Weekly Challenge: Do you have a “Compliments” File?

Posted by: gretchen on April 2, 2008 | 1 Comment |

Have you ever received a card or an email that contained a compliment or inspirational statement that just made your day? I get one every once in a while and they never cease to amaze me. Sometimes the message shows up right when I really needed it and other times it is random such as the one I received this morning via email:

I found this site through a reference on the Joomla.org site. I love it. This is exactly the sort of resource I want my daughter to have, when she’s old enough–she’s only 2 now.

Keep up the good work.

Now, I’m having a pretty good day so far (ok so it’s only 8am)…but I know somewhere in the future I’m gonna have a run of bad luck and that lovely little email will be just the thing I need to pick myself up of the floor and move on.

How will I find my way back to reading it when I’m having a crappy day and I need a little motivation to keep going? The trick to making these compliments work for you when you really truly need them is simple. Read more

What is a Feminist?

Posted by: gretchen on February 12, 2008 | 3 Comments |

Being that it’s nearly Wednesday, I’m a little late to the game with the weekly challenge, inspired from this quote:

“I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is; I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.” ~ Dame Rebecca West

So what do you think? How would you describe a feminist?

Weekly Challenge: Non-Celebrity Role Models

Posted by: gretchen on January 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment |

This is it!  Your chance to honor the women in your life that have made a difference in who you are today.  I don’t want to hear about celebrities.  I want to hear real stories about real people.  Give me names, post  links, share your thoughts or write a thank you note to them.  If you have your own blog, post a story and link it back to here.  I don’t think we can ever get enough inspiration and I much prefer my influence come from “everyday” people than bloated hollywood hype, don’t you?

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Weekly Challenge: Interviews Wanted

Posted by: gretchen on January 14, 2008 | 1 Comment |

This week’s challenge is to help me find some interesting and amazing women to interview for Girls Can’t WHAT? during 2008.  There are no limitations, and if you’d like to submit an interview yourself, please contact me and I’ll help you get it posted.  You can leave suggestions and web link in the comments.

Here’s a list of past interviews to give you some ideas.  Please do not post anyone’s email address, phone number or other personal info.  You can submit those items to me privately.  Thanks.  ;)

How much do you know about women’s suffrage history?

Posted by: gretchen on September 21, 2007 | 3 Comments |

I ran across this great women’s suffrage quiz at about.com. I challenge you to test your knowledge and see how well you score. I will admit I didn’t do so well and I think I am pretty well-versed in women’s history! :o Take the quiz and tell us how you did.

BlogDay 2007

Posted by: gretchen on August 31, 2007 | 1 Comment |

Today is the third annual BlogDay 2007 which I didn’t even know about until last night when reader KayKayZowie emailed me to say that she was linking to Girls Can’t WHAT? as one of her favorite blogs.

What is BlogDay, you ask?

BlogDay was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest. On that day Bloggers will recommend other blogs to their blog visitors.

I can’t pass up this opportunity to give some shout-outs to five of my favorite blogs:

  • SoapboxFive - My best friend Kelli’s blog, which highlights social issues.
  • Lifehacker - This is sort of a hodgepodge block from many authors that offer cool tips and tricks about all kinds of stuff relevant to our daily lives.
  • Kelly Forrester - If you’re into GTD (if you have no idea what GTD even stands for, then you most definitely aren’t), Kelly has lots of insights about personal productivity.
  • OpenSourceCommunity.org - being a total geek, I love this community blog which covers all things open source
  • Bittbox - I just found this one last week and it’s full of fantastic photoshop and illustrator tutorials. I don’t even know the author’s name, but it’s a great resource.

And those are just a few of the places you will find me on the net. What are your top five? Post ‘em here. ;)

friends

Posted by: chica linda on August 21, 2007 | 3 Comments |

I have to awesome friends they are so cool but we all fight over each other so shuold I pick my friend who I can talk to about anything and every thing or should I go with the friend who makes me forget my thoghts and have fun??? I agree with gretchen I do have a bunch of friends but these are my closest girls we have been together foreverand nothing could ever split us up it’s just that one min. we are auditionig for the talent show -then the next we cancel the act!! or say we are at the beach and me and one of my friends want to lay and tan and then my other friend convises me to go swiming she won’t let my other friend come to the pool with us I just wish my step-mom were here to give me here advice on this situation

Belated Birthday Contest Begins

Posted by: gretchen on August 20, 2007 | 6 Comments |

I wanted to kick off a new contest last month to help celebrate Girls Can’t WHAT? turning two, but my life has been so crazy that I just didn’t get it squeezed in. I figure “better late than never”, so here is it is… the Belated Birthday Contest. There will be FIVE winners selected for this contest, each receiving a t-shirt of their choice from the GCW shop.

How to Play Read more

Blog Challenge: Classic TV Featuring Women

Posted by: gretchen on August 8, 2007 | 5 Comments |

Having just subscribed to cable for the first time ever in our lives (no - I’m not kidding), I thought it might be a good time to introduce my kids to some classic television. You know - back when tv was a little more wholesome and innocent? I recall discovering some of my first strong female role-models from some of these shows, many of which had female leads who showed independence and grace. Off the top of my head, my favorites were probably “Laverne & Shirley”, “Facts of Life” and “Designing Women”. Don’t get me wrong, there are some good shows for kids on right now, but I can only take so much of “Hannah Montana” and “That’s So Raven” before I shuffle the kids outdoors to play. (Fortunately my kids are not showing signs of becoming couch potatoes since we had cable installed.)

So I’m hoping some of you cable veterans can help me out by letting me know what cable shows are good influences for women and which ones deserve to be eliminated from my remote. I’m looking more for classic tv, but I won’t impose any limitations. Is there an episode that inspired you or helped you learn a lesson? Did you identify with a particular character or situation?

I have a couple of articles in the works about my favorite shows, but I’m short on time today so I’ll post them soon. Feel free to login and post your own. Or if blogging’s not your thing, you can always leave a comment. Oh and hurry - I hear Disney’s having another “Hannah Montana” marathon!

Whose Blog Would You Read?

Posted by: gretchen on June 7, 2007 | 9 Comments |

Here’s a little spin on the old “if you could go back in time, who would you like to have lunch with” question. This time around let’s pretend that computers have existed since the dawn of time and that blogging was a part of everyone’s daily lives. Momentarily, I am picturing Eve in the Garden of Eden with a laptop (an Apple, of course :)) ) happily blogging away about why Adam can’t manage to put his fig leaf in the hamper. Hmmm… what else would Eve have to say? (My thoughts have wandered off and I’m trying to figure out why some Mac marketer hasn’t come up with an Adam and Eve version of the Mac vs. PC commercials. Surely there is some creative genius to be found there.)

Anyway, think back at all the women throughout history and then pretend that Google has neatly archived all of their blogs for you to surf through at your leisure. Whose blog would you read? Whose blog would you comment on? Can you just see Susan B. Anthony blogging her speeches? How many comments would Sojourner Truth have received for her famous “Ain’t I a Woman” speech? Pick someone who doesn’t have any writings or speeches - what would she have to say on her blog? What would her site look like? Lots of ads and blog bling or a simple format with earthy colors? You tell me. Take a moment to blog about it on your own site or create your own blog entry here on Girls Can’t WHAT? Read more

Would you vote for a woman?

Posted by: gretchen on May 23, 2007 | 9 Comments |

Alec from Prose Before Hos sent me a link to this great article about disproportional representation in politics which discusses various groups, including women:

Women of voting age represent 51.6 percent of the voting age population yet are 16.3% of the Congress, putting America below the global average of 17% female representation at parliamentary level. As of 2007, the US ranks 68th in terms of women holding office in the legislature — this puts the US just above Turkmenistan, and just below El Salvador and Panama.

Eeek! That’s not so good. In a country where women supposedly have equal rights, we are sorely underrepresented.  Why do you think the numbers look so bad here?  Do Americans put less faith in women as politicians or are there just not enough women running for office?

Twice As Good or Four Times As Hard?

Posted by: gretchen on May 9, 2007 | 8 Comments |

One of my all time favorite quotes is this:

“Whatever women must do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.”
~ Charlotte Whitton

How true this statement has been in my lifetime. There is some interesting math involved here, though, depending on how you interpret the quote. If we have to work twice as hard to get half the credit, wouldn’t we have to work four times as hard in order to be equal? No wonder we women are so exhausted all the time!

Now on to the part that says “Luckily, this is not difficult.” I am not so sure that is true. Any time a woman takes on the challenge of a “man’s job,” there is usually an instant barrier set in place that she must somehow get over. I have honestly never yet met a woman who walked into a particular job or field of expertise and was just accepted and never once felt an ounce of discrimination. If you have ever experienced total acceptance, please share your story. Unfortunately, this site is full of stories where “acceptance” is not the norm.

So what do we do about this “norm”? It seems that every time we make some progress, something happens and we slide backward a few notches. Take the field of technology for instance. Women were making great strides in this area just a couple of years ago. Today, the number of women pursuing careers in the computer sciences is on a serious decline. Why? Are there less females interested in technology now or are they just tired of working four times as hard to get the same results as the males?

What is your profession? Do you feel like you are working four times as hard?

Contest: Guess The Next Design

Posted by: gretchen on April 7, 2007 | 9 Comments |

Thought I’d spice things up around here with a little contest… I am currently working on 4 new Girls Can’t WHAT? designs. The first person to correctly guess any one of the four will win a free Girls Can’t WHAT? T-shirt with any character on it you choose. If no one guesses correctly, I will draw one name at random from all of those who participate in the contest.

Here are the contest rules:

1. You have until midnight on April 14th (next Saturday) to place your guess.

2. You must post your guess as a comment to this announcement and also tell me what design you would like to have on your shirt if you win (it can be a current design or you may request something for me to draw).

3. You are only allowed one guess so make it a good one!

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Are You A Feminist?

Posted by: gretchen on March 23, 2007 | 5 Comments |

Great Youtube clip where various women answer this question.  So are YOU a feminist?

Are You Right or Left Brained?

Posted by: gretchen on March 20, 2007 | 10 Comments |

Dang - I am finding these silly quiz thingies to be more and more accurate. “If you’re right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art.” Good to know I’m on the right career path. ;)

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He’s A Cold-Hearted Snake…

Posted by: gretchen on March 14, 2007 | 10 Comments |

…And I almost looked into his eyes… Except he ducked back down into his hole before I could catch him. Quest and I were out for our daily neighborhood patrol today, and since the weather has been much warmer we decided to take the long route which goes alongside a cornfield for about 2 blocks. Just as we were approaching the field, I saw a little head bobbing up and down. It was small and black with the distinctive weave of a reptile and as soon as I got closer he disappeared. I hung around for a minute while Quest took care of his business at the fire hydrant on the other side of the road, but the cute little bugger never came back out of his hole. Yes, I said it was cute. I like snakes. Don’t you?

Water Snake Photo

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Who would you have lunch with?

Posted by: gretchen on March 1, 2007 | 1 Comment |

March is Women’s History Month, so I thought I’d kick it off with a little survey question.  I have invented a time machine that allows you to go back in time and visit any woman from any place in any year.  Your challenge is to select the one woman you would like to speak with the most and tell us where you will be meeting for lunch, what you are ordering and what kinds of questions you would like to ask her.  There are no rules here.  You can bring her into the future or take her somewhere else in time.  Have fun.  ;)

What’s Your Muppet Personality?

Posted by: gretchen on February 28, 2007 | 13 Comments |

I don’t always put a lot of stock in these “5-question” personality quizzes, but this one was right on target. Probably because my answer to question #2 was “Bang on drums, pots and pans, whatever’s around”. :D

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Weekly Poll: Your Geekiest Moment

Posted by: gretchen on February 13, 2007 | 6 Comments |

If you scored reasonably high on the How Geeky Are You Quiz, then I am willing to bet you have some fabulous stories for this week’s survey: Your Geekiest Moment. You know you have one. As always, I will be brave and share mine, which ironically happened this morning at 6:25am.

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Weekly Poll: Is the word “Gal” offensive?

Posted by: gretchen on February 5, 2007 | 36 Comments |

My husband works in a politically correct Fortune 500 corporate environment (with a woman CEO I might add) so he often engages in conversations with others about the proper way to address other employees.   Recently, he was told by one of his bosses that the word  “gal” was offensive and he should try not to use it when referring to the women in his department.  He thought that was odd so he came home to ask me about it.

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How Geeky Are You?

Posted by: gretchen on January 28, 2007 | 15 Comments |

Amy Stephen mentioned this quiz in her blog and I thought it would be a good one to post here, especially since the statistics at the end say “The average score for the gals is 38, while the guy average is 56.” I think we lady-geeks need to get on the ball and raise our average. I did my part to bump up the score:

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