Marlene Wagman-Geller

"As far back as I can remember, it was always on my bucket list, even before the term bucket list was coined,
to be a writer. It was a natural progression to want to go from reading books to writing one."
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Wrong for Women

Wrong for Women
Sep 03, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

Wrong for Women

Sarah Orne Jewett

 

“Love isn’t blind; it’s only love that sees.”—Sarah Orne Jewett

 

Sarah Orne Jewett House (opened 1931)

 

Sarah Orne Jewett observed, “We unconsciously catch the tone of every house in which we live.” The quotation rang true for the author, whose ancestral home formed the bedrock of her soul. To catch the author’s tone, travel to the Sarah Orne Jewett House.

Checkmate (1991)

Checkmate (1991)
Sep 01, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
The only piece on a chessboard that symbolizes a woman is the queen-its most powerful player-able to move in any direction. Ironically, females are treated as second-class citizens in the male-dominated game. A blow to sexism arrived when Susan Polgar became the first female grandmaster of chess.

Lily of the North

Lily of  the North
Aug 28, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

Lillian Nordica

 

“People have voices equal to mine, plenty have talents equal to mine; but I have worked.”

 —Lillian Nordica  

 

Opera’s heroines storm across the stage, howling anguish born from betrayal, jealousy, vengeance. In a nod to life imitating art, Lillian Nordica’s days were as tempestuous as those of the women she portrayed. To understand the saga of the Yankee diva, peek behind the curtain at the Nordica Homestead Museum.

I Am Unworthy (1910)

I Am Unworthy (1910)
Aug 26, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
  In “Starry, Starry Night,” Don McLean’s paean to Vincent van Gogh, McLean sang of the doomed artist, “But I could’ve told you Vincent/This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.”  The lyrics could also describe a woman whose wrinkled visage and shrunken body paved a light in a darkened sky.

An Unexpected Life (1951)

An Unexpected Life (1951)
Aug 23, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
   Sultan Shahrayar, enraged at his first wife’s betrayal, married a virgin each night and had her beheaded in the morning so he would never again be deceived. To escape a similar fate, on her wedding night to the king, Scheherazade wove a fantastical tale that ended with a cliffhanger. A curious Shahrayar thus postponed her execution. After a thousand and one nights, the king fell in love, and they lived a happily ever after. Scheherazade’s stories, The Arabian Nights, included “Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp,” “Ali Baba and the Seven Thieves,” the “Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor.” Equally fantastic is the tale of a contemporary Persian princess. 

Nevermore

Nevermore
Aug 11, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

 

Lee Krasner

 

“I don’t feel I sacrificed myself.”—Lee Krasner

 

The Pollock-Krasner House (opened 1988)

 

       A well-known trope postulates, “Behind every great man is a great woman.” History tends to forget these ladies, as great men can be reluctant to provide spousal credit. Ultimately, the artist formerly known as Mrs. Pollock became Lee Krasner. To experience Lee’s paint-bedecked studio, follow the turpentine fumes to The Pollock-Krasner House.

 

Let No Man Drag Me Down (1948)

Let No Man Drag Me Down (1948)
Aug 07, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
One of the most iconoclastic moments in Olympic history occurred in 1936 Berlin where, in a stadium draped with red and black swastika banners, Jesse Owens’ historic victory signified the triumph of sportsmanship over tyranny. Adolph Hitler did not appreciate the African-American, the sharecropper’s son from Alabama, the grandson of slaves, best his Aryan athletes. In contrast to Owens’ immortal chapter, Alice Coachman, the first African-American woman to compete and win a gold medal, became a forgotten footnote in Olympic lore.

A Larger Circle (1977)

A Larger Circle (1977)
Jul 29, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
In Langston Hughes’ poem, a mother tells her son, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” One who could well have related to the metaphor was a woman who had to combat the trifecta of racism, sexism, and homophobia.  Despite the societal handicaps, Pauli Murray became the first African-American woman ordained as an Episcopal minister.

Mother Courage (1920)

Mother Courage (1920)
Jul 24, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

“We are coming down from our pedestals and up from the laundry room.”

       No domestic goddess of today could hold a candle to the 1950s Happy Days sitcom mom, Mrs. Cunningham, whose advice could slay any crisis. She would have been appalled with the 1980s Roseanne Barr who boasted, “As a housewife, I feel that if the kids are still alive when my husband gets home from work, then hey, I’ve done my job.” Bella Abzug was more Roseanne than Mrs. C. as she blazed a fiery trail.

The Contemporary Cleopatra

The Contemporary Cleopatra
Jul 23, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
  King Farouk presciently proclaimed, “Soon there will be only five Kings-the King of England, the King of Spades, the King of Clubs, the King of Hearts, the King of Diamonds.” His prophecy came to pass, at least in regard to his kingdom that made his consort the last queen of the Nile. 

Worth Fighting For (1934)

Worth Fighting For (1934)
Jul 14, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

“The greatest danger to our future is apathy.”

     From the trenches of France in 1920, Hugh Lofting wrote to his sons about a British physician, John Doolittle. Despite the apathetic-sounding surname, the doctor possessed the most remarkable gift: he could talk to animals. The letters transformed to a beloved children’s classic and inspired one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the twentieth century.

Queen of Sugar Hill

Queen of Sugar Hill
Jul 10, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

Eliza Jumel

 

“Vice Queen of the United States” (How Eliza Jumel introduced herself in Paris)

 

Morris- Jumel Mansion (opened 1904)

 

 

            If walls could indeed talk, Manhattan’s ’s oldest remaining home would provide a tantalizing tale. And one would be of Eliza Jumel who defeated Aaron Burr in a duel. To experience the historic house that doubled as a nineteenth-century soap opera, head over to the Morris- Jumel Mansion.

Deeds Not Words

Deeds Not Words
Jul 09, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

Alice Paul

 

“The thing I think that was the most useful thing I ever did, was having

a part in getting the vote for all the women.”–Alice Paul

 

Alice Paul Institute (Paulsdale) (opened 2002)

 

Which historic figure ended up behind bars several times for acts of civil disobedience and protested through fasting? The answer is not only the dhoti-clad Hindu Mohandas Gandhi; it is also the Victorian-garbed Quaker Alice Paul. To experience the home of the firebrand, make your way to her former farm, Paulsdale.

Leap of Faith

Leap of Faith
Jul 06, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

Leap of Faith

       Dreams don’t just have to be for sleeping: The quotation is what my road to publication has taught me. To reach my mountaintop-whose pinnacle was the joy of seeing my name on the spine of books-was an arduous journey. Each writer has their own story; here is mine.

 

Let the 10 Commandments Go

Let the 10 Commandments Go
Jul 06, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
    A few days ago, I read a Facebook post that served as a catalyst for this blog, one where I felt the need to air my proverbial two cents. The wording of the post:

The Wizard of Wall Street

The Wizard of Wall Street
Jul 03, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

“A good business woman is often sharper than a good business man.”-Hetty Green

 

What Lady Macbeth and Lady Black failed to grasp was the biblical admonition, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

“J’ai Deux Ampurs”

“J’ai Deux Ampurs”
Jul 03, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

Château & Jardins des Milandes (opened 2001)

Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, France

 

“Un coup de coeur” loosely translates to “love at first sight,” a French expression that describes how Josephine Baker felt upon first gazing at what she called Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. To experience the enchantment, step back in time and enter the Château des Milandes.

The Prince of Darkness

The Prince of Darkness
Jul 01, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
    When compiling a guest list, one should be wary of who is excluded. In the Grimm Brothers’ Sleeping Beauty, (Aurora in the Disney version), a king and queen neglected to invite a fairy to their feast to celebrate their daughter’s birth. Infuriated at her omission, she vowed retribution. Her curse: on the princess’s sixteenth birthday, she would prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die. Had an American ambassador’s wife heeded the warning of the German fairy tale, she would have saved her child from one of the most heinous chapters of history.

Rising of the Stars

Rising of the Stars
Jun 28, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

Maria Mitchell

 

 

“We see most when we are most determined to see.”—Maria Mitchell

 

Since the nineteenth century, children have recited the nursery rhyme “Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are . . .” In Nantucket, Maria Mitchell did more than wonder about the stars. To partake of the astronomer’s “sweeping the sky,” journey to the Maria Mitchell House.

Comets have long captured the popular imagination. In William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, on the evening of her husband’s assassination, Calpurnia observed, “When beggars die, there are no comets seen / The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.”

Lead Once More (1929)

Lead Once More (1929)
Jun 26, 2024 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
         A spurious story recounts how President Lincoln told Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, “So you’re the little woman who started this great war.” A century later another little woman ignited another civil war, though the warring flags were neither Union nor Confederate. Instead, the banner bore the colors of the biblical Joseph’s coat.