Diana Douglas: A Brief Biography

Pamela Suzette Grier was born on May 26TH, 1949 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to Sylvia Samuels, a nurse, and Clarence Ransom Grier, a mechanic and Technical Sergeant in the US Air Force. She moved frequently throughout her childhood due to her father's military career, but the family eventually settled in Denver, where she attended both secondary school and college. In order to raise money for tuition for her sophomore year, Grier entered several beauty pageants around the state and even earned second runner up in the 1967 Miss Colorado Pageant – it was there that she was discovered by an agent who urged her to take up acting and she quickly moved to Los Angeles with her aunt and cousin, Rosey Grier, a pro-football player and actor, in 1968 to pursue a career.

The spookiest thing was that the house was located right under the sign which in those day spelled out – Hollywoodland. The first job she got was in a small theater in a play called “Mad Hopes” starring Billie Burke, who later became Glenda the good witch in “The Wizard of Oz”. In this show was another newcomer – Humphrey Bogart. Unfortunately the play was not successful and Peg went on to perform in some small productions along with Billie Burke while Bogart returned to New York. Finally she landed a short-term contract with RKO Studios. Her first role was in a film called “Thirteen Women” but in the eyes of the critics the film was a disaster. Afterwards Peg only received a cameo

In Purity and Danger, Mary Douglas weaves her analysis of religion and society around a very simple topic, one of which I honestly took for granted: dirt. Dirt, Douglas argues, plays a massive role in the formation of society and how societies understand their worldviews and conceptions of sacredness. With this constant pushing and pulling of purity and impurity, meanings can be assigned to all patterns inside and outside the symbolic classification system of a society. Unity of the sacred and the filthy is then achieved through these purity and impurity rituals (3). In this essay, I will discuss the paradoxes of her book, modern approaches with understanding ritual, and my insecurities over the “Primitive Worlds” chapter.

Mia Michaels was born is Coconut Grove, Florida. As the youngest of Joe Michaels' children Michaels' grew up surrounded by dance, she was taught Jazz, Tap and Ballet by her father and her sister taught her contemporary. After she had learned all she could from her family Michaels went on to train in contemporary with Miami Conservatory, Miami Performing Arts Centre, Michigan Interlochen Arts Academy and with the New World School of the arts.

Eventually, Mary would begin working outside the stage and take a risk in a more recently developed artform. Mary and her luxurious curls would begin working with D.W. Griffith’s Biograph Studio starting in 1909 as a biographer starring in films, rather than her upbringing of theatre. This job, along with future breakout roles in movies like Tess of the Storm Country and many others would propel Mary into the limelight in the eyes of many. She would become known by the public as “the biograph girl” or “the girl with the golden curls” along with many other nicknames and soon would become the most popular and highest paid actress in America and possibly the world. She also went on to be apart of forming the United Artists studio.

A great hero Deborah Sampson in the Revolutionary War born on December 17th 1760 in Plympton, Massachusetts near Plymouth. Sampson was one of the seven children to Johnson Sampson Jr and Deborah Bradford AKA Sampson. Both were descendants of pilgrims Myles Standish and Priscilla Alden; his wife, the great-granddaughter of financially and, after Jonathan failed to return from a sea Voyage his wife was forced to place her children in different households 5 years later, age 10 Deborah was was a servant to Deacon Benjamin Thomas a farmer in Middleburg.

In 1934, Temple signed with 20th Century Fox Studios and began playing the type of role she fit perfectly: a confident, charming, curly-haired heroine. According to Dubas, “by the fall of 1934, Shirley was becoming a national obsession, captivating the country with a dynamic combination of personality, self-reliance and optimism- the perfect outlet for a public in the grips of the Great Depression” (22). She became an overnight sensation because of her impressive ability; “Though only five years old when thrust into movie stardom, she was able to master complex song-and-dance routines far faster than most of her adult partners” (Sonneborn).

Dahlia Whitbourne was the first black female physician. Born on April 2, 1901, Dahlia helped so many kids all throughout her life however, she never had her own children. She traveled to West Africa to help them.

Mary Ludwig, born to Maria and John Ludwick near Trenton,New Jersey on Oct 13, 1754.Biography.Com states that when she was about the age of 14 she moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania , where she worked as a domestic servant and later married William Hays, who was currently a local barber on July 24, 1769.

Diana replied enthusiastically, “ because I want to save lives and help people.” Diana continued, “ the joy of helping someone and saving someone's life would just make me the happiest person in the world that I got to save someone.”

In his article "The Baggage we Bring from the Past", Frances Andrews speaks about developing trust between people to build relationships. Building relationships is impossible without first becoming conscious of ones own attitudes and beliefs. This process takes time and progresses with each new interaction. Understanding oneself requires awareness of your culture. Often times, one is trapped by their learned belief systems. Effecting their ability to relate to others. Andrews refers to these learned behaviors and experiences as "the baggage we bring from the past". There are the three levels of interaction through which people function. Which include: the personal level, the interpersonal level, and the organizational or systematic level.

Nancy Wake started working with the resistance in 1940 when France was invaded by Germany. She started driving an ambulance that her husband, Henri, acquired, to help the French. She became a messenger for the Resistance and helped crashed pilots escape to Spain once she found them. She would bring food to underground groups of refugees (Bayer). She was the Gestapo’s most wanted person “with a five million-franc bounty on her head” (Bayer) since she was amazing at evading capture. She had to flee to England since the Resistance was betrayed and she was in peril (Simkin). In England, Wake joined the SOE or Special Operations Executive and began training to be a

Amy Carmichael was born in a small village in Northern Ireland in 1867, the was the oldest of seven children. As a teen, she attended boarding school, until her father’s death when she was eighteen years old.

Furthermore interesting is that after Hedy patented her invention, the Navy denied to use it; stating that it just took up too much space onboard their already over packed ships. But Hedy had a will to help with the war efforts, so she went on a campaign to sell war bonds through the influence of her celebrity status. After which she continued her film career for a total of 33 movies [3], raised three children one of which she adopted, and married and divorced five more times. Hedy eventually died on January 19, 2000 in her home in Casselberry, FL, ironically enough she spent most of her last few years in seclusion only communicating with her family via a cellphone, the very technology her invention helped create.

Kelly McGillis was born on July 9, 1957. She starred in many iconic movies during the 1980s. She is remembered for her role of a flight instructor ‘Charlie’ in Top Gun, the film responsible for launching the career of Tom Cruise. In 1985, she also starred in the film ‘Witness’ opposite Harrison Ford, which earned her Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. She is also well remembered for her 1988 role in ‘The Accused’ opposite Jodie Foster. In 2009, McGillis came out as a lesbian. McGillis entered into a Civil Union with Melanie Reis, a sales executive, from 2010-2011. Currently, she is still acting in both films and television.