Dust Bowl Women & Iowa Porkettes

January 20, 2018 3:32 PM

A women's basketball team in the Depression, and farmer's wives in the 60s Here's the link for the Iowa Porkettes: Farmers Wives Take Over
posted by MovableBookLady (6 comments total)

(Hey, I wrote that! [The Iowa Porkettes piece.]) Sorry to keep popping up and being like "Metafilter's own!," but I work hard and love that people read and/or enjoy/discuss what I wrote.

THAT SAID, the Porkettes article was a ton of fun to write. I think the underlying piece I cover really does justice to the phenomenon of women who don't set out to agitate for or seize their rights, but end up doing just that because the work reveals their potential to them.
posted by mynameisluka at 6:48 PM on January 20, 2018 [8 favorites]

Sorry for not knowing it was by you. I did do a MF search and didn't get anything. But I'm certainly happy to give you all the credit you deserve. It is a cool piece about a bunch of interesting women. Congrats.
posted by MovableBookLady at 7:03 PM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

No apologies needed! I was so excited to see it here!
posted by mynameisluka at 7:24 PM on January 20, 2018

That's a nice piece, mynameisluka—congrats!
posted by languagehat at 8:01 AM on January 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

Love the basketball team! My parents met when my dad was coaching a women's basketball team at the school where my Mom was a teacher. At their 50th anniversary, he said," she's been guarding me ever since." My best friend from Jr. High also had a mom who was on a women's basketball team in the 30s and when her Mom passed away in her late 80s, that was the picture that was on the card given out at the funeral home.
posted by mermayd at 8:28 AM on January 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

These were both interesting to learn about! I ended up reading the linked Agricultural History article by Jenny Barker Devine about the Porkettes, and that's a fascinating history. They reminded me of the Arizona Cowbelles, who did--and still do--similar work with the cattle industry; I was happy to see them mentioned in that piece, too.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 9:11 AM on January 21, 2018 [1 favorite]