Shooting for the Moon: Graduation and Women Who Changed Our World

I graduated. A week ago, today.

Holy sh- wait. That would not be very Southern Belle of me ;)

But, gah! It really happened!?! 


Saturday, May 7th, I crossed the Cistern (yes, Cistern... not an auditorium stage. We do things differently at C of C!).

 No cap and gown... white sundresses and summer tuxedos :)

I hope you aren't jealous! 

A week later, the beauty and charm and celebration of the ceremony has settled.

Now, I have to enter the "real world."

And, I am excited-nervous-frightened-pumped.

What do I hope to do?

What any Southern Belle Feminist would:

Change. The. World. 

Lofty - yes - but, as they say:

Whether you've just graduated or not,

I hope you're shootin' for the moon, too.

If you need a little inspiration, check out these 125 women who shot for the moon and changed our world.

Here are a few of my favorites and some you may have never heard of before:

• Diana, Princess of Wales - activist and icon 
• Nancy Drew - yes, as in the teen detective... I swear I think I read every single book in the series growing up! 
• Rosie the Riveter - hello girl power! 
• Anne Frank - I have been journaling ever since I read her book.  
• Helen Keller - true example that women can overcome whatever life throws at them
• Wendy Kopp - founder of Teach for America 
• Gertrude Belle Elion - medical researcher who helped us transplant organs and fight Leukemia 
• Rosalind Franklin - first to discover proof about the double-helix in DNA
• Jacqueline Cochran - first woman to break the sound barrier 
• Valentina Tereshkova - first woman in space
• Mia Hamm - "She scored more international goals than any other soccer player, and led a generation of adolescent girls to change their minds about sports."
• Wilma Rudolph - "She overcame polio to become a runner, winning three gold medals in one Olympics, the first American woman to do so."
• Eve Ensler - creator of The Vagina Monologues 
• Gloria Steinem - feminist writer and activist
• Betty Friedan - author of The Feminine Mystique and cofounder of the National Organization for Women 
• Jeannette Rankin - first woman elected to Congress... back in 1916
• Gertrude Ederle - "First woman to swim the English Channel (beating the men's record by nearly two hours), 1926."  
•  Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton - suffragists and women's rights supporters
• Hedy Lamarr - "Inventor of an anti-jamming device for radio-controlled torpedoes, 1942." And a glam actress... talk about multi-talented ;)
  
  Clearly, all of these women are talented.
  
  Hopefully, as I enter the real world, I can follow in their footsteps to change the world and succeed in life:
  
  

  Success:  To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.  This is to have succeeded! 

                                                                       ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
  
  
  

  

  Me, about to "Cross the Cistern"

  
  

  

    And, across, an official College of Charleston alum!
  
  

  Now I'm off to enter [and hopefully change...] the real world! 

  
  

  I hope you'll join me and... 
  
  

  

  
  

Guerilla Girls - Creative Complaining

Who are they? 

According to their website, they are "feminist masked avengers in the tradition of anonymous do-gooders like Robin Hood, Wonder Woman and Batman." And, "We're a bunch of anonymous females who take the names of dead women artists as pseudonyms and appear in public wearing gorilla masks." Why? "We wear gorilla masks to focus on the issues rather than our personalities."

And I was lucky enough to see their informative and very entertaining presentation at CofC this semester. 

Their goal: 

To "expose sexism, racism and corruption in politics, art, film and pop culture." And, "use humor to convey information, provoke discussion, and show that feminists can be funny."

And how do they do that? 

"With facts, humor and outrageous visuals. We reveal the understory, the subtext, the overlooked, the and the downright unfair." 

Check out some examples below of how they use art to accuse art: 

 

And people have noticed: 

"Our work has been passed around the world by our tireless supporters. In the last few years, we’ve appeared at over 90 universities and museums, as well as in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Bitch, and Artforum; on NPR, the BBC and CBC; and in many art and feminist texts."

But they do way more than posters: 

"We are authors of stickers, billboards, many, many posters and other projects... We’re part of Amnesty International’s Stop Violence Against Women Campaign in the UK; we're brainstorming with Greenpeace. In the last few years, we've unveiled anti-film industry billboards in Hollywood just in time for the Oscars, and created large scale projects for the Venice Biennale, Istanbul and Mexico City. We dissed the Museum of Modern Art at its own Feminist Futures Symposium, examined the museums of Washington DC in a full page in the Washington Post, and exhibited large-scale posters and banners in Athens, Bilbao, Montreal, Rotterdam, Sarajevo and Shanghai.

In addition, they have published several funny and interesting books: 

Confessions of The Guerrilla Girls

 

The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art

 

 

  

Bitches, Bimbos and Ballbreakers: The Guerrilla Girls' Illustrated Guide to Female Stereotypes

 

 

The Guerrilla Girls' Art Museum Activity Book

 

 

And their plans for the future? 

"More creative complaining! More facts, humor and fake fur! More appearances, actions and artworks. We could be anyone; we are everywhere." 

 If you want to know more, here is a snippet from their F.A.Q. page:

How did your group get started? Why do you call yourselves Guerrillas? Why girls? Why the gorilla masks? Why the pseudonyms?

That is ancient history....you can read all about it in our interview.

 Or, just check out their whole website :)