By Paige Smith Orloff
LAST YEAR, WE loved profiling prolific, artistic sisters Daisy and Poppy de Villeneuve. Poppy was kind enough to email us about the completion of her latest project, a series of short films for the New York Times, called The Park. If you, like me, have any nostalgia for Manhattan, these may just be your cup of tea. Congrats, Poppy, and sisters: enjoy. (The photo above will click you over to The Times site.)
{ 0 comments }
OUR SISTER PAIGE’S FAVORITE CITY IN THE WORLD IS PARIS. She went there for the first time at 13, and fell in love. She hasn’t had chance for travel much of anywhere lately, though, so her Francophilia has mostly been fulfilled, you guessed it, by blogs…food blogs. Would you like to join Paige’s armchair voyages? You can almost taste the butter, smell the Gitanes, and hear the symphony of urban sounds a la français. And did we mention, bon appétit? Read on.
SISTER PAIGE WAS COMPLETELY CHARMED the other morning by a profile she heard on NPR of Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar. Three guesses as to who they are. And if you’re a Bollywood connoisseur, sorry, you’re disqualified. Get the scoop from Paige.
OSCARS, SCMOSKERS. YOU want to see some fashion, sisters? Forget the red carpet, eschew Joan Rivers chewing over (and spitting out) those unfortunate Academy Awards fashion faux pas, and sink your teeth into some genuine glam. We’re talking gowns–with shoes and bags to match–that have all not only been oggled by millions, but are in part owned by you. That’s right: you. Read Marion’s report on the latest additions to the First Ladies exhibit at the Smithsonian.
TSP SISTER MARION IS NOT the only one who’s got Oscars, and Oscar hairstyles, on the brain. The impending threat of a weekend of red-carpet coverage of a zillion visions of celebrity loveliness has Sister Paige thinking, too, about yes, her hair. “My hair, it seems, is a metaphor for grown-up life, which is messy and unpredictable and full of twists and turns,” she says. Read on, sister.
OSCAR HAIR. C’MON, you know you want some, says TSP’s redheaded Marion. How many people do you think contribute to pre-Oscar lifting and spraying, mussing and fussing, and, more to the point, how do we get us some of that slavish attention? “I can picture me now after just a bit of it,” Marion says, “scrubbing out the slow cooker while looking ever so much more like Julianne Moore; appearing in front of my front-load clothes dryer with just a smidgen of Streep-like casual-ness to my coif. Are you in, sisters?” Get Marion’s hair do’s and don’ts.
YOU PROBABLY KNOW by now that here at The Sister Project, we can’t resist a good sister story, and we love the sisters known as nuns, but this particular piece of news took us by surprise. Bill Murray is one of our favorite actors and comedians (seen his hilarious turn as himself in last year’s Zombieland?) but we didn’t know that one of his eight siblings is a Catholic nun, and a dramatic one at that. Our Sister Paige has the story.
WE TRY to keep track of notable sisters’ birthdays, so that we can remind ourselves (and you, of course) of all the women we admire, and acknowledge them on their special days. But as we were putting together our plans for this month, we noticed that an awful lot of spectacular sisters were born this month. This Friday is the birthday of Indy car racing pioneer Janet Guthrie, and next week, we’ll be celebrating actress Lynn Redgrave, Civil War heroine Harriet Tubman, singer Liza Minnelli and photographer Diane Arbus. That’s a whole lot of talent packed into seven days. As with everything around here, Sister Paige has her theories about why.
THE NEW MAMMOGRAM GUIDELINES are confounding, TSP’s Sister Marion says; she thinks we can agree on that. Ever since that government task force reported last November that most women don’t need mammograms in their 40s, that they should get one every two years starting at 50, that breast self-exams do no good, and that women shouldn’t be taught to do those exams, Marion has been dismayed as well as confused. But after developing some pain and tenderness, she scheduled a scan and, as if in response to all this unsteadying noise, a steadfast sisterhood was there to greet her. Read her story of the sisterhood of the breast.
BETWEEN THE NEW MOON on the 15th (the “Ides of March”), the Vernal Equinox (Spring) on the 20th, and the Full Moon on the 30th, this is one intense beginning of Nature’s 2010 New Year cycle. We’re being given the opportunity to practice trust and exercise faith as the Sun moves into the sign of exploration and discovery–Aries. From this point onward life will present itself as “spontaneously creative,” meaning: “Hang onto your hats–it’s going to be some ride!” [click to continue…]
{ 1 comment }
WHEN PARIS PRESS PUBLISHED THE ANTHOLOGY ‘SISTERS’ recently, we were thrilled. And we still have two more copies to give away, thanks to the publisher. To enter, merely answer our favorite fill-in-the-blank, right in the comments below: “You know you’re a sister when…” We’ll select two more winners at random, one this Wednesday (March 3) and one next. [click to continue…]
{ 9 comments }
NOT ONLY DID MEG WAITE CLAYTON WRITE THE BOOK on sisterhood, she’s done it three times–two already published novels and the third just sent off to her editor. “The emotional turf I seem to go back to again and again is sisterhood in the friendship sense,” Meg, the author of the national bestseller The Wednesday Sisters, told TSP’s Sister Marion. Marion’s profile of Meg is here to enjoy.
THIS TIME LAST year, the “25 Things” meme was ricocheting around the internet, and we Sister Project sisters decided to have a go at our own lists. Paige decided to take a second look at hers, to see if it’s true that the more things change, the more they stay the same. To learn at least 25 things about her, and possibly a few more, read on.
IN THE GALLERIES: Craft missionary DIANE GILLELAND
First time here? Here's the idea: TSP is a network of blogs about the many facets of the word sister, and the concept of sisterhood. A sisterhood of sister blogs, you could say. Whatever sister means to you, from identical twin to sister-in-law (or in-friendship or in-feminism), we’ll make room to listen in about it or express it on TSP. Like the slogan up top says, “Don’t you have something to say to your sister?” We've got galleries of art and literature by and about sisters, and a Sisterpedia of sisterly trivia...but now we're getting ahead of ourselves. The quick study: Learn more about TSP, and how to find your way around. And oh—a giant, sisterly welcome.
As the suffix of its name suggests, TSP's Sisterpedia
is the reference section, one we’re hoping you’ll help us grow to maturity by adding your knowledge in the comments. Turn us on to new facts and figures, whether for the branch of our ‘library’ called Sistory (history from a sister point of view, from the Muses of ancient Greece to 60s Girl Groups and beyond) or the one called Sibling Science (what makes sisters tick, genetically and behaviorally). Or just click around and have a good read. See you there. 
No surprise, really, that sisterhood, often life’s longest relationship and always one of its most important, has been the Muse for so much creative self-expression by women, and also by men.
TSP’s Galleries were created to show off that outpouring of art and craft, poetry and prose. Come see a show or two—no ticket required, no lines to get in—and suggest others whose work we ought to showcase.
