we must pick ourselves up

"G.W. Bush, the dismissed" - Santiago, Chile

...and dust ourselves off

Today, I am hopeful.

Brooklyn, NYC

Seoul, South Korea

U.S. students in Paris

Lima, Peru

it's finally here!

Election day is finally here. And, I do mean FINALLY!

Now, get out there and VOTE!

P.S. Many thanks for the insightful poetry recommendations and for feeding my soul. I knew I could count on you, my lovelies!
P.P.S. For a fantastic read, checkout The Ugly Earring's Dream Sequence. Oh, the pictures she paints.
P.P.P.S. Don't forget to check back later in the week, you won't want to miss a new I Heart Art on Friday.

seeing red

more feminine AND powerful

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is Liberia's first woman president and Africa's first elected female leader. She is another great example of a woman who embraces her femininity through fashion with traditional dress, vibrant colors, beautiful fabrics, and head scarves to match. So strong and powerful (nicknamed the "Iron Lady").

Read more about her here.

Thanks to Susan for turning me on to Pres. Johnson-Sirleaf.

image credits: theric & newssl

feminine AND powerful?

Visit to Dnipropetrovs'k - 1/14/08

In Niapol, Italy - 9/19/07Working visit to Odessa oblast - 2/7/08
I love this photo, feminine style amongst a sea of men in serious business suits.

Press conference - 2/2/08

Government meeting, 2/13/08

Remember my post about Hillary Clinton's fashion choices, titled must we pretend to be men? I know you do, my faithful readers.

Not to harp on the subject, but I couldn't help but to be inspired by Yulia Tymoshenko, the Prime Minister of Ukraine. She is the quintisential example of a woman in power (named 3rd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes, 2005) who presents herself as both feminine and fashionable. From the Princess Leia braids to the designer shoes, Chanel pearls, puff sleeves, and flouncy dresses and skirts, she is making no attempt to hide her femininity behind men-inspired pant suits.

A lesson for H. Clinton or a sign that Ukraine is ahead of the U.S. when it comes to femininity and women of power?

Side note: Not without controversy, Tymoshenko has been criticized for her accumulation of wealth by way of the gas industry; some of which she has clearly spent on designer clothing.

image credits: tymoshenko.com

i voted

I arrived at my local polling place bright and early at 7am this morning to cast my vote. I recently changed my party affiliation from Green to Democrat (eegad), so I could vote in the Democratic primaries this time around. When I went to check-in, the registry showed that I was registered as an absentee voter (not on purpose), but I hadn't received my absentee ballot in the mail (probably because I changed parties recently). So, I had to vote provisionally. I hope this still means my vote is counted in the early stages & not delayed.

The whole process of participating in elections & going to the polls to vote is so exciting to me; the anxious feeling in the air on election day, the wait in line with others from my neighborhood, standing in front of the machine to cast my ballot, and collecting an "I voted" sticker on the way out. It seems to mean something & makes me feel like my voice matters, even if that is a bit naive.

Happy voting!

image credit: jessjudge.com

cast your ballot

Don't forget to vote!

image credit: here

must we pretend to be men?

When it comes to fashion, Hillary Clinton has been disappointing in her dated power-suits, reluctant to show femininity because of whatever political repercussions she feels that might entail. I don't know if this is a knock on Hillary or more on our society as a whole.

However, in sticking with her power-suit theme, she has managed to show some signs of girlishness.
She steps outside of the black, grey, brown pallet pretty often, as seen here:

And, there is some definite femininity here in this suit, eyelet lace & all:

Would it be political suicide for her to wear something other than pants on the campaign trail? And, what about a great bag or a fashionable pair of shoes? Is there no power in fashion....

Clinton recently snubbed Vogue by declining their invitation to be featured in the fashion bible (and photographed by Annie Leibovitz no less). Anna Wintour lashed back at Hillary in February's letter from the editor:

"Imagine my amazement, then, when I learned that Hillary Clinton, our only female presidential hopeful, had decided to steer clear of our pages at this point in her campaign for fear of looking too feminine. The notion that a contemporary woman must look mannish in order to be taken seriously as a seeker of power is frankly dismaying. How has our culture come to this?"

image credits: dbiking, myrezyness, and nymag

obama for your mama

February's Haper's Bazaar featured this Politics of Fashion spread in which most of the candidates were featured. Obama was my favorite with his ease of style in his sharp & classic black suit.

image credit: www.bazaar.com