Journal 11 Ali

The first person that I got was Lydia Emery. After observing her picture she is such a cute little old woman, who looks like she just wants to help others. Observing the text I noticed that authors of the book gave a little background information about her, and then led into her interview. Also within this text I noticed that she was faced with many challenges and opinions about her career. While reading Lydia's story she told me about what a nurse felt about her, "...she was very upset with me because I didn't charge more, that I was "projecting the wrong image", that a woman doctor should make just as much as a man doctor..."(Isay 144). This interview took place back in the 1940's and there is still controversy over women's rights. Men still get paid more than women in certain occupations. Everyone deserves the same pay regardless of their gender; but I agree with Lydia. "...because to me, medicine should be a measure of what you're doing, not how much money you're making"(Isay 144). After reading this passage it helped me realize that work is not all about money. You should be working to help others, not for the money. One question that I had after reading this was "How many women are doctors are there today?" In 2011 there were as many as 14.8 million women in the US were in medicine. The overall theme I discovered from this passage was "don't give up on what you believe in". Lydia didn't give up on her dream of becoming a doctor because most women weren't, and she didn't give up because of fearing her father won't accept her. Lydia was an extraordinary woman who wasn't afraid to go after her wildest dreams. The second passage I read was about Marion Walker. She too was a cute little old woman, but this woman didn't seem as happy and go lucky as Lydia, she seemed to be little more serious about life. While reading this I noticed that this passage was quite short and to the point. After reading this story I learned something, that little businesses like Howard and Walker's have severely declined over the years. Today you only see big business that are outstretched over the entire United States. Big business are what makes the big bucks, causing little shops to disappear. The theme that I got from Marion is," not everyone can take the heat". At the end of the passage this was stated, "A few weeks before we arrived, Ms. Howard retired, leaving Marion Walker to run the store by herself. "Nellie just got tired, I guess". Their business was in the middle of no where and I guess Nellie just simply gave up on the business and quit; leaving all the work to Marion Walker. Nellie couldn't handle the heat anymore leaving it all on Marion.