Saturday: Geek Girl Pride

Good morning, newsjunkies, and…Happy Geek Pride Day:

Geek Pride Day (Spanish: Día del orgullo friki ) is an initiative to promote geek culture, celebrated annually on 25 May. The date was chosen as to commemorate the release of the first Star Wars film, A New Hope on 25 May 1977 (see Star Wars Day), but shares the same date as two other similar fan “holidays”: Towel Day, for fans of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy by Douglas Adams, and the Glorious 25th of May for fans ofTerry Pratchett‘s Discworld.

The initiative originated in Spain in 2006 as “Día del Orgullo Friki” and spread around the world via the internet.

With the internet, there really is no dearth of things to celebrate. I thought I’d highlight all the girl geeks that have been in the headlines recently for this morning’s roundup. Before we get to that though, I did a little digging for the origins and popularization of the term “geek girl”:

Via Geek Girl zine bio. Click image to visit.

geekgirl // (say ‘geekgerl)
noun Colloquial a female computer geek, especially on the internet [coined by Rosie Cross, born 1958, British internet publisher in Australia, as the title of her online magazine] 1993.

Bibliography: The Macquarie Dictionary Online © Macquarie Dictionary Publishers Pty Ltd.

Wikipedia refers to Rosie Cross’ online zine as a cyberfeminist magazine. Cool, huh! “Cyberfeminist” — I really like the sound of that!

Although, the most common connotation of geek girl tends to be in relation to computer-geeking and tech-journalists, I think the women of the Sky Dancing sisterhood fall under the geek girl umbrella with respect to their various areas of interest. Take our frontpage regulars for example:

• Dr. Dakinikat, the financial economist wonk-slash-jazz pianist-slash-buddhist philosopher queen
• Dr. Bostonboomer, the developmental psychologist, voice of the baby boomer generation, and old school journalism newshound
• JJ aka Minkoff Minx, the medieval studies expert, modern-day equivalent of a medievalist scribe (hee!), and all around renaissance woman if I may say so!

We’ve just got all kinds of enthusiasts of all kinds of disciplines and subject matter here, which I think is perfectly reflective of the broader community of sisters out there, working together, sharing their voices and talents, building friendships and families. Like our girl Hillary says. “It Takes a Village!”

Alright, now onto some Saturday shero reads. First, I’d like to start with a late and great geek girl getting posthumous presidential honors — Obama to Award Presidential Medal of Freedom to Dr. Sally Ride, via SheWired:

President Obama announced Monday his intent to bestow a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom to astronaut Dr. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, whose obituary revealed was survived by her female partner of 27 years.

“We remember Sally Ride not just as a national hero, but as a role model to generations of young women,” said President Obama in a statement. “Sally inspired us to reach for the stars, and she advocated for a greater focus on the science, technology, engineering and math that would help us get there. Sally showed us that there are no limits to what we can achieve, and I look forward to welcoming her family to the White House as we celebrate her life and legacy.”

Icing on the cake:

The release noted that the White House informed Ride’s partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, and Ride’s mother and sister about the award last week. The award will be presented at a ceremony at the White House later this year.

I will totally cry if a photograph turns up later this year, of Sally’s partner, mother, and/or sister receiving the award on her behalf.

And, did you know:

In December, NASA intentionally crashed a pair of twin satellites into the surface of the moon, and named the crash site after Ride, in recognition of her numerous contributions to NASA’s Grail project and science in general.

RIP Sally Kristen Ride (1951-2012)
Ad astra … To the stars, heroine.

Thank you, President Obama. Thank you, NASA. Thank you history–for finally being on the right side of it. And, thanks to Sally Ride and to all the members of the LGBT community, both the activists and the people just leading their lives and trailblazing like Sally. To take a page from Hillary again, this time from her concession speech during the ’08 primaries…what is truly remarkable when “firsts” of these sorts happen, is that in the long run they won’t be remarkable anymore. Girls can now dream of flying in space and winning presidential primaries at all…because they have seen women before them do these things.

I don’t know how many of you are familiar with Jonathan Kozol’s Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation, but it is a great book I recommend about the poorest of the poor living in the South Bronx and at one point one of the subjects Kozol inteviews says, “Boys who are doing well in school will tell me, ‘I would like to be a sanitation man.’ I have to guard my words and not say anything to indicate my sense of disappointment. In this neighborhood, a sanitation job is something to be longed for.”

That’s a book excerpt permanently etched into my brain. And, if the boys in the Bronx are dreaming of sanitation work, I can only imagine what girls there see on their horizon, if anything at all.

Hopefully the more trails blazed by more women of various backgrounds, from various walks of lives and various neighborhoods, the more girls (and boys!) can dream, without regard to their gender, class, race, sexual orientation, creed, or special needs.

Here are some girls living the dream…Meet the first all-Emirati, all-girl rock band:

AL AIN // The opening riff of the Deep Purple classic Smoke on the Water pounds out across a college hall.

It’s a common enough scene, as the song has been a standard entry on the playlists of countless heavy rock bands for decades.

However there is nothing ordinary about the five musicians pumping out those familiar chords. They are Random Stars: the first Emirati all-girl rock band.

“Playing rock ‘n’ roll is awesome,” says IT security student Bushra Hassan Al Hashimi, 22, who plays rhythm guitar. “We are the first girls from the UAE who play electric guitars as a band.

“It takes us away from the stress of homework and other college stuff – we play some music and we work on our songs. I’ve always liked rock ‘n’ roll.”

Incidentally, this reminds me of a really badass quote I recently fell in love with by none other than the now-late Ray Manzarek:

“You don’t make music for immortality, you make music for the moment of capturing the sheer joy of being alive on planet earth, ‘WOW! is this fun… this is just the greatest, everybody should live it that way.’” 

…which is exactly what the Emirati girls are doing with their band “Random Stars.” I hope you click over and give the rest a read. It’s a great story.

This next one is just awe-inpsiring.

Arunima Sinha, Indian Woman, Is First Female Amputee To Climb Everest:.

Sinha’s guides were concerned about her slow pace until the team reached an 8,750-metre (28,707 foot) junction that climbers pass through on their way to the top of the mountain, Sherpa said.

“But once she got to that point, she gained energy and confidence and started moving really quickly,” Sherpa said.

Slow, steady, and then she was off!

Sinha is an athlete — a former national level volleyball player. Her story is testament to her prudence in turning tragedy on its head:

25-year-old Sinha reached the 8,848 metre-high summit of the world’s highest peak at 10.55 am today, as a member of the Eco Everest Expedition from the Tata Group, an official of the Tourism Ministry of Nepal said.

Sinha, a resident of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, was pushed out of the general compartment of Padmawati Express for resisting a chain-snatching attempt by some criminals, while travelling from Lucknow to Delhi on April 12, 2011.

She was hit by a passing train and was seriously injured. She was hospitalised with serious leg and pelvic injuries and in a bid to save her life, doctors had to amputate her left leg below the knee.

Sinha had this to say in an interview to an Indian TV station before her climb:

“At that time everyone was worried for me. I then realised I had to do something in my life so that people stop looking at me with pity. I read about people scaling the Mt Everest. I spoke to my older brother and my coach who only encouraged me,” she had told NDTV.

Only 25 years old and such presence of mind, not to mention of body and spirit–a gloriously athletic-yet-geeky combination if you ask me!  And, that’s not where the story even ends :

NEW DELHI: Arunima Sinha, the country’s first amputee to conquer Mt Everest, will soon be a police officer.

Arunima last year qualified a written test and skill abilities exam of the central government and qualified for getting an appointment as a Head Constable in the central paramilitary force CISF.

Add gutsy to the list of words to describe this young woman! Cheers to Ms. Arunima Sinha!

And, here’s another gutsy athletic girl… via Upworthy… This Is What It Looks Like When A Gay Athlete Gives Out Her Contact Info To Any Gay Kid In Need:

It’s one thing to be out and proud. It’s a whole other ball game to actively let gay teens know that when they are hurting they can call you. Brittney Griner, who just won a GLAAD award, along with being the #1 pick in this year’s WNBA draft, is an amazing human being, as you will see at 2:50.

Here’s the youtube:

As a My So-Called Life geek/fangirl, I love that Wilson Cruz (“Rickie Vasquez” on MSCL) introduced Brittney Griner…and such a wonderfully delivered, and well-deserved, introduction it is!

And, Ms. Griner’s acceptance. Just WOW. Watch the entire clip if you can.

I don’t know if Griner’s story fits in the geek girl category or not, but this young woman is so well-spoken–and smashingly dressed in a gender-bender suit–that I wouldn’t be surprised if she had some geek in her. Plus she’s a college grad this month! Congratulations, shero!

On Wednesday, the White House honored ten openly gay public officials on “Harvey Milk Day,” calling them “Harvey Milk Champions of Change.” Karen Clark, the longest serving openly gay legislator in the country, was one of the honorees:

Karen Clark
Minnesota State Representative
South Minneapolis, MN

Representative Karen Clark was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1980, making her the longest serving openly gay or lesbian state legislator in the country. She represents three inner city neighborhoods in South Minneapolis, the lowest income district in the state. Representative Clark is an advocate for low income, Indigenous American Indian and community of color constituents, including many new Americans. A former public health nurse, current college instructor and co-founder of the Women’s Environmental Institute, some of Representative Clark’s major legislative accomplishments include chief authoring and passing worker and consumer right-to-know toxic exposure laws, affordable housing and homelessness initiatives, youth and dislocated worker job training strategies and numerous human rights, environmental justice and anti-discrimination protections. Recently, Representative Clark authored and helped pass the 2013 Minnesota Freedom to Marry bill with bi-partisan support.

Policy wonk on and keep on blazing trails, Karen Clark!

Two other young women were in my newsfeed this week for their ‘girl genius’ accomplishments. JJ already posted about one of these girls in one of her roundups, but I feel it’s only right to include her again. Via the feminist FB page, “Unpacking the ‘F’ Word”:

INSPIRATIONAL WOMAN: Eesha Khare

(Photo: Intel)

Waiting hours for a cellphone to charge may become a thing of the past, thanks to an 18-year-old high-school student’s invention. She won a $50,000 prize Friday at an international science fair for creating an energy storage device that can be fully juiced in 20 to 30 seconds.

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/teens-invention-could-charge-your-phone-20-seconds-1C9977955

In a very similar vein, the FB Page “Women’s Rights News” posted this infographic about another geek girl, one Ms. Brittany Wenger:

And, on that uplifting note and image, I’m going to turn the floor over to you in the comments!

What’s on your blogging and reading list this Saturday?