Good morning!

So sorry for the very late post. I have been working on Zen Lill’s photo montage this morning but technical challenges have prevented me from being able to post them. We’re working on it so please be patient. You can expect them in the next day or so.

Here’s a little something that we girls already know but certainly some men may not, and perhaps a few of you ladies too. :) In my opinion, this is something definitely worth sharing just in case you knew and need a little reminder, and if you didn’t, lucky you, you know now.

Get. on. it. Hire and promote more women in your company. Or better yet girls, start your own company. Women rock.

Women Executives Make Venture-Backed Companies More Successful: Study 

Venture-backed companies that include females as senior executives are more likely to succeed than companies where only males are in charge, according to new research from Dow Jones.

The report, “Women at the Wheel,” does not speculate on why female executives improve a company’s chance of success, nor did it study companies where only females are involved.

But it finds that companies have a greater chance of either going public, operating profitably or being sold for more money than they’ve raised when they have females acting as founders, board members, C-level officers, vice presidents and/or directors. At successful companies, the median proportion of female executives was 7.1%; at unsuccessful companies, 3.1%.

The report followed 20,194 U.S.-based companies in the Dow Jones VentureSourcedatabase that either received funding or exited between 1997 and 2011. Of the 167,556 executives involved, about 7% were female.

Attitudes about women are changing rapidly in the technology industry, where female participation continues to increase. This year, while two Bay Area investment firms (Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Pantheon Ventures) were sued by women for gender discrimination, the board of Yahoo Inc. named a pregnant Marissa Mayer as the company’s president and CEO.

Very few companies in the report–only 1.3%–had a female founder, but companies tend to hire more women as they grow: 6.5% of companies had a female CEO, and 20% had one or more female C-level executives, most commonly in sales and marketing roles.

“I continue to be surprised that there aren’t more venture-backed companies with women CEOs,” said Cameron Lester, a general partner at Azure Capital Partners. Azure has invested in several women-led companies, including VMware Inc., a software virtualization company that sold to EMC Corp. in 2003 for $635 million and later went public.

Women face bias in the tech industry, Mr. Lester said–investors “tend to go with what they know” and are more likely to back a company when it’s run by someone who fits the typical entrepreneur profile, such as a young, male computer scientist who’s graduated from Stanford University and worked at a hot company like Google Inc. or Facebook Inc.

Azure, which was founded by former Wall Street analysts, tries to avoid such bias by basing its investments on research. Also, female tech executives tend to be better on average than their male counterparts because they’ve survived the industry’s “natural selection,” he said.

Any kind of diversity is good for a company because it brings in different points of view when decisions have to be made, said Theresia Gouw Ranzetta, a partner at Accel Partners and one of Silicon Valley’s few female venture capitalists.

Women, for instance, are more likely than men to think of different types of customers for a company to target or different ways to sell to them, she said, since “women are not the target customer in Silicon Valley for highly technical services. They think more out of the box.”

Women also tend to be more conservative than men, which is both good and bad. Financially, they may raise less money than men, which makes them more capital-efficient, but they’re also more likely to sell a company when they get a good offer, rather than to keep it independent or take it public for a bigger success down the road, according to Ms. Ranzetta.

“There are not enough women CEOs and executives taking companies public,” she said.

Personally, women tend to be more careful about business decisions, and that’s not always good either, according to Damballa Inc. Chief Executive Val Rahmani, who joined the security company in 2009 after 18 years as an executive at International Business Machines Corp.

Women may think very carefully before making a business decision, she said, “whereas a lot of guys have a ‘What the hell, let’s give it a go’ attitude” that can be useful when companies need to move quickly.

But women are also more concerned about the emotional well-being of their team. Although she can be tough and mean when people aren’t delivering, “we run more as a family (at Damballa),” Ms. Rahmani said. “I would love for everybody on my team to be happy.”

Ms. Rahmani urges the women who work for her not to try to disguise their looks by wearing “frumpy” clothes to work. She also encourages women to study more math and ignore the mysticism that surrounds tech start-ups.

“Venture capitalists are smart folks, but at the end of the day, they’re just people wanting to invest in something good,” she said.

The full study can be found here.

*******

Happy Sunday! Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Thank for being here with me! 

Peace & Love…you know what to do. 

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

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

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Good morning!

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.

Girl Rising: Topping Charts by Breaking Molds

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

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

A dear friend of mine sent me this. It was posted for International Women’s Day, but hey….it’s good any day.

Every Woman is Divine

By MariaShriver.com

In 2010, Jesse Dylan and Maria Shriver collaborated on an original short film that premiered at The Women’s Conference that year.

The film, titled “Every Woman is Divine,” is a beautiful meditation on the power, progress and potential of women and girls around the world.

Since Friday, March 8 is International Women’s Day, we thought the time was right to share the film again.

Get ready for the goosebumps!

And after you watch it, be sure to share it with a woman you love.

I am sharing it with all of the women I love, right here, right now – Enjoy!

*****

Peace & Love: “Live, it, Give it” 

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

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

International Women’s Day was yesterday. I’m extending it to today and beyond. To all my sisters around the world: I honor you everyday.

Here’s an inspiring heartfelt write that I found written by Maria Shriver  for the Huff Po, that I liked. I HOPE you do too.

Why Women Must Lean In and Push Back

After weeks of pre-publication buzz and media discussion, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s new book,Lean In: Women, Work, and The Will To Lead, finally hits bookstores and digital devices on Monday.

I count Sheryl as a friend, both online and off. I’ve read the book and applaud her for getting people talking again about challenges women face in achieving equal opportunity, power and pay with men. It takes a lot of guts to step into the public arena and, to borrow a phrase from Brené Brown, “dare greatly.”

Sheryl’s book is chock-full of valuable tips, tools and takeaways for working women, particularly young women like my daughters who are just starting out in the professional world. She’s encouraging women to “lean in” to their careers by, among other things, reaching for opportunities, taking a seat at the table, raising expectations, withstanding criticism, managing fear of failure, taking responsibility for mistakes, communicating hard truths and making “real partners” out of their spouses.

At its best, the book is a comprehensive career advice manual for women seeking professional advancement — and a persuasive call to leadership for the next generation. If young women are to reach their greatest potential in any area they choose to pursue, they’ll need guides like Sheryl Sandberg to step out and show them how to navigate the challenges and complexities of being a woman in modern life.

Some commentators have argued, though, that as a “feminist manifesto” the book over-emphasizes the internal, self-imposed obstacles that individual women must overcome while shortchanging the larger, external barriers that would help make many more women’s lives successful. They argue that Sandberg should be using her platform, power and position to advocate for policy and legal changes, not personal ones. I see these arguments as two sides of the same coin.

The larger point, though, is that the persistent internal and external barriers that women encounter are no longer just affecting women. In the United States today, women are the primary breadwinners or co-breadwinners in two-thirds of American households. In the majority of these families, work means not just personal success and advancement, but family survival. The money that women bring home now is so critical to their families and the stakes now are so high, that the issues that used to be “women’s issues” now profoundly affect children, men and society as a whole.

Four years ago, I debuted The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything with the Center for American Progress. It was a detailed look at the impact everywhere in our society of the explosive growth of women in the workforce. The following year, The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Takes on Alzheimer’s made some startling discoveries about the enormous burden of this disease on women, who make up the majority of patients and unpaid caregivers. Later this year, The Shriver Reportreturns with a follow-up study looking at why working women, who are the core of the American economy, the core of the American family, are more economically vulnerable than ever before, and what we as a society can do about it.

The U.S. Census Bureau tells us that more than 100 million Americans live in poverty or near poverty, and 70 percent of them are women and the children who depend on them. That’s an almost inconceivable 70 million people. Now, consider that women’s earning power still lags significantly compared with men’s, about 78 cents to a $1 for the same job according to the national Women’s Law Center. The disparities are even greater for African-American women (62 cents) and Latinas (53 cents).

That means millions of working women are already leaning in about as far as they can — doing their best to provide, parent and care-take while trying to preserve their own well-being under the pressures of everyday life. They are bouncing around between the demands of career and care. Never mind “having it all.” They’re already doing it all and just barely getting by. Juggling so many demands on their time, money and energy has them teetering on the brink of economic catastrophe, where one unfortunate incident — a lost job, a child’s medical emergency, a missed paycheck, a cut in hours worked — sends them tumbling over the edge, with dire consequences for them and their families.

Overcoming these challenges will require much more than Leaning In, although that is an important part of the equation. While women can and do individually Lean In, I would argue that the time has also come for all of us, collectively, to Push Back — to push back from the brink that threatens to envelop our sisters in hardship, stress, debt, foreclosure and, for too many, poverty.

Women can’t push back from the brink without external, structural change, and this is where we have to recognize that all of us, women and men, have a role to play to push for meaningful change. We need to ask more from the institutions that set the rules and define our lives — and we need to ask more from each other. Women need to leverage the power of unity, community and shared vision.

Too many people tend to see the need for change strictly as women’s issues, not what they really are: family and economic issues. How can we sustain healthy families and achieve a vibrant, fully employed economy if government, corporate, educational and faith-based organizations cling to outdated policies and principles that actually impede women’s ability to fulfill both their professional aspirations and family needs?

How can we achieve this kind of consensus in such polarized times as these, when pointing fingers and assessing blame passes for political debate? It all starts with acknowledging that the economic health of the country and modern American families is better served with smart, pro-family policies that enable women to maximize all of their professional skills and family responsibilities, while also enabling men to share in the caregiving far more than they already do.

We need to honor the experiences of women who are doing it all for their families but barely getting by. Their economic insecurity should alarm us all. We need to consolidate our power behind the political and organizational leaders who get it and stand with us in making change happen. We need to galvanize support for those institutions that have already seen the light — that programs supporting a work/family balance benefit not only employees but bottom lines. That means pushing for flexible work schedules, pushing for pay equity, pushing for affordable childcare and pushing for paid family leave.

Simply put, we need not only to lean in. It’s imperative that we push back, too.

Tomorrow is International Women’s Day, a worldwide celebration of the economic, political and social achievements of women. In some countries, including China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, it’s a national holiday. In the U.S., we don’t need a national holiday so much as a national recognition that women’s economic security is irrevocably connected to our country’s economic prosperity.

By pushing back from the brink together, we can make that happen. I’d say that would be a true cause for celebration.

I hope that as we continue this conversation, we do so with the understanding that no two women’s experiences are the same, that we all have different choices to make, and that we all have something vitally important to bring to the table — be it the boardroom table or the kitchen table.

********

Thoughts anyone? Blog me.

Claire: He’s one of mine too.

Knox: I didn’t see you comment yesterday when I posted my blog. Oh well…great minds think alike. :) And yes, a founding father of the LSOS Club. I like it, and can’t believe he hasn’t been nominated before. Done.

Alma: I loved reading your write. Obama is truly a success story.

ZL: Very cool – Loved it. Thanks for sharing.

Boo: Ditto.

Karen: I would’ve loved to have seen it. That side of fashion is a much smaller part of my life now. But when I was deeply involved, I loved seeing, and being part of the shows. It’s so very exciting. I can see she is just jazzed from it all. It is a fun high to ride. I HOPE she has a long successful ride, and enjoys herself on her journey of creativity.

Lucy: Yes she is and I had no idea.  Cool.

Barry: Your comment cracked me up but yes, some of what you said is so true. Of course the clubs wouldn’t be so popular if it was that much like flipping through a Playboy mag…it’s more like a live playboy mag,  but I get your drift. You can look but you can’t touch. I HOPE your experiences are a bit more thrilling here on Earth.

Ham: Yep. You got that right. Palin isn’t competent at FOX yet she was a candidate for VP of our country? Thank God that never happened.

Mike, TM: Thank you. Be safe. Watch your back.

Jimmy: That is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. How stupid can one be?

Lester: I am. My thought is, if someone can think it up, it is probably happening.

Peace & 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)

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

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

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Good morning!

The first time I had heard of Paul Robeson was on a talk on Democracy Now awhile ago. Then while listening to the radio a few days ago I tuned into Democracy Now again, and Amy Goodman was speaking on his wife Eslanda, “Essie” Robeson.

Like many other strong women, Essie, was in cast in the shadows of her famous husband, and not much attention was paid to her, although she was his wife, tour manager, acting coach…the main bread winner, supporting her husband while he focused on his budding career.

I alway say that beside a successful man is a woman that is largely responsible for helping him to get there. It looks like Essie was this kind of woman. She not only helped her husband to becomes successful but then paved the way for herself by utilizing all of her talents and assets, including her title as Mrs. Paul Robeson. 

Thankfully Barbara Ransby, a writer, recognized Essie for her many strengths and talents and decided to put the spotlight on Essie, and wrote a book focusing on one of the most important and fascinating Black women of the Twentieth Century.

Ransby’s new book was just recently released. It explores Essie’s tremendous influence on her husband’s career and all the amazing roles she played during that time, one being achieving her own unique political voice.

Here’s the write:

“Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson”

In the new issue of Ms. magazine, available on newsstands Feb. 26 andimmediately on our new digital platform, we review the new biographyEslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson by Barbara Ransby. Most of us have heard of singer/actor/activist Paul Robeson, but Ransby reminds us that his wife was remarkable in her own right.

In a just world, Eslanda Cardozo Goode Robeson would be known as a feminist foremother, studied and admired by every schoolgirl. She might have been secretary-general of the United Nations, or U.S. secretary of state. But even in a cruelly unjust world, this remarkable woman managed to participate in the founding of the U.N., write the influential anthropological text African Journey and champion women on the world stage.

Born in 1895 to a family of black professionals, “Essie” earned a chemistry degree from Columbia University and as a very young woman headed a lab at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, the first African American to do so. At 25, she eloped with a Columbia law student, the budding actor/singer Paul Robeson, and took on roles as tour manager, acting coach and breadwinner while he honed his skills. They made a formidable team. “She used her title as Mrs. Paul Robeson to open doors,” Ransby writes, “but once those doors opened, a smart, pragmatic and fiercely independent woman walked through.”

Despite the demands of managing her husband’s extraordinary career—his title role in Othello and star turn in Show Boat remain iconic—Eslanda developed an international sphere of influence. Often living abroad with her son and mother, she studied at the London School of Economics and traveled constantly, speaking at conferences and reporting for journals. She maintained lasting friendships with Harlem Renaissance writers Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, independence activists Jawarharlal Nehru and Jomo Kenyatta, anarchist Emma Goldman, the geneticist J.B.S. Haldane, Shirley and W.E.B. Dubois and other leading progressives.

Light-skinned enough to pass for Spanish or Italian in her cosmopolitan circles, Eslanda wholeheartedly claimed herself as one of the world’s people of color. “I feel brown, and I think brown and I am brown” she proclaimed in a speech to the All African Women’s Freedom Movement, a group that, in typical fashion, she had helped to found.

Her marriage frequently in turmoil—Paul had affairs, some lasting for years—and her family often living apart, she took a key role in the international anti-colonial cause, which she strongly linked to “Negro civil rights.” U.S. and British intelligence agencies frowned on this dangerous linkage; they harassed the Robesons for years, confiscating their passports during the Cold War ’50s. Paul was blacklisted, and lack of income from his international tours meant they lost their home. Summoned by Sen. Joseph McCarthy to testify at a Senate hearing on un-American activities, an outraged Eslanda parried every insulting question with wit and vigor. “McCarthy glared,” writes Ransby, and said “that she might have been cited for contempt if she were a man.”

This long overdue biography of a bold scholar-activist emerging from the shadow of her famous husband is a gift, and such are Ransby’s narrative skills that I wept when, in her final pages, the vibrant Essie died, two days shy of 70. Ransby has a history of rescuing historically overlooked black female leaders; a prior biography was of the venerable civil rights activist Ella Baker. This new work is a major contribution to her glorious reclamation project.

Joan Steinau Lester is the author of the Eleanor Holmes Norton biography Fire in My Soul and the novel Black, White, Other.

*******

Readers: Sounds like a very interesting book eh? If you’re interested in knowing more about this Wonderful Woman Of The World before diving into the book, I posted the entire video recording above for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Robert, RT:  Thanks for posting the update on VAWA. Your point is right on. I also like what Ann said, and is worth repeating: “Someone should tell Grassley that the victims in these cases aren’t the white men who are tried! The victims are the native women who are raped and never see justice done.”

Look, the bottom line is, if men just didn’t rape they wouldn’t have to worry about whether they had an all-white jury or whatever kind of jury. It wouldn’t matter. You don’t rape, you don’t stand trial in front on any jury, all-white or not. I know…this is wishful thinking to think that rape won’t happen.

But since rape does happen, why is it suddenly important that the perp gets a “fair trial?” – Because the perp is a non-Indian man…a white man. When an OTW doesn’t get a “fair trial”, it is no big deal.  But a white man? Oh no…this can’t happen. We have to make sure that this won’t happen. It’s really supporting the white man by saying that he can rape native women, and get away with it. Sick.

As John pointed out, “Someone needs to tell Grassley they try native people are tired by all white juries all the time.”  Many OTW’s are tried with all-white juries. No concern of an unfair trial there, right? It is always okay when it is happening to someone else (an OTW),  but it is absolutely not acceptable when they feel it might happen to them and theirs.

This is like in so many other circumstances where the white man wants to get the advantage over the OTW. But this is also about men trying to protect men and their sick interests instead of getting to the root of the problem, which is rape.

Grassley is more concerned about making sure that these white men get a “fair trial” when they rape a native woman, instead of making sure that men keep their dicks in their pants when a woman says no. Rape is prevalent in the native communities. I have to say it again: It’s really supporting the white man by saying that he can rape native women, and get away with it. Sick.

Rape is prevalent in this world, and we need to stop it. Why not deal with resolving that issue.

Ooh I am running late this morning – Have a great Saturday! Peace out. 

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 :)

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All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

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