Betty Friedan, 1921 - 2006

"It changed my life"

The Feminine Mystique, that is; when I read it in the early 1980s and realized that I wasn't destined to lie the rest of my life in a bed that I'd made with my early, bad choices. "Call your local junior college", Ms. Friedan urged in her book. I did exactly that, achieved a 2-year degree in 1 1/2 years, and went from miserable stay-at-home mom living with laid-off husband on his unemployment to breadwinner whose every day was filled with the joy of being paid to do what I love.

In another of her books, she wrote of feeling more 18 at 50 than she did at 18; and I found that inspirational as well. Like her, I was too old and serious at too young an age, and her words gave me hope that I could feel that young and vibrant in my 50s. (I'm now 52, and I do.)

Like Betty Friedan, I was born and raised in Peoria. Unlike her, I'm still here. But Peoria, like 50, is a state of mind; it doesn't have to define you -- and that's the kind of freedom she made possible, with her earth-shaking, life-changing book. I'm very, very sorry to hear that she's left this world, but I celebrate how much better a place she made it during her years here.



Betty Friedan (at left) at a 1971 march