True Stories About Ann Dunham

Here is a small bit of Janny Scott’s biography of Barack Obama’s mother, detailing in particular the years they lived in Indonesia with her second husband. Born in 1942, having her first child in 1961, and moving to Jakarta in 1967 — which set the stage for her to become an early expert in the more recently trendy world of global microfinancing — it reveals yet again that the women of this generation lived incredible lives in an incredible time, a fact that’s often covered-up by (at least) the passage of decades. To me, the story most notably shows the value of following your interests and passions — moving from anthropology to teaching English and crafts to lecturing on economics and advising banks and foundations actually is a straightforward career path, but only in retrospect.