Women Role Models In Spotlight
So many inspirational women, so few pages.
Hayden Lake authors Julie Keene, 64, and Ione Jensen, 62, could have filled volumes with women who conquered obstacles to become the role models of the 1990s.
Instead, they filled a readable 367 pages with 52 inspirational stories in their new book, “Emerging Women: The Widening Stream.”
“Emerging women are right next to us, all around us, in our hometown,” Keene says. “We don’t have to search for them. We could have done a book of women just in Spokane.”
“Emerging Women” is the second book for this pair dedicated to ministering to lost souls. In “Women Alone: Creating a Joyous and Fulfilling Life,” which came out in 1995, Keene and Jensen spotlighted women leading satisfying lives with or without Mr. Right.
They wrote from personal experience. Jensen was a happily married psychological counselor whose husband lived in another state. Keene was a college teacher and former pastor who had recovered from an abusive childhood, bad marriages and several family crises.
They teamed with a third friend to open a spiritual healing center in Hayden Lake 17 years ago. In their nationwide travels to promote “Women Alone,” Keene and Jensen met many women who had overcome tragedy, poverty and shaky beginnings and used their experiences to heal others.
Jensen dreamt about those women one night and awoke with the words “emerging women” in her head. She defined the words in her journal and, within minutes, knew she had written the introduction to her next book.
Keene and their publisher, Hay House, liked the idea of profiling women who were redefining feminism. The publisher sent a contract and an advance and asked Keene and Jensen to include a few famous women.
“It sort of put the fear of God in us,” Keene says.
The women they chose represent every generation and a broad range of ethnic groups, belief systems and races.
Cait Irwin is a spiritual, 15-year-old artist who struggles to find her niche at school. Alicia Appelman-Jurman survived the Holocaust, wrote a book on her experiences and shares her story through lectures. Maria Pouncey came from a migrant family with 17 children and now helps other migrant families survive.
“These are women who have stopped competing and focus on solutions to make a positive difference,” Jensen says. “They’re examples of what we’re all doing.”
Serendipity led Keene and Jensen to their famous women. At a book signing in Chicago, Gloria Steinem was the scheduled guest the day after the Hayden Lake women. Keene and Jensen left her a copy of “Women Alone” with a note requesting an interview. A month later, Steinem called.
Prophetess Jean Houston’s phone number came from friends. She was such an obliging interview that she helped Keene and Jensen snag a meeting with her neighbor, actress Ellen Burstyn.
“We feel like the angels have been with us on this,” Keene says.
From the Inland Northwest, Keene and Jensen plucked former Idaho legislators Jeanne Givens and Mary Lou Reed and Spokane journalist Rebecca Nappi for “Emerging Women.” They also included themselves in the book.
“Along with so many of the other women in the book, we started out wondering how we’d ever get past some of the obstacles before us,” Keene says. “We felt we wanted to tell our story, too.”
Keene and Jensen will read from “Emerging Women” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, at Aunties Bookstore in Spokane.
They’re also inviting women to a Women of Vision and Action gathering, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., July 19, at the Doubletree Inn (the former Red Lion Inn) on Sullivan. Registration costs $20 and includes lunch. For information, call (208) 772-2816.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 color photos