The Belfield Banter, Vol. 13: Women's History Month Edition

Mar 23rd, 2021

Vol. 13

Women’s HISTORY MONTH THE BELFIELD BANTER:

Th e S t . Ann e’s -B el fi el d S choo l S tud en t New s l etter

In This Issue:

A TRIBUTE TO SARAH EVERARD

A TRIBUTE TO SARAH EVERARD

by Sasha Rinkevich – For this article, I considered writing about my personal relationship with feminism, the importance of intersectionality, or why we need more women in politics. These are all important and relevant topics. However, with the conversations that have exploded this week in America and all over the world following the murder of Sarah Everard, I feel obligated to address the danger and fear that women face every day.

MARY JACKSON: THE FIRST FEMALE ENGINEER OF COLOR AT NASA INTERVIEW WITH SMALL BUSINESS OWNER, Dr. CASEY KERRIGAN “Shameika Said I Had Potential”: FEMALE FRIENDSHIP IN Fetch the Bolt Cutters

In case you missed it, on March 3rd in South London, 33-year-old Sarah Everard went missing. She was walking home. A police officer was later charged with her kidnap-ping and murder.

Sarah Everard’s killing was a catalyst for many conversations about the danger women experience, particularly over social media.

So many were struck by how familiar this story was. It truly hit home. I heard echoes of my own experiences in stories from both people I knew and people I didn’t. I heard echoes of my deepest fears in Sarah’s own. How things would’ve been if I had been unlucky.

This story is one that every woman lives in fear of experiencing. Activities that men don’t have to give a second thought about, like going for a run or walking home, become life-or-

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Also in this issue...

SAINTLY READS [SERIES]: YALE NEEDS WOMEN FACULTY FEATURE: MS. MICHAU Cover Art by Izzy Sanok

death situations. We take every measure possible to stay safe because it is what we are taught to do. We walk in well-lit, busy areas even if it makes our route 20 minutes longer. We fake phone calls. We carry pepper spray and alarms, and hold our keys between our fingers. We send our location to friends, and we wear running shoes in case we have to flee for our lives. Sarah’s story was chilling not only to begin with, but also because she did everything that we are told will save us. She took all of the precautions that are etched into our minds and our routines, but she still didn’t make it home that night.

I carry so much privilege as a white, cisgender person. My life has been so much easier because of the color of my skin and my gender identity. But still, I have stopped walking home from school and going on runs on my own because of the yells, honks, and whistles I would attract. My heart rate has quickened to a fever pitch on walks home from seeing friends. My life, like so many, has been altered just because I am a woman. I cannot even begin to comprehend the danger and fear that people who aren’t white or cisgender must experience.

Women are told to do so many things to stay safe. We are told about the precautions to take, products to buy, and clothes to wear. And since the reality appears to be such that life is inherently dangerous for women, it is absolutely important to be prepared. However, men are the ones who make things unsafe. Sarah Everard’s story illustrates that a woman can do every single thing that will make her less of a target, and it still won’t be effective. She can wear the “right” clothes. She can take the long route home. She can fight back with all her might. And she can still be assaulted. The solution needs to start with teaching men to stop assaulting women. It needs to start with men listening and saying, “How can I help?” instead of, “That sucks, I’m sorry you have to deal with that.” We need active bystanders, not apologists. Women cannot be the sole solution to a problem that we didn’t create. If you want to help, speak out if your friend tells a rape joke. Make it clear to a woman whom you are walking near that you are not a threat. Speak out if you see something.

Join Step Up here at STAB to learn how to be a better bystander.

Chances are, every woman you know has a story.

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MARY JACKSON: THE FIRST FEMALE ENGINEER OF COLOR AT NASA

by Anthony Cai – When I found out that there would be a Belfield Banter centered around Women’s History Month, a New York Times article I read about Mary Jackson, the first black female engineer at NASA, came to mind immediately.

Born in Virginia herself, Jackson graduated from Hampton University after majoring in math and physical science.

However, there were few women committed to STEM fields in the 1940s, and many were treated unfairly due to their gender. For Jackson, it wasn’t just her gender, but also the color of her skin which required her to go the extra mile to gain equality at her place of work. When she began her career at NASA, she began taking night classes at the University of Virginia in her spare time, even petitioning the City of Hampton to allow her to study with white students to complete her relevant training.

During her 34-year tenure at NASA, her passion and dedication to the space industry were demonstrated throughout the whole United States. Her contributions became key figures in helping to place American astronauts in space, making her talents undeniable and worthy of our esteem and study.

It is worth noticing, however, that Mary Jackson is only one of the millions of women who have worked hard to achieve outstanding results in their jobs with little historical or professional recognition. The roles of female scientists like Jackson need to be elevated in our culture so that they may continue to inspire increasing numbers of young women to experiment and explore their own interests in STEM and beyond.

Recently, NASA has named its headquarters in Washington D.C after Mary Jackson, a fantastic tribute to a wonderful scientist. Jim Bridenstine, a former NASA administrator, said of this choice, “The nation is beginning to awaken

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to the greater need to honor the full diversity of people who helped pioneer our great nation.” Our nation and our school community must amplify the voices of women of color in order to provide role models for young women who do not see themselves in fields like engineering due to the erasure of key scientists’ contributions.

INTERVIEW WITH SMALL BUSINESS OWNER, Dr. CASEY KERRIGAN

by Ally Alvarez – After noticing the plethora of health issues caused by the poor design of women’s shoes, Dr. Casey Kerrigan created her own shoe company, OESH. OESH is the only shoe company that is primarily based on medical research, as well as the only shoe company to be recognized by the National Science Foundation as entirely sustainably manufactured.

Dr. Kerrigan attended the University of Chicago for her B.Sc. and Harvard Medical School for her M.D., Later completing her residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation, and earning a graduate degree in kinesiology at UCLA. Throughout her studies, Dr. Kerrigan focused on gait, and the effects shoes have on the body, thus leading her to conduct years of research at a 3D human movement laboratory. Finally, she became the first female chair of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at UVA. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -What is OESH and how is it different from regular shoe companies?

OESH is the word shoe inside out. It is a company based on the research of the effects of footwear, especially in women. Women’s shoes have been designed terribly for many years, not just because they are uncomfortable, but also because they create significant health issues. For example, knee arthritis. When I began studying this, my research showed me that shoes affect your whole body and overall health, so I thought, “This is significant. If I can just make better shoes that will help women dealing with these problems and also try to prevent these problems, that would be ideal.” Although I presented many companies with the research, they would not change their design because that would basically change the whole industry. I decided it

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I decided it would be more effective to open a factory and OESH shoes also look different: they do not have any kind of heel elevation, they have a wide toe box, wide forefoot, narrow heel, and bouncy sole.

What inspired you to study human movement, gait, and the effects of footwear?

I was always fascinated with gait because I was involved in running at the high school and college levels, and I enjoyed the mechanics of it. Later, in medical school, it occured to me that we understand so much about how the heart and internal organs work, but we know so little about the gait. It seemed crazy to me that we know so much about these essential organs, but so little concerning the basic physiology of walking and running. I was excited to explore an area that hadn’t been explored before. That’s also why I went into physical medicine and rehabilitation; that specialty really appreciates gait.

What elements of the soles of other shoes, specifically sneakers, cause health issues?

A lot of it is a result of contours in the sole, as so many shoes have a lot of contouring and foam cushioning. Our research showed that anything that deviates from a perfectly flat surface increases the loads on your joints, where we develop arthritis. Additionally, the foam that is used is called ethylene vinyl acetate, which is a material that is great for absorbing impact, but is not good at giving that energy back, causing it to collapse quickly. That’s why people say you should only wear running shoes for so many miles because their soles collapse and create further contouring and deviation from flat.

There’s all of this sideto-side movement that occurs, and not just movement, but the transferring of forces from side-to-side when you walk or run, so whenever you deviate from the flat plane, that will increase the impact on your joints.

When you started OESH, what was your mission or goal for the company? Has it evolved over time?

I started with what I thought was a very simple goal: I wanted to change the way shoes are made. But, after seeing how awful and unsustainable manufacturing is for the environment and the workers, my goal changed. Now I want to make shoes sustainably.

Fortunately, all of the aspects of shoes that improve health are also sustainable. For example, while the ethylene vinyl acetate I mentioned earlier is horrible for your body, it’s actually also horrible for the environment. The material we decided to use in our 3D printers is 100% recyclable. Our other materials can

decompose, too, and we work to minimize our carbon footprint in every step of the shoe making process. So many companies have soles that must be glued and abraded with three sets of chemicals, heated, and put together in long assembly lines, and it’s so much waste. When you go by a shoe factory, all you see are smoke stacks. Our design just has a flat sole and an upper portion that needs to be attached, which really simplifies the process.

What technology or equipment is involved in making OESH shoes?

When we started out, we used carbon fiber springs in the soles, so we had a machine to make the springs and a water jet saw to cut them, as well as machinery to create the shoe molds. However, we later found a more elastic material that does not compress and that lasts for an extremely long time.

We realized we could use that material to make the whole shoe by 3D printing it, and that eliminated the need for the springs and water jet saw.

We developed the 3D printers on our own and created the entire printing process.

To learn more about OESH or purchase a pair of shoes, visit https://oeshshoes.com.

“Shameika Said I Had Potential”: FEMALE FRIENDSHIP IN Fetch the Bolt Cutters

by Ellie Powell – With innovative percussion, raw vocals, and expressive lyrics, artist Fiona Apple’s Fetch The Bolt Cutters looms large over the many other fantastic albums honored at last week’s Grammy Awards.

After its debut, the album found immense critical acclaim from websites such as Pitchfork and Metacritic, but perhaps more importantly, it inspired a predominantly female audience through Apple’s many declarations of solidarity with the women in her life. I listened to Fetch The Bolt Cutters in its entirety for the first time in the car with my family on a trip to Lexington and found myself unenthused by Apple’s unconventional use of dog barking and dolphin noises in her new songs.

Nonetheless, I listened on, and soon began humming tunes like “I Want You To Love Me” as I drove, which quickly turned into screaming along with my mother as Apple sang, “I would beg to disagree / but begging disagrees with me” in “Under The Table,” one of my favorites.

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To state what may seem obvious from my obsession with 80s television and Gothic novels, I didn’t have many friends in middle school. I do not shy away from the fact that some of this was my own fault (I stirred up more than my fair share of drama), but I was also known as the weird kid for several years before it became quirky. I dyed my hair silly colors every month, I fell deeply into my own interests, and though now in-vogue, wearing turtlenecks under my polo shirts every day in the winter was somehow never seen as a fashionable choice.

When on the titular song of the album, Apple sings, “While I’d not yet found my bearings / Those it-girls hit the ground / Comparing the way I was, to the way she was / Saying I’m not stylish enough and I cry too much / And I listened because I hadn’t found my own voice yet,” I wish my seventh-grade self could hear it. Even for those of us who were not certified weird girls in middle school, this line resonates deeply with the universal fear of social ostracization. No matter where you are, no matter how many times you wear the right clothes or buy the right water bottle or have the right boyfriend, there will always be someone whom you think is cooler until you grow more secure in your own identity.

In the same song, Apple later declares that she feels “ashamed” of how she let these girls impact her, another sentiment that I think many share. I was speaking with my best friend the other day, and she told me that, in a lot of ways, she mourns the end of middle school. “Why?” I asked, “It was horrible. There was an onslaught of infinite judgment and drama that I didn’t think would ever end. I can’t even imagine going back.” She told me that she agreed, but that it was the last time she felt truly unashamed of the media she consumed, and I finally understood. In middle school, listening to My Chemical Romance seemed a form of rebellion in the face of hallways full of Vineyard Vines and school dances full of Lilly Pulitzer. Now, I look back on my music taste from that era and cringe, but I wonder if that’s only because people told me I should. As I become more comfortable with the person I am, I care much less about what people think of me, but that is a behavior that I am unlearning from being made fun of by the boys I knew in middle school.

Later in the album, Apple depicts the labyrinthine relationship between two women who’ve been abused by the same man. In “Newspaper,” she sings, “I watch him walk over, talk over you, be mean to you / And it makes me feel close to you.../ It’s not what it’s supposed to do.” Though her former partner is now dating another woman, she

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feels nothing but kinship for her. She knows that this woman is the only other person who understands what she has been through, and feels protective of her, thus completely subverting the trope of the jealous ex-girlfriend. Similarly, in “Ladies,” Apple says to the women who will later date her partner, “Take it easy, when he leaves me, please be my guest / To whatever I might’ve left / In his kitchen cupboards, in the back of his bathroom cabinets.” She recognizes that these women are not at fault for her relationship falling through and feels no resentment towards them. Apple also reflects on the same sentiment she shared in “Fetch The Bolt Cutters” when she sings to these women, “It would be insane to make a comparison with you.” Despite her success, she does not feel the need to turn into one of the “it-girls” from her middle school and compare herself to these young women; the thought doesn’t even make sense to her.

Fiona Apple has gone from triumph to triumph in the past year, and while I know that she could not care less about her new Grammy Awards, for me, it felt cathartic to see someone who has been through so much write a near-perfect album and gain tangible recognition for it.

Apple did not actually attend the award show, as she thought it would be detrimental to her sobriety. I think we could all take a page out of Apple’s book, and put more care into our mental health, even if that means skipping important events. She also requested that all viewers sign a petition in an effort to keep Prince George County courts transparent. I have linked the petition here and would appreciate it if everyone reading this article would check it out.

Fetch The Bolt Cutters is a breath of fresh air for many reasons, but the one I find most pertinent is her nuanced understanding of female friendship demonstrated in nearly every song on the album. If you can, I recommend listening to it in full this evening.

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SAINTLY READS: Yale Needs Women Emma Brown, Class of 2022

– Late last year, as I desperately searched for a research paper topic, I wound up reading Anne Gardiner Perkin’s recent book, Yale Needs Women. A perfect read for anyone who wants to dive into Women’s History Month, this book reveals the momentous effort it took to achieve coeducation at Yale, a landmark decision that set a precedent for universities nationwide. Only half a century ago, the nation’s top universities still refused to educate undergraduate women; as of today, the majority of colleges and universities in the United States admit every gender.

As explored in the book, that fact holds the story of a crusade, both public and private, to bring women into every sphere of higher education. The strong efforts of students who joined sexual education committees, political clubs, and newspapers amplified the oft-marginalized voices that reflected the changing times of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The right to abortion and birth control, civil rights, gay rights, trans rights, and more all found places to fit in the struggle for coeducation. The push, however, did not end when women finally arrived on campus; the fight for equal ratios of male and female students, for female teachers, for women to be allowed in every aspect of university life, still continues to this day. As many of us look towards college, I highly recommend reading this book, or just quickly researching the history of coeducation!

If anyone is interested in Renaissance Reading this book with me, just shoot me an email at ebrown22@ students.stab.org!

Drawing by Izzy Sanok

FACULTY FEATURE: MS. KIERAN MICHAU

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an interview with Ellie Powell — What book was most important to you as a high school student? Why?

The book that left the biggest impression on me as a high school student was William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. The complexity of the novel’s themes and form was far beyond my ability to appreciate if I’d tried to read it on my own (honestly, that’s probably still true). That text, and the unit my teacher designed around it, was the first time I really appreciated the value of reading with guidance from an expert and collaboration from a group of other readers. I found that I resonated with many of the character’s feelings and experiences, as well as the novel’s discussion of themes like family and identity-- resonance I would have missed entirely if I’d tried to puzzle things out on my own.

What advice do you have for high school seniors? For incoming freshmen?

My advice for freshmen is to share what you don’t know; I promise you’re not the only one, and we all benefit from figuring things out with you.

And on a related note, my advice for seniors is stolen from poet Rainer Maria Rilke: “I want to beg you, as much as I can, dear sir, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything.

Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”

The Banter Staff: Eleanor Powell----------------------------------Editor-in-Chief Jack Dozier---------------------------------------Junior Editor Emma Finley-Gillis-----------------------------Director of Graphics & Formatting Emily Gohn--------------------------------------Features Editor Hannah Laufer-----------------------------------Sports Editor Sonia Kamath------------------------------------Director of Student Outreach

What’s your favorite meal that the dining hall serves?

Anything salmon-- especially the hoisin glazed salmon salad.

What activities around Charlottesville have you been able to enjoy during the pandemic?

Before winter, I spent a lot of time exploring the trails and beautiful scenery in the area. Having the Rivanna Trail through town is a huge perk! I also love food and have been trying to get to know the food scene here, as much as safety measures allow. Bowerbird Bakery, Tacos Gomez, and Mudhouse Coffee are some local favorites so far, and I’d love any recommendations you can share!

Lo o k o u t fo r o ur w ee kly ed i ti on s con ti n ui n g thi s s pr i n g!