Author Topic: Women Who Inspire  (Read 21072 times)

Offline David In Indy

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Re: Women Who Inspire
« Reply #20 on: November 13, 2008, 02:53:22 am »
Helen Keller

Because she overcame what seemed to be insurmountable odds. She reminds me every day that nothing is impossible. :)

She was blind AND deaf.

I love this picture of her sitting on the window seat and petting the dog. It's so sweet. :-*



From Wikipedia:

Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to graduate from college.

The story of how Keller's teacher, Annie Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become known worldwide through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker.

A prolific author, Keller was well traveled and was outspoken in her opposition to war. She campaigned for women's suffrage, workers' rights, and socialism, as well as many other progressive causes.




Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.

Offline David In Indy

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Re: Women Who Inspire
« Reply #21 on: November 13, 2008, 03:01:20 am »
Anne Frank

From the mouths of babes....





From Wikipedia:

Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (pronunciation (help·info)) (12 June 1929 – early March 1945) was a Jewish girl born in the city of Frankfurt am Main in Weimar Germany. She gained international fame posthumously following the publication of her diary which documents her experiences hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.

Anne and her family moved to Amsterdam in 1933 after the Nazis gained power in Germany, and were trapped by the occupation of the Netherlands, which began in 1940. As persecutions against the Jewish population increased, the family went into hiding in July 1942 in hidden rooms in her father Otto Frank's office building. After two years, the group was betrayed and transported to concentration camps. Seven months after her arrest, Anne Frank died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, within days of the death of her sister, Margot Frank. Her father Otto, the only survivor of the group, returned to Amsterdam after the war to find that her diary had been saved, and his efforts led to its publication in 1947. It was translated from its original Dutch and first published in English in 1952 as The Diary of a Young Girl.

The diary, which was given to Anne on her 13th birthday, chronicles her life from 12 June 1942 until 1 August 1944. It has been translated into many languages, has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films. Anne Frank has been acknowledged for the quality of her writing, and has become one of the most renowned and most discussed victims of the Holocaust.

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Offline mariez

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Re: Women Who Inspire
« Reply #22 on: November 14, 2008, 12:53:41 pm »
I had the pleasure of briefly meeting Dr. Alexa Canady years ago.  From "The HistoryMakers":





Dr. Alexa Irene Canady-Davis was the first African American woman in the United States to become a neurosurgeon. Canady-Davis was born to Elizabeth Hortense (Golden) Canady and Dr. Clinton Canady, Jr., a dentist, on November 7, 1950, in Lansing, Michigan. After graduating from Lansing High School in 1967, Canady-Davis received her B.S. degree from the University of Michigan in 1971 and her M.D. degree (cum laude) from the College of Medicine at the University of Michigan in 1975. Between 1975 and 1976, Canady-Davis completed an internship at Yale-New Haven Hospital. She next trained as a resident in neurosurgery at the University of Minnesota between 1976 and 1981.

After a fellowship in pediatric surgery at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia between 1981 and 1982, Canady-Davis returned home to Michigan and joined the Neurosurgery Department at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital. In 1983, she was hired at Children's Hospital of Michigan where she later became Chief of Neurosurgery in 1987. Before that, Canady-Davis was certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery in 1984. In 1985, she began teaching at Wayne State University School of Medicine as a Clinical Instructor of Neurosurgery. In 1997, she was elevated to Professor of Neurosurgery at Wayne's School of Medicine. In 1988, she married George Davis, a U.S. Navy recruiter. From 1987 to 2001, Canady-Davis was Chief of Neurosurgery at Children's Hospital of Michigan. Her areas of expertise are cranio-facial abnormalities, hydrocephalus, tumors of the brain, and congenital spine abnormalities.

Upon retirement from the position of Chief of Neurosurgery in 2001, Canady-Davis moved to Pensacola, Florida with her husband, also retired—a city that he had lived in during part of his career in the Navy. But, after several years of retirement, Canady-Davis was lured back to surgery as a consultant and to a part-time surgical practice at the Sacred Heart Medical Group Hospital.

Canady-Davis has received numerous professional recognitions, including being named Woman of the Year by the American Women's Medical Association in 1993, as well as being inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame. She mentors young people by speaking at high schools in the Pensacola area, hoping that her accomplishments are helping to inspire the dreams of younger generations.

Canady-Davis was interviewed by The HistoryMakers October 16, 2006.



She has a heart to match her incredible mind.

Marie
The measure of a country's greatness is its ability to retain compassion in times of crisis         ~~~~~~~~~Thurgood Marshall

The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with yourself.    ~~~~~~~~~ Mark Twain

Offline Ellemeno

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Re: Women Who Inspire
« Reply #23 on: November 14, 2008, 06:22:21 pm »
You all are coming up with wonderfully grand people.  The first person I thought of was semi-fictional Jo March, after she grew up. 

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Women Who Inspire
« Reply #24 on: November 14, 2008, 07:15:37 pm »
You all are coming up with wonderfully grand people.  The first person I thought of was semi-fictional Jo March, after she grew up. 

The first person I  thought of was fully nonfictional Louisa May Alcott, after she grew up!

 :-*


Offline serious crayons

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Re: Women Who Inspire
« Reply #25 on: November 18, 2008, 10:36:56 pm »
We need some women rockers on here! If the selection below seems a little boomery, it's because back in the '60s and '70s, unlike today, "woman rocker" was practically an oxymoron. Seriously. There were hardly any women in rock when I was growing up. As a teenager, it was a bit hard for me to connect, personally, with Eleanor Roosevelt or Helen Keller, to see them as people who had anything to do with my life. But I could relate to rock and roll, and these women were true gutsy pioneers:

Grace Slick. My brother once slammed Jefferson Airplane, something about "Grace Slick howling into the microphone." I loved that, because it's true -- she does howl into the microphone! But that's just what I like about her.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xhYk9PEmXA[/youtube]
Cher, pre-plastic surgery (or at least, mostly) and looking fabulous. The original Sonny and Cher were a bit too early even for me, but I sure remember their variety show, and Cher's perfect four-inch nails:
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lol6Z9rI408[/youtube]

Tina Turner, strong and powerful as always:
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GSKdC05hpA&feature=related[/youtube]

Chrissie Hynde, who I think about at least every third time I put on eyeliner:
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYZh5cY2Gsk&feature=related[/youtube]

Debbie Harry,
looking so cute and young (as opposed to now, when she looks cute and middle-aged) I love the little face she makes at about 1:30, with the line "people stop and stare at me."
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95AEzyWZX8I[/youtube]

Of course, we have to have to have a Madonna. I was never a big fan, but I loved this song -- perhaps because when it was popular I was crazy for someone (unwisely, as usual!  ;D).
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puQBAprLe9A[/youtube]

Stevie Nicks.
This is sort of anachronistic, because unlike the others this isn't from her earlier years -- it was recorded long after the song was a hit. But even though I'm not the hugest Fleetwood Mac fan, I think this version is so poignant. First, because it's more appropriate for her life stage (mine, as well!) and second, because it's a duet with the very person she must mainly be referring to:
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX6WHvxTYHs[/youtube]


Offline southendmd

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Re: Women Who Inspire
« Reply #26 on: November 18, 2008, 10:58:00 pm »
Leave it to Katherine to rock out this thread!

Grace Slick!  The Acid Queen!  Yeah!

Chrissi Hynde!  She is too cool for this world.  (I even have her autograph!)

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5pECaW-VMI[/youtube]

"I'll Stand By You":  a pure expression of love.

Offline Ellemeno

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Re: Women Who Inspire
« Reply #27 on: November 21, 2008, 05:01:23 am »
The first person I  thought of was fully nonfictional Louisa May Alcott, after she grew up!

 :-*



I've been reading about Louisa May Alcott recently, and found this nice quote on Wikipedia:

Although the Jo character in Little Women was based on Louisa May Alcott, she, unlike Jo, never married. Alcott explained her "spinsterhood" in an interview with Louise Chandler Moulton, "... because I have fallen in love with so many pretty girls and never once the least bit with any man."[2]'






Offline serious crayons

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Re: Women Who Inspire
« Reply #28 on: November 21, 2008, 10:26:41 am »
I've been reading about Louisa May Alcott recently, and found this nice quote on Wikipedia:

Although the Jo character in Little Women was based on Louisa May Alcott, she, unlike Jo, never married. Alcott explained her "spinsterhood" in an interview with Louise Chandler Moulton, "... because I have fallen in love with so many pretty girls and never once the least bit with any man."[2]'

That is interesting, but I find it sad. Makes me think of all the women throughout history who were spinsters because they fell in love with pretty girls instead of men and couldn't do anything about it.


Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: Women Who Inspire
« Reply #29 on: November 24, 2008, 06:09:24 pm »
That is interesting, but I find it sad. Makes me think of all the women throughout history who were spinsters because they fell in love with pretty girls instead of men and couldn't do anything about it.



Oh, I definitely think that probably many "spinsters" and "old-maids" in history were lesbians, or extremely independent women of any orientation.  It's interesting that those terms were meant to be put-downs in their day, but I tend to look at those words as indicating pretty positive things (from a feminist point of view).  But, the loneliness and the latentness/ repression implied in those terms are pretty sad at the same time.

the world was asleep to our latent fuss - bowie