Babushka's Baile : Women's History Month

March 31, 2022

Women's History Month is Part of Us All. #TBT Conexion Florida March 2022

Bohemian Babushka March 31, 2022

Written for the 2022 March edition of Conexion, BB confesses that she hadn't known about these ladies until it was time to write the column. Totally enjoyed doing the research and learning about them, Babushka hopes you do too.

HolaHolaHola Beautifuls!

In March we celebrate Women’s History Month. Por supuesto BB has to write a twofer and write an article about the contributions of Latina Women in the US. There have been many and in many varied areas. Following are but a few, both in history as well as current times.

In the early 1900’s, Mexican American Jovita Idar made her stand for woman’s suffrage, writing in her family’s newspaper, El Progreso, about the need to give women the right to vote. Her conviction wasn’t only via the written word, for when the Texas Rangers came to close down the newspaper because of an article she had written against government treatment of Mexican American’s on the border, she physically stood in front of the door and did not let them pass.

In sports, 11 latinas played for the AAGPBL. The All American Girls Professional Baseball League was founded in 1943 and setting records for RBIs was Margaret “Marge” Villa. She started semiprofessionally at age 13 and was signed with the Kenosha Komets in 1946, playing over 500 games with them as a record breaking catcher.

1961 saw the founding of LatinX education programs, ASPIRA by Dr.Antonia Pantoja. A passion project, because she saw the racism, abusive conditions and racial inequities faced by laborers, and became a community organizer working to shed light and change, knowing education is a leveling factor.

These are just three of the countless latinas we should honor in this month dedicated to women’s history. Truthfully though Beautifuls, aren’t we all part of women’s history? Somos hecho y parte of our family/mother’s historia. Y esto being true, we must be made conscious of our importancia, not for ourselves, but to those around us and those that will follow us. Don’t downplay your part, for you too are part of history. Be conscious of your link in the making of mañana. Do from the heart and follow what you know is right.

Babushka Besos a Todos. Cuidensen.

March 26, 2021

Equality

Women's History is Everyone's History - @ConexionFlorida March 2021 Edition

Bohemian Babushka March 26, 2021

The following is from BB’s column in the March edition of Conexion, the trilingual newspaper in North Florida,parts of Alabama and Georgia. This month we honor women and their sobresaliente contributions to our historia.

HolaHolaHola Beautifuls!

“Women's History Month is an annual declared month that highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. Wikipedia” Seems silly that we should need a specific month to highlight women, their accomplishments and worth. Then again, it’s silly that their accomplishments and worth aren’t shared everyday, that we should even have to highlight them when it should be common knowledge and accepted by all that women have the capacity, ingenuity, resilience and strength of character to be exceptional.

But we aren’t quite in that universal mind yet are we Beautifuls? So let us applaud the tenacity of women who didn’t live in (self) mental confines. Women like Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, the first feminine writer of the New World. A 17th Century writer and thinker who argued for a woman’s right to education, all while being a monja. In La Mujer Moderna,(1915) women’s rights were also argued by Hermila Galindo, founder,editor and writer. Galindo wrote in support of many radical feminist issues, primarily sex education in schools, women's suffrage, and divorce. Issues still talked about now, pero back in the early 1900’s they were especially controversial. Born in 1878, it wasn’t until 1969 that sociologist, modernist educator, journalist and feminist writer, María Jesús Alvarado Rivera was noted by the National Council of Women of Peru as the "first modern champion of women's rights in Peru". So you see, our history de Latinas fuerte and capable is long, and this is just a brief example. Heroines/Heroes to many, but did they think of themselves that way?

Heroes are those that are extraordinary because they did something that to them, just had to be done. They didn’t see the accolades, but the necessity, the call to get something accomplished, to follow through with their beliefs, their corazones. And this Beautifuls, describes so many in our lives. Mothers, teachers, retail clerks, medical professionals, tu. Si, YOU. The daily schedule, the getting out of bed, tending to others, being part of life, this is the stuff of heroes. Appreciate this in todos in your vida, appreciate this in yourself.

Women’s History is how we live, how we raise our children, how we treat others. Women’s History is how we want to be treated, how we want the futuro to see us, how we will be remembered. Todos somos partes de esta historia. We can look to the past, look at current idols for inspiration, but remember and believe. For our betterment or detriment, WE ALL make up Women’s History. Be mindful of your legacy.

Babushka Besos a Todos. Cuidensen.