Maisie decided to visit all of NYC’s public statues of famous women. It didn’t take her very long: there are five. This doesn’t include fictional females like Alice in Wonderland, or symbols like Lady Liberty or Fearless Girl, or various decorative sylphs and angels. Maisie has nothing against characters who aren’t real, but she wanted to see statues that are monuments to actual women in history.

In all of NYC, there are five.

First stop: Gertrude Stein, comfortably seated in Bryant Park. You can push a button behind her and hear someone read some of her poetry. Maisie finds it incomprehensible, but there is a nice rhythm to it.

Nearby is Golda Meir, but Maisie couldn’t visit her because the little park that houses her bust is currently under construction. A typical NYC moment.

Third: Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman is not comfortably seated, she is the opposite of comfortably seated. Harriet Tubman strides forward, all motion and purpose. Still, there is room there for small vignettes along the base that make Maisie feel welcomed.

Fourth: Eleanor Roosevelt, self-contained and pensive. Maisie likes the view from up by her face.

Fifth: Joan of Arc. Looking very Joan-of-Arc-y. It is only possible to look up at Joan, you really cannot interact with her or get any insight into what she might be thinking.

By the way, except for the Gertrude Stein statue, these statues were made by women artists.

Also by the way, the day we took these photographs was extremely, extremely cold.

Maisie’s glad to learn that a place has been set aside in Central Park for a statue, yet to be created, of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

I thought dressing the stitch faces for the cold weather would be a challenge, but it’s been a great opportunity to use sweater sleeves and warm worn-out socks. Maisie’s sweater is a sleeve from one of my husband’s old sweaters, and her thermal tights are from my friend Jennie’s daughter’s old sparkly pair. Maisie’s socks are also from an old sweater. Her boots are cut from a shoulder bag I loved so much that the green color started to wear off. That was the bag that taught me that a bright green bag actually goes with every outfit, and so I still believe.

Maisie herself is made from fabric given to me by my mother, which she acquired at the “swap table.” The swap table is actually a small building which is located at my parents’ local dump. People leave things they don’t want but might be useful to someone else at the swap table. The swap table has provided my parents with their current living room armchair, dinnerware, books, shoes, clothes, clock radios, and, apparently, prescription medications. When my mother learned that I was making stitch faces from old fabric, she whirled into action. The swap table, as usual, did not disappoint, and yielded a large bagful of interesting fabrics, one of them this cheerful gold. Thank you, Mom, for teaching me about thrift and how to find gold in unlikely places.

A rose is a rose is a rose.

–Gertrude Stein