Author: Caroline

Flying Solo: Confinements of the Cage

What kind of woman takes to the skies in extremely questionable technology, preferring the thrill and danger of solo exploration over two feet on solid ground? A woman scared to death of finding herself at the mercy of anyone else’s priorities. A bird that would rather fly away from the flock, in the danger of the open air, than embrace the comfort of the cage.

We Want a Pitcher, Not an Hourglass Figure

There is one female baseball star whose name has made it into the history books for an astonishing feat: 17-year-old Jackie Mitchell, who legendarily struck out both Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, one after the other.

She-Merchants: Sell Goods, Get Money, Be Beholden To No Man

Was it common, or even accepted, for women to accumulate wealth and then pass it on to a gal pal rather than a spouse or family member? Even today, legal processes like wills and power of attorney tend to be narrowly focused on the two wearing wedding rings, and ignore the third party with one-half of a Best Friend necklace dangling around her neck. One answer might lie in the story of an early American shero, Elizabeth Murray Campbell Smith, who accumulated all of those names through marrying thrice over, who opened her own shop in Boston at age 23 and who was a real tough cookie in personal and professional negotiations.