It took four more years after that breakthrough in activism to get the first "happy" lesbian character on television who wasn't doomed to either be punished for her ways or "reformed" (the "Impasse" episode of Medical Center). Although the partner that Hildy Brooks played opposite Donna Mills could have been such a year earlier on The Bold Ones, if not for "Marty" intervening as the straight savior and obscuring things: The writers, producers, and network could have made this an affirmative story about someone discovering and exploring their bisexuality, but no... Everything here is pathologized, other than her eventual decision to leave her girlfriend (at least temporarily) in order to try to figure herself out. (Second video clip below.)
"The Sistine Chapel ceiling (Italian: Soffitto della Cappella Sistina), painted in fresco by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512,[1] is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art.
The Sistine Chapel is the large papal chapel built within the Vatican between 1477 and 1480 by Pope Sixtus IV, for whom the chapel is named. The ceiling was painted at the commission of Pope Julius II.
The ceiling's various painted elements form part of a larger scheme of decoration within the chapel. Prior to Michelangelo's contribution, the walls were painted by several leading artists of the late 15th century including Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Pietro Perugino. After the ceiling was painted, Raphael created a set of large tapestries (1515–1516) to cover the lower portion of the wall. Michelangelo returned to the chapel to create The Last Judgment, a large wall fresco situated behind the altar. The chapel's decoration illustrates much of the doctrine of the Catholic Church, serving as the setting for papal conclaves and many other important services.[2][3]
Central to the ceiling decoration are nine scenes from the Book of Genesis, including The Creation of Adam.[4] The complex design includes several sets of figures, some clothed and some nude, allowing Michelangelo to demonstrate his skill in depicting the human figure in a variety of poses. The ceiling was immediately well-received and imitated by other artists, continuing to the present. It has been restored several times, most recently from 1980 to 1994."
"The Mona Lisa[a] is a half-length portrait painting by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance,[4][5] it has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, [and] the most parodied work of art in the world."[6] The painting's novel qualities include the subject's enigmatic expression,[7] monumentality of the composition, the subtle modelling of forms, and the atmospheric illusionism.[8]
The painting has been traditionally considered to depict the Italian noblewoman Lisa del Giocondo.[9] It is painted in oil on a white poplar panel.[10] Leonardo never gave the painting to the Giocondo family.[11] It was believed to have been painted between 1503 and 1506; however, Leonardo may have continued working on it as late as 1517. King Francis I of France acquired the Mona Lisa after Leonardo's death in 1519, and it became the property of the French Republic. It has normally been on display at the Louvre in Paris since 1797.[12]
The painting's global fame and popularity partly stem from its 1911 theft by Vincenzo Peruggia, who attributed his actions to Italian patriotism—a belief it should belong to Italy. The theft and subsequent recovery in 1914 generated unprecedented publicity for an art theft, and led to the publication of many cultural depictions such as the 1915 opera Mona Lisa, two early 1930s films (The Theft of the Mona Lisa and Arsène Lupin), and the song "Mona Lisa" recorded by Nat King Cole—one of the most successful songs of the 1950s.[13]
The Mona Lisa is one of the most valuable paintings in the world. It holds the Guinness World Record for the highest known painting insurance valuation in history at US$100 million in 1962,[14] equivalent to $1 billion as of 2023."
"Scholars of Elizabethan drama believe that William Shakespeare wrote at least 38 plays between 1590 and 1612. These dramatic works encompass a wide range of subjects and styles, from the playful "A Midsummer Night's Dream" to the gloomy "Macbeth." Shakespeare's plays can be roughly divided into three genres—comedies, histories, and tragedies—though some works, such as "The Tempest" and "The Winter's Tale," straddle the boundaries between these categories.
Shakespeare's first play is generally believed to be "Henry VI Part I," a history play about English politics in the years leading up to the Wars of the Roses. The play was possibly a collaboration between Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, another Elizabethan dramatist who is best known for his tragedy "Doctor Faustus." Shakespeare's last play is believed to be "The Two Noble Kinsmen," a tragicomedy co-written with John Fletcher in 1613, three years before Shakespeare's death."
"On July 4th 1855, Walt Whitman published — at his own expense — the first edition of Leaves of Grass , a visionary volume of twelve poems. Showing the influence of a uniquely American form of mysticism known as Transcendentalism, which eschewed the general society and culture of the time, the writing is distinguished by an explosively innovative free verse style and previously unmentionable subject matter. Exalting nature, celebrating the human body, and praising the senses and sexual love, the monumental work was condemned as "immoral." Whitman continued evolving Leaves of Grass despite the controversy, growing his influential work decades after its first appearance by adding new poems with each new printing."
"Issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation declared that all enslaved people in Confederate states in rebellion "are, and henceforward shall be free". As a wartime measure, it authorized the enlistment of Black soldiers, transformed the Civil War into a fight for abolition, and legally freed millions as Union troops advanced."
"The Battle of Gaugamela (331 BC) is widely considered Alexander the Great's greatest battle, where his ~47,000 men defeated a much larger Persian force (estimated 120,000+). Using brilliant tactical maneuvering and a daring cavalry charge directly at Darius III, Alexander secured a decisive victory that ended the Achaemenid Empire."
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"Only a handful of details are known about the life of Sappho. She was born around 615 BC to an aristocratic family on the Greek island of Lesbos. Evidence suggests that she had several brothers, married a wealthy man named Cercylas, and had a daughter named Cleis. She spent most of her adult life in the city of Mytilene on Lesbos where she ran an academy for unmarried young women. Sappho’s school devoted itself to the cult of Aphrodite and Eros, and Sappho earned great prominence as a dedicated teacher and poet. A legend from Ovid suggests that she threw herself from a cliff when her heart was broken by Phaon, a young sailor, and died at an early age. Other historians posit that she died of old age around 550 BC."
"The Athenian philosopher Plato (c. 428-347 B.C.) is one of the most important figures of the Ancient Greek world and the entire history of Western thought. In his written dialogues he conveyed and expanded on the ideas and techniques of his teacher Socrates.
The Academy he founded was by some accounts the world’s first university and in it he trained his greatest student, the equally influential philosopher Aristotle. Plato’s recurring fascination was the distinction between ideal forms and everyday experience, and how it played out both for individuals and for societies. In the “Republic,” his most famous work, he envisioned a civilization governed not by lowly appetites but by the pure wisdom of a philosopher-king."
"Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (born April 25 [May 7, New Style], 1840, Votkinsk, Russia—died October 25 [November 6], 1893, St. Petersburg) was the most popular Russian composer of all time. His music has always had great appeal for the general public in virtue of its tuneful, open-hearted melodies, impressive harmonies, and colorful, picturesque orchestration, all of which evoke a profound emotional response. His oeuvre includes 7 symphonies, 11 operas, 3 ballets, 5 suites, 3 piano concertos, a violin concerto, 11 overtures (strictly speaking, 3 overtures and 8 single movement programmatic orchestral works), 4 cantatas, 20 choral works, 3 string quartets, a string sextet, and more than 100 songs and piano pieces."
"Joan of Arc has been described as a model of an autonomous woman who challenged traditions of masculinity and femininity[383] to be heard as an individual[384] in a patriarchal culture[384]—setting her own course by heeding the voices of her visions.[385] She fulfilled the traditionally male role of a military leader,[386] while maintaining her status as a valiant woman.[387] Merging qualities associated with both genders,[388] Joan has inspired numerous artistic and cultural works for many centuries. In the nineteenth century, hundreds of works of art about her—including biographies, plays, and musical scores—were created in France, and her story became popular as an artistic subject in Europe and North America.[389] By the 1960s, she was the topic of thousands of books.[390] Her legacy has become global, and inspires novels, plays, poems, operas, films, paintings, children's books, advertising, computer games, comics and popular culture across the world."
"Willa Cather (1873–1947) is widely recognized by scholars today as a lesbian who lived in a40-year "domestic partnership" with editor Edith Lewis. While she kept her private life guarded, Cather lived with women, notably Lewis and earlier Isabelle McClung, challenging traditional gender norms. She and Lewis are buried together in Jaffrey, New Hampshire."
"Dr. James Barry (c. 1789–1865) was a pioneering British Army surgeon who achieved renown for medical advancements and a high-ranking career as an Inspector General. Born Margaret Ann Bulkley, they lived as a man for over 50 years to pursue medicine—a profession closed to women—only having their assigned sex discovered upon death."
May 5, 2026 06:32 PM
(This post was last modified: May 5, 2026 06:45 PM by C C.)
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