Sad Day

Today, I learned of two amazing women who are no longer with us.  First, a tremendous sadness at the passing of Geraldine Ferraro.  I was too young to know much at the time, so most of my knowledge of her came years after her 1984 run.  Still, she was a strong leader and paved the way for women in politics, and it is this that she will be remembered for.  She took many a strong stance and was not afraid to speak her mind.  She took criticism and admits she would not have subjected her family to the intense media scrutiny if she had known how extensive and traumatic it would be.  I think I admired her most for her unapologetic and straightforward personality.  She was smarter, stronger and sharper than most people, and she knew it. 

I also want to say a sad goodbye to Jean Bartik, a computer pioneer who worked on ENIAC and was celebrated with the like of Linus Torvalds in the Computer History Museum and fellow ENIAC coworkers in the WITI Hall of Fame.   Always an optimist, she said not too long ago that women had come a long way in technology but there was always opportunity for improvement.  She was 86, and witnessed the birth of technology we take for granted, hatched from an idea to a global revolution.  Bartik and women like her make me proud to be a she-geek.