Polly Meissner

Teachers! To celebrate the release I Survived the Great Alaska Earthquake, 1964, I am giving away five personalized and SIGNED copies! RT to enter. I'll announce winners on 11/20. ❤️✍️

“Country singer Dolly Parton wrote the songs "I Will Always Love You" and "Jolene" on the same night. When the first song was at the top of the charts in 1974, Elvis wanted to record his own version of the song. Dolly was interested until Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis' manager, said that it was standard procedure that when the king of rock and roll covered a song - half of the rights to that song would go to him in the future. She refused it. "I said, 'I'm really, really sorry' and cried all night. It was terrible for me, on the one hand, it's Elvis. People told me: "You are crazy." It's Elvis Presley...' but I just couldn't do it. Something told me in my heart not to do it and I didn't. I know he would rock with that song. But I couldn't. And then Whitney Houston came along with her version and I made enough money from the rights to buy Dollywood." She grew up in severe poverty and no one famous has done more for the education of the poor than her. In 1990, the percentage of students who did not graduate from high school in her hometown was over 30%. She introduced the "Buddy Program", where all high school graduates received a nice sum when they graduated. It wasn't just a waste of money, she personally came and explained the concept to them - everyone should find a buddy, and whoever doesn't succeed she will find one for them. Everyone had to sign that they will graduate and do everything in their power to ensure that their buddy also graduates. She taught young people about friendship and helping. The number of school dropouts dropped to below 6% and has remained so until today. When 900 families lost their homes in the 2016 fires, she paid each family $1,000 for the next five months. When she came to the bank to finish the paperwork, she gave each family another $5,000 to find. A total of nine million dollars. Also, her work - Imagination Library from 1995, was inspired by her realization that young people in rural areas and poor families already fall behind when they start school and that this prevents them from pursuing higher education. The goal of her program was for every child in her district to receive one book, once a month, from birth to school, completely free of charge, without any conditions. It started as an initiative in her hometown and has spread to a huge number of countries around the world. By 2018, over 100 million books were distributed in this way. She is also known for her witty statements, at the beginning of her career she said: “I'm not offended by jokes about stupid blondes because I know I'm not stupid... and I'm not really blonde either.” Anonymous

"It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are very beautiful and very smart... and it breaks my soul that you think you're not good enough, like we're always supposed to be extraordinary, but somehow we're always doing it wrong. We have to be skinny, but not too much and you must not say you want to be skinny. You must say you want a healthy weight, but also… YES you have to be skinny. You must have money, but you can’t ask for money because that would be rude. You gotta be a boss, but you can't be tough. You must lead, but you cannot crush other people’s ideas. You’re supposed to love being a mom, but you don’t talk about your kids all the time. You have to be a professional, but also always take care of everyone else. You are responsible for men’s misbehavior, WHICH IS CRAZY, but if you notice that, you’re accused of being a whine. You're expected to keep yourself pretty for men, but not so pretty you 'try them too much' or threaten other women… because you're supposed to be part of the sorority. You must always stand out and always be very grateful… but never forget the system is fixed, so find how to acknowledge it but remember to be grateful. You must never grow old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never stumble, never fail or show fear and, of course, you must never be sassy. It's very hard, it's too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you. And it turns out, in fact, that not only are you doing everything WRONG, but also, everything that happens is YOUR FAULT. I'm tired of seeing myself and every woman doing the impossible for others to love us." - America Ferrera as Gloria Barbie (2023)

“In one of the most notable moments in sports history, Kenyan runner Abel Mutai was just a few feet from the finish line, but became confused with the signage and stopped thinking he had completed the race. A Spanish athlete, Ivan Fernandez, was right behind him, and after realizing what was happening, he started shouting at the Kenyan for him to continue running; but Mutai didn't understand his Spanish. Fernandez eventually caught up to him and instead of passing him, he pushed him to victory. A journalist asked Ivan, "Why did you do that?" Ivan replied, “My dream is that someday we can have a kind of community life where we push and help each other to win.” The journalist insisted “But why did you let the Kenyan win?" Ivan replied, "I didn't let him win, he was going to win.” The journalist insisted again, “But you could have won!”Ivan looked at him & replied, “But what would be the merit of my victory? What would be the honor of that medal? What would my Mom think of that?” Values are transmitted from generation to generation. What values are we teaching our children? Let us not teach our kids the wrong ways to WIN.” Calltoactivism