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People Seen
People Seen
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by Tom Keener
The contributions of Amelia Earhart, Christa Mcauliffe and Sally Ride are remembered, but there are other, lesser-known, women explorers who dared to traverse an unfamiliar world. And they did so with no encouragement, if not with discourage-ment, from a male-dominated world.
In the nineteenth century, Isabelle Eberhardt and Mary Kingsley explored Africa. American Louise Arner Boyd tirelessly explored the Arctic and gained deserved recognition when a region on Greenland’s northern coast was named Louise Boyd Land.
Learn more about these women, as well as other current and past women explorers, at the Women Explorer Symposium, featuring Milbry Polk and Dr. Terrie Williams, 7 p.m., Wednesday, May 6. This free symposium is presented by Bach to Books and no reservations are required. Free tickets will be distributed at 6:30 p.m.
Milbry Polk, co author of Women of Discovery: A Celebration of Intrepid Women Who Explored the World and Looting of the Iraq Museum, Baghdad will discuss a history of women explorers, the challenges they encountered and the clever solutions they devised. Some female explorers hid in cargo trunks or vessels. Others cut their hair to appear as a man. Ms. Polk has dedicated her life to researching and documenting women explorers, past and present.
In 1993, Milbry and Leila Luce, daughter-in-law of Time Inc.founder Henry Luce, created Wings Trust. Their mission was to preserve the oral histories, discoveries and accomplish-ments of women explorers. In 2003, Wings World Quest was created to expand the mission of Wings Trust, leading to the founding of the Wings Women of Discovery Awards program, which celebrates and supports the groundbreaking work of current women explorers and scientists.
Milbry Polk has been profiled on CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood, National Public Radio and other international and national radio programs. She says, "Women scientists and explorers are passionate that they are doing what is right and will go through fire in their quest for know-ledge." She adds with dismay, "Women in science and exploration still suffer from prejudice and are not com-petitive in receiving grants and donations."
Milbry emphasizes, "I hope all people recognize they are explorers and every individual realizes they have something won-derful to contribute."
Dr. Terrie M. Williams is a professor of biology at the University of California in Santa Cruz. For over 25 years, she has studied and strived to protect marine animals. She has authored Emergency Care and Rehabilitation of Oiled Sea Otters: A Guide for Oil Spills Involving Fur-Bearing Marine Mammals, The Hunter’s Breath: On Expedition with the Weddell Seals of the Antarctic (Hardcover) and Whales, Whaling, and Ocean Ecosystems.
Following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, Dr. Williams was director of the Valdez Sea Otter Rescue Center and co-founder of the Center for Ocean Health at Long Marine Lab, Santa
Cruz, California. Her expeditions have included arduous journeys to the Antarctic and Alaska.
She is researching survival strategies of Weddell seals, Steller sea lions, sea otters and killer whales, as well as dolphins in Hawaii and the Bahamas. The primary question she is addressing in her studies is "How do marine animals survive in the changing world that we live in?"
With polar caps melting, she notes, "Seals are dying because the melting ice is closing breathing holes." Her ultimate goal is to ensure healthy oceans for both people and the animals that live beneath the waves.
For information, call Tom Keener at 214.509.4911.
Tom Keener is the cultural arts coordinator with the Allen Public Library. |
