 Professional Women's Village News
By The Associated Press
2 women share a bond lasting 9 decades
By STEPHANIE TAYLOR
The Tuscaloosa News
Jul 17 19:28
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) - In the 90 years they've been friends, Lucinda
Rhodes and Lillie Davis have never gotten in an argument, not even a
minor disagreement.
"We've always gotten along,'' said Davis, who will turn 99 on July
19.
Rhodes, who turned 100 on June 6, and Davis became friends in the
1910s, when they attended Hale County Training School in Greensboro.
Both moved to Tuscaloosa as young women and have maintained their
friendship.
Both are in good health and active. The women faithfully attend
religious services, cook and read. Davis often baby-sits her 1- and
3-year-old great-great-grandchildren and went fishing at Lake Lurleen on
a recent Sunday evening.
"She skipped everywhere she went,'' Davis said of Rhodes as a young
girl. "She has always been a lively person.''
The women have seen a lot during in their lifetime.
Rhodes remembers watching soldiers leave to fight overseas during
World War I.
"We'd go down and see the folks get on the train. I was a small
girl,'' she said.
She moved to Tuscaloosa when she was 16 and got a job as a
housekeeper at the University of Alabama, where she worked for 40 years.
She remembers the day a mob formed to keep Autherine Lucy from
attending classes in 1956 and integrating the campus.
She also remembers seven years later, when Gov. George Wallace made
his stand to prevent Vivian Malone and James Hood from enrolling.
Davis worked at Dill's Motor Court for years and later in the home of
the family that ran the motel.
She remembers the months during the Montgomery bus boycott in 1956,
which extended to Tuscaloosa.
"We had to catch a ride to get to work the best way we could,'' she
said.
The women raised families, who all live nearby. Rhodes moved to
Virginia in May to live with her son just before he died. She has lived
longer than both of her sons and has four grandchildren, five
great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. She's back in
Tuscaloosa and plans to go back to Virginia soon to live with her
daughter-in-law.
"I'm planning to move back, though. This is home,'' she said Sunday,
sitting on the couch in the house she owns near Westlawn School.
Davis had one daughter and six grandchildren -- Lillie Pruitt, Lauree
Wilson, Davia Wilson, Marcie Sims, Toya Wilson and Jimmie Sims. She has
14 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
At 98, she said the key to her long life is to keep moving. She cooks
breakfast every morning and likes to dance to blues and jazz music.
"Anything with a beat,'' said granddaughter Lauree Wilson. "We were
listening to Frank Sinatra in the car today, and she said Why are you
playing this old music?'''
Rhodes attends Tabernacle AME Zion Church and Davis attends Kingdom
Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses.
The women said the secret to living a long life is hard work,
obedience, loving your neighbor, and honoring your father and your
mother.
"Treat everybody right,'' Rhodes said.
"Not just your own people but everybody,'' Davis said.
"And put God first,'' Rhodes said.
Emmy nominations show younger isn't always better
By SANDY COHEN
AP Entertainment Writer
Jul 17 17:29
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Teens and 20-somethings may be the target
demographic for many TV shows, but when it comes to top actresses, over
40 is where it's at.
Only one actress nominated for an Emmy on Thursday is in her 20s:
24-year-old "Ugly Betty'' star America Ferrera, for lead actress in a
comedy series.
Almost all of this year's Emmy-nominated actresses are 40-plus, with
many in their 50s and some in their 60s.
At 42, "The Closer'' star Kyra Sedgwick is the youngest nominee for
lead actress in a drama series. At 44, Laura Linney, who played Abigail
Adams in HBO's "John Adams,'' is the baby of the bunch nominated for
lead actress in a miniseries or movie.
"There's always been this myth that in Hollywood women can't make it
after a certain age and it's just not true anymore,'' Sedgwick said. "I
just think that we're tired of seeing just these young bodies and young
people. They're lovely and wonderful but they only have a certain level
of depth because they've only been on the planet a certain amount of
years.''
Rachel Griffiths, nominated in a supporting-actress category that
includes women in their late 30s and early 60s, credited TV's focus on
strong characters with creating better roles for older actors.
"People want to tune in to complex, interesting, quirky, unexpected,
flawed characters, and that's across the board, female and male,'' said
Griffiths, 39, nominated for her work on "Brothers & Sisters.'' "But the
more mature actors maybe have an edge on confidence in terms of really
owning those characters. I think as a young woman it's considerably more
difficult to amplify your unusual parts in quite the same way.''
Television has long been more accepting of women over 40, said Julia
Louis-Dreyfus, 47, nominated for lead actress in a comedy series for
"The New Adventures of Old Christine.''
That's why the roles are so compelling and potentially award-winning,
said Anjelica Huston, 57, nominated for her guest-starring role on
"Medium.''
"There are a lot of women out there watching television and they
still remain a guiding force for television,'' she said. "The nominees
are all really strong women doing well in their businesses and it's nice
to know that there's a healthy work life for us.'
But the same can't be said for feature films, she added.
"In a world where the poster of 'Mamma Mia' doesn't include Meryl
Streep,'' she said, "it's definitely a situation in which one is
gratified to be noticed.''
Amnesty urges Venezuela to follow through on women’s
shelters
By RACHEL JONES
Associated Press Writer
Jul 16 22:37
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela is dragging its feet in
establishing a support system for battered women, Amnesty International
said in a report issued Wednesday.
President Hugo Chavez's government passed new domestic violence
legislation in March 2007 requiring that, among other things,
Venezuela's 23 states and more than 300 municipalities construct women's
shelters.
But more than a year later, no new facilities have been built,
London-based Amnesty said.
Just two such shelters exist across this nation of 27 million people
-- and both were up and running two years before the law was passed,
according to the National Women's Institute. But the government-run
institute reported that at least three more are under revision or have
been approved by local authorities.
Chavez said after passing the 2007 law that it is important as
Venezuela is "a very machista society and we need to be equal,''
according to the state-run Bolivarian news agency.
A government spokesperson could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Carlos Lusverti, Amnesty's general coordinator in Venezuela, said
shelters are fundamental to helping battered women. "One of the first
things you can do is separate them from the place where they are the
victim of aggression,'' he said.
Amnesty urged the government to follow through on the 2007 measure,
saying it will encourage women to report domestic violence. Local groups
estimate just one in nine battered women report assaults.
New book highlights Tlingit women
By ERIC MORRISON
Juneau Empire
Jul 16 19:57
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - The Alaska Native Sisterhood has accomplished a
great deal over the years in education, civil rights and public service
that many people are unaware of, ANS Executive Committee member Doloresa
Cadiente said.
"A lot of people don't know today the accomplishments that have been
made by the Alaska Native Brotherhood and the Alaska Native Sisterhood
that really impacted all people who live in the state of Alaska, in all
walks of life,'' she said.
The newly published "In Sisterhood: The History of Camp 2 of the
Alaska Native Sisterhood'' is one of the first books to detail Tlingit
women's accomplishments and contributions to society, editor Kimberly
Metcalfe said.
"They're women who have just pretty much been ignored by history, and
I'm just hoping this (book) will put them in the limelight and show
everybody what an interesting culture it is and how much these women
have accomplished,'' she said.
Copies are available at Hearthside Books or from the Web site
www.hazyislandbooks.com.
The book began to take shape in 2001, when the National Park Service
issued a nearly $35,000 grant to fund the project. After seven years and
hundreds of hours of interviews, editing and design, the completed book
details the nearly 100-year history of the ANS and has more than
two-dozen oral histories of Camp 2 women.
"We put in for (the grant), and I think our idea was unusual because
we wanted to hone in on one specific group of women and the fact that
women's history are not done very often, especially Native American
women,'' Metcalfe said. "So this was a group of mostly Tlingit women who
there was really nothing written about.''
Marie Williams Olson, who has spent two terms as president of ANS
Camp 2, said the organization has been very active over the years in
many endeavors, including championing for equal education for Alaska
Native students.
"I think that's always been our mission because there was a time when
schools were segregated. Not anymore,'' she said emphatically.
The approach of the ANS has evolved over the years to keep up with
the contemporary issues and concerns, Olson said.
"At one time it was just for kids to go to school,'' she said. "Now
it's go on to college and getting a four-year degree is nothing compared
to a master's or a Ph.D.''
The organization has remained as relevant today as it was when it was
formed nearly a century ago shortly after the ANB formed in 1912,
Cadiente said.
"There was a lot that was accomplished then. There's a lot that we're
working on today just to protect and enhance what was already worked on,
but there is still a lot of work out there still coming down the pike,''
she said.
The ANS has built a strong reputation over the years for its
activism, Cadiente said.
"I always feel when we talk about the Alaska Native Sisterhood, when
they see our banners coming, it's a matter of respect,'' she said. "They
know something is going to be done.''
Metcalfe said she has come to realize how important it is to tell the
stories of these women now because of their age.
"I certainly hadn't thought much of it at the time, but over the
course of getting this done, gosh, there's probably been 12 of them who
have died since then,'' she said. "You realize going along that these
people are so elderly and fragile that it was the perfect time to get it
out.''
One of the main purposes of the book was to highlight the
organization for the younger generations, Metcalfe said.
"We need more members, and that's one of the reasons we put out this
book,'' she said. "That was one of the driving forces behind it, to let
younger women know the history of the organization and to know how much
these women have done.''
Olson, who pointed out that ANS membership is not restricted to only
Natives, also said she hopes the book will inspire more people to join
the organization.
"I would hope that it would wet their curiosity and prompt them to
come to a meeting because we don't have closed doors,'' she said. "We
learned from racial segregation not to.''
"I think it will lend understanding of the organization and its
commitment that it has not only to our people but our communities,''
Cadiente added.
Information from: Juneau Empire, http://www.juneauempire.com
More female soldiers serve 'inside the wire'
By SCOTT HUDDLESTON
San Antonio Express-News
Jul 13 14:55
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Badly wounded and woozy from medication in a
chopper speeding over Baghdad, Iraq, Staff Sgt. Sophia Mitchell softly
sang the "I Love You'' song she and her daughter had made up.
"They must have thought I was high on the morphine,'' Mitchell said.
In those fragile hours, clinging to life after a mortar attack, she
kept thinking of her 5-year-old girl, Jurnee. Mitchell is one of 599
women wounded in the Middle East and part of the first wave of female
combat amputees in U.S. history.
Most people see patriotism and the sacrifices of war as masculine
values. A vast majority of the nearly 2.6 million Americans killed or
wounded in major conflicts since the Revolutionary War have been men.
But in today's war, women play a larger role and even are at risk
"inside the wire'' of a secured base. Of the 4,650 U.S. troops whose
deaths the Defense Department counts relating to the fighting in Iraq
and Afghanistan, 110 were women, and 61 of them were killed in combat.
Jorge Torres, clinical nurse specialist at Fort Sam Houston's Center
for the Intrepid, said he's seen some of the problems faced by women
wounded in war, the challenges with body image and the guilt some feel,
unable to play the role of mother as they rehabilitate.
Torres, who works in behavioral health, said he supports a bill in
Congress to launch a study of physical and mental health issues among
female veterans as a means to improve treatment and conditions for women
in the battlefield.
"It may be the wave of the future,'' Torres said. "There is a
difference between female and male casualties. Can I give you all the
specifics? No. If we could better delineate the differences, we could
better help these women and their families.''
Staff Sgt. Ireshekia Hilliard was standing next to one of those 61
women killed in action. She has the scars to prove it.
Hilliard was right by Staff Sgt. Lillian Clamens, going into the chow
hall in the Camp Victory complex, when they were attacked Oct. 10.
Mitchell was about 10 feet away, on her way out, as 107 mm rockets
hammered the heavily fortified Baghdad base.
Mitchell and Hilliard survived the assault, which wounded about 40
coalition troops, mostly Americans. Clamens, an administrative clerk set
to return home to Florida the next day, was one of two soldiers killed.
After what she's been through, just seeing a U.S. flag waving in the
breeze sometimes forces Hilliard to take a deep breath. Hearing the
national anthem gives her a lump in her throat.
Hilliard lost her lower left leg in the mortar attack, and has a
special prosthesis on order from England. It's brown to match her skin
and shaped like a woman's leg.
Male amputees typically prefer a titanium leg. But she wants to look
pretty in skirts, dresses and panty hose.
One of the guys
Females constitute 11 percent of the force in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Women are legally barred from front-line service, but often are exposed
to danger as gunners, military police, helicopter pilots, explosives
handlers and security personnel assigned to search Iraqi women at
checkpoints.
Women have excelled when they have found themselves in battle, often
with bullets whizzing past. A Texan, Spc. Monica Brown of Lake Jackson,
recently became the second woman awarded the Silver Star since World War
II, for helping save two badly wounded troops during an ambush in
Afghanistan. Under heavy gunfire and mortars, she directed action and
helped carry the men to safety.
Women also have faced indignities not directly related to war, as in
the case of a Texas soldier killed by an out-of-control ex-boyfriend.
The death last Aug. 16 of Spc. Kamisha Block of Vidor initially was
reported as a "non-combat-related incident'' in Iraq. Her family was
told she'd been hit by "friendly fire.''
The Beaumont Enterprise reported June 19 that Block had been fatally
shot on a military base by another soldier, who then committed suicide.
Army reports indicated Staff Sgt. Paul Brandon Norris had assaulted
Block at Fort Hood, and was disciplined and sent to counseling before
they deployed.
Staff Sgt. Audrey Ramos, a San Antonian now on a third tour in Iraq,
said she'll never be a "lamb amongst the wolves.''
"Yes, this is a male-dominated profession ... yes, the men are the
stronger sex. But I'll never show weakness. I'll never be that helpless
little lamb,'' Ramos wrote in an e-mail.
That's the resolve it takes for women to serve in a male-dominated
war, and to adjust afterward. Sgt. Lilina Benning grew up more than
7,000 miles from the U.S. mainland, and worked in Army human resources.
But she bears the wounds of a war that has no clear battle lines.
On Sept. 11, 2007, two rockets hit the SUV she was driving on base in
Iraq. She lost most of her left foot, and can't bend her left arm, which
is held together with two blade implants and about 20 screws.
Benning, one of 12 children in a family growing up on the Pacific
islands of Micronesia, spoke Kosraean until she began learning English
in first grade. The thought of a girl joining the military wasn't
accepted.
"Females were supposed to stay in the house,'' said Benning, 37.
Now, she's trying to stay on active duty. When Benning arrived at
Brooke Army Medical Center, she was the only female amputee. Hilliard,
Mitchell and Mary Dague, a sergeant from Superior, Mont., who lost both
arms trying to deactivate a bomb in Iraq, soon joined her. The four have
bonded at BAMC and the Intrepid Center.
Of 803 U.S. troops who've had major amputations -- not fingers or
toes -- 20 have been women. Seven female amputees have been treated at
BAMC.
Dague, 23, is witty and buoyant, coming from the male-dominant field
of ordnance disposal. She fits in as "one of the guys,'' Hilliard said.
Benning has a small frame but a big smile, and athletic drive that
inspires others.
Hilliard's friendship with Mitchell has been more intimate. They were
wounded together, have similar injuries and both are mothers. They
shared tears, reliving the Oct. 10 attack when a female medic who had
treated them visited BAMC. The medic "actually told me she didn't think
I would make it,'' Hilliard said.
When she needs inspiration to keep going, images of her three kids
flash through her mind. But Hilliard, 32, hasn't forgotten about Clamens,
who died in the blast.
She and Clamens, who spent most of her yearlong tour in southern
Iraq, worked in human resources. They sparked a friendship over the
phone. They stayed together for about a week when Hilliard went to
Tallil on business.
"We knew all about each other's children,'' she said.
They met again when Clamens got to Baghdad. She had called her
husband to tell him she was in the Green Zone and would be home soon. He
and their three children had planned a Halloween-themed party for her
homecoming.
A few weeks after the attack, Hilliard was at BAMC, recovering from
her amputation. She learned in a phone call from Clamens' first sergeant
that her friend had died.
Her children, all in their early teens, have accepted that soldiers,
even the ones who are moms, get hurt in the war.
"They know it was just part of my job,'' Hilliard said.
Younger veterans
For Ramos, the most satisfying moments in Iraq were during her second
tour in 2006, as a flight medic helping save U.S. troops, Iraqis and
prisoners -- a job not classified as front-line duty. At times, she had
to carry patients on her back to her Black Hawk when bullets were
flying.
"Times have changed since the olden days of war,'' Ramos, who's 25
and single, wrote from Iraq. "Women are sitting in those turrets,
manning those 50 cals (.50-caliber machine guns) or Mark 19s (grenade
launchers). Yes, this is a male-dominated profession, but there are many
memorials out here of the women who have given their lives to this
war.''
Her mother, Sylvia Arzola said she worries more about Ramos losing a
limb than the possibility she could die.
"I know that's crazy,'' Arzola said. "It's just that she's always
been so active.''
Connie Holle uses prayer and secured Internet chat rooms for military
families to relieve tension. Her only daughter, Marine Sgt. Sarah
Turner, 24, is a convoy commander over about 20 men in Anbar province.
Having a daughter in the war zone means worrying about more than
bombs and bullets, said Holle of Austin.
"They have a lot to overcome, like being called a lesbian or a
whore,'' she said. "They're having to prove themselves. I'm proud of
them for doing that. They're trailblazers.''
Turner used to play soccer against boys, but showed her girly side
when she wore flashy dresses and heels. After her tour, she plans to
marry.
"I've sent her bridal magazines,'' Holle said. "She wants a fairytale
wedding, and an old-fashioned dress with sequins.''
The segment of U.S. veterans who are women has risen from 3 percent
to 5 percent since 1986, and is expected to double in the next two
years, according to the Veterans Affairs Department. That's forcing the
VA to do more work in contraception, Pap smears and preventive medicine
for women in their 20s and 30s.
"These are younger veterans than what we've had before. It's changing
the focus a little bit,'' said Roxanne Ahrman, women's veterans program
manager with the South Texas Veterans Health Care System.
A recent VA review found disparities in outpatient care for women at
one-third of its facilities. Ahrman said facilities in South Texas meet
or exceed VA standards.
Some who work with female veterans have heard reports of sexual
trauma in the war zone, from verbal abuse to physical assaults. The VA
responds to every report, "and it doesn't have to be proven'' to qualify
for counseling or medical care, Ahrman said.
Sylvia Sanchez, who was an Army nurse in the Persian Gulf War, was
shocked to see a female soldier with both legs amputated recently at
BAMC.
"It just really freaked me out. But it's something that's
happening,'' she said.
Sanchez recently served as the first female commander of the San
Antonio-area District 20 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. She's worried
that women in today's war, especially those serving in multiple tours,
are suffering from traumatic brain injury, sexual trauma and
post-traumatic stress disorder, but aren't getting the help they need.
Some still are trying to prove they're as tough as the men, Sanchez
said.
Doing a major part
Mitchell, who lost her lower left leg, also feels bits of shrapnel in
her back and behind her left eye. A mortar fragment, hardly bigger than
a grain of sand, fractured her right foot. Another shattered a finger.
"It's amazing how small those pieces are, and how much damage they
can do,'' she said.
But she's happy to be alive, at 26, looking forward to life with her
husband and daughter.
"I'd like to have another baby sometime,'' she said.
Mitchell of Beaufort, S.C., was the youngest of seven kids and the
only girl in her family. She was at Fort Irwin, Calif., when the East
Coast was attacked Sept. 11, 2001.
"I was devastated. It scared me and it hurt me, to see all those
people get hurt,'' she said.
Now, after a week of therapy and rehab at Fort Sam, she spends
weekends with her family in Killeen. She said she's proud to see women
in uniform, working under adverse conditions alongside the men, so
others can live in peace.
"Even though women aren't on the front lines, we do a major part,''
she said. "If you want to serve your country, it doesn't matter. Mortars
and bullet rounds don't pick by gender.''
She's unsure whether she'll stay in the Army. But she loves being a
mother.
"Mom, I'm not a baby. I'm a big girl,'' Jurnee often tells her.
"No, you're still my baby,'' Mitchell replies. "You'll always be my
baby.''
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