The International Women's Day celebration continues today at The Good Life's famous blogging meme, Monday Listicles. The female-themed topic was open to interpretation, so I began by listing women who have impacted my life. I struggled to categorize them into a single classification and then it occurred to me: all of these women are creative.
Who Inspires You? Complete my list!
Because I also receive creative inspiration from my readers and the women in my blogging community, I edited my list down to five, and am asking you to finish the list by submitting five women who inspire your creativity in the comments. This is a great way to discover more female inspiration that we may have been missing.
10 Women Who Inspire
Courage and Creativity
Courage and Creativity
"Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion."
Founder of the Martha Graham Dance Company, “Graham and her
Company have expanded contemporary dance’s vocabulary of movement and forever
altered the scope of the art form by rooting works in contemporary social,
political, psychological, and sexual contexts, deepening their impact and
resonance.” As a former dancer, Graham is one of my heroes. I had the opportunity to see her in the early
1990’s when company members escorted her onto stage during the curtain call of a
performance for the opening celebration of the Wexner Center for the Arts. Her creative work and her powerful words are
a mainstay source for my own courage and inspiration.
“I’m committed to making women’s lives better. Whether that
is through research, or writing or shouting from the rooftops.”
You can find Jen Thorpe’s thought provoking commentary at her
blog: Mail and Guardian, her website giving voice to women’s issues in South
Africa: FeministSA, and the writing project allowing over 80 women to express
how their “first time” has impacted their life: My First Time. My favorite space of hers is My First Time. Visit it, read it, and consider contributing to it.
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| Erin McKeown |
Erin McKeown – musician, writer, producer
"If I made music all the time, if I chose it over
advocacy, I wouldn't feel complete."
I became aware of Erin McKeown a few years ago when she
opened for Ani DiFranco in my hometown of Columbus. McKeown's exuberant performance stuck with me and I am a
faithful follower due to not only her musical talent, but also her work in musician’s
rights, advocating for legislative change to benefit the work of independent
artists. She was selected be a 2011-2012
fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society where
she works to ". . . connect the worlds of policy, art, and technology
while considering questions about how to make a creative life a viable vocation.”
“I don't want to give any advice to a 19-year-old, because I
want a 19-year-old to make mistakes and learn from them. Make mistakes, make
mistakes, make mistakes. Just make sure they're your mistakes.”
Fiona Apple only goes into the studio to create an album
when she feels inspired. Her song lyrics
have sustained me through many menacing moments and I admire her bravery as survivor of child sexual abuse.
I am eagerly anticipating her next
album, The Idler Wheel is wiser than the Driver of the Screw, and Whipping
Cords will serve you more than Ropes will ever do (The Idler Wheel), due to be
released in June.
“It seems to me that we spend an inordinate amount of time
and attention on fixing ourselves when we could really be directing that out to
serving others.”
Best known as the author of the The Vagina Monologues, Eve
Ensler is the power behind V-Day, a movement advocating the end of violence
towards women and girls. I have not seen
the Vagina Monologues and although I keep up with news surrounding V-Day, I am
not an active participant. Ensler made this list because of how deeply moved I
was by her 2010 TED Talk:
Thanks!
For more inspiring writing, check out the blogs at Monday Listicles
photo credit: bitzi ☂ ion-bogdan dumitrescu via photopin cc
