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.
From the category archives:
Sisters We Choose
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.
SOMETIMES WHEN SHE’S HOMEBOUND with cabin fever, Sister Paige says, she finds friends and sisterhood in unlikely places. Where does she go for a sense of community with hobby chicken farmers and collage artists and writers and other moms–all her kinds of people–when she can’t leave the driveway? Get the roadmap here.
By Marion Roach Smith
OUR FAVORITE NEW BOOK is the exquisite Monday Hearts for Madalene by San Francisco disc jockey Page Hodel. The images in the video above are from a series of handmade hearts created by Hodel in memory of her partner, Madalene Rodriguez, lost to ovarian cancer. Each Monday, Hodel, 53, makes and photographs a one-of-a-kind valentine crafted from everyday objects, and then emails them to friends and family as a reminder and celebration of their love for one another. The result? This book and website, as well as other products, a portion of the sale proceeds going to The Women’s Cancer Resource Center in Oakland, California. Now that’s all heart.
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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.
http://www.vimeo.com/9189840
WE WERE SO THRILLED TO SEE OUR SISTER-FRIEND (and neighbor) 50s Pam, aka Pam Kueber, in a video and profile on the Etsy blog today, showcasing the mid-mod world from 1940s to 1970s and espousing the theory “love the house you’re in.” That’s the brilliant, affordable, can-do message of her popular blog, Retro Renovation, a finalist in Apartment Therapy’s recent Homies award contest. Way to go, Pam, on all fronts. In case you missed The Sister Project on Etsy last year, here’s that link. (Fun photo of Pam by our longtime sister-friend, Erica Berger.)
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THE EXPLANATION FOR THIS POST IS SIMPLE: I just couldn’t help myself. Yes, we have the all-girl version here (a Christmas tradition on The Sister Project) but oh boy, this “alt” version is pretty swell, too, isn’t it? Welcome to the sisterhood, Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye.
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BOOT CAMP IS NOT A PHRASE that previously would have caught our sister Marion’s eye, but after reviewing her finances, and her butt, she says she realized that while personal training was no longer an option, the workouts must continue. What she never expected was to discover a brand new sisterhood in the bargain. Her kick-ass story is here. Shake your booty, if not your boot camp, Sister Paige agrees, but she prefers dance-like steps set to music, and the delightful company of a newfound sisterhood of senior women. (Speaking of music, her kids’ conflicting tastes are driving her mad.)
SO ABOUT A MONTH ago, when our sister Anastasia had first gotten home for semester break, she tweeted about a very sisterly moment between her mother and herself, in which they gorged themselves on pistachios and talked about Alec Baldwin’s undying handsomeness. Lo and behold, it led to free pistachios and other joys. Get the story.
SPEAKING OF BEAUTIFUL braids, have you seen (or participated in) the Flickr pool Braid Wednesday? It features the beautiful braids of hundreds of Flickr users–kind of like a mini braid sisterhood! Our Sister Anastasia is a regular lurker; here’s why.
YOU KNOW HOW SISTER MARION LOVES SINGALONGS. She’s written one before for TSP, set to a popular melody, and now for all you sisters juggling holiday prep along with the rest of life’s endless to-do’s, here’s her latest: a holiday song sung to the melody of There is Nothing Like a Dame. No kidding; Marion wrote another nutty sister song based on a show tune, and I suggest we all had better sing along, or else.
Susan decoupaged matchboxes and tissue-box covers with sistery ephemera.
THE SISTER PROJECT IN THE PHOTO ABOVE STARTED WITH A LAMPSHADE. True. I brought a lamp in need of one in to a local shop called Shandell’s, where owner Susan Schneider makes custom shades and other things out of vintage papers and fabrics. In the process of picking material, I glimpsed Susan’s treasure trove of ephemera—things collected over 20 years by this self-professed “packrat”—and thought wow, what a sister story some of the bits could tell. I guess I said it out loud, and got Susan thinking. Visit our new TSP Galleries show of her resulting decoupage sister project, and get a chance to win one as a holiday gift. Susan’s story, and the contest, are here.
Our Songs of Experience, by Julianna Bright
WAY BACK IN May, we profiled artist Julianna Bright, whose magical images transported us (and, we hope, you) to a wonderful, fantasical realm. Now she’s got a new show open in Portland, Oregon, with incredible additions to her portfolio of works on paper. We hope you’ll revisit our profile of her and her work here, and if you’re in the area, stop by the Fontanelle Gallery to see her creations in the flesh (so to speak.) You can also purchase prints and her groovy new 2010 calendar at her etsy shop. Tell her the sisters sent you!
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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. 
