The Magic of Purple

Guest Contributor,
Kate Smith
Color Expert featured on CBS Morning
Sensational Color
Color: Meaning, Symbolism & Psychology

Color is magical and each color speaks with its own voice. In the same way you have your own personality, each color has its own traits that over time have come to be almost universally recognized. Whether or not you consciously recognize these time-tested characteristics of purple, these qualities make it a good choice to represent women that have chosen a childfree lifestyle.

Since ancient times, purple has been set apart from the other colors of the rainbow. Long available only to kings and aristocrats, this expensive and rare color was coveted and held an allure and mystery that has remained with the hue long after it became available to the masses.

Purple is the color of power and passion; it is a color that evokes valor, self-assurance, imagination and spiritualism. It is the color of people that march to the beat of their own drummer. Is that you Purple Women^TM?

Are you an imaginative, intuitive free spirit who enjoys dreaming of all that is possible in life? Do mundane tasks and keeping schedules bore you? Do you feel bogged down if the humdrum details of life take up too much time? Then you are truly a Purple Woman. Is it any wonder that you didn't find joy in the prospect of juggling career, friends, day care, and neighborhood carpools?

Are you a keen observer of life who can grasp the intangible? If so, then you truly are a purple person who doesn't necessarily have to "see it to believe it." So while you have chosen a life without children, this special quality allows you to respect the decision of others and appreciate the bond between mother and child without having to experience it.

Just as the color purple is the balance of red and blue, you are at your best when you find a balance between your desire for excitement and your need for tranquility in life. When you don't achieve that balance, you may feel especially sensitive or moody. Perhaps you intuitively knew how difficult it would be to balance your needs and that of a child and thus made a choice that honors your spirit.

Purple Women^TM, you set yourself apart from others and consider yourself unique…and you truly are! Acknowledge your uniqueness; love the life you have chosen and embrace your decision to be childfree with the magical passion and power that is purple and purple alone.

About Kate: Kate Smith is a professional color expert, trend forecaster, engaging speaker and founder of Sensational Color (http://www.sensationalcolor.com). Kate works with both corporations and individual clients on using color to create interest in and elicit a favorable response to their products, their brands, their homes or themselves.

[Photo: Originally uploaded on January 14, 2007 by BennyPix.]
Technorati Tag: Childfree

Purple Holiday

Just a reminder, that March 4th is Proud to be Purple Day, in conjunction with The Ultimate Blog Party event (March 2-9) being hosted by the gals over at "Five-Minutes for Mom". The Mom part would not refer to us, but they made their party inclusive and I felt that Purple Women^TM should be invited!

Have you a digital camera and a penchant for taking photos? If you see something purple snap it and send it over. We are holding a Purple Photo Contest to celebrate our holiday. Details can be found in the sidebar. Deadline for entries is February 25.

Don't forget to wear something purple on March 4th, and if you have a Purple Woman! button, don that too! Want to know how to get one? Read David's recent book review...

Technorati Tag: Childfree

McPurple

Found this post by my friend Nicole Weston, who happens to be a Purple Woman, over at one of my favorite food blogs: Slashfood.com. She writes about food oddities.

Disclaimer: I am not recommending this diet. I just thought it was hillarious and wanted to share a laugh with other Purple Women^TM!

[Photo: Originally uploaded to Flickr on February 10, 2007 by the Comic Shop]

Technorati Tag: Childfree

Proud to be Purple Day & Photo Contest

When I saw "the artist formerly known as Prince" doing his shtick during the Super Bowl at half time, I thought if Prince can do Purple Rain, we can have our own holiday! Mark your calendar for *March 4.

Calling all Purple Women^TM and their friends to celebrate the first annual mock holiday for people of a purple persuasion, that's us, we're childfree. To celebrate, we are hosting a purple photo contest and the winners and winning images will be announced on our holiday.

We have teamed up with Grandma Purple's online store to offer some nice prizes. Cyd, (alias: Grandma Purple), is not childfree herself, but she is really supportive of our choice and lifestyle. She offers any reader of this blog a 10% discount. Heck, if you don't like purple there is a lovely shoe-shaped pie server in a smart stainless steel.

To counter the notion that we "only think about ourselves" (have you ever been called selfish?), your entry fee is a donation to your favorite women's charity, perhaps a shelter for abused women and children (think: purple ribbon campaign), in the amount of $10.00 or more. For more ideas, and a view of the pool of photo entries, check out the sister site that has been created to support this contest: Purple Women Give Back.

The Contest: Submit your best purple photo and make a donation to a women's charity.

Contest Rules

Photo Categories
Best Overall (Grand Prize Winner), People, Places, Pets and Things, plus three Special Mentions. Your image must be digital and it must contain purple, or have a purple theme.

Judges
Purple Women & Friends Regular Contributors

**Permissions
By entering this contest you are giving Purple Women & Friends permission use your image, specifically it will be published on this blog and perhaps used to illustrate a post at a later date.

How
Send a link to your contest entry image stored on your Flickr account or attached a TIFF or JPEG file of your image for the entry and email it to Teri directly. Your photo entry must be digital.

Your entry must include in the email somewhere, the name of the charity you made a donation to.

Limit one photo per person.

Deadline for submission: February 25, 2007

Winners announced: March 4, 2007

Prizes
Grand Prize - $50 cash, plus a $10 gift Grandma Purple gift certificate and year’s supply of purple duct tape. (One will be awarded.)

Category Prizes - $10.00 Grandma Purple gift certificate and a year's supply of purple duct tape. (Four will be awarded, one in each category.)

Special Mentions - a year's supply of, you guessed it, purple duct tape (ahem, that's one roll!) (Three will be awarded.)

Any questions? Email Teri.

(*Blog administrator's note: March 4th also happens to be the Jewish holiday Purim and my mother's birthday, this is just coincidence, no disrespect is intended.)

(**You may designate how you would like your image to be attributed.)


[Photo: Originally uploaded to Flickr on February 3, 2007 by Pilou@ttitude.]

Technorati Tag: Childfree

Childfree Pur-spective

I just had to create a post to go with this amazing photo. Purple has many shades, and this one may arguably be fushia (a favorite color of mine) but it does lend itself well to an abstract post about perspective, or pur-spective.

As Purple Women^TM we view the world differently than our parent counterparts. We make different decisions, from the decision not to become a mother, to the things we buy and the people we vote for. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) created a huge guffaw earlier this month with her comment about how U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's childfree status as a woman affected her judgment about the U.S. war in Iraq. I think Barbara got caught saying what a lot of people really do think about intentionally childfree adults.

Do childfree women value human life any life less because we do not have children?

That's just silly thinking. Consider for a moment that this kind of thinking is backed up in the highest places in our institutions, church and state. Apparently, no one came to Condoleeza's aid at the time of infraction. After all, she is a woman who can defend herself. She chose not to get defensive. Real classy, regardless of what you think of her politics. The childfree choice found unexpected defenders on the conservative side of the page as Jennifer L. Shawne, author of the book Baby Not on Board, details nicely on her corresponding blog (January 14 post).

Barbara's comment sheds light on how childfree individuals are viewed in society. Compare it to the status of the home-owner vs. a renter.

Childfree men and women are viewed as short-term tenants in this life, however far from the truth that may be. Parents are viewed as more committed for the long haul, that next generation.

I don't think an apology is coming at this point, so Barbara got away with "her bad" and will only benefit from the press. As they say in show business, even bad press is better than no press. Beth over at The Blue Star Chronicles does a nice job of summing up the buzz this incident created on the Internet.

This is just politics as usual. If you cannot handle the personal attacks, don't get into politics. I am glad Condoleeza didn't give the press the cat fight they were looking for.

Photo: Originally uploaded to Flickr on August 4, 2006 by Steve took it

Technorati Tag: Childfree

Language, Language

Our language is male-centric. Our society is child-centered. Mardy S. Ireland, PhD, sociologist and author of the book: Reconceiving Women: Separating Motherhood from Female Identity, believes that the female experience and unconscious are not fully represented in our language. No duh!

She further believes that...

"...only through writing, can women claim their own destinies."

Purple Women^TM and their friends are doing it right here. That's what this blog is for. Creating our own definition, our own color nomenclature, is empowering, and so is writing about our experience. Perhaps that's why there are so many women bloggers -- mommy or not.

Childfree women have a challenge or two in carving their own niche. We are all so different in our interests, our hobbies and our pursuits. This fact always amazes me when I get together (yes, in person) with a group of childfree women. I'll give you this: we are not boring. We are the rebels, the third wave feminists (intentional or not), exploring the outer reaches of what it is to be female.

In what way are you a rebel?


Technorati Tag: Childfree

Just Purple

Now that I am going by the honorific, The Purple Woman, people often assume it's my favorite color. That couldn't be farther from the truth. I have had to work very hard to find a purple that I look decent in (for the book tour of course). There are many shades.

Since I lived in San Francisco, there is an inordinate amount of basic black in my wardrobe. I am definitely not a lavender gal. I like neutrals, as well as big bold splashes of color. I dress to how I want to be treated. And sometimes I just don't care.

Purple is a fun color, with many associations. Mostly, I thought that calling my blog and book Purple Women^TM would make people curious. If someone is curious, they'll pick up a book and read a blog post. After attending my first ever blogger conference last summer, [picture at left] I changed the name to Purple Women & Friends to encourage broader audience participation.

"Friends" could be parents and they could be men, and they could be young adults on the fence about whether or not to have kids. The important thing is to think about it.

Recently, a friend treated me to an artisan fair featuring native American works, including pottery, silver jewelry with turquoise and other semi-precious stones. I was surprised to discover a purple stone called sugalite. It's from the cradle of Africa. Simply gorgeous shades of purple stones. Some day, I plan to own a piece made with one.

I also met a painter named John Balloue. The Waxlander Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico features his art. It was fun to speak to the artist about his work. He reminded me that colors also represent emotions and energy. His modern pieces really capture this.

So, no, purple is not my favorite color...but it is a useful one.

Technorati Tag: Childfree

Why Purple?

When I saw this restaurant sign on Yonge Street in North York, I knew the name of my project. It made me so curious, I knew I would have to try it. It is thrilling to create something new, and the domain name for Purple Women^TM was not taken, so boldly I move forward to define it.

Purple Women^TM is a website and team blog as well as an independent study and a book in progress -- in that order. I figure if folks have the same reaction to my project and book, well, that would be super. The online study will be launched in January. That will give us a couple of months to get bloggy with it and develope a voice, some participation and anticipation!