Hello, hello!

Articles

It’s no secret that I find the royal family fascinating and just love the history behind the lineage and monarchy. So, I obviously adored the photo of Queen Elizabeth with her three heirs, and loved reading this New York Times article about the plans for her 90th birthday and why she is such a strong figure for Britain. It made my night when other photos, including the one of the queen with her great-grandchildren and two youngest grandchildren, came out later that day. I was in London in September when the queen became the longest-reigning monarch, and even snapped a picture of a sign on a cab that read “Congratulations, your Majesty.”

I then proceeded to go even crazier when I was able to watch “Elizabeth at 90: A Family Tribute” on YouTube. I love home videos from the early eras of film cameras, and watching such a varying range of the royal family view these clips and get so genuinely moved was just great. And can we talk about the pictures of George meeting the Obamas in his adorable pajamas?!?

LOVE the news about the women and other new historical figures appearing on American currency soon! It wasn’t until I saw who was making it onto a dollar that I realized how exciting this change is, and I also find it hilarious yet incredible that Hamilton helped to keep Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill. Works of art can be incredibly impacting, even on elements of society we wouldn’t even consider.

Random

So I’ve mentioned this a few times, but I positively adore Call the Midwife. I’m currently watching Season 4 on Netflix, and hope to finish it when Season 5 episodes are still available on PBS’s website. It is such a feminist, girl-power show that not only promotes female friendships and women’s strength (not just through all of the birth scenes!), but also highlights men who encourage and love strong women. Seriously, I love all of the female characters so much, but I’d say I love the starring men just as much. Tell me you don’t swoon when Dr. Turner speaks up in an unjust situation, Sergeant Noakes just glows with the amount of admiration he has for Chummy, and when Fred helps and looks after the women at Nonnatus House without question.

I’m planning to write an entire blog post about why the show is so great once I’m completely caught up, but through random Internet browsing this week, I discovered that the show’s creator, Heidi Thomas, is married to Stephen McGann, who plays Dr. Turner. I already admired the creative team (very often female directors and writers), but just knowing that this kind of familial bond exists on set and that McGann is obviously extremely supportive of his wife’s work just got to me. Also finding out that Thomas wrote the screenplay for Ballet Shoes and adapted the new version of Gigi for Broadway  basically made her my new role model. Seriously, check out her Twitter (I also loved how she retweeted Helen George’s (Trixie) International Women’s Day picture: “I work on a show that celebrates women, putting them in the forefront of drama. It’s rare.”).

I also found this old interview with her, which is really insightful into how she relates to the stories found in the show.

So, this was essentially a week filled with the royals distracting me from my work – not that I’m complaining.