6 minute read
CONVERSATIONS with Exceptional Women
BY DAVID GRAY ADLER
Since “The Bucket List,” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, lit up the silver screen in 2007, the popularized notion of an inventory of wish lists and “to dos” before one kicks the theoretical bucket has taken hold. Americans have busied themselves in drawing up and chalking off their lists—practical, fanciful, and romantic. The possibilities are limited by imagination and, well, money, and often are creative, enviable, and endless. While fame, glory, and fortune are enduring bucket list items, for many, there is the desire to meet and converse with trailblazers and leaders. Those attending The Alturas Institute’s forthcoming conference, “Conversations with Exceptional Women,” held August 20-22 in Boise, will be checking off bucket list wishes.
The chance to meet Elizabeth Prelogar, the brilliant and eloquent U.S. Solicitor General—born and raised in Boise—who brings great skill and learning to oral arguments before the Supreme Court. The opportunity to talk to Professor Joanne Freeman, the award-winning, effervescent Yale historian and preeminent authority on Alexander Hamilton, whose articles and books on that Founding Father inspired Lin Manuel-Miranda to write and produce the Broadway play (coming to Boise this fall!) that brought immortality to “Hamilton.” To borrow from the third song in Act 1 of that marvelous play—“My Shot”—audience members, including women and men, like Hamilton, are not going to throw away their shot; rather, they are going to take their shot, engage in intimate conversations with conference speakers, contemplate what they expect from their futures and from America, and not surrender opportunities to fulfill their dreams.
The 13th edition of “Conversations with Exceptional Women” gathers under one roof, a galaxy of extraordinary women leaders from across the nation for stimulating and insightful conversations about “Defending Democracy and Women’s Rights.” These leaders—award-winning writers, war correspondents, historians, film directors, and producers, as well as national television commentators, journalists, publishers, and renowned attorneys and prosecutors—have bucket lists, too. Joanne Freeman fulfilled a bucket list goal of becoming an expert on Hamilton, a pursuit that began by reading the 27-volume collection of his writings, acquiring extraordinary knowledge that she has shared on national television programs and with her students at Yale, eager readers, and audiences throughout the world. Just as she found her voice as a historian and public figure, she wants to help women “seeking their public voice.”
Karen Day, the award-winning war correspondent, documentarian, author, and (IdaHome!) publisher, has said that after watching the film classic “National Velvet” when she was 10 years old, the only goal on her bucket list is “to acquire the lavender eyes of Elizabeth Taylor,” which she pursued by drinking “vast quantities of Welch’s Grape Juice.” After a long career in war zone reporting, and “turning both cheeks to the back and forth to life’s inevitable slaps of reality,” her goal now is to “suck the marrow from every moment and do as much good as you can along the way.”
Or meet Karen Crouse, who, at 12 years old, wanted to become a sportswriter who traveled the world, covering the biggest events, including the Olympics and Wimbledon. She wanted to write at least one book and qualify for the U.S. Olympic swimming team, and as Meat Loaf sang, “Two out of three ain’t bad.” Crouse, a prize-winning New York Times Bestselling author, has covered every major sporting contest and, along the way, did more than anyone else to knock down the gates at the Augusta National Golf Club and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club in St. Andrews that barred women from becoming members.
Lindsey Blake, who secured in her capacity as lead prosecutor convictions in the sensational murder trials—held in Boise—of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell for heinous crimes, including the gruesome murder of her two children, which captured national and international attention, has a bucket list that includes a life-long goal of recognition as a respected attorney who acts honestly, ethically, and with integrity, and a second career as a criminal profiler. It’s safe to say that she has fulfilled the first goal.
Award-winning, New York Times Bestselling author and law professor Molly Guptill Manning, whose engrossing work, “When Books Went to War,” tells the heart-warming story of the nearly forgotten chapter of history of how the United States government and American publishers teamed up to provide 100 million copies of pocket-seized paperbacks to our soldiers in every theater of battle to combat boredom and alleviate anxiety between the terrors of war. Publication of the beloved Armed Services Editions transformed publishing, rescued classics from oblivion, and inspired millions of soldiers to attend college after World War II. A powerful opponent of book bans and censorship, one of Manning’s bucket list entries is to create a WWII Museum and Cultural Center.
Another New York Times Bestselling author, Anna Malaika Tubbs, long ago aimed to earn her PhD (done) and write a book. Her award-winning book, “The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation,” has wowed audiences around the world. She intends to continue writing, traveling, and speaking.
Christine Walker, the prize-winning film director and producer, has described a bucket list that, earlier in her life, included a career in the film industry, the opportunity to make a film, and creating her own company to finance films. Done, done, and done. She added, more recently, teaching lm at the college level. Lo and behold, she begins a stint this fall as Visiting Professor of Film at the University of Utah, her alma mater which, fittingly, has bestowed its highest awards upon its famous pupil.
Dr. Caroline Heldman, an award-winning professor, author, internationally acclaimed champion of women’s rights, known for her work in big screen lms promoting gender equality, an opera singer, and lead singer in a heavy metal band—essentially three full lives by any measure—is in fast pursuit of an important bucket wish: to drive 200 mph on a racetrack. She has reached 193 mph on the Sears Speedway. Don’t bet against her, or any of the other speakers, who are speeding toward completion of their bucket lists.
Come meet them at “Conversations with Exceptional Women.” Ticket registration and information are available at alturasinstitute.com
