I remember my first International Women's Day in 1986 as a freshman at Bates College. Bates celebrated on March 4th, a day that still lives in infamy for the Class of 1990. There had been some sexual harassment of a professor, something about condoms being left on her office door or something. As a result, the university decided to cancel all classes and force all students to attend special courses. <!-- pagebreak -->My roommates (Chris Keller, Mark Kennedy and Any Tait) and I calculated how many hundreds of dollars we paid per day per class (tuition then was ONLY 16000 USD/year, now almost 50000 my god!), and decided that if we are not paying for the classes we might as well go skiing at Lost Valley in Lewiston/Auburn. It was not that we disagreed that sexual harassment was a bad thing, but we did disagree with the draconian way the university dealt with the issue while trying to look liberal and caring (which Bates faculty really were). It was some of the best skiing I have ever enjoyed. It appears Lost Valley do not offer it anymore, but you used to be able to go night skiing all night for something stupid like 14 dollars.

But I have an essential problem with Women's Day, the same problem I have with Father's Day, Mother's Day, and yes, even Earth Day. We should not need a special day once a year to respect and love the people and environment around us. We should show that respect every day, and not make it a Hallmark Card moment.

For the history of  International Women's Day, check out the UN site here. It may interest you to know that it was first celebrated on accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, and observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate it on the last Sunday of that month through 1913...

So do not expect to get a flower from me on March 8th. You might, however, have my respect of your equal rights every day of the year.