Unsung hero, Mary Jo Vogel of Colton, South Dakota received a Spirit of the Community award on October 9, 2016. Mary Jo, grandmother to 18, has worked hard, served the community, and is a model citizen. Mary Jo Vogel, 74, aspired to be a nurse since she was a young girl. At a time when women had little opportunities, Vogel, then Zitka, informed her high school guidance counselor she wanted to be a nurse. Her counselor informed her she did not have the grades and would never become a nurse. Although she struggled through her courses in high school, Zitka was determined accomplish her goal. She graduated Presentation School of Nursing highest in the class.…
Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story is based on the true story of Tiffany Rubin whose son was kidnapped by his own father (Jeff). Things didn’t quite work out for the couple, so they decided to get a divorce and go through a custody battle for their son Kobe. Kobe's father believed that he didn't get custody of his son because the American government was biased against him. He believed that he deserved custody of his son, even though he obviously didn't have his life together. However, a judge orders that Jeff must have visitation rights. Tiffany agrees to let Jeff take Kobe out of state for a week-long visit to Disneyland. After several days, she discovers that Jeff and Kobe are not at Disneyland. The police investigate and find that Jeff…
Nancy Knapp, Dora Williams, and Nellie Clark all had a rough life, and experiences that not everyone would understand. You have the choice to make your life better or worse, you have to be able to pick yourself up and move on. Many people have things happen to them that they can’t tell anyone and many people now go days without ever telling anyone. These three people had one life to live and didn’t get the best chance at living it and they all had a negative…
The appeal that was most obvious was her credentials. Cheryl Strayed has written many works of arts. “Her writings has appeared in The Best American Essay, The New York Times Magazine, The Rumpus, The Washington Post Magazine, Vogue, The Missouri Review, Creative Nonfiction, The Sun and elsewhere” (Strayed 317). She is a bestselling advice-essay collection book, a novelist, and an international bestselling book author of the book Wild. She wrote Wild as a memoir of her own experience using her own personal journals and memory. As she declared, “There are no composite characters or events in the book” (Strayed ix). This gives her a lot of credibility because she is saying she did not make any of this up. However, this just gives her the reliability to write this book, her character and ethics are…
Abigail Scott Dunaway was an American women's rights advocate who was also a newspaper writer and a newspaper editor. One of her many works included "Path Breaking" which was from her memoir. She, along with her entire family, followed the Oregon Trail to start a new life. In this memoir, Abigail discussed the hardships she faced from being a woman in the new found territory. Women did hard labor, as well as the usual tasks expected from a woman in that time period. She stated in her memoir that "...the most lingering of my many regrets is the fact that I was often compelled to neglect my little children, while spending my time in the kitchen, or at the churn or wash tub, doing heavy work for hale and hearty men..." Being a woman during this…
Cheryl Strayed writes about her experience hiking the “PCT”, otherwise known as the Pacific Crest Trail. Wild is an autobiography. I found that really interesting because you get to read and hear Cheryl’s actual experience first-hand. The Pacific Crest Trail reaches from Mexico to Canada on the western coast of the United States. At the beginning of the book Cheryl explains her past and what brought her to her decision of hiking over 2,000 miles. Her mom dying and divorcing her husband were two factors that helped make her decision. As she begins her hike, it is evident that her life is about to change.…
These three celebrities each have suffered through different experiences growing up, but they didn't let those past experiences stop them from moving on in life. Beyoncé was bullied at school but, she kept moving forward regarding what others said. Oprah was molested and lost a child but she kept living life. Demi Lovato was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, but she got help and moved past it. “I had a chance to stand still or move forward. To let things happen or make things happen. Everyday i wake up i make a choice. Not to let the world decide for me. I decide for me. I decide to get going.”…
Without these qualities she would not have become the true hero that we all know her as today. Overall Misty Copeland has shown the true qualities of a hero by inspiring people to fulfil their dreams without letting other people tell them to do something else they don’t enjoy. She has set an example for all the people in the world that dream to do something, but have something in their way preventing them from doing so. We will remember Misty Copeland and how she changed the world by standing up for what she wanted to…
the adversity she overcame growing up to get there. And later, in the profound research in her…
Oprah Gail Winfrey is a very strong and independent woman in today’s society. Oprah Winfrey went through many tough times throughout her lifetime, but being the tenacious woman she is, Winfrey became very successful. Oprah has helped many people get through their own personal struggles by being a role model to the twenty-first century. Oprah exemplifies what it means to be a hero by her ability to pull herself out of poverty by her hard work, becoming a strong woman after years of abuse, and helping others in the world by speaking out about her past.…
The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor was written by Sally Armstrong and published in 2007. The novel is based in 1775 shortly after people first started to settle in North America for land and improve their lives. It begins on board a boat crossing the ocean from England to the new world then they land in Jamaica for a short time then Charlotte makes her way to west Nova Scotia (present day New Brunswick) where she ends up in three different locations including Baie des Charleurs, Blake Brook and finally ends up along the Tabisintack River. The author’s motivation to write this book was in memory to her distant relative Charlotte Taylor and the first white women to live in the harsh weather of Canada. The history involved in this book is its most interesting part for most readers. This book is a creative non-fiction in the form of a biography because it follows the life of Charlotte Taylor. Life was hard for early settlers of Canada and this novel gives you a first person view of their hardships and that is the message the author is trying to pass on the reader.…
Elementary school was such a great time. Between our principle, Mrs. Kurtz, standing outside on the first day of school knowing everyone’s name, and all the fun carnivals, it was hard to decide the most impactful moment of my elementary school career. That was until I remembered what Mrs. Schade did for me in the third grade. We were working on our first real project, an assignment over any historical figure of our choosing. I had decided to do my project over Katharine Wright, Wilbur and Orville Wright’s lesser known, but equally important sister. I had been so excited about the project that I gathered every resource over her and constantly came home rattling off countless facts over my unsung hero. The assignment was also important, not just…
made it through the things that she did. The simple quote that I could unfortunately relate to was…
The American dream is the future every American strides towards, the future in which he/she has a good paying job and has the freedom and independence to choose his/her own destiny and make the most of it. It is this notion, which many people cling to nationwide. This concept, the concept that anyone can achieve anything, is what drives many people do what they want to do and make themselves what they want to be. Oprah Winfrey is a prime example of not only the American dream and what it means, but what “believing in it” can help you accomplish. Believing that with enough hard work, determination, and ambition, it is possible to achieve success.…
Dena William’s story made me rethink for a moment. Her story was kind of an inspiration message, of never losing hope in others. It made me stop and think for a while. I always had a…