#journeywoman

[wanderingmind11]

Helena drabble

Helena recalled a timeline where the universe was on the brink of death by despair. She traveled to the ends of the ocean of stars to stop it from happening. She remembered the last moments she had with Meteion, back to the friendly entelechy she met in Elpis.

It was a vision of another time, another universe.

Helena wanted to see Hermes. She felt unsure about him sending Meteion out on her own to explore the universe for the purpose of life. What if it was lonely out there? Who knew what she’d come across. Wouldn’t such travels be livelier with a companion? She asked him those questions, yet he insisted it would be too great a burden to get others involved. He thought nobody else understood how he felt, but she reminded him of all the times he’d talk to her about things.

She made up her mind.

Helena told Hermes, “I will walk with Meteion.”

[zahri-melitor]

You have been assigned a four issue mini comic [<100 pages]. It can be about whatever you want. The only restriction is that it has to be about a minor support character [IE character friends, character parents, reoccuring minor villains, reoccuring civilians]. Which character do you choose, and what story would you want to tell in a four issue mini?

For transparency, I'm asking this question to a bunch of people because I want to see all the ideas everyone has. See what everyone would do.

You know what I'd really love? Writing a Lady Shiva mini. I am stretching the definition of 'reoccurring minor villain' but she's never actually had a proper mini in her own right and she's very VERY rarely had viewpoint. I'd want to pick and choose from her various established backstories, and tone down as many of the League of Assassins connections as possible. I think I'd frame it as four pivotal fights (because that's the language of Shiva)

Fight 1: Sandra and David Cain (the 'sort out the backstory' issue/the apprentice) hitting the following:-

Carolyn and Sandra's childhood in Detroit as Chinese-American diaspora, including trips back to China to the family village there for additional martial arts training.

Carolyn encounters Ben Turner and David Cain, both of whom are training under Richard Dragon, with none of this LOA-linked

David Cain murdering Carolyn to motivate Sandra who he sees as a stronger fighter

Recanonise the Batgirl 2000 Cass origin

Sandra giving Cass to David

Fight 2: Lady Shiva and Richard Dragon (the 'birth of Lady Shiva' and her quest to match herself against the best fighters on the planet/the journeywoman)

This would revolve around Shiva's quest to seek training from various sensei.

References to Dinah and Shiva's shared mentor

Shiva and her encounters with Vic Sage and the first signs of her fondness for cases in which she sees the potential for greater violence, just as David Cain saw in her

Maybe recanonise the Paper Monkey stuff? Either way, have her win accolade and acclaim by facing off against the greatest fighters, killing many of them, and gaining her place in the hierarchy

Lots of wandering swordsman journey

Finishing point has this fight ending with Shiva not killing Richard because she can now best him and has found herself alone at the top as the 'best fighter in the world' - but she sees the power he still has above her - his ability to mentor and create the competition she seeks

Fight 3: Lady Shiva and Dinah Lance (Shiva the mentor, training those she most respects the potential in/the master)

I picked Dinah to frame this one for two reasons: she's my fave AND I wanted a fight with a woman for the second set.

We hit backstory with Shiva actively encountering Dinah, Tim, Connor, Cass. 'Her' heroes who she becomes attached to and to pushing them to be better competition for her.

This is the only bit where I might lean towards League of Assassins in terms of probably Nyssa and/or Talia approaching her to ask her to help train their troops, but Shiva finds it dull.

"Go to sleep Westley I might kill you in the morning" attitude emerging as she finds herself weirdly attached to the people she's pushing.

I would love to include a pay off for her fight with Helena Bertinelli in BOPv2 that was put on 'hold' in this fight with Dinah.

Fight 4: Lady Shiva and Cassandra Cain (The inheritance and future issue)

This would be framed around a NEW encounter between Shiva and Cass rather than one of their old ones

Leans into Shiva's death wish and viewing she's already passed on her inheritance, and that she's now defeatable

I would also want to see Sin Lance and Bethany Thorne appear in this issue (also Tim)

Looking at all four of these characters and how they have the potential to surpass and surprise her.

This one WOULD end with Shiva in a position where she's pushing Cass to kill her as she's now the tired one and Cass once again denying it to her

[theanticool]

A Busy Week in Women's Boxing!

Was looking at the schedule for this week and there is so much happening in women's boxing so going to lay it all out in one convenient place.

Over on Boxxer and Peacock we have Collision Course. In the main event, the IBF and WBC welterweight championships will be on the line, as champions Natasha Jonas and Ivana Habazin face off. Jonas is a former standout GB amateur that has found huge success in the pros. She's a two weight world champion. She's recently got a win over fellow multi division champion Mikaela Mayer. At 40 years old, she's made a good career for herself. Habazin is a Croatian boxer that is probably known best for being the loser in high profile match ups - Shields, Harper, Braekhus, Lauren, etc. But she is a two time world champion, having recently won a world title after having a ten year title drought.

In the co-main, Olympic gold medalist Lauren Price gets a mandatory fight out the way. She is coming off the biggest win of her pro career, a dominant win over former undisputed welterweight champion Jessica McCaskill for the WBA title. She'll take on Colombian Bexcy Mateus. Card is on Saturday (Dec. 14) on Peacock for those in the US. On SkySports for those in the UK.

Over on DAZN, Golden Boy Promotions has a card going down on Saturday (Dec. 14) as well. On the undercard we will get to see the return of former Olympic bronze medalist and former united flyweight champion Marlen Esparza. Esparza is coming off a big loss, where she lost her title on the scale, and then proceeded to lose on the cards. She is now moving up to super flyweight (115lbs). She'll take on fellow former flyweight champion Arely Mucino. Mucino is a long time veteran of the pro scene as well as a 4x world champion. She turned pro back in 2008 and has been competing at the highest levels of the sport since 2010. It's a good crossroads fight between two 35 year old boxers that are looking for one last run at world championships.

Another former Olympian! Brazilian Beatriz Ferreira is back from her stint at the 2024 Olympic games. A silver medalist at the 2020 Olympics, she added a bronze medal to her cabinet this year. But she's also the IBW lightweight champion. It's a division that has suddenly filled up with interesting fighters - Caroline Dubois, Bo Mi Re Shin, Terri Harper, Imane Khelif, etc. So there are fights for someone like Beatriz to chase. But first, she'll have to get through Frenchwoman Licia Boudersa. Boudersa is one of those French fighters that has fought their whole career in France against meh opposition, so they have an impressive looking record just from staying active.

We have a rematch this week. The last time Esneidy Rodriguez and Sana Hazuki, there was some wonkiness with the scoring so they're running it again. Rodriguez is an undefeated Mexican fighter on the come up. Sana Hazuki is a Japanese journeywoman. She's fought for a couple of world titles and come up short. Her record looks bad (12-9) but that's part fighting in a division with a small pool of fighters and part constantly fighting world champions (Yokasta Valle, Nanae Suzuki, Mika Iwakawa, Eri Matsuda). A true youth vs experience style match up.

ANOTHER former Olympian! This time from Canada. 2020+2024 Olympian and former amateur world champion Tamm Thibeault will make her pro debut on Friday over on DAZN. Didn't even realize the Canadian had signed with MVP (Jake Paul's outfit) or was planning on going pro. Only 27 years old and in a division as shallow as middleweight, she's got the potential to go far. First she has to deal with journeywoman Natasha Spence.

Last we have a couple fights going down in Australia.

Kaye Scott is a 40 year old who is a pioneer of the sport in Australia. She was part of the first ever sanctioned women's fight in the country. She represented the country on the amateur scene for years, taking home silver medals up at light heavyweight in 2016 and 2023 at the world championships. She recently made her move pro in November 2023 and quickly rattled off 4 wins. Now she's getting a title shot. It's a rematch with Desley Robinson, a woman she beat earlier this year. Robinson is a known entity, having fought Lani Daniels for the LHW title as well.

Do you remember John Wayne Parr? Legend of Australian muay thai? Well his daughter, Jazzy Parr, is also a fighter. And a pretty good one at that. While she's done quite a bit of kickboxing and muay thai, she seems to have settled on boxing as her primary sport. At least for now. The 21 year old has run up a 6-0 record in the sport and looks poised to make a run at a world title at bantamweight. She is set to face her most experienced opponent to date, former world champion Shannon O'Connell.

There is more but I fear this might run long. But if you're even a tiny bit interested in any of these fights, I implore you to seek them out. It's a good week to start getting into women's boxing as there's a lot going on globally and a lot of it will be available on streaming or TV depending on where you live.

[uswnt5]

It's gotta be hard to be like Spencer—good enough to play in the league for like 12 years now, not good enough to be a marquee player on a team or a settled player on a team. Forever a journeywoman

yeah! every team needs them though!

[dawnslight-aegis]

intro/about post...thing

I keep meaning to make one of these so

welcome to @dawnslight-aegis, my ffxiv blog that is mostly dedicated to my dearest and most beloved lizard WoL, Kaede

here is a picture of her, please imagine me pulling it out of my wallet like a proud parent

anyway

I have a page for my most used tags here, Kaede's co-WoL and partner in crime can be found at @foamofthe-sea, and my fanfiction about both of them and also a couple of elf boys is primarily on AO3.

Kaede biography type things under the cut!

Name: Kaede Kazarishi (Kaede: summer maple, Kazarishi: jeweler)

Epithet: the True

Titles: Flame Captain, Warrior of Light, Champion of Eorzea, Savior of Ishgard, Traveler, and most recently, Viscountess of House Borel

Age: 25 at ARR start, 29 at EW end

Heritage/Affliation: Hannish on her father's side, Doman on her mother's. Born in the Mor Dhonan wilds, raised in New Sharlayan (birth-10) and La Noscea (11-21). Captain in the Immortal Flames, part-time resident of Ishgard.

Combat specializations: Holy Knight (PLD variant), Dark Knight, Red Mage, Light Mage (WHM variant)

Non-combat specializations: Master Goldsmith, Journeywoman Blacksmith/Armorer/Miner

Patron Deity: Halone (and Hydaelyn)

Elemental affinity: Ice/Light (primary), Fire (secondary), Wind (tertiary)

Ancient: Eos Erigeneia, she who held the seat of Azem

Soul color: Blue/pink/gold (sunrise/dawn)

Notable relationships: Marzanna Kimbatuul (best friend and fellow Warrior of Light), Aymeric de Borel (husband), Estinien Varlineau (close ally/mildly toxic bestie), Alphinaud and Alisaie Leveilleur (all-but-officially adopted siblings), Yuriko Kazarishi (mother), Roric Blackthorne (stepfather), Edmont de Fortemps (adopted father), Haurchefant Greystone (ally and former lover, deceased), Emet-Selch (complicated).

Assorted Symbolism because I think about this stuff too much

Zodiac: Libra Sun, Leo Moon, Aquarius Rising

Meyers-Briggs: INTJ (introverted/intuitive/thinking/judging)

Tree: Maple (strength, endurance, protection -- also it's in her name)

Gemstone: Labradorite (protection, strength, courage -- also it's blue)

Flower: White Daffodil (renewal, rebirth, chivalry)

Tarot: Judgement (absolution, rebirth, motivation)

have a couple of inspo memes too while I'm at it

[formlesschromatic]

hey (with the intention of forcing you to tell me your favourite books)

I dont actually read many physical books and am bad at picking out favorites, so I dont have a good answer for that 😔. So instead I will present something else Ive spent many many hours obsessing over:

certainly has enough content to more than match a book so close enough :p

[sunmarketing]

Bucket List Travel -#2 Toronto, Canada

This is Bucket List Travel, a special series within the podcast Dr. Mary Travelbest Guide.

This is Carolyn Ray, CEO and editor of JourneyWoman, a women's solo travel publication based in Toronto. I'm going to share some tips and advice about my hometown with you. I'm actually a sixth-generation Torontonian, and my daughter is a seventh-generation Torontonian.  

  So this is my hometown, and I can tell you, if you're looking for an exciting, vibrant city, Toronto is it. We are, you might be surprised, the fourth largest city in North America, and very easy to get to from just about anywhere in the world. Toronto is a great getaway for those living in Canada and a steal for women coming from other countries because of our Canadian dollar. So you'll find a lot of value coming here for your money, 

  I want to share with you a bit about how to get to Toronto, which may surprise you. Of course, you may know about Toronto Pearson Airport, our international airport, but we also have a smaller island airport called the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, which is right downtown. So if you can get a flight into Toronto Island, that's much easier. 

  But if you are flying into Toronto, Pearson, we have a wonderful train called the UP Express, which will get you downtown in about 25 minutes. If you are arriving at Union Station, you can get right on our subway system, the TTC, the Toronto Transit Commission. And it's very, very easy to get around on the TTC. It's a U-shaped route that goes north, just kind of starts at Union Station, and goes up both ways. And then there's an east, west route across the city at Bloor Street, which is B, L, O, O, R, we're building some more subways. You'll notice that when you're in town, and because of that, I just want to speak to a little bit about safety on the subways. Toronto is a very large city, and I just want to encourage you to be very aware. I know everyone thinks Canadians are very nice, but I also just want to remind you to be very self-aware when you're on the subways and on public transit.

  For things to do in Toronto, my number one experience would be to go to Toronto Island. It's very easy to get there on a ferry, and you can take a ferry over for the day. You can ride a bike, enjoy the beaches, or even get on a boat.

  If you are looking for a place to stay, there are many different kinds of hotels in Toronto, but I will say one of my favorites is the Fairmont Royal York, which is right across from Union Station. But I also like some of our boutique hotels, the Gladstone, the Drake, the Broadview Hotel. These are very lovely, locally owned hotels, creative, artsy, with really great rooftop restaurants and great views.

  I'll end with some tips on places to eat that you may not know about. I really love Spanish food, so I wanted to recommend Madrina y tapas and Patria. Patria is on King West, which is a very popular place to go for bars and restaurants. The Distillery District is one of our historic areas in Toronto, it’s a wonderful place to walk around and spend the day. And Madrina y tapas is one of my favorite restaurants there. There's also Yorkville, which is on at Bloor and Yonge Street. Kasa Moto is a Japanese restaurant that I would suggest there. And a secret you may not have heard of, this one is called Scaramouche, and it's a little bit farther north, but you can get wonderful views of the entire city. It's actually in a condominium, and you can see all of Toronto at night. It's lovely. And for those of us who like vegetarian food, it's Planta. There are two Planta locations in Toronto, maybe more now, great vegetarian menu. And of course, I must mention the St Lawrence Market, which has all, you know, all of the fresh food you could ever want. But also in the basement Manotas, which is a Spanish takeaway restaurant, and then also Busters, which is at the back of the St Lawrence Market, where you can get some wonderful seafood.

  Whatever you're doing in Toronto, I hope you have a great time. There's so much to do. There's so much to see, and I look forward to seeing you there. And if there's more information need about Toronto, please visit JourneyWoman.com. We've got lots of articles about the city. 

Thank you, Carolyn Ray and Journey Woman for this excellent episode. I love that you shared about Toronto on this one! 

Connect with Dr. Travelbest

5 Steps to Solo Travel website

Dr. Mary Travelbest X

Dr. Mary Travelbest Facebook Page

Dr. Mary Travelbest Facebook Group

Dr. Mary Travelbest Instagram

Dr. Mary Travelbest Podcast

Dr. Travelbest on TikTok

Dr.Travelbest onYouTube

In the news

  Check out this Dr Travelbest episode!

[dutifullytoocloud]

Next on the reading list, have placed a hold for local library pick up in the near future.

[cruises-trips-news]

New Cruise Company Launched for Solo Female Travelers 55-Plus

Recognizing the lack of suitable options for mature women wanting to explore the world, travel social network ASmallWorld has launched The Solo Cruise Company—a cruise company that creates itineraries specifically catered towards solo female travelers aged 55-plus. The launch is announced close on the heels of a study by JourneyWoman, which discovered that women over […] The post New Cruise Company Launched for Solo Female Travelers 55-Plus appeared first on BOAT CRUISES TRIPS NEWS. https://boat-cruises-trips.news-6.com/new-cruise-company-launched-for-solo-female-travelers-55-plus/

[stofftierelindner]

Lighthouse

Teddynews 2023-16

My love is a lighthouse: the most beautiful song, actually or ever…

“Only Murders in the Building,” Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) tries to resurrect a failed theatrical production by attempting the near-impossible: re-imagining a stage play as a hit musical. Never mind that the source material is a murder mystery in which the prime suspects are infants, or that the initial show shuttered when its leading man died opening night.

The plan to put on “Death Rattle Dazzle!” may be as absurd as the original play’s premise, but the episode offers spellbinding evidence that it just might work. After all, the ending of the aptly titled “Grab Your Hankies” — featuring powerful performances by Meryl Streep and Ashley Park — is liable to make you cry.

The stirring sequence sees Oliver gathered with his actors and producers in his living room. “In our experience, those presentations can be real make-or-break moments,” said musical theater veteran Benj Pasek, who co-wrote the in-show musical’s songs with Justin Paul and others. “The fate of your show rests upon whether people with resources want to invest time and money into your dream, and if you don’t pull it off, then years of work might all be for naught. The stakes are incredibly high; it really does feel like you’re singing for your supper.”

At the last minute, Oliver changes his mind about which song to present at the meeting. “I do have something for you, and I think it might hold the heart of the show,” he prefaces with sincerity. “Let me set the scene: It’s late at the Pickwick lighthouse. The triplets cry out in the night, their mother has died, but they’re not alone. For their nanny is there, looking after them.”

Streep’s sheepish journeywoman, Loretta Durkin, then performs “Look for the Light,” which starts off as a comforting lullaby and grows into a vow of steadfast guardianship. “I will wait at the shore for you / I will weather each storm / Standing by ‘til safe you return from the night,” she sings. “My love is a lighthouse / So darling, my darling, look for the light.”

play the song:

[newstodayjournal]

‘Break Point’ Just Might Be the Best Way to Watch Tennis

In the sixth episode of the Netflix docuseries “Break Point,” Ajla Tomljanovic, a journeywoman tennis player who has spent much of the last decade in the Top 100 of the world rankings, is shown splayed across an exercise mat in a drab training room after reaching the 2022 Wimbledon quarterfinals. Her father, Ratko, stretches out her hamstrings. She receives a congratulatory phone call from her…

[sparrowsjourney]

Episode 4b - Journey

Day 2

Emi,

After another long day of travel Doc spotted the lights of a small town. They insisted that we should find a bed for the night, so I land near the edge of town.

To my surprise I was greeted almost immediately. A man who introduced himself as Eli told me that his granddaughter noticed me flying in. He offered to let me stay at his home in a guest room, but I didn’t feel comfortable sleeping under a stranger’s roof like that. He seemed understanding and smiled at me in a grandfatherly way, before walking me to the town inn. It didn’t have a name, I guess because the town is so small it only has the one.

We chatted for a bit while the innkeeper prepared and brought dinner. Eli insisted on paying for it. It was a simple meat and potato meal, but very filling. I learned that the village is name Bellomi after a family of witches that founded it an unknown long time ago. No historians here, I guess.

Most of their magic is still intact, although some seems to be fading. That’s a bit surprising, considering that there haven’t been any witches here in generations. Eli is the village head and is concerned that they need a magical caretaker soon, or all the magic will fade from this place. He was hoping that I would be that person.

I explained that I wouldn’t be a good fit because of my personal goals. but promised to send my Aunt a letter asking for recommendations.

It was tempting to stay, but this village really needs a lifer. Not a journeywoman or apprentice like me.

[theanticool]

Christina Linardatou vs Alycia Baumgardner Highlights

Former super lightweight champion Christina Linardatou (14-2), at present, has the distinct honor of being the only woman with a win over undisputed women’s super featherweight champion Alycia Baumgardner. Unfortunately, that fight is lost to the internet as far as I can tell. We are only left with this edited 4 minute highlight. 

But Linardatou is a good boxer. But a two year layoff that only ended last July with a 6 rounder in Greece against a journeywoman is concerning when you are fighting a P4P talent. And Mikaela Mayer (17-1) is still a P4P talent following her loss to Baumgardner. With both women moving to lightweight from opposite directions, I’m really excited to see how they match up.

[uswnt5]

On the field this was a fantastic trade, we finally got a right back which I’ve been complaining about for months lmao (I hope we get midfielders next!)

I can’t help but feel bad for Lussi though, she seemed to really like ACFC and the fans, it must be tough going from one of the best teams in the league in terms of fans, publicity and owners giving a shit to NC which haven’t had the best track record off the field. Mathias very obviously was over NC so I’m glad she’s getting a fresh start. I guess that’s what sucks so much about the trade system, there’s always one person that gets the short end of the stick.

Yeah it's tough but players like Lussi's level talent are always going to be those utility players who move around teams a lot I think. Journeywoman of sorts because she fills holes but doesn't necessarily produce over others in starting spots.

She was good for us for 2022 though, I wish her the best!

[victoriansecret]

[continued]

The point is, there were ways and options of progressing to better and better positions, with better pay, better accommodations, and less onerous duties. And this is something that does not generally exist in the 18th century otherwise. Within trades there's a sort of ladder, but it only has a few runs that are far apart: you apprentice, if you finish your apprenticeship you're a journeyman or journeywoman, and eventually you might reach the level of master or mistress, and even then most people who might have the skills for that qualification don't necessarily have the capital to run their own business. Most people are still working for a boss of some kind. So all those incremental steps, with annual chances to upgrade, was unique and it did certainly pay off for some people who, with wages, vails (which I wrote about here), and room and board provided, might be able to save up quite a bit of money over time. I can't find the exact account right now, but I know of a servant who retired after not much more than a decade in the field to purchase a house and farm with several hundred pounds sterling in leftover savings. The other factor is that as you moved up through the ranks, so too did your prestige. Within larger households with many servants, there was a distinction between "upper servants" and "lower servants". Generally, the cut off for men was that footmen were the highest lower servant (and often, when there was more than one, there was a first footman, second footman, &c.), and the butler was the lowest upper servant. For women the house or chambermaids were the highest lower servant, with the housekeeper being the lowest upper servant.

Generally speaking, lower servants had the dirtier, harsher jobs which required heavier labour, while being paid less, and they also served the upper servants dinner in the servants' hall. Indeed, servants often mimicked the hierarchy of the people they served: for example, at clubs of servants, or dinners with groups of servants together, even of the same rank, the head of the table would be the servant of the highest ranked master and so on down. Crucially, though, in addition to the better pay, upper servants were clothed not in livery, but in much the same clothing as their masters or mistresses. Especially valets and lady's maids - the closest to those they served, who dressed them, attended them, were with them nearly all the time - were very commonly gifted cast off clothing, so they were very literally wearing the same stuff. As you might imagine, this could sometimes cause trouble in discerning who even was a servant. In fact in every period I've researched the subject - 18th century through early 20th century - a common trend you see is complaints, jokes, comic images &c. about people at parties trying to get a servant's attention but they're actually asking another guest. I have a few of these on a harddrive I can not currently access or I would include them here. Alas. There are a lot of complaints in England at this time of, for example, valets and lady's maids using their master's or mistress's tickets to the theater, sitting in their private boxes, and because they were dressed the same, and because their proximity meant they also knew all the etiquette and social mores of the people they served, it was impossible to know that they were actually servants. So it wasn't just purely monetary gains and less rigourous work, the higher up the ladder you were also conferred status. I've gotten a bit off topic, but I will conclude with one additional note on that last bit: there is no evidence of anyone adopting a livery for womenservants in this time period, but there were definitely some proposals for it for these exact reasons, that they couldn't always tell who was and was not a servant. Eventually, well into the 19th century you'd start seeing things like the traditional maid costume which is essentially a sort of livery, but I have yet to see it in this period. And that also leads to an odd quirk: overall, the vast majority of servants in England were women. Generally, in less grand households, you might only have one or a few servants, and usually they were women. You might have a "maid of all work" which as the name implies did a bit of everything, maybe like a housekeeper and a cook or something like that. But male servants, in part because of the extravagant liveries, were considered a bigger sign of social status. There are remarks in the period - there's one in particular I'm thinking of, by memory trying to quote verbatim - of tradesmen impoverishing themselves to keep a servant in livery, just to make themselves seem to be doing better off than they really are. So in the larger households there tended to be more of an event split in gender, probably still overall with more women, but the menservants generally had the most visible roles. I hope this is helpful, and if you have any more questions, please let me know! feel free to vail me

Servants and Upward Mobility

This is focused on paid servants in England in the mid-late 18th century. One thing I find fascinating about the structure of domestic service roles was the existence of what essentially we might call a career ladder today. It was not uncommon for a servant to start their career near the bottom of the hierarchy as, say, a boot boy who cleans the shoes and boots of the household, or the scullery maid who does all the dirty kitchen work like scrubbing iron cooking vessels or plucking chickens, but progressively move up the list to better positions.

Part of why this was the case was that it was typical in England to hire servants for one year terms at a time. Often they'd be hired at festivals on the quarter days of the year, which as part of the festivities would often include what today we'd call a job fair. For some reason, Michaelmas (September 29) seems to be the most common as far as I can tell. I had never really thought about why that might be until I started planning this post, and I now wonder if it might have something to do with that being right around when harvest time usually comes in England. I could easily imagine people, especially young people, being on the cusp of another labourious harvest and thinking that maybe they could find another job instead. Related tangent: There are a number of remarks in the period that servants from the northern parts of England were considered to be much more respectful than servants from more populated, urban areas. Those communities were (at least considered to be) a lot stricter about remembering one's place and respecting your social 'betters', and their behaviour as servants was believed to reflect that. Some people would actively have their agents look to hire people from those rural areas, and apparently it was easy to attract potential employees: there are a number of remarks about how when a fancy carriage would drive through a small town, with the fancily-liveried footmen riding on the back, it would bring young people to stare in awe and want to be part of that. Which as someone whose interest in domestic service started in part because of my obsession with livery, I can understand. Anyway, back to the main point: because they often served one-year terms, there was an annual chance for both parties - the servant and the served - to review and determine how to move forward. A servant who was favoured might negotiate for a new position in the household, at least one step higher on the ladder (if not more), and they had leverage because they could leave the field entirely or possibly go off to a new household and find a higher position there. There was also a practice of asking for your master or mistress to provide a "character", essentially what we would today call a reference: a letter to show potential employers detailing their behaviour and skill in their role. Certainly there were times that some employers refused to give a good character, and sometimes that was explicitly because they wanted to keep the servant because they were a valuable asset to their household, but it was considered part of the obligation of the master class to be honest in these.

And it is not at all uncommon to find people who have served many different people/households throughout their career. The most I have seen is 28, although that's slightly misleading: that was a man who decided he wanted to travel, so hired himself to gentleman going on journeys for the duration of the trips, many of which were only a couple months. (The book he published, which he wrote about his travels and the "exotic" places and people he encountered, is interesting, and for my purposes super helpful because he turned out to be a narcissist and wrote a lot about himself, including his career as a servant. It's the only quasi-memoir of a paid servant from this time I am aware of. I might write a post about it/him sometime. I digress.) [continued in next post]

[benjaminftw]

Journeywoman Appreciation: Patty Moise

There have been a number of groundbreaking women in racing, but I think the one who did more to normalize the idea of a woman being a series regular in stock car racing more than any other was Patty Moise. Coming from a successful sports car background, Patty ran a part-time Busch series schedule from 1986-1989 as an owner-driver, with her best performances coming at a race in Road Atlanta in 1987 where she qualified outside pole, led 18 laps and finished in the 8th place. She had just one other top 10 during that time (the same season at Martinsville), but when her equipment didn’t fail she found herself regularly capable of scoring top 20 finishes. During this time she also made 5 Cup races and attempted a few more, with her best result being a 26th at the 1988 July Daytona race.

After she sold her team to legendary chassis man Mike Laughlin, she ran nearly the complete season in 1990 finishing 22nd in points with 8 top 20 finishes to her credit and and best finished of 12th at Martinsville, and she also married the first driver highlighted by this series in Elton Sawyer back when I kept things much shorter. She returned to just part time status from 1991-1994, finishing half of her 12 starts during that period in the top 20. Finally in 1995 she returned to full-time driving for Doug Taylor. This effort didn’t prove to be entirely successful, with several DNQs and DNFs for various reasons over the year but she did manage a top 10 at Talladega and and 4 top 20s while being the first full-time female driver in the series history, finishing 25th in points. The next year she’d drive part-time for her husband, picking up a few more top 20 finishes. She finally finished up her career driving for Michael Waltrip in 1999, DNQing for a great number of races in a year with a stiff car count but getting her final career top 10 finish at Bristol and handful more top 20s.

Nobody is ever going to argue Patty Moise was one of the best drivers of her era, she never had the type of equipment she could prove herself to be even if she had the ability to be. However, she persevered to easily have the longest and fullest Busch/Nationwide/Xfinity career of any female driver in an era where horrible sexism in the sport was simply the status quo and there are many journeypeople I have or will cover in this series who would have killed to have a 4 top 10 career in the Busch series or over 100 career starts in that series.