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shadowkatBetter frame of mind the last two days, so apparently I was wrong the depression bits are in part due to hormonal fluctuations. Actually mostly due to them - perimenupause sucks. Truly sucks.
I think I've fallen in love with The Fault in Our Stars...or maybe it's just come at me at the right time. I've been pondering today whether...certain stories demand for us to watch or read them because there's something inside them that resolves an issue or problem we are struggling with, something inside ourselves. They speak to our souls. The difficulty is...what we see in them no one else may see. Because I believe no one reads or watches the same story in the same way, that we all focus on different bits and pieces or wrinkles inside of it. Almost as if we have watched and read entirely different stories, even though we know this is not the case.
Sometimes I think what I love most about stories is the multiple interpretations or ways of reading them. Even if that can often drive me crazy.
According to my flist it is International Women's Day or Women's Awareness Day - to commenorate the female workers and protesters who have changed the world.
Thinking about female writers, leaders, etc...who I've admired:
1. Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott - single women who forged a career for themselves as writers, and wrote about strong and smart women.
2. Lillian Hellman who wrote about lesbians in the haunting The Children's Hour play, only to be followed by equally brave Jeanette Wintersen.
3. Queen Elizabeth - who ruled England without ever bending, or breaking. Queen Victoria who did the same. Both had time periods named after them.
4. Katherine Hepburn who played smart, witty, capable career women and socialites.
5. Rosa Parks who refused to move from her seat on a bus and changed the course of history.
6. Elizabeth Cady Stanton - who insisted on having the right to vote.
7. Octavia Butler - who dared to be a black female science fiction writer and broke through the barriers.
8. Maya Angelo - who was the first black woman to direct a film and wrote about her life with wit and empathy
9. Julie Taymor - who as a female puppeteer, also became a top director on Broadway
and in film.
10. Sigourney Weaver who made tough tall women smart and beautiful and changed the sci-fi horror landscape.
Female characters, fictional, that I admire and find inspiring:
1. Hazel Grace in The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
2. Buffy Summers in the television serial Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
3. Aeryn Sun in Farscape series.
4. Diane Lockhardt in The Good Wife - savvy and complex lawyer and head of law firm
5. Major Kira in DS9
6. Bailey, a black woman surgeon in Grey's Anatomy
7. Laura Roslyn in BattleStar Galatica
8. Ripley in Aliens
9. Sarah Connor in The Sarah Connor Chronicles
10. Ayra Stark, Asha, and Dany Taragaryn in The Song of Ice and Fire
11. Katniss Everdeen and Rue in The Hunger Games
Name yours?
I think I've fallen in love with The Fault in Our Stars...or maybe it's just come at me at the right time. I've been pondering today whether...certain stories demand for us to watch or read them because there's something inside them that resolves an issue or problem we are struggling with, something inside ourselves. They speak to our souls. The difficulty is...what we see in them no one else may see. Because I believe no one reads or watches the same story in the same way, that we all focus on different bits and pieces or wrinkles inside of it. Almost as if we have watched and read entirely different stories, even though we know this is not the case.
Sometimes I think what I love most about stories is the multiple interpretations or ways of reading them. Even if that can often drive me crazy.
According to my flist it is International Women's Day or Women's Awareness Day - to commenorate the female workers and protesters who have changed the world.
Thinking about female writers, leaders, etc...who I've admired:
1. Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott - single women who forged a career for themselves as writers, and wrote about strong and smart women.
2. Lillian Hellman who wrote about lesbians in the haunting The Children's Hour play, only to be followed by equally brave Jeanette Wintersen.
3. Queen Elizabeth - who ruled England without ever bending, or breaking. Queen Victoria who did the same. Both had time periods named after them.
4. Katherine Hepburn who played smart, witty, capable career women and socialites.
5. Rosa Parks who refused to move from her seat on a bus and changed the course of history.
6. Elizabeth Cady Stanton - who insisted on having the right to vote.
7. Octavia Butler - who dared to be a black female science fiction writer and broke through the barriers.
8. Maya Angelo - who was the first black woman to direct a film and wrote about her life with wit and empathy
9. Julie Taymor - who as a female puppeteer, also became a top director on Broadway
and in film.
10. Sigourney Weaver who made tough tall women smart and beautiful and changed the sci-fi horror landscape.
Female characters, fictional, that I admire and find inspiring:
1. Hazel Grace in The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
2. Buffy Summers in the television serial Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
3. Aeryn Sun in Farscape series.
4. Diane Lockhardt in The Good Wife - savvy and complex lawyer and head of law firm
5. Major Kira in DS9
6. Bailey, a black woman surgeon in Grey's Anatomy
7. Laura Roslyn in BattleStar Galatica
8. Ripley in Aliens
9. Sarah Connor in The Sarah Connor Chronicles
10. Ayra Stark, Asha, and Dany Taragaryn in The Song of Ice and Fire
11. Katniss Everdeen and Rue in The Hunger Games
Name yours?
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no subject
Date: 2012-03-09 03:33 am (UTC)1. Dorothy L. Sayers : a single Mother and Scholar who managed to support herself, her son, and become respected as a writer.
2. Michelle Obama: smart graceful and doing a great job as first lady.
3. Hillary Clinton: doing a brilliant job as Secretary of State....
4. Jane Espenson: over coming breast cancer, after BtVS ended, to move on to write for a lot of brilliant shows (smart funny and one of my favorite people)
5. Gwen Ifill: journalist and host of 'Washington Week in Review' on PBS
6. Tina Fey: comedian who rose to be Head Writer of SNL and producer/creator of her own show '30 Rock'
7. Rachel Maddow: political commentator with PhD from Oxford
8. Eleanor Roosevelt: first lady who traveled the county and acted as eyes and ears of President who could not be as mobile.
9. Abigail Adams: wife of President John Adams who worked hard for women's rights and against slavery at a time when it was almost impossible to do anything for either group.
10. Melissa Harris-Perry: professor at Tulane and author who is one of my new favorite commentators on MSNBC
of course I love/admire the women on your list above... but I wanted to throw out some different women....
no subject
Date: 2012-03-09 03:46 am (UTC)Also you picked a few I've not heard of.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-09 04:13 am (UTC)1. Zoe on Firefly: strong and intelligent and fearless
2. Donna on Doctor Who: she demanded to be treated as an equal
3. Granny Weatherwax: I know you haven't read Terry Pratchett's Discworld but believe me, this old lady is the most independent and strong character imaginable.
4. Lisbeth Salander, the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo... you gotta love her
5. the little girl in Spirited Away who actually won the day through acts of kindness
6. Sarah Jane Smith who grew up from being the Doctor's companion to having her own Adventures
7. Karrin Murphy in Dresden Files, who is brave and strong and good
8. Anne Elliot from Persuasion, it is hard to find a really strong mature young woman in Jane Austen's books because she is really writing about young women who need to grow up... but Anne really became her own woman.
9. Harriet Vane in the Lord Peter Wimsey novels, she is kind of Dorothy L. Sayer's 'Mary Sue' except she is so funny and smart and independent that she is something special
10. Dana Scully from X-Files.... I was having trouble finding women I really loved in shows that I loved... but Agent Scully really aways came through.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-09 05:18 am (UTC)One of the advantages of PST is being able to stay up past midnight on the East Coast.