Emily Bett Rickards Instagram – Calamity Jane, born Martha Jane Canary was a frontierswoman, an adventurer, a performer, a fighter and even a nurse during a turbulent era known as the Wild West. 
Studying her life there seems to be no break from pain or courage. She defied social norms and relentlessly demanded to have a place in history. In 1880 she was Americas “most famous woman”, arguably the first heroine of the United States. Plays were written about her in the East and New York newspapers called her “The Queen of the Plains”. She was the “female cowboy” that every townsfolk wanted to grab a drink with and every journalist wanted to speak to. That would explain the pictures we have of her, especially the one where she is standing in front of Wild Bill Hickoks grave. This photo helped cement the infinite lore that these two legends were in relationship, though some accounts say they rode into town once together and that was it. I’ve thought a lot about when the persona of Calamity Jane became most if not all of her and if at times it was more of a burden than she bargained for. Sitting on my computer in my comfy bed drinking matcha next to my snoring senior dog I have the luxury of considering this, where as I assume Jane was too busy trying to survive. Jane died at the age of 51 most likely due to excessive drinking but if there’s one thing I can gather from the internet it’s that she embodies the saying “larger than life” even in death. As we get further from places in time we realize the information we have is most likely skewed and that history was always written form the victors POV. There are others stories that have yet to be revealed from this era. I encourage the filmmakers of today to dive into the rich unpredictable rhythm of the Western frontier, for until we have access to time travel… we have movies. Kamloops, British Columbia