photo by Jamie Sabau, Getty Images

Back in February 2010, I posted a story about a young woman who stood 5-foot-8 and weighed 350 pounds. She’d played on the offensive line of her high school’s football team before going off to college. The reason I featured Holley Mangold was because of a video I’d seen of her. What caught my eye was the not her performance but the title. It wasn’t: “Hey this girl is amazing!” or “A girl playing football with guys? No way!” The person who posted the link to the video focused only on Holley’s size.

There’s no question Holley Mangold is BIG. She’s the first girl in Ohio’s history to play a down from the line of scrimmage. She’s also the first girl to play in the state championship game.

Holley’s size has been a plus in many ways. Rather than being an oddity she is now among a select, elite group of athletes. She recently earned a place on the 2012 US Olympic Team. The 22-year-old Mangold won a place on the U.S. Olympic women’s weightlifting team in the super heavyweight division when she hoisted 319 pounds in the clean-and-jerk competition.

Holley Mangold is an inspiration is so many ways, not least of which is to demonstrate that a woman’s physical size should not be seen as a detriment.

To read more inspirational stories about women buy my book Living in the Heartland: Three Extraordinary Women’s Stories on Amazon.com.

Photo from http://www.katerishrine.com

Kateri Tekakwitha has been inspiring and healing others for almost 400 years. Soon this Native American woman will be officially recognized as a saint. Pope Benedict XVI announced in February that he will canonize Tekakwitha on October 21, 2012.

Kateri Tekakwitha was born in the year 1656 in an area that is now identified as northern New York. Tekakwitha’s mother, an Algonquin, was baptized and educated by French missionaries. As a young child Tekakwitha contracted smallpox, a disease brought to America by Europeans. The epidemic killed much of her family and scarred her face. It is said Tekakwitha, a shy woman, wore a blanket over her head to hide her face from the view of others.

Her Christian mother gave Tekakwitha a rosary. Tekakwitha’s uncle, however, discouraged the girl from religious conversion. Tekakwitha chose to follow her mother’s path and at the age of 20 she was baptized by a Jesuit priest. Tekakwitha led a devote life occasionally sleeping on bed strewn with thorns and praying for her conversion and forgiveness for her non-Christian kinsmen.

The Catholic Church requires the proof of two miracles before the determination is made to canonize a person. One miracle is that Tekakwitha’s smallpox scars are alleged to have vanished before her death. Another miracle occurred in 2006. A five-year-old boy Washington State boy had developed a deadly flesh-eating strep infection. He lay near death for months at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Kateri is much revered by some Native Americans, and the prayers of the boy’s family and others have been attributed to the boy’s recovery.

Church historian Matthew Bunson, co-author of a biography of Tekakwitha, Mystic in the Wilderness, writes that Native American Catholics were once doubly ostracized – for their culture and for their faith, His book will be reissued in 2012 with the title Saint Tekakwitha: Glory of Many Nations.
Another American woman also from New York state will be canonized in 2012. Marianne Cope, a German-born Sister of St. Francis, took over the care of lepers in Hawaii after the death of recently canonized St. Damian.

To read more inspirational stories about women buy my book Living in the Heartland: Three Extraordinary Women’s Stories on Amazon.com.

Sandra Fluke, a third-year student at Georgetown Law School, has been in the headlines recently, less for what she had to say, and more about what a conservative radio show commenter said about her.  The tumult began when Rush Limbaugh called Fluke a prostitute and a slut. Why? Because Fluke testified to congressional Democrats in support of their national health care policy that would compel her Catholic college’s health plan to cover birth control.

Fluke’s testimony was not a simple plea to make birth control free for college students but a request for women to be treated equally. Fluke said that Catholic women “expected that our schools would live up to the Jesuit creed of ‘cura personalis’– to care for the whole person – by meeting all of our medical needs. We expected that when we told our universities of the problem this policy created for us as students, they would help us. We expected that when 94% of students oppose the policy the university would respect our choices regarding insurance students pay for – completely unsubsidized by the university. We did not expect that women would be told in the national media that we should have gone to school elsewhere.”

Her comments were met with abusive language by Limbaugh. In April 2007 when Don Imus used such derogatory language against the Rutgers University women’s basketball team, because many had tattoos, he lost his job the next day. Limbaugh still has his job, although a few advertisers have dropped support from his show. Unfortunately, he still has many more so his program is not in danger of being pulled from the air. The wrist slap Limbaugh received demonstrates that sexism isn’t a REAL issue for conservatives. Women’s rights to protect themselves from rape, physical abuse, human slavery (aka human trafficking) and basic health care are all under attack.

Other women are making statements drawing attention to the inequities of women in the United States.

Lawyer Gloria Allred sent a letter to the Palm County Attorney’s Office calling the prosecutor’s attention to a still valid 19th century law that makes it a misdemeanor to impugn a woman’s chastity. Limbaugh lives and broadcasts from Palm Beach in Palm County.

Illinois State Rep. Kelly Cassidy has proposed an amendment to a state mandatory ultrasound bill. Her amendment would require men watch a graphic video about the side effects of Viagra before legally being able to receive a prescription for it. Cassidy said she wanted gender equity to the Ultrasound Opportunity Act proposed in the Illinois State House. The ultrasound bill would require women to undergo an invasive, medically unnecessary, ultrasound procedure before an abortion. Cassidy said her proposal should not be dismissed as a merely symbolic “protest amendment.”

Other female lawmakers who has introduced a gender-equity amendment is Wilmington, Del. City Councilwoman Loretta Walsh. She has authored a resolution that declares “each ‘egg person’ and each ‘sperm person’ … equal in the eyes of the government.” Oklahoma Sen. Constance Johnson has proposed a spilled semen amendment to the state’s fetal personhood bill. It would declare it an act against unborn children for men to waste sperm. Virginia Senator Janet Howell has introduced an amendment making it mandatory to require men to have a rectal exam before being prescribed Viagra. Her amendment has not been officially attached to the ultrasound bill, but she hopes that it will get its point across either way.

It is time women made their voices be heard, now if we can just get people to listen and take us seriously. The conservatives want the government out of their pockets; I want the government to keep its hands OFF and OUT of my body.

Photo by Sue Jaye Johnson

On February 12, 2012 Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorium said on CNN that he had concerns about women in front-line combat roles. He said “I think that could be a very compromising situation.”

Four days later NASCAR driver Danica Patrick asked the media why they can’t find a nonsexual way to refer to her.

” If there is a pretty girl, (reporters) don’t know how to describe her other than being sexy. It has such a negative connotation to it. You don’t say those kinds of things to frame it like that for a guy or even sometimes talk about it, but it seems like with female athletes, if they are pretty, (reporters) only know how to describe them in a sexual way. I don’t care, but I just wonder why we can’t talk about it in a different way.”

Women’s abilities are called into question on many fronts. A select corps of women is fighting back. On the home front is 16-year-old Claressa Shields, a high school student and middleweight boxer from Flint, Mich. She is the youngest American competing for a place on the U.S. Olympic women’s boxing team. This is the inaugural year for women’s boxing at the Olympics. The 2012 Olympics will be held this summer in London, England.

Claressa started boxing at the age of 11. When Claressa asked her dad to teach her he replied that boxing was a man’s sport. This made his little girl mad. She didn’t give up, eventually her father finally gave in. Claressa has an undefeated boxing record of 19-0. But her spot on the American Olympic team didn’t come easily. At the Olympic trials in Spokane, Washington Claressa had to compete against women almost a decade older and much more experienced than she.

As remarkable or more than Claressa’s story are Afghani teenagers Shabnam, 18, and her sister, Sadaf Rahimi, 17.  Their gym is ill equipped, but they fight on preparing for the tough qualification matches to be held in China prior to the Olympics. Claressa also will have to succeed in China if she wants to be invited to compete at the 2012 Summer Games.

The young Afghani women and their coach have faced dodged more than punches; they’ve had death threats. Afghani women under the Taliban rule were banned from playing sports. There are still factions against women participating in public athletic matches. Shabnam and Sadaf have done well in international competition, but  the most important victory for these young women may be the opportunity to bring pride to Afghanistan and demonstrate to the world the power of the country’s women.

To read more inspirational stories about women buy my book Living in the Heartland: Three Extraordinary Women’s Stories on Amazon.com.

Photo by Anna Artemeva/AFP/Getty Images

These women are making a name for themselves. Pussy Riot is one of the latest symbols of young Russian discontent.

“Revolt in Russia – the charisma of protest

Revolt in Russia, Putin’s got scared!”

The all-female punk band formed as a way to creatively protest among other things Vladimir Putin’s intention to replace Dmitry Medvedev as President. Medvedev will swap posts with Putin who is currently Prime Minister.

The women wear colorful balaclavas, ski masks, at all times. Not only does it protect them from reprisals but demonstrates they could be any Russian citizen.

They chose to play punk music as a way to energize other protesters. Like their counterparts in the Middle East, these Russian women feel the political system in their country is broken.  They also want women’s rights to be part of a new agenda. The lyrics to another one of their protest songs:

“Egyptian air is good for the lungs
“Do Tahrir on Red Square!”

The gals have been arrested, but have thus far not been subjected to police brutality.

And, what have you done to protest the broken state of politics in the United States?

To read more inspirational stories about women buy my book Living in the Heartland: Three Extraordinary Women’s Stories on Amazon.com.

Photo from somethingawful.com

Divide and conquer. It’s an old phrase; some say dating back more than 2000 years. Who is responsible for the phrase is unimportant, the meaning, however, IS. Divide and conquer refers to a strategy for gaining or maintaining power. One way to divide and conquer is to undermine a powerful alliance, break it into smaller groups that aren’t as effective at getting a job done. Another way to divide and conquer is to prevent small groups from joining forces to become a single powerful force.

Women as a political entity have long been subjected to this strategy, but on occasion women have demonstrated their power to unite. One of the most notable in recent American history was during the years leading up to the enactment of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. Prohibition. Author Daniel Okrent in his book  Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition explains the importance of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union to the passage of Prohibition. Woman took to the streets to protest the saloon culture, a culture that fostered drinking. Household funds could be squandered during alcohol consumptions.  Other negative consequences of saloon culture were domestic violence and the spread of venereal disease. Saloons were attached to brothels.

Suffragist Susan B. Anthony was a long-time Prohibitionist, but she did not embrace the bigotry of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Yet, she decided to form an alliance with them. Why? She reasoned that an alliance with WCTU would eventually increase the cause of suffrage tenfold. Anthony efforts launched a women’s rights movement that grew in size, power and momentum until the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified. Women finally won the right to vote. Along the way women also earned the right to be admitted to college, inherit property, and obtain guardianship of their own children.

Today, there are many political forces working to divide and conquer women. What’s at stake this time is women’s health. Here are a few examples:

• Although organizations like Susan G. Komen for the Cure say their missions are apolitical and aimed at finding cures for women’s diseases it seems they DO have a political agenda. In the case of Komen, an organization supposedly dedicated to finding a cure to eradicate breast cancer, they defunded breast cancer prevention, screenings and education at Planned Parenthood health centers. PP health centers are often the only provider of breast cancer prevention services for low-income and uninsured women. PP of Southwest Ohio, for example, provided more than 8,000 clinical breast exams. Women with abnormal screenings were referred to local healthcare providers for follow-up and diagnosis.

Another aspect of Komen’s activities hasn’t yet received much attention. Despite raising millions of dollars for breast cancer research Komen hasn’t funded stem cell research. Rose Marie Robertson, chief science officer at the American Heart Association, acknowledged that embryonic stem cells could lead to breakthroughs for the many illnesses, and her organization supports federal funding of the research.

Stem cell research could study the genetic causes of breast cancer, decipher the basic biology of breast cancer tumors and lead to new drugs to treat the disease. Komen won’t fund it. The breast cancer organization with a mission to find a cure denies politics has anything to do with their lack of support.

• Women’s access to family planning is also under siege. This isn’t an abortion issue. This is about condoms, spermacides, and birth control pills. Mill Romney is trying to divide and conquer by politicizing that the White House wants to assault religious freedom. As there are no women running for President it isn’t likely we’ll hear how a lack of access to family planning services is an assault on women’s rights. What freedom do women have if they have no access to safe methods to prevent pregnancy? What kind of life can she be expected to have if she has no money to pay for prenatal care, daycare, or other basic health and services for the child(ren) she had not wanted to conceive but was forced to because she had no access to family planning? Do you imagine women will have an easier time finding gainful employment or time to go college? Do you think women will have more or less opportunities open to them as a result?

There are a few signs suggest that a new women’s movement may be taking shape. For instance:

• A high-ranking official at the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation resigned from the fallout of the charity’s initial, but since reversed, halt to funding breast cancer screening by Planned Parenthood.

• A survey released by Public Policy Polling finds 53 percent of Catholic voters and 63 percent of women want their access to affordable birth control protected.

What would it take for you to stand up for your rights as a woman? Is there an issue affect women’s rights that you wish more women would stand up against now?

AP photo

It’s one thing to accept total responsibility for yourself, but there’s far more self-reliance and strength of character involved when you’ve undertaken an adventure nearly two months long, alone, and trekking nearly blind in the vast, cold region of Antarctica.

In January Felicity Aston became the first woman to ski across the southernmost continent. Even more remarkable is that she did it alone. Felicity became the first human to ski solo across Antarctica. Not only did she ski more than 1,000 miles without the aid of motorized equipment but she pulled two sleds loaded with supplies.

Felicity faced many obstacles: the cold, the isolation, blizzards where she couldn’t see her own skies, and a deadline. She had to complete the journey before winter when conditions are even harsher. Felicity would really be isolated then, because most people leave Antarctica as winter approaches. South of the equator it’s summer in January. It’s because the South Pole of Earth is tilted toward the sun. Because the North Pole is tilted away at this time of year, residents of the United States, Canada, China, Russia, and France, for example, are experiencing winter.

The 34-year British woman is no stranger to subzero weather. Trained in physics and meteorology Felicity has worked in Antarctica for the British weather service. She’s also led ski trips in Antarctic, the Arctic and Greenland.

Felicity’s 59-day trip began along the Ross Ice Shelf, then up the Leverett Glacier, across the Transantarctic Mountains into the Antarctica’s central plateau where she fought headwinds as she advanced to the South Pole. From the Pole she headed toward Hercules Inlet and her final destination, a base camp providing support for other summer Antarctic expeditions.

Have you ever contemplated a personal challenge? What would it be? One of my personal challenges was hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon with a backpack and a sleeping bag. It may not compare with Felicity’s in terms of grand challenges, but it was personally satisfying and memorable. A salute to all the women who have exercised their strength of character, and a hug of encouragement to all those who are have yet to take the first step.

To read more inspirational stories about women buy my book Living in the Heartland: Three Extraordinary Women’s Stories on Amazon.com.

AP photo

AP Photo

17-year-old Samantha Garvey is in the running for a national prestigious science award. 300 teenagers across the country have been named this year as semifinalists in the Intel science competition; so Samantha is, indeed, a member of a select group. But I wonder how many of these intelligent, dedicated, and creative kids also have been homeless?

Samantha’s family has experienced hard times since her mother a nurse’s assistant was involved in a car accident. Because her father’s salary had not been enough to keep up with the bills, the family was evicted from their rental home over the holidays. This is not the first time the Garvey’s have had to live in a homeless shelter.

In spite of her family’ problems Samantha has stayed focused on her goal to become a marine biologist. She has spent more than two years studying the effects of an Asian crab population on the mussels in a local marsh.

Clearly, the teenager hasn’t allowed her family’s economic problems to dampen her hopes for a brighter future. Samantha, a high school senior, has applied to several Ivy League universities.

Whether she wins the Intel award or gains acceptance to Brown or Yale, Samantha has already received one piece of good news. The county’s social services agency has found a home for her family to rent at subsidized rents.

Samantha’s story like my Jan. 10 story about Lateefah Simon are evidence that teenagers can be accomplished when they have the mind to accomplish something. Adults who harbor negative stereotypes of teenagers and young adults are no less disrespectful and hurtful than those who maintain them about senior citizens. Adults need to be more mindful that the issues of the day (i.e., a sluggish economy, a contracted job market, overstretched social services, and an increase in the working poor) affects everyone including the young. Let’s support each other and find inspiration and hope in those who rise about their situation.

To read more inspirational stories about women buy my book Living in the Heartland: Three Extraordinary Women’s Stories on Amazon.com.

Photo Victoria Janashvili

PLUS Model Magazine, according to an article by Tamara Abraham for the United Kingdom-based online blog Daily Mail, has sparked controversy. See if you can guess what the controversy is from the accompanying photograph. This photograph is meant to illustrate the magazine’s claim that most runway models meet the criteria for anorexia based on their Body Mass Index.

The brash photographs of model Katya Zharkva allegedly are aimed to encourage plus-size consumers to pressure retailers to stop promoting skinny ideals. Katya, 28, is considered a PLUS size model because she wears a size 12.

A 2009 Huffington Post article noted iconic American beauty Marilyn Monroe was a size 8 during most of her career and in her “plumper” stages was a size 10. But I also heard a story that demonstrates us the real Monroe was perceived. In a National Public Radio interview a photographer and friend of Monroe recounted a time when she and Marilyn hopped into a taxi. The driver noted the resemblance of Marilyn who wasn’t wearing makeup to the movie star Marilyn Monroe. He told Marilyn she’d be a dead ringer if she’d lose some weight!

In another PLUS Model Magazine photograph of Zharkva she holds a tape measure across her rear. The caption reads: Twenty years ago the average fashion model weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today, she weighs 23% less.

Models are meant to create a desired to buy. Possibly the most infuriating part of Abraham’s story is when women go to the store to purchase the fashions. While 50% of women wear a size 14 or larger, the standard clothing outlet, she says, cater to sizes 14 or smaller.

Another industry with a lot to gain by promoting underweight models is the multi-billion dollar weight-loss industry. And, they’re not worried about women’s health – physical or mental. Rapid weight loss may sound wonderful but it is neither healthy nor likely to keep the weight off. Healthy, successful weight loss requires lifestyle changes in eating and exercise. And, there is increasing evidence that our brains and fat cells make long term success a very difficult proposition.

So where do you fit in this debate?

Photo by Kurt Rogers, Chronicle

As a young teenager Lateefah Simon seemed to be going nowhere. She dropped out of school and worked full-time at a Taco Bell. She was on probation for shoplifting. Then someone offered her a different path. She changed directions and has ever since been paying off her indebtedness for this opportunity with hugh INTEREST.

Lateefah’s walk down the road is an all too familiar story especially in America’s urban areas. Her change in direction is a testiment to what can happen if there are knowledgeable people available to help other’s rewrite their story. In Lateefah Simon’s case she was recruited for a program for at-risk girls. There Lateefah found the tools she needed to lead. It was here too she found her passion.

At 15, she began a job in San Francisco as an outreach worker for the Center for Young Women’s Development. Lateefah could relate to the women the organization served. These were women on the streets surviving as drug dealers, prostitutes, and juvenile offenders. Simon knew them through shared experience, but Lateefah also knew she had the talent, tools, and motivation to help the women find not just a place in the world but a way to transform themselves. She, after all, was proof.

Passion and purpose can transform a person. At 19, Lateefah didn’t think it unusual for her to step into a leadership position. She took over the women’s center. For more than a decade Lateefah Simon grew the organization. By the time she moved on the Center served nearly 3,500 women annually, employed 250 women, and had an operating budget over a million dollars.

Lateefah left the Center to take on a leadership role in the District Attorney’s Office. Her new role was to oversee a citywide public/private partnership. Her job was to create and implement new programs to help former offenders avoid  returning to crime.

Lateefah’s remarkable growth as a woman and a leader has earned her much recognition. Among them is a feature in Oprah Magazine, and recognition as a MacArthur “Genus Fellow”. But of all her awards what has been more important to her even more than criminal justice reform is the knowledge she is helping women transform themselves into leaders.

To read more inspirational stories about women you may wish to buy my book Living in the Heartland: Three Extraordinary Women’s Stories on Amazon.com.

http://www.lccr.com/LateefahSimon-bio.pdf used as resource.