A women’s dynasty in slave-era Creole Louisiana
March 8th is International Women’s Day. The Laura Plantation near New Orleans, named after its last owner, offers guided tours based on historical documents and the memoirs of Laura Locoul Gore. More here.
The Museum of Art and Fecundity in Montpellier
On my road trip from Berlin to Spain, I of course stopped at this unique museum in the South of France which was founded by a former pediatrician and obstetrician. More here.
Montpellier: An unusal museum and a car problem
From Dijon I drive south to Montpellier. Here, I visit the world’s only museum dedicated to female fecundity and resolve a problem with my car. More here.
125th birthday of biophysicist Mária Telkes
Born on December 12, 1900, in Budapest, Mária Telkes became famous in the USA as the “Sun Queen.” During World War II, she developed a portable solar distiller and in 1948, she designed one of the first solar-heated houses. More here.
50 years ago, the indigenous activist was murdered.
Anna Mae Aquash was kidnapped, interrogated, and ultimately executed because she was accused to be a FBI informant. To this day, her family demands answers about those behind her murder. The streaming service Hulu is showing a documentary series about her story. More here.
The opera composer and singer Carol Sams just turned 80.
Carol Sams wrote nearly 40 operas for adults and children. She was the first woman in the US to receive a doctorate in composition. On November 25, she celebrated her 80th birthday. Listen to our podcast here.
November 25: Third anniversary of my friend Gitti Czirr’s death
Gitti was also a journalist, a “gem of children’s radio.”
I miss her.
Those who speak German can listen to some of Gitti’s stories on my website. Or in English more here.
On the death of the German-South African journalist, writer and human rights activist
Born in 1924 to Orthodox Jewish parents in Fürth near Nuremberg, Ruth Weiss had to flee from the Nazis to South Africa as a young girl. There she experienced the apartheid regime. This made her a lifelong fighter for human rights. More here.
German Green Party co-founder Eva Quistorp turns 80.
In 1979, she co-founded the German Green Party. In the 1980s, she organized the large peace marches in the then capital, Bonn. She also fights for women’s rights. Today, Eva Quistorp turns 80. More here.
August 9: International Day of Indigenous Peoples
The phenomenon of missing and murdered indigenous people exists not only in the United States, but also in Canada. In Prince George, British Columbia, I had the opportunity to attend a vigil in memory of a missing family. A unique case. More here.