- What inspired you to write this book? Why the title?
This book of wisdom, "Let me tell you what I've learned:" Texas Wisewomen Speak, came to life on January 17, 1996, the day Barbara Jordan died. Like others, I wasn't ready to lose her. Just shy of sixty years old, Barbara contained too much wisdom yet unspoken. It was too late to record Barbara Jordan's wisdom, so I vowed not to let the chance slip away again with other wisewomen from Texas.
Traditionally, young people in Native American tribes went to the tribal elders for advice. I contend that in today's fast-paced era of computers and advertising, a reverence for age and its wisdom is almost lost. And we are suffering from that void. As a native Texan, I wrote this book to preserve the wisdom and advice of our "tribal elders." I wanted each of these 25 well-seasoned women to say, "From my perspective of having spent many years on this earth, let me tell you what I've learned to most important in life."
- How did you choose the 25 women to interview? What were your criteria?
Over a year's period, I gathered the names of about one hundred women I wanted to interview - each of whom fit my criteria of having passed the half-century mark in her life, being well-known in her field, whether regionally or nationally, and having lived a significant part of her life in Texas. Then I culled the list to a workable 25 women who formed a group representing a cross section of career paths, ethnic groups, and all geographic areas of Texas.
- Why include only women? Why only Texas women?
Let's face it. Few women have made it into history books and women's wisdom hasn't been recorded on paper to the degree that men's wisdom appears in print. Throughout our existence, women have been in the background while the books were being written. What were the women doing? Seeing to it that their children and grandchildren were fed and clothed, that they learned how to get along with others, and that they got as good an education as possible. If we were really lucky, we got to spend lots of time with our grandmothers, learning from their wisdom. But most of the wisdom of our grandmothers was never written down. It's time that that omission is corrected.
Why include only Texas women? America is full of wisewomen. But a perception exists that Texas women are different - feistier perhaps, more likely to think that anything is possible. It is a theory that some call "the mystique of the Texas woman." Whether the mystique holds water is up for debate. But it does seem to be there. Distinctive Texas traits were there when we were battling the elements on the frontier, and the same traits remain to this day, when Texas women have come onto the national scene as strong politicians, for example.
Naomi Wolf of Washington D.C., author of Fire with Fire, put it this way: "Texas women seem to welcome power much more than do some other middle-income women. They aren't afraid that power will defeminize them. Maybe it has something to do with the state's history. Women here seem very solution oriented."
- Barbara Jordan was the only woman you included who was no longer living. Why did you include her?
Barbara's spirit set the tone for the book. Shortly before she died, I had planned to interview her to get her answers to questions that, to my knowledge, no one had yet posed to her. Although she had been quoted extensively about government and ethics, I wanted to ask her questions about what she had learned to be most important in life - from the perspective of her own life.
Barbara once said, "I get from the soil and spirit of Texas the feeling that I, as an individual, can accomplish whatever I want to, that there are no limits, that you can just keep going, just keep soaring. I like that spirit." Barbara's attitude is what I hoped to capture from other wisewomen from Texas - and so I used Barbara's life story and several of her quotes that I gathered from various sources to set the stage for the book.
- Did you ask the same questions of every woman? What are some of the questions you asked?
I made a list of 22 core questions to ask of every woman. (The core questions are listed in Appendix B at the back of the book and on my web site - www.pjpierce.com.) Those questions include:
- "If you were a young woman starting out to build your life today, what would you do differently? What the same?"
- "What is most important to tell generations coming behind you?"
- "What new insights have you had since you have gotten older?"
- "What are some principles by which you live?"
- "Do you have specific advice about nurturing yourself physically, emotionally and spiritually, setting boundaries, balancing your life?"
- "What excites you about the future?"
It was typical for one woman to relate to some questions and another to relate to different ones. During the course of the individual interviews, impromptu questions would naturally come up as each conversation took its own path. The typical interview lasted two hours or less.
- How willing were these well-known women to answer such probing questions about their lives?
I was pleasantly surprised at the candidness of most of the women. Most talked freely about the ups and downs in their lives - about their failures and disappointments as well as their successes and happy moments. If one was clearly uncomfortable with a particular question, I would take the subject as far as she was willing to go and then move on to another question. Later in the interview, when she felt more at ease, I might broach the uncomfortable area again. That tactic provided a chance for her to reconsider, sometimes opening up a course of discussion that she became willing to pursue. If not, I left it alone.
- Do you use the women's own words - verbatim - in the book?
Each chapter contains the woman's biographical sketch, which I wrote myself, and Author's Notes (my first-hand impressions of the circumstances during the interview, including the woman's surroundings and personality.) The bulk of the each chapter is made up of the woman's own words, taken from her interview and edited for clarity and space demands.
- You say the book's format is designed for the "microwave generation." How is the format different from other books containing interviews? Why will the "microwave generation" find it easy to read?
The accessible format of the book, with quotes broken up into categories and clearly indexed, makes the chapters easy to skim, and particular topics of interest - be they motherhood, career challenges, perseverance, power, speaking out, teamwork, voting - easy to find. Each chapter can be read within a few minutes time and can be put down until the next opportune reading time without causing the reader to lose the train of thought.
- Give examples of subjects the women chose to talk about.
The index lists 250 different topics covered by the 25 wisewomen during their interviews. Among the wide range of topics were baseball, academics, career challenges, motherhood, being a minority, marriage and widowhood, anger, assertiveness, managing change, persevering, power, speaking out, fashioning success from failure, writing your own job description, loving a younger man, and recognizing opportunities disguised as disaster - to name only a few.
- Are there common themes and traits among these successful women? If so, what do they have in common?
After I had several interviews under my belt, I began seeing similarities among the subjects - similarities that paint a picture of the qualities necessary to allow one to stand apart from the crowd. I believe these traits are keys to the career success of the women - and to their success in life in general.
The women share common traits such as enthusiasm for their work and their lives, perseverance through hard times, thinking in the long term instead of the short term, and not being concerned about meeting the demands of the popular culture.
They are optimistic about the next generation's abilities and about what the future holds for the world. They genuinely like teenagers and young adults and like to associate with them. The women share a sense of social responsibility and are willing to lead.
Most had strong parent figures (either one or both parents) who gave them self-confidence and advocated for them. The politicians, in particular, had fathers who encouraged them.
When they talked about close relationships with their mothers, many of these strong women began to shed tears. It wasn't uncommon for them to become emotional when talking about the love they received during their formative years and what that early support meant to their lives. All grew up as risk-takers and are not afraid to fail. They are organized, fast thinkers (even at age 93, Sarah McClendon's age) and are accustomed to thinking "outside the box." They know how to use their time efficiently, and all have boundless energy. They are opinionated and at ease. Few like to go to big parties, but instead like to be with family and small groups of friends around the kitchen table. Not one of these women has ever quit being productive. All are flexible and have several projects going at the same time.
They are proud of their achievements. Although they are well known for accomplishments in their professional fields, without exception, the 15 mothers in the group claim that their children are their greatest achievements (without my prompting that answer.) They have raised strong families, and their children are successful, happy people.
- Most of the women in your book are seen as pioneers. Some helped change the system in Texas and some even on the national level - changes that affected women and minorities. Can you give examples of those changes and the women responsible?
It was the quest for solutions to injustices in society that spurred many of the women in this book to make meaningful changes in the system. While they were fighting for solutions, they naturally made names for themselves along the way - and are considered pioneers because they broke barriers for themselves and others. Many were the first women to accomplish what they did.
For example, Every married woman in Texas owes Dallas attorney Louise Raggio a debt of gratitude. Louise changed their lives when, in 1967, she headed up the otherwise all-male Marital Properties Task Force and helped push new laws through the Texas legislature. For the first time, married women in Texas could buy or sell property, secure a bank loan, start a business, and have credit in their own names.
At age 26, Sarah Weddington, Austin attorney, successfully argued the landmark Roe v. Wade case before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1973, the court announced its decision: a constitutional right to privacy gives women the right to choose whether to continue or terminate a pregnancy.
Liz Carpenter helped found the National Women's Political Caucus and handled the press during the 1970's and 1980's as she and other powerful American women campaigned to get women elected to office and the Equal Rights Amendment passed. Although the ERA was barely defeated, the groundswell caused by that 15-year effort helped prepare the nation for today's successful female politicians.
Along with a handful of other women journalists, Linda Ellerbee broke ground in the national broadcasting arena and paved the way for younger women to become household names as broadcasters on national networks. Juliet Garcia and Diana Natalicio became two of only a handful of female university presidents in the United States, Juliet being the first Mexican American woman ever to hold that position in this country. Today their innovative university programs focusing on women and minorities are models for other institutions of learning all over the country.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, after having been stalked herself, passed federal legislation to prosecute stalkers. Former Texas legislator Wilhelmina Delco passed laws which have bettered the lives of thousands of Texas school children and university students.
When Ann Richards became governor of Texas in 1990 at age 57, she appointed women and minorities to positions of power in state government, making the power structure look more like the actual population of Texas. Sculptor Glenna Goodacre broke barriers in the male-dominated art world and made a name for herself. Two of her best- known works are the Vietnam Women's Memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C., dedicated in 1993, and the U.S. golden dollar coin featuring Glenna's image of Sacagawea, issued in February 2000.
College coaches Jody Conradt and Barbara Jacket each took the obscure sports of collegiate women's basketball (Conradt) and women's track and field (Jacket) to the forefront and began filling arenas to capacity with their national championship teams. Neither had female predecessors to show them the way. Now, women's athletic events draw crowds and female coaches all over the country look to Jody and Barbara as mentors.
- Many of the women overcame tremendous barriers to get where they are today. What kind of barriers are you talking about?
For example: In 1947 Edith Irby Jones applied to medical school in the South, although no black person had ever been accepted to a white medical school south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Today, in her 70s, she remains a well-respected physician in Houston and still runs her solo medical practice so she can do it her own way.
Guadalupe Quintanilla overcame the label of mentally retarded thrust on her as a child by an Anglo school system that decided she couldn't learn - simply because she spoke no English.
Today she is a university professor and wealthy business owner who teaches cultural sensitivity to those who work in the public sector. Her three children, who also were once labeled slow learners because they spoke only Spanish, now have doctoral degrees from major American universities.
Ninfa Laurenzo was desperate to feed and support her children after her husband died, leaving the 45-year-old mother with five children, ages 6-21. So in 1973, Ninfa mortgaged her house, got a loan from a family friend, and with the help of her children, she cleared some space in a little warehouse near the wharves in Houston. She and her children opened up a ten-table restaurant. After a year, gross sales approached $100,000 and within ten years, her family operation had expanded to 51 restaurants covering several states.
- Many of the women point to the atmosphere in Texas as being a strong influence on their success. What did they say?
Barbara Jordan: "I get from the soil and spirit of Texas the feeling that I, as an individual, can accomplish whatever I want to, and that there are no limits, that you can just keep going, just keep soaring. I like that spirit."
Ann Richards: "When you grow up on the frontier, or close to it as I did, you believe there is nothing you can't do."
Carmen Lomas Garza: "Tejanas are different from the Mexican American women in California where I live now. Tejanas are much friendlier . . .and more celebrative. I think we inherited these qualities from our Tejana ancestors, who through their camaraderie had learned to survive the harsh physical environment of South Texas."
Linda Ellerbee: "Even at a time when women were supposed to be meek and quiet, I think most Texas women weren't good at that. My family certainly had women who spoke their minds."
Kay Bailey Hutchison: (quotes her great-great-grandmother, who in 1849 wrote home to Tennessee): "Out in this new country, I see no one but strangers, but they are the kindest people I have ever met with." Kay says, "That's the kind of stock from which we [Texas women] come.
- Who do you consider your target audience?
Women and men of all ages will gain from the wisdom these wisewomen impart and will be inspired by their life's stories. Baby boomer women are my primary target audience, closely followed by women just older than baby boomers - those over 55. I have heard from people of all ages and both genders who are enthusiastic about what they have read in "Let me tell you what I've learned."
- Why is this book important? What do you want readers to gain from having read "Let me tell you what I've learned:" Texas Wisewomen Speak?
Perhaps the most compelling reason to take this book's wisdom to heart is that most of us are on track to live many more years. Our long lives will be increasingly affected by the choices we have made earlier. Surveys show that 80 percent of baby boomers in the U.S. say they plan to work well past age 65. Perhaps the secret to staying vibrant in old age is continuing to be productive in some capacity and finding balance in your life so that work doesn't consume you. Although they love what they do professionally, most women in these pages nurture themselves, allowing time and energy for exercise, the arts, friendships and fun.
One in three American women has passed her 50th birthday. A woman who reaches 50 today, and remains free of cancer and heart disease, can count on celebrating her 92nd birthday, according to Dr. Kenneth Manton, demographer at Duke University. A quarter century from now, the number of older women in the world will have doubled.
Given our probable longevity, it is important to examine the quality of our lives. I encourage readers to highlight passages and write in the margins. It is my hope that readers will find within these pages wisdom that is timeless, quotable, timely, poignant, funny, encouraging, up-beat, and optimistic about the future - wisdom to help them along their own life's journey.
