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27Mar2011
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27Mar2011
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27Mar2011
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I discovered this segment; an interview with the writer Marianne Williamson on Oprah’s network. I haven’t read Williamson’s book, however, I found this to be interesting and…wanted to share it, and hear your thoughts.
In 1992, Marianne Williamson, author of A Return to Love, said that the following 20 years would be critical to the survival of mankind. Now that time has come. Find out why she says we’re both better and worse off than before—and reveals the one force that still has the potential to turn everything around.
Readers: I agree with Williamson – I too believe that small groups of people can become powerful with their voice and their ideas and bring about big change. We’ve seen it happen historically, how even one person’s actions can change the world. We can’t wait on the majority to all agree. We are recently seeing how some issues are literally at a standstill.
Sometimes…many times, it takes radical ideas or actions to get something to happen, something to change. Rosa Parks, is perfect example. I try to think of how I can have a positive affect in the things I believe in…the things that I think will be for the good of all. How about you?
We are the only species that systematically destroys our own habitat because we are the only species on our planet that is greedy. And because of that greed we do things that are not in our best interest or the best interest of our planet, which in the end effects our livelihood. Throw in racism, mix it up with greed, and you have a recipe for “how quickly can we destroy our economy, our environment…?” I could go on.
I also like that Williamson points out that although reading spiritual books is good we can’t just be all about crystals and rainbows…and la de da...” We need to get involved and have a voice. I found it interesting when she speaks about what Martin Luther King said about Ghandi,lifting love beyond mere personal relationship, and turned it into a broad scale social force for good. Terrorists have taken hatred and turned into a political force….the only way to transform that..is if we turn love into a social and political force, like King and Ghandi.” Hmm…I like that.
Thoughts? Blog me.
Happy Saturday! Thanks for being here with me. Sending love…
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog.If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)
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Zen Lill: Next week would be good. I HOPE all is well with you!
Alycedale: How are you? I HOPE all is good. Thanks for your un-recomendation on the book. :) I agree with you and the other girls…man is not the be all to emulate. That is one thing I do not agree with Sandberg. Making women more like men is not how this world is going to benefit. We already know that. Why would we want women to be more like men when the world is so messed up from the things men do, and don’t do?
Although my definition of “lean in” for men seems to be different from yours, I like your suggestion of her book to be about advising men NOT to “lean in” too much. In other words, my words not necessarily yours, “Get the fuck out of the way.” - Ya know…”Make way and make space for women to blossom.” – There, I can say it nicely too. Either way, I doubt most men would listen and heed the advice though. As Lisasaid,“If women want it to change, they will have to change it because men are happy the way it is.”
However, one thing I do agree with is that women need to recognize their value and to learn to negotiate better. Additionally, women need to recognize the value of our sisters, be better supporters of women all around…as friends, business associates, in political positions, etc. So, I suppose my definition of “lean in” is different from Sandberg too. I want women to “lean in” and support each other so that we can rise and take our positions, because it certainly isn’t going to be given way lightly and without a fight - that’s the game-changer I’m HOPEing for.
Social Butterfly: How is the new job going? I HOPE you are loving it.
I thought with all the talk about women in the workplace this would be suitable for today’s post:
Today is Equal Pay Day, which marks the additional days into 2013 that a woman needs to work just to equal what a man made in 2012. The pay gap is real — and really persistent.
The amount that women lose as a result of the pay gap doesn’t just hurt them. Their families also pay the price for this lost income. Here’s what the median pay gap means over the course of just one year: $10,784. The total cost to a woman and her family over the course of her entire working life is staggering: $431,360.
Click through to check out an interactive version of this graphic showing how the pay gap affects women’s lives:
Thoughts? Blog me.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog.If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)
Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:
Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129
Bangalore: Mathematical genius Shakuntala Devi died at a hospital in Bangalore today following respiratory problems. She was 80.
“She passed away at Bangalore Hospital,” Shakuntala Devi Educational Foundation Public Trust Trustee D C Shivadev told PTI. Doctors declared her dead at 8.15 AM, he said.
She was hospitalised a couple of weeks ago for critical respiratory problems, Shivadev said. “She developed heart and kidney problems later,” he added.
Shakuntala Devi found a slot in the Guinness Book of World Record for her outstanding ability and wrote numerous books like ‘Fun with Numbers’, ‘Astrology for You’, ‘Puzzles to Puzzle You’, and ‘Mathablit’. She had the ability to tell the day of the week of any given date in the last century in a jiffy.
She was nicknamed “human computer” for her ability to make complex mental calculations.
Coming from a humble family, Shakuntala Devi’s father was a circus performer who did trapeze, tightrope and cannonball shows.
It was while she was playing cards with her father at the tender age of three that he found his daughter’s calculation abilities. It turned out that she beat him not by sleight of hand, but by memorising the cards.
At the age of six, she demonstrated her calculation skills in her first major public performance at the University of Mysore and two years later, she again proved herself successful as a child prodigy at Annamalai University.
However, despite apprehensions in some quarters, Shakuntala Devi did not lose her calculating ability when she turned adult like other prodigies such as Truman Henry Safford.
In 1977, Shakuntala Devi extracted the 23rd root of a 201-digit number mentally.
On June 18, 1980 she demonstrated the multiplication of two 13-digit numbers 7,686,369,774,870 x 2,465,099,745,779 picked at random by the Computer Department of Imperial College, London. She answered the question in 28 seconds.
*******
Readers: Amazing! May Devi rest in peace.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog.If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)
Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:
Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129
I have been meaning to post about this for over a week now but somehow it didn’t cross my mind to do so when I began to post every morning. This time it did. And just in time. This movie “Girl Rising,” although has been previewed in many places across the country, has finally hit the theaters, as of yesterday. Once an avid movie goer, I haven’t been to a theater in months, (I still have yet to catch up with all of the Oscar winners!), I am so excited to see this.
Big love and kudos goes to all the writers, Holly Gordon the producer, the filmmakers, the 10X10 Campaign, and of course, last but not least, the 9 girls whose lives inspired this film, that I feel everyone (yes, you too guys!) should see.
They all deserve the title of Wonderful Women and Girls of the World.
From the Huff Po:
“Girl Rising,” a movie produced by the girls education campaign 10×10, tells the stories of nine young girls fighting for access to education and better opportunities. As the trailer above reveals, it’s not a traditional documentary — each girl’s story is written by a well known female writer from her country and narrated by one of a host of A-list actresses (yes, including Meryl), according to information provided on the 10×10 website. We dare you to watch and not be saddened at how little the world has offered these girls and inspired by their resolve to make better lives for themselves.
It’s a rare documentary that breaks into box office charts. Most linger longer in the moral conscience than graduate out of the festival circuit onto big screens. Even rarer is the cause documentary that achieves popular success as well as critical acclaim.
One notable exception was March of the Penguins. Magnificent cinematography, heart-warming stories of faithful parents, gut-wrenching odds of survival — and the attention it drew to the impact of climate change — rocketed Penguins to the top of the movie charts. Another rare exception is 10×10′s recently released Girl Rising, a feature film that tells the stories of nine resilient girls in nine developing countries who overcome insurmountable economic and cultural odds — simply to get an education.
Changing the World by Educating Girls
At first glance singling out educating girls as the most effective way to tackle global poverty seems a stretch. Yet the briefest look at the numbers quickly confirms the obvious — that educating girls is indeed the most effective way to address many fundamental economic, political and cultural goals across the developing world.
Consider the direct correlation between educating girls and economic growth. In their Council on Foreign Relations paper, “What Works in Girls Education,” Barbara Herz and Gene Sperling highlight the direct economic impact of educating girls in multiple ways. On an individual level, educated girls at both primary and secondary levels generate 10 to 25 percent higher wages, significantly higher than the relative increase among boys. That wage impact translates directly into faster national economic growth. As the authors note, more equal education of girls in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa in particular would have resulted in nearly 1 percent higher per capita growth in GDP over the period 1960 to 1992. Critically, in developing countries, higher education levels among girls leads to more productive farming results.
Then consider the economic multiplier effect of educating girls — given its minimal marginal cost. Not only does doing so dramatically improve health standards, encourage fewer children and discourage child trafficking, but it also drives up savings and small business activity. Not surprisingly, UNICEF reports that educated mothers are twice as likely to educate their own children — girls and boys. Now compound those benefits by just one generation.
But can a narrative documentary attract developed world attention to an issue so patently solvable? Surely noble goals, powerful story lines and chic Hollywood endorsements are a simple recipe for screen success. Not so fast. Many documentaries share similar attributes without making a notable impact. So how did Girl Rising debut at No. 5 on the New York Times Most Popular Movies List, open in 100 theaters, sell 100,000 tickets in its first month and be the signature purchase for CNN Films?
How to Turn Hollywood Upside Down — While Making Friends
Start with content: Girl Rising is an immensely uplifting film spotlighting one of the real success stories in development circles. As Academy Award nominee director Richard E. Robbins notes,
“Educating girls makes such obvious sense. An educated girl will in turn educate her own children — boys and girls — not only in arithmetic and in how to write and read, but also in how to stay healthy, how to work and save. It’s the multiplier effect writ larger by every generation. If you get sick, you might well go back to the hospital. But if you get educated, you never forget that.”
Star power also helps. Each girl’s story in Girl Rising is narrated by A-list Hollywood actresses including Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Alicia Keys and Selena Gomez. Having Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Jordan’s Queen Rania on your advisory board certainly lends credence as well. Strategic partners including Intel, Paul Allen’s Vulcan Productions and CNN Films also add impressive institutional heft.
Then add in 10×10′s groundbreaking distribution model. Turning Hollywood’s traditional distribution model on its head, 10×10 promotes screenings by offering any community — however large or small, urban, rural or campus-based — the opportunity to screen Girl Rising through its partnership with Gathr. Launched in 2011, Gathr is among the innovators in on-demand theatrical distribution, empowering audiences to bring films like Girl Rising to their communities, in effect democratizing theatrical film distribution. “With Girl Rising, we took a risk on a new model of on-demand theatrical distribution, and the leap of faith paid dividends,” said Tom Yellin, executive producer of Girl Rising. “We’ve established a new model for impact filmmaking, to build a movement — and an audience — around a film.”
Deft use of social media to promote Girl Rising also proves Facebook and Twitter are infinitely more cost-effective forms of promoting films than traditional sources. With a dedicated social media team that resembles a campaign war room, 10×10 constantly sends targeted alerts to promote local screenings, encouraging individuals to share and share again notices about upcoming screenings, while also circling back to spotlight successful screenings through an ever-widening web of friends and followers.
Translating Awareness into Impact on the Ground
Uplifting stories, star power, and impressive box-office stats without doubt. But can a documentary seen even in several hundred theaters actually translate into making a difference in traditional, and often patriarchal, societies thousands of miles away?
Emphatically yes, say director Robbins and executive producer Holly Green Gordon. Both quickly admit their value-add is in developing awareness and raising funds for the cause of educating girls through the power of film. To that end Robbins and Green established the 10×10 Fund to act as a conduit of all proceeds from Girl Rising – ticket sales, donations, and corporate gifts — to global nonprofits including Care, the UN Foundation’s Girl Up, and Room to Read, selected on the basis of their ability to make an immediate on-the-ground impact. Beyond that, 10×10 effectively pushed these organizations to place an even greater focus within their budgets on educating girls.
Little surprise then that Girl Rising quickly received star-billing nationwide. Barely a month after debuting to critical and popular acclaim as a documentary promoted at the grassroots level, 10×10 just disclosed a week-long exclusive deal with Regal Cinemas, the nation’s leading network of cinemas, to show Girl Rising in over 150 theaters across the country starting April 19th.
Announcing the deal, Amy Miles, CEO of Regal Entertainment Group stated, “Regal recognizes the intense interest by American moviegoers demanding that this film be seen in their local communities.” As she continued, “This movie is making an emotional impact on many of our patrons, me included.”
Fitting praise for a feature film called “one of the hottest cause documentaries in years” by the New York Times. With their drive and determination, these courageous young girls have proven that by striving to get an education, they themselves have the power to truly change the world.
*Y*O*U*G*O*G*I*R*L*S*
Readers: I can’t say much about this film since I haven’t seen it yet, but it is about time, that the world knows how much young girls endure in their lives, and yet still come out courageous, powerful and rising…and for the betterment of all. It is amazing to me the stats that show when women and girls have the opportunity to rise and prosper, families, communities, and countries flourish more. When will men get that? When will they stop trying to prevent women from achieving success, and instead nurture and cultivate an environment for women and girls to blossom? The time is now.
Peace & Love…give it to the girls.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog.If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)
Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:
Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129
I’m going to switch it up this morning, and post a little fun for Friday. It is the weekend and I am excited to have a weekend off - it has been awhile.
I found this on-line and I thought “How cool.” I love creative ideas that inspire people to action. The video is wonderful to watch. I HOPE you enjoy it.
Hilarious And Heartbreaking Secrets From Postsecret.com
TED and The Huffington Post are excited to bring you TEDWeekends, a curated weekend program that introduces a powerful “idea worth spreading” every Friday, anchored in an exceptional TEDTalk. This week’s TEDTalk is accompanied by an original blog post from the featured speaker, along with new op-eds, thoughts and responses from the HuffPost community. Watch the talk above, read the blog post and tell us your thoughts below. Become part of the conversation!
__________________________________________
There are two kinds of secrets, the ones we hide from others, and those we keep from ourselves.
As I write this introduction to my 2012 TED Talk, I am overseas on a speaking tour in Australia and New Zealand sharing secrets. The PostSecret website has received more than 600,000,000 hits. There have been five PostSecret books, the last one reaching #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
Why are we so fascinated by these secrets?
Photo courtesy of Frank Warren.
Sometimes when we think we are keeping a secret, that secret is actually keeping us.
I began collecting and sharing secrets in 2004. I printed 3,000 self-addressed postcards with simple instructions about sharing an artful secret. I passed them out to strangers on the streets of Washington, D.C., not knowing what to expect. But soon secrets began to find their way to my mailbox.
The idea began to spread virally and I began receiving shocking, silly and soulful secrets from around the world. Today, I have received over a half-million secrets and they continue to come. One in my TEDTalk was a surprise marriage proposal. I ended my talk with a poignant secret that was a final song from a grandmother to her granddaughter.
Photo courtesy of Frank Warren.
Secrets can be transformative: Sharing a secret with another person, or just with ourselves, can change who we are.
Two questions I often hear are: Do you think these anonymous secrets are true? And what happens if you get a secret about a serious crime?
I think of each postcard as a work of art, and as self-revelatory art. Secrets can have different layers of truth. Some can be both true and false; others can become true over time depending on our choices.
Sometimes a secret we keep from ourselves only becomes true after we read it on a stranger’s postcard. Early in the project I received this email:
“Dear Frank, Do you know that I left my boyfriend of a year and a half because of the postcard that read, ‘His temper is so scary, I’ve lost all my opinions.’ It hadn’t even occurred to me what was happening, and it took a total stranger writing it down to make me realize what the hell was going on in my life.”
I get very few secrets about crimes, but I have been contacted by the FBI about one particular postcard mailed to me. That story ended positively but I need to keep the details secret.
Lately we have been working on a PostSecret play called “PostSecret: Unheard Voices” to bring to life more of the secrets and stories.
So much of this still feels like a mystery to me. The secrets keep coming year after year. I may not have a choice; this could be something that I can’t turn off. My wife has this fear that years from now we may be retired somewhere by the beach and secrets will continue to track us down, but part of me hopes the secrets never stop coming.
Because so many people have shared their secrets with me, I will share one of mine with you. It’s a secret I never told anyone until I pulled a postcard from my mailbox that described an experience very similar to the childhood humiliation I had kept buried inside for decades.
“When I was in the Fourth Grade, a new kid moved into our neighborhood. He was a charismatic leader who quickly became popular. Soon after, he convinced two of my friends to pin me to the ground and hold open my eyelids. They took turns spitting into my eyes.”
Secrets can feel like walls when we hide them inside, but if we can find the courage to share them, we discover we are not alone at all. Our secrets become bridges.
Photo courtesy of Frank Warren.
Click here to see a slideshow of some of the most compelling secrets sent to Postsecret.com.
******
Readers: Have any of you sent in a postcard to Postsecret.com? Let’s play here. If you feel like posting a secret here, your secrets are safe here too. You will always remain anonymous. Blog me.
On another note…I’ve been reading the writes on the Boston “suspects” this morning on the Huff Po. – One has been killed. The other is at large. The hunt is on. Have you been reading? What are your thoughts? I’ll leave the forum open or you to comment. Me? I’n going to zip my lips on this one. But hey, it’s Friday…flap your lips if you choose.
Peace & Love…spread a little will ya.
xo
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog.If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)
Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:
Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129
