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On this week’s 51%, a musician talks about what she calls her new feminine EP. Teenage girls of color in ballet say this form of dance caters to white women. A mother speaks out about her missing son in the Army while another woman offers support for families of missing service members. Plus, Dr. Jeri Burns talks about the home life during COVID.
African American singer/songwriter Annie Mack does it all, from powerhouse blues to New Americana and beyond, highlighting her vocal presence and original songs. She released two new singles in 2020, “Shadows of a Kingdom” and “Judge and Jury.” Her new EP “Testify” was due out at the end of January. She is also featured in the book “50 Women in the Blues” (Supernova Books 2020). This story was produced by Dixie Treichel.
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On this week’s 51%, hear from the first woman expected to serve as Vermont Senate Pro Tem, and another woman has taken disaster prepping to another level.
A record number of women will serve in Congress next year. And women are gaining political ground in a number of states, including Vermont. In fact, when the new biennium of the legislature begins on January 6th, the first woman to serve as the Vermont Senate Pro Tem is expected to be confirmed. During a caucus in November, Democrat Becca Balint won the nomination and with Democrats controlling the Senate, her election to the post is secure. Balint, a Brattleboro resident who is openly gay, is one of a cadre of women assuming top positions in the Statehouse in 2021. She tells 51%’s Pat Bradley why she wants to be pro-tem of the Vermont Senate.
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On this week’s 51%, she’s a professor, pilot, computer scientist and author, and talks about how flying helped her face many fears. And we’ll hear about environmentally-friendly feminine products.
The daughter of a Chilean father and a Filipina mother, Cecilia Rodriguez Aragon grew up as a timid child in a small Midwestern town during the 1960s. Targeted by school bullies and dismissed by many of her teachers, she worried that people would find out the truth: that she was INTF. Incompetent. Nerd. Terrified. Failure. This feeling stayed with her well into her 20s. Yet in the span of just six years, Aragon became the first Latina pilot to secure a place on the United States Unlimited Aerobatic Team and earn the right to represent her country at the Olympics of aviation, the World Aerobatic Championships. Dr. Cecilia Aragon is now a professor of Human Centered Design and Engineering at the University of Washington. In her new book “Flying Free: My Victory Over Fear to Be