#61 Things I Love About Arta

Arta

A woman of incredible integrity.

A woman who is a friend to all; the best of friends to all.

A woman who rose above the challenges in her life to become eternally angelic.

A woman who worked behind the scenes to make a better world for all.

A woman who is the sweetest most tender of all women, just like her mother Wyora Pilling.

A woman who faced the challenges in her life with a deep inner strength, just like her father, Doral Pilling.

So many tears have been shed by her family and friends since knowing of her illness. What can we do? How can we live life without her? Our lives will hold dear many cherished memories which have become part of us and will live on forever.

Arta never aspired to be out on the front lines but her magnetic personality put her out front in any situation. Arta is a woman who rose above the ignobility of some family members in her life who were intent on destroying her character and reputation. Her trustworthiness and incorruptibility are a testament to her integrity.

Arta's love of humanity and her thirst for knowledge made it a privilege to be near her.

Arta, it is a privilege to know you.

Arta is one of the Forces of Good in life and will always remain as such in my heart. 

Love forever,

Wyona

My op-ed piece on discrimination...

So... a couple of weeks ago, I went to a workshop organized by the University Women's Caucus called "Informed Opinions". It was run by Shari Graydon, who runs a project to educate women on how to bridge the gender gap in public commentary. In brief, it was a workshop for women on how to write op-ed pieces.

The first thing I learned is that "op-ed" means "opposite the editorial page". Can't believe I didn't know that....I somehow thought it meant something like "opinion edition" or some such thing. We were told that, amongst newspaper readers who are decision makers, it is not the front page, but the op-ed page that is the most important.

We were also told that women are vastly under-represented on the op-ed page. The more interesting question was "why?". It turns out that editors are not simply choosing male voices over female voices. It turns out that very few women submit op-ed pieces to newspapers (only 1 for every 5 male submissions they receive). She reminded us that you don't have to be an expert in order to speak. You just have to have 'an informed opinion' to contribute!

We got the lecture from her about the need to have a greater diversity of informed opinions in the media. She challeneged us to write and submit pieces more frequently. At one moment, it felt like one of those 'it is your responsibility!' lectures (you know, the "Get moving Soldier!" line.... hahaha)

So I did it A newspaper story in the Times Colonist really got my goat. And so I wrote a response. It showed up in the paper this morning!

Shari blogged about my process of writing it... Follow the links if you want to read her blog piece, or my op-ed.