“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul. And sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.” —Emily Dickinson
Today, the Ides of March, will be witness to some of the most outstanding women that history has recorded. I came across a book published in 2016 entitled, “I am Woman…hope beauty inspiration.” Authors are Mary Sue Englund and Thom Shepherd. There are approximately 100 distinguished women are featured and some whose names we do not know, including the widows of the World Trade Center September 11, 2001 and a Holocaust survivor.
• Let us begin with Marie Curie. Polish scientist Madame Marie Sklodowska-Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in physics in 1903. She is quoted as saying that “Life is not easy for any of us, but what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves.”
Actress Lucille Ball was told to “go home” that she was wasting her mother’s money and that she had “no talent.” She pursued her dreams and became one of the most popular comediennes of her era. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for her motion-picture work and one for television.
Audrey Hepburn won each a Grammy, Emmy, Tony, and the Academy Award, and was a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF travelling the world on behalf of children in need. She said “For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others. For beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.”
Listed by Smithsonian magazine as one of the “100 Most Significant Americans of All Time” was Sojourner Truth. At age nine she was sold into slavery with a flock of sheep to a harsh and cruel landholder for $100. She bore five children and in 1826 she escaped to freedom with her infant daughter. She found work in New York City as a domestic. She spoke with a demand for equal human rights for all women and blacks. During the Civil War, she helped procure African American soldiers for the Union Army. She said that “Truth is powerful and it prevails.”
At age 47 Susan Boyle appeared on the television show “Britain’s Got Talent” and sang “I Dreamed a Dream.” She became an overnight star. She recalls that she was slightly brain-damaged at birth and she wanted people like herself to see they should not let a disability get in the way. “I want to turn my disability into ability.”
Coco Chanel was raised in an orphanage and was taught to sew by the nuns. She became a leading French fashion designer and women around the globe still wear her timeless designs and her signature perfume Chanel No. 5. Coco said that “How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something, but to be someone.”
Christa McAuliffe and six other astronauts lost their lives when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after takeoff January 28, 1986. She held as her motto “Reach for the stars.”
This book contains portraits of many other well-known names including Hellen Keller, Queen Elizabeth, Vivien Leigh, Anne Frank, Florence Nightingale, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Grandma Moses.
I actually found this beautiful book on the “Friday Freebies” cart at the Eola Public Library. It completely escapes me why this book was put there and not still on the Library shelves. There is a CD attached with the song “I Am a Woman.” This book is valuable and worth the read.