International Women’s Day Is For Girls Just Like Her

On vacation in Livorno, Italy

She likes the name Iryne, so let her keep that name. Let me tell you about her.

She grew up in what we Americans would think of as grinding poverty. She knew real hunger. When life was good, the family would get rice and corned beef. She, her mom, her dad, and her nine siblings would have a small bowl of rice and *one* can of corned beef (sometimes it was Spam) shared among…