W HAT GOT ME STARTED LOOKING AT GEISHA PHOTOS, I do not know, but I suppose that all this sister talk on TSP has me seeing sisterhoods everywhere. When I first discovered the breathtaking vintage-photo collection of Rob Oechsle, or Okinawa_Soba as he is called on Flickr, including many images of geisha, I knew that without question the women depicted were a sisterhood: “the solidarity of women based on shared conditions, experiences, or concerns,” as defined by Merriam-Webster. Yes, the geisha definitely qualify on all fronts. See a geisha slideshow in vintage photos.
From the category archives:
Race and Feminism
WE ARE SAD TO LEARN OF THE DEATH OF LUCILLE CLIFTON, an American treasure, a prolific poet and author, and a recipient of just about every major poetry award or fellowship we can think of. Some months back TSP’s Sister Paige posted Clifton’s poem “sisters,” saying it “just made me want to cry, dance and sing.” Let’s cry, dance and sing today for the loss of Clifton, 73, by reading it aloud: [click to continue…]
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SISTER ANASTASIA HAS BEEN DIGGING THROUGH the vintage advertising hall of shame again; proceed at your own risk.
W E LOVE IT WHEN readers, unprompted, send emails or leave comments about the ways they’re celebrating sisterhood, of any stripe, in their own lives. The communication we got from reader Laela last week was particularly exciting, as it combined three things we absolutely love: cinema, sisterhood, and doing something for women in need. Find out how here from Sister Paige.
SISTER PAIGE DISCOVERED THIS POEM by Lucille Clifton, on a recent afternoon spent soaking in literature procrastinating at the incredible Academy of American Poets website, poetry.org. It’s a poem that makes Paige want to cry, laugh and sing. Read it now and join in her emotion.
ONE OF SISTER ANASTASIA’S FAVORITE comediennes of all time, Sarah Haskins, sheds some light on the advertising industry’s obsession with your lady friends, in this rerun episode of “Target Women.” Classic.
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EARLIER THIS SUMMER, Sister Anastasia was quite disappointed to hear many young women call in to the morning show on her local NPR station saying they didn’t call themselves feminists simply because they hated the word “feminism.” It made them uncomfortable. If she could find those women, she’d show them this lovely graphic representation of a Kate Nash quotation…click to see the whole beautiful thing.
By Paige Smith Orloff
http://www.vimeo.com/4789307UNTIL A FEW YEARS AGO, I’d never heard of Gertrude Berg, and I suspect I’ve got company in my ignorance. Aviva Kempner’s new documentary, Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, aims to restore Gertrude Berg to her rightful fame; after all, Berg created and starred in the first character-driven situation comedy on American television, The Goldbergs. [click to continue…]
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I DON’T KNOW WHAT BROUGHT ME TO RENT Brick Lane, the story of Nazneen, a Bangladeshi girl separated from her sister and sent to London to face an arranged marriage with a man twice her age, and to face years of longing for her sibling. I cannot recommend it more highly, but to be clear, it was not some sad tale of loss and more loss, but full of surprises. Like these: [click to continue…]
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Lindsay Keating-Moore's Feminist Montage Dress
P UTTING TOGETHER LAST week’s musing on the Brontë sisters, I stumbled upon the work of Minneapolis artist Lindsay Keating-Moore, who hand-cuts stencil portraits of famous feminists and uses the stencils to decorate recycled T-shirts and dresses, even buttons. The portraits are strong and gorgeous, the clothing fantastic, and the footprint enviable: about as green as you can get. Have a look, in a slideshow: [click to continue…]
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U NABLE TO HELP OURSELVES OR SHOW RESTRAINT (you know how *weak* and *silly* women are, don’t you?) the sisters of TSP acted impulsively to show you this video, which about sums up the gender gap and all other aspects of sexual discrimination. Phew! Thank you, almightly BBC (and specifically the program That Mitchell and Webb Look); you have the gift to make even the thorniest topics sound hilarious. You, BBC, are *ace* and have our endless love.
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AN IRANIAN GIRL’S GRIEF at the loss of a unique sisterhood is breathtaking, says Sister Paige. Read why ‘Persepolis’ is a must-rent, particularly this week, in light of the news from there that put the film back in TSP’s front of mind.
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AS SISTERS AND WOMEN OF 2009, we’ve been thinking about the frightening indignities paid to our retro sisters in the media (not that it’s over). Inspired by the vintage ad-art on Katie Schwartz’s blog–oozing irony from every corner–we collected some images that are both comical and scary to share here on TSP: [click to continue…]
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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: 
As the suffix of its name suggests, 
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. 
