Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Reba McEntire
Today Tuesday September 25, 2012 the WOD is Reba McEntire in honor of her celebrating 20yrs of Reba's Ranch House.
Reba Nell McEntire (Born March 28, 1955, in McAlester, Oklahoma) is an
American chart-topping, award-winning country music singer. She has also
acted in films, starred in her own sitcom and owns several businesses
with her husband and manager. Reba McEntire got her break singing the
national anthem at the 1974 rodeo finals. She recorded with Mercury and
MCA records, topped the country charts numerous times, and was crowned
the CMA's best female vocalist for four consecutive years.
I must
admit I love Reba, her fiery red hair, her spirit, her humor and her
enthusiasm for life even after the horrible tragedy of a charter plane
carrying eight members of her band crashed. There were no survivors, and
the accident left the singer stunned and reeling. She turned back to
her music and out of her grief came a bleak but immensely popular album,
For My Broken Heart, which she dedicated to her deceased bandmates. I
confess however, I was never a country fan growing up so I never heard
much of her music. Now, that has changed as of late, and I have grown to
appreciate the Country genre and I do enjoy Reba’s music.
The
reason I chose her for the WOD is that she has taken her celebrity and
given back to those in need, specifically to families of those seeking
life saving medical treatment. Reba's Ranch House, a service of the
Texoma Health Foundation is a home-away-from-home for families traveling
from out of town to be near loved ones who are hospitalized at Texoma
Medical Center. Families of all patients, including but not limited to
those hospitalized in the ICU, are welcome at the Ranch House. More than
24,000 guests representing over 8,800 families have found the comforts
of home at the Ranch House during their time of need. In lieu of a
nightly fee, donations are accepted to help ensure that Reba's Ranch
House continues to offer families a place of comfort and support, near
loved ones in the hospital.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Sister Simone Campbell
The
Awesome Woman of the Day for Wednesday, September 19, 2012 is Sister
Simone Campbell, catholic nun, one of the Nuns on the Bus.
http://youtu.be/K1Y34KOADxc
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
A brief biography of her can be found here http://data.rac.org/bt/
Sister Simone Campbell: Biography
Sister Simone Campbell, Executive Director of NETWORK since 2004, is a
religious leader, attorney and poet with extensive experience in public
policy and advocacy for systemic change. In Washington, she lobbies on
issues of peace building, health care, comprehensive immigration reform
and economic justice. Around the country, she is a noted speaker and
educator on these public policy issues.
Prior to coming to
NETWORK, Simone served as the Executive Director of JERICHO, the
California interfaith public policy organization that works like NETWORK
to protect the interests of people who are poor. Simone also
participated in a delegation of religious leaders to Iraq in December
2002, just prior to the invasion and on a delegation to Syria and
Lebanon in January 2008 to experience the Iraqi refugee crisis. Since
returning, she has spoken and written extensively on her experiences.
Before JERICHO, Simone served as the general director of her religious
community, the Sisters of Social Service. She was the leader of her
Sisters in the United States, Mexico, Taiwan and the Philippines. In
this capacity, she negotiated with government and religious leaders in
each of these countries.
In 1978, Simone founded and served for
18 years as the lead attorney for the Community Law Center in Oakland,
California. She served the family law and probate needs of the working
poor of her county.
Simone has her J.D. from the University of
California at Davis where she was an editor of the law review. Her B.A.
is from Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles, CA, where she graduated
with honors. (end quoted matter).
I apologize if she has been
profiled before; I know we’ve posted articles about the Nuns on the Bus
and their opposition to Paul Ryan’s budget.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Jacqueline Cochran
Today Tuesday September 18, 2012 the WOD is Jacqueline Cochran, a pioneer American aviator. (born approximately May, 1906 – August 9, 1980) She is considered to be one of the most gifted racing pilots of her generation. She was an important contributor to the formation of the wartime Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) and Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).
Her most distinguished aviation career began in 1932 when she obtained her pilot's license with only three weeks of instruction. From this time onward, her life was one of total dedication to aviation. After her first air race in 1934, she was respected by all for her competitive spirit and high skill. Her performance in the aviation events of the 1930's is legendary. Among her last flight activities was the establishment in 1964 of a record of 1,429 MPH in the F-104 Starfighter.
At the beginning of World War II, she became a Wing Commander in the British Auxiliary Transport Service ferrying U.S. built Hudson bombers to England. With the U.S. entry into the War, she offered her services to the Army Air Corps and formed the famed Women's Air Force Service Pilots. This group, more than 1000 strong played a major role in the delivery of aircraft to the combat areas throughout the world. For this service, she was awarded the U.S. Distinguished Service Medal.
Interestingly, Cochran also excelled in the cosmetics business, which she had continued to run. During the 1950s, the Associated Press voted her "Woman of the Year in Business" two years in a row. She also served as a board member for museums and nonprofit organizations. In the end, Jackie Cochran, one of the world's best pilots, influenced the world well beyond aviation. From the 1930s onward, she left an indelible mark on aviation history.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Dr. Mamphela Ramphele
The
Awesome Woman of the day for Wednesday, September 12, 2012, is Dr.
Mamphela Ramphele, South African Human Rights Activist, anthropologist,
medical doctor, author, and the lover of Steven Biko, who died 35 years
ago today, after being tortured and interrogated by police. http://youtu.be/2mNPhPPn_xU
http://youtu.be/qBRGLdWMgoM
An excellent biography of Dr. Ramphele can be found here http://www.africansuccess.org/
I struggle a bit with her belief in empowerment through capitalism and
especially with her activities with the World Bank. It rings all kinds
of victim-blaming and Stockholm Syndrome bells for me. On the other
hand, I think she is unquestionably a person of good faith and good
intention who has accomplished a staggering amount. She is
extraordinary. And awesome.
For more information:
http://
http://www.whoswho.co.za/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Clara Lemlich
In
honor of Lily Ledbetter’s speech last night, and Labor Day the day
before that, the Awesome Woman for Wednesday, September 5, 2012, is
Clara Lemlich (March 28, 1886 – July 12, 1982), U.S. advocate for
working women’s rights.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/
From the Jewish Women’s Archive (quote): Clara Lemlich was born in 1886
in Gorodok, Ukraine, to deeply religious parents. Like most girls, she
was taught Yiddish but was offered no further Jewish schooling. Her
parents were willing to send her to public school, but found that
Gorodok’s only school excluded Jews. Angered by the Russian government’s
antisemitism, her parents forbade her to speak Russian or to bring
Russian books into their home. The headstrong child continued her study
of Russian secretly, teaching Russian folk songs to older Jewish girls
in exchange for their volumes of Tolstoy, Gorky, and Turgenev.
Before she was in her teens, Clara was sewing buttonholes on shirts to
pay for her reading habit. Already fluent in written Yiddish, she
fattened her book fund by writing letters for illiterate mothers to send
to their children in America. When her father found a cache of books
hidden beneath a meat pan in the kitchen, he burned the whole lot and
Clara had to start collecting again. She began storing books in the
attic, where she would perch on a bare beam to read. One Sabbath
afternoon, while her family dozed, she was discovered by a neighbor. He
not only kept her secret, but lent her revolutionary tracts from his own
collection. By the time the Kishinev pogrom of 1903 convinced her
parents to immigrate to the United States, seventeen-year-old Clara was a
committed revolutionary. (endquote) http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/
Clara is probably best known for the speech she gave in Yiddish
exhorting her fellow garment workers to strike and inciting what became
known as the Uprising of 20,000.
From American Experience:
Clara Lemlich | Triangle Fire (quote): As she stood in front of
thousands of her fellow female workers at the Cooper Union in New York
City, speaking in her native Yiddish language, she demanded swift
action. "I am a working girl," proclaimed Lemlich. "One of those who are
on strike against intolerable conditions. I am tired of listening to
speakers who talk in general terms. What we are here for is to decide
whether we shall strike or shall not strike. I offer a resolution that a
general strike be declared now." After a prolonged roar of approval,
Lemlich and the thousands in attendance took a Yiddish oath to strike
the following day, pledging, "If I turn traitor to the cause I now
pledge, may this hand wither from the arm I now raise."
The
next morning, Lemlich and 15,000 factory workers stood in the streets of
New York to protest wages and working conditions. This strike, later
dubbed the Uprising of the Twenty Thousand, lasted for over two months
and transformed the culture of the industrial worker. Protestors won
concessions from several factories for fair wages and shorter hours.
Lemlich had not only started a protest, but she had also instigated a
worker's revolution.
… In 1913, Lemlich married Joe Shavelson, a
printer's union activist, and together they had three children. She
continued to speak on behalf of several causes, and she lead a
nationwide food strike in response to inflated prices during World War
I. Throughout the 1940's Lemlich served on the American Committee to
Survey Trade Union Conditions in Europe, and became an organizer for the
American League against War and Fascism. Due to her earlier involvement
in the Communist Party, Lemlich and her family were monitored by the
House of Un-American Activities Committee throughout the 1950s. Lemlich
officially retired from the ILGWU in 1954. She died on July 12, 1982.
(endquote)
From the New York Times (quote): Later in life, her
own union said she had not put enough time in for a pension. Living in a
nursing home, she urged the workers there to organize. In her 1965
letter, Mrs. Lemlich Shavelson concluded by writing, “In so far as I am
concerned, I am still at it.” (endquote). http://
Unlike most of the Awesome Women I profile, there is a ton of
information out there about Clara. She’s really something, and I highly
recommend reading more about her.
http://
http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/
http://icarusfilms.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Samantha Bee
Today Tuesday September 4, 2012 the AWU Woman of the Day is Samantha Bee. She is a correspondent for the Daily Show and is brilliant. Why is she the WOD? Because she has more balls than most men I know and she is entertaining as hell.
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