Rachel Mannino
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Rachel's Musings

#WickedWomenWed: A Famous Female Author

3/23/2016

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For this #WickedWomenWed, I'm selecting one of my own favorite authors, Jane Austen! From Pride and Prejudice to Sense and Sensibility, her writing was smart, funny, and romantic. 

Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature. Her literary realism, biting irony and social commentary as well as her acclaimed plots have gained her historical importance among scholars and critics.

Austen lived her entire life as part of a close-knit family located on the lower fringes of the English landed gentry. She was educated primarily by her father and older brothers as well as through her own reading. The steadfast support of her family was critical to her development as a professional writer. From 1811 until 1816, with the publication of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1815), she achieved success as a published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818, and began another one, which was eventually titled Sanditon, but died before completing it.

Her plots, though fundamentally comic, highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security. Her works, though usually popular, were first published anonymously and brought her little personal fame and only a few positive reviews during her lifetime. The publication in 1869 of her nephew's A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced her to a wider public, and by the 1940s she had become widely accepted in academia as a great English writer. The second half of the 20th century saw a proliferation of Austen scholarship and the emergence of a Janeite fan culture.
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A Wicked (Awesome) Woman Scientist

3/16/2016

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For this #WickedWomenWed, I chose to celebrate women scientists. Sadly, they are few and far between. However, the winning entry is this woman to the left, Rosalind Franklin. She was an English chemist who made contributions to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), viruses, coal, and graphite.  Although her works on coal and viruses were appreciated in her lifetime, her contributions to the discovery of DNA were largely recognized posthumously. Her work eventually led to the discovery of the double helix. Oh, Rosalind! What would we have done without you?

It's a shame that she died at the age of 37 from ovarian cancer. She was far, far too young!
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For #WickedWomenWed, I choose Malala!

3/9/2016

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Her story is now the stuff of legends, and she's probably one of the most courageous female leaders of our times. And, she's what? 18?

 Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. She is known mainly for human rights advocacy for education and for women in her native Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school.

Her family runs a chain of schools in the region. In early 2009, when she was 11–12, Yousafzai wrote a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC detailing her life under Taliban occupation, their attempts to take control of the valley, and her views on promoting education for girls in the Swat Valley. The following summer, journalist Adam B. Ellick made a New York Times documentary about her life as the Pakistani military intervened in the region. Yousafzai rose in prominence, giving interviews in print and on television, and she was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize by South African activist Desmond Tutu.

On the afternoon of October 9, 2012, Yousafzai boarded her school bus in the northwest Pakistani district of Swat. A gunman asked for her by name, then pointed a pistol at her and fired three shots. One bullet hit the left side of Yousafzai's forehead, travelled under her skin through the length of her face, and then went into her shoulder. On 12 October, a group of 50 Muslim clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwā against those who tried to kill her, but the Taliban reiterated their intent to kill Yousafzai and her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai. The assassination attempt sparked a national and international outpouring of support for Yousafzai. United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown launched a UN petition in Yousafzai's name, demanding that all children worldwide be in school by the end of 2015; it helped lead to the ratification of Pakistan's first Right to Education Bill.

The 2013, 2014 and 2015 issues of Time magazine featured Yousafzai as one of "The 100 Most Influential People in the World". She was the winner of Pakistan's first National Youth Peace Prize, and the recipient of the 2013 Sakharov Prize. In July that year, she spoke at the headquarters of the United Nations to call for worldwide access to education. Later in 2014, Yousafzai was announced as the co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Kailash Satyarthi, for her struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education. Aged 17 at the time, Yousafzai became the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. 

You go, girl! You have a whole international movement right behind you. 
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Celebrate International Women's Day!

3/8/2016

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Today is International Women's Day! There are thousands of organizations and women celebrating today. Personally, I'm going to my bellydance class to honor my femininity with some shimmies and bellyrolls (that's me, below on the left, in my last bellydance performance!). What are you doing to celebrate? 
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Peace Corps beefs up its efforts to educate and empower girls all over the world

3/6/2016

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The Peace Corps and the White House announced earlier this week that it will double the number of countries participating in the Let Girls Learn Program. Let Girls Learn aims to provide greater access to secondary education for girls all over the world. There are a plethora of reasons why girls don't receive a high school level education:
Many secondary schools are more expensive and parents choose to pay to educate sons rather than daughters
Students have to walk long distances, sometimes in unsafe places to get to school
Girls are shamed out of school for having their periods
Gender bias
The list goes on. The Peace Corps and their Volunteers are trying to solve these problems one by one, working with community leaders to identify ways to make school more accessible and empowering for girls. Now, they're going to work in 35 countries this year. 

Support the Peace Corps and their outstanding efforts to educate and empower girls all over the globe!
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Nominate an outstanding contemporary woman for #WickedWomenWed!

3/5/2016

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Since so many people wanted to celebrate contemporary women for our super heroes Wicked Women Wed, I decided to do contemporary women this week. So far, the nominations include: Hillary Clinton, First Lady Michele Obama, Malala, Yoani Sanchez, all Mothers everywhere, ‬ Gabby Giffords, and Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

Who do you think is a wicked (awesome) contemporary woman? Nominations are accepted via Facebook comments, Twitter and e-mails to rachel at rachelmannino dot com. 

The winning nominator gets a prize, and this week I may impersonate the winning Wicked Awesome Woman! But -  if you want to see the video, you have to sign-up for my e-mail list!
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    My thoughts:

    I write about power dynamics in relationships, the empowerment of women, and the ethical and moral dilemmas love can create in our lives. This is a space where I meditate on those themes and share them with the word. Who knows, my next novel may start right here...

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