I've hesitated to write about successful women who are alive today because I take liberties with the way I think about and present successful women. I read many biographies of women and there are a lot of choices they make that I do not like. I am not a true biographer, I do not share all the lessons that successful women can show us, often I emphasize their strengths and struggles as I recognize them to be issues women are struggling with today.
With modern women I worry that I will horribly represent them because I find the reporting on celebrities and/or successful modern women dubious. Perhaps I am afraid of an angry phone call or email. Yet there are some women today who one cannot continue to overlook, especially if you are talking about success, in this case, the Queen of Success, Oprah.
I just watched Oprah Unauthorized (2007). Surprisingly the DVD I rented from my library looked as pristine as some of the DVDs I request on obscure women. It was a wonderful video that raised me out of my chair and left me ranting "Oprah, Oprah, Oprah." I don't normally act this way, even when I am excited but the enthusiasm of the people interviewed in this documentary and the list of her hundreds of accomplishments brought tears to my eyes. How exciting to see someone create such an extraordinary life. It makes me wonder why she is so rare.
The praise that resonated to me the most was that "Oprah is always true to herself." Several people said that she always did what she thought was right and created what was true to her. This uncompromising commitment to herself and her ideals and expectations of life is why almost everyone in the world loves her, or at least admits that she is likeable. Oprah’s lifestyle proves to us that you can truly listen to others, be there for them and make yourself successful and be true to yourself – all at the same time. My question is, are we up for the challenge?
About the author: Allison Frederick is a writer and online marketing educator for other creative women. www.FaMissWomen.com offers free Web 2.0 resources. She is also the author of an upcoming novel, A Portrait of Josephine, an academic-lite thriller. Find out how to receive a free copy of the novel by visiting www.portraitofjosephine.com
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Englewood Author’s Novel Inspired by Colorado Castle Owner
A Scottish castle brimming with European antiques is not what you would expect to see in Northern Douglas County. Nor would you expect to run into over 3,000 acres of pristine undeveloped land just east of Castle Pines Village. Even odder, this castle and the land was owned and governed by a Southern belle who raised cattle.
Colorado's beauty and sunny days attract all sorts of people with interesting pasts and Tweet Kimble brought her life steeped in European culture to our Rocky Mountain State.
Englewood author Corinne Joy Brown was one of the last writers to interview Tweet before she died in 1999. Tweet's character was so strong and so fascinating to Corinne that Tweet served as the inspiration for her historic novel "MacGregor's Lantern." The castle Tweet owned was modeled after Scottish castles. During the research for Corinne's book, Corinne discovered that the Scots dominated in the ranching industry in Colorado and Wyoming. It may have been this influence that encouraged the castle design at Cherokee Ranch.
Maggie Dowling is the main character in MacGregor's Lantern. Her determination is reminiscent of the stories people still tell about Tweet Kimble. Maggie moved out West, accepting an engagement proposal from one of her father's clients. She expected adventure, which she certainly encountered but it wasn’t packaged the way she expected.
Many women during the late 1800’s also traveled west with their husbands or to meet up with their fiancés and many found the western frontier too difficult to bear so they returned home. Returning home was never an option in Maggie's mind. She committed to the decision and for better or worse, she was going to see that decision through. This story combines independence and determination with usual western flair.
I love reading stories about strong, determined women, so I gladly encourage you to MacGregor's Lantern by Corinne Joy Brown.
If you live in Colorado or when you plan a visit, make sure you take a tour of Cherokee Castle and Ranch. When Tweet passed away she left her house, land, antiques, and legend as a nonprofit treasure open for tours, educational programs, weddings and other parties. You can enter her estate just off Highway 85 and find yourself in a world of impressive views, Native American Indian heritage, European antiques and Colorado wildlife.
Successful Women Share Their Secrets
About the author: Allison Frederick is a writer and online marketing educator for other creative women. www.FaMissWomen.com offers free Web 2.0 resources. She is also the author of an upcoming novel, A Portrait of Josephine, an academic-lite thriller. Find out how to receive a free copy of the novel by visiting www.portraitofjosephine.com
Colorado's beauty and sunny days attract all sorts of people with interesting pasts and Tweet Kimble brought her life steeped in European culture to our Rocky Mountain State.
Englewood author Corinne Joy Brown was one of the last writers to interview Tweet before she died in 1999. Tweet's character was so strong and so fascinating to Corinne that Tweet served as the inspiration for her historic novel "MacGregor's Lantern." The castle Tweet owned was modeled after Scottish castles. During the research for Corinne's book, Corinne discovered that the Scots dominated in the ranching industry in Colorado and Wyoming. It may have been this influence that encouraged the castle design at Cherokee Ranch.
Maggie Dowling is the main character in MacGregor's Lantern. Her determination is reminiscent of the stories people still tell about Tweet Kimble. Maggie moved out West, accepting an engagement proposal from one of her father's clients. She expected adventure, which she certainly encountered but it wasn’t packaged the way she expected.
Many women during the late 1800’s also traveled west with their husbands or to meet up with their fiancés and many found the western frontier too difficult to bear so they returned home. Returning home was never an option in Maggie's mind. She committed to the decision and for better or worse, she was going to see that decision through. This story combines independence and determination with usual western flair.
I love reading stories about strong, determined women, so I gladly encourage you to MacGregor's Lantern by Corinne Joy Brown.
If you live in Colorado or when you plan a visit, make sure you take a tour of Cherokee Castle and Ranch. When Tweet passed away she left her house, land, antiques, and legend as a nonprofit treasure open for tours, educational programs, weddings and other parties. You can enter her estate just off Highway 85 and find yourself in a world of impressive views, Native American Indian heritage, European antiques and Colorado wildlife.
Successful Women Share Their Secrets
About the author: Allison Frederick is a writer and online marketing educator for other creative women. www.FaMissWomen.com offers free Web 2.0 resources. She is also the author of an upcoming novel, A Portrait of Josephine, an academic-lite thriller. Find out how to receive a free copy of the novel by visiting www.portraitofjosephine.com
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Author Donates Royalties to Stop Dam Building
India has undergone many dam projects as have many other developing countries. Foreign investment, flood control, irrigation canals, and energy production are the cited reasons for dam construction but critics claim that the devastation to the human population living in the flood zones and the ecological damage, as well as statistics stating historical dam projects provide significantly less energy output as expected, encourage extreme resistance to dam construction.
In India, massive protests in the form of hunger strikes, and donations of book royalties from famous Indian writer Arundhati Roy* keep this debate in the news.
Book Review: "Power Politics", 2001, author Arundhati Roy, Indian female writer (also author of famous novel "The God of Small Things"
This book is a series of essays exploring water dam building and energy production in India, political response to September 11, 2001 in expectation of a U.S. war with Afghanistan, and free speech.
One essay from the book is called "The Reincarnation of Rumpelstiltskin." Roy provides statistics and arguments against the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Indian citizens who lived and farmed on lands where the Indian government wanted to flood in the construction of dams. Resistance against dams, the overall ecological damage being the primary grounds of argument, is a common one in the United States; however, in most cases, a dam displaces few people.
Roy opens our eyes to the plight of thousands and thousands of people living in India, most of them already poor and with little political influence who are forced to leave their homes and try to find a new way to support themselves. I am not in a position to assure you of the accuracy of her statistics and statistics can always be manipulated, but her image of the conditions of the displaced is well worth being aware of.
The Sardar Sarovar dam in India was fiercely debated. One website described one of the resettlement villages for the people who were displaced by this dam.
"The sites, severely lacking basic infrastructure such as sewage and irrigation facilities, can themselves hardly be called villages. Yet since the mid-1990s, these sites have been home to 80 families who once lived in the now-submerged village of Makhekheda. Nearly 12,000 other families live in sites that pass as villages off similar unnavigable roads across Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. These families, who had their land and livelihoods submerged as a result of the 360-foot high Sardar Sarovar dam, dot the unseen landscape of the Sardar Sarovar project."**
Statistics of the people affected vacillate wildly between 50,000 to 1 million*** however, to the families involved, the gravity of their situation is barely affected by a massive number of neighbors. For these families, they are forced to promptly create a new way of earning a living and rewrite traditions that may be generations old. The hunger strikes and protests against these dam projects may reside more with people rehabilitation and perhaps less on the ecological damage or even the economic necessity. Critics also claim that many of the dam projects end up providing only a fraction of the amount of energy intended.****
Arundhati Roy
I sought out her work because an essay I was reading said that Roy believes that individuals should take responsibility for themselves and stop claiming to be a victim. Few people feel this way today as many of us are tempted to blame the government, parents, spouses, or society for our own shortcomings. "Power Politics" is her only book I’ve read so far. Further research into her work leaves me impressed at her forthrightness, clarity of purpose, and commitment to others. She has been widely criticized for her actions and has also been taken to court. In response to criticism, she said:
"I am hysterical. I'm screaming from the bloody rooftops. And he and his smug little club are going 'Shhhh... you'll wake the neighbours!' I want to wake the neighbours, that's my whole point. I want everybody to open their eyes".*****
Is there an issue you feel passionate about? Have you been contributing to the solution? Have you turned your passion into commitment?
Looking for more?
The International Day of Action Against Dams For Rivers, Water, and Life
Narmada River project – problems and solutions – evaluates Indian dam project calling for 3,000 dams on the Narmada River.
Cited sources
*Arundhati Roy donates book royalties
**”Dam-Affected Resettlement in India: A Photo Essay” by Chhandasi Pandya, April 29, 2006
***”Dam-Affected Resettlement in India: A Photo Essay” by Chhandasi Pandya, April 29, 2006
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10177
****Dams do not provide expected energy output
*****Arundhati Roy quote : SCIMITARS IN THE SUN, Frontline, Volume 18 - Issue 01, Jan. 06 - 19, 2001
About the author: Allison Frederick is a writer and online marketing educator for other creative women. www.FaMissWomen.com offers free Web 2.0 resources. She is also the author of an upcoming novel, A Portrait of Josephine, an academic-lite thriller. Find out how to receive a free copy of the novel by visiting www.portraitofjosephine.com
In India, massive protests in the form of hunger strikes, and donations of book royalties from famous Indian writer Arundhati Roy* keep this debate in the news.
Book Review: "Power Politics", 2001, author Arundhati Roy, Indian female writer (also author of famous novel "The God of Small Things"
This book is a series of essays exploring water dam building and energy production in India, political response to September 11, 2001 in expectation of a U.S. war with Afghanistan, and free speech.
One essay from the book is called "The Reincarnation of Rumpelstiltskin." Roy provides statistics and arguments against the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Indian citizens who lived and farmed on lands where the Indian government wanted to flood in the construction of dams. Resistance against dams, the overall ecological damage being the primary grounds of argument, is a common one in the United States; however, in most cases, a dam displaces few people.
Roy opens our eyes to the plight of thousands and thousands of people living in India, most of them already poor and with little political influence who are forced to leave their homes and try to find a new way to support themselves. I am not in a position to assure you of the accuracy of her statistics and statistics can always be manipulated, but her image of the conditions of the displaced is well worth being aware of.
The Sardar Sarovar dam in India was fiercely debated. One website described one of the resettlement villages for the people who were displaced by this dam.
"The sites, severely lacking basic infrastructure such as sewage and irrigation facilities, can themselves hardly be called villages. Yet since the mid-1990s, these sites have been home to 80 families who once lived in the now-submerged village of Makhekheda. Nearly 12,000 other families live in sites that pass as villages off similar unnavigable roads across Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. These families, who had their land and livelihoods submerged as a result of the 360-foot high Sardar Sarovar dam, dot the unseen landscape of the Sardar Sarovar project."**
Statistics of the people affected vacillate wildly between 50,000 to 1 million*** however, to the families involved, the gravity of their situation is barely affected by a massive number of neighbors. For these families, they are forced to promptly create a new way of earning a living and rewrite traditions that may be generations old. The hunger strikes and protests against these dam projects may reside more with people rehabilitation and perhaps less on the ecological damage or even the economic necessity. Critics also claim that many of the dam projects end up providing only a fraction of the amount of energy intended.****
Arundhati Roy
I sought out her work because an essay I was reading said that Roy believes that individuals should take responsibility for themselves and stop claiming to be a victim. Few people feel this way today as many of us are tempted to blame the government, parents, spouses, or society for our own shortcomings. "Power Politics" is her only book I’ve read so far. Further research into her work leaves me impressed at her forthrightness, clarity of purpose, and commitment to others. She has been widely criticized for her actions and has also been taken to court. In response to criticism, she said:
"I am hysterical. I'm screaming from the bloody rooftops. And he and his smug little club are going 'Shhhh... you'll wake the neighbours!' I want to wake the neighbours, that's my whole point. I want everybody to open their eyes".*****
Is there an issue you feel passionate about? Have you been contributing to the solution? Have you turned your passion into commitment?
Looking for more?
The International Day of Action Against Dams For Rivers, Water, and Life
Narmada River project – problems and solutions – evaluates Indian dam project calling for 3,000 dams on the Narmada River.
Cited sources
*Arundhati Roy donates book royalties
**”Dam-Affected Resettlement in India: A Photo Essay” by Chhandasi Pandya, April 29, 2006
***”Dam-Affected Resettlement in India: A Photo Essay” by Chhandasi Pandya, April 29, 2006
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10177
****Dams do not provide expected energy output
*****Arundhati Roy quote : SCIMITARS IN THE SUN, Frontline, Volume 18 - Issue 01, Jan. 06 - 19, 2001
About the author: Allison Frederick is a writer and online marketing educator for other creative women. www.FaMissWomen.com offers free Web 2.0 resources. She is also the author of an upcoming novel, A Portrait of Josephine, an academic-lite thriller. Find out how to receive a free copy of the novel by visiting www.portraitofjosephine.com
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