One Woman’s Lived History from the Second Wave I’m interrupting the distant past for a glimpse of the more immediate past, the 50th Anniversary of Service Women at the Academies, and specifically the USNA Women’s celebration in Annapolis. More than 800 women and men, spanning five decades, gathered to mark this milestone. What unfolded over four days was the result of more than a year of effort, a true labor of commitment and care. There…
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The Tuck, The Slit, The Weird
Published March 23, 2026
Learning to wear a Navy uniform that wasn’t made for us I wore a uniform long before the Navy ever issued me one. From kindergarten through high school, I attended parochial schools where uniforms were simply part of daily life. For girls, that usually meant jumpers or skirts, pleats pressed, hems checked, shirts tucked (or retucked), and a quiet understanding that how you wore the uniform said something about you. So when I arrived at…
Leave a CommentMan Overboard
Published March 2, 2026
There are times in your life when you don’t want any attention. You want to keep your head down, your nose clean, and your name out of the public eye. Plebe Summer at the United States Naval Academy was one of those times. Attention meant correction. Correction meant public scrutiny. Public scrutiny meant some calibrated blend of humiliation and demerits. The safest strategy was invisibility. If I could have faded into the granite and brick…
1 CommentOpen Doors
Published February 23, 2026
One woman’s lived history in the second wave at the Naval Academy One of the strangest reflections for me now, as a mother and after decades of working with teens and college students, is remembering that, in those early years at the Naval Academy, plebe doors had to remain open at all times.All times.Even at night.Some of my women classmates remember being issued nightgowns. I only remember sleeping in a T-shirt and gym shorts, knowing…
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