Olivia Hooker

I had never heard of Olivia Hooker, but my father directed me to read an article about her...this is the kind of individual I want to look up to. Ms. Hooker, who died yesterday at her home at the age of 103, was the first black woman to enlist in the US Coast Guard. She was put into a menial job-typing up discharge paperwork...although she almost certainly was capable of so much more! I enjoyed hearing how after the war she went on to receive a doctorate in psychology and included autistics in her area of expertise-I'm sure that she worked tirelessly to champion for these people, and that's something else I certainly want to add in my own area of expertise-getting autistics into the armed forces!

My true plans after high school were to go into the Army-I actually wanted to help challenge their ban on women in combat-and then go into the fire service once out of the Army. I'm settling with what I'm allowed to do, which is the state defense force, and of course I'll never quit volunteer and wildland firefighting and search and rescue! It's too bad that people are held back by labels and are never given the chance to show what they are *truly* capable of. But we can always pave the way and be trailblazers...

I take after my very strong Irish grandmother, who wanted to be in the infantry in World War II, and of course I owe everything to my faith in Morrigan, my beloved patron goddess, who has been with me from birth...