#changemakers

Amelia Rose Earhart and Shane Jordan land in Oakland, California July 11. (Jane Tyska, Oakland Tribune-Bay Area News Group/AP)

Growing up, Amelia Rose Earhart hated her name. It felt too big, too legendary, too lofty for a young girl such as herself. Her namesake, Amelia Mary Earhart set multiple records and was on her way to becoming the first woman to circumnavigate the globe by plane when she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 with her navigator, Frederick Noonan.

Yesterday, July 11, Amelia Rose Earhart carried out Amelia Mary’s plan. Pictured above landing in Oakland, California, she completed the trip with her good friend, Shane Jordan. “I’ve been waiting 77 years for this. After all these years, I never thought that I would see the day,” said Elwood Ballard, 84. Ballard watched Amelia Mary’s 1937 departure and Amelia Rose’s 2014 landing.

“Amelia believed that ‘adventure is worthwhile in itself,’ and it is that type of attitude that spurs us to seek the unknown, push our limits and fly outside the lines,” Amelia Rose says on her website.

“Please know I am well aware of the hazards,” wrote Amelia Mary in a letter to her husband. “I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail their failure must be but a challenge to others.”

Amelia Rose was able to document her travels in ways Amelia Mary would have never dreamed of. Posts with the hashtag #flywithamelia allowed her to connect with people on the ground as she flew. She also live-streamed from her plane with Jordan.

Amelia Rose’s successful landing rouses old desires to discover what happened to Amelia Mary. According to the Earhart Project, she and navigator Fred Noonan lived for “a time as castaways on the waterless atoll [Gardner Island], relying on rain squalls for drinking water. They caught and cooked small fish, seabirds, turtles and clams. Amelia died at a makeshift campsite on the island’s southeast end. Noonan’s fate is unknown.”

This fall, the group is embarking on underwater and onshore search operations to test their theory.

This Monday, an all-male panel of judges chose to remove a Mormon woman from the church because of her fight for women’s ordination. Kate Kelly, founder of the group Ordain Women, was excommunicated, the highest punishment that can be inflicted by the Church. “The decision to force me outside my congregation and community is exceptionally painful.” she said. “Today is a tragic day for my family and me as we process the many ways this will impact us, both in this life and in the eternities.”

In the Mormon religion, as well as other sects of Christianity including Catholicism and Evangelicals, women are not allowed to pursue priesthood. “Ordain Women believes women must be ordained in order for our faith to reflect the equity and expansiveness of these teachings,” says a page on Kate’s website.

Her bishop, Mark Harrison, emailed her with his objections to her cause. “The problem is that you have persisted in an aggressive effort to persuade other church members to your point of view and that your course of action has threatened to erode your faith of others,” he wrote. “You are entitled to your views, but you are not entitled to promote them and proselyte others to them while remaining in full fellowship in the church.”

Kate didn’t attend her trial, but instead sent a letter. “Please keep in mind that if you choose to punish me today, you are not only punishing me,” she wrote. “…You are punishing thousands of Mormons who have questions and concerns with gender inequality in the church and want a place to voice those concerns in safety. You are punishing anyone with a question in their heart who wants to ask that question vocally, openly, and publicly.”

She continues to support her religion, just not the people in power. “I love the gospel and the courage of its people,” she said. “Don’t leave. Stay, and make things better.”