#30 Rose Mulvey & Madame Restell
women's history, irish media, and $10 spaghetti
Happy Wednesday,
This morning began with a thoughtful to-do list of tasks for school and job applications and of course ended up here. I spend the majority of my time trying to corral my mind, stay on track, and keep focus regardless of what other more interesting or seemingly more urgent things arrive to pull me away. Some days I herd my thoughts better than others. Today, clearly, I’ve lost control of the flock.
While writing a cover letter for an internship at the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson University, I thought about a quote that appeared in my Design Concepts in Information Retrieval Textbook attributed to Arthur Schopenhauer in 1851 and translated more than a century later: “as the biggest library if it is in disorder is not as useful as a small but well-arranged one, so you may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge, but it will be of far less value than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself.”
Halfway through my second semester of my Library and Information Science program, I have been thinking more often of how things are organized and what features of a system allow for easy and intuitive retrieval. Though this may sound tedious and technical (it is), creating systems that a bunch of different people can easily use and get the information they need from is deeply exciting to me. It basically asks the question: what if shit worked? From Zumba classes to primary source texts on the Easter Uprising, to bicycle repair equipment, to affordable housing resources, what if anyone who needed anything could find it at the library?
For a person with ADD, you can imagine how dangerous a Masters degree in Library and Information Science might be. My whole life is a MESS, but put me in front of someone who needs something and give me a notepad and a few different color pens, and I truly believe I can find anything they are looking for. And then teach them how to do it if they ever need to search alone. The more I learn about Information Science, the more confident I become that I’m stepping into a career that has been waiting patiently for me to come home to it. And after a few brutal years of leaving a job that felt like my identity, I can’t tell you how refreshing it feels to land softly in something new, yet familiar.
I take a dance class on Tuesday mornings with an instructor named Isabelle who said something to the effect of “it does not matter how fast you are getting there, only the direction you are moving.” I carry a lot of shame leaving teaching two and a half years ago and even more shame that I haven’t settled seamlessly and successfully into a new career yet. After dedicating most of my twenties to working in schools and educating myself through a Masters degree and licensure program, I began full-time teaching in a time of (recently) unprecedented crisis in education in 2020. For the next two years, I struggled in a workplace wracked by sexism where the curiosity and hard work of women were rewarded with fewer resources and even less mentorship: more work for the same pay and worse treatment. Tale as old as time, seeing men failing upward while women run the ship below deck.
Despite this, nothing has ever fascinated me more than learning how children learn. What I loved the most about teaching was trying to figure out what I could tweak, change, discard, or innovate in order to provide a child with the better tools for understanding and mastering something they could not do before. There is still heartbreak in the feeling that I could be two and a half years better at this now had I had never left the classroom, but for the first time since quitting I am getting excited about the opportunity to use and refine these same skills in a different setting at the library.
Though I agree with Schopenhauer’s assertion that a small, well-organized library is more useful than a large, haphazard one, I’m never very comfortable quoting people I know relatively nothing about, so after writing down this quote while refining my cover letter, I gave Arthur Schopenhauer a quick google. I had steered clear of philosophy courses in college (though I did date the pretentious boys who took them), so I am not surprised that I hadn’t heard of this particular German Philosopher prior to this moment. Whenever a man of certain renown has an entire section of their Wikipedia page dedicated to “Women,” I brace for the worst. And yet, apparently I did not brace hard enough for the violence that was Schopenhauer’s 1851 essay “On Women.” I do not recommend reading it on a full stomach. He’s so obsessed with hating women, dedicates what are obviously hours if not days and weeks teasing apart all the specific ways in which he believes us worthy of absolutely nothing outside of service to a man.
And I am angry as much as I am overwhelmed with gratitude and awe at every woman that wrested power from the clutches of men like him. Imagine a dinner party with him? How terrifying and annoying that must have been. It’s never been clearer to me how recent any semblance of codified equality between women and men is, and how many hundreds of years of precedent to the contrary men have to embolden themselves with. In reading through “Timeline of Legal History of Women in the United States” I see how very few laws were ever passed specially excluding women from political, social, or economic equality, for it was the assumed default that women had no voice or power in these domains, so why mention them at all? Thus, many of the “wins” of the women’s liberation movement have been court decisions that outlaw discrimination or violence against women in specific areas of private and public life.
Banning violence is very different than promoting health, and it just seems so insane to me how desperately men want to hurt us? So much so that they have to make rules about it? Why is respecting and caring about a woman not self-evident? The fact that it even needs to be stated that the government shouldn’t limit a woman’s access to birth control or a man cannot rape his wife or a business cannot pay a man more for the same work or a state cannot restrict a woman’s vote is insane. In so many ways, it feels like each step forward for women is met with a “neener, neener” response from politically powerful men who find new loop-holes to continue a culture of domination.
I do not understand how men believe that women’s rights and access to the same economic, political, reproductive, and social freedoms harm men in any way. Like, you have your toy. I’m not taking your toy. Why are you so mad that I also have a toy? The fact that I have to resort to sandbox analogies should speak for itself here.
That a textbook in a required course of my masters of Library and Information Science program should begin with a quote from a violent misogynist is not surprising. For, the question I receive most frequently from people outside of the field is “so are you learning the Dewy Decimal System?” The classification system that has remained his legacy eclipses a far more sinister truth in the collective memory: Melvil Dewy’s abhorrently racist and sexist behavior were so egregious by even 1906 standards that he was forced to resign from his position as the New York State Librarian and as a member of the American Library Association, which he had co-founded in 1876. Despite representation of women as librarians and teachers in our collective consciousness, it took years of work and protest for women to obtain those positions and keep them after having children.
As an homage to the women who lived within these oppressive structures and fought to make it safer and easier for younger women to enter public, professional life, I dedicate this edition of the newsletter to Rose Mulvey, a domestic worker and immigrant from County Leitrim who arrived in New York in 1876.
County Leitrim was one of the hardest hit by the The Great Hunger, a period of time when, in the midst of a potato blight, “up to 75 percent of Irish soil was devoted to wheat, oats, barley and other crops that were grown for export and shipped abroad while the people starved.” The English government required Ireland to export their grain crops, “peas, beans, onions, rabbits, salmon, oysters, herring, lard, honey, tongues, animal skins, rags, shoes, soap, glue and seed” to feed England while Irish people died of starvation throughout the 1840s and 1850s. While looking more deeply into Leitrim during this period, I came across an article that stated,
“In the Atlas of the Great Irish Famine 1845-1851, it is estimated that 77.6% - 88% of the Leitrim population died between 1845 to 1851, and 2.5% - 4% were evicted from their homes. The reason that the eviction number isn’t higher is because people were gone — dead or emigrated. For the many who survived and remained in Leitrim, life would never be the same. Loss of the Irish language, emigration, famine-related diseases, and hardship would become the new landscape of Leitrim for many years after The Great Hunger.”
Rose Mulvey was born to James Mulvey and Margaret Sheenan in Drumreilly, County Leitrim in 1855 after over 80% of the people in her county had died of starvation and disease. She did not have a formal education, though she could read, write, and speak English. In 1874, she emigrated to New York—alone— at nineteen years old. She was my great, great grandmother.
As such, many podcast/book/film/tv recommendations this week will be influenced by Ireland and Northern Ireland (as neither Irish independence nor partition occurred in her lifetime). Shout out to all the women who have been fighting so hard for so long just to live free.
This week, Israel with the endless help of the United States, has resumed it’s horrific bombing campaign in illegally occupied Palestine. Ireland continues to show up in solidarity with Palestine as an indigenous population who knows the horrors of violent colonization and genocide. The work continues. 🗣️Free, free Palestine🗣️
XO,
M
Here is another new(ish) section highlighting Bay Area food culture and fun places to check out.
Oakland Restaurant Week
March 20-30, 2025
Restaurant week is one of those weeks of the year that I don’t know is happening until it’s half over, and I’ve never actually participated. Maybe this year will be different!
Sfizio
California - Mediterranean - Italian/ish Restaurant, Rockridge
Spaghetti for $10? In this economy? Fuggedaboutit. Sfizio is my new favorite meatball spot (I have had no previous favorite meatball spots). Walking distance from my apartment and teensy-weensy in square footage, Sfizio brings back the ebullient, fragrant, too-small kitchen I grew up in but with less-tense family dynamics and cuter plate-ware. Upon receiving our broccolini Zach gasped: “a border!” positively a-light at the thin, navy blue line that dragged around our plates’ perimeter.
Sfizio, which means “a whim” in Italian, is a place that prioritizes the walk-in. There are only 4 reservations each night and all are for 5pm. Outside of this, you’ll wait in a brief line to order at the counter and take a seat. Zach and I opted to sit outside in one of those cute parklet relics from COVID, under the toasty heat lamps. Matt, the owner, third-wheeled our date, coming over to chat with us as first-time customers. Though he’d always intended to be an English teacher, his love of cooking turned his summer jobs into a career. Only in its fifth year, Sfizio is definitely a neighborhood restaurant. With friendly staff, delicious food, and committed regulars, it’s a place I hope always succeeds but never changes. Wednesdays are gnocchi night!
🎧 The Troubles (History, Ireland)
If you aren’t familiar with Irish history or The Troubles in Northern Ireland, this podcast may be a little difficult to dive into, as it is not chronological in nature. However, it is still interesting and if you’re a history freak like me, it gives you a lot more detail and context for events and people that may have been on the periphery of your previous studies.
🎧 Irish Passport (History, Ireland)
Irish Passport, hosted by Naomi O’Leary and Tim Mc Inerney (a journalist and a lecturer respectively), is a great Irish history and current affairs podcast that interviews informative guests and explains concepts and events accessibly. I highly recommend their three-part special on the War of Independence consisting of episodes on The First Dáil, The Black and Tans, and Partition.
🎧 Blink | Jake Haendel’s Story: Heroin. Secrets. Deadly Betrayal. (True Crime)
This podcast is a trip. A man, diagnosed with a terminal brain disease, is assumed to be brain dead by all of the medical professionals charged with his care. However, he is fully conscious, though unable to communicate. This is a series of interview with him post-recovery.
🎶 Saint Motel
Zach and I saw Saint Motel at The Fillmore March 17 with Rob and Alicia, and it was a blast. Great Good Fine Ok opened for them in what was a cohesively glam-electro-pop dance party with a delightful horn section.
I was so happy to discover this sister-duo out of Muscle Shoals, Alabama last week. Discovering a band that isn’t new at all is my favorite thing in the world. Like a TV show in it’s 8th season or a book that has an entire prequel series, there is so much music just…there, already waiting for you. Here is the first song that made me want to learn more and here is one they did with Ray LaMontagne. They are on tour! And if you are lucky enough to live in the South, check ‘em out!
A BBC documentary hates to see me coming
🎬The Wind That Shakes the Barley: (War, Irish Historical Drama)
I first heard of this movie in an interview with Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott if memory serves. I got around to watching it last week and have only now begun to recover. It is a phenomenal film about the Irish War of Independence and subsequent Civil War and is obviously incredibly sad.
🎬 Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland: (Documentary, Northern Irish History)
What makes this documentary great isn’t just the haunting footage that spans 30 years of sectarian violence in the North, but the diversity of people whom they interviewed. Former UDA and IRA members, British soldiers, family members of victims, Catholics, Protestans, Loyalists, Republicans and punk lovers like Terri Hooley who refused to let the Troubles keep him from the music.
Terri Hooley: Articles and Interviews
I have not watched Kneecap, The Woman in the Wall, or Say Nothing yet, though they are all on my list. If you’ve watched, let me know what you think in the comments!
📢🗣️ PSA: Threats to pull federal funding for museums and public libraries is officially here with another terrifying executive order. According to my professor: “The director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services has stepped down. The majority of IMLS staff are expected to be laid off by this weekend.” This was shared with us as ways we can fight back.
How You Can Voice Your Opinion and Take action:
1) Sign the petition: https://lnkd.in/gFaQU2nz
2) Send an Email: https://lnkd.in/gF_SWK3s
3) Call: https://lnkd.in/gQQ_p5tv
4) Write a Letter to the Editor: https://lnkd.in/gSvKZcU2
-ALA's Stand up for libraries:
https://lnkd.in/g9WPhat3
📚 Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist by Jennifer Wright (Women’s History / Reproductive Health) ★★★☆☆
Plot: It is the story of Ann Trow Lohman, a woman who made a living creating and providing contraceptive powders, abortion pills, and surgical abortions to women in New York City in the nineteenth century.
Thoughts: I am 35% through this book, and it’s been really enjoyable so far. She’s a bit snarky for my taste, but I can’t imagine having to write about the history of women’s reproductive health and not be overcome with sass, so, I’ll let it slide.
What I didn’t know before was that what pissed the patriarchal establishment off about a woman providing other women with contraception and abortions was not that they believed life began at conception or that terminating pregnancy was a sin against God. (Obviously some of them thought this). But what pissed men off more was that a woman was earning an income by providing health care to other women. And not just a decent income…Madame Restell would be considered a millionaire in today’s money. And she had the gaul to act like it.
What kind of society would we descend into if women could choose to opt-out of child rearing? What if they began to fill their heads with…books? Ideas? Notions! Madame Restell, with every powder and every procedure, was making this society more possible. And her medication, surgery, and aftercare when it came to women’s reproductive health were objectively better than any other male doctor in New York at the time, for there is no evidence that she ever killed a patient who came to her for help. The same could not be said for her contemporaries. Anyways, the book is great and the audiobook is wonderfully narrated by Mara Wilson.
📚 The Long Game by Aoife Moore (Political History) ★★★☆☆
Summary: Aoife Moore, a journalist from Derry, is the niece of a Bloody Sunday victim. With politics informed by a childhood wracked with sectarian violence at the hands of paramilitaries and the British Army, Moore turns her attentions to rising political party Sinn Féin and the entangled roots its shares with the Irish Republican Army.
Thoughts: When I first purchased this book (shout out to Pareesa for smuggling it back for me from the UK before it was published here), I did not have enough historical or social context for Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland to understand or critically engage with The Long Game. When reading a current affairs book about the politics of a country that you’ve never visited or studied, it can be difficult to analyze its assertions in any productive way. For example, I’d hate for someone who has never been to the US to pick up a book by Newt Gingrich or Candice Owens for the express purpose of learning about American history and politics.
So, I stopped reading The Long Game and watched documentaries, listened to podcasts, read interviews, devoured articles, studied maps, and had countless conversations with my bff Lana who grew up in Northern Ireland. Then I went back to Moore’s book and was shocked to find that I knew most of the acronyms and could distinguish many of the Gerrys from one another. I could infer political or religious leanings based on the descriptions of certain regions or mentions of certain colors in ways that would have flown over my head a few months ago.
With this background knowledge, I came to find that I had questions that the text didn’t seem to answer and I became more curious about Moore’s lens in the larger context of The Troubles. For example, though there is frequent mention of the Irish Republican Army and the British Army, very little airtime is given to any of the loyalist paramilitaries also responsible for deadly sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. Though it seems impossible to write about this time objectively (and I’m not even sure that should be the goal), it seems odd that a book could be written about Sinn Féin and the IRA without consistent mention of what paramilitaries they were often fighting against.
I agree with Isabella’s review on Goodread, (though I think this is a 3-star book, not a 2-star booK) an excerpt of which states:
Curious about her percentages, but with an inkling that they were more-or-less accurate, I consulted the CAIN Archive at Ulster University to verify.
Though it is clear that most of the people who were killed in The Troubles were killed by the IRA, I do think it’s important to note that 55% of these killings were of British soldiers. If we count the number of deaths of people not in the British Army, the IRA killed 802 people while loyalist paramilitaries killed 899. Of the 802 non-soldiers that the IRA killed, 18% were sectarian — civilians killed just because of their religion. Of the 899 non-soldiers that the loyalist paramilitaries killed, 79% were sectarian — civilians killed just because their religion. Thus, it can be concluded that the majority of IRA targets were military personnel while the majority of loyalist paramilitary targets were civilians.
Moore gave an incredible speech last week during a debate at Cambridge University about the possibility of a united Ireland where she cited harrowing statistics of unemployment, domestic violence and suicide rates in Northern Ireland that the Parliament of the UK has failed miserably to rectify in the aftermath of the The Troubles. “Time’s up,” she said of UK authority in Northern Ireland. In the over twenty-five years since The Good Friday Agreement, working class people in Northern Ireland continue to suffer some of the worst unemployment, education, and suicide rates in Europe despite being apart of the UK.
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All in all, I did learn a lot about the hunger strikers and the blanket men of H Block and a lot of specifics about Sinn Féin politicians and the book did stoke my interest in the current politics of NI and Ireland.
📚 Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum, Shanna Tan (Cozy Fiction) ★★★☆☆
This month’s pick for the two-person bookclub Zach and I have formed is Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop. Unfortunately, when there are only two of you, it’s harder to get away with not reading the book and just showing up for snacks. Big ups to Zach for being patient with me while I promise that I will “start it tomorrow.”
Okay it is officially tomorrow, and this book has been an absolute joy to read. It has reminded me of my dream of opening my own shop one day. Maybe that’s why he wanted me to read it… I don’t know why I was initially wary of “cozy fiction.” It’s the best?
So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan
I have been gobbling up short stories recently and as such, have remembered that I used to love listening to The New Yorker Fiction and The Writer’s Voice podcasts. Claire Keegan, who wrote Small Things Like These about the Magdalene Laundries, wrote “So Late in the Day” apparently as a sketched out example in a writing class to help explain to her students how to achieve high tension with low drama. She’s brilliant! Read it or give it a listen below.
With my Read Like A Writer course coming to an end, my interest in the craft of story is as alive as ever. While I wait for enrollment in another class, I am learning a lot from Brandon Taylor’s Story Basics series on his Sweater Weather Substack. After a tenuous first few weeks on Substack where he almost left due to an annoyance with the Notes feature, he has stuck it out to write mostly about writing and tennis. I love his newsletter.
🧑🏻🍳 The Best White Chili With Chicken (Serious Eats, Kenji Alt Lopez) ★★★★☆
Zach made this last week and it reminded me of a chili verde stew. Maybe because it basically chili verde. Anyways, he made tiny chicken meatballs instead of the chicken this calls for and it made it 100 times better.
🧑🏻🍳 First Known Cookbook by a Black American Woman Is Back in Print (NPR)
In a quest for some women’s culinary history I came across this article about Malinda Russell (who was so cool and ran a boarding house and pastry shop before writing her cookbook) and her cookbook from way back in the way when. First published in 1866, it’s in print again!
Check out some recipes
Peruse the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive
Shout outs to:
Kara for being my accountability buddy to eat breakfast and write stories
Zach for making me a steak whenever I’m on my period
Jazz-Ylaine, an incredible dance educator and birth worker who teaches such a fun dance class on Thursday mornings
My group in my Information Retrieval Systems Design class — they are holding it down in a way so few group project groups seem to
Literally anyone who works for the federal government in a time of absolute nightmarish collapse
Hilary for filming and running a wonderful PD session that shared her teaching practice
Pareesa for chugging along through tax season
Sandy for a fun arts and crafts day!
Colleen for helping me with my resume
Suzanne Collins for writing a new Hunger Games book
Lea for making the coolest table I’ve ever seen out of WOOD with her HANDS
Ending Note:
Turn to your poets. Lean on one another. Be safe and love hard. <3
XO,
M