Strong Women

A few great true stories highlighting women who made a difference:

The Radium Girls, by Kate Moore

Warriors Don't Cry, by Melba Pattillo Beals

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman

Add to this list The Woman They Could Not Silence, by Kate Moore

Radium Girls is especially timely considering the conflicting voices over the last few years with how to approach Covid 19 and mandatory vaccinations.

Some people are super comfortable with science being irrefutable.

The infallibility of medical doctors

Or the word of a large corporation over a few no-name employees.

I struggle with the irony of "my body, my choice" when it comes to abortions, 

but not when it comes to vaccinations.

Or, "believe victims" unless they are victims of an illness that hasn't been scientifically proven. 

These issues aren't directly approached in Radium Girls, but the parallels are obvious.

Warriors Don't Cry is a shocking, eye-opening account of Melba Beals and the rest of the "Little Rock Nine's" experience with desegregation in high school and their horrific treatment by students and teachers alike, as well as the white community. These children weren't happy to be the first ones in a white high school in Arkansas, but the responsibility fell to them. 

I think it's a must-read to really understand what they endured and the price they had to pay for inclusion.

If you think, "People can't really be that bad. Some people, maybe, but not all people." Think again.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was a fascinating look at medical science and the role one woman's cells played in ground-breaking scientific discoveries (polio vaccine, cancer research, viruses, in vitro fertilization, cloning and gene mapping to name a few). She never knew her cells were being used for research not did her husband and children when they were used for research without their informed consent. The book deals with bioethics and whose property are we anyway. 

Do we have a duty to help medical research? 

Do researchers have a responsibility to share monetary gains with family members?

If we can copyright or trademark our inventions, can we do the same with our cells?

I've read The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down three times. 

I'm fascinated with the story of two cultures at odds with one another,

because who's to say who is right? 

The Hmong family believes their daughter has seizures because her spirit was frightened from her body when a door slammed. 

The California medical community believes she has epilepsy.

The conflict is multiplied by neither speaking the other's language and few interpreters available.

Wouldn't we have a better chance at compromise by showing respect for another's belief,

engaging in an effort to truly understand and finding a common ground?