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April's
Musings
Saturday, June 25, 2005
“Women I Admire”
I just had to think about this the other day: I was around so
many extraordinary women and I started mentally composing my
own list of women who I admire. When I do a quick glance at
my fresh list, one of the standout thoughts is how full of character
and individuality these women are. Somehow they have made an
impact in this world by using their character and their gifts.
It is their talents and their "them-ness," their own
evolved characters that they have used and really employed to
springboard their life commitments. To create their own careers,
neighborhoods, and style. They have made inspiring lives and
professions and differences in our world by being themselves,
only more so! They didn't make a difference by imitating someone
else; they made a difference by making the most of themselves.
By exploring their own talents, by teasing out the best of their
characters, by involving themselves in their neighborhoods,
companies, friends and families they have truly changed my world
and the world of many others. Some of these women are internationally
famous and well known, others are not. They are well known to
me however.
These are some of the women I admire:
 Rita
Mac Neil, singer Nova Scotia: Because she is a song story
teller and her voice and words and sentiment say Cape Breton
and Nova Scotia to me. Because her voice transports me to my
people in Cape Breton. Because she is Rita Mac Neil and not
a pretender. She also owns a tea shop in Big Pond Nova Scotia.
That's very down home. A cup of tea, dear?
Kavita Shah, Director of Concern India, New Delhi: Because
she is a doer in a world of sentiment and compassion. She leads
projects for the disadvantaged forward and understands her mission
to give a hand up to others. She identifies worthy projects
and monitors and guides their successes to help women, men,
children forward in life towards opportunity and improvement.
I admire her because she inspires young women and she is a model
for other Indian women to emulate. She also loves a good time,
a good laugh, a beautiful sari, and a good party.
 Kiran
Bedi, Chief of Police and United Nations Peace Keeper, New Delhi:
Because she made a difference in Delhi prisons, she humanized
them and stayed creative in her problem solving methods. From
mediation to crafts she has helped make the once notorious Delhi
Tihar Jail human and compassionate and a place of rehabilitation.
Because she reached out to the little victims, the children
of criminals. Because she started the gali schools, entry level
street schools in the slums. Because she has gone on to make
her influence felt in the United Nations. Because she plays
tennis. Because she is an example. Because she doesn’t
give up.
Holly Miller, Burlington VT: Because she is a philanthropist,
who opened my mind to giving locally, not just far away. Because
she made me understand that being asked to give is powerful,
and a privilege. Who would not want to be in the position of
being a giver? She understands stewardship and civic responsibility.
Because she has stayed the course of her institutional commitments,
with the investment of her money and TIME, she has seen the
results of change. Because she doesn't say "NO" to
listening. Because she knows how to laugh and enjoy life, and
then uses photography to show her art.
Goldie Hawn, USA, actress and mother: Because she is
funny and beautiful and because she loves India almost as much
as I do. And she loves her family. Because her parents and sister
meant so much to her, Because she puts 100 percent into her
movies, and because she has helped the whole world laugh, when
the whole world needs to. Because she is a respectable American
export that we can all be proud of.
Jane Fonda, Atlanta, USA: For her mystery and beauty
and ability to redefine herself in different roles. As she looks
for herself, she is herself, and we see the benefit of her search.
For making the movie Klute, complex, and gripping, and sexy.
Whoopie Goldberg, USA: For daring to show a different
and untypical young star's face in The Color Purple. For her
perfect urban style and intellect in Jumping Jack Flash and
her beautiful ghostly presence where she dares to be the black
lips of a dead white woman in "Ghost." For being herself,
and continuing to play roles that are funny and enriching.
Harpreet Sindhu, New Delhi, India: For directing my Indian
companies with style and guts for taking on challenges as opportunities
and knowing when to lead, and when to console, and when to follow.
For being mother and father, mentor and instructor to our Indian
team—from building a team of men and women from 5 to 800,
from communicating to the hand embroidery sewer to the VP of
IT. For jumping cultural fences with the skill of a diplomat.
Florence Janbroers, Victoria, BC: For being my mother
and the mother of my sisters and brother, for her hidden guidance,
for her understated emotional intelligence, for her always being
open to others, and her love of the everyday. For being a friend
to her grandchildren and for winning the love of her sons in
law. For always supporting men, as well as women. For creating
understanding and not conflict. For encouraging me, and supporting
my ideas. For playing bridge and painting with watercolors.
For having blue eyes.
Christine Thompson, Ontario: For being my grown-up neighbor,
and taking the time to teach me as a young girl to paint in
oils, while her small sons slept upstairs. Examples matter,
mentors make a difference.
Alexandra Fuller, USA author of Scribblin the Cat and Don’t
Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: For showing me the jumble
of her life in Africa, and in the meantime teaching me the African
story. For seeing the asset of her interesting family and extraordinary
life. For describing a place so perceptively that I recognize
it.
Amy Tan, California, USA: For expressing the immigrant
child's confusion of her own reality and the not-so-past family
ghosts. For showing me the culture of old China through the
eyes of a young American. For writing a children's story.
Billie Holliday, Singer of the Blues, USA, departed for the
true blue: For singing the blues, and having the raspy voice
of beauty and pain. For being romantic, and sexy, and troubled,
and real, and still successful.
Eileen Paulin, Writer, editor, and artist, California:
For sharing herself creatively and appreciating the talent,
and nurturing the talent of others. For her ability to reach
out to other artists and give them confidence. For her get-it-done
mind and her ballerina daughter.
Deborah Kehoe, Graphic designer, book designer, and artist,
Burlington Vermont: For nurturing and encouraging me. For
her warm and calming voice, and for her tales of her daughter
Livvie, who puts on her "thinking cap."
Jo Packham, Chapelle, Ogden, Utah: For being a leader
in the field of publishing, for developing a niche craft market.
For spotting talent, and nurturing the creativity of other women.
For having twin grandchildren.
Brenda Bowle Evans, Equestrian and teacher, Golden, British
Columbia: For raising horses and training children and challenging
herself daily in her own remote corner of the Rocky Mountains,
while holding at bay the monster of diabetes. She stitches and
paints and creates her own life, full of Brenda character and
laughter.
Kate Marshall, Doctor, Mother, Toronto, Ontario: Because
her four foot ten stature hides a clever doctor who is practical
and witty. Because she is an athlete, hockey player, and runner,
and because she ran herself through cancer with a marathon mentality,
and at the same time shows examples of crafty beauty in origami
birds and fish and flowers.
Moralea Milne, Specialist in endangered species of Vancouver
Island, Mechossein, Vancouver Island, Naturalist and a fierce
voice for native plants and a crusader against invasive species
on Vancouver Island: For being committed and determined
to save our ecosystem, while being awed and pleasured by it
too. For being funny and outrageous and thoughtful, a combination
that is as rare as a native flower!
Ann Landers, USA, columnist, deceased: For 40 years being
in my daily paper, and offering me advise and allowing me to
see into the lives of others. For changing as the world changed.
For trusting professionals, and recommending their help. I miss
her columns everyday.
And so much more to say next time!
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