*To be clear, I had never heard of Emily Calandrelli until I saw this post on a social media feed, and thought – what the heck, makes sense to me. Turns out she’s an engineer, TV host, author, social media maven, influencer, wife and mom (notice how I list them ‘domestic’ thangs last) among many other talents and interests. Whatever her many accomplishments, she was getting sh*t for being at the DNC last month, and posting positive messages about it while attending same. This is because – well, because the internet is a cess pool, and because some feel that if they’re followers of your NASA, science, and engineering (etc.) stuff, you should stick to that. Um, no – and especially no when it comes to women speaking up on any subject after being told to shut up and sit down for – literally – centuries. Encouraging girls to follow passions in science, engineering and all STEM fields (or, quite frankly any damned are they like!!), is a good thing. A link to her wiki page is at bottom, along with links to one of her social and other feeds. Go Emily!!
From Ms. Emily: To address the (somewhat infrequent but quite passionate) commenters who are upset about my posts this week:
I understand that you may be mad because you only followed me for kid-friendly science experiments. But keep in mind, I’ve been vocal about the things I believe in for years. Some are just now noticing, I guess.
After all, I was a citizen who fought for women’s rights, for LGBTQ+ rights, and more, long before I became host of Emily’s Wonder Lab.
We are not beholden to others’ expectations for us.
We are not limited by others *idea* of us.
Once you realize that others’ *idea of you* is not your responsibility – you feel a sense of freedom.
It’s my hope that me exercising my freedom to fight for the things I believe in gives others the confidence to find their voice to – perhaps for the first time.
Thank you for being here. I love this community we are building based on science, space, feminism and human rights.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Calandrelli