everything else, they’re going digital.  To me, this is depressing news.  Sure, the internet has made it easier and faster to find most information,  but there is just something comforting and appealing about a set of encyclopedias, and all that knowledge at your fingertips.  (I’ll expound further on the “demise of the book” in a future post…….)
• Yesterday I attended part of the “Midwestern Literary Project” on campus.  It was an author/editor panel discussion to showcase contemporary Midwestern writing, editing, and publishing.  Participants in the author/editor panel discussion included:  Timothy Fay, editor, publisher, and printer of the Iowa-based literary journal, The Wapsipinicon Almanac, with Dr. Doug McReynolds, UIU Bissell professor of English, who authored a suite of personal essays on the seasons that was published in the Wapsipinicon Almanac); Jim O’Loughlin, editor and publisher of Final Thursday Press (FTP); and Kimberly Groninga, author of a volume of poetry, Other Things that Grow, published by FTP.              (from http://www.uiu.edu/ocm/news/2012/mar/literary-project.html)

The entire talk was interesting, but especially impressive is the fact that Fay HAND-PRODUCES the Wapsipinicon Almanac using labor-intensive linotype setting, a craft using letter press equipment mostly considered obsolete in today’s publishing realm.  For more information on linotype and the Almanac, check out these pages:   http://wapsialmanac.com/history   and  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linotype_machine

Although it’s too late to attend this fascinating discussion, I encourage those on campus to take part in future talks/panels such as these.  How lucky we are to have opportunities such as these for gaining new knowledge!

 

 

 

 

Image:Linotype-vorne-deutsches-museum.jpg by Clemens PFEIFFER, Vienna. Annotations by Paul Koning

As I mentioned in last week’s post, March is National Craft Month.  I’ve tried my hand at many different types of crafting over the years:  woodworking, basket-making, soap-making, beaded jewelry, rag rugs, scrapbooking, cardmaking, and stepping stones, to name a few.  Unfortunately many of my attempts sit half-completed in totes.  So this month I’m challenging myself to actually complete something, whether it’s something I’ve already started, or a new project I’ve wanted to try. 

Who else wants to do a project this month?  Here’s the challenge:  complete a craft item, then email me(hilleshiemj@uiu.edu) a picture and/or description of it and I will post it.  Or, if you’d rather I didn’t share them, just indicate that (or I can post it anonymously!). 

And don’t worry if you’re not Martha Stewart.  Sometimes I say my my projects end up looking like they were done by a four-year-old, but that’s actually giving myself too much credit.  Most children I know definitely create more awesome stuff than me!  If you’re feeling bad about your failed projects, a good site to visit is www.craftfail.com.  It lets you know that, yes, occasionally other people have craft failures, too!

6

March is the designated month for Irish-American Heritage, Women’s History, and Deaf History.  It’s also National Nutrition Month and National Craft Month, among others.  And of course, the first day of spring falls in March!  Each week I’ll look at one of these special events and give suggestions for books and websites, or just some fun facts or ideas. 

National Nutrition Month                                                                                

In a previous post I mentioned how I’m trying to keep more ready-to-go, healthy food at home.  These are common-sense ideas — freeze left-overs, make and freeze individual servings of soup, cut up vegetables as soon as I get home from the store.  But what I’ve really been focusing on lately is getting more fruits and vegetables in my diet, and daily salads have been a great way to do it (Thanks to my cousin Nicole for this inspiration!!).  By googling “salads for the week” you’ll find good tips & suggestions, but one I really like is at http://genxfinance.com/how-to-prepare-a-salad-to-last-all-week-for-just-a-few-dollars/.  He really explains how to prep so they will stay fresh for days. 

“Above, I mentioned you should place your cut pieces into a collander or a salad spinner, and this is actually one of the most important steps if you want your lettuce to keep in the fridge. Moisture is the enemy in your fight to keep lettuce crisp for more than just a few days. When moisture is trapped against the lettuce while it’s being stored, it will make it wilt and that isn’t something you want to eat. If you don’t have a salad spinner, use the collander to shake any excess water, and then use paper towels to soak up any lingering moisture.”

I really suggest getting a salad spinner; my daughter actually found one for me at World Market for $10, a bargain for a great kitchen tool!  Once you have the lettuce all prepared, then the fun begins — choosing toppings (it really doesn’t take much to amuse me sometimes )!  Here are some of the combinations I like: 

• Apples, walnuts, raspberry viniagrette
• Very veggie (peppers, tomatoes, carrots, celery, mushrooms, frozen peas)
• Kidney beans, frozen corn, taco meat
• Feta cheese, tomatoes, black olives

This is also a great way to use up left-over vegetables:  I had some frozen peas and corn in the freezer I had bought for a recipe; I don’t like the taste of them plain, but add them to a salad & they taste pretty good.  Have some leftover broccoli or cauliflower from supper?  Toss that in!  It’s been a very ecomical, convenient way to improve my diet.  Just set aside a bit of time Sunday night, and have healthy lunches or sides for a week!

By the way, here are some educational websites to check out for “National Nutrition Month”:

http://www.eatright.org/nnm/

http://www.nutrition.gov/

http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=4&tax_level=1

http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/week-one

http://www.choosemyplate.gov/