Entries from October 2009 ↓

Want to ask questions and talk about health care reform? As in how will this really impact women and children?

There’s a phone call tomorrow and you’re all invited. It’s just another amazing thing Momsrising.org is doing to make sure mothers are represented in Washington.

From a recent email:

Simply sign up to join Momsrising.org on Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 9 p.m.EST/6 p.m.PST by clicking here:

Sign up today.

It’s as easy as pie. After you sign up, we’ll send you call-in and log-in information via email. Sweat pants and bathrobes are very appropriate attire for this high-powered conversation.

Why this kitchen table conversation now? The coming weeks will be critical for making sure that health reform benefits kids and families.  Learn more about what’s in the current healthcare proposals, and how to make sure that the White House, Congress, and leading advocates for women and kids know our priorities. We’ll be taking notes on what you think and writing a blog, as well as sharing your thoughts with leaders after our conversation.

Here’s more information:  We’re calling this our “kitchen table” chat because it’s going to be an informal opportunity for you– from the comfort of your very own home–to hear from experts, ask questions, and share your ideas about how to support health reform, as well as why you need health reform.  Your call will include:

* An overview of major issues for women and children in health reform from experts Jocelyn Guyer from Georgetown’s Center for Children and Families and Lisa Codispoti from The National Women’s Law Center, two of the leading national advocates for women and children in health reform.
* Questions and comments: Our experts will answer your questions and you will have a chance to share your highest priorities for health reform.
* What’s next?  We will ask for and share ideas on how we can help in this final stretch of health reform. We also want to hear about why you believe health reform is important.  And we’ll share your ideas, thoughts, and priorities with the White House, Congress, and our partner organizations.

Sign up now to join us around our virtual kitchen table and chat about women and kids in health reform today!

Look forward to chatting!

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Remember when Glamour Magazine ran a photo of Lizzy Miller?

Glamour got such a positive response they are running an entire feature story on “plus-sized” women, These Bodies are Beautiful at Every Size.

(Yeah, yeah, how dare they call a size 8 “plus-sized” – but in modeleeze, we’re all a plus size and you gotta start somewhere.) The Editor addresses this issue here: On the C.L.: Are You Ready to Start a Body Image Revolution? Oh, Wait–You Already Did!

Here’s a mini-lesson in Capitalism: Glamour runs a photo of one of us. We feel good about seeing someone like us – instead of the usual size zero model – so we go to the site and answer a survey telling them how much we love it. They pair up with Dove, also a company which has tuned into our being disgusted with being marketed to in the traditional size four impossible kind-of-way, who agrees to sponsor a feature story with larger models.

Then we see 7 women, a whole group,  who look . . . REAL.

Beautiful. Lovely. Interesting. Exotic. Glamourous. Stunning. Good Enough.

H-O-T.

And we go, “Hey I like this. I want to see more of this. Those women DO look like me and they are obviously hot, so maybe I am hot. I feel a little better about myself now.”

Okay, so here’s the capitalism part: when you go to Glamour Magazine and you answer the Glamour/Dove survey that will pop up, and leave a comment expressing how much you enjoy this type of story and this version of advertising for beauty products . . .

They realize they can sell more magazines and soap with this approach – so they do more of it. T

They make more money. We feel better about our selves.

Capitalism is somewhat like training a toddler. We should make it simple for companies to market to us, women and girls.

If you sexualize my daughter on your T-shirt Abercrombie/Holister: then we should let their company drown and refuse to shop there for anything. Mother Boycott.

But, if you make me and my daughter feel great about who we really are – as opposed to pressuring us to meet some famished ideal we can never achieve – then we will buy your magazines, shampoo and deodorant and recommend them to our friends.

This is how we spark an advertising and marketing Revolution.

Do not miss the slide show.

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I’m substitute teaching this year.

I need to make money.

My three-and-a-half-year-old son Zack is watching too much TV and playing too many video games when he’s not in preschool. I think he’ll do very well in preschool five days a week. He even gets swim lessons.

I, am not giving up on The Girl Revolution. How could I? It’s the best free job I’ve ever had. This, no doubt, is a labor of love.

Having done some research on publishing, however, I’ve realized: I’m gonna need some money. I better make some.

I am also considering getting my teaching certificate. As much as you hear about teachers being paid poorly, it would be a substantial raise for me. It also comes with little perks like school hours and summers and vacations that match my children’s. Health insurance and 503Cs have taken on new importance for me now that I’ve over 35.

Being a substitute teacher this year will let me figure out if I love being around the students and in a classroom. So far I do.

Some perks of subbing are that I get to put on my tennis shoes and walk during my conference periods. Someone else has to grade the papers and plan the lessons.

I also have time to read and hopefully do some writing and working on my book proposal.

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I love the types of activism advocated in Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide featured on Oprah last week.

Watching the show and researching the many ways to help women it really helped me internalized this world-wide historical fact: Economic Independence is the key to Freedom, Rights, and Liberty.

If girls are poor they are sold into prostitution. If we send aid to governments it rarely makes it into the hands of women and girls. If women are economically dependent they rarely achieve voting rights. If women have no access to healthcare they are victims of rape and then victims of AIDS, lack of prenatal or postnatal care and an inability to care for their children.

The cure to all of this is very. little. money.

Visit the For All Women Registry on Oprah to find out how you can run your very own International Peace Operation.

I, a middle-class American housewife, can literally support a war rape survivor  The Congo for $27 a month. I’m most excited about doing this one with Ainsley, due to the letter exchange. We can save a woman and make her economically independent for $27, and she’ll be our pen pal. Ainsley and I already signed up for this one. We can’t wait to find out who our sister is, where she lives and what her life is like.

I can provide security for a girl sold into prostitution, complete with shelter and security guards for $30 mo. For $250, I can hire her a lawyer.

I can educate a woman and provide her with her own business for $100.

I can pay for one year of school for a girl for $49.

And I can make investments in Third World women’s businesses by loaning her money for a business for as little as $25. They pay you back. So you can re-invest in another woman’s business. Then another. And Another.

This is, honestly, the most powerful thing I’ve heard in a long time. We can DO something to change the situation for women and girls around the world. Something effective. Something meaningful. Something important. Something that doesn’t just change a woman, but a family, a lineage, a country, a world. It’s exponential change. Exponential change for $27.

GO Save a Slave!

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