Posted on 02/28/2011 10:55:47 PM PST by kathsua
Since February is Black History month, I thought it fitting to write about an African-American I admire, Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state under President George W. Bush. She was only the second woman, and the first black American, to hold the position.
Rice reveals much about herself in a book published in 2010, "Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family" (Crown Publishing).
An adored only child, she was expected to accomplish a great deal. Her mother, a piano teacher, wanted her to have a special name. Condoleezza is from the musical term "con dolce" meaning "with sweetness."
Condoleezza grew up in Birmingham, Ala., during the 1950s, a period of racial turmoil. The city was also the home of the infamous Bull Conner. Though racial unrest went on around them, Condoleezza's minister father and teacher mother kept a steady course for her. Her life centered on her segregated community, her school and the church.
Obviously precocious, Rice started taking piano lessons from her mother at age 3 and by high school was good enough that she planned to major in music and become a concert pianist. She still plays the piano to this day, but during her early college days when she attended a music festival in Aspen, she realized others were better and decided she would no longer major in music.
Toward the end of her time in elementary school, her father went to Denver University to work on an advanced degree. Condoleezza thrived there. She took up ice-skating and excelled. She attended St. Mary's, a Catholic private school. She was, of course, an excellent student. She says she was a little different from her classmates. Most went crazy over Elvis Presley at a time when Mozart was her favorite. She made many friends and was involved in a variety of activities.
Through the years, Condoleezza was close to her parents. Her mother encouraged her musical education. Sadly her mother had breast cancer. She survived the first bout but then had several other illnesses and died at age 61.
Her father was the major influence though, not only because he encouraged her academic endeavors. He played basketball and football and coached. He taught his daughter the finer points of both sports.
Football has remained her favorite though. Every Thanksgiving they played touch football in the Rice Bowl Stadium (their front yard). These days she follows teams on TV and attends many games.
Following her high school graduation at age 15, she stayed on at the University in Denver. Again she excelled academically. Because she had decided against majoring in music, she was looking at other fields. Then she made an interesting connection. She took a class in International Studies from Dr. Josef Korbel and knew that's what she wanted to major in. Korbel was the father of Madeleine Albright, who was to be secretary of state under President Bill Clinton. Later, she became a mentor to Rice.
Notre Dame was her choice for a master's degree because of their program on the Soviet Union. Then she followed up with a Ph.D from DU. She was hired as an associate professor at Stanford University. During the time she was working on her Ph.D and later she was awarded a variety of internships and fellowships, mostly in Washington, D.C. As a result, she met and worked with many powerful people, such as Colin Powell. She was also gaining valuable experience in her field. It should not have come as a surprise then when President George H.W. Bush asked her to be his security adviser and later when President George W. Bush tapped her as secretary of state. To this day, she remains a close friend of the Bush family.
As you read this book, you can detect Condoleezza's reluctance to speak about herself. She stresses the influence of family as well as friends on her successful career. She is, obviously, a very bright woman. She was as well prepared to be secretary of state as most we have had, better than many. I hope she writes a second volume of her memoirs detailing her time in government.
She does not mention race all that often, a fact that can be attributed to her family's influence. As she wrote, "I'd grown up in a family that believed you might not control your circumstances, but you could control your reaction to them." To be upset by "…every incident, real or imagined, is crippling, tiring and ultimately counterproductive."
After her time in Washington, D.C., she returned to Stanford, where she had served as provost from 1993 to 1999, and settled into her life as a tenured professor.
The title of this book was poorly chosen, I think. Upon finishing the book, you come away thinking that there is no place for "ordinary;" clearly, Condoleezza Rice and her family were "extraordinary."
No way. She thinks it’s okay to kill babies.
I bet she voted for Obama
Chances are extremely high.
Agreed. Baby killers should not be able to touch the White House especially Republicans.
I’m sorry, in my opinion she’s a s—t head, and doesn’t have a brain. She’s a lib and part of the problem not part of the solution.
Therefore proved: race is not a matter of genetics but social definition
Agreed here also. Nowhere near the White House. But I suppose murdering unborn babies is just fine to some huh?
She is actually not only exceedingly talented but incredibly smart. Sadly you seem to not know much about Condi.
“Condi”? You know her personally?
She’s an arabist piece of filth. And she did endorse Obama, just like that tub of lard Powell.
Apart from that, out in the real world, she suffers from the “do you know who I am” syndrome.
An odious, odious woman. Obama with boobs.
You beat me to it.
I was about to say the same thing.
No doubt in my mind she voted for Obama.
actually. yes.
So you support murdering unborn babies as this woman does? Do you? yes or no?
“She was only the second woman, and the first black American, to hold the position.”
Wasn’t Colin Powell SoS before Condi?
“Asked, “Are you pro-life? Are you pro-choice? What is your thought on abortion?”, Rice responded: “I believe if you go back to 2000, when I helped the president in the campaign, I said that I was, in effect, kind of Libertarian on this issue, and meaning by that that I have been concerned about a government role in this issue. I’m a strong proponent of parental choice, of parental notification. I’m a strong proponent of a ban on late-term abortion. These are all things that I think unite people and I think that that’s where we should be. I’ve called myself at times mildly pro-choice.”
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/archive/ldn/2005/mar/05031401
‘Mildly’ pro-choice, (pro-choice..aka unborn baby murder), she says?? Huh? So she thinks murdering ‘some’ unborn babies is acceptable then. Nice, real nice. There is no damn ‘mildly’ about the subject, none. She is in favor of abortion, there is no question about it and from her own spoken damning words.
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