While women owe much to Rosie, Matilda Butler and I thank her for giving our book a focal point
When a six-million-strong army of Rosie the Riveters answered the call to work in factories and offices across the country, they overcame many expectations about women's roles and capabilities, but age-old barriers didn't come crashing down, nor did opportunities for women open up overnight.
Rosie's Daughters: The "First Woman To" Generation Tells Its Story
by Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett
Every book has a story of how it came to be. That explanation usually focuses on the inspiration that ignited the idea, and Rosie's Daughters: The "First Woman To" Generation Tells Its Story is no exception. But the origin is just part of the backstory of "The Making of Rosie's Daughters." Without necessarily meaning to, Matilda Butler and I believe we have written the breakthrough book about the generation of women that broke through centuries of limitations to take their place in the world. We found it necessary to push beyond conventional book format to give the first-person stories of the more than 100 women interviewed a multi-dimensional historical context that spans six decades of change.Writing this book has been a lot of fun and a huge challenge. It has been an exercise that has taught us much about the genre called "memoir." It's also given us a clear understanding of the inextricable connection between content and context.
Marshall McLuhan wrote, "The medium is the message." We believe we have found a corollary: that content deserves a context. The message is best delivered by a format...a design that immerses the reader in the subject at hand. The author of such a book leads the reader down a path of discovery that is both informative and entertaining and provides enough first-person account and primary-source material for the reader to reach his or her own conclusions.
As you write your own memoirs, we encourage you to consider HOW you present your story.
The Real "First Woman To" is found throughout history
Since the country's founding, women have achieved firsts, but they achieved them primarily as isolated distinctions. That is, when a woman achieved "firstness" of a particular kind, other women did not immediately follow.
...until Rosie's Daughters.
Rosie's on Amazon and we've got her
What fun...Rosie's become an Action Figure
Rosie's Daughters: The "First Woman To" Generation Tells Its Story
Amazon Price: $17.12 (as of 08/21/2008)
ROSIE THE RIVETER - FIGURE
Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 08/21/2008)
Rosie the Riveter Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post Jigsaw Puzzle 1000pc
Amazon Price: $15.34 (as of 08/21/2008)
Rosie The Riveter
Amazon Price: $7.68 (as of 08/21/2008)
Rosie the Riveter Nightlight
Amazon Price: $3.98 (as of 08/21/2008)
Dedicated to the women who showed us the POSSIBLE
Rosie the Riveter has her place in Wikipedia
Rosie the Riveter has become more pervasive than anyone could have imagined. In truth, her image grows stronger and more recognizable today. Her ability to show us what women could do gives all women a lesson in potential.
Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon of the United States, representing the six million women who entered the workforce for the first time during World War II[http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20040530&slug=rosie30 Rosie's proud of her band of sisters] by Kevin Cullen, Seattle Times, May 30, 2004, many of whom worked in the manufacturing plants that produced munitions and material. These women took the places of the male workers who were absent fighting in the Pacific and European theaters. The character is now considered a feminist icon in the US, and a herald of women's economic power to come. Rosie and her slogan "We Can Do It!" were featured on posters, magazines, and more.
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Famous FW2-Generation Women
Who are these FW2 women? You'll find them everywhere.
- Martha Stewart, Anita Roddick, Sherry Lansing and Diane von Furstenberg in Business
- Diane Sawyer, Molly Ivins, Nina Totenberg, Leslie Stahl, Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Jane Bryant Quinn in journalism
- Nancy Pelosi, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Barbara Boxer and Pat Schroeder in politics
- Billie Jean King, Virginia Wade, Wilma Rudolph and Margaret Smith Court in sports
- Alice Waters in American cuisine
- Activists Sarah Brady, Angela Davis and Patricia Ireland
- Authors Erica Jong, Robin Morgan, Maxine Hong Kingston, Rita Mae Brown, Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich, Susan Wittig Albert, Annie Dillard, Anne Rice and Arlie Russell Hochschild
- Singers Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Helen Reddy, Vikki Carr, Martha Reeves, Gladys Knight, K.T. Oslin, Mama Cass and Brenda Lee
- Actors Jill Clayburgh, Mia Farrow, Bette Midler, Marsha Mason, Stockard Channing, Barbra Streisand and Madeline Kahn
- Producer/director Penny Marshall and scriptwriter/director Nora Ephron
- Choreographers Twyla Tharp and Judith Jamison
- TV talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael and TV personality Judge Judy
Memoirs and Biographies Come in All Forms
More Memoirs and Biographies
The Sixties-The Great Discontinuity
You want not only to pull from an many resources you can find but share them with readers.
The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969.The term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends which occurred roughly during the years 1956?1974 in the west, particularly United States, Britain, France, Canada, Australia, Spain, Italy, and West Germany. Social and political upheaval was not limited to these countries, but included such nations as Japan, Mexico, and others. In the United States, The Sixties as they are known in popular culture today lasted from about 1963 to 1973. The term is used descriptively by historians, journalists, and other objective academics; nostalgically by those who participated in the counter-culture and social revolution; and pejoratively by those who perceive the era as one of irresponsible excess and flamboyance. The decade was also labeled the Swinging Sixties because of the libertine attitudes that emerged during this decade. Rampant drug use has become inextricably associated with the counter-culture of the era, as Jefferson Airplane co-founder Paul Kantner mentions: "If you can remember anything about the sixties, you weren't really there."'
The 1960s have become synonymous with all the new, exciting, radical, and subversive events and trends of the period, which continued to develop in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and beyond. In Africa the 1960s was a period of radical political change as countries gained independence from their European colonial rulers, only for this rule to be replaced in many cases by civil war or corrupt dictatorships.
Some commentatorsChristopher Booker: The Neophiliacs: A Study of the Revolution in English Life In The Fifties and Sixties, Gambit Incorporated, London, 1970 have seen in this era a classical Jungian nightmare cycle as a rigid culture, unable to contain the demands for greater individual freedom, broke free of the social constraints of the previous age through extreme deviation from the norm. Booker charts the rise, success, fall/nightmare and explosion in the London scene of the 1960s. This does not alone however explain the mass nature of the phenomenon.
Several Western governments turned to the left in the early 1960s. In the United States President John F. Kennedy was elected as president. Italy formed its first left-of-centre government in March 1962 with a coalition of Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, and moderate Republicans. Socialists joined the ruling block in December 1963. In Britain, the Labour Party gained power in 1964.Arthur Marwick, The Sixties: Cultural Revolution in Britain, Israel, Italy, India, South Korea, Pen Island, and the United States, c.1958-c.1974'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 247-248.
The Sixties, when Rosie's Daughters came of age
Prime Green: Remembering the Sixties
Amazon Price: $17.13 (as of 08/21/2008)
Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond
Amazon Price: $12.60 (as of 08/21/2008)
The Sixties
Amazon Price: (as of 08/21/2008)
The Encyclopedia of Sixties Cool: A Celebration of the Grooviest People, Events, and Artifacts of the 1960s
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 08/21/2008)
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage
Amazon Price: $14.28 (as of 08/21/2008)
All about Books
Find the book resources that will help and entertain you
The Internet is a rich resource for authors and readers alike. You will find sites that enable you to create books on line, promote your next book and share your reading lists and reviews.
Food and Cooking is another dimension to the memoir
IMPORTANT NOTE: These links are generated automatically. I have no control other than to put in the search terms "food recipe".
Memoirs, Memories and Autobiographies
Learn from the works of others
We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live: Collected Nonfiction (Everyman's Library)
Amazon Price: $19.80 (as of 08/21/2008)
Loose Change: Three Women of the Sixties
Amazon Price: $17.05 (as of 08/21/2008)
Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin'
Amazon Price: $16.50 (as of 08/21/2008)
Tough Choices: A Memoir
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 08/21/2008)
Lessons in Becoming Myself
Amazon Price: $17.13 (as of 08/21/2008)
Our links
Writing, Food and Memories
- Women's Memoirs
- Women's Memoirs, seminars on how to write. Matilda Butler developed a new business based on the experiences of writing and formatting Rosie's Daughters. She has become a student of the memoir and now shares her insight to help other aspiring memoirists to find their voices.
- Meet Rosie's Daughters - The Book
- We're promoting Rosie's Daughters. This will remain a work in progress. We started it to build awareness for our book. As the community grows about Rosie's Daughters and the many Rosie's daughters in our audience begin to contribute their thoughts and memories, the Website will grow and change. So check back often
- Palate Pleasers
- Sharing 50 years of Moo's Creative Cooking
My mother was an artist and an excellent cook. I'm in the process of sharing some of her original creations. - Story Circle Book Reviews: reviewing books by, for, and about women
- Reviews of books by, for, about, and of interest to women. We love books that tell the truth about women's lives.
Karen Ryan has a nice review of Rosie's Daughters on the site. - Linda Joy Myers, memoir writer, spiritual autobiography teacher, writing workshop leader, psychotherapist
- Memoir writing heals! According to research published by Dr. James Pennebaker and his colleagues, writing a true story helps to heal such illnesses as arthritis and asthma. New research shows that writing positive stories is as healing as the dark stories.
Linda Joy Myers holds writers' workshops. She is also our publisher. Visit her site, sign up for her free newsletter and get an audio download--a discussion with Matilda Butler and Linda Joy Meyers. - Santa Clara County Library
- The Santa Clara Library is also home to the Gilroy Writing Project. Matilda Butler is a member of this group and gives a Memoir Writing Workshop on November 17, 2007.
- South Bay Writers - Official Website - Welcome
- South Bay Writers is the Santa Clara Valley branch of the California Writers Club, a community of published and aspiring writers. We host the East of Eden writers conference and many other events to encourage and educate writers of all levels.
Stretch your vocabulary
A good writer can never have too many words at her disposal.
Every day you'll find new words. Read them. Pronounce them. Use them in sentences three times a day. And they will be yours.
- juju: Dictionary.com Word of the Day
- juju: an object superstitiously believed to embody magical powers.
The Seventies
The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics
Amazon Price: $12.21 (as of 08/21/2008)
America in the Seventies (Cultureamerica)
Amazon Price: $15.25 (as of 08/21/2008)
How We Got Here: The 70's: The Decade That Brought You Modern Life--For Better or Worse
Amazon Price: $17.05 (as of 08/21/2008)
Time of Transition: The 70s (Our American Century)
Amazon Price: (as of 08/21/2008)
The Seventies in America (3 volume set)
Amazon Price: $364.00 (as of 08/21/2008)
Rosie's Daughters is Stimulating Stories
From Women in Business in the Gilroy Dispatch, Hollister Free Lance and Morgan Hill Times
This 6-page supplement appeared October 30, 2007. The papers have done a marvelous job and had their share of fun with the subtitle:WE'VE COME A LONG WAY SINCE 'YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY!'
Reader Feedback on Rosie's Daughters
We are building community for Rosie's Daughters and her friends
Your memories will make this lens richer. And we hope we can encourage both a sharing of ideas on this lens and your thoughts about putting content into context
What a gift is Rosie's Daughters! It's a beautiful book that compiles the group wisdom of so many women over the decades and gives us a flavor of how much things have changed during our lifetimes. The detailed stories and the original voices are so inspiring and tell very personal deep and authentic stories. Congratulations to the authors for creating the photos, graphics, and intimacy in this book. Everyone should read it and then begin her own story.
As a memoir teacher, of course I'm all for that.
www.namw.org
Posted February 07, 2008
Great to be the first person to comment on your lens about Rosie's Daughters! As your co-author, I share your passion to connect life stories with the context of the times that created them. You have done an amazing job of putting together audio/video/book resources that link content with context.
Posted November 13, 2007
