Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony 

Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputations... can never effect a reform. - Susan B. Anthony

Imagine in the early 1800s, slaving over a hot stove, breaking up fights between your children, and keeping after a house without our modern conveniences.  Your husband walks in the door babbling about the current politics. You and your husband would exchange a few ideas (your ideas are brilliant of course) regarding reform, change, taxes, and laws in this very young country. Then you would be disgusted because it wouldn't matter what you thought because you were just a woman. A woman without a right to vote and voice your opinion. 


Susan B. Anthony is the woman to thank. She rallied and campaigned women's right to own property and earnings, and women's labor organizations. Susan also campaigned for the abolition of slavery. 


She was born February 15th, 1812 in Adams, Massachusetts, second to 7 siblings in a Quaker Family. Her father was a cotton manufacture and abolitionist - against the slave trade. Young Susan learned how to read and write by the age of three. They moved to New York when she was six and she enrolled in a local district school. The teacher refused to teach her long division because of her gender. This enraged her father and he immediately put her in a group home school where he taught her himself. Another teacher named Mary Perkins also taught there and was a big influence on progressive image of womanhood, even at this early age.


In 1846 she began teaching at Canajoharie Academy and became the head mistress. She only made $110.00 a year. The men were making 4 times more than the women at that time. This sparked a fire in her to something for equality in wages for women. She was incredibly self conscience of her public speaking and appearance, but she set that aside for the cause. Somebody had to do it. 


She was arrested, ridiculed, threatened, but she pressed on for the cause. This cause benefits all women in America. 

It was 14 years later after Susan died when the 19th Amendment came to pass, giving the women the right to vote. She is honored still with her image on the Susan B. Anthony dollar (a large silver coin a little bigger than a quarter.) So much is to be written about Ms. Anthony and more will surface here on this website later regarding this incredible woman. 

Sandra McKenna

"Getting old is inevitable, but doing it with enthusiasm and passion, that's an option - and that's an option we chose." - Sandra McKenna  

If you are like me, approaching midlife seems to be scary. Not for Sandra McKenna.  In fact she is taking life by the horns and riding that sucker till it drops. Sandi is fulling her bucket list one adventure at a time and is sharing it with the world. She is a Co-Host and Producer of The Midlife Road Trip Show alongside with Rick Griffin (another amazing person!). Click the video below to see a trailer of what the show is about. 

Sandi is a woman of her time, because she doesn't sit back in self pity thinking that her life is over because she is getting older. She is a wonderful example of how all women should be, by living life to the fullest and celebrating each day as a gift. Celebrating life is an understatement of what she has been up to. They have been busy fulfilling their bucket list by skiing in Utah, driving Talladega Speedway, touring NASA,  skydiving, ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange, rock climbing, and so much more. 


Also! You can also find Sandi on Twitter under her name @mcmedia. Every Tuesday between 3:30 to 4:30 EST you can catch her and Rick hosting #NUTS (Not so Usual Therapy Sessions), a fun chat session of 10 questions they ask every six minutes that you can answer with a hash tag followed with the word NUTS - (i.e. #NUTS). It is a lot of fun and a great way to meet more interesting and great people to follow. 


Sandi inspires me with her energy and vitality for life, cherishing one day at a time. Most of all, I am honored to call her friend. 

Anne Frank

Anne Frank

I wonder what was going through her mind when she opened her dad's gift on her 13th birthday? Her father bought her a red checkered diary. This became her best friend as she went into hiding along the side of her family during the Holocaust. Faithfully she wrote to "Kitty" her imaginary friend and recorded her young thoughts that streamed from her old soul. Anne Frank with her family lived in hiding for two years from the Nazis under Hitlers command who where hunting Jews to exterminate.

August 4th, 1944 they were betrayed and sent to Auschwitz on September 3rd, 1944. The men and women were separated. This is the last time her father Otto saw his wife and children. Anne and her sister Margot were eventually sent to Bergen-Belsen a concentration camp in Germany where there was little food and full of diseases. Anne and her sister both became ill with typhus in early March and died just days of each other. In just a few weeks later, Russian soldiers liberated the camp. Anne Frank was just 15 years old when she left this earth along with over 1 million Jewish children who died in the Holocaust. Her words still live on to this day through her birthday gift from her father Otto.

What is so honored about this young girl is her thoughts that have touched generations and generations to come. We can  learn to deal with dark times in our lives by Anne Franks example. Here are just a few of her quotes taken from her diary. 

"Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart." 

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." 

"I live in a crazy time." 

"I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out." 

"I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery, and death. ... I think ... peace and tranquility will return again." 

Ella Fitzgerald

There is so much to say about this incredibly talented lady. I thought it would be best if I didn't write anything but instead let you see for yourself how wonderful she is. (trust me I will be writing a lot about her later)

Clara Barton

Clara Barton 

Clara Harlowe Barton is one of the most fascinating ladies of all time. Perhaps you have been helped by her or know someone who has and it may be possible you have donated money to her great cause. This amazing lady started the Red Cross.  Clara was born on Christmas, December 25, 1821 in Oxford Massachusetts. She was home schooled as a youngest of five children in a middle class family. At the age of 15, she began teaching in school. 

During the Civil War, she learned of many casualties from the First Bull Run, not because of there being a shortage in staff to assist, but because the medical supplies were lacking. Clara saw the need and decided to do something and advertised for donations in the Worchester, Mass,. Spy and began an independent organization to help distribute goods.

She founded the American Red Cross in 1881. In 1904 she resigned as the head of the organization and died in April 12, 1912. The world owes much to Clara. She has touched millions of lives. 

Ms. Barton was a woman of beyond her time. She saw a need and decided to do something about it. 

Eleanor Roosevelt

Elliott  and Anna Hall Roosevelt welcomed Anna Eleanor to the world on October 11, 1884 in New York City. She had two brothers as well as a half brother who was born from a servant of the family. Her family was very wealthy.


Sadly, Eleanor's short life took a sad turn when her mother died of diphtheria when she was eight years old and her father ended up confined to a sanitarium due to his alcoholism then shortly died two years after her mother.Also, her brother Elliott Jr. also died from diphtheria. 


There after, Eleanor's Grandmother took the responsibility and raised her. After private tutoring classes, she was fortunate enough to go to a private finishing school near London where she learned how to speak French and gained self confidence. 


When Eleanor was 17, she met a fifth cousin on her father's side of the family, his name was Franklin D. Roosevelt. He attended Harvard University and was ever handsome and charming. They began courting in 1903 and were engaged to be married in 1905. 
If Eleanor's life wasn't challenging enough, she still had her drama issues. She had to deal with Sara Roosevelt who was her future Mother in Law who was not supportive of her only child getting married to her. In spite of her disapproval, they were wedded on March 17 1905. After their honeymoon in Europe, they began their married life in New York City in a home that had been provided by his mother. 


Her Mother in Law ruled as queen of that castle in their since she continuously reminded the love birds that she provided it for them and they were not free from her until he was elected to the Senate and moved to Albany, New York. Later, in an August summer of 1921, he became very ill with a horrible fever and as a result, he lost the use of his legs due to paralysis
The Roosevelts were blessed with six children, five lived beyond infancy.The Roosevelts had a happy start to their marriage, but Eleanor learned of his affair with her social secretary, Lucy Mercer.  She learned of this affair due to letters from Lucy that she found in his suitcases.  She told her husband to end the affair or she was getting a divorce. 


The pressure everyone placed on them to stay together was for the children and for the sake of his political career.  Although he had agreed not to see her again, Lucy Mercer began visiting Franklin again in the 1930s and she was even with him at Warm Springs, Georgia when he passed away on April 12, 1945.  (can you imagine?) 


After raising five children and looking after her physically challenged unfaithful husband, something inside of her kept her moving forward. She became very active after her husbands paralysis attack in 1921, Eleanor would serve as a stand in for him and her appearances were very successful.  She began working for the Women's Trade Union League, and she raised funds and supported the goals of the union.  She was involved  in several goals such as a minimum wage, a 48 hour work week, and the abolishment of child labor. This only names just a few of her accomplishments. 

Can you imagine after all the losses this woman has had to face from the loss of her parents at a young age to dealing with the humiliation of a public affair from your husband? Eleanor didn't sit back and have a pity party for herself. She remained a strong independent woman of grace and strength. I have such admiration for her and can only hope to follow in her footsteps and draw from her examples to overcome difficult life challenges. Eleanor continued to keep moving forward regardless of her obstacles.