The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and dedicated in 1886. The robed female figure represents Libertas, a Roman goddess and embodiment of liberty. The statue, a gift from France, has become an icon of freedom and of the United States. Happy Fourth of July!
P.S. From the mouth of the sculptor himself: “America is an adorable woman chewing tobacco.” – Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi
A fairy character from J. M. Barrie’s 1904 play and 1911 novel Peter and Wendy. Tinker Bell has appeared in multiple film and television adaptations of the Peter Pan stories, including the 1953 animated Walt Disney picture Peter Pan. She is one of Disney’s most important branding icons.
The Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom and legendary damsel in distress in Nintendo’s Mario series. She was always in another castle.
The last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. She was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Greek origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great’s death. She had a long-term relationship with Julius Caesar and represented herself as the reincarnation of the Egyptian goddess Isis.
Norma Jeane was born on this day in 1926. She became a cultural icon and American sex symbol. Yankees star Joe DiMaggio was one of her three husbands. She allegedly had affairs with both John and Robert Kennedy. She died of a barbiturate overdose in 1962, but conspiracy theories about the nature of her death abound.
A glamorously elfin British actress and UNICEF humanitarian. She was a film and fashion icon of the 20th century and possibly the loveliest actress to ever grace the silver screen.
A peasant girl who became a national heroine of France and a Catholic saint. Claiming divine guidance, she led the French army to important victories during the Hundred Years’ War. She was burned at the stake on this day in 1431.
Imagined in the 1860s by Lewis Carroll, this young girl from Victorian-era Britain falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. I love the 1951 animated film and prefer to believe that the 2010 Tim Burton remake never happened. Remix!
Bettie Page was an American model from Tennessee who became famous in the 1950s for her fetish modeling and pin-up photos. After her sexual revolution days, she converted to born-again Christianity and spent time in a state psychiatric hospital.
A resident of Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood painted Page’s image on the side of a house just off of Exit 170 on I-5. It’s pretty cool.
The biblical first woman who began life in the Garden of Eden. The story of Adam and Eve forms the basis for the Christian doctrine of original sin. In classic male chauvinist form, it is written that Eve tempted Adam to eat of the fatal fruit. Quick, someone cover her up!
Hey, isn’t the second coming of Christ supposed to occur today? If you’re reading this, I guess you didn’t make the list.
Happy Mother’s Day, featuring a beloved mother who provided humanitarian care to thousands. A Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, she founded the Missionaries of Charity in India in 1950. She was made an Honorary Citizen of the United States in 1996. She died in 1997 and was beatified in 2003.
A Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee who got knocked up by God as a teenager. Nine months later she popped out an appropriated sun god named Jesus.
Oprah Winfrey – No. 123
A Chicago-based American television host, best known for her self-titled talk show, which became the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011. The Oprah Winfrey Show concluded one month ago, on May 25, 2011.
I am in Chicago for the HOW Design Conference 2011 this week. This is the second of three Chicago-related characters.