Over at Mon Polkadot Cheri, my friend Rachel is running a season about Kick Arse Women, to remind us all that we can be whoever we want to be, and that we can do whatever we want to do, and so I've decided to throw my two penneth in to the ring, and to tell everyone about the most kick-arse woman I can think of - someone I'm certain I've blogged about before, but never mind!
So, for those who don't know, my absolute hero in life is the Dixie Chicks' front woman, Natalie Maines.
Image: HERE
There are a lot of women that I look up to for various reasons, but I admire Natalie Maines above them all for her fearlessness and for sticking to her convictions no matter what.
As a singer-songwriter, Natalie fits in perfectly with most of the modern Americana, Southern Rock and Country singers that I can think of, and, although to me her music is a thousand times better than most, I guess that to a lot of people, it's comparatively nothing special. Until 2003, however, this was what she was famous for: on the eve of the 2003 Top of the World tour, for example, the Dixie Chicks sang the American National Anthem at the Superbowl. Essentially, this meant that they were America's sweethearts.
At the same time as this, though, George Bush was planning the invasion of Iraq, and this was something Natalie cared passionately about - so much so that on the night of the invasion, coincidentally the night of the first show of the tour, she told the British audience at their Shepherds Bush concert "Just so you know, we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas", the band's home state.
Although she has since claimed that these words were said as a joke, and to please the crowd, the documentary Shut Up And Sing clearly shows her to have had an interest all along, and the fact that she stuck by her words no matter what is the reason I so admire her.
Although the entire American Right, and many in the Centre, moved against her, burning CDs, boycotting records, and once even making a death threat, she stuck by her words, and was eventually proven to be right: there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and the American deaths there were, as she insinuated, for nothing.
In my eyes, that's the most admirable thing of all - speaking out for what you believe in, despite the consequences, and not letting anything get you down.
Image: HERE
Another thing I admire about her is her ability to celebrate success. The feet shown above are one per member of the band, and you might notice that they each have the same tattoo; one bird's foot tattooed on per major career milestone, constantly reminding them of how far they've come. It's said that they stopped a while back lest they ended up with bird's feet to their knees!
I know that she is an unusual heroine, and a woman most people would not immediately think of as "kick arse", but to me, there's no one more worthy of my admiration.
"I've made my bed and I'll sleep like a baby, with no regrets and I don't mind saying
It's a sad, sad story when a mother will teach her daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I've said send somebody so over the edge
That they'd write me a letter saying that I'd better shut up and sing or my life will be over...?"
- Not Ready To Make Nice, Dixie Chicks
So, who's your unusual heroine? Please, share - the more kick arse women we can celebrate, the better!
LoveLoveLove
- A -
PS - I have an article about the documentary in the trailer above, HERE
