Today, the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was jointly awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their innovative work that led to the life-saving mRNA COVID vaccines. Ms. Karikó, a Hungarian-American biochemist and researcher at Penn Medicine is one of (now) 61 women who have received this award, while Dr. Weissman, a physician and researcher also at Penn Medicine, is one of over 890 male laureates. This wonderful announcement stirred my feminist passion and also reminded me of my lifelong interest in science. Maybe I could have been a scientist. If I was born 20 years later, could things have turned out differently?
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Activism
Bringing Yoga to the LBGTQ+ Community
I recently had an opportunity to represent a local yoga non-profit organization at a Pride Festival in Apex, NC. I’ve worked with You Call This Yoga as their website manager for many years and I believe in their mission to bring free, accessible yoga practices to people who:
- Might not have access to yoga (can’t afford it, can’t get to classes)
- Think yoga is not for them (not my community, my age group, my body type)
- Believe they can’t do it (not flexible enough, can’t get up and down off the mat)
How I Became a Feminist
Like becoming a goddess, it didn’t happen all at once. It was a process. Thinking back, I realize I had many early signs that continued as a constant thread with growing awareness and frustration at the social inequities. The world just didn’t seem fair. At first, I wondered why. Then, in succession, I grumbled, got angry, and eventually depressed. And, if you can believe it, my AHA! moment, what I consider the birth of my feminism, came with the issue of a very mainstream magazine.
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accidental goddess 