The 23 guests who joined Michelle Obama in her viewing box for tonight's State of the Union address included several notable and recognizable faces: Rep. Gabby Gifford's husband Capt. Mark Kelly;  Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Steve Jobs; Dr. Jill Biden; and White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. But there were many "everday" folks as well.

One of them, the woman seated next to the First Lady -- with the dark-framed glasses, black jacket and ruffled blouse -- had come to Washington DC because hers was a story of success after economic hardship. For tonight's speech her blonde-streaked hair was pulled back into a ponytail, revealing a cluster of star tattoos behind her right ear when she turned her head. She looked like anyone you might see at a mall food court grabbing a takeout pizza to feed her kids after a busy day. But she had her moment of fame when President Obama mentioned her during his address earlier tonight:

Jackie Bray is a single mom from North Carolina who was laid off from her job as a mechanic.  Then Siemens opened a gas turbine factory in Charlotte, and formed a partnership with Central Piedmont Community College.  The company helped the college design courses in laser and robotics training.  It paid Jackie's tuition, then hired her to help operate their plant.

I want every American looking for work to have the same opportunity as Jackie did.  Join me in a national commitment to train two million Americans with skills that will lead directly to a job.  My Administration has already lined up more companies that want to help.  Model partnerships between businesses like Siemens and community colleges in places like Charlotte, Orlando, and Louisville are up and running.   Now you need to give more community colleges the resources they need to become community career centers - places that teach people skills that local businesses are looking for right now, from data management to high-tech manufacturing.

And I want to cut through the maze of confusing training programs, so that from now on, people like Jackie have one program, one website, and one place to go for all the information and help they need.  It's time to turn our unemployment system into a reemployment system that puts people to work.

The tradition of  including special invited guests at the State of the Union address goes back 30 years to another time and another president. According to the Huffington Post:

Every president since Ronald Reagan has looked up during his speech and into the rafters to give a shout-out to special invited guests. These guests have included everyday Americans, war heroes, schoolteachers, celebrities and small business owners.

"For nearly three decades, extraordinary Americans who exemplify the themes and ideals laid out in the State of the Union Address have been invited to join the First Lady in her viewing box," Kevin Lewis, a White House spokesman told The Huffington Post's Black Voices via e-mail Tuesday morning.

This year, more than half were women. Their stories -- from the official White House Guest List press release -- are below :

SGT Ashleigh Berg, USA
Malibu, California

SGT Ashleigh Berg is from Malibu, California, and joined the United States Army in July of 2004.  SGT Berg has been stationed in South Korea and Germany, and has served two tours of duty in Iraq.  Her husband, SGT Matthew Berg, USA is currently deployed to Afghanistan on his 3^rd combat tour.  SGT Berg is currently assigned to the 94^th Army Missile Defense Command in Fort Shafter Hawaii, and is serving a three year tour as the Commanding General's Executive Administrative assistant.

Alicia Boler-Davis
Plant Manager, General Motors Orion Assembly
Detroit, Michigan

Alicia Boler-Davis lives in Detroit with her husband, Fitzgerald, and their two young sons.  She is the plant manager at General Motors Orion Assembly and Pontiac Stamping, and is responsible for overseeing the production of the first new small car program from General Motors to be manufactured in the United States.  Last October, Ms. Boler-Davis led President Obama and President Lee of South Korea on a tour of the General Motors Orion Assembly and Pontiac Stamping.  President Obama and President Lee traveled to the GM plant to highlight the free trade agreements and the resurgence of the American auto industry.

Debbie Bosanek
Assistant, Berkshire Hathaway
Bellevue, Nebraska

A Nebraska native, Debbie Bosanek has worked for Berkshire Hathaway for 37 years and has been Warren Buffett's secretary for almost two decades.  Last September, the President proposed the "Buffett Rule" as part of comprehensive tax reform, and is working to build an economy that works for everyone, including Americans like Ms. Bosanek, not just a wealthy few.  Ms. Bosanek lives in Bellevue, Nebraska with her husband of 23 years and their son, and spends most of her time and energy trying to keep up with her boss.

Jackie Bray
Process Operator at the Siemens Charlotte Energy Hub
King's Mountain, North Carolina

Jackie Bray is a single mother from King's Mountain, North Carolina.  Last January she was laid off from her job as a high speed packaging mechanic.  That is when she enrolled in Central Piedmont Community College to prepare for a Siemens pre-hiring test.  After finishing the course and passing the test, Ms. Bray was hired by Siemens in August of 2011. This type of partnership between businesses and community colleges is exactly what President Obama hopes to strengthen to maximize workforce development strategies, job training programs, and job placements.  Ms. Bray now works as a process operator, combining her machinist background with new skills she has been trained on since working at Siemens: laser training, robotics training, penetrant inspection training, and product orientation.

Sara Ferguson
Teacher, Columbus Elementary
Parkside, Pennsylvania

Sara Ferguson teaches literacy and math at Columbus Elementary, and has worked for the Chester Upland School District for 20 years.  She is a third generation educator in Chester Upland, and a proud product of that district.  When the Chester Upland School District faced bankruptcy earlier this year in light of severe state budget cuts, Ms. Ferguson vowed to continue teaching even without being paid, saying "we are adults; we will make a way. The students don't have any contingency plan. They need to be educated, so we intend to be on the job."

Mahala Greer
Student
Denver, Colorado

Mahala Greer grew up in Paonia, a small town in rural Colorado.  She is currently a student at the University of Colorado Denver majoring in Spanish, and has just been accepted into Teach for America as a Bilingual Education Corps Member.  In May she will graduate with more than $35,000 in student loans. Last October, Ms. Greer introduced President Obama when he spoke to students at CU Denver about how his Administration is working to make college more affordable and reduce student loan debt.

Adrienne Howard
San Diego, California

Adrienne Howard is a military spouse from Lynchburg, Virginia, and currently lives in San Diego, California with her three children.  Her husband, Commander Colby Howard, USN, is currently on a seven month deployment. Mrs. Howard has moved 14 times during her husband's career, and their oldest child has attended 9 different schools along the way.  For nearly 20 years, she has been heavily involved as a volunteer in family readiness groups and Navy spouse organizations.  This past September, Mrs. Howard was inspired by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden's Joining Forces initiative to reach out to her community, and the response was overwhelming.  Mrs. Howard shared her story of rallying her community to 'adopt' a Sailor on the Joining Forces Blog.

Lorelei Kilker
Analytical Chemist
Brighton, Colorado

Lorelei Kilker is an analytical chemist for an environmental laboratory, and lives in Brighton, Colorado with her domestic partner and their two children.  In October of 2011, Ms. Kilker was one of a class of women who benefitted from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) investigation of alleged systematic sex discrimination at her former employer that resulted in the award of back wages and significant remedial relief, arrangements that were achieved through a cooperative process between the employer and EEOC.  Since the creation of the President's Equal Pay Task Force in January 2010, EEOC obtained almost $50 million in monetary relief through administrative enforcement for victims of sex-based wage discrimination, obtained changes to workplace practices that benefit over one quarter of a million workers, and filed five cases including sex-based wage discrimination claims.

Joan Milligan
Orlando, Florida

As deep rooted Orlando, Florida, residents, Joan Milligan and her husband Bill share a strong commitment to their community and volunteering.  Faced with losing their home, President Obama's Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) allowed Joan and her husband to refinance their existing loan when other means of refinancing were not open to them. As Mrs. Milligan has said, "I can't believe how easy the process was.  The bank bent over backwards to accommodate us".  The Milligans will celebrate 50 years of marriage in October 2012.

Amber Morris
Virginia Beach, Virginia

Amber Morris, a Virginia Beach resident, responded to the White House's call in December asking Americans "What does 40 mean to you?" saying, "Forty dollars a pay check means that I'll be able to pay my bills, but most months it'll be a tight squeeze.  It means that I'll have no spending money which means I can't do my part in encouraging my local economy.  Forty dollars a paycheck may not seem a lot, but it could mean a steady job for me and my coworkers or unemployment."  Ms. Morris graduated from Northeastern Law School in 2008 and found herself unable to find a job in her field.  She was working for a non-profit in Boston, but after they lost funding she found herself unemployed in 2009 and forced to move back home with her parents. She's since found work as a waitress in a local restaurant and although it's less than ideal, she feels "lucky to have paycheck" to help pay student loans and help save up for the Virginia bar exam.

Laurene Powell Jobs
Founder and Chair of Emerson Collective
Palo Alto, California

Ms. Laurene Powell Jobs is founder and chair of Emerson Collective, an organization focused on harnessing the potential of individuals from underserved communities to help them build a better life.

Ms. Powell Jobs also serves as president of the board of College Track, an after-school program she founded in 1997 to prepare underserved high school students for success in college.  Started in East Palo Alto, College Track has expanded to serve students in Oakland, San Francisco, New Orleans and Aurora, Colorado.  The program's intensive academic and extracurricular program is designed to ensure admittance to and graduation from college.  All of the program's graduates have completed their secondary education and gone on to college.

In addition to her work with the Emerson Collective and College Track, she serves on the boards of directors of NewSchools Venture Fund, New America Foundation and Conservation International. She also serves as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ms. Powell Jobs holds a BA and a BSE from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.  Earlier in her career, she spent several years working in investment banking and later co-founded a natural foods company in California.

Colonel Ginger Wallace, USAF
McLean, Virginia

Colonel Ginger Wallace is an Air Force intelligence officer who has led airlift and intelligence operations during Operations SOUTHERN WATCH, PROVIDE RELIEF, UPHOLD DEMOCRACY, ALLIED FORCE, ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM. She currently lives in McLean, Virginia with her partner of over a decade, Kathy Knopf.  In December, Ms. Knopf attended Col. Wallace's promotion ceremony and participated in the "pinning on" of Col. Wallace's rank, marking the first such event reported following the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."  Col. Wallace is currently training to deploy to Afghanistan in the Spring 2012 through the Afghanistan-Pakistan Hands program.

Yesterday this wishy-washy writer saw The Iron Lady, and between Meryl Streep's career-topping performance and Margaret Thatcher's powder-blue coated steel will I was the Jelly Lady, slumped in my seat as the house lights went up. I admire achievement and drive and think I have demonstrated my fair share; but it doesn't come close to what Margaret Thatcher accomplished at a time when men thought nothing of letting the ladies know where their place was, or what Meryl Streep managed in embracing the role of the Iron Lady -- a complete obliteration of herself in service to her work as an actress. I headed home and intended to review the film, but first I had to take a nap. (This may be why I'm not a household word -- my work ethic is compromised by my sleep habits.)

This morning when the Academy Award nominees were announced, I was beyond surprised; I hadn't realized that despite her record number of nominations, Meryl Streep is nearly "always a bridesmaid, never a bride" when it comes to the Oscars. Her last Academy Award was three decades ago in 1982 for the film Sophie's Choice. That film role provided her the only Best Actress win in her entire career. Her only other win was for Best Supporting Actress in 1979 for Kramer vs. Kramer. Yet she's been nominated 16 times - 17 with this morning's announcement.

There's an ongoing complaint in Hollywood that there are few good roles for women, especially as they get older. Even George Clooney has noticed:

"There's this strange thing that's happened over the last 25 or 30 years where there's this decision being made that women aren't able to carry the box office," George told Entertainement Weekly. "Now, Bridesmaids has proved that to be bullsh*t, and The Help has proven it to be bullsh*t. But it's much harder to get a film with a woman lead made. When a man hits 40 is when roles just begin to happen. And for women it doesn't happen. I find that to be a very concerning issue."

Frequently the blame is dumped back into the laps of women because not enough women support films that star women. It's all about box office, were' told. Despite conventional wisdom, women do show up at the box office, but not in the conventional manner -- that is, not on Friday/Saturday/Sunday night of opening weekend.

At the 1:50 pm showing of The Iron Lady yesterday at my suburban multiplex, I expected I'd be one of 6 or 7 people in the theatre. So imagine my surprise when I found  the theatre a quarter full. Most were grey-haired and sitting in groups of 2-5, but they came out for a film that is a rarity in Hollywood -- a film about an older woman. Show it and they will come. But what the studios want is the big opening weekend box office, not the steady trickle of viewers who come in during weekdays, and Meryl Streep can't star in every film about an aging woman...and as I explain in my review, "The Iron Lady is Meryl Streep."

The sentimental favorite is Streep, and if she wins, she certainly earned it. But so did the other Best Actress nominees: Viola Davis who struck just the right note in the The Help; Rooney Mara who -- like Streep -- transformed herself for her role in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; Michelle Williams who, as Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn, turned in a performance that Los Angeles Times film critic Betsey Shark called "magnetic" and "divine"; and Glenn Close, who bends gender as an Irishwoman pretending to be a male servant in Albert Nobbs (Close was also writer/producer).

It was a good year for Oscar-worthy roles for women but the other news is so-so. No women were nominated for Best Director this year, but nominations for Best Original Screenplay went to Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo for Bridesmaids and Bridget O'Connor shares a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination with Peter Straughn for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. (Clearly, Wiig, Mumolo, and O'Connor are doing fine without their afternoon naps.)

Who are you rooting for this Oscar season? What films do you think other women need to support at the box office?

_{Photo composite of Margaret Thatcher/Meryl Streep © Getty Images}

Related articles:

• Review of The Iron Lady - Margaret Thatcher Biopic Starring Meryl Streep
• Review of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

It's hard to watch Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' YouTube video announcing her resignation without blinking away the tears.

Perhaps if you turned down the audio track and focused on the visuals, the artfully framed images of Arizona places and people -- interspersed with clips of Giffords looking polished with styled hair, vibrant makeup, and a power-red jacket -- might almost pass for a re-election commercial touting the incumbent's accomplishments while in office.

But once you hear Giffords' voice, it's clear what's being said and what's left unsaid.

Her words, edited together into longer sentences, are spoken with a choppiness that cannot hide the fact that she's sustained a significant head injury. Gone is the fluid phrasing that we take for granted until the power of language is ripped away from us and we have to relearn everything. The remarkable progress that Giffords has made in a year's time is a testament to her determination and strength, but as she says, "I have more work to do on my recovery."

The video shows clips of Giffords then and now, and the contrast is so distinct it's almost like watching two different women. The Giffords we see on camera today has an openness in her demeanor that makes her seem almost youthful. Gone is that guardedness that nearly all adults possess. She briefly alludes to her absence of memory regarding the shooting and her lengthy recovery, and closes on an optimistic note: "I'm getting better. Every day my spirit is high. I will return and we will work together for Arizona and this great country."

Prior to the shooting, Giffords was known as a moderating influence in Congress and was well-liked. As the Los Angeles Times reported last November, she was weighing options for the next step in her political career. A Senate campaign was one possibility, and another was a run for governor in 2014 against controversial incumbent Jan Brewer. According to the LA Times:

"I don't know that I could win the governor's race or a Senate seat," Giffords told her husband. "But someone has to do something for the sake of Arizona. Maybe I'm the someone."

Political achievements weren't the only thing on Giffords' mind. She'd put off having a child because of the challenges of her 2010 re-election campaign but hoped to become a mother by the end of 2011. According to her husband astronaut Mark Kelly, she had planned on becoming pregnant by Valentine's Day -- a dream derailed by a madman's bullet on January 8, 2011.

Related article:

Gabrielle Giffords Shooting - Events Leading Up to and Aftermath of the Tragedy in Tuscon

There were no big bombshells in last night's Marianne Gingrich/ABC News interview beyond the one that had been dropped earlier in the day when she characterized her ex-husband as interested in pursuing an "open marriage."

On ABC's late night newsmagazine Nightline, host Terry Moran euphemistically described Newt Gingrich as having "a complicated private life" as he introduced investigative correspondent Brian Ross's controversial conversation with Gingrich's second wife.

At the time the couple split, Marianne had been married to Newt for 18 years. She explained how Newt had called her at her mother's house and asked for a divorce. "I said, 'Is there somebody else?' He was quiet -- and I knew."

Why is she talking to ABC News now? She decided to speak out after years of silence because "If he's running for president he has answers to give."

Brian Ross noted that Newt's current wife Callista, a devout Catholic, has publicly stated that she had a six-year affair with Newt prior to their marriage.

Marianne wasn't aware of the affair until "I found out in conversations that it was occuring in my bedroom in Washington....in my home."

Marianne told Ross that Newt has never asked her for forgiveness. When he asked for the divorce "I said to him, 'We've been narried for a long time.' He said,' Yes but you want me for yourself. Callista doesn't care what I do.'" She refused, telling him that wasn't a marriage.

Ross inquired about Marianne's diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Had Newt known about it when he asked for the divorce? Marianne said yes he knew, adding "And he also was advised by the doctor when I was sitting there that I was not to be under stress."

She related to Ross that she had many happy memories of their marriage even during those times when they didn't have much money; "I think we always talked that money would come when he left Congress," she confessed.

Yet questions of ethics plagued Newt during their marriage. Marianne herself became the object of an FBI sting operation, an investigation that was later dropped. She defended him during the interview, stating that she believed he was behaving ethically at the time. She also denied allegations that she was trying to make money by providing access to Newt, stating those claims were entirely false.

As for what he shared about his relationship with Callista, "He did tell me once that she was going to help him become President."

Newt's daughters (from a previous marriage) have been on the offensive earlier today and a clip of their joint interview was excerpted. Both said that what had happened was a long time ago and that their father had changed, found God and was a different man.

The buzz about Marianne's claims prompted CNN news anchor and debate moderator John King to open last night's GOP debate with a question for Newt about her remarks. Newt in turn exploded, taking the high road and railing against the media's decision to go with the "open marriage" story despite his campaign's offer to connect ABC with several Gingrich friends who would support his assertion that the whole thing was a lie.

The Nightline piece closed with Brian Ross acknowledging that Newt's angry outburst during the debate prompted him to check back with Marianne one final time. She told Ross that she stands by her statements.

Related article:

Why None of Us Should Be Surprised By What Marianne Said About Newt