Marlene Wagman-Geller

     Kings are subject to grand gestures, sometimes of a romantic nature. Legend holds that when Queen Amytis grew homesick for the lush landscape of her native Media, her husband, King Nebuchadnezzar II, commissioned the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in his desert kingdom. When Mumtaz Mahal died giving birth to their fourteenth child, Shah Jahan immortalized his wife with the world’s most magnificent mausoleum. King Edward VIII, urged to give up his mistress, Wallis Simpson, instead relinquished the British throne. Another crowned head changed his country’s religion to legalize his obsession.

   “Because I could not stop for Death-He kindly stopped for me-The Carriage held but just Ourselves-And Immortality.” Emily’s immortality rests on her poetry, her legacy enshrined by The Emily Dickinson Museum.

   The word secretary sometimes carries negative connotations; it conjures an image of a subordinate female whose job description entails typing, bringing coffee, taking shorthand. These Girl Fridays combined the requisite traits of self-efficiency and self-effacement, the unsung minions. In contrast, when secretary bears a capital letter, it denotes a pinnacle of power. 

Mothers have always been sacrosanct: the Roman Catholic Church has a cult of the Virgin, beloved nursery rhymes are associated with one named Goose, and Whistler painted an iconic portrait of his. Hence, it was only fitting that a day be set aside to honor mothers; however, it came with a bizarre twist.

In a country music classic, for a sip of whiskey, a gambler offers the advice, “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em/Know when to fold ‘em/Know when to walk away.” However, unlike the gambler, there was a wife who, though justified beyond belief, refused to walk away. By remaining steadfast she saved her man, and by extension, brought salvation to millions.

    The Princess of Wales and the Empress of Austria, though they lived a century apart, led parallel lives: both were married off to Europe’s most eligible royals, dealt with formidable mothers-in-law, and rued that fairy tale weddings do not always equate to a happily ever after.

“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.” – Marie Curie

The Maria Sklodowska-Curie Museum

16 Freta Street, Warsaw, Poland

            One is as likely to witness a blue moon, find a hen’s tooth, or catch a glimpse of Big Foot, as it is to encounter a Nobel Prize recipient. Miraculously, one family garnered five of the coveted awards. Two memorial museums are dedicated to Marie Curie: in Warsaw and Paris.

“I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.”

     Before Mansfield’s bosom and Monroe’s backside, before Madonna’s bustier and Stone’s uncrossed legs, there was the leader of the pack: bodacious, bawdy, blonde Mae West. Critic George Jean Nathan dubbed her the Statue of Libido.