CASIMIRA

CASIMIRA
HERstory through ART
With words and images, I am telling my story.

Through art, I am remembering HERstory...

I've been blogging daily since 2007.

Follow me on HERE and HERE for daily posts...

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Updated Daily: January 2007 - February 2020

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Thursday, July 31

Edith Head

2008 mixed media
Your dresses should be tight enough to show you're a woman and loose enough to show you're a lady.

- Edith Head (1897-1981)
Grand Mother believed it was easy to distinguish a lady...

A woman may be physically attractive and dressed from head to toe in designer garb, but that does not necessarily qualify her as a lady. A lady has a certain demeanor, an aura and a quiet elegance combined with serene security.

Wednesday, July 30

Gertrude Ederle

2008 mixed media
I knew if it could be done, it had to be done, and I did it

- Gertrude Ederle (1905-2003)
What can be done?

What has to be done?

Can you do it? Will you do it?

Tuesday, July 29

Marguerite Duras

2008 mixed media
Men like women who write. Even though they don't say so. A writer is a foreign country.

- Marguerite Duras (1914-1996)
I am a country of one.

I am Queen, Empress and Ruler of my country of one.

I am a planet of one.

I am Creator of my planet of one.

Monday, July 28

Carrie Chapman Catt

2008 mixed media
There are two kinds of restrictions upon human liberty -- the restraint of law and that of custom. No written law has ever been more binding than unwritten custom supported by public opinion.

- Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947)
What restrictions do you place upon yourself?

What customs to you keep?

How much do you care about the opinions of others?

Sunday, July 27

Florynce Kennedy

2008 mixed media

The biggest sin is sitting on your ass.

- Florynce Kennedy (1916 - 2000)

...SO GET UP...NOW !!!

Saturday, July 26

Fanny Elssler

2008 mixed media
When I dance LA CACHUCHA...I sway my hips to Spanish castanets...and Congress refuses to convene...

- Fanny Elssler (1810-1884)
What happens when YOU dance?

What happens when YOU sway your hips?

Friday, July 25

Madame Marie Tussaud

2008 mixed media
I shall model you in wax...

- Madame Marie Tussaud (1761-1850)
To be immortalized in wax - the idea is quite creepy, yet much of modern day society seems rather obsessed with celebrity. Years and years ago, when I first visited the famous wax museum in London, I was amused at how visitors pose with the lifeless models. What do they do with these photographs I wonder?

Thursday, July 24

Triệu Thị Trinh

2008 mixed media
My wish is to ride the tempest, tame the waves, kill the sharks. I will not resign myself to the usual lot of women who bow their heads and become concubines.

- Triệu Thị Trinh (c. 225 - 248 A.D.)
The Warrior Peasant rode the blue elephant goddess and began to amass her army of women with the battle cry of:
WOMEN, BOW YOUR HEADS NO MORE!


A sentence that may eventually become one of my stories...

Wednesday, July 23

Estelle Getty

2008 mixed media
LOVE and LAUGHTER

- Estelle Getty (1923-2008)
The two most important ingredients in the recipe of life...

What is life without love?

What is life without laughter?

Tuesday, July 22

Shushā Guppy

2008 mixed media
The verb "to love" in Persian is "to have a friend."

"I love you" translated literally is "I have you as a friend," and "I don't like you" simply means "I don't have you as a friend.”

- Shushā Guppy (1935-2008)

Are you friends with yourself?

Do you love yourself?

Monday, July 21

Corita Kent

2008 mixed media
Love the moment. Flowers grow out of dark moments. Therefore, each moment is vital. It affects the whole. Life is a succession of such moments and to live each, is to succeed.

Love the moment, and the energy of that moment will spread beyond all boundaries.

- Corita Kent (1918 – 1986)
love the moment...

RIGHT NOW...THIS MOMENT...

breathe this moment in and just love it, be grateful for it...

Sunday, July 20

Mother Shipton

2008 mixed media
And now a word, in uncouth rhyme
Of what shall be in future time...

- Mother Shipton (c. 1488 - 1561)
The Once-Great-King would travel for hours on horseback to consult an unassuming crone who had studied with renowned healers in India.

The wizened old woman lived on a cave-like secluded farmhouse amidst herbaceous vegetation known for its medicinal and supernatural properties. She concocted magic perfumes and potions from her enchanted herbs.

The petite soothsayer was in direct communication with the spirit world and the Once-Great-King trusted her predictions and visions with his life and his kingdom.

- excerpt from a story in progress

Saturday, July 19

Ana Mendieta

2008 mixed media
I have been carrying on a dialogue between the landscape and the female body, I believe this has been the direct result of my having been torn from my homeland (Cuba) during my adolescence. I am overwhelmed by the feeling of having been cast from the womb (nature).

- Ana Mendieta (1948-1985)
Twenty-nine years ago, my life was uprooted, never to be the same again. As a six-year-old expatriate, I witnessed my family nucleus gradually fray and painfully unravel in the midst of warfare, confusion and revolution.

For the past twenty-nine years, I have rooted my life in the fertile soils of peace and forgiveness, as the entire planet becomes my Motherland free of borders. With silken threads of spirit, I have woven a majestic and ever growing tapestry of friends and family.

Today I celebrate and honor the past twenty-nine years with gratitude for sculpting me into who I am today...still a work in progress...

- excerpts from my journal

Friday, July 18

Hua Mu-Lan

2008 mixed media
Nor fear nor love has moved my soul---
Away such idle thought!
A warrior's glory is the goal
By my ambition sought.

- Hua Mu-Lan(approximately 5th c. AD)
Woman, are you a warrior – a peaceful warrior of the light?

What moves your soul?

What are your life's ambitions?

Thursday, July 17

Kay Francis

2008 mixed media
When you live as if there wasn't any future you can get pleasure out of anything. Even out of a bowl of grapes!

- Kay Francis (1905-1968)
Can you get pleasure out of anything?
Try it...today...now...

Wednesday, July 16

Mary Parker Follett

2008 mixed media
Unity, not uniformity, must be our aim.

We attain unity only through variety.

Differences must be integrated, not annihilated, or absorbed.

- Mary Parker Follett
(1868–1933)


UNITY through VARIETY – I love that...

Tuesday, July 15

Alice Duer Miller

2008 mixed media
If it's very painful for you to criticize your friends - you're safe in doing it. But if you take the slightest pleasure in it, that's the time to hold your tongue.

- Alice Duer Miller (1874-1942)
Do you criticize your friends?

Do your friends criticize you?

If so, the painful question is -- are you truly friends?

Monday, July 14

Margarita Debayle Sacasa de Pallais

2008 mixed media
...Cada día mi fantasía tenía que inventar un nuevo cuento para complacerlos...

- Margarita Debayle Sacasa de Pallais
(20th century, born July 14th - timeless)
Cuales son tus fantasías?

Que inventas?

Cuales son tus cuentos?


What are your fantasies?

What do you invent?

What are your stories?

Sunday, July 13

Helena Rubenstein

2008 mixed media
There are no ugly women, only lazy ones.

- Helena Rubenstein
(1870 – 1965)

Are you lazy?

Do you allow yourself to have lazy days every once in a while?

I simply adore spending an entire day lounging in my pajamas, what could be more luxurious? I feel absolutely beautiful without an ounce of make-up, without having anywhere to go, without having anyone to see...

Saturday, July 12

Nina Simone, High Priestess of Soul

2008 mixed media
There's no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were.

- Nina Simone, High Priestess of Soul (1933-2003)
Who are the heroes and heroines in your life?

Friday, July 11

Júlia Lopes Almeida

2008 mixed media
Perfumada laranjeira,
Linda assim dessa maneira,
Sorrindo à luz do arrebol,
Toda em flores, branca toda
- Parece a noiva do Sol
Preparada para a boda.

E esposa do Sol, que a adora,
Com que cuidados divinos
Curva ela os ramos, agora!
E entre as folhas abrigados,
Seus filhos, frutos dourados,
Parecem sois pequeninos.

- Júlia Lopes Almeida (1862-1934)
I absolutely adore the sound of Língua Portuguesa.

I find it sensual and rhythmical, seemingly rolling off the tongue, taking all of the time in the world.

What is one of your favorite foreign languages?

Thursday, July 10

Margaret Wise Brown

2008 mixed media
Goodnight room.
Goodnight moon.
Goodnight cow jumping over the moon.
Goodnight light, and the red balloon...

- Margaret Wise Brown (1910-1952)
"Goodnight Moon" was one of my favorite bedtime books as a child.

I still love to read in bed before going to sleep...

What are your bedtime rituals?

Wednesday, July 9

Ethel Barrymore

2008 mixed media
You must learn day by day, year by year to broaden your horizon. The more things you love, the more you are interested in, the more you enjoy, the more you are indignant about, the more you have left when anything happens.

- Ethel Barrymore (1879-1959)
What do you love?

What are you interested in?

What do you enjoy?

What are you indignant about?

Tuesday, July 8

Sarah Josepha Hale


I have no riches but my thoughts, yet these are wealth enough for me.

- Sarah Josepha Hale (1788-1879)
What are our riches?

I speak not of any material wealth...

I speak of spiritual wealth...

What are our riches?

Monday, July 7

Grace Hopper

2008 mixed media
A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are for.
Sail out to sea and do new things.

- Grace Hopper (1906-1992)
Where has your ship taken you?

Where do you still wish to go?

What is stopping you?

Sunday, July 6

Empress Matilda

2008 mixed media
I am Henry's daughter, wife and mother; great by birth, greater by marriage, but greatest in motherhood.

- Empress Matilda (1102-1167)
What is truly GREAT about you?

Saturday, July 5

Olympias

2008 mixed media
Before my son was conceived, I dreamt that a thunderbolt fell upon my body and kindled a great fire whose divided flames dispersed themselves all about and then were extinguished…

- Olympias (ca. 375 - 316 BC)
Do you remember dreams?

I have kept a dream journal for years and years.

Our dreams have secrets to tell us...messages to convey...

Friday, July 4

Katharine Lee Bates

2008 mixed media
Oh beautiful, for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America! God shed His grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.

Oh beautiful, for pilgrims' feet

Whose stern, impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw;

Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!

Oh beautiful, for heroes proved

In liberating strife,

Who more than self their country loved

And mercy more than life!

America! America! May God thy gold refine,

'Til all success be nobleness, and ev'ry gain divine!

Oh beautiful, for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years,

Thine alabaster cities gleam

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America! God shed His grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!

- Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929)
Today let us pray for WORLD PEACE...for INNER PEACE...

Thursday, July 3

Aspasia of Miletus

2008 mixed media
...You, madam, wish to have the best husband, and you, Xenophon, desire above all things to have the finest wife. Therefore, unless you can contrive that there be no better man or finer woman on earth you will certainly always be in dire want of what you consider best, namely, that you be the husband of the very best of wives, and that she be wedded to the very best of men...

- Aspasia of Miletus (ca. 465 – ca. 400 BC)
Are we the best we can be?

Do we expect the best in others?

Wednesday, July 2

Sultana Razia of Delhi

2008 mixed media
Address me not as Sultana,
for it means merely wife or mistress of a sultan.
I answer only to the title of SULTAN...

- Sultana Razia of Delhi (1205-1240)
What titles do you answer to?

Tuesday, July 1

Rabi'ah al-`Adawiyah

2008 mixed media
If I adore You out of fear of Hell, burn me in Hell!
If I adore you out of desire for Paradise,
Lock me out of Paradise.
But if I adore you for Yourself alone,
Do not deny to me Your eternal beauty.

- Rabi'ah al-`Adawiyah (unknown – d. 801 CE)
Who adores you?

Whom do you adore?