Saluting the Rosies

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By Therese Ambrosi Smith

November 11, 2011
I can't remember when I first learned about Rosie the Riveter. She's always been there, like the national anthem and baseball. So I was surprised, two years ago, when my 13-year-old friend Lara said that she thought the iconic image from the 1940s was an old ad for power tools.

It was a Saturday morning, and Lara had come by as I was pulling a piece of spongy wood trim off the back window of my beach shack. "Just trying to stay ahead of decay," I said, and asked if she wanted to help.

She picked up my cordless drill and posed with flexed bicep. "We can do it," she said.

"You're a Rosie fan," I said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-smith-rosie-the-riveter-20111111,0,3782683.story

[xchrom]

1. recommend

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2. You want to know who really won WWII? nt

[xchrom]

3. the rosies?

;-)

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4. Good guess. nt

[MisterP]

6. it's spelled "Russkies"

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8. The Ruskie Rosies too. nt

[MgtPA]

5. The Top Secret Rosies have NEVER gotten the recognition they deserved. Did you know the very first

computer programmers were women?

http://www.topsecretrosies.com/Top_Secret_Rosies/Home.html

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9. Why yes, I did know that, and not just Ada Lovelace either. nt

[MgtPA]

10. Nope, not just Ada. When I was growing up in the 1960's, the Mom next door was one of the Top Secret

Rosies featured in the film.

[jtrockville]

11. Got to see Amazing Grace speak at my college.

I think I probably owe my career choice to her. She was Lt. Col. Grace Hopper at the time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper

I think I still have the nanosecond she gave me.

[MgtPA]

12. That's so cool! I never met her, but in the 1970's, I worked

with some of the guys who, in the 1950's, were interviewed and hired by her right out of college to work on the first COBOL compiler at Univac. Interesting stories, interesting times.

[saras]

7. Rosie The Riveter, Revisited

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xowlxyUjLMs">Linda Allen sings the song

http://www.lindasongs.com/pages/lyrics/women6.htm">The lyrics