Wild Women: Well hello again

I love blogs...just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean that you all haven't been reading.  I've been in a slump, due in part to the issues apparent in mom's book.  Part III was the weaving together of many people, many resources, and many stories.  It departs from the chronological telling of mom's story and instead focuses on advocacy. 

But thanks to blog stats that I find hard to be true (9,000+?), I write renewed in my dedication to the blog.  We can do it!!!

As a thank you, I wanted to post a Wild Woman entry sent to me by my friend Daphne who first met my mom when she came to visit us in Taiwan.  To be clear, Mom would have watched and said, "Blech!" to the violence and revenge theme.  But hey, how often do I have the chance to defy my deceased mother?  Plus the footage comes from a Swedish film, "Thriller: A Cruel Picture"; my mother-in-law is Swedish and would also not approve of violence, so it's like an adolescent two-fer!

La Mujer Salvaje: Sonia Velasquez

Here's another remarkable "Wild Woman" in the media, though I may need a translator.  Sonia Velasquez,  originally from Colombia, refers to herself as a philanthropic journalist and a social activist: "I make a TV segment to create social awareness showing the initiatives that are making a difference in different parts of the world." 

In her own words (Source: Creative Caribbean Network):

I currently produce and present the radio show "Uniendo Mundos" "Bridging Worlds" aired on Caracol Radio Miami 1260 AM every Wednesday at 1:30 PM interviewing people who work to alleviate the pain of others.

In 2010 I produced the lifestyle series 'Dolce Vita a lo latino' TV Show, an adventure with the spirit of the Latin people building their dreams and changing the world. Stories with style and intensity presented with action, surprises and more. 'Dolce Vita a lo latino' was broadcasted in HolaVision, 12.2 digital in Palm Beach, USA.

As a Colombian journalist I am devoted to helping others. I am a peace activist who advocates for a fair world working from social media using video as a tool to express my vision.


While I saw no reference to personal information (such as any damage to her left eye), it's clear she embraces a patch lifestyle.  Seems like an understatement, she OWNS it!

Check out her cute logo:

I did see a testimonial add on the Eye Patch Store website, so if you'd like to order a similar black patch, she claims they're the most comfortable.  

From her website:

From YouTube:

Ellie likes this one because it has horses:

Photo Credit: http://www.soniavelasquez.com/
Video Credit: youtube.com

Wild Women: Lily Charles

An agoraphobic, alcoholic, ex-synchronized swimmer.

One of the most creative characters to don a patch was Lily Charles, aunt of Charlotte "Chuck" Charles on Pushing Daisies.  The show's protagonist was a boy who discovers his gift to bring the dead back to life.  The gift has rules, one being he can never touch the re-living again or they will drop dead from the slightest contact with his skin.  The plot thickens as Ned grows up and brings his childhood crush "Chuck" back to life.  Then what else, but they run around solving crimes. 

Like "Heart to Heart" meets "Murder She Wrote" meets Grease.

The Darling Mermain Darlings.  I'd have taken Ellie to see them!

Enter Chuck's aunt Lily Charles, one part of the ex-synchronized swimming duo the Darling Mermaid Darlings.  Lily, played by Swoosie Kurtz, lost her eye to a cat box accident and wears beautiful, decorative patches. 
At the end of the series (spoiler alert) I find I have more in common with Charlotte.  Lily is not her aunt, she's her (dum dum dum) MOTHER!  Let's hear it for the one-eye moms!  Alright, this mom is fairly twisted.  And to be a nit pick, mom could never put her head underwater without an industrial strength facemast for fear her ocular cavity would fill with water and she'd drown.  That aside, the Darling Mermaid Darlings have elegant style and fluid moves that would have filled mom's eye with envy. 

Check out the cool patches:

Lily Charles before Early-Mid-Middle-Morning Prayer.

Shock at seeing Chuck alive.

Mom never saw the show, but one thing she would have loved was the frequent treat of Kristen Chenoweth or Greene bursting into song.  Mom loved herself a musical.  Check out the Sound of Music, Birdhouse in Your Soul, or Morning Has Broken to fall in love with the show yourself.

Swoosie Kurtz on playing one-eyed, agoraphobic, vodka-holic, "Bette Davis meets Clint Eastwood":

Video of Birdhouse in Your Soul (can not RESIST a They Might Be Giants reference):

I can't get the Morning Has Broken segment to link, but you can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv0klnEAZmM

Wild Women: Glamor Girls

What is it about an eye patch that makes a woman mysterious, sultry, even sexy?  No doubt an eye patch means something different on a woman than it does a man.

Check out these glamor girls:

Heidi

Rihanna

Bette Davis

Madonna

Then again...

Ugly Betty

Wild Women: Marie Colvin

Princesses and pirates aside, researching women in patches brought me to Marie Colvin.  Ms. Colvin, and American born reporter for The Sunday Times, is a real, live action hero- reporting from the front lines in conflicts worldwide.  Her courage, regardless of her ocular status, inspires me.  To note she has one eye feels superficial, its certainly not a central theme of her story. 

Take a look at the titles of her articles--perhaps you've read a few?

Check out this video featuring Ms. Colvin on the dangers of correspondents, the loss of her eye, and her efforts to bring to light an unreported humanitarian disaster.  She poses the rhetorical question: is it worth the cost?  "I felt that risk was worth it."

Sunday Mirror article on eembedded journalists (top photo credit)
http://riveronline.co.uk/09/category/meta-tags/sunday-mirror

Wild Women: Princess of Eboli

Ana de Mendoza y de la Cerda, b. 1540.

In stumbling around the net looking for my German opera singer (who I'm not convinced exists) I was struck by the stunning portraits of Ana de Mendoza, aka the Princess of Eboli.  The princess lost her eye to a sword tip (I'm sure a "I told you you'd poke your eye out!" was quick to follow) and is painted with her iconic patch throughout the sixteenth century.

I'm amazed by her history, yet also by her following.  She's featured in plays, operas, and novels.  Recently Julia Ormond portrayed her in the film La Conjura de El Escorial and by another actress in a made for TV movie La Princesa de Eboli.

I love this picture of a doll...reminds me of my mom's teddy bear.  Maybe not so huggable.


I'm also not sure how to cite it, but this miniature bust of the Princess by El Greco Miniatures as viewed on Wamp forum.

PS- six months of shopping days left till my birthday...give me these!

Earrings featuring the Princess of Eboli.

References:
http://www.sightseeing-madrid.com/princess-of-eboli.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana_de_Mendoza_y_de_la_Cerda
Doll photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/gesrules/4806098337/
Earrings photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/laboiteamonstres/3689195853/

Wild Women: Opera gives its right eye (or left, depending)

Chapter 3 has me thinking about the inspirational opera star.  Searching for her on Google has rendered little results.  One hit I got was Katharine Cornell, an opera star who once wore a patch, on Opera News.  She wore the patch for her role in That Lady. 

I take issue with a reviewer of That Lady who wrote that the patch was "unable to obscure her radiance," John Mason Brown The Saturday Review Nov 22, 1949.  Was it supposed to?  Could just a patch do that?  Look at that beautiful, elegant woman.  I would argue the patch adds to her beauty, but then of course I'm  biased and have the benefit of sixty years of tolerance.

Turns out there are a lot of eye patches in opera, only it seems more frequent for men.  Take the role of Wotan in Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung series, or Odin from Norse mythology. 

Wagner's Wotan found on Intermezzo.

Some Wagner to set the mood.

 

Hopkins as a one-eyed Odin in next summer's Thor.

I did find some interesting information on the "Opera Whiz" blog as I was researching (okay, Googling) why Wotan as the Wanderer has lost his eye:

Brünnhilde herself is the original warrior maiden. In Norse lore, the valkyries were the daughters of Wotan and Erda, the earth goddess. "I'd give my right eye for a one night in the sack," was the line he used on her. (That's why he wears an eye patch in the operas.) It was the valkyries' job to fly down from Valhalla. They would swoop over the battlefield and collect the bodies of the most valiant warriors and take them back to Valhalla, where they would live in celebrated eternity.

Of course Intermezzo makes the point that Wanderer's missing eye seems to wander itself...(see Eye Eye Wotan post)

Last related point for this post: guess what the Valkyries fly down as...SWANS!!!  That's why they have wings and NOT horns.  Read Beth Parker's entire Opera Whiz post  Hey Wagner, thanks for Xena and She-Ra post here.

Remember: swan wings not horns ladies!

We'll save "Soap" operas for another day...

Chapter 3: A Patch is Born

From the cover of Wild Women.

The summer before mom transferred to DU she worked back in Chicago as a Kelly Girl and was placed at United Airlines new executive headquarters.

I went to downtown Chicago on the train on Saturdays to Patricia Stevens' modeling school where our girl scout troop had visited.  I enrolled in many different classes.  During an eyebrow class the instructor looked at me struggling to invent an eye brow on top of the seam of this plastic glob.  She said, "I notice you make all of your clothes.  Did you know there was a famous opera singer who always performed with jewel encrusted eye patches?"  I thought this was a wonderful idea to explore.  When I went home to tell my parents that night,my Mom said, "Great idea, try it!" and my Dad said, "No daughter of mine is going to be a pirate!"  Of course he had no way of knowing how it felt to me, with my face, to be in my adolescence: navigating through the world of fashion, appearance, and the need for acceptance.

The Pirates of Blood River came out in 1962, context for Grander's comment.

So, I waited to try it.  My parents drove me to Denver University in the fall; as they headed down the driveway to go back home, I went in to Pat's sewing machine and came up with my first patch proto-types to wear during rush week.  My thinking was that this was a whole new place, no one had ever seen me before besides Pat, and I could be whoever I wanted to be: they'd think I had always worn a patch.  And if it didn't work out or feel good to me, I could always go back to Illinois and never see any of these people again.  It was a window of opportunity I didn't want to miss.

It's obvious, isn't it? The patch worked.