Anne Frank, Miep Gies, Erin Gruwell –Solitary Voices Speak Out To Make a Difference
After reading Anne Frank, Miss Gruwell’s class then raised funds to fly Miep Gies over from the Netherlands to speak at their school. After Miep speech,
Marcus, a husky, former gang member, once living in the street, raised his hand and stated, “You are my hero!”
“Oh no, young man, I am not a hero,” she said. “You are the heroes in your own life story – I just did the right thing at the right time.”
Women’s History Month – Quilts Connect From Pre Civil War to the 21st Century
“When I was your age,” I explained to my class, “women were second-class citizens. Female athletes and books about them were non-existent; very few female biographies were published. My hero was Harriet Tubman a brave, athletic slave who escaped to freedom and then led others on Underground Railroad.”
Dr. Jone’s Dream: Equal Education Long Before Brown v. Topeka Kansas
“How come the Negroes live in shacks?” I asked with the innocence of an ten-year-old.
“Because they are so poor,
“Why the poor?”
“Cause they don’t have any land.”
“Hey, I see lots of land,” I said pointing to towards a sprawling plantation with stately white pillars. “The whole town could fit in that house; it’s bigger than a hotel!”
At Piney Woods School, my brother and I played basketball with the black boys on a dirt court in a sun-baked paradise surrounded by pine and honey-scented pink and white magnolias. I thought I had died and gone to heaven
President’s Day February 21 and Family Ties to the White House
Now what kind of a man who knew the glamour of Hollywood and the glory of the White House would remain kind enough to call his old college coach every year to extend well wishes? Reagan played right guard for my grandpa, Coach Mac, at Eureka College from 1928-1932. Though grandpa remembered Reagan for being a better orator than athlete, the relationship forged on a football field at the small private, Christian school in central Illinois lasted a lifetime. “Dutch” Reagan and Coach Mac remained together for every crucial moment of each other’s career.
I am X-Pat, a feisty globetrotter. Teacher, writer, coach, speaker, and trailblazer with the down-to-earth, open-armed persona of The Heartland and a European twist. I have lived in four different countries, speak three languages and raised two bi-cultural kids with one très bon Frenchman. My passion is inspiring courage, breaking barriers, and creating connections.
Down and out? Hopeless and helpless? No matter where you are in your journey, my stories can help pick up your spirits, make transitions, gain new perspectives or just escape the daily grind.
If you deny a woman’s history, you erase her identity. I reveal the athlete’s untold story, from the passage of Title IX through forty years of social change. What makes it different from other sport biographies is the voice of a woman who walks the talk, who dribbled the ball and tells the story. Learn more by clicking here