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Shirin Ebadi (Lawyer/Human Rights Activist) |
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 Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (2003), author of the best-selling book Iran Awakening, human rights activist, women and children’s advocate, mother, Muslim, and amazing woman.
She is one of Iran's best-known, and to some most-controversial, Muslim champions of democracy and human rights. She has been imprisoned for her views and has been is repeatedly threatened by her detractors. Yet she continues to stand firm for her beliefs and to fight for human rights, particularly those of women and children, in her beloved Iran.
In her own words (abbreviated from her bio on the Nobel Prize website):
I was born in the city of Hamedan [northwestern Iran] in 1947. My family were academics and practising Muslims.
I came to Tehran with my family when I was a one year old and have
since been a resident in the capital. I spent my childhood in a family
filled with kindness and affection. I have two sisters and a brother
all of whom are highly educated. My mother dedicated all her time and
devotion to our upbringing.
I received my law degree in three-and-a-half years, and immediately sat
the entrance exams for the Department of Justice. I began to serve
officially as a judge in March 1969. While serving as a judge, I
continued my education and obtained a doctorate with honours in private
law from Tehran University in 1971
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Delaram Ali (Iranian Women's Rights Activist) |
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Susan notes: I've posted this short bio of Delaram Ali now to honour all the Iranian women (and men) who struggle today to make their country a better place in which to live. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and Women's Space.
I wonder if she has been amongst the demonstrators this past week.
Delaram Ali (دلارام علی) is a leading Iranian women's rights activist. In July 2007, she was charged with "participation in an illegal
gathering", "propaganda against the system," and "disturbing the public
order," for participating in a demonstration which was violently suppressed by police.
During the demonstration, Ali’s wrist was broken, she was beaten, bruised, arrested, charged and
tried for the various crimes above. The trial court sentenced her to 39 months
in jail and 10 lashes, which sentence was stayed pending a judicial
review following a letter of protest to the head of the Judiciary. According to Women's Space, she was sentenced again (in November 2008) to four months in jail and 10 lashes for the same crimes; this latest sentence is was also stayed pending a new review.
Iran's Revolutionary Court sentenced her to 39 months of jail and 10
lashes. Delaram was handed a sentence for her participation in the
peaceful gathering of women’s rights defenders in June 2006, in Hafte
Tir Square, which ended with police violence and brutality and the
arrest of 70 protesters.
The Women's Space blogger comments:
But nothing can stop these women really. Ultimately, the day will come
when their dreams for human and civil rights are fulfilled. The youtube
video below is of Delaram Ali, recounting the history of the women’s
movement in Iran and her part in it.
What a courageous and inspiring
visionary she is and so young, just in her early 20s. She calls her
arrest and sentencing “blessed” because of the attention they have
drawn to Iranian women’s plight and says even if authorities put her
away, now another woman will come to take her place.
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Alexandra David-Néel (Explorer) |
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 Alexandra David-Néel was born Louise Eugénie Alexandrine Marie David in Saint-Mandé on 24 October 1868; she died in Digne-les-Bains, on 8 September 1969 at the age of 100. (Pictured here in her teens.)
David-Neel was a Belgian-French explorer, anarchist, spiritualist, Buddhist and writer, most known for her visit to Lhasa, Tibet,
in 1924, when it was forbidden to foreigners. She wrote over 30
books about Eastern religion, philosophy, and her travels. Her
teachings influenced beat writers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, and philosopher Alan Watts.
Born in Paris, she moved to Elsene
at the age of six. During her childhood she had a very strong desire
for freedom and spirituality. At the age of 18, she had already visited
England, Switzerland and Spain on her own.
In 1890 and 1891, she traveled through India, returning only when she ran out of money. In Tunis she met the railroad engineer Philippe Néel, whom she married in 1904.
Source:
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Tina Turner (Queen of Rock) |
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Susan notes: my heroine, my inspiration, the Queen of Rock turned 70 years young on November 26, 2009. This is her performing my favourite song live in 1990 - a the age of 51. Wow. How hot is she? In EVERY sense of the word!
Tina Turner clearly demonstrates that women rock, no matter what age they are. Watching her perform gives me goose bumps...
Copied unabashedly from Wikipedia:
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Kelly-Anne Lyons (Actress) |
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 Kelly-Anne Lyons (who plays the role of Chelsey Pucks in the online
video series called Chelsey OMG, two excellent segments of which AWR features here), grew up along the East Coast of the
USA.
She spent the younger part of her childhood in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina, her adolescence and teenage years in Basking Ridge, New
Jersey, and attended University in New York City. Her parents, Ed and
Kathleen, reside in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Her younger brother
Jonathan attends University in Pennsylvania.
Lyons was a dancer from the age of three. She studied on scholarship at
the North Carolina School of the Arts, and then at the New Jersey
School of Ballet. At 16, she became a member of the New Jersey Ballet
Junior Company.
Alongside dance, she attended Ridge High School, where she maintained
honor role status, was very active in sports (field hockey, ice hockey,
and lacrosse), student council, and numerous clubs. Her favorite part
of high school was performing in all the school musicals and plays.
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Lisa Koch (Comedian/Singer/Songwriter) |
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 Picture the triangulated love child of Bette Midler, Lily Tomlin, and Karen Carpenter... and you’ve got Lisa Koch.
An irreverent Seattle singer/comedian, Koch (“Coke”) is a deliciously twisted mix of comedy, theater, and demented songs. She has 4 solo recordings, is one-half of hilarious sketch-comedy duo, Dos Fallopia ("My Breasts Are Out of Control"), and is an alumnus of cult quartet Venus Envy ("I'll Be A Homo for Xmas").
In her own words a: "demented singer/songwriter/comedian/Britney Spears body-double..."
Related links:
I'm A Middle-Aged Woman
www.heylisa.com
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Todd Twala & Thembi Nyandeni (Dancers/Singers ) Creators of Umoja |
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Susan notes: this story is a slightly modified version of that which can be found on the Umoja website. Click here for my review, international media raves, and videos of the show .
In 1950, the apartheid government of South Africa passed a law, The Group Areas
Act. The Act allowed the government to determine who would live where.
Forced removals and the relocation of Black people who occupied
valuable land, or land considered too close to White settlements were
the order of the day. This was to ensure that Blacks remained in
“reserves” and only came to the White areas when needed for work.
Over
the years, tens of thousands of Black people were forcibly removed
without compensation and dumped, often in the middle of nowhere. Lack
of food, improper housing and little sanitation resulted in incredible
poverty, malnutrition and suffering by Blacks living in the most
prosperous country in Africa!
 Todd Twala’s (right) and Thembi Nyandeni’s (left) ambitions for a better life took shape against this background of poverty and hardship.
Twala grew up in a township outside Johannesburg, called George Goch.
In 1968, she and her family woke up to a bulldozer at their front door.
They were forced to leave.
They settled in Soweto (an acronym for SOuth WEstern TOwnship) on the
outskirts of Johannesburg, or Egoli (City of Gold). Like their
neighbours, they lived in a box-like hut with no electricity or running
water. There was limited access in and out of the township, which was
surrounded by barbed wire.
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