Speaking Freely: An Evening with Remarkable Women -- Local Sheroes

Speaking Freely: An Evening With Remarkable Women

Who is your local shero?

Mon, Nov 08 10:38:19 PM (PT)
From karen leonard in Sebastopol :
The Shero in my life was Jessica Mitford, Queen of the Muckrakers. A truly remarkable woman who had two favorite sayings: "You may not be able to change the world, but you can at least embarrass the quilty" AND our job in life is "to comfort the afflicted...and afflict the comfortable!" She would have loved this program and loved to be part of it.

Mon, Nov 08 10:48:17 PM (PT)
From barbara lee in sonoma :
ann lamott is a shero-an independent thinker, teacher and survivor of hard times, while sharing an incredible wit and sense of humor

Mon, Nov 08 11:31:17 PM (PT)
From judeannsmith in san francisco :
Jan Americatono "spelling is off" She was on your program tonight and she is a corner stone at my church "Glide Memorial" Jan is so beautiful; she moves and flys and gives me the inspiration to grow limbs from my trunk. She gives me permission to speak and be the strong women that I really am. She is the warmest flame with class and zeal. -JudeAnn

Tue, Nov 09 12:02:33 AM (PT)
From Caley Guida in Mill Valley ( marin) :
Marjorie Marchant of San Mateo is such a remarkable woman. This 74 year old humanitarian activist is also an amazing quilter. She has donated hundreds of her quilts. The recipients include homeless kids and transitional housing for young mothers. Each quilt is lovingly sewn, often designed with the recipient in mind.Marje's quilts give warmth and comfort where it's sorely needed.The way that she uses her creativity to enrich others lives, that makes her my sheroe.

Tue, Nov 09 12:10:31 AM (PT)
From S. Maple in SF :
Doris Corbett, whose radical wit and clear thinking were a joy to everyone who met her, who sang in coffee houses to help raise the money that bought the land for the now-famous women's music festival in Michigan, is my dearest personal shero. Brave life, brave leaving, brave memory in the hearts of her "clan". S. Maple

Tue, Nov 09 8:41:04 AM (PT)
From Judy Liteky in San Francisco :
I hope one of Ken Burns' projects will include Emily Greene Balch, a woman who explored pacifism with other women at the time of World War I. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946, not for any one special deed but for a lifetime of deeds based on her vision of a world where disputes were negotiated. She could imagine a time when soldiers, guns, militarized vehicles, ships, and planes were gone from the earth.

Tue, Nov 09 8:46:52 AM (PT)
From Connie Burton in Los Altos :
Author Catherine Dee is my daughter's and my shero, and here's why: I picked up a copy of The Girls' Book of Wisdom for my eleven-year-old daughter at an author signing recently. I thought it had just the right look and feel: perky cover art with bright, girlish flowers, and a trio of preteens wearing a variety of expressions I'm relearning is the mood palette of adolescence: uncertainty, elation, challenge. A tidy little size, too, I thought... just right for backpack, desk drawer, bedside table-anywhere she might tuck a treasure, if it made it to treasure status. It had possibilities. Cheery pen and ink drawings, a simple, open page layout that doesn't warn "This stuff is serious business!" And an overriding optimistic and comforting collection of quotes on subjects concerning girls: beauty, acceptance, mood swings, confidence, goals, dreaming... I was right. My daughter delved right in. She even read aloud several quotes that made her laugh or sigh. Among my favorites, that I read aloud when it was my turn, were quotes of the women of my generation: Gloria Steinem ("Self esteem isn't everything; it's just that there's nothing without it."); Janis Joplin ("Don't compromise yourself. You're all you've got."); Susan Sarandon ("I believe strongly in my own personal magic.")... We agree on Miss Piggy. She's very together ("Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.ä). And so The Girls' Book of Wisdom, with its slightly heavy title (But then I never would have bought The Girls' 365 Days of One-Liners-to-Live-By, or some such) has moved from my daughter's desk to bedside table these several weeks. We've each picked it up from time to time and said, "Hey, listen to this one·" Good book; good choice, I've thought, each time that happens. Makes for good conversation. But it came to earn its name, The Girls' Book of Wisdom, last week. I've been reeling from a powerful personal loss in my adult life, one I would never expect a young adolescent to understand. My daughter has felt my upset and, being of a sympathetic nature, she's wanted to soothe me. Two nights ago in the middle of an explanation of why I should "cheer up," she told me, "Mom, listen, the more lost you are, the more you have to look forward to." "That's pretty wise," I said. "It's from the book, Mom." "Yeah? Who said it," I asked her. "Calista Flockhart..." And there you have what makes this a wise book: the keen editorial sensibilities of Catherine Dee, the creator, because it takes a wise collector to sift through the material of the ages and focus it at the hearts of young girls, tying together strands of advice and philosophy-contemporary and timeless-into a resource that communicates right there in their day-to-day language and lives. Targeted for an audience of young girls from about 9-16, it's a book I highly recommend for ALL ages. We moms of young adolescents are just lucky! We're discovering it first!

Tue, Nov 09 10:22:21 AM (PT)
From M. Graham in Livermore,CA :
One of the sheros in my life would have to be Eleanor Gaultier who lived in Michigan in a town so small that it barely made the map. She was my 4-H sewing leader for eight years. She was a wonderful seamstress, but that is not the passion I picked up from her. The school board at my elementary school decided that it would be more than okay for young girls to learn how to sew, and so it was approved that Friday mornings would be devoted to teaching sewing. During these sessions, Eleanor not only guided each of her girls on how to do all the mechanics in putting together a garment, she also showed tremendous patience while sharing with us her own spirituality and philosophy. She let us ask all the questions we wanted to ask and make all the observations that were at the tips of our tongues. In this little town that was symbolic of rural America during the 50's and early 60's, tolerance and respect for ideas and differences were frowned upon. Eleanor was a breath of fresh air who shared her wit, openness, and love for learning. She died of breast cancer in the mid-eighties. I cherish her memory.

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