02-03 TABLE of CONTENTS:
Astronaut Eileen Collins, cont.
DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and
EVENTS
QUOTE by
Anita Loos.
Astronaut Eileen Collins, cont. from WOA
02-02
"I'll be back,"
vowed the first American woman astronaut pilot to her hometown of Elmira,
New York as her appearance in an April, 1995 triumphant parade before 20,000
of her hometown neighbors was cancelled by NASA following a death threat.
It was the second time Lt. Col. Eileen Collins, 37,
had been threatened and NASA pulled her back to Houston just before she
boarded a shuttle plane to her hometown rather than risk her life. At least
one male astronaut Richard Covey gave the incident of Collins cancelling
out of the parade a left-handed insult: "I won't
change anything I do in public. I don't have any fears about it. I fly
in rockets."
Well, Collins also flew in rockets but no one
had threatened Covey's life and it was NOT Collins choice to cancel. NASA
*ORDERED* her to stay away.
The threat on Collins' life was made in a phone call
by a man to the Elmira newspaper office and he said in part "...
during the parade tomorrow, I'm going to put a bullet in Eileen Collins'
head..."
Elmira citizens held the parade anyway and were incensed,
as one columnist said, "We were robbed - cruelly,
callously, thoughtlessly, robbed by an anonymous caller who probably resented
(her) magnificent achievement of becoming the first woman space shuttle
pilot.
"Robbed of a chance
to celebrate how a little girl who once lived on welfare in Elmira could
grow up to lead humankind on one of its greatest adventures.
"Robbed of the opportunity
to show Eileen Collins how proud we are of her and how much she means to
us."
Collins was verbally threatened two weeks before the
scheduled parade by a man during a presentation Collins made in November
1994. She had also been harassed by a man who said he was infatuated with
her and became abusive when he couldn't meet her. Although the parade went
on with Collins' parents and a replica of the space shuttle Discovery before
thousands of cheering hometowners, three-days of events, which included
the dedication of the Eileen M. Collins Observatory, were cancelled.
One psychiatrist said women of high achievement in
male-dominated fields are natural targets for such anger. "These
men (who make threats) might feel there are too many uppity women in their
lives. They might want to get back at these women." Some men
feel threatened by successful women like Collins and first lady Hillary
Rodham Clinton, Dr. John Beziganan explained. Those men are frustrated
that they haven't gotten what they expected or deserved in life.
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02-03 DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and
EVENTS
B. 02-03-1737, Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson -
writer whose primary fame rests on being a go-between on behalf of
the British with revolutionary forces at the behest (or insistence) of
her husband.
B. 02-03-1821, Elizabeth Blackwell, the first
woman doctor in the United States, see
Women of Achievement and Herstory 01-23, the
anniversary of her graduation.
After her graduation in 1849, she went to Paris to
study which was then the world's foremost medical center, but Paris doctors
proved as intolerant as their American colleagues. They would not permit
her to study as a doctor. She was forced to enter a large maternity hospital
as a student midwife. Because of an infection she contracted there, she
lost the sight of one eye. When she returned to New York City in 1850,
no hospital would allow her to practice there.
Using funds donated by women - mostly Quakers, she
and her sister opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, the
first clinic for women examined and treated by women. After the Civil War,
she returned to her native Britain where she continued to practice medicine.
B. 02-03-1874, Gertrude Stein, American author
who lived most of her life in France with her lifelong companion Alice
Tolkas. Her word repetitions challenged readers to explore the various
and deeper meanings of words such as "A
rose is a rose is a rose." Coined the
phrase "the lost generation"
and used the word "gay"
for the first time in literature. Renowned collector of modern French art.
B. 02-03-1898, Lil Hardin Armstrong, pianist,
singer, orchestra leader in Chicago, had her own band in 1920's, also
played with King Oliver. Married Louis Armstrong who played in HER band
in 1925 (divorced 1938). Led all-women and all-men bands, toured Europe,
and was the house musician for Decca records.
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QUOTES DU JOUR
LOOS, ANITA:
"I'm
furious about the women's liberationists. They keep getting up on soapboxes
and proclaiming that women are brighter than men. That's true, but it should
be kept very quiet or it ruins the whole racket."
-- Anita Loos (1891-1981) author.
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