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Top Ten Christmas gifts for the Missouri woman in your life

15 Dec

 1. Susan B. Anthony’s purse   Gift the gift of courage this Christmas with the “Ms. Anthony“, a purse inspired by Susan B. Anthony’s signature alligator purse she carried on her speaking engagements across the country. It’s likely she had it with her in 1875 during her Social Purity talk in Springfield. You can order the purse ($270) on the Susan B. Anthony House website, or if you can’t afford it, at least go to the site and watch the video about it, and be inspired.

2. Children’s books  Have kids on your shopping list this season? How about a children’s book by a Missouri woman? Stand Straight, Ella Kate ($11) by sisters Kate Klise & M. Sarah Klise encourages readers to embrace their differences through the story of Ella Ewing, giantess from La Grange, Missouri. And, elementary kids everywhere love the frontier adventures in the Little House on the Prairie ($15) , by Missourian Laura Ingalls Wilder.

3. Movies  Who doesn’t love curling up over the holiday break and watching old movies? Check out Missouri native Ginger Rogers in any of the 10 movies she did with Fred Astaire, or movies written by Missouri women (starting at $8) like: How to Marry a Millionaire (by Zoe Akins and starring Missouri native Betty Grable) or The Imitation of Life  (by Fannie Hurst).

4. Jane Ace’s Radio Show Listen to such gems as “Time wounds all heels” and “Home wasn’t built in a day” from Jane Ace on the Easy Aces radio show. You can get 234 episodes for $4.99 (plus shipping).

5. Josephine Baker Artwork Jazz up your walls with a print of an original French advertisement of Josephine Baker. The wrapped canvas prints are available for between $90-$150. If you’re buying for a crafter, there is also a quilt block  ($12) and for the serious hard-core crafter, a cross stitch pattern ($25) featuring Josephine Baker.

6. MOWIT Calendar At an affordable $14 (including shipping) the Missouri Women in Trades calendar makes a great gift for any man or woman in your life. Not only are you supporting a great cause (women working in the building trades), but it makes your workspace feel tough, too.

7. The Joy of Cooking  One of the most trusted cookbooks was written by a mother/daughter team from Missouri and is now in a 75th anniversary edition for around $20. Or pick up a cool vintage edition, which vary in prices.

8. A Weekend Hideaway A weekend getaway is always a great gift but even better is spending it in an awesome historic place like Bonnie and Clyde’s Joplin hideout. Rates start at $300 for the weekend, but you can’t really put a price on getting to stay in the exact place where Bonnie and Clyde fled police and were catapulted into fame.

9. Build-a-Bear  Support a company founded by a Missouri woman - Build-a-Bear, with stuffed animals starting at around $5.

10. Personalized Missouri Women Hoodie  If this were a paid gig, I’d buy each of you a personalized hoodie like this one. Feel free to make your own for around $40 at cafepress.com.

Hall of Famous Missourians

7 Dec

There are seven women (out of 38 inductees) in the the Hall of Famous Missourians in our State Capitol, Jefferson City. What do you think of the women deemed “Famous” and who would you select to be included?

Josephine Baker

Susan Blow

Rose Duchesne

Betty Grable

Ginger Rogers

Sacajawea

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Top ten Missouri Women to be for Halloween

26 Oct

Tired of the constant struggle to look sexy on Halloween? Empower yourself by being a Missouri women from the past:

Josephine Baker

Josephine Baker

10. Josephine Baker: If you insist on making it a scantilly-clad halloween keep your self esteem intact and make yourself a banana skirt like Josephine Baker’s. All you need is some rope, a few fake bananas and some panties. Shirt optional. Difference between Josephine Baker’s banana skirt and dressing as a sexy banana? Baker had talent, and when she danced she embodied freedom and grace.

9. Tina Turner: The coolest part of your Tina Turner costume has to be the wig, which may require a slight investment. If you have a man in your life, though, this is the costume for you – dress up as Tina and Ike ca. 1958 when they met in St. Louis.

8. Kewpie: Grab your flesh colored unitard, some hair gel and blush and you’ve got your kewpie doll costume. Kewpies were invented by Missourian Rose O’Neill in the early 1900s.

Tallest woman in Missouri

7. Ella Ewing: Who doesn’t long for an excuse to wear stilts on halloween? All you need is a really really long dress, stilts and some friends to help you navigate.  Ella grew to between 7-8 feet tall (her actual height at the end of her life was disputed). She was born in 1872 and lived her whole life in north Missouri.

6. Pearl Curran/Patience Worth: A 1920s dress and ouija board are all you  need to be the medium Pearl Curran, who channelled Patience Worth from the 1910s – 1930s. The fun part is, you can go around channeling the words of Patience Worth all evening, so blame her for insulting the sexy crayon, sexy hot dog and sexy chewbacca at the party.

5. Belle Starr: Cowboy hat, pistols and a petticoat are pretty much all you need to be the infamous outlaw Belle Starr, from Carthage.

4. Bonnie Parker: Bonnie and Clyde hid out in Joplin for quite some time before being caught by police in a shootout in the garage of their apartment. A 1930s dress, a pistol and some blood splatters would make for a believable costume.

3. Kate Brewington Bennett: Use some white make-up to impersonate Kate Bennett, who was one of the most well known beauties in St. Louis because of her pearly white skin. She achieved the pale skin by ingesting small doses of arsenic. In 1867 she died from the cumulative affects of the arsenic and is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery.

2. Carrie Nation: Trade in your push-up bra for an axe this halloween and pay homage to Missouri’s famous vandalizing prohibitionist. You need an 1890s dress, a Bible and a hatchet. To be historically accurate you really can’t drink, so this costume is more for you pregnant women and designated drivers.

Carrie Nation

Carrie Nation

1. Celia: Since the main character from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is not from Missouri, lets settle for Celia, who may be even more hardcore. Bloodstained old-timey clothes, an axe and assorted racist owner body parts are all you need!

Josephine Baker

4 Mar

“. . . I improvised, crazed by the music. . . . Even my teeth and eyes burned with fever. Each time I leaped I seemed to touch the sky and when I regained earth it seemed to be mine alone.”

Josephine Baker only spent the first 15 years of her life in Missouri but she is one of the most well known women to have spent time in the state. She was born in St. Louis, dirt poor, and as a teen attracted attention for her street dancing which landed her in several vaudville shows. She was soon swept off to New York and became a part of the Harlem Rennaisance, dancing as a chorus girl in numerous broadway plays.

Josephine Baker came from extremely humble beginnings and yet developed the confidence and skills to achieve anything she set her mind to. She went against the grain of main stream society – not only in her performances (appearing nude), but also in her efforts to fight for civil rights (forcing integration by refusing to perform for segregated audiences). Baker did all sorts of interesting things: spied on the Nazis, adopted a dozen children, lived in a castle.

She’s got a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame at 6501 Delmar, and is included in the Hall of Famous Missourians in Jefferson City.

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