User:Cullen328/Sandbox/Henrietta

So far, I've written biographies of three women. Miriam O'Brien Underhill is the best of them at this point, I think. I admit that it would probably be a better article if I had actually read her entire book, Give Me the Hills, rather than the excerpts of it available online. So it is my failing for not finding a copy online and buying it. (My weak defense, I guess, is that money is limited for me after all these years of recession.) I am impressed that, even though she also had a notable husband, her accomplishments are largely (though not completely) separate from his. I would like to expand this to a much more comprehensive article, but I believe that the current version gives some sort of flavor of the woman herself. At least I hope so, because I find her most impressive and very interesting. The year she died, 1976, is also the year I began serious mountaineering.

I have also written two brief biographies of Native American women basketmakers, Nellie Charlie and Carrie Bethel. Although I am happy to have written these articles, my regret is that they are so brief, and include so little material about their personalities and what shaped them. I have found it difficult to find reliable information about the personal lives of Native American artists such as these. More recently, I wrote an article about a male Native American artist, Al Qöyawayma. In this case, I have been able to find a few more facts that give some sense of the rounded nature of his personality. Is this because he is a male, or instead because he is more contemporary than the two women basketmakers, and is actively marketing himself today? Perhaps a combination of both. I wish that I could bring more of a personal flavor to their biographies.

Your thoughts on these articles I've worked on or anything else relevant would be welcomed. I would offer my thoughts on terminology pertaining to women as you've raised in earlier comments on your talk page, but I would prefer to wait before offering such thoughts until such time as you feel interested in hearing them. I always refrain from use of or commentary on possibly rude terminology until trust is established. I believe that respect comes first.  Cullen 328  Let's discuss it  04:32, 17 August 2011 (UTC)