Today is International Women’s Day, honoring the economic, political and social achievements of women throughout history. IWD has its roots in the early 20th century demonstrations of women working in textile and garment factories, and has evolved into a global celebration and official holiday in dozens of countries world-wide. All of us at TSP are suggesting honorees (you’ll find Paige’s and Marion’s picks elsewhere on this site); won’t you share yours?
IN CELEBRATION OF the March 8th holiday, I’d like to some of the women that have truly inspired me:
1. My grandmother, Lady (Edna DeCaroli Salem)
I’ve written a bit about Lady before on the blog, mainly having to do with her magic crafty hands (she sewed clothes for my mother and my mother’s siblings, and always made the most unique Christmas ornaments from eggs). But what you may not know is that she was a nurse for her whole life. She worked tirelessly to raise four children and care for the sick and injured. She had a complicated relationship with her own sister, and a hard time wrestling with her Italian identity through times when European immigrants were scorned. As a result, she didn’t throw much of anything away, and she sometimes said really wacky things. But she had a huge heart and an incredible sense of humor.
2. Maya Arulpragasam (perhaps you know her as M.I.A.)
M.I.A. performed at the Grammys on her baby’s due date in an outfit as amazing as her lyrics. She’s been kicking ass and taking names for quite some time now. And I’m in awe of her.
3. Mary Oliver
When I’m homesick I read Mary Oliver poems, because visiting New England through her words is more satisfying in many ways than actually returning to my beloved home environment. Her poetry has been a sort of guide for me in many years. When I feel like my world is caving in around me, I go to her poem Wild Geese for comfort:
Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
No related posts.
First time here? Here's the idea: 
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. 
As the suffix of its name suggests, 
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I love MIA and Mary Oliver, and I’m quite sure I would have adored your grandma, too. Sisterhood rocks.
Two of my favorite Mary quotes:
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”
from “The Summer Day” (online here: http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/133.html)
and
“I bend my heart toward lamentation
Where, as the times implore our true involvement,
The blades of every crisis point the way.
I would it were not so, but so it is.
Who ever made music of a mild day?”
from “A Dream of Trees”, online here:
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/mary_oliver/poems/15851
BTW–did you know Mary Oliver once worked as secretary to the sister of Edna St. Vincent Millay, herself a fabulous and fabulist sister/artist/poet/burner of the candle at both ends? Sisterhood is everywhere you can shake a stick.
I’d put my mother at the top of my list, and coincidentally, International Women’s Day always falls on her birthday.
i LOVE the sound of wild geese
Love those quotes, Ms. Paige. Thanks for sharing.
And I didn’t know about the Mary Oliver – Edna St. Vincent Millay connection. Sisterhood IS everywhere you can shake a stick, what a good way of phrasing it.
Also, Lady’s middle name was DeCaroli? Was that the original family name rather than just Caroli?
I wish I knew more about the evolution of my family names.
Lady’s dad was Giovanni DeCarolis but he became John DeCaroli upon registering at Ellis Island on May 3, 1906. We found his name, after hours of research at the National Archives in Pittsfield, MA, on the passenger list from a boat which arrived from Genoa. Such brave souls!