O’Keeffe’s “almost successful aspiration to be entirely her own woman

"In 1979, Georgia O’Keeffe at ninety-two was the only living woman to be included in artist Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party.” A tribute in place settings of porcelain and embroidery to thirty-nine important women in history. O’Keeffe’s plate rose off the table higher than any other plate—symbolizing, in Chicago’s view, O’Keeffe’s “almost successful aspiration to be entirely her own woman.” ~Jean Shinoda Bolen

Making amends is the beginning of the healing of the world

“To salve the world’s wounds demands a response from the heart. There is a world of hurt out there, and to heal the past requires apologies, reconciliation, reparation, and forgiveness. A viable future isn’t possible until the past is faced objectively and communion is made with our errant history. I suspect that just about everyone owes an apology and merits one, but there are races, cultures, and people that are particularly deserving. The idea that we cannot apologize to former enslaved and first peoples for past iniquities because we are not the ones who perpetuated the evil misses the point. By receiving sorrow, hearing admissions, allowing reparation, and participating in reconciliation, people and tribes whose ancestors were abused give new life to all of us in the world we share. Making amends is the beginning of the healing of the world.” ~Paul Hawken, Blessed Unrest

At the very dawn of religion, God was a woman

"In the beginning people prayed to the Creatress of Life. At the very dawn of religion, God was a woman." 

~Merlin Stone 

Painting by Elisabeth Slettnes

A woman who writes has power

“A woman who writes has power, and a woman with power is feared. In the eyes of the world this makes us dangerous beasts.” ~Gloria E. Anzaldúa

I am the person I know best

"I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best. " Frida Kahlo

"The heresy of one age becomes the orthodoxy of the next." ~ Helen Keller

A Tribute to Amy Johnson

On this day,
Amy,
Shire blood flowing
in your veins,
you -
moth-borne -
flew
half-way around the globe.
Not yet thirty years
from birth,
you knew,
your Yorkshire lass roots -
grounding you always -
would let you fly
beyond your northern sky
to other worlds,
other places,
new smiles
on new faces...
Today,
More years behind me
than you were allowed,
I too find my wings.
My roots -
deep in your Yorkshire soil,
straddling England
to sink for generations into London -
allow my branches to reach high
and the birds of my thoughts to fly
further,
higher,
dancing with your gipsy-moth soul
that calls dry,
North-of-England confirmations
that your precedent
flings freedom
to the four corners of my world
and spins it
to a multi-coloured globe.
~Ruth Calder Murphy

http://www.ruthcaldermurphy.com
Picture: Amy Johnson - British Pilot (1 July 1903 – 5 January 1941)