How Long to Read Uncommon Women Together - Generations Apart

How Long Does it Take to Read Uncommon Women Together - Generations Apart?

It takes the average reader 5 hours and 3 minutes to read Uncommon Women Together - Generations Apart by Joan W. Ripley

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

OVERVIEW Here is an adventure with no preconceived outcome: searching for common ground among "uncommon women" more than three generations apart. Can you imagine current college students' amazement at making stimulating, productive connections with women their grandmothers' age? Do you feel the energy of these grandmothers, back in the classroom and experiencing firsthand their campus in this day and age? Can you share the pleasure of women separated by 50 years blurring age differences and working together as contemporaries? As products of the mid-1950s, our generation of women was long discounted as possessing ambitious career goals and capable of blazing new frontiers. As a class and as individuals, however, we far exceeded expectations in many instances after raising our families. Married young with childbearing often completed by the time we were 30, experiencing highs and lows that tended to be family centered, we embarked upon fresh, new chapters in our early forties. At the turn of the new century, we were far younger in heart and head than the calendar might indicate. As the milestone 50th reunion at Mount Holyoke College approached, there was easy consensus around the decision to create a stimulating program of significant value that involved both classmates and current students. The result, we believe, is a first for any college in the United States unique, relatively informal case study that targets both current students and the alumnae of the 1950's. The product is a rich and fascinating foundation of primary research that will survive as a legacy, available to anyone pursuing an interest in the young women of the Fifties and their highly individual passages through life. As we became engaged in this venture, no one would have predicted a concurrent public resurgence of curiosity about the era. And yet it has happened. Today Madmen tops the cable tv charts; we were there in the $50 a week jobs. The recent political campaigns reached back to examples of a more stable time as the consumer society, wars, the global economy, technology, and greed affected nearly everyone, no matter what their social or economic status. More young women are finding value in taking time out to launch their families, gaining new perspective on the importance of parents in their children's lives. Others' lifestyles continue to dictate a return to the treadmill, often leaving them tired and unfulfilled as they discover they can't do it all with equal success. The crashing employment picture is sending families back to home-cooked meals together, to more quality time that doesn't equate with dollars spent. The Fifties are evolving as a nostalgic expression of an appealing cocoon. The book is the culmination of a reunion program that was like no other. It chronicles a two-year journey, beginning as the smallest germ of an idea through the multi-interviews, oral histories and video tapes, culminating in a three-hour Seminar Day at the reunion. Here is a fifty-year life cycle, on and off campus, that explores college life, ambitions, attitudes toward education, happiness and despair, success and failure, values and community. The most valid comparisons between the two classes are clearly those on the college campus. However, there is fascination in following the graduates of 1955 as they find their way to 2005, watching their progress in the context of a changing society. The Class of 2005 has written their first chapters, been exposed to the experiences and wisdom of the older alumnae and has embarked upon enriching and completing their life cycles. Sociology 224 was the course that brought the two classes together. The syllabus introduces archival and field methods to explore issues in research design for non-quantitative data. Working under the guidance of their remarkable professor, Eleanor Townsley, the students addressed the related issue of memory and ways in which the social work of remembering creates community. The primary sources included documents from the Mount Holyoke Archives and personal interview material that the students collected and analyzed. In this specific instance, they first met the class of 1955 in the archives and subsequently studied them in person. The result included a benchmark lesson in how written history can be misinterpreted. The materials donated to the archives seldom touched upon the possibly mundane, everyday life of a college student, tending to be representative of the lighter, more social activities. Limited reality was supplied by the yellow cards kept by the college for each student of the 50's. In the course of the interview meetings with the students prior to reunion, the following areas were addressed, sometimes with great hilarity and astonishment on the part of the current students that their new older friends would be so candid. Anecdotes of the life and times of the alumnae class proved plentiful. Together alumnae and students assessed the changes in attitudes, habits, community and lifestyle patterns since 1955. The topics for the group interviews included: Sexual Orientation and Pre-Marital Sex (the students were astounded at the prevalent naivete of the fifties, good girls, bad girls, and yes, fear of pregnancy made for a preponderance of good girls.) Values (not so different) Healthy Lifestyle (not even a consideration in 1955) Marriage (it was necessary to gain a roommate's parents permission to get married and return to the dorm) Career/Graduate School (minimal presence on the horizon, unless you were a science major. For most, it was marriage or the desire to be independent, have a job until marriage) Volunteerism (very much an individual preference) When the alumnae turned the tables' and interviewed the students, they learned firsthand about life on campus in a very different world. Each two-generation interview was videotaped and a plentiful ';memory bank" of photographs and videotapes established. Throughout the journey the members of the Class of 1955 contributed written material, mining the memories of their college years. Large portions of written material were drawn from reunion books and surveys from 1960 forward, as well as from the biographical information in the 50th Reunion yearbook. There are clearly identifiable changes in attitudes and expectations along the way. The long-awaited Seminar Day in May 2005 brought students and a much larger alumnae group together for a wide-ranging open discussion period.The book is written in an engaging style that invites the reader to join in the journey. For older readers, it touches on the nostalgia and universal memories that mark the life and times of their years before and after joining the real world. A Timeline covers 1950-2005 both for world events and for life at Mount Holyoke College establishes a background against which the reader observes the personal and professional growth of mid-1950s college graduates.

How long is Uncommon Women Together - Generations Apart?

Uncommon Women Together - Generations Apart by Joan W. Ripley is 296 pages long, and a total of 75,776 words.

This makes it 100% the length of the average book. It also has 93% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read Uncommon Women Together - Generations Apart Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 6 hours and 54 minutes to read Uncommon Women Together - Generations Apart aloud.

What Reading Level is Uncommon Women Together - Generations Apart?

Uncommon Women Together - Generations Apart is suitable for students ages 12 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy Uncommon Women Together - Generations Apart?

Uncommon Women Together - Generations Apart by Joan W. Ripley is sold by several retailers and bookshops. However, Read Time works with Amazon to provide an easier way to purchase books.

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