Amy McGrath could not know what the date, 1993, would mean to her. That was the year Amy, captain of her school soccer team, graduated from high school. It was also the year Congress said women could become fighter pilots. In her senior year, McGrath was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy. What she did…
Category: Women
The Year was 2019
What do twerking and Norway’s National Women’s Soccer Team have in common? Twerking is a dance move originating in New Orleans in the 1980s. It is sexually provocative and almost exclusively done by women. Ada Hegerberg is the best women’s soccer players in the world. Hegerberg, from Norway, is 23 and has won 11 of…
The Year was 1926
Missing! For 11 days, police, dogs, airplanes and 15,000 searchers scoured the English countryside for the missing wife. Was she kidnapped? Murdered? Or had she killed herself? This was straight out of a Stephen King novel. Or an Agatha Christie mystery. Wait! This was Agatha Christie. Agatha was married to the tall, dashing Archie Christie,…
The year was 2007
Can you imagine being caught in a thunderstorm and finding yourself 33,000 feet in the air? It was actually two clouds coming together. This happened to Ewa Wisnierska, a Polish paragliding champion who competed for Germany. The first paraglider would have to be Icarus, who made wings out of feathers and wax, flew too close…
The Year was 2019
What was the pin Nancy Pelosi was wearing during the State of the Union Address? It was a mace. So what is a mace? Way back when people weren’t the kind, thoughtful human beings we are today (!), men – and maybe women – settled their disagreements by clubbing each other over the head with…
The Year was 2018
What a park! Originally called Greensward, it is Central Park, New York City; 750 acres, commissioned by the New York State legislature in 1853. By 2017, it had everything – almost. To let people know where they were in the park, 21 gates were designated. To avoid competition, in 1862, the Board of Commissions decided…
The Year was 2018
A lot of companies are receiving huge tax breaks. Apple – $100 billion Cisco – $25 billion Wells Fargo – $22.6 billion Pepsi – $15 billion* Many more are receiving $10 million or less. What are they doing with this money? The lion’s share will go to stock buybacks and dividends to stockholders. A very…
The Year was 1924
The first woman to be elected governor of state in U.S. history was Nellie Tayloe Ross. Her husband was elected governor of Wyoming but died in office about a year later from complications after having had his appendix removed. By law, the Secretary of State succeeded him as governor. Nellie decided to run for office…
The Year was 1998
Someone else’s mistake eventually thrust Patricia Hunt into the spotlight. It was something the research geneticist never wanted – and certainly never expected. The result of the mistake is something we all know and are concerned about and has changed an entire world-wide industry. Hunt, with a PhD in reproductive biology from the University of…
The Year was 1906
I used to be Snow White but I drifted. Mae West The daughter of a corset model, little Mae was on a vaudeville stage by the time she was five. At 13, billed as the Baby Vamp, she was doing the new dance, the shimmy, to packed houses in New York City. Decades ahead of…