I don’t remember how old I was the first time I watched Star Wars. Episode I was released when I was five, and my family had VHS copies of the original trilogy that floated around the ranch between houses, until it was hard to tell who owned which copy anymore. I’m sure I watched the movies long before I could comprehend what was happening, but with all of the special effects and costume designs, I’m sure I enjoyed it plenty. My brother and I watched Return of the Jedi so many times, parts of the beginning are scratched and scenes cut out a bit. I’m sure my mom has the old copies somewhere, like yearbooks, stashed away with other old memories.
As I grew up, a young girl in a male dominated environment, the movies offered me someone to identify with. While my brother and male cousins had many a male characters to fanboy over, I found Princess Leia and in turn, Carrie Fisher, as the role model I needed. It wasn’t until I was an adult did I ever realize how important of a person she truly was.
As many know, because she was very open about it, Carrie Fisher had bipolar disorder. In her later years, she had an emotional support animal named Gary, a lovable French Bulldog that went with her to all appearances. But when she was younger, she used drugs as a way to cope with the up’s and down’s of bipolar disorder. She described her drug use as a form of self-medication, saying that “drugs made me feel more normal… they contained me”. She openly spoke about her addiction to cocaine and prescription medications. At one point, she thought she was a drug addict (said she was one) but she was also severely manic depressive, and those two things had a connection.
In 1985, she accidentally overdosed on a combination of prescription medication and sleeping pills. She was rushed to the hospital, and the events thereafter inspired the material of her novel and screenplay, Postcards from the Edge. This was around time she accepted her diagnosis of bipolar disorder. She was put on antidepressants, which she said moored down her brain and made her feel worse. Over the years, she found a mixture of prescription drugs that worked, and added shock therapy treatments every six weeks to her treatment. She said they “blow apart the cement” in her brain. As of 2014, she had stopped receiving the treatments.
In interviews over the years, and through her writing of her books, she never shied away from the topic of mental illness. She told Diane Sawyer in 1995 that she was severely manic depressive, adding “I am mentally ill. I can say that. I am not ashamed of that. I survived that, I’m still surviving it, but bring it on.” She described her two moods (rollicking Roy and sediment Pam) and explained how they function. She spoke openly about being hospitalized, saying she had a “psychotic break”, and said she belonged there.
Carrie wasn’t afraid of being open. She brought mental health to the attention of millions, just by being herself and talking about it. As a young woman attempting to understand the facets of my own manic depression, knowing that someone I’d looked up too as a child was out there, battling similar demons to my own, was inspiring. To hear a woman I had admired since I was a child say, “I’m what psychology journals refer to as batshit crazy. It’s a delicate mix of bipolar disorder, which I’m able to control through serious medication, and a completely untreatable case of I don’t give a shit” was awe-inspiring.
In the years before and after her death, she’s been referred to as “space mom”, and for some, that’s exactly what she was and continues to be. Her witty humor, amazing use of Twitter (“Help me obi Juan whoever the fuck you are… you’re my only ho”), including her ongoing jabs at Donald Trump, her openness about her mental health, and overall aura appealed to a large audience. Her death in 2016 brought about a wave of appreciation and sadness, as someone so important to so many had passed on. She left behind a legacy that helped many, making her mark in a way that was uniquely her own.
She left this world drowned in moonlight, strangled by her own bra, and a little better because of her.
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This App Makes Your Phone Buzz When You Approach Places Where Women Made History
“The SPARK movement is aiming to put women on the map. After the non-profit noticed that Google’s daily doodles featured women only 17% of the time, they reached out to the tech giants. Google agreed with them, and the two have worked together to feature more history-making women. In addition, SPARK was invited to actively research and honor notable women through a mapping project powered by Google’s Field Trip app.
Now, when app users log into Field Trip and switch on the history notifications, they are alerted when they are approaching the exact location where a woman made history at one point in time, and can then read a bit about her and her achievements.
One of the most unique things about SPARK is that they are a movement by and for girls, ages 13-22. All of the research and work behind the On the Map project was performed by the girls, who hope to educate themselves on inspirational women in addition to spreading the word.
The team has researched and mapped around 100 notable women on the app so far, and invite those who are interested to nominate their favorite historical women to be featured.”
GOOGLE COMMEMORATES FEMINIST GEOCHEMIST WHO HELPED CLEAR SEAS OF DANGEROUS NUCLEAR EXPERIMENTS
“Saruhashi's list of achievements is vast and wide. Chief among them is work she did to test how nuclear fallout was moving in the seas, and use it to show that tests of nuclear explosions in the ocean should be limited.
But Saruhashi's achievements weren't only scientific, and the list of work that others went on to do as a result of her inspiration is even longer. She also worked incredibly hard to ensure that other women got a chance to make the breakthroughs she did, explaining that it was her mission to make the field she worked in more equal.
"There are many women who have the ability to become great scientists," she said. "I would like to see the day when women can contribute to science & technology on an equal footing with men.”
WEBSITE AIMS TO TRANSFORM THE PHILOSOPHY CANON BY HIGHLIGHTING WOMEN
“Project Vox is a website that “seeks to recover the lost voices of women who have been ignored in standard narratives of the history of modern philosophy.”
Led by a Duke philosophy professor with a team of staff and students, along with colleagues at Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania, the siteaims to intervene at a few different points in the “vicious cycle” that keeps early women philosophers’ work marginalized within the canon.
From Lady Masham, Margaret Cavendish and Anne Conway in England to Émilie Du Châtelet in France, many women played significant roles in the development of modern philosophy, but their contributions have often gone unnoticed. The website has three primary goals. First, it seeks to provide students at all levels with the materials they need to begin exploring the rich philosophical ideas of Cavendish, Conway, Du Châtelet and Masham. Second, it aims to provide teachers with the material they need to incorporate these four figures into their courses. Third and finally, it aims to help transform our current conception of the canon.
It also has the happy side effect of making loads of information—biographies, out-of-print texts, sample syllabi—easily accessible to those of us who aren’t in academia. So if you want to get your self-taught Ph.D. in early modern women’s philosophy, get on it.”
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“Here’s a short comic about my Chinese grandmothers. Thank you to all the amazing women who make life better for those who come after. #HerStoryOurStory #IWD2018Â
There's no better way to celebrate Women's History Month than by reading about women who have changed their worlds, created art, and lived intensely.
“Since 1987, March has been designated Women’s History Month in the United States. The celebration has roots in the socialist and labor movements, starting with February 28, 1909 – a year after garment workers strikes took place in New York – which marked the first Women’s Day. By the 1970s, feminist activists lobbied for a week-long celebration, in part because history books overlooked the contributions of women. But it wasn’t until 1987 that March became Women’s History Month, thanks to the Women’s National History Project.
As we continue to celebrate the holiday, Latinas – much like other women of color – continue being disregarded. That’s why there’s no better way to celebrate the month than by reading about women who have changed their worlds, created art, and lived intensely. Below are seven memoirs, book of essays, and poetry books that tell the stories of incredible Latinas in their own words.”
