Women Born In The 1970s

"Empowering women is not just a matter of fairness, but also a key driver of social and economic development."

"The widespread circulation and normalization of these remarks, especially during the election period, call into question the effectiveness of the law’s enforcement mechanisms, particularly in monitoring, preventing, and penalizing acts committed by public officials and candidates."

"This moment provides an opportunity to review existing gaps in the implementation of [RA 11313], clarify the roles of enforcement agencies, and explore possible amendments that would strengthen accountability, especially in public and political spaces."

"These public statements constitute gender-based harassment and discrimination, particularly against solo mothers and women in the nursing profession, and are violative of the core principles enshrined in the Safe Spaces Act."

"I personally laud and support the Vice President for her commitment to improve the quality of basic education in the country in her capacity as the Secretary of the Department of Education. I have absolute confidence in her ability to institute much needed reforms to make the Philippine basic education system competitive and at par with other countries."

"When we help solo parents succeed, we create a ripple effect that strengthens families and communities. Empowering them is not just a moral obligation—it’s a national priority."

"Solo parents are an integral part of our society, but they often carry the heaviest burdens with little help. It’s time to provide them with the tools they need to succeed and thrive"

"You are known for having written and composed the song ‘Come as you are’. What is the back story to this song?"

"It’s very simple. It speaks to people, because it’s about God’s love for each of us—I have loved you with an everlasting love, I will never forsake you, there is no need to fear. It comes directly out of my going to confession to a priest, and he said, ‘I don’t think God is worrying about half of that. Come as you are.’ People use the song everywhere, including in prisons. It’s extraordinary the amount of correspondence I’ve received over the years. People don’t think I’ve done anything else!"

"As the years advance and my energies fade, I still love to be involved in whatever way I can in supporting and encouraging younger people to follow through their dreams. I have eclectic tastes, a deep love of words and music, and love of my way of life—a vocation of loving service in companionship and faith. It’s not so much what I do now; it’s what kind of a person am I in the doing. I wrote a line in the Loreto Modern Spiritual document that says, ‘When energy fails, the ministry of being is as authentic as the ministry of doing.’"

"It’s a time for gathering in and sorting what may be useful to others from my store of life experience—the failures and uncertainties, the lost opportunities, and the glorious moments. I’m happy that I am still able to do something, and that something is to share my love of music and my love of my way of life and faith. Mary Ward was an extraordinary person, and some of her quotes were so impressive, but one of them is ‘Women in time to come will do much.’ And we live with that responsibility to use our gifts to the full in whatever way we can."

"I wasn’t quite 18 years old when I joined the Novitiate in Ballarat. In 1957, my first mission was teaching in a kindergarten in Brisbane. I taught nearly everything through the piano, including numbers and religion—the children loved it! After eight years in the Order teaching primary and lower secondary students in a range of subjects, I entered the Bachelor of Music course at the University of Melbourne, transferring from performance to a specialisation in music education, including a year of a Diploma of Education. My time in Melbourne was extremely rich and formative. The illustrious priest musician Dr Percy Jones was one of my lecturers, a highly prominent international figure in church music. He invited me later to turn my hand to writing music in a folk style, and that’s how some of my music came to be published. My time at the Melbourne Conservatorium prepared me well for a return to Loreto Normanhurst Sydney in 1964 to become Director of Music, which lasted 10 years."

"Despite the fascination of a life in music, particularly as an orchestral player, I felt a deeper call to religious life. During my boarding school years, as mystifying as the sisters’ vocation seemed to me as a child, it presented as a very worthwhile way to live a fulfilled and spiritual life. Prayers that I had come to pray regularly, which were significant in my decision, included the ‘Peace Prayer of St Francis’ and the ‘Prayer of St Ignatius for Generosity’. I chose to follow Jesus in loving service along the path of Mary Ward’s Loreto sisters—to take up the opportunity to be with people who have shared the same faith, who cared and wanted to give their life for others. It seemed a generous thing to do. And in that generous movement, you felt there was love born in you at that time for what you were going to do, following the steps of Jesus, and believing strongly in the value of this way of life."

"By 1974, I was missioned to Loreto College, Brisbane, in leadership and administration. During this time, I learnt and experienced the richness of parish community and liturgical prayer. I travelled to London to take up postgraduate studies in music at the Institute of Education London University, which opened me to a wider experience in both the academic and performance fields. I specialised in choral and orchestral conducting in summer programs, attended festivals, and set up field trips to places of excellence in liturgy and music in England, France, Italy and Spain—all to widen my knowledge and cultural experience. In 1983–84, I undertook a Masters in Liturgical Studies in Washington DC with a special interest in music. This program set me up to find how ritual and music can complement one another in a profound way, as well as giving me the history and foundations of liturgical and sacramental theology. It was truly enriching."

"On my return to Australia in 1985, a 12-year period of teaching in two institutions commenced—Mercy Teachers’ College (later Australian Catholic University) and Yarra Theological Union. In both, I wrote my own courses ranging across philosophy of music, 20th-century history, liturgy and music, with a particular interest in Australian music, spirituality and culture. I was particularly fortunate to work alongside the founder of the only Bachelor of Church Music course available in Australia at the time, the internationally acclaimed Melbourne musician Roger Heagney."

"I had a friend called Joan MacKerras, the sister of the famous international musician and conductor Sir Charles MacKerras (deceased). Even though she didn’t attend the school, Joan received lessons from this ‘famous’ Mother Lua. So one of my favourite pieces, even to this day, is the Bach Double Violin Concerto in D minor, which the two of us would play. The way Bach’s written it, particularly the second movement, is like a conversation between two violins. I love that piece, and I saw it later as God and the soul and this reciprocal relationship going on between the two of us. What’s God saying to me? What am I saying to God? I often return to it in retreat periods. It speaks profoundly to me of the God who is Love calling me to respond in love."

"A key formative period in my musical life in the Church of Melbourne came in 1988 with the invitation to join the Office for Worship team. This place was truly a centre of vitality, learning, collaboration and pastoral leadership, headed at the time by this incredibly erudite liturgist, professor, spiritual director and pastoral human being, Fr Frank O’Loughlin. He provided leadership through first-class theological input into parishes and assisting with resources to meet their pastoral needs. Margaret Smith SGS, liturgist extraordinaire, partnered me in visiting local parishes, providing workshops on the revised rites of the church and the liturgical seasons."

"My violin and piano teacher, Mother Lua Byrne ibvm, was a great influence. She was a very fresh-faced, smiling woman, intelligent and kind, and drew the best out of her students. She always had that sense of loving what she was doing, and she loved us. So it made a big difference to a small child to have such a beautiful woman as my music teacher.She brought my gifts out of me in a great way so that by the time I finished school, I was leading the school orchestra, I was music captain, and I was carrying the two instruments of piano and violin at the top levels. She’d prepared me well for performance studies at Sydney Conservatorium in 1953. It looked as if that would set me out on a career in music and I was happy for that. She introduced me to ethnomusicology in Form 5, and it became a life-long interest for me, with implications for pursuing the connections between music, spirituality, liturgy and culture."

"I come from a Celtic background—Irish, English and Welsh—so I was surely bound to be a music lover! I was influenced by my father, a well-educated pianist and singer as well as a writer and lover of poetry. He’d come home in the evening and play the piano and sing, and from the time I was very small, he would read poetry to me in the evenings as well as sing me lullabies. That was a beautiful thing for my ear. My mother died just prior to my eighth birthday, so that affected my life. I attended Loreto Normanhurst in Sydney from Grade 6 to Form 5, which was a formative period of my life, especially when it comes to music, education and my call to religious life."

"My faith was nurtured by the nuns’ witness to Jesus and their authenticity. Boarding school life was, besides being a lot of fun, an oblique way of observing the religious life of a nun. Each morning we attended 7am Mass with the sisters, and shared evening prayer, which always included a hearty singing of a hymn with them in the chapel. I don’t know how many hundreds of hymns I would’ve sung at school! I came in time to think about the words of these hymns, particularly where children and young people are concerned. This set me up to be a careful composer of words as well as melodies for hymns. I remember, too, the spiritual formation we received through processions. One such was the feast of Corpus Christi where the local parishes joined us annually in the grounds of Loreto Normanhurst to process in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. It was a ritual that informed my interest in liturgical ceremony."

"In 2005 I accepted the invitation to be the writer of our revised modern Constitution Volume 11 for the Loreto sisters worldwide. With such a ministry, there was not much time for music, but I found composing poetic prose a music of its own kind. The style of the document was challenging in that it was to be of spiritual inspiration as well as legally accurate. There is an important line in that document: ‘Mission is at the heart of who we are, and love is the driving force that urges us on.’ So, to answer your question, I think it’s love. The love of education, of seeing people—young and old—grow. My life has been not one of being tucked away in a convent, but very much associated with people beyond. And what brings it together is my faith, and my music."

"I'm really lucky ... that I found something I love to do, and so I don't take the responsibility lightly. We're going to blow it up ... in the best possible way."

"That's why I made my character a stylist, because I think the platform of fashion can showcase the injustices. ... It's also a good excuse to be like, 'Hey, I need a lot of money for fashion"

"So whether it is a piece of clothing, whether it is food, whether it is attention, whether it is sex, all of it is meant to build you up, not tear you down"

"When we talk about mental health and making people feel good, it isn't just about how you look. It's about how you feel. And it's about how you feel in all chapters of your life"

"[I'm] sick and tired of the conversation, especially in and around the arts, film and TV, of bigger bodies always having to feel very grateful that someone finds them desirable, which is just plain bullshit. ... Since the beginning of time there has been thick people who have been loved on and dicked down. It's just like, excuse me, why is this such a wild concept that somebody would love their body? And honestly, it is what we are going through today and what we've been going through also since the beginning of time. It's control. It is a mental prison. If you tell people they are not worthy ... they're going to believe you, they're not going to feel good about themselves. And I'm so tired of that"

"I know that I can reach people of all gender expressions, of all sizes and shapes, and say, 'Hey boo, you look f—king good and you're worthy of whatever you want"

"Humans don’t like correction,” Father’s sub-routine reminded her. “Especially by our kind"

"I know people are bummed that it won't be coming back, but it's actually such a gift to know that it is the third and final. I don't think a lot of platforms and networks give you that information all the time."

"Nay, you attract mayhem, chaos, and anarchy wherever your delicate feet tread. Around you there is no such thing as a coincidence.""

"I think you will agree the sign of a civilised society is a regular dining schedule."

"She sighed heavily before whispering, “I’m still a bit confused as to what we are waiting for.” “We are waiting for one of the constants in our world, Miss Braun,” Wellington assured her. “At the end of every opera, there is the grand finale, where the music continues its gradual crescendo, the tenor and tempo rising ever so gradually for that pinnacle of dramatic tension, that moment of anticipation—” “Welly, are you talking about opera or about sex?” His next words caught in his throat. For a woman of higher tastes and seeming refinement, this woman could be utterly crass."

""Why do you think it is always me, Director?" Eliza protested. "It could be Books. My father always told me to beware the quiet ones"

"She groaned as her face turned to press against the rosewood floor. "Welly, remind me to order a better mattress for my bed. This one is far too firm.""

"Oh, Eliza," Wellington gasped, now remembering why he was in these lush surroundings. "No broken nose, I hope.""

""S'all right," Braun slurred. Her voiced dropped to a whisper. "My ample bosom broke my fall."

"Mortals were such fickle creatures. They called into the dark, demanded answers and attention from forces they could not comprehend, and yet when they had that attention and those answers, they complained about them.”"

"Be that as it may, we were--and no doubt, still are--held under scrutiny, with that whole Phoenix Society brouhaha. It is imperative we remain on our best behaviour, a feat that you did not exactly manage effortlessly with your shenanigans in Edinburgh"

"You know in the past we lost in the finals three times but this time around we have the advantage to redeem our image so we must do everything possible to win."

"This time around we are all looking forward to a host and win situation."

"They say when the government or the sports ministry owes you, they will pay you, but as to when you never know. So I usually will borrow money to cater for myself and my ailing grandmother. Before the money comes, you are already in huge debt."

"During our time, we could not make money from football and even the way we were paid left us in debt before we even receive our bonuses."

"The coach said he wants to use the princesses and the maidens to represent the team which is not a bad idea but they lack experience to get the job done. Assuming Kwarasey is ignored in the stars, people will complain but when it happens in the female side, no one is talking about it so I wish Ghanaians give the same attention to the queens ."

"I got pregnant in but my coach and grandmother decided I had to abort it because we were a month and a week away from going to the Black Queens camp."

"I was having my period regularly, there were no signs of me being pregnant."

"My coach went to see my grandparents. I was young by then so it was recently that an elderly man I know told me the place I reside was where my abortion was done."

"It crossed all racial and cultural lines."

"I almost made my Broadway debut much sooner"

"TV is starting to look like the world we live in"

"Even though I’m happy about the Oscars this year and there were so many black nominees, film has a ways to go. It’s not looking like the world we’re living in. We’re making progress — I’ve seen it firsthand. But it’s not reflecting this melting pot just yet."