International Women’s Day, The Polasek Museum, and Serendipity

International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8th every year. 

International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated every year on March, 8th. The observance was first held on February 28, 1909 in New York. It was organized by the Socialist Party of America.

In 2017, the IWD had ten partners—a very interesting mix of mainstream businesses including Avon, Pepisco and bp. (“You’ve come a long way baby.”)

There was even a theme: #BeBoldForChange. And a color: Red. The day was celebrated worldwide with marches and workers’ strikes.

Women were asked to not go into work and to not spend any money in order to demonstrate women’s economic power. I’m not in favor of this aspect of it. Unfortunately, most women can’t afford to take off from work and not spending money may actually hurt workers.

But I was happy to wear a bright red blouse as I headed off for a visit to the Alvin Polasek Museum in Winter Park (adjacent to Orlando) in Florida. It was a tour that had been planned months ago—a group of senior citizens and a group of students from nearby Rollins College were to take the tour together as part of an inter-generational program.

I was sad to see that only one other person (a female student) was wearing red. We were apparently the only two people out of about a group of 30 who wanted to celebrate and show solidarity with IWD.

The Polasek Museum is treasure. The main building is the actual house and workshop of Albin Polasek (1879-1965), a well-known and widely acclaimed sculptor and artist. He was born in Moravia (now part of the Czech Republic) and immigrated to the United States in 1901. So visiting this museum was also a way of celebrating the contributions of immigrants to the united States.

After touring the house, the group went out to the garden—three acres overlooking Lake Osceola. The walk allowed us to see dozens of magnificent sculptures and statues surrounded by lush landscaping. (It was almost like a botanical garden.) Many of these statues were in this garden when Polasek was alive.

Towards the end of the tour, we came upon a beautiful bronze statue of a woman done in 1925. It is named “Unfettered.” It shows a woman poised and confident with one arm gracefully extended to the heavens.

"Unfettered" is a sculpture by Alvin Polasek.

At the base of the statue, there is a representation of clouds. According to contemporary art critic Dorothy Grafly this symbolized woman “at last breaking through the clouds of ignorance and super­sti­tion into the full light of free­dom.”

The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which gave women the right to vote was ratified in 1920. This statue was done to honor women’s suffrage.

This piece was done as a companion piece to his 1907 sculpture “Man Carving His Own Destiny” (Polasek did 53 different variations of this sculpture over his lifetime. The one on display elsewhere in the garden was done in 1961.) Both pieces are done in the classical tradition which celebrates the nude form.

"Man Carving His Own Destiny"  by Alvin Polasek

Which brings me to serendipity part of this essay. The definition of this word is the phenomenon of accidentay finding just the right thing. How wonderful that I should stumble upon this magnificent statue celebrating women and their rise from suppression on International Women’s Day.

Note:
The Polasek Museum is located in Winter Park, Florida. Be sure to spend a few hours there if you are in the Orlando area.


© Catherine Giordano 2018

Women Are on the March

Women marched in protest.

On the first anniversary of the hugely successful Women's March that took place the day after the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, women (and also men) once again marched in protest. The first year of the Trump presidency has been even worse than most of use imagined. Once again women (and also men) took to the streets in many cities in the United States and around the world in huge numbers. 

I wrote the following brief essay last year. I am republishing it now because the need for protest is greater than ever. 

Please remember the most important march will take place in November when we march to the polls and reclaim the majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives. 

The Worldwide Woman’s March on January 21, 2017—Why I Marched

On Saturday January 22, 2017, the day after the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States, millions of people all over the world participated in the Women’s March. In the United States, the main demonstration was in Washington D.C. It attracted over one million people.

(In contrast, the Trump inauguration held the day before had only 650,000 in attendance. This also compares unfavorably with the 1.8 million people who attended Obama’s inauguration in 2009.)

The women (and many men too) marched to support a variety of issues that affect women and to support equality for all people. The primary focus was on issues of sexism, racism, xenophobia, gender equality, and other forms of oppression. There was also some protesting the new president.

Many women wore pink knitted “kitten hats,” as a sign of protest against the notorious remark that was caught on tape about how the president liked to grab women by their private parts.

In Orlando Florida, it was a sunny 80 degrees-- too hot for pink knitted caps. We wore sun-hats.

Over 3,000 people congregated at the band shell in Lake Eola Park. The rally began with speeches given by women—some were elected officials, some were leaders of various organizations, and some were just ordinary people with a story to tell. The speakers urged us to take action, including running for elected office.

We were entertained by two amazing acapella choral groups and a dynamite poet who forcefully portrayed the plight of women who are told “girls don’t do these things.”

After the speeches concluded, we marched around Lake Eola—a march that was a little under a mile. There were so many people marching that when the first marchers completed the circuit around the lake, there were still others in the band shell area waiting to begin.

Gricel Fernandez, co-organizer of the Orlando march, said why she and her co-organizer Autumn Garick did it. “"We want people who come to realize democracy is something you take part in every single day. It's not just every four years. If an issue matters to you, it should matter to you every day.... Even though you may just be one person, one voice, it doesn't matter. I am one person and I made one phone call, and now all these people are here."

Why did I do it? I didn’t do it because I thought that my participation was going to be the thing that made a difference. I did it because I needed to do it. I did it for myself.

There was a sign carried by one of the women that read: “I will not go quietly back to the 1950s.” Maybe that is why I did it.

© Catherine Giordano 2017