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  • A Dutch-led Fund Aiming to Replace Aid Lost for Women’s Health Issues Due To President Trump’s Reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule

    Lilianne Ploumen

    Devex: Europe raises at least $32.2M to plug ‘global gag rule’ shortfall
    “NGOs say they are ‘heartened by the creation of a Dutch-led fund that aims to replace aid lost for women’s health issues as a result of the US president’s reinstatement of the ‘global gag rule.’ The fund has gained the support of at least nine countries and raised tens of millions of dollars. But advocates also told Devex there is still a long way to go to make up for the loss of funds triggered by the executive order from the Donald Trump administration, estimated to be at least $600 million and as much as $9.5 billion…” (Abrahams, 2/21).

    Lilianne Ploumen (above), 54, minister of foreign trade and development cooperation in the Netherlands, established a nongovernmental organization, She Decides

    Reuters: Norway pledges $10 million to counter Trump’s global anti-abortion move
    “Norway has joined an international initiative to raise millions of dollars to replace shortfalls left by US President Donald Trump’s ban on US-funded groups worldwide providing information on abortion. In January, the Netherlands started a global fund to help women access abortion services, saying Trump’s ‘global gag rule’ meant a funding gap of $600 million over the next four years, and has pledged $10 million to the initiative to replace that. Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland, Canada, and Cape Verde have all also lent their support…” (Fouche, 2/20).

    February 23, 2017

  • Julien de Wit On the Discovery of Seven Temperate, Nearby Worlds; Planets may harbor conditions suitable for sustaining liquid water — and thus life

    Possible planet illustration

    Planets may harbor conditions suitable for sustaining liquid water — and thus life.  This illustration shows the possible surface of TRAPPIST-1f, one of the newly discovered planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. Scientists using the Spitzer Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes have discovered that there are seven Earth-size planets in the system. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    An international team including astronomers from MIT and the University of Liège in Belgium has announced the discovery of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a nearby star just 39 light years from Earth. All seven planets appear to be rocky, and any one of them may harbor liquid water, as they are each within an area called the habitable zone, where temperatures are within a range suitable for sustaining liquid water on a planet’s surface.

    The discovery marks a new record, as the planets make up the largest known number of habitable-zone planets orbiting a single star outside our solar system. The results are published today in the journal Nature.

    Julien de Wit, a postdoc in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, is heading up the team’s study of the planets’ atmospheres, the compositions of which may offer up essential clues as to whether these planets harbor signs of life. De Wit and principal investigator Michael Gillon of the University of Liège will be presenting the group’s results in a talk at MIT on February 24.

    MIT News spoke with de Wit about the solar system’s new terrestrial neighbors and the possibility for life beyond our planet.

    Q: What can you tell us so far about these seven planets?

    A: These planets are the first found beyond the edge of our solar system, with the winning combination of being Earth-sized, temperate, and well-suited for imminent atmospheric studies. Temperate means that they can possibly harbor liquid water at their surface, while well-suited for atmospheric studies means that owing to the star they orbit and how close to the Earth it is, we will be able to get exquisite insights into their atmospheres within the next decade.

    The planets are tightly packed around a small, cool, red dim star called TRAPPIST-1, located just 39 light years from Earth. TRAPPIST-1 is an ultracool dwarf star, estimated to be about 2,550 kelvins, versus our sun, which boils at around 5,800 kelvins.

    The planets are so tightly packed that the seven of them are found within a distance of TRAPPIST-1 that is five times smaller than the distance from the sun to Mercury. This is so close that, depending on the planet, a year would last between 1.5 and 20 days. These planets are also most likely tidally locked, meaning that they always show the same hemisphere to their star, like the Moon does to the Earth, implying that the star never rises or sets, but stays fixed in the sky.

    The small size of the star (about 11 percent the radius of the sun) is an essential part of the interest of this system. The planets were detected using the transit technique, which searches for a flux drop in a star’s brightness when a planet passes in front of it. As the flux drop is directly related to the planet-to-star area ratio, the smaller the star, the easier the detection of a planet. The signal of TRAPPIST-1’s planets is for instance about 80 times larger than what it would be if they were orbiting a star like our sun.

    All of these planets are the best targets found so far to search for signs of life, and it is remarkable that they are all transiting the same star. This means that the system will allow us to study each planet in great depth, providing for the first time a rich perspective on a different planetary system than ours, and on planets around the smallest main sequence stars.

    We have initiated a worldwide reconnaissance effort that spans the electromagnetic spectrum from the UV to radio, to study this system in more depth. Here at MIT, and with a large group of international experts around the world, graduate student Mary Knapp is co-leading the search for signs of planetary magnetic fields in radio, while I am leading the atmospheric reconnaissance with the Hubble Space Telescope. With observations of this system taken by Hubble last May, we have already ruled out the presence of puffy, hydrogen-dominated atmospheres around the two innermost planets, which means that they are not “mini-Neptunes” that would be uninhabitable, but are terrestrial like Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. We are currently processing observations of the new planets and should gain new insights soon.

    Q:  Take us back to the moment of discovery. What tipped you all off that all of these planets might actually be terrestrial, and possibly even Earth-like?

    A: It was such an incredible day. On Sept. 19, 2016, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope had started its 20-day-long monitoring of TRAPPIST-1 to search for flux drops. On Oct. 6, the first part of the data corresponding to the first 10 days of observation were released on NASA’s secured servers. Now, the fun fact is that on that day, Michael Gillon was stationed in Morocco, with a very bad internet connection, and couldn’t start playing with the data. Fortunately for his nerves, four other researchers (Jim Ingalls, Brice-Olivier Demory, Sean Carey, and I) could access the data. When I downloaded it and performed a quick processing, we had a pure, jaw-dropping, “never-seen-before” moment: By eye, I could count five more transits than expected over a short 10-day window — simply insane. After a quick iteration with Michael, we thought then that the system was containing three more planets, one being a super-Earth. But we realized quickly that what appeared to be a super-Earth was actually two planets transiting at the same time.

    Our verdict: four more planets, all Earth-sized. When the second half of the data arrived on Oct. 27, we all gathered online for a debrief and cheers (with Trappist beers!). It was such an exhilarating moment.

    Q: What are the chances that there may be life on one or more of these planets, and what will it take to find out?

    A: We have literally no idea, but we have a chance of figuring that out soon! So far, we know that the planets could be great candidates, as they have the size of the Earth and are temperate. We now need to determine their surface conditions. This requires (1) obtaining a tight constraint on their masses, (2) assessing the type of atmospheres they have, (3) determining if they (may) actually harbor surface liquid water, and (4) searching for signs of life (i.e., biosignatures). What this will take is a significant multidisciplinary effort over the next 20 to 25 years.

    When planets are close together and their orbits are in a certain spacing, they interact with each other through gravity, causing the timing of their transits to change a little as the planets tug on each other. By measuring this change, we can determine the mass of the planets. By knowing precisely the size and mass of the planets, we can determine their bulk density, and geophysicists can then help us better understand their interiors.

    We will also assess their atmosphere types with a scaled-up version of our reconnaissance programs. Over the next two years, we are hoping to leverage Hubble’s capabilities to search for the presence of water- or methane-dominated atmospheres.

    In the future, upcoming observatories like the James Webb Space Telescope will help us constrain the planets’ atmospheric composition, temperature, and pressure profiles — all essential information for determining the surface conditions possible over their globes.

    It is important to point out here that obtaining these constraints will only be possible if we have a complete and unbiased understanding of how the light of the star going through the planet atmospheres is affected by the different components as a function of the temperature, pressure, and other gases. Then and only then, will we be able to assess the habitability of the planet.

    A key part in searching for signs of life on these planets will be to determine what exactly is a sign of life, or biosignature. This is where the insight of biochemists will be essential. Fortunately, here at MIT we are already tackling this question. Indeed, Professor Sara Seager, together with postdoc Janusz Petkowski and William Bains at Cambridge University, are currently investigating the chemical space that life can occupy, to create a list of biosignatures which we will use in the future to determine if the gases detected are indicative of the presence of life on these planets.

  • Congressional Bills Introduced: Parental Leave, Abortion, Child Soldier Prevention,National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls

    Caroline B. Mahoney, Democratic House Member







    House Member Carolyn Mahoney, New York


    House Bills Introduced:

    Abortion

    H.R. 1192—Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)/Judiciary (2/16/17)—A bill to prohibit dismemberment abortions, and for other purposes.

    H.R. 1203—Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI)/Energy and Commerce (2/17/17)—A bill to prohibit research with human fetal tissue obtained pursuant to an abortion, and for other purposes.

    Child Protection

    H.R. 1188—Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI)/Judiciary (2/16/17)—A bill to reauthorize certain programs established by the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, and for other purposes.

    Employment

    H.R. 947—Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)/Ways and Means (2/7/17)—A bill to provide paid family and medical leave benefits to certain individuals, and for other purposes.

    S. 362—Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI)/Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (2/13/17)—A bill to provide that six of the 12 weeks of parental leave made available to a federal employee shall be paid leave, and for other purposes.

    H.R. 1022—Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)/Oversight and Government Reform (1/13/17) A bill to provide that six of the 12 weeks of parental leave made available to a federal employee shall be paid leave, and for other purposes.

    Family Support

    S. 435—Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (2/16/17)—A bill to establish programs to improve family economic security by breaking the cycle of multigenerational poverty, and for other purposes.

    H.R. 1143—Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN)/Energy and Commerce (2/16/17)—A bill to address the increased burden that maintaining the health and hygiene of infants and toddlers places on families in need, the resultant adverse health effects on children and families, and the limited child care options available for infants and toddlers who lack sufficient diapers.

    H.R. 1189—Rep. José Serrano (D-NY)/Agriculture (2/16/17)—A bill to provide greater access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by reducing duplicative and burdensome administrative requirements, authorize the secretary of Agriculture to award grants to certain community-based nonprofit feeding and anti-hunger groups for the purpose of establishing and implementing a Beyond the Soup Kitchen Pilot Program for certain socially and economically disadvantaged populations, and for other purposes.

    Health 

    H.R. 972—Rep. Grace Meng (D/NY)/Education and the Workforce (2/7/17)— A bill to increase the availability and affordability of menstrual hygiene products for women and girls with limited access, and for other purposes. 

    H.R. 1174—Del. Eleanor Norton (D-DC)/Transportation and Infrastructure (2/16/17)—A bill to provide a lactation room in public buildings.

    Human Trafficking

    H.R. 889—Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)/Judiciary (2/6/17)—A bill to provide for the establishment of an office within the Internal Revenue Service to focus on violations of the internal revenue laws by persons who are under investigation for conduct relating to the promotion of commercial sex acts and trafficking in persons crimes, and to increase the criminal monetary penalty limitations for the underpayment or overpayment of tax due to fraud.

    S. 377—Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)/Foreign Relations (2/14/17)—A bill to clarify report dates, modify the criteria for determinations of whether countries are meeting the minimum standards for elimination of trafficking, and highlight the importance of concrete actions by countries to eliminate trafficking, and for other purposes.

  • A Trailblazing Sports Reporter: Mary Garber and the Association For Women in Sports Media Pioneer Award

    Women of the Mary Garber Pioneer Award

    Editor’s Note: Melissa Ludke, a former colleague of this editor’s (who will be remembered each time I see a woman reporter in a men’s locker room),  is second from the right in this photo of Association For Women in Sports Media Pioneer Award. The Mary Garber Pioneer Award annually recognizes those who have paved the way and serve as role models for women in sports media. Melissa is also recently known for her  work, Touching Home in China; In Search of Missing Girlhoods

    Melissa LUDTKE and Time, Inc., Plaintiffs, v. Bowie KUHN, Commissioner of Baseball, Leland MacPhail, President of the American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, the New York Yankees Partnership, The Mayor of the City of New York, The Commissioner of Parks and Recreation for the City of New York, and the Director of the Economic Development Administration of the City of New York, Defendants. http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/461/86/2266331/

    About Mary Garber

    Mary Garber

    Mary Garber began her trailblazing sports journalism career in 1944, when the sports editor of the Winston-Salem Journal (then the Twin Cities Sentinel) joined the Navy and Garber replaced him.

    “Not because I had any ability in sports,” Garber once told the Women’s Sports Foundation, “but because it was the war, and every man was in the armed forces.”

    What the woman who grew up playing baseball and football might have lacked in ability, she made up for in determination. Even though she was banned from locker rooms and forced to sit with the players’ wives instead of in the press box, Garber lobbied to continue covering sports after World War II ended.

     She first gained access to a locker room at the ACC basketball tournament in 1974, 30 years after her sportswriting career began. She retired from the Winston-Salem Journal in 1986 but continued to work there part-time until 2002.

     Garber credited much of her success to covering stories that others wouldn’t. During the 1950s and ’60s, for example, when North Carolina schools still were segregated, Garber covered black high schools and colleges.

     Garber served as president of the Football Writers Association of America and the Atlantic Coast Sports Writers Association, groups that initially denied her entry. In 2005, she became the first woman to win the Red Smith Award, the Associated Press Sports Editors’ highest honor, given to someone who has made major contributions to sports journalism. 

    Past Pioneers

    Past Mary Garber Pioneer Award recipients include:

    1999: Lesley Visser

    2000: Claire Smith

    2001: Michele Himmelberg

    2002: Tracy Dodds

    2003: Melissa Ludtke

    2004: Christine Brennan

    2005: Cathy Henkel

    2006: Kristin Huckshorn

    2007: Julie Ward

    2008: Mary Schmitt Boyer

    2009: Linda Robertson

    2010: Julie Cart

    2011: Rosa Gatti

    2012: Sandy Rosenbush

    2013: Lisa Olson

    2014: Nancy Cooney and Susan Fornoff

    2015: Robin Herman

    2016: Terry Taylor


  • Many Americans Stressed about Future of Our Nation; A Study About The Distress From Waiting for Uncertain News

      Stress in America™: Coping with Change.

    More than half of Americans (57 percent) say the current political climate is a very or somewhat significant source of stress, and nearly half (49 percent) say the same about the outcome of the election, according to an American Psychological Association’s  poll conducted in January.Locating psychologist

    Locating a psychologist by postal code

    While Democrats were more likely than Republicans (72 percent vs. 26 percent) to report the outcome of the 2016 presidential election as a significant source of stress, a majority of Republicans (59 percent) said the future of the nation was a significant source of stress for them, compared with 76 percent of Democrats.

    “The stress we’re seeing around political issues is deeply concerning because it’s hard for Americans to get away from it,” said Katherine C. Nordal, PhD, APA’s executive director for professional practice. “We’re surrounded by conversations, news and social media that constantly remind us of the issues that are stressing us the most.”

    Nordal also noted that while APA is seeing continued stress around politics, the survey also showed an increased number of people reporting that acts of terrorism, police violence toward minorities and personal safety are adding to their stress levels.

    These results come on the heels of APA survey results released last fall that found 52 percent of Americans reported that the presidential election was a significant source of stress. That survey was conducted online in August 2016 among 3,511 adults 18+ living in the US by Harris Poll on behalf of the APA. To better understand these political stressors and assess potential long-term effects, APA commissioned an additional survey, conducted online by Harris Poll in early January 2017, among 1,019 adults ages 18+ who reside in the US , asking adults once again to rate the sources of their stress, including the political climate, the future of our nation and the outcome of the 2016 US presidential election.

    Between August 2016 and January 2017, the overall average reported stress level of Americans rose from 4.8 to 5.1, on a scale where 1 means little or no stress and 10 means a great deal of stress, according to the APA survey. This represents the first significant increase in the 10 years since the Stress in America survey began. At the same time, more Americans said that they experienced physical and emotional symptoms of stress in the prior month, health symptoms that the APA warns could have long-term consequences.

    APA’s January survey showed the percentage of Americans reporting acts of terrorism as a very or somewhat significant source of stress increased from 51 percent to 59 percent from August 2016 to January 2017. Additionally, the percentage reporting police violence toward minorities as a very or somewhat significant source of stress increased from 36 percent to 44 percent during the same period. Since August, the percentage of Americans saying personal safety is a very or somewhat significant source of stress increased from 29 percent to 34 percent — the highest percentage noted since the question was first asked in 2008.

  • The Metropolitan and Cloisters: Gothic Boxwood Miniatures and The Royal George (the Fourth) Cello, Fit for a King

    On View at the Cloisters*: 

    Gothic Boxwood Miniature

     

     

    Exhibition Dates: February 22–May 21, 2017
    Exhibition Location: 
    		 The Met Cloisters, Glass Gallery
    Press Preview:
    		 Tuesday, February 21, 10 am–noon

    Small in scale, yet teeming with life, miniature boxwood carvings have been a source of wonder since their creation in the Netherlands in the 16th century. On these intricately carved objects — some measuring a mere two inches (five centimeters) in diameter — the miracles and drama of the Bible unfold on a tiny stage. The execution of these prayer beads and diminutive altarpieces seems almost as miraculous as the stories they tell and, in this first exhibition of its kind, the wizardry of the carvers who created these precious panoramas is revealed. Beginning February 22, nearly 50 of these tiny treasures will be featured in the exhibition Small Wonders: Gothic Boxwood Miniatures at The Met Cloisters, the branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated to medieval art and architecture.

    Among the highlights of the exhibition is a complete carved boxwood rosary made for King Henry VIII of England and his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, before his notorious efforts to dissolve the marriage and his break from the Catholic Church. Equally remarkable is a diminutive sculpture, in the shape of the letter P, that opens to reveal scenes of the legend of Saint Philip. This newly discovered treasure has recently been acquired by The Met. 

    Used in prayer and meditation, such ingenious carvings enable access to a sacred realm. Among the images are:  stories from the life of Jesus; saintly men and women; and events from Hebrew Scripture embraced by Christians as part of their own narrative — from the Biblical King David to the Queen of Sheba.

    The artists’ techniques for creating these delicate works have defied comprehension for centuries, but now, through a collaborative study by conservators at The Met and the Art Gallery of Ontario, their secrets have at last been unraveled. The conservators’ findings are presented in the exhibition through video documentation and the display of a disassembled prayer bead.

    Beloved in gardens across the world today, boxwood is a slow-growing evergreen, native to the Mediterranean region. In the Middle Ages, it was linked by the biblical authority to the Holy Land. Dense and fine-grained, it is ideally suited to precision carving. Early illustrated botanical texts elucidating the medieval understanding of this valuable wood will also be on view in the exhibition. Plantings of boxwood in the gardens of The Met Cloisters will deepen appreciation for the artists’ extraordinary work in transforming the material from plant specimen to precious possessions.

    Prayer Bead with the Adoration of the Magi and the Crucifixion

    Carved with astonishingly minute detail, this rosary bead probably was created with the help of a magnifying lens. When opened, it forms a triptych. On the left is the Journey to Bethlehem and the Nativity; in the center is the Journey of the Magi, complete with horses and camels, followed by their Adoration of the baby Jesus and offering of gifts; and on the right is the Presentation of the Child in the Temple at Jerusalem. The Latin inscription is the text of Psalm 71:10, which refers to kings of Arabia and Saba and is associated by Christians with the Magi. Adam and Eve appear on the outside of the wings. The Crucifixion of Jesus occupies the lower half of the bead.

    *The Met Cloisters, located on four acres overlooking the Hudson River in northern Manhattan’s Fort Tryon Park, is the branch of the Museum dedicated to the art, architecture, and gardens of medieval Europe. Deriving its name from the medieval cloisters that form the core of the building, it presents a harmonious and evocative setting for more than 2,000 exceptional artworks and architectural elements from the medieval West.  

  • Hospitalized Patients Treated by Female Physicians Show Lower Mortality, Readmission Rates; “The difference in mortality rates surprised us”

     female doctor

    Elderly hospitalized patients treated by female physicians are less likely to die within 30 days of admission, or to be readmitted within 30 days of discharge, than those cared for by male physicians, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. It is the first research to document differences in how male and female physicians treat patients result in different outcomes for hospitalized patients in the US.

    The researchers estimated that if male physicians could achieve the same outcomes as their female colleagues, there would be 32,000 fewer deaths each year among Medicare patients alone — a number comparable to the annual number of motor vehicle accident deaths nationally. The study was published online December 19, 2016 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

    “The difference in mortality rates surprised us,” said lead author Yusuke Tsugawa, research associate in the Department of Health Policy and Management. “The gender of the physician appears to be particularly significant for the sickest patients. These findings indicate that potential differences in practice patterns between male and female physicians may have important clinical implications.”

    Previous studies have found differences in the way female and male physicians practice — for example, female physicians are more likely to adhere to clinical guidelines and provide more patient-centered communication — but this is the first national study to look at whether the differences in the way male and female physicians practice affect clinical outcomes.

    The researchers analyzed data from more than 1 million Medicare beneficiaries age 65 years or older hospitalized with a medical condition and treated by general internists between 2011 and 2014. They adjusted for differences in patient and physician characteristics and considered whether differences in patient outcomes varied by a specific condition or by the severity of illness.

    The researchers found that the patients if treated by a female physician, had a 4% lower relative risk of dying prematurely and a 5% lower relative risk of being readmitted to a hospital within 30 days. The association was seen across a wide variety of clinical conditions and variations in severity of illness. When the researchers restricted their analysis to hospitalists — physicians focused on hospital care, to whom patients are randomly assigned based on work schedule — the results remained consistent, suggesting that patient selection, in which healthier patients might choose certain types of doctors, didn’t explain the results.

    Female physicians now account for approximately one-third of the US physician workforce and comprise half of all US medical school graduates. There are important gender differences in how women physicians are treated — they are less likely to be promoted and are generally paid less, said senior author Ashish Jha, K.T. Li Professor of Health Policy and director of the Harvard Global Health Institute.

    “There was ample evidence that male and female physicians practice medicine differently. Our findings suggest that those differences matter and are important to patient health. We need to understand why female physicians have lower mortality so that all patients can have the best possible outcomes, irrespective of the gender of their physician,” said Jha. Other Harvard Chan School authors included Jose Figueroa, E. John Orav, and Daniel Blumenthal.

    Physician Gender and Outcomes of Hospitalized Medicare Beneficiaries in the US, Yusuke Tsugawa, Anupam B. Jena, Jose F. Figueroa, E. John Orav, Daniel M. Blumenthal, Ashish K. Jha, JAMA Internal Medicine, online December 19, 2016, doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.7875

  • Strong Sisters: “When the going gets rough, they know I’m not the weak sister”

    Elected Women

    Filmmakers Meg Froelich (far left) and Laura Hoeppner (far right) with interviewees

    Strongisters.orgIn 1893 Colorado gave women the right to vote, the first time in history that women’s suffrage was granted through a popular vote. The very next year voters sent three women to the state House of Representatives. They were the first women elected to any state legislative body in the world. And in recent years, Colorado has led the nation in percentage of women serving in the state legislature (in 2017, Colorado dropped from first in the nation at 42% to second at 39%, just behind Vermont.)

    While Colorado women have been pioneers in holding elected office, there has never been a female Governor or US Senator from Colorado.

    The elected women of Colorado were at the forefront of some of the most important historical events of the Twentieth Century, from serving as a model for the national suffrage movement to advocating, protesting and legislating on workers’ and women’s rights. Colorado’s longest serving female legislator, Ruth Stockton, summed it up when she said:  “When the going gets rough, they know I’m not the weak sister.”

    The team behind the film, Strong Sisters,  has conducted 76 interviews with women who have served in the legislature and experts on women’s history, western history, and gender politics. These interviews serve as the film’s narration and will also serve as an oral history of Colorado’s unique story for generations to come.

    • In 1893 Colorado became the first state to give women the right to vote in a popular election. Obviously, that means a majority of male voters chose to give women the right to vote. Having the right to vote set the stage for women to also run for public office.
    • In 1894, during the first statewide election that allowed women to vote in Colorado, three women were elected to the Colorado House of Representatives. These were the first women to serve in any state legislature in the United States.
    • In 1895 Colorado swore in the first women to serve in any state legislature. Joining the state House of Representatives were: Clara Cressingham, Carrie Holly, and Frances Klock.
    • Dr. Elizabeth Cassidy became a Denver County Commissioner in 1910. Some sources say she was the nation’s first female county commissioner. Prior to becoming a county commissioner, Dr. Cassidy served as the county physician. A contemporary historian wrote: “Her efforts and influence are always on the side of progress, reform, and improvement.”
    • In 1912 Helen Ring Robinson became the first woman elected to the state Senate.
    • During the first 50 years that women were able to vote and serve in public office in Colorado (1895-1945), 30 women served in the House and three served in the Senate. During the next 50 years (1945-1994), 101 women served in the House and 23 women served in the Senate. Between 1995 and 2013 Colorado saw another 87 women serve in the State House and another 40 women serve in the State Senate.

     

    Strong Sister’s Filmmakers

    Laura Hoeppner, Producer, Director and Writer

    Laura Hoeppner photoLaura Hoeppner served as the Executive Director of the Colorado Legislative Women’s Caucus from 2009 to 2012, researching and writing biographies of historical women who served in the Colorado General Assembly which were published on the Caucus’ website and as a booklet.

    Laura was a Legislative Aide at the Colorado House of Representatives and more recently worked as Community & Government Affairs Liaison for the City of Centennial, Colorado. She has over 12 years of experience working in the non-profit sector, including seven years as the Executive Director of the Colorado Institute for Leadership Training. Laura also taught history and political science at the community college level.

    Laura served in elected office as a Home Rule Charter Commissioner for the City of Centennial and was appointed to the Colorado Channel Authority Board.

    Laura holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Michigan State University, with a certificate in Women’s Studies, and a Master’s degree in History from the University of Michigan.

     

    Meg Froelich, Producer, Director and Writer

    Meg Froelich photoA producer for television, the Internet and multimedia, Meg Froelich has produced documentary episodes for the A&E series Biography and The Twentieth Century with Mike Wallace. She worked on PBS’ American Masters and The American Experience series, as well as documentary series on education and childhood.

    Meg produced the CD-ROM and DVD versions of Our Times: An Encyclopedia of the Twentieth Century which included narration by James Earl Jones and several mini-documentaries. She produced the websites for Our Times, Encyclonet, and for the National Archives of Singapore. Recently she has produced pro-bono pieces for not for profit organizations in Denver.

    Meg has served as an elected official as a Greenwood Village Councilmember. She is the former Executive Director of the Colorado Institute for Leadership Training and has taught social studies at the secondary and higher education levels.

    She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and holds a Masters Degree in History from the University of Michigan.

    Editor’s Note: 

    We immediately thought of Congresswoman Pat Schroeder and added this film:

     

  • A Sweet Valentine’s Day Greeting

    Every year thousands of people come to public lands to express their love; here are a few of those special moments. Happy Valentine’s Day from the Department of the Interior!

    Thanks for watching,
    Interior Department
    www.instagram.com/USInterior

    There are many ways to join us here at Interior:

    Free Entrance Days for Public Lands – 2017

    Take in the great scenery of our natural landscapes, learn about our nation’s rich history, and enjoy the great outdoors — our nation’s public lands have so much to offer!

    Every year, the Interior Department and other land-management agencies make it easier to visit these special places by offering free admission to the public lands that charge an entrance fee.

    Check out the dates below for a list of the public lands that are free, and start planning your trip today!

    February 20 — Presidents Day

    National parks, national wildlife refuges, national forests and public lands managed by Bureau of Land Management will waive their entrance fees.

    April 15-15 & April 22-23 —  National Park Week Weekends

    In celebration of National Park Week, all national parks will waive their entrance fees.

    June 10 — National Get Outdoors Day

    *National forests will waive their entrance fees.

    August 25 — National Park Service Birthday

    To celebrate the National Park Service’s birthday, all national parks will waive their entrance fees.

    September 30 — National Public Lands Day

    National parks, national wildlife refuges, national forests and public lands managed by Bureau of Land Management will waive their entrance fees.

    October 8 — First Sunday of National Wildlife Refuge Week

    To celebrate National Wildlife Refuge Week, all national wildlife refuges will waive their entrance fees.

    November 11-12 — Veterans Day Weekend

    National parks, national wildlife refuges, national forests and public lands managed by Bureau of Land Management will waive their entrance fees.

    A question the Department gets on social media frequently is: Shouldn’t public lands be free every day?

    Of the 400+ national park sites, only 120 charge an entrance fee (which range from $3 to $30 per vehicle for an entire week). For the national wildlife system, 31 refuges charge admission (ranging from $3 to $8 per vehicle) to help fund their recreation-related projects.

    What are entrance fees to national parks used for? Under the Federal Recreation Lands Enhancement Act, national parks keep 80% of all fees collected and use that money to fund critical projects that improve visitor services and protect natural and cultural resources. For example, at Yellowstone, fees go to repairing roads, upgrading campgrounds and more.

    Do you visit public lands that charge entrance fees often? Consider purchasing a public lands pass. There are a number of pass options but they give you access to more than 2,000 national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, grasslands and other federal lands.

    These passes are available:

    • Free annual pass to current military members and their dependents.
    • Free lifetime pass for people with permanent disabilities.
    • $10 lifetime senior pass for those aged 62 and over. (Editor’s Note:We have our lifetime pass!)
    • $80 annual pass for the general public.
    • Free annual pass for volunteers who accrue 250 hours and who do not already have a valid interagency pass.
    • Every Kid in the Park: Free annual pass valid for the school year, September to August, for duration of the 4th grade year. Covers students and their families.

    Buy your pass today at Recreation.gov.

    *National forests are managed by the US Department of Agriculture, not the Interior Department. Learn more about the different types of public lands.

  • Things My Grandmothers Taught Me: Oil Your Opals and Boil Your Diamonds

    By Julia SnedenDoing Laundry

    Robert Frederick Blum (American artist, 1857–1903) In the Laundry; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; The McGlothlin Collection of American Art

    “You mean you still iron?”  There were chuckles and gasps of horror from the small group of women. 
     “I haven’t ironed in twenty years,” said Meg. 
     Margaret just shook her head. “It’s more like 40 years for me,” she said.

    “Well,” said Anna Claire, who at 40 was the baby of the group, “I’ve never even owned an iron.”  

    There have been many times in my life when I felt out of touch with the modern world. Living through the teenage years of three children left me feeling positively antediluvian. Having to learn, unlearn and relearn four or five different computer systems during the past 20 years hasn’t done much for my self-esteem, either, especially when my kids get it all so swiftly. But ironing? It never occurred to me that ironing was evidence of being out of step with modern times. Apparently, the rest of the world sends cotton shirts out to the laundry, these days. Not this old-fashioned (not to say retrograde) woman. 

    Not only do I iron; I actually enjoy it. Handling the clean clothes, smoothing them on the board, gliding the hot iron as the steam hisses up around it, seeing the pristine, unwrinkled surface one has brought into being, is for me a sensual pleasure. I like the smell of the warm fabric. I like the appearance of the finished product. I like the muffled ‘clunk’ of a well-placed iron. I like the tactile involvement of the smooth strokes. I like the fact that I can iron and listen to music or a news program at the same time. I like the fact that while I’m ironing, I can stand still. (Mind you, I like it best when I don’t have to do it more than once in awhile. If I had to do it every week, as we did in the old days, I might be less enthusiastic).

    My grandmothers taught me how to iron. In our multi-generation household, my parents or occasional hired helpers did the physically challenging work like gardening, vacuuming, window washing, carpentry, cooking, and laundry. My grandmothers and great aunt did less active things like polishing silver, ironing, setting the table, dusting, and drying the dishes. (Guess who washed the dishes as soon as she was tall enough to reach the sink.)

    Ironing was a joint effort. The two grandmothers took turns, one each washday, while my great aunt read aloud to them. I would hang out nearby, just to hear my Aunt Martha read, usually from The Saturday Evening Post or The Atlantic Monthly. She could have read the telephone book, and I’d have listened. Her voice was light and gentle, and her diction precise without being fussy. Listening to her put me into a kind of trance, and at times my skin would actually tingle.
     
    Our ironing board was affixed to the wall behind a tall, narrow, white door. When the door opened and the board came down, there was another, tiny board behind it which could also be unfolded as needed for small items. My mind’s eye still sees my grandmothers pressing the little puffed sleeves of my 1940’s school dresses on that small board, working them gently around to get the maximum puff without pressing in a wrinkle. 

    I remember the very first things I was allowed to press: a batch of our damask dinner napkins. There wasn’t a whole lot you could do wrong in pressing a napkin, but I managed to do it. I ironed over a stain that the washing machine hadn’t removed. When my grandmother saw it, she explained that one should never iron a stain. Ironing only “set” it. The preferred response was to rewash the napkin. If the stain persisted, Grandmother gave it a good scrub with salt and lemon juice, and put the napkin out in the sun. After a day of bright California sunshine, the spot was gone. Lemon juice, salt, and sun have been my method of choice for treating stains on white things, ever since. They work better than any pre-wash, bleach, or spot remover I’ve ever tried.