While surfing the net, I stumbled upon a very interesting opinion by an art student on his insight in the arts by Mary Cassast. One of the "grande dame" of the impressionist movement, who took up the cause of women's suffrage in 1915. I was particularly interested in a quote of Mary Cassatt’s which I found particularly striking reads, “Women should be someone and not something”. And that, I totally agree.

Many of times I felt peeved at being viewed as not capable to achieve the objective of something. At the end of my journey in life, I want to viewed as someone(not that it would be easy of course), who's capable to hold her own ground and most importantly, independent enough to bring home the beacon and thus be able to make decision on how to best used those money. Not having to constantly seek permission like a child on whether I could use the money to purchase a certain something.

And the following portrait by Berthe Morisot (another impressionist painter who has been undervalued for over a century, possibly because she is a women) describes how I feel sometimes. The part on feeling limited and not knowledgeable enough.

The following comments are found in "http://sftradspaces.wordpress.com/".

"The painting presents the mother and sister of the artist sitting peacefully in the home. However there are these undertones of confinement that I strongly felt. The two figures seem cramped within the composition, as if there isn’t enough space, the mother’s black dress overflowing and dominating the bottom corner of the frame. The framing of a painting cuts through the sister’s head in an almost sinister and violent way. The bodies overlap each other and one can barely make out the end of a coffee table as it creeps its way into the painting. Perhaps Morisot isn’t just expressing the contemporary female’s confinement within the home but also the universal limitations for women that have carried over to this day. How many times have I felt limited? Not knowledgeable enough or not strong enough? How many times have I felt judged or taken lightly because I’m a 5’2 19 year old female? But then again perhaps I’m just over dramatic. I can vote, I can be a CEO of a company, choose my own husband, walk out in public with my thighs showing, and if not at least I can make a lot of money by suing the people who deny me those rights. When Berthe Morisot died the occupation on her death certificate read: None.

If I were to make an impact on the world my only wish would be that my death certificate reflect that."

I particularly find the last part of her comments interesting and reflects exactly the kind of limitations she found during her time. As for my point in bringing her works in this entry, I will leave you to speculate.

Coincidentally, while typing this entry,I happened to just read an email titled, "How to handle people who are full of Garbage" which includes a bad driver, rude waiter, a curt and an insensitive employee. In my context, this includes people who views you with an idea of what you would be (whom I seem to come across too often). At the end of the mail, I came to the conclusion to learn to find the fun in laughing at a face, scrunched up with anger/scorn instead of exploding like them and spewing garbage too. So when I come across people who tells me things like "after university I will set to be married off and be a housemaker (not that I think it's particularly bad for those people who are. It's just that it's not for me.)" or even "you are not suited for this ...", I will laugh in their face (instead of getting upset) and prove them wrong if I can't control my surging desire to be recalcitrant. I be happier indeed. =D