snow white

I saw the movie Mirror Mirror with Julia Roberts (finally) on Netflix the other day.  Again the wise old woman is demonic while the innocent youthful one is the herione.  What's wrong with educating women?  Maybe it was her star power, but I was drawn in by the Queen character.  Had she ever had children of her own?  Had she ever been in love once?  How did she learn all that magic?

I told my students the other day, you can spend many years denying your own abilities, but eventually you have to own them and grow up.  No wonder women and girls are busy flipping their hair and posing about uselessly.  Disney tells us that's what girls do.  Check out the body language alone in this video.  Now I can see out my window a dog walker pausing to observe the plants in my front (educational) garden.  Lovely.

International Women's Day passed in my life, while I was clueless as to its intent and history.  One powerful image has stuck in my mind though, a girl with a pink bike.  It was in the lobby of the Athenaeum next to a big poster advertising a film called Girl Rising.  A lame photoset which is totally unrelated is here.  I have been thinking ever since about the power of educating and empowering women around the world.  And giving them bikes.  And teaching them to farm.  And teaching them chemistry.  Practical magic.