It's Live!

It's time to Celebrate Small Things, a blog hop where all participants give a shout-out to the things for which they're most grateful every Friday. Join us by clicking on the link below or simply visit the blogs of our hosts:
Scribblings of an Aspiring Author
Diana Wilder
LG Keltner @ Writing Off the Edge
Katie @ TheCyborg Mom
CaffeMaggieato @ mscoffeehouse
                  and spread the attitude of gratitude!
     Today I'm celebrating a bouncing new baby blog! I"m going to be contributing to this marvel, along with five other writers. My posts will have a feminist-y tinge to them, and I'm going first, so please check it out when you have the chance. It's called All The Crazy. Since Krissy did most of the work to get it going (design-wise and logistics), a big shout-out to her! You're the woman! *song plays* I'll spare you my little dance, while subjecting you to this one.
     I'm also celebrating Sleeping Beauty. She gets a bad rap, in my humble opinion. Ellen Page's quote (below), posted on A Mighty Girl, pretty much sums up what I've heard about SB. (This also ties in to my group blog post, which is about girl characters as heroes in fiction.) As you can see, the quote insinuates that SB is a meek character because she simply lies around waiting to be rescued. Let me clarify: SHE IS UNDER A SLEEPING CURSE! If you've ever been under a sleeping curse, I'm sure you'll notice that you can't help but lie around. You're asleep.
     No one ever put Aladdin under a sleeping curse.
     Here's my take on Sleeping Beauty. She was going about her life in her little cottage, dirt-poor but happy, with her eccentric guardians, whom she

treated with the utmost respect and love. She found out that she was really a princess and thought WTF? (or a more refined version of that, since she's a fairy tale character). It seems like she's giving up her rightful place in the castle to go out with this alluring boy she met in the woods. I'd argue she really just wants to keep living her simple life--because she likes it. Anyway, she's forced to go, gets cursed, gets rescued. THEN--and here's the beautiful part--she smiles and wakes, picks up right where she left off. Gets on with her life, despite the interruption. No bitterness. No whining. Just: "Thank goodness that shit's over."
     She is a quiet hero, sure. But that doesn't make her any less of one. She reminds me of a ton of people I've seen going through chemo treatments as they drop off their kids to this and that activity, trying to keep routines as normal and even-keel as possible while they face-off with death. These heroes are almost always women, mind you. Sometimes not, but a lot of the time. Women fight in a different way (Thus, the breast cancer mantra: Fight Like a Girl). They can kick ass from a seated position.
     Today I celebrate all the quiet heroes who face the obstacles in their lives with bravery.