Howdy, readers 👋🏻
I have been neglectful of adding bits and bobs to the end of my weekly newsletter, so I thought I’d give you a special Sunday treat to enjoy with your morning beverage of choice. For me, it’s an iced chai latte. I’m a freak who doesn’t drink coffee, leave me alone!
For any new readers (hi! welcome!), bits and bobs are feminist and women-centric tidbits I find on the internet. They cover a range of topics in no logical order, hence bits and bobs. Consider this that drawer of random things in your kitchen, but filled feminist odds and ends!
This won’t be a weekly feature because hello, I have a full time job + social life + a firm commitment to getting 8 hours of sleep a night! So, it will be a lovely surprise whenever you receive it 😊 If you’d like something featured, send my way!
Substack Recommendation Corner!
Before we get into the bits and bobs, I wanted to recommend two Substacks I’ve recently discovered that also cover women in history you should know! We connected on the app and it’s so cool to have a community of women who write similar content. You can subscribe to each below
🧵 Bits and Bobs🧵
🍣 Sushi lovers, rejoice! We finally have a female Michelin-starred sushi chef. Chizuko Kimura, sushi chef at Sushi Shunei in Paris, France, regained the restaurant’s Michelin star this year and became the first female Michelin-starred sushi chef. However, the story is a bit more complicated devastating than that… you can read about it here.
🥼Did someone order womb service? DePaul University’s student group “Womb Service” delivers contraceptives to students located off-campus. A few weeks ago, their student organization status was abruptly revoked by the University (I think we all know why…), meaning they can no longer advertise or meet on campus 😡. They are continuing deliveries without the University’s support because hell yeah they are! If I figure out how to financially support them, I will link in a future newsletter!
🏀 In the words of Rihanna, “pay me what you owe me!” Or, in this case, us. The WNBA and their players are in an on-going battle over their collective bargaining agreement. Several players got together and wore shirts emblazoned with “Pay Us What You Owe Us” at the WNBA All-Stars game. If you want to show solidarity with the athletes, you can buy the shirt here.
🔨 How many lady blacksmiths do you know? If you’re like me, none, until I read this Washington Post article! Caitlin Morris left her job in IT to become a full-time blacksmith. She owns a studio in Frederick, MD where she teaches classes and has open forge nights. She’s also a founding member of the Society of Inclusive Blacksmiths, which I will definitely be looking into for a future newsletter!
🎀 Mattel released their first-ever Barbie with Type 1 diabetes. She is styled in a blue polka dot outfit (which is a symbol of the Type 1 community) with a continuous glucose monitor prominently featured on her hip. If you’re into Barbie, you should read my past Substack about the inventor of Black Barbie, Kitty Perkins!
🥵 Shout-out to Rhode Island! In addition to having incredible lobster rolls, they became the first state to offer employment protections for menopause! Employers are now required to provide reasonable accommodations for menopause symptoms.
⛷ When not having a 🍆 kills your Olympic dreams. Meet Annika Malacinski, a professional Nordic combined skiier (ski jumping + cross country skiing, because I guess neither of those sports were hard enough as is?!). Apparently, Nordic combined is the ONLY Olympic sport without a women’s event, only a male event.
That’s it for this Sunday! See you for regularly scheduled programming on Wednesday!
Thank you so much for recommending me. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post.
Also subscribed to A Woman To Know by Julie. Can’t wait to read more from you.
I’ll be recommending you too from my profile soon. ♥️