A Celebration of Women

is thoroughly excited to Celebrate the Life of this wonderful inspired soul with the Women of our World. This is a Woman that grew from toddler to teen feeling very isolated due to circumstance beyond her control. She has taken this experience of detachment to help others Celebrate Diversity and create Unity. This gal is a true spirit of the divine in a body, Taking Action.

WOMAN of ACTION

Pamela Ferris – Olson

I was raised in a fairly homogeneous suburb in New York by parents who bestowed upon me little religious, ethnic, cultural, or family identity. I developed a fascination for people who have strong family and ethnic ties. This is both ironic and instructive. My parents in a number of ways embody the divide that exists in this country in regards to immigrants and minorities.

My mother was intolerant of people whose appearance and manners did not fit within her limited constructs of acceptability;

my father evaluated people by their character and moral behavior.

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Birth order, and the 17 and 15 years in age that separated my siblings from me, contributed to my limited understanding of family.

My brother and sister left home before I was little more than a toddler.

My parents, maybe because they were forty years old when I was born, became increasingly less engaged in my life as I became a teenager;

thus my feelings of isolation and my disconnectedness grew as I got older.

By the time I was married and had children,

geographic and emotional distance had forced me to develop self-sufficiency.

When my parents died, and as my children gained their independence, I increasingly felt disconnected. My life had become centered on my children.

With their departure for college, my anchors became my husband and my writing.As a freelance journalist I have met many people.

During interviews, I learned not only about the people; but, about their families, too.

The women juggled their tasks as wives, mothers, employees, and caregivers with such grace in the face of adversity.

It made me think about Women as the literal and figurative Protectors of the Family.

We fulfilled these obligations even before church and state assumed protective roles. I found inspiration and guidance from the women I interviewed.I’ve spent my life observing human behavior and been fortunate to do this on five continents. When a series of events in the United States precipitated wide scale negative reactions to people who appear different, I wanted to get involved.

I believe that individuality should be life-enriching, not limiting.

One way I did this was to research and write a book about Minority Women. In doing so I hoped the women’s stories would offer a realistic look behind the faces – faces brushed with a broad range of skin tones and ornamented with differently shaped lips, noses, and eyes – of the women who experience intolerance.

My hope was that given the chance to look beyond these superficial traits, readers would discover women who share similar hopes and insecurities. I hoped readers would discover a kinship with the women. I also had a personal reason for wanting to research Living in the Heartland: Three Extraordinary Women’s Stories. I sought guidance from the women I interviewed.

Through them I hoped to reconnect with my own heritage and family.

“I Celebrate Women

and the graceful way they live life

in the Face of Challenge.”

Rather than satisfying my intended goal, the Living in the Heartland book and blog have elevated my desire to connect with women, and make a significant contribution to our search for identity, self-esteem and happiness.

I have returned to college.

I expect that my doctoral studies in leadership and change at Antioch University will help me become even more effective in achieving my goals. I am also looking forward to interacting with and writing additional books about extraordinary women.

In the final analysis, we are all extraordinary….

Sometimes, however,

it takes someone to hold a mirror up to our accomplishments so we can recognize that fact.

That is the how and why for my book:

Living in the Heartland: Three Extraordinary Women’s Stories.

I’ve worked as a freelance writer and photographer for nearly two decades. As a regular contributor to the Dayton Daily News in Dayton, OH, I’ve had the chance to meet and talk to many interesting people. Living in the Heartland: Three Extraordinary Women’s Stories is my first book about the search for identity, self-worth, and happiness. The book is an intimate look at three, contemporary minority American women. Their struggles, I believe, will resonate with all women.

They need to support more stories about real Americans.

I received positive feedback on my manuscript from publishers and agents but had no offers to publish it. I was told that non-fiction, especially biographies, aren’t profitable. I don’t believe that people are only interested in reading about celebs and daredevil heroes, particularly as people regularly tell me they want inspirational stories about regular folks. For this reason and others I chose to self-publish. This doesn’t mean I cut corners or produced a book without editorial review and feedback. I’d like to sell at least 100,000 books to prove my point. I am VERY hopeful that people will help spread the word and want to buy my book.

Together, we can send a message to Publishers….

Available on Amazon.com (http://tinyurl.com/ybnk7ml).

Pamela says:
Living in the Heartland

http://www.livingintheheartland.com ,

is “A Celebration of Women”.

My blog Living in the Heartland (http://www.livingintheheartland.com ) is an extension of the book.

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000636108398

A Celebration of Women

celebrates the Life and Writing of this Self-Publisher;

the mirror that we hold up to You shows a Caring & Loving,

‘Woman~Activist’.

Brava, Pamela!

A Celebration of Women