The Quest

I spent this afternoon in Troy, the Collar City. It is so named because of the detachable collars that were first imagined and then manufactured there. The purpose of my visit was primarily to visit the campus of the Emma Willard School for a job interview. Emma Willard was a pioneer in education for women, and felt there was no reason women could not be as well-educated as men. She was right. Over 200 years ago, she started a school for women and it is still going strong (although it has moved locations over time). The campus is stunning, and the staff are friendly and engaging. In addition to the advancement of education for women, Troy was also the home of Kate Mullany, the first woman to organize a labor union. She was a young Irish immigrant who took issue with the dangerous conditions and low wages paid to laundresses who washed and ironed the detachable collars Troy was known for. Kate organized her co-workers into the Collar Laundry Union in 1864. After my intervi...

This morning, I closely followed the progress of a particularly dedicated ant, hauling another dead ant away. I can only assume that the live ant was taking the dead ant back to the nest. It made me wonder why. Is this a military ant... never leave a fallen comrade? Or a teacher ant... no ant left behind? At one point, the live ant dropped the dead ant and appeared to be having trouble regaining her hold (I've read that all ants are female... is that true?). So, I took a stick and flipped the dead ant so that she would be more easily carried. Luckily, Live Ant was then able to get a better grip on Dead Ant and they continued on. While this was going on, the dogs were having great fun wrestling all over the place. I asked them nicely to not wrestle over the ant, and certainly not to step on her as she's making such a valiant effort. She tripped over rocks and climbed grass and dodged dogs. Live Ant was a super-hero ant. When I searched Google for more information on the tr...

I woke this morning to an email from one of my Latvian friends. She is one of those people who instantly knew me, deep in my soul, as soon as we met. Has that ever happened to you? I've been lucky to have it happen many times in my life. In addition to the wonderfully strong women in my own family, I have felt the influence of powerful mentors throughout my life. I hesitate to name names, because I couldn't possibly name all of them. But I'm going to anyway, just to give you a sense. There was Helen Jennings, who taught my Sunday School class when I was just a kid. She had the strength of a farmer's wife, a mom, a sense of right and wrong, and an innate knowledge of when to distribute hugs and when enough was enough. Her sister, Mary Ann Gestes, shared that same sense. My teachers in school were almost all strong women... I remember one in particular, Mrs. Bonner (her first name was Gloria, like my mother, but my 2nd and 3rd grade self could never call her that). Sh...