There are less than two consciousness-raising weeks left until this year's Women's History Month is, well, history. To help you make the most of this female-centric time, here are some pop-culture offerings that amplify women's voices, celebrate the mavens among us and shine a welcome spotlight on trailblazers whose center-stage time has come. A little knowledge is a liberating thing.
"#SisterInLaw" (podcast)
With their deep well of legal expertise and and enough well-informed opinions to fuel their own cable network, the women of the weekly "#SistersInLaw" podcast tackle the latest in legal and political news with keen intelligence and a compassionate eye for the human beings behind the headlines.
Whether they are breaking down the verdict in the trial of Ahmaud Arbery's murderers or honoring the legacy of author, professor and activist bell hooks, the lawyer "Sisters" — Boston Globe senior opinion writer Kimberly Atkins Stohr, former U.S. Attorneys Barb McQuade and Joyce White Vance, and Jill Wine-Banks (the only woman on the Watergate prosecution team) — are your dream professors in the giant classroom we call, "life." Attendance doesn't need to be mandatory. You won't want to miss a single sisterly second. (Available on Apple podcasts, Spotify and other platforms.)
"Seneca's 100 Women to Hear" (podcast)
Smart women talking! What a concept. It is also exactly what you'll get from "Seneca's 100 Women to Hear," an introduction to a powerful collection of powerhouse females from the people behind the Seneca Women global leadership platform and media company.
Whether it is experts weighing in on such groundbreakers as abolitionist Sojourner Truth or opera legend Marian Anderson, or current pioneers like video-game creator Tracy Fullerton or archaeologist Alexandra Jones talking about what they do and why it matters, "100 Women to Hear" lets you spend some quality time with women who made history and change-makers who are using the lessons of the past to shake up the present and shape a better future. (Available on Apple Podcasts and iHeart Podcasts.)
"The Queen of Basketball" (short film)
Lusia Harris was a giant, and not because she stood a towering 6 feet, 3 inches, tall. Beginning in 1975, Harris led the Delta State women's basketball team to three national championships. When women's basketball became an official Olympic sport in 1976, she led the U.S. team to a silver medal. She was also drafted by the New Orleans (now Utah) Jazz men's basketball team in 1977, but she turned them down to start a family with her high school sweetheart, George Stewart.
Harris made history, but she remained an unsung heroine until she became the subject of "The Queen of Basketball," an Oscar-nominated documentary short film from the New York Times' Op-Docs program. Director Ben Proudfoot's 2021 film does its firebrand subject proud with a film that illuminates both her professional triumphs and her personal struggles through frank, emotional interviews with the ebullient Harris and her many admirers.
"I wanted to grow up and shoot that ball just like they were shooting the ball. And I did," Harris says of Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and other male superstars she watched as a basketball-loving girl in small-town Mississippi.
Like many female athletes, Harris never got the money or acclaim that were lavished on her male counterparts. Sadly, Harris passed away earlier this year at the age of 66, but her vibrant voice and boundary-busting story resound with life in "The Queen of Basketball." Watch it now, and you will remember her forever. (Available on YouTube, Vimeo and other streaming platforms.)
"Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliche" (documentary)
Was there ever a better title for a punk anthem than, "Oh Bondage Up Yours"? I think not. And was there ever a more perfect punk heroine than Poly Styrene, the lead singer of England's X-Ray Spex and the mastermind of "Oh Bondage Up Yours"? I think absolutely not.
Styrene (real name Marianne Joan Elliott-Said) is the subject of "Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliche," a new documentary following her supernova journey from poetry-writing teenage geek to becoming the first woman of color to front a successful British rock band. The group's 1978 album, "Germ Free Adolescents," is a Brit-punk classic, and Styrene's anarchic yelp and cheekily honest lyrics opened the door for iconoclasts like Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill to come charging through.
Directed by Styrene's daughter, Celeste Bell, and Paul Sng, the documentary features interviews with a stellar cast of musicians, including Neneh Cherry, X-Ray Spex bandmate Paul Dean, and Thurston Moore (of Sonic Youth). But the real gold is in the performance clips, photos and Styrene's diaries and poems, which are read by actress Ruth Negga ("Passing"). They all show a blazingly talented, style-savvy young woman who knew that the world wasn't ready for a biracial girl with loud opinions, but she was going to take it on anyway.
Styrene died of breast cancer in 2011, and it took the grief-stricken Bell years to come to terms with the music and memories her mother left behind. What she and Sng created is a punk-powered tribute to a singular star whose Day-Glo spirit is as blinding as ever. (Available to rent or purchase on Apple Play, iTunes, YouTube and other platforms.)
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