“Plain” female person Colleen McCullough also did science, wrote books

[sheshe2]

Last edited Mon Feb 2, 2015, 03:46 AM - Edit history (2)

#myozobituary



When an individual of note dies, it’s important to note his or her most remarkable achievements right up front in the obituary. And so in remembering Australian scientist and novelist Colleen McCullough, who died on Thursday at the age of 77, the New York Times recalled her work as a neurophysiological researcher at Yale who began writing future blockbusters like “The Thorn Birds” in her spare time. The Telegraph noted that “despite a string of health and eyesight problems” she tenaciously continued writing via dictation, and that she “established the neurophysiology department at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital.” And The Australian led with this opening: “Colleen McCullough, Australia’s best selling author, was a charmer. Plain of feature, and certainly overweight, she was, nevertheless, a woman of wit and warmth. In one interview, she said: ‘I’ve never been into clothes or figure and the interesting thing is I never had any trouble attracting men.’”

I guess it’s nice they mentioned the part about her being her country’s best selling author – and a charmer! But then oh sweet mercy, what are you people thinking here? In case this isn’t patently obvious to people who write for major news organizations: It is entirely possible to possess “wit and warmth,” to be “attractive” to the opposite sex, even, while still being “plain of feature and certainly overweight.” Those things are not diametrically opposed concepts. Shocking as this may be to some, a person’s aesthetic value is not at all relative to his or her sense of humor, gregariousness, or even, to a large extent, ability to make other people like him or her.Now you know!

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Though The Australian’s obit is an especially egregious example of inanity, it is far from isolated. While the words came further down in the Times obit, the paper also saw fit to observe that “Nearly everything about Ms. McCullough had unrestrained heft: her voice, her laugh, her frame, her opinions, the blizzard of cigarettes she smoked each day and, most conspicuously, her books.” The LA Times, meanwhile, described her as “the large, garrulous, Australia-born McCullough” before mentioning her scientific achievements. We get it, she was fat. That’s what’s important! Certainly for a woman!

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Fortunately, The Australian’s recent refreshingly clueless sense of priorities did not escape widespread attention, and by Friday morning, the Twitterverse was weighing in with a trove of hilarious self-penned “#myozobituary” nominees. I’m fond of comic Josh Thomas’ description that “Despite his womanly hips, wobbly face and thinning hair he still managed to sleep with lots of men. Was on Celebrity Splash” and author Caitlin Moran’s “Although she grew a disappointing arse, she nonetheless got laid & won awards.” Thank you so much, people of Twitter, for laughing in the face of obvious sexism and stupidity, thereby heading off many feminist rage strokes.

Read More http://www.salon.com/2015/01/30/plain_female_person_colleen_mccullough_also_did_science_wrote_books/

Sigh~ We are judged by our looks? We are nothing more and nothing less than that? Sweet goddess spare me. We have far more depth than that. We always have. It has do do with the strength in our hearts and in our souls. We have fought for hundreds of years for our families, our rights and our lives.

Do not judge us by our sex, do not judge us by our color and sure as hell do not judge us for our looks. Look at our mind and what is in our heart.

Me, I will be a Colleen McCullough for her heart and depth any day than a, superficial attention seeking Kim Kardashian that only wants to line her pocket.

Once again, no other person says it better.

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Maya Angelou

http://poemhunter.com/poem/still-i-rise/







Maya.

Laughing in the face for all those that try to keep us down.






WOMEN!WOMEN! WOMAN. We Rise.

[shenmue]

1. Yes

[sheshe2]

2. Gotta say....

I love you shenmue~

[shenmue]

3. Thank you

Here is a cat.

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[sheshe2]

5. Lol~

Sweet!

[mackerel]

4. I wonder what The Australian would have said about Maeve Binchy.

[Kalidurga]

6. Actually she was very attractive

Not that it matters, it is much more important that she wrote great stories.

[sheshe2]

7. exactly

she did that and so much more.

[ismnotwasm]

9. I read about this

Pathetic.

[mackerel]

10. Ugly old greedy liar owned a lot of stuff and then died.

That is what I expect The Australian to print about their boss.

[sheshe2]

12. Pathetic way to have ones life summed up.

It's about how she looked and not what she accomplished!!!

It would be poetic justice for the person that wrote this to lose their job. I tried to find out if the author of the obit was male or female. My money is on male.

[Rowdyboy]

11. Her series "Masters of Rome" is brilliant. Her research impeccable, she won me over 12 years ago

by making dry historical figures like Cicero, Cato, Brutus and Cassius come to life and ring with authenticity. I read all 7 books, waited a few months, then read them again. That's several thousand pages and a first for me.

I don't give a happy damn if she was fat, thin, ugly, gorgeous or somewhere in between. She moved me and taught me far more than any college course could ever hope to. She was a unique voice and these books are the best historical fiction I have ever read. I understand that her last years were very painful and, while I will forever miss her work, I'm glad she's free of her pain.

May the asshole who tried to reduce her immense love of life in such a demeaning way suffer consequences for his hateful attitude.

Rest in peace sweet spirit

[sheshe2]

13. Bravo for your post Rowdyboy!

Well said.

[ProfessorPlum]

14. I loved that series as well

and have lent the books out to many friends and family members.

She was a real intellect, and could write a terrific book.

[ismnotwasm]

15. ....