"Aren't You A Little Short For A Storm Trooper?"

Okay, it's really late and I need to go to bed. I was up late finishing up work for tomorrow and then I got hooked on that dumb "Living Social" thing on facebook. I started to fill out a thinger for favorite book characters and I realized that I couldn't think of strong female characters right off the bat. This reminded me of last semester when we had to write down our heroes and I couldn't think of women right away except for some teachers I've had. After that I put in a pinch more effort to find empowered women to help remind me of what I want, and it really didn't prove to be so hard (vandana shiva, christiane amanpour, etc) so I guess now I'll need to go hunting around for more literary goddesses. This is also similar to a time last fall when I went into a bookstore to the new releases table and ended up leaving in a huff because all of the titles about women were indirect. I admit it, I love The Time Traveler's Wife. What I don't love is going in to a bookstore and seeing The Heretic's Daughter, The Senator's Wife, My Sister's Keeper, daugher sister mother wife daughter sister mother wife daughter sister mother wife. Oy vey. Here's a start:

Strong Female Literary:

(the first two that came to mind are Laura Ingalls Wilder, Karen von Bixen-Finecke, and Shreve Stockton but they all wrote autobiographies, they weren't in novels!)

Jo March, Little Women

... I know there are more but I'm tired

There are a few in books that are also in movies (LOTR, Pride and Prejudice) that I need to read. I should really re-read The Awakening because I never did make my mind up about it, and I think I need to look closer at Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Strong Female Movie:

Evie, V for Vendetta

Princess Leia, Star Wars

Ilsa, Casablanca

Arowyn, LOTR

Elizabeth, Pride and Prejudice

Elizabeth, POTC

Karen von Bixen-Finecke, Out of Africa

When I was younger I loved Maria Michel, Amelia Earhart, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Julie "The Cat" Gaffney on the Mighty Ducks. I'm still that kid looking for women who have walked ahead. 

Pay It Forward

Over the last two days I have badgered the passerby for spare change and sold dozens of bake sale goodies along with the other Riverside mentors to raise money for DREAM. We've been really successful with our fundraising and I'm so grateful to everyone who contributed.

BUT (because, as Nicole says, "everybody has a 'but'...")

What's the deal with stingy people? I think it's a legitimate question. Yesterday at the bake sale I would sometimes spend several minutes talking with admitted students and their parents, giving tips, answering questions, yadda yadda yadda... and they won't spend a dollar for our mentoring program. I guess I just don't get that. 

My Mom is the type who always stops at kids' lemonade stands, to the point where even if she drives by one accidently, she turns around and goes back to give these kids a dollar to make their day. I gotta say, I was feeling a lot like a kid at a lemonade stand when people would just blow us off. This isn't hating on the students who legitimately didn't have change on them because we live off of our CatCards- I get that. I just feel like people tune out sometimes. 

The most generous donors today where the Davis Center employees. We all know they don't get paid much, but they saw what we were doing and wanted to help out. Beautiful. When I get something for free, I try to donate something somewhere to balance it out. It's all about balance. I was so impressed with all of the generous donations we got today and yesterday, big and small.

The First

Well.

I had thought I would be long since asleep by now because it has been a thick week. Up until three every night studying, classes all day. The end of the semester is on its way and with it the usual nonsense. A thick week and a busy couple of weeks. 

Last Friday I had my first rescue mission for an uber skinny kitten I found over at Riverside during DREAM. We snuck her into the dorms for a night and she lived in Maya's bathroom for the night so I could take her to the shelter the next morning. 

Here she is!

She was quite the celebrity in L/L.

Last weekend was also my last UVM Outing Club trip. I led with Cynthia and Alison for my second Sunday in a row climbing at Dunmore. I deemed it too cold to sacrifice my socks for climbing shoes so I climbed in my hiking boots. They weren't super tough routes but it definitely made it more interesting. I'm really grateful for all of the opportunities and training the OC has given me, and it was nostalgic being back at Lake Dunmore where I had made so many of my personal firsts in climbing. 

Tonight I finished reading Annapurna: A Women's Place by Arlene Blum and it was fantastic. Inspiring, heart breaking, the whole nine yards (or 8,000 meters, but who's counting?) It's really got me thinking about doing some bigger and badder trips in the future. I keep looking at NOLS and IMCS trips and googling the Pacific Crest. It would be pretty cool to do some of the classic American trails. Most people think of the AT but the Crest and the Continental Divide are calling me more. I think in the next couple years I would like to squeeze in time for the Long Trail and the Adirondack 46. The west coast is developing appeal that it never had for me before, and I keep daydreaming about Nepal. 

BUT Nepal will have to wait because Tanzania is first in line! I've decided on the program I'm hoping to do this Fall and I'm going to apply this weekend. Today I told Ashley that I would sent her postcards and pictures from Africa and that seemed to distract her from the fact that I won't be her when DREAM starts up again next fall. She's so great. I'm so proud of and impressed with her, she's come such a long way and she's got such craziness at home. I'm meeting with my study abroad advisor on Tuesday to work on Switzerland for the Spring, and I guess I'll eventually have to file for leave of absence?

So much to do. Om Mani Padme Hum.