HerStory 2021: Geraldine Roman

Geraldine Roman is a role model for girls and women (heck, for people interested in being good human beings) everywhere. She is a force to be reckoned with in the political landscape of the Philippines, where she was the first trans person elected to Congress in 2016. Plus, she wore the most amazing princess dress of our childhood dreams in her official portrait!

Roman’s life and political philosophy embody the term “intersectional.” She fights for Indigenous rights, she fights for LGBTQIA+ rights, she fights for health rights and veteran’s rights and environmental stewardship and sustainability. She truly believes that in order for anyone to succeed, everyone has to have the chance to succeed. She’s the kind of person you want at the table with you, gently and lovingly steering conversations to difficult places, and leaning in to the humanity in everyone.

She has done much for the LGBTQIA+ community in the Philippines, but her work goes far beyond that. Her political platform, EQUALITY, is an acronym for her many intersectional advocacies: Education, Environmental Quality, Universal Healthcare, Agriculture, Livelihood, Infrastructure, Transparency, and the Youth. “Equality means giving all Filipinos equal rights, equitable opportunities and chances to improve their lives, to become happier citizens of this country regardless of their personal circumstances,” she declares.

We wanted to celebrate the beauty inherent in this wonderful woman, and the beauty that is the Philippines themselves, in our HerStory colorway. We created Waling-Waling, inspired by the Waling-Waling orchid, which is considered to be the Queen of Philippine flowers and is worshiped as a diwata, or natural spirit by the indigenous Bagobo people. We hope that, as you admire your skein of Waling-Waling, you do a little something for a community that is less privileged than yourself. It’s what Geraldine would do. 

National Parks 2021: Hovenweep National Monument

It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

Hovenweep National Monument is located on land in southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah, between Cortez, Colorado and Blanding, Utah on the Cajon Mesa of the Great Sage Plain.

Whose land does it reside upon?

From the NPS website: Hovenweep National Monument acknowledges the peoples who are traditionally associated with these landscapes:

Jicarilla Apache Nation, Kewa Pueblo, Navajo Nation, Ohkay Owingeh, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, Pueblo of Acoma, Pueblo of Cochita, Pueblo of Isleta, Pueblo of Jemez, Pueblo of Laguna, Pueblo of Nambé, Pueblo of Picuris, Pueblo of Pojoaque, Pueblo of San Felipe, Pueblo of Sandia, Pueblo of Santa Ana, Pueblo of Santa Clara, Pueblo of Taos, Pueblo of Tesuque, Pueblo of Zia, Pueblo of Zuni, San Juan Southern Paiute, Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe of Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo

When was it established?

March 2, 1923

Why is it amazing?

Human habitation at Hovenweep dates to over 10,000 years ago when nomadic Paleoindians visited the Cajon Mesa to gather food and hunt game. These people used the area for centuries, following the seasonal weather patterns. By about A.D. 900, people started to settle at Hovenweep year-round, planting and harvesting crops in the rich soil of the mesa top. By the late 1200s, the Hovenweep area was home to over 2,500 people.

The towers of Hovenweep were built by ancestral Puebloans, a sedentary farming culture that occupied the Four Corners area from about A.D. 500 to A.D. 1300, and most of the structures were built between A.D. 1200 and 1300. Similarities in architecture, masonry and pottery styles indicate that the inhabitants of Hovenweep were closely associated with groups living at Mesa Verde and other nearby sites. 

By the end of the 13th century, it appears a prolonged drought, possibly combined with resource depletion, factionalism and warfare, forced the inhabitants of Hovenweep to depart. Though the reason is unclear, ancestral Puebloans throughout the area migrated south to the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico and the Little Colorado River Basin in Arizona. Today’s Pueblo, Zuni and Hopi people are descendants of this culture.

Why did we choose these colors?

We used the photo on this page (https://www.nps.gov/hove/planyourvisit/hiking.htm) (scroll down a bit to see the photo) to inspire our Hovenweep colorway, incorporating the structures with the surrounding scrub and rocks, as well as that beautiful desert sky.

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Salt River Bay National Historic Park & Ecological Preserve

It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

On the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Whose land does it reside upon?

In prehistoric times, the area was inhabited by all three major pottery-making cultures found in the Virgin Islands. Around AD 1425, the Caribs took control of the islands that currently make up the Virgin Islands. This was an area Columbus “discovered,” so once the 1490s hit, the Indigenous population was subjected to colonization, disease, slavery, and other horrors of western civilization.

When was it established?

February 24, 1992

Why is it amazing?

Salt River Bay NHP & Ecological Preserve is both a natural history and a human history wonderland. It’s home to many mangrove forests (Mangroves are “landbuilder communities,” they extend shorelines via systems of prop roots, trunks, pneumatophores, and saplings that trap and stabilize erosional terrestrial sediments. It has been reported that in some fringing mangrove systems, prop roots can result in anywhere from 25 to 200 meters of coastal accretion a year.), as well as a barrier reef that provides protection, and a submarine canyon. This park is also a comprehensive example of human habitation in this part of the world. Every major period of human habitation in the Virgin Islands is represented: several South American Indigenous cultures, the 1493 encounter with Columbus, Spanish capture and removal of the island’s Amerindian peoples, attempts at colonization by several European nations, and enslaved West Africans and their descendants. Since 1880, over a dozen major archeological investigations and much archival and historical research have revealed this area’s remarkable story.

Why did we choose these colors?

If you scroll down to the photo of the corals growing on the walls of the submarine canyon on this page, you’ll see where we got our inspiration: https://www.nps.gov/sari/learn/nature/natural-features-and-ecosystems.htm

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Aniakchak National Monument & Preserve

It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve is located about 450 miles/720 km southwest of Anchorage on the Alaskan Peninsula. 

Whose land does it reside upon?

Archeologists believe that the massive volcanic eruption that occurred 3500 years ago created a “dead zone” that couldn’t be reoccupied for generations. The oldest known archeological sites date to around 2,000 years ago, and showed prehistoric communities that hunted, fished, trapped, picked berries, and gathered shellfish. By 1,200 years ago, the strategy had proven so successful that the population had expanded dramatically, and eventually segued into a community that utilized the land’s rich fishing resources to build a commercial fishing and canning industry. The modern Alutiiq people descended from the early inhabitants of Aniakchak, and continue to maintain cultural traditions.

When was it established?

December 1, 1978

Why is it amazing?

Given its remote location and challenging weather conditions, Aniakchak is one of the most wild and least visited places in the National Park System. The landscape is a vibrant reminder of Alaska’s location in the volcanically active “Ring of Fire,” as it is home to an impressive six mile/10 km wide, 2,500 ft/762 m deep caldera formed during a massive volcanic eruption 3,500 years ago. In 2018, only 100 people visited, likely because it is so very isolated. Much of the National Monument is not accessible by road, and the only way to reach much of it is by floatplane, boat, or airplane to coastal towns near preserve lands followed by overland or overwater traverse.

Why did we choose these colors?

Flip through the scant images on the NPS website and you’ll surely see why we chose these colors: the clear blue of the mountain lakes set against the soft greys and greens of the mountains in the caldera are perfectly echoed in our Aniakchak colorway.  

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Harriet Tubman National Historic Park

It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

Auburn, New York.

Whose land does it reside upon?

The region around Auburn had been Haudenosaunee territory for centuries before European contact and historical records.

When was it established?

It was designated a National Historic Park on January 10, 2017, although the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 30, 1974.

Why is it amazing?

Auburn, NY, where Tubman lived the last fifty years of her life, and the NHP includes her former thirty-two-acre farm, brick residence, and Home for the Aged, as well as Thompson Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and Rectory on Parker Street.

The state park is the centerpiece of the state’s award-winning 126-mile Harriet Tubman’s Byway and All-American Road. The Byway and many of the sites associated with Harriet Tubman’s remarkably successful Underground Railroad missions have been recognized for their authenticity by the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program which is headquartered at the Visitor Center. The network includes over 650 sites, programs, and facilities in 40 states, Washington D.C., and the US Virgin Islands with a verifiable connection to the Underground Railroad.

Why did we choose these colors?

We used this photo (link: https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery-item.htm?pg=6097767&id=1ed98803-a296-4d32-9ded-10957cf919c4&gid=A4F160F4-F641-4C38-B90F-C319B3D5CF82) of Harriet Tubman’s residence and barn to inspire our colors. The rich colors of autumn in New York state are so inspiring!

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Petroglyph National Monument

It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

Petroglyph National Monument stretches 17 miles along Albuquerque, New Mexico’s West Mesa, a volcanic basalt escarpment that dominates the city’s western horizon.

Whose land does it reside upon?

Puebloans have lived in the Rio Grande Valley since before 500 A.D., but a population increase around 1300 A.D. resulted in numerous new settlements.

When was it established?

June 27, 1990

Why is it amazing?

Petroglyph National Monument protects one of the largest petroglyph sites in North America, featuring designs and symbols carved onto volcanic rocks by Native Americans and Spanish settlers 400 to 700 years ago. These images are a valuable record of cultural expression and hold profound spiritual significance for contemporary Native Americans and for the descendants of the early Spanish settlers.

Petroglyphs are rock carvings (rock paintings are called pictographs) made by pecking directly on the rock surface using a stone chisel and a hammerstone. When the desert varnish (or patina) on the surface of the rock was chipped off, the lighter rock underneath was exposed, creating the petroglyph. Archaeologists have estimated there may be over 25,000 petroglyph images along the 17 miles of escarpment within the monument boundary.

The vast majority of the monument’s petroglyphs were believed to have been created by the ancestors of today’s Pueblo people. It is believed that the majority of the petroglyphs were carved from about 1300 through the late 1680s. The Spanish colonizers carved some of the petroglyphs as well, although that practice was stamped out with the rise of christianity.

Why did we choose these colors?

In our Petroglyph colorway, our goal was to capture the many layers of color that results on the rocks on which petroglyphs were carved.

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument

It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

Northern Maine.

Whose land does it reside upon?

The Penobscot Indian Nation, along with other Wabanaki tribes, settled in the area that is now Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument, and these Indigenous groups still regard the Penobscot River as an important landmark of their culture.

When was it established?

August 24, 2016

Interesting note about it’s establishment: a co-founder of Burt’s Bees was instrumental in the establishment of this land as a National Monument, and many conservative groups (including our 45th president during his campaign) have been against its establishment.

Why is it amazing?

Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument preserves over 87,000 acres in Maine’s North Woods. The East Branch of the Penobscot River, Wassataquoick Stream, and the Seboeis River flow through a landscape of rolling forests and wetlands. The monument is home to black bears, Canada Lynx, moose, river otters, and countless other species. As the website says, limited services and signage make visiting an adventure.

Why did we choose these colors?

We used the cover shot on this page: https://www.nps.gov/kaww/index.htm, which beautifully showcases the woods AND the waters, as our colorway inspiration.

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

In extreme southern Arizona that shares a border with the Mexican state of Sonora.

Whose land does it reside upon?

The Hohokam people’s culture existed in this area from the first years Common Era (CE). through CE 1450.

There are eight groups of indigenous peoples currently in the Sonoran Desert area. The Mayo, Yaqui, Pima, Seri, Cucapá, Papago and Guarijio are native to the Sonora region. The eighth group, the Kikapú, immigrated to Sonora but have maintained a presence in the state for more than 100 years, so they are considered to be indigenous Sonorans.

When was it established?

April 13, 1937

Why is it amazing?

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, an International Biosphere Reserve, reveal a thriving community of plants and animals. Human stories echo throughout this desert preserve, chronicling thousands of years of desert living. It is the only place in the United States where the senita and organ pipe cactus grow wild.

Why did we choose these colors?

If you flip through the images on the NPS website, you’ll see the rich diversity of colors in this desert landscape, which inspired our colorway.

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Cesar E. Chavez National Monument

It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

Keene, Kern County, about 32 miles away from Bakersfield, California.

Whose land does it reside upon?

The Tejon Indian Tribe of California is a tribe of the Kitanemuk, Yokuts, and Chumash indigenous people of California. Their ancestral homeland is the southern San Joaquin Valley, San Emigdio Mountains, and Tehachapi Mountains. Today they live in Kern County, California.

When was it established?

October 8, 2012

Why is it amazing?

Under the leadership of César E. Chávez and others such as Dolores Huerta and Larry Itliong, along with support from millions of Americans, the farm worker movement joined forces with other reform movements to achieve unprecedented successes that greatly improved working and living conditions and wages for farm workers. During the 1970s the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) grew and expanded from its early roots as a union for farm workers to also become a national voice for the poor and disenfranchised. The enduring legacies of César E. Chávez and the farm worker movement include passage of California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, the first law in the U.S. that recognized farm workers’ collective bargaining rights.

Why did we choose these colors?

We based the colorway on the gardens and growth that make up the 108-acre park. There are both manicured gardens and native growth, all of which adds up to create a lovely strollable park with lots of information on Chavez’s activism.

For more information:

HerStory 2021: Georgina Beyer

“I stand on the shoulders of people who went before me and now people stand on the shoulders of people like me.” -Georgina Beyer

Throughout this year of HerStory, we have been showcasing people who have, through their work, advocacy, and courage, provided a way forward for others, for the next generation. June’s HerStory recipient is one of those people, first as the first openly Trans person to run a municipality, and next as the first openly Trans person in national office. She is very careful to include the descriptor “openly,” because, as she states, surely there have been others, who have been forced, through society’s pressures, to hide their true selves. 

Georgina Beyer was born in a small town in New Zealand, and is of both European and Maori descent. As a young adult, she began working as an actor and performer, becoming active in the nightclub scene and as a drag performer and sex worker. She is one of very few former sex workers to hold political office.

On paper, it didn’t look as though Georgina Beyer was someone who would win or hold political office, particularly in a largely conservative electorate. She was openly Transgender, and unapologetically in support of Indigenous issues. A true intersection of many identities, that resulted in her supporting legislation to uplift the most marginalized. She was inspired to live her life as an example to others, and to run for public office, after being brutalized by a group of men when she was a sex worker. The marginalization she experienced as a Trans woman, and as a sex worker, cemented her resolve to fight for those who could not fight for themselves. In her time in office, she advocated for Civil Unions and the Prostitution Reform Act (during the debate about which she came out as a former sex worker, changing the minds of at least 3 of her colleagues to secure passage of the bill). She recognized that her place, her job, was to be herself, as loudly and unapologetically as possible, to ensure smoother sailing for those who came after her. We think she’s done just that. 

Our Red Umbrella colorway is an homage to Georgina Beyer’s tireless work for LGBTQIA+ and sex worker rights. We’ve combined the colorways of the inclusive pride flag with a red umbrella, which represents sex work. The liberation of all marginalized folk is tied up with each other; as Lilla Watson, noted Australian Aboriginal Elder and Activist said, “If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”