Irish Lasses

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♣ ♣♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. St. Patrick's Day is the Irish version of Mardis Gras. 

The day is St. Patrick's religious feast day and the anniversary of his death. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for 1,000s of years. On St. Patrick's Day Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon, with Lenten prohibitions waived.  The celebration would include dancing, drinking and feasting -- with the traditional meal of Corn Beef and Cabbage. 
The first official St. Patrick's Day parade was held in New York City in 1766. Today, over 100 U.S. cities hold Saint Patrick's Day parades.

HAVE A FUN AND SAFE ST. PATRICK'S DAY

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
~ Old Irish Blessing

Somewhere over the Rainbow - Braddah IZ (cover) by Kingson Kaiyo Bedasto

Don't be a Crab

They say that when you put a bunch of crabs in a bucket to go to market, there is a very strange dynamic that happens. If one of the crabs starts to climb the side of the bucket to escape, the other crabs will pull that crab back down into the bucket with them. Sort of a one for all and all for one concept even in the face of doom.

My mother has done very well in her profession and is a national leader in her field. She has always told me - there are two kinds of women who rise to the top. One kind steps on other women to get there and the other pulls other women up with them as they go. She is the second kind of women and that is the kind of woman I have always aspired to be as well.

So what I say to women is Don't be a Crab.

There is not a limited amount of leadership positions or success slotted for women. We do not have to compete with each other for it. We do not have to put each other down, vie for attention, or sabotage each other to become a success. By doing so, we are just continuing to perpetuate the small leadership numbers and low morale among women in today's workforce.

Your success can be others success as well.

Set the pace. Pave the way. Be the first one to change the dynamic in one of your tense female coworker situations.

Fire Princess

As male dominated as policing still is in this country, firefighter is even more so.


The first known woman firefighter was Molly Williams, a slave in New York City who became a member of Oceanus Engine Company #11 in about 1815. During World War II, women volunteered and took the place of men at war. Many places had all women fire companies during that time. 


There have been volunteer women firefighters for hundreds of years in this country, but the first paid firefighter was Sandra Forcier in 1973 in Winston NC. 

With rigorous physical requirements, female job applicants and successful candidates are very limited. Most departments make requirements the same for women as they are for men, unlike police which have different physical entrance requirements for each. Of the successful applicants, less than half actually become firefighters - either they are not selected or don't finish the basic training.

According to The National Report Card on Women in Firefighting, Less than 4% of firefighters are female and only 31 fire departments have women as their top-level chief.

                                       

Ring of fire cover by Gaby Garcia