It's the 15th of February....

....and that makes it S.A.D. and Susan B. Anthony's birthday.

Singles' Awareness Day used to be celebrated on Valentine's Day, but now seems to have latched onto the 15th for it's designation.

I think it rather interesting that this is also the birthday of Susan B. Anthony, a woman who never married but accomplished much for all the women to follow her, be they married or not.

(and no, I'm not just talking about getting your face on coinage)

The story is really quite amazing. Little Susan learned to read at the age of three, which pretty much beats even my most precocious kids. I mean, I have one son who didn't even talk before that age. (I won't tell you who, since he needs to concentrate on studying for midterms)

But getting back to little Susie, she was obviously a bright young whip. But apparently, that mattered not to her male teacher, who refused to teach her long division. (Well I mean really now, was she going to need that long division while she measured out flour for the hubby's pie crust? Did she want to compute the decreasing length of time between contractions while she waited to give birth, the very process of which could cause her demise?)

Enter her father, who pulled her out of traditional school and instigated a group home school taught by a....*gasp*....woman.

Later, Susan taught in a school where she had to lobby to get paid more than the standard "1/4 of the guys'" salary.

Easy to see why she eventually ended up fighting for women's suffrage--which I hasten to add is not the right to suffer, but the right to vote. If you wish to read more, there's always Wikipedia, or other sites.

And let's not forget her temperance work, influenced by the abuses women suffered at the hands of alcoholic husbands.

Susan B. Anthony did not live to see women's suffrage guaranteed by the 19th amendment. Some things take a looonnnngg time to change.

It's also interesting to note that on paper anyway, African-Americans were given the right to vote in the 14th and 15th amendments. So theoretically, however ill (some) white men thought of black men, they thought even worse of females. Oh well.

Lots of fascinating details out there, so start Googling and let the fun begin!

(you know what is most amusing to me? Wondering how things would have turned out if Susan B. Anthony had been "submissive" ......but I guess I won't go into that)

Ye olde high-wire balancing acte is just---that.
 

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