T he P ortland O bsi rver • M ay 7, 1997
P age B5
OVf
Event to benefit women
Mother
credits
determination
“If you can’t teach me, don’t criticize m e,” Sonya
Carson recalled telling her two sons, world renowned
engineer, when she realized they were ashamed o f
her.
“My boys were ashamed o f me - yes, they were,”
Sonya Carson admitted in an ihterview with this
Sunday’s Parade magazine. “They would say, ‘Mom,
why can’t you speak in such-and-such a w ay?’ I
would say to them, ‘Teach m e.’” That simple rule, she
believes, helped her sons to grow up into adults who
would always recognize their duty to people less
fortunate than they.
Unable to attend school because o f health prob
lems, Sonya was married at 13 to an older man and had
two sons in quick succession. When her husband, who
was already married with another family, deserted
her, she was forced to raise her sons alone in desperate
poverty.
Realizing that the violence o f the streets could
easily ensnare her sons, she made it her job to insure
that would not happen. She made her boys come home
and do homework, and she limited them to just two
television programs a week. The rest o f their spare
time, she decreed, would be spent reading.
“Both o f my boys could read much better than I
could,” Sonya said. “So I had them read me my
favorite book - the book o f Proverbs. Then I asked
them to explain to me what they had read.”
W hile her sons were getting their college degrees -
Curtis at the University o f Michigan, where Ben also
earned his M.D. after an undergraduate degree from
Yale, all on scholarships - she went back to earn her
Family circle:
Sonya Carson,
seated, with
(rear, l-r) her
grandson
Murray, 13:
daughter-in-law
Candy and son
Benjamin; son
Curtis, grandson
Rhoeyce, 10,
and daughter-in-
law Janice: and
(her
grandchildren
Erin, 14. Ben
Jr., 11, and
Cari, 10.
a.
she recalled. “They would say, ‘M other, this
is w rong,’ and change this and that. They
helped me a lot.” W ith her new education,
Sonya was able to leave a string o f menial
jobs and become an interior decorator.
Asked if she had any advice for other
single mothers, Sonya said, “D on’t shower
your babies with "toos.’ D on’t always tell
them, ‘Y ou’re to cute for words, you’re too
GED certificate.
“I would write papers and ask them to correct m e,” pretty. ’ Instead you should keep telling them,
‘W hatever you are, be your best.’ T hat’s what a
child needs7 to learn.”
Today, Ben Carson is the director o f pediatric
neurosurgery at John Hopkins Hospital, where he
developed the standard technique for separating
Siamese twins. His older brother, Curtis, who holds
a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a m aster’s
in business, is a business manager for Allied Signal
Corporation. They are both married and have given
Sonya five grandchildren.
Targeting Home-Based Business ‘Mompreneurs’
There is a new group o f small
business owners springing up across
A m erica called ‘M o m p ren eu rs.’
Mompreneurs - nearly 10 million o f
them - are women with children who
have embraced the concept o f being
their own boss.
They are jum ping into the small
business ring, so they can spend more
time with their kids while setting up
home-based business.
According to work-at-home ex
p erts, E llen H. P a rla p ia n o and
P a tric ia
C obe,
a u th o rs
of
* A starter kit with information to
help get a small business off the
ground and running
*A free consultation with an in
dustry expert
•A ccess to a 24-hour Fax-on-
Demand service with articles rang
ing from marketing and navigatinhg
the Internet to telephone techniques
and advertising.
* Access to the program web site,
which offers online sessions with
industry experts and a wealth o f
small business background data.
Momprenuers, A M other’s Practical
Step-by-Step G uide to W ork-at-
Home Success, this new breed o f
business owners is powerful and
growing.
“T o d a y ’s m om preneurs w ant
more control o f their time and more
flexibility to be with their kids.
Home-based businesses help many
women achieve this,” said Ellen
Parlapiano.
The AT&T Resources for New
Business Program includes the fol
lowing components for its members:
*A quarterly resource guide con
taining additional information o i\
how to manage and grow a start-up
business
•A dedicated resource enter that
an be accessed through a toll-free
number
•Discounts on products and ser
vices, including equipment, software
and payroll services from industry
leaders.
A uthor Ellen Parlapiano feels
strongly that ‘ mompreneurs ’ need to
rely on the best resources available.
H abitat for H um anity will hold
a financial “barn raising” for its
W om enbuild project from 5:30 to
7:30 PM , T hursday, at N orthw est
N atural G as, 220 N.W . Second
Ave.
W om enbuild is the n o n profit
a g e n c y ’s first attem pt in P ortland
to build a house w ith an all-w om en
crew . It will be built on a vacant lot
at 3430 N. C om m ercial A ve., and
will be occupied by N icole W ill
iams, a first-tim e hom e ow ner and
social w orker, and her daughter
A drianna.
C onstruction is scheduled to b e
gin in late M ay or early June, a c
cording to H abitat associate direc-
tor D oreen Roozee.
The estim ated cost o f construc
tion is $45,000 to $50,000.
The fund-raiser w ill provide
various opportunities to donate
m oney to W om enbuild. People
can “b u y ” pieces o f the house at
various prices (a can o f nails for
$ 10, a w all for $ 150 or a bathtub
for $200), or “bu y ” the equiva
lent o f a volunteer
O rganizations can com m it to
supplying a w ork crew for a week
under supervision. The Piedm ont
N e ig h b o r h o o d A s s o c ia tio n ,
W om en in C onstruction, and the
T rade W om en’s N etw ork have
m ade such com m itm ents.
And The Keys Are Yours
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Reflections Book Store Honors Women
The public is invited to attend a
special book signing honoring A fri
can-American mothers featured in a
newly released book, “ Letters To
O ur Daughters: M others’ Words of
Love” by Kristine Van Raden &
Molly Davis.
Our signing will feature letter
Happy
Mother's
Day
Frieda
Murray
each mother rejoices in her daughter’ s
uniqueness and desires for her a future
filled with hope, strength, and happi
ness.
The Pacific Northwest is unique be
cause all three A frica n -A m e rica n
women, Karla Richardson, Geneva
Jones, and Thressa W. Matthews fea
tured in the book are from Oregon.
writers from the Pacific Northwest
o f Afrian descent. The signing is
from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM on Fri
day, May 9.
What unites these writings is that
regardless o f the m o th e r’ s and
daughter’s life circumstances, educa
tion, beliefs, economic status, or age,
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