Happy Birthday Louisa!

From A Mighty Girl's Facebook post today: 

Today in Mighty Girl history, we celebrate the 180th birthday of esteemed American author Louisa May Alcott. Born into a childhood of financial poverty, but to a family rich in ideas and connections, Ms. Alcott came to find recognition and independence within her lifetime.

A talent for writing led to her fame, most notably for the book “Little Women,” published in 1868. Set during the Civil War era, the book is a semi-autobiographical tale of the life she shared with her three sisters. The main character, Jo March, was based off of Louisa herself, and challenged the norms with her defiant, opinionated nature.

Indeed, Alcott believed strongly in abolitionist and suffrage causes. She was actively involved in both movements, and was the first woman to register to vote in her hometown of Concord, Massachusetts. Ms. Alcott believed in equality for all, and firmly rejected the concept of so-called women’s work.

“I like to help women help themselves, as that is, in my opinion, the best way to settle the woman question. Whatever we can do and do well we have a right to, and I don't think anyone will deny us.”

To learn more about Alcott’s most famous work, “Little Women,” visit http://www.amightygirl.com/little-women-book

A Mighty Girl also features several related items, such as the 1994 film version of "Little Women" starring Winona Ryder as Jo March (http://www.amightygirl.com/little-women), and even a set of paper dolls featuring Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy (http://www.amightygirl.com/little-women-paper-dolls).

To learn more about famous women writers, visit our “Writers/Poets” section within “Biographies” at http://www.amightygirl.com/books/history-biography/biography?cat=368

This Just In! But Why Am I Just Knowing Now??

Cosmopolitan

Image from UpWorthy.com

I seriously thought this was an actual cover photo from Cosmo until I read the text. Let's just say, there's not much difference?

Popsicle Lockheed Electra

Upon discovering Pinterest, I discovered a way to make simple model airplanes. So I design this one taking after Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra plane. Minus the color (didn't have red)... I loved the way  it came out!

Happy Birthday Amelia Earhart!

July 24, 2012      

Brave, courageous, inspirational, and a pilot describe this woman. And even though these adjectives normally reflect characters in great literary works, a real woman reflects this description. Her name flies through the air just as her career. And on this day, in 1897, a young girl was born who grew up to be, -- Amelia Earhart.  

Earhart broke numerous records in aviation. She helped to organize and became vice president of public relations for a new airline, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington Airways. She broke barriers for women when she flew across the Atlantic. Earhart became a force to be reckoned with as she grew up. Her legacy lives on and the mystery surrounding her disappearance will continue to entice audiences of all ages.

On July 2nd, 1937, Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were flying from New Guinea to Howland Island when they went missing. Many controversies and theories surround her disappearance. Many of those have remained unproven. 75 years later, one group hopes to search for conclusive evidence based on the theory that Earhart and Noonan crash-landed on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean. The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) led this $2.2 million dollar expedition earlier this month. Their evidence turned back inconclusive after having trouble with equipment and rough underwater terrain where they believe Earhart’s plane, Lockheed Electrasunk.

                Previous expeditions led by TIGHAR turned up a few artifacts that lead researchers to believe that Earhart and Noon did crash land on the island of Nikumaroro. READ MORE HERE.

                Either way, the story is enticing. And it leaves me to wonder what make Amelia Earhart, the Amelia Earhart? Scrolling through a few articles, I found one interesting fact that comforts a little pack rat like me. Earhart grew up keeping “a scrapbook of newspaper clipping about successful women in predominately male-oriented fields, including film direction and production, law, advertising, management, and mechanical engineering” (AMELIAEARHART.COM).

                Happy Birthday Amelia Earhart!

It's a Brave New World

    Whether you watch Teen Mom on MTV or patrol a nearby high school, the face of the teen parent is stereotypically defined as female, despite the male biology necessary to make teen parenting happen at all.
  

   And, if you see the teen single mother through the eyes of some recent political candidates, you’d think she’s as stealthy and sneaky as a burglar, hogging up resources and government checks. But, in the real world we all live in, she is a cousin you grew up with, a friend at school who had sex for the first time and the condom broke or she was the pitcher on the softball team. She’s all of us.

   One girl determined to expose and defeat the stereotype about teen mothers did it in a very interesting way. Gaby Rodriguez conducted a social experiment on teen pregnancy. Rodriguez was a high school senior, anticipating her future in college when she decided to make the decision to fake a pregnancy in order to see the stereotypes of being a pregnant teen.

   “I really wanted to do a senior project that would impact my school; I wanted to do something that would not only teach me something but teach my fellow classmates something too,” Rodriguez said in an interview with Rachel Cohen for the Lifetime movie website.

   Rodriguez was courageous. Only a few people knew her secret: her mom, boyfriend, sister, and principal. She lost friends, received anger from family members, and was excluded from “teenage society.” People told her she would have to quit school and get on welfare. They said an “A” student with a baby would not make it through college.

   In the midst of typical high school behavior such as going to prom, getting good grades, and finding a good college, teens are engaging in unprotected sex at high rates, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Forty-six percent of teens are engaging in sexual activity.

   An estimated 400,000 girls aging from 15-19 years old give birth each year. Because the number is staggering, it is easy to pass judgment on the future of teen moms. Stereotypes and stigmas have stained the image of these young girls as if they were Hester Prynne bearing a scarlet letter instead of a miracle of a child.

   “Several times in the beginning,” Rodriguez said, “especially with some of the negative comments I was getting and the rumors being started about me. It was disappointing, because I worked so hard my entire life with my education to be the best student I could possibly be, and then all of sudden people thought I wasn’t going to go to college or graduate … or do anything with my life.”

   The statistics about teen mothers are daunting. According to March of Dimes research, forty-five percent of teen moms finish high school comparative the seventy-five percent of their classmates. Fifty-nine percent of teen moms want to go to college and aspire to be what they’ve always dreamed. Three percent actually make it through college and earn a degree. It is not impossible.

   The realities are tough for most teenage moms, especially if they do not have support. Rodriguez stated in her Lifetime interview after her story was made into a movie called The Pregnancy Project, “my message is that life does not have to come to an end [because] you get pregnant young. Teen parents should find the strength for their children and push themselves further to succeed in life. It’s not the end of the road.”