"Let me tell you what I've learned:" Texas Wisewomen Speak

Louann Atkins Temple Women & Culture Series

by P.J. Pierce

Barbara Jordan spoke for many Texas women when she told a reporter, "I get from the soil and spirit of Texas the feeling that I, as an individual, can accomplish whatever I want to, and that there are no limits, that you can just keep going, just keep soaring. I like that spirit." Indeed, the sense of limitless possibilities has inspired countless Texas women—sometimes in the face of daunting obstacles—to build lives rich in work, family, friends, faith, and community involvement. In this collection of interviews conducted by PJ Pierce, twenty-five Texas women ranging in age from 53 to 93 share the wisdom they've acquired through living unconventional lives. Responding to the question "What have you found that really matters about life?" they offer keen insights into motherhood, career challenges, being a minority, marriage and widowhood, anger, assertiveness, managing change, persevering, power, speaking out, fashioning success from failure, writing your own job description, loving a younger man, and recognizing opportunities disguised as disaster—to name only a few of their topics. In her introduction, Pierce describes how she came to write the book and how she chose her subjects to represent a cross-section of career paths and ethnic groups and all geographic areas of Texas. A topical index makes it easy to compare several women's views on a given subject.

316 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2002

Reviews

[Carol Waters · Rating 2 out of 5]

I worked at Padres for a few years in Corpus Christi. The Board was forever touting, "first for the Mexican-American community" in all sorts of things. I asked my boss one day why they didn't claim, "first in the community" becasue on many fronts we were. He looked at me as if I were nuts. That's when I realized that he didn't have a community-wide basis for his efforts, and that the agency would never be what it could be. In some ways they were just nuts. For example, white kids drink way more and cause more problems with alcohol than any other ethnic gruop, but they kept asking for money for all those little drunk Hispanic kids and creating an atmosphere that indicated that the Hispanics were the ones with the problem instead of bragging on whatever strenghts made it possible for that group to have less risk.


The book about Texas Wisewomen was interesting in many ways. In some, the author continued to express the prejudices that have damaged Texas. The first, of course, is that just being from Texas somehow makes a person special. She wrote about women whose families had been here for 150 years, and about one Mexian-American woman who claimed that her people had been here for 10,000 years. Yeah, and do we really remember what they were up to, say 7,000 years ago? Or 120? Most of this is bunk. They did miss the issue of racism in the Hispanic community where Indian blood is looked down on rather than accepted.

At least four of the women spoke about "creating art for the Mexican-American culture" or "providing educational opportunities for the Mexican American children" and the like. Racism is racism, ladies. If I were to dare to propose using govermnet funds or political clout to exclusively advance the role of white kids I would be knocked out of service.

And out of all the women in Texas, none were gay or had a disability to come to terms with?

Self-aggrandizement positioning as "special." You want to see wise? Talk to someone who has survived in our welfare system, or who has gotten an education against the odds in this state, or who has raised good kids in a safe home without child support or help from anyone other than herself and her kin.

[Marisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was embarrassed that I didn't know more of the women in this book. They are all women that have made a difference in Texas and the world. Their advise was very different as were their opinions, but they all had a commonality.

Rememorable quotes:

Liz Carpenter:
Anger - Women used to be taught to take whatever is said to them and remain silent. But you need to talk back. You shouldn't take somebody's orders or arguments, simply to be polite, when you know what has been said is unfair and untrue. If you can do it with humor, you do better.

Marriage - I said "What's the main cause for divorce?" They said, "Two people who don't grow at the same rate."

Amy Freeman Lee:
Faith - It's a manifestation of ignorance and arrogance to believe that one possesses the only right way to worship. That concept has caused prodigious prejudice and violence in the world.

Irma Rangel:
Work ethic - I learned that when you work hard to earn something, you value it more than if it had been given to you.

Sarah Weddington:
Tooting your own horn - Women, especially, need to be willing to take risks and to get back up when they fall down. Women are usually more self-critical than are men. When something goes wrong, a woman in a leadership position will typically say, "What did I do to cause that?" Whereas a man in the same position typically says, "Who did that?".... A Hispanic congressman once said, "He who tooteth not his own horn, his horn goeth untooted."

[Kat Swansey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book isn’t rated very highly so I had low expectations going into it. At first I was disappointed there weren’t more “heavy hitters” interviewed. At the end I was glad for the selection of women — all heavy hitters in their own right with a unique and interesting perspective on success, womanhood, and what makes Texas women… well… Texas women. I enjoyed the differing perspectives and discovering ‘new’ women I wouldn’t have had a chance to familiarize myself with had I not read this book. Highly recommend.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Impressive Texas women and words of wisdom for us all.

[Laura Cottam Sajbel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This meandering read is like sitting on the porch one-on-one with each of the movers and shakers of Texas. From business to politics to balancing family life, these women have a lot of hard-earned wisdom to impart. Written as oral history, this book moves from one voice to the next, giving a good sense of the wide variety of personalities and backgrounds. Disclaimer: Although I read it before I knew her, PJ Pierce--who collected these terrific tales--is a wisewoman herself and it's a pleasure to read her tidbits about how she got to know each of these powerhouses.

[Aubrey Caudill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading this book and I wanted to recommend it. It's a good book for anyone from Texas, women, mexican americans, african americans, people in the arts, people in politics, or anyone who wants the advice from woman who were pioneers of the past century.

This isn't a novel in the traditional sense. I'd recommend picking it up every couple weeks and reading what one of the women say and then spend a couple weeks reading and learning more about her.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hearing the voices of these women themselves was fabulous, but the narrator's overly dramatic introductions got in the way of the voices themselves. The reader(s) who spoke for the women who were no longer living we spot on.

[Christine Rachelle]

Thought this would be more of an Every Woman book, but the author only interviewed women who were distinguished in their fields, most of which were government or policy related. This may have great advice; it just wasn't what I thought it would be.