Dear Followers, The two women pictured above represent a great political story for our time. The woman on the left is Kirsten E. Gillibrand, who was appointed to fill Hillary Clinton's New York Senate by then-governor David A. Paterson. And thanks to her deep-seated belief that more women need to participate in government (7: Magnificent Obsession), the woman on the right (Terri Sewell) ran for a House seat in Alabama, won the election, and … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Many of us first fell in love with Jill Scott when we watched her performance as Precious Ramotswe in Anthony Minghella's HBO adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith's "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency." The seven-part series, set in Botswana, was co-funded by the BBC and HBO. Scott played a wise, gentle (and very effective) detective, Scott was raised by her mother and grandmother in North Philadelphia (1: No Paternal Safety … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, As most of you already know, I'm a huge fan of Gail Collins, who was the first female member of the New York Times' editorial board. In the past, I've shared with you my great admiration for her amazing book "America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines," as well as her more recent best seller "When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present." Both books are … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Usually I learn about my blog subjects from media sources. But my dear friend (and author) Donna Brown Agins, introduced me to the inspiring story of Irena Krzyzanowska Sendler, a Polish Roman Catholic (3. Belief in the Unbelievable) social worker who became known as "the female Oskar Schindler." Sendler was born in 1910. Her father was a physician who treated many Jewish patients whom other doctors would not treat, and … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Today, instead of focusing on one woman's story, I'd like to introduce you to a man who had a positive effect on countless lives. Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin was born November 12 (Yay, Scorpio), 1833 in St. Petersburg, Russia. His mother was the mistress of a Georgian nobleman (Prince Luka Simonis dze Gedevanishvili) and had three illegitimate sons by him, one of whom was Alexander. At that time (and in that culture, … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Five years ago I was one of the millions of American women addicted to Sarah Ban Breathnach's wildly popular book Simple Abundance, which became a massive New York Times best-seller. A week ago, I decided to treat myself to Peace and Plenty, her new book about finding one's path to financial serenity. It was written, in part, to share the story of how she essentially lost her marriage, her money and her home, but learned to … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, In 2009, mezzo soprano Barbara Smith Conrad was honored by the Texas legislature in the state Capitol. Hundreds of people stood and honored the woman who had once been at the center of a Texas Civil Rights controversy. Conrad, who was born Barbara Smith, entered the University of Texas in 1956, which was the first year that African American students were allowed to attend the school. The next year, Conrad (who is African … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Last year, Good Housekeeping Magazine named Eve Ensler one of the "125 Women Who Changed Our World." Why? Because among other accomplishments (she is an activist, author, performer, philanthropist and playwright) she created THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES, which has been translated into 48 languages and performed in over 140 countries. Today, Ensler's activist movement (V-Day), which supports anti-violence against women and girls, has … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Today's post, just like #82, is not about a particular woman, but is about an important issue that should be of interest to all of us. Thanks to New York Times contributor Noam Cohen, I learned that out of Wikipedia's hundreds of thousands of contributors only 13% are female. The Wikipedia Foundation discovered this lopsided statistic thanks to a study by a joint center of the United Nations University and Maastricht … [Read more...]

Dear Followers, Back in August (Blog #76) you learned about the tragic story of an 18-year-old Afghan woman who had been disfigured by her angry husband and his vengeful family. Bibi Aisha had been the victim of a "Baad," which is a tribal custom of using young daughters to settle disputes between angry opponents. When she was a little girl, Bibi Aisha's mother died, and her father (Hajji Muhommed Zai) offered Aisha and her younger sister as … [Read more...]