Best Wishes to All My Supporters!

Although this is a challenging Holiday Season, there are reasons to smile and be thoughtful of others.This newsletter is certainly a reason for me to celebrate. Sharing my personal journey and why I pursued such a difficult project with a younger generation in Papua New Guinea and a gift of original letters written by Caroline, is truly memorable.

2020 Clean Generation Leadership Conference, Port Moresby

The Voice PNG is a youth development organzsation passionate about working with young people and imparting in them the necessary skills to find that inner voice.

We see a world where generations of young people are driven by purpose and are confident in the value of their contribution to their communities, their nation and the world. We have a vision of nations and communities.

Our Vision

• Not divided by ethnicity, gender and social standing’
• Where every person can participate fully in the economic, social and political development of        their country; and
• Where every man and woman can endeavour to make his or her dream come true.

Testimonial

“We were so grateful to have played Michele’s introductory video along with the trailer of the Headhunt Revisted at our 2020 Clean Generation Annual Conference. Michele’s video spoke to the heart of what we wanted our Conference to achieve and that was understanding our value and beauty of our country’s biodiversity and the richness of our culture spoken through the lens of non-Papua New Guineans. Many of the Conference participants have not had the opportunity to travel our country to appreciate the beauty our land and waters so Michele’s presentation was such a wonfderful eye opener for everyone who attended”

–Maliwai Sasingian, Executive Director

You can view Michele’s 20 minute opening presentation given via Zoom by following this link:  https://vimeo.com/489951945

The last newsletter mentioned a special package I received. It has been quite the challenge but so exciting to read many letters that Caroline wrote to Philip W. Pillsbury, Sr. over quite a few years. Some of the letters were even sent from various ports in Melanesia, which I know took weeks for them to be delivered. I’ve spent days with a copy stand, camera system and lights and went through numerous pairs of white cotton gloves for handling archival material. Slowly and delicately, I documented 350 pages of material!!! Most of the letters were typed on Caroline’s 1920s typewriter, which she carried on the expedition. Not all the individual letters on the machine could get ink solidly, and the condition of the letters today makes them challenging to work with.

New York. – Photo:  Miss Caroline Mytinger, young American artist at her typewriter.  A gift from Underwood for the Mytinger Project Archives. 1930 just after returning from the expedition.

The next function was to import all the images into my computer so that touching these special pieces of paper would not be more than necessary. I’m still in the process of sorting in an orderly fashion, but not all of these jewels indicate what the year they were written. So it’s a puzzle just waiting for the next piece to fit.The relationship between Caroline and Philip is also a puzzle. Which place did he hold in Caroline’s life? Which place did Margaret fit in her life? It’s still a mystery – to be unfolded.

I want to thank the Pillsbury Family for immediately thinking of the project. I had the great fortune to meet Philip Jr. many years ago while doing research. If you are associating the name with the great flour company of Minnesota and The Doughboy, you are correct.The Pillsbury Family has a long history of success and when I was in corporate life at Burger King Corporation, it just so happened the company I worked for was owned by – guessed right again – the Pillsbury Company!