Harbour Island, Bahamas

🇧🇸 We decided to spend Thanksgiving on Harbour Island in the Bahamas with my lovely friend Charlene. She bought a home here long ago, and I love to take advantage of visiting her whenever I can. Charlene is one of the coolest women I know. She is a brilliant business woman, and the first person I turn to when I need advice. But what I love the most about her are her humble roots.

Charlene grew up on a farm in Wisconsin. Her parents were not successful. They were impoverished. They were extremely poor farmers. Charlene studied business at the public university in Madison, Wisconsin with Pell Grants and scholarships, and then moved to Chicago. She started a new business there after college, The Chicago Catalog Group, and it was a huge success. She sold it before she turned 30, and became a multimillionaire, the first in a long series of other financial successes. I love her rags-to-riches story. But what I love the most about it, is that she didn't look for a rich husband or turn to the sex industry or the entertainment industry like the typical female rag-to-riches story. She earned all of her wealth herself. Like Simone de Beauvoir, I don't respect women that resort to the sex industry for wealth and fame and a false independence. It's pathetic that our society continues to celebrate such women. I respect strong women that are willing to risk everything to keep their independence. I love women that are extremely imaginative and have original dreams and ideas and careers. I love women that are wild enough to pursue their dreams at all costs. Charlene is a truly liberated woman. She's still unmarried by choice, obviously, men chase her constantly only to be turned down. She's the kind of woman Simone de Beauvoir could only dream of, and hoped or imagined might exist someday.

Spending Thanksgiving in the Bahamas with Charlene is always a blessing. It's a lovely reminder that women have the power to do and be anything they want, regardless of where they come from and no matter who attempts to stand in their way. Liberated women will continue to prevail over male oppression and the patriarchy. We will always find a way to destroy anyone that attempts to block our progress or infringes on our human rights. Male or female, white, black, or brown, Republican or Democrat, American or foreign, rich or poor, you will be held accountable. Happy Thanksgiving! xo