Hi Dona,

No, this is my mental list, not written list. But if you want to get inspired run a search on the Internet for "inspirational quotes" and you'll find more than you need.

The plight of women all over the world needs a lot of work. I went to a Women In Business luncheon yesterday and the speaker spoke about her accomplishments in her work, despite working in a male dominated field. She said, "it's still a mans world."

While I greatly appreciate the male species we have a few imbalances in life to work out yet. Life offers many opportunities as well as challenges and in the Venus and Mars issue I do believe 100 years from now, it will no longer exist. I was a great admirer of Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. She was a black woman from Texas and spoke most eloquently. Just as she was about to reach some truly great heights in life, she got MS, resigned her position and became wheel chair bound before she died.

There are many who have been here or are here now from both sexes who light the fire of enthusiasm for all of us. Now its up to the rest of us to take that flame, put every good thing we can into it and create a torch that will shine so brightly, nothing can dim its quality.

Last year at the AGU convention I tried to focus on "women in science" and see who was in attendance so that I could gather some sense about them. Most of them were terribly young. While Lucy Jones was there and I did speak to her briefly, she wasn't in the mood to have a conversation. I think I'll give it another try next month.

As Ross Perot said, "eagles don't flock, you have to find them one at a time."

Petra