Uploaded by Divinity33372 on Jan 30, 2012
http://youtu.be/r8gRPBBvc58
Sorry the video gets weird half way through. I need to replace my web cam =/
Monday, January 30, 2012
Knowledge ~ History ~ Identity
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Carolynn
Uploaded by invisiblepeopletv on Jan 29, 2012
CAUTION: Some content may be offensive. Our hope is you'll get mad enough to do something. The reason we post that disclaimer is for stories like this. Carolynn's is not an easy story to watch. But it's an important story that must be shared.
Carolynn is homeless living on the mean streets for Detroit. She claimed to be the mother of Malice Green [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malice_Green] Malice Green died while in police custody after being arrested by Detroit police.
Carolynn says she's been homeless by choice for over two years, but if you really listen, what she really mean is that life on the streets is better than being with her family.
Please don't judge Carolynn. I cannot even imagine the hard life she has had. Homelessness is very complex, and much of the madness from homelessness comes from the socioeconomic crisis going on in America's inner-cites like Detroit.
Through all the hardness what I heard from Carolynn was a woman screaming to be loved.
/ more stories http://invisiblepeople.tv
// follow http://twitter.com/invisiblepeople
// follow http://twitter.com/hardlynormal
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Vlog: Kicking Self Hatred Addiction
Uploaded by rriverstone1 on Jan 26, 2012
In which I admit I have been a "good girl" too long, have an ego, am kinky, am insecure, am capable of Mastery, have a cat and am not "The Littlest Angel," and worry when my thunder gets stolen.
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You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Dr. Quartulain Bakhteari - A Journey through Life
Uploaded by TEDxTalks on Jan 26, 2012
Dr. Quartulain Bakhteari speaks at TEDxKarachi 2011 on her jounrey
27th May 2011 : Making the Impossible Possible
About the Speaker: Dr. Quratulain Bakhteari is a truly inspirational woman. Having spent her early years in refugee camps and carrying the responsibility of three kids at the young age of 21, she turned her hardships into a relentless force to inspire positive change in the society and has devoted her entire life to bettering the community.
Dr. Bakhteari pursued a Masters degree from Karachi University and later did her Doctorate from University of Technology in Loubrough, England. With the help of the Asia Foundation she formed the Institute for Development Studies and Practices(IDSP). This institution was a creation by the ordinary young people who needed a learning space to practice their innovative ideas, and address the insecurities that their system of education and livelihood has created in them.
During the period 1992-1997 she designed and promoted a method of educating girls in Balochistan, called the Community Support Progress (C.S.P) . This method has been a tremendous success and has received the support of UNICEF and the Balochistan Government. The Government of Balochistan has declared the C.S.P as official policy for girls education in Balochistan. Along with UNICEF, Dr. Bakhteari mobilized 5000 families and constructed household pit latrines, a practice which has now become a basic sanitation policy for the low-income population in Pakistan. Due to her affect on lives of millions of Pakistanis and inspiring many more to continue the change process she has been recognized as a Skoll Foundation Social Entrepreneur. As a result of her tremendous effort and dedication she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize on 2006.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
spooning
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
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I pour myself all over you, like soft butter, thick, warm.
I surround you, soothe every place that's hurting, whether you know it or not.
I still you, warm you, as you sink into restfulness.
Your voice drums in my chest and I breathe you in.
You charm me to my toes, which wiggle and burrow between your ankles, twining your legs with mine.
I happily push my tummy and lap into your round, warm bottom and a giggle escapes me, someplace behind your ear.
I pin your arms to my breasts, as my arm strokes your belly.
My other hand tangles curls in my fingers and tugs.
I could drift for hours in our breathing, shifting, sighs and murmurs.
We are warm, woman animals, basking in our kinship.
Subtle, unconscious, following ancient, wordless rhythms, I begin to rock you.
I rock you and my whole body condenses around you, grips you, pulls you toward my solar plexus, protects and contains you.
I rock you and feel your muscles liquify, your body puddling into mine, as you slip into sleep.
I bury my face in your shoulder blades, inhale deeply and allow a single sound of surprise escape my mouth, into your back, as I feel the wanting release in fluid satiation.
That gently, that insistingly, by primordial tilting of hip, I am gratified by holding you.
I hold you firmly, pulled in to my center, so you will sleep.
My body contains yours.
They become best friends.
My own throbbing lulls me to sleep.
I pour myself all over you, like soft butter, thick, warm.
I surround you, soothe every place that's hurting, whether you know it or not.
I still you, warm you, as you sink into restfulness.
Your voice drums in my chest and I breathe you in.
You charm me to my toes, which wiggle and burrow between your ankles, twining your legs with mine.
I happily push my tummy and lap into your round, warm bottom and a giggle escapes me, someplace behind your ear.
I pin your arms to my breasts, as my arm strokes your belly.
My other hand tangles curls in my fingers and tugs.
I could drift for hours in our breathing, shifting, sighs and murmurs.
We are warm, woman animals, basking in our kinship.
Subtle, unconscious, following ancient, wordless rhythms, I begin to rock you.
I rock you and my whole body condenses around you, grips you, pulls you toward my solar plexus, protects and contains you.
I rock you and feel your muscles liquify, your body puddling into mine, as you slip into sleep.
I bury my face in your shoulder blades, inhale deeply and allow a single sound of surprise escape my mouth, into your back, as I feel the wanting release in fluid satiation.
That gently, that insistingly, by primordial tilting of hip, I am gratified by holding you.
I hold you firmly, pulled in to my center, so you will sleep.
My body contains yours.
They become best friends.
My own throbbing lulls me to sleep.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Proposal to Ms. Magazine blog editor
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
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Annie,
First, thanks for your enthusiastic interest in my modest comment on fashion.
I'm not quite ready to propose the following, but, honestly, when is anybody ever thoroughly ready to take a risk?
I am a 55 year old, Gender Queer feminist with neurological challenges. I'm living in abject poverty in rural New Mexico, in substandard conditions, pretty much stranded.
My social life, and access to resources, exist primarily on the interwebs, where I've been very active in writing, blogging, networking, independent radio production and, most recently, YouTubing for over ten years.
I am undergoing a radical transformation to my life. I've fallen in love with a Transsexual woman in Great Britain.
As a result, I've begun a complete and honest inventory of myself, my limitations, my skills, etc. in order to prepare to move to England and pursue a permanent bond with her.
I've begun actively "vlogging" on what I'm learning I don't know about love, communications, gender, sexuality. I'm recording my entire process, so there will be a record and some potential guidance for others who are interested in living authentic lives. As a result, in 3 months, with no active effort on my part, my subscriptions to my YouTube channel have jumped from under 50 to over 200. People are hungry for this information and are very supportive of, and interested in, my processes and discoveries.
Here's my proposal: I think Ms. readers might find this process interesting. Over the months, my very physical presentation will alter, as I become physically stronger.
I would like to continue these stream-of-consciousness "vlogs" on YouTube, but supplement them later with actual, fact-based essays on my discoveries, well researched, with links people can follow for further information. I have a history of writing such articles -- not on subjects of such a personal nature in the past, because of the nature of my employment, but I have the skills to do this.
It will be an honest, but not inappropriate, discussion of sexuality, gender, love, relationship, etc. To give you an example of my process, when I began to pursue this courtship actively, I immediately turned to Adrienne Rich's and Audre Lorde's writings for clarity and guidance.
I anticipate it will take a minimum of two years to become self sufficient, restore my health, stop smoking, sell everything I own and step off a plane in England, with a rented cottage or "flat" waiting on arrival.
I have personal references. I have no degrees nor substantial resume, as I've had to invest most of my intelligence and resourcefulness to simply surviving in poverty. But I am not a flake or a crack pot. This is a serious intention and I thoroughly intend to follow through on this, if it's at all possible. My ex is completely supportive. My intended is fully informed, feeding back appropriately to me, voicing her concerns about such things as visas, etc., and will believe it when she sees me step off the plane.
Might Ms. be interested in weekly progress reports from me?
PS: I haven't edited this; it's all first draft and off-the-cuff, so forgive typos, etc. I felt it was more necessary that I introduce this to you, before I intimidate myself out of sending you any information, rather than polishing this before I sent it.
Thanks for your time,
Rogi
Annie,
First, thanks for your enthusiastic interest in my modest comment on fashion.
I'm not quite ready to propose the following, but, honestly, when is anybody ever thoroughly ready to take a risk?
I am a 55 year old, Gender Queer feminist with neurological challenges. I'm living in abject poverty in rural New Mexico, in substandard conditions, pretty much stranded.
My social life, and access to resources, exist primarily on the interwebs, where I've been very active in writing, blogging, networking, independent radio production and, most recently, YouTubing for over ten years.
I am undergoing a radical transformation to my life. I've fallen in love with a Transsexual woman in Great Britain.
As a result, I've begun a complete and honest inventory of myself, my limitations, my skills, etc. in order to prepare to move to England and pursue a permanent bond with her.
I've begun actively "vlogging" on what I'm learning I don't know about love, communications, gender, sexuality. I'm recording my entire process, so there will be a record and some potential guidance for others who are interested in living authentic lives. As a result, in 3 months, with no active effort on my part, my subscriptions to my YouTube channel have jumped from under 50 to over 200. People are hungry for this information and are very supportive of, and interested in, my processes and discoveries.
Here's my proposal: I think Ms. readers might find this process interesting. Over the months, my very physical presentation will alter, as I become physically stronger.
I would like to continue these stream-of-consciousness "vlogs" on YouTube, but supplement them later with actual, fact-based essays on my discoveries, well researched, with links people can follow for further information. I have a history of writing such articles -- not on subjects of such a personal nature in the past, because of the nature of my employment, but I have the skills to do this.
It will be an honest, but not inappropriate, discussion of sexuality, gender, love, relationship, etc. To give you an example of my process, when I began to pursue this courtship actively, I immediately turned to Adrienne Rich's and Audre Lorde's writings for clarity and guidance.
I anticipate it will take a minimum of two years to become self sufficient, restore my health, stop smoking, sell everything I own and step off a plane in England, with a rented cottage or "flat" waiting on arrival.
I have personal references. I have no degrees nor substantial resume, as I've had to invest most of my intelligence and resourcefulness to simply surviving in poverty. But I am not a flake or a crack pot. This is a serious intention and I thoroughly intend to follow through on this, if it's at all possible. My ex is completely supportive. My intended is fully informed, feeding back appropriately to me, voicing her concerns about such things as visas, etc., and will believe it when she sees me step off the plane.
Might Ms. be interested in weekly progress reports from me?
PS: I haven't edited this; it's all first draft and off-the-cuff, so forgive typos, etc. I felt it was more necessary that I introduce this to you, before I intimidate myself out of sending you any information, rather than polishing this before I sent it.
Thanks for your time,
Rogi
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Film: "P" or "P Bar"
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
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I'm a member of Women's Action in Media's email listserv. After I posted the below, in less than 24 hours, I received this email and replied:
Warning: the following is an off the cuff review of a film. It's unedited, first draft. I wrote it for this list. I so believe in this film.
I have what might be called an "accidentally" feminist film for consideration. It is a treatment of child sex trafficing in Thailand.
It almost didn't get made; the Thai film industry withdrew support, as it "embarrasses" the Thai government.
Horror, in Asia, is a vehicle by which serious, social issues are addressed and argued. This film is a perfect example.
The actor originally hired for the lead backed down a few hours before shooting. The young (13) woman who replaced her couldn't get acting jobs in Thailand because she looks too "ethnic" (aka non-Westernized). Mr. Spurrier had originally decided not to hire her because she is so very young, and the subject matter is so heavy.
The young woman's mother worked 2 and 3 jobs at a time, to make sure her daughter would NOT end up in the streets of Bangkok, which is a sex tourism city.
Before filming, the mother became very ill and required serious surgeries. The young woman spent every baht she earned on the film to pay for her mother's hospital care.
Mr. Spurrier wrote, directed, scored, coached, produced and shot most of this film. He has a cameo, as one of the owners of "P Bar," who shows our young hero her "duties."
It utilizes a real, Thai folk legend, of a specific demon. But it is a metaphor for the corrupting influences of The Life on a young woman. She is Khmer, treated like a sub-human. Her language and customs are strange. Her grandmother trains her in traditional healing and magic arts.
In her urgent need to succeed in this industry, she thoughtlessly forgets some of her grandmother's admonitions about how to handle magic responsibly, and is slowly consumed by this terrible demon of Thai tradition.
Frankly, the "demonic" scenes took me out of the film, as Mr. Spurrier had very little budget for makeup, special effects, wardrobe, etc. I forgive this, because the messages of the film are so powerful and poignant. Besides, he needed to sell this to a Thai movie going audience. It was expected to "bomb," but was a phenomenal success in Thailand.
The authenticity was noticed and appreciated by Thai audiences. Mr. Spurrier hired professional sex workers as actors, the script, while rather tame to protect the young women in it, is heart-breaking.
After it closed in Thai theaters, it languished on Mr. Spurrier's shelf, where he thought nobody would see it again. American film distributors wouldn't touch it, because it's about children and the sex industry. The Thai film industry just wished it would go away.
In their relentless search for cheap content, Netflix picked it up. That's where I saw it and immediately "friended" Mr. Spurrier on FaceBook. He had been living in Thailand, filming nature documentaries, before he created "P" or "P Bar." As far as I'm concerned, if he never makes another film in his life, this one will be his masterpiece, flaws and all, simply because of the sober, compassionate, loving, tender portrayal of child sex trafficing.
http://www.pbar.info/
This is the closing scene's song, with enough clips from the film to give you a sense of the poignancy of the film, and of it's plot synopsis. I have not yet made it through this clip without weeping. I sincerely love this film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaQj7RFmDKA
I'm a member of Women's Action in Media's email listserv. After I posted the below, in less than 24 hours, I received this email and replied:
> Date: Monday, January 23, 2012, 7:36 AM----------------------------------------------------------------
> Absolutely, and thanks for your
> interest. Please realize: I simply appreciate this film.
> Aside from a very casual FaceBook "friendship" with the film
> maker, I have no investment, nor receive any payment, for
> what I've said here. I simply believe this film is an
> important part of the discussion on child sex trafficiing.
>
> Also, please include my email address to your associate, so
> she might contact me for any further information she might
> need from me.
>
> I'm so glad I could be useful in this discussion. I am a
> sworn fan of Asian horror, primarily because of the powerful
> roles for, and discussions of, women and girls in them. I
> wish "Western" film makers would get the clue.
> http://rogiriverstone.com
>
> Subject: RE: [WAM!] Global Feminist Film suggestions?
> Date: Monday, January 23, 2012, 7:26 AM
> May I send this to my friend Mei-Mei Ellerman, a Brandeis
> colleague whose son runs Polaris. She will give it lots of
> attention.
>
> Resident Scholar, Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis
> University
Warning: the following is an off the cuff review of a film. It's unedited, first draft. I wrote it for this list. I so believe in this film.
I have what might be called an "accidentally" feminist film for consideration. It is a treatment of child sex trafficing in Thailand.
It almost didn't get made; the Thai film industry withdrew support, as it "embarrasses" the Thai government.
Horror, in Asia, is a vehicle by which serious, social issues are addressed and argued. This film is a perfect example.
The actor originally hired for the lead backed down a few hours before shooting. The young (13) woman who replaced her couldn't get acting jobs in Thailand because she looks too "ethnic" (aka non-Westernized). Mr. Spurrier had originally decided not to hire her because she is so very young, and the subject matter is so heavy.
The young woman's mother worked 2 and 3 jobs at a time, to make sure her daughter would NOT end up in the streets of Bangkok, which is a sex tourism city.
Before filming, the mother became very ill and required serious surgeries. The young woman spent every baht she earned on the film to pay for her mother's hospital care.
Mr. Spurrier wrote, directed, scored, coached, produced and shot most of this film. He has a cameo, as one of the owners of "P Bar," who shows our young hero her "duties."
It utilizes a real, Thai folk legend, of a specific demon. But it is a metaphor for the corrupting influences of The Life on a young woman. She is Khmer, treated like a sub-human. Her language and customs are strange. Her grandmother trains her in traditional healing and magic arts.
In her urgent need to succeed in this industry, she thoughtlessly forgets some of her grandmother's admonitions about how to handle magic responsibly, and is slowly consumed by this terrible demon of Thai tradition.
Frankly, the "demonic" scenes took me out of the film, as Mr. Spurrier had very little budget for makeup, special effects, wardrobe, etc. I forgive this, because the messages of the film are so powerful and poignant. Besides, he needed to sell this to a Thai movie going audience. It was expected to "bomb," but was a phenomenal success in Thailand.
The authenticity was noticed and appreciated by Thai audiences. Mr. Spurrier hired professional sex workers as actors, the script, while rather tame to protect the young women in it, is heart-breaking.
After it closed in Thai theaters, it languished on Mr. Spurrier's shelf, where he thought nobody would see it again. American film distributors wouldn't touch it, because it's about children and the sex industry. The Thai film industry just wished it would go away.
In their relentless search for cheap content, Netflix picked it up. That's where I saw it and immediately "friended" Mr. Spurrier on FaceBook. He had been living in Thailand, filming nature documentaries, before he created "P" or "P Bar." As far as I'm concerned, if he never makes another film in his life, this one will be his masterpiece, flaws and all, simply because of the sober, compassionate, loving, tender portrayal of child sex trafficing.
http://www.pbar.info/
This is the closing scene's song, with enough clips from the film to give you a sense of the poignancy of the film, and of it's plot synopsis. I have not yet made it through this clip without weeping. I sincerely love this film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaQj7RFmDKA
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Three Women Making Global Trade a Force for Good
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
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By Anna Louie Sussman
NEW YORK CITY -- Whether or not one agrees with the columnist and globalization theorist Thomas Friedman that “the world is flat,” international trade has plainly come a long way since merchants plodded the Silk Road bartering textiles, spices and precious metals.
In 2010, international trade in merchandise and services was approximately $18.5 trillion, according to figures from the World Trade Organization. As the volume and scale of trade have grown, entrepreneurs like Elizabeth Vazquez are working hard to make sure that women are not left out.
In 2009, she founded WEConnect International, a non-profit organization that helps women business owners succeed in the global marketplace. WEConnect International certifies businesses as women-owned if they are at least 51% owned, managed and controlled by one or more women, and offers them a range of networking opportunities, trainings and expertise to make sure their businesses are competitive and scalable.
Three Women Making Global Trade a Force for Good
NEW YORK CITY -- Whether or not one agrees with the columnist and globalization theorist Thomas Friedman that “the world is flat,” international trade has plainly come a long way since merchants plodded the Silk Road bartering textiles, spices and precious metals.
In 2010, international trade in merchandise and services was approximately $18.5 trillion, according to figures from the World Trade Organization. As the volume and scale of trade have grown, entrepreneurs like Elizabeth Vazquez are working hard to make sure that women are not left out.
In 2009, she founded WEConnect International, a non-profit organization that helps women business owners succeed in the global marketplace. WEConnect International certifies businesses as women-owned if they are at least 51% owned, managed and controlled by one or more women, and offers them a range of networking opportunities, trainings and expertise to make sure their businesses are competitive and scalable.
The Gay Rights Movement
Uploaded by RyanJamesYezak on Jan 16, 2012
Click here to be part of this effort to create change: http://kck.st/zUspXy
Click here to tweet this video: http://clicktotweet.com/fRNEm
http://facebook.com/2ndclasscitizens
http://twitter.com/2ndclassctzn
If you are currently being discriminated against & would like to be considered as a subject for the documentary, please email me: ryanyezak(at)gmail(dot)com
Ryan's Info...
Twitter: http://twitter.com/RyanJamesYezak
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/yeezy8h
Gays of the Week: http://youtube.com/gaysoftheweek
Google+: http://t.co/3iJ39X8
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Tuesday, January 17, 2012
The Land of Willful Madness mirror
Uploaded by rriverstone1 on Jan 17, 2012
Uploaded by SchizophrenicQueen on Jan 17, 2012
View Original here and SUBSCRIBE: http://youtu.be/TJYLJCSXTHk
Hate religion but love Jesus? No thanks, I don't need any.
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If the Clothes Fit: A Feminist Takes on Fashion
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
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If fashion has been used to introduce new ways of expressing womanhood, it has also been a tether that keeps women’s social, economic and political opportunities permanently attached to their appearances. At a time when makeover reality TV shows suggest that self-reinvention is not only desirable but almost required, and the ubiquity of social media encourages everyone to develop a “personal brand,” the pressure on women to be fashionable has never been more pervasive. Even as the Internet has intensified the desire to be fashion-forward, it has also given outsiders unprecedented influence on the industry. In 2008, a fashion blog by an 11-year-old Midwestern girl named Tavi Gevinson went viral. Within two years, her reviews of new clothing lines were being closely followed by fashion movers and shakers, and famously aloof designers and editors invited Gevinson to their offices, runway shows and parties. Now a ripe old 15, she has used fashion as a springboard to her latest venture: editing an online teen magazine with a feminist point of view.
Today, fashion blogs that celebrate an array of non-normatively raced, gendered, sexed and sized bodies have emerged to challenge the dominant messages of gender, beauty and style. And bloggers are using their clout to speak out against offensive fashion and beauty products.
If the Clothes Fit: A Feminist Takes on Fashion
If fashion has been used to introduce new ways of expressing womanhood, it has also been a tether that keeps women’s social, economic and political opportunities permanently attached to their appearances. At a time when makeover reality TV shows suggest that self-reinvention is not only desirable but almost required, and the ubiquity of social media encourages everyone to develop a “personal brand,” the pressure on women to be fashionable has never been more pervasive. Even as the Internet has intensified the desire to be fashion-forward, it has also given outsiders unprecedented influence on the industry. In 2008, a fashion blog by an 11-year-old Midwestern girl named Tavi Gevinson went viral. Within two years, her reviews of new clothing lines were being closely followed by fashion movers and shakers, and famously aloof designers and editors invited Gevinson to their offices, runway shows and parties. Now a ripe old 15, she has used fashion as a springboard to her latest venture: editing an online teen magazine with a feminist point of view.
Today, fashion blogs that celebrate an array of non-normatively raced, gendered, sexed and sized bodies have emerged to challenge the dominant messages of gender, beauty and style. And bloggers are using their clout to speak out against offensive fashion and beauty products.
Monday, January 16, 2012
As Access Slides, Feminists Need to "Extract" From Our Self-Help Past
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
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As Access Slides, Feminists Need to "Extract" From Our Self-Help Past
If working in the abortion movement for over 40 years qualifies me to gaze into my crystal ball to see the future for abortion rights in the United States, here goes.
Prediction Number One: I see the Supreme Court continuing to interpret Roe v. Wade in a way that will make abortion, especially later abortion, more expensive, less convenient to access and more humiliating, but I do not see the court reversing Roe v. Wade outright. I see clinics closing down due to restrictive regulations and lack of doctors, especially in areas far from an urban center. This lack of access will mostly affect young women and poor women of color. But, as was the case before the decision in Roe v. Wade, the majority of unwillingly pregnant women will continue to get abortions, no matter how far they have to travel or no matter how great the cost or risk.
As Access Slides, Feminists Need to "Extract" From Our Self-Help Past
by Carol Downer
Prediction Number One: I see the Supreme Court continuing to interpret Roe v. Wade in a way that will make abortion, especially later abortion, more expensive, less convenient to access and more humiliating, but I do not see the court reversing Roe v. Wade outright. I see clinics closing down due to restrictive regulations and lack of doctors, especially in areas far from an urban center. This lack of access will mostly affect young women and poor women of color. But, as was the case before the decision in Roe v. Wade, the majority of unwillingly pregnant women will continue to get abortions, no matter how far they have to travel or no matter how great the cost or risk.
Living Lopsided in a Symmetrical World
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
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When I first saw the silicon breast shells that I had bought at My Secret mastectomy boutique on Manhattan’s Upper West Side for sale at Lord and Taylor, I was stunned. One of those shells—called in medical parlance a prosthesis—had been a secret part of my life for years, from the time I surrendered half of my right breast to a surgeon’s knife, an excision that helped to cure my cancer.
Clearly those silicon saucers were not a secret anymore. Women with perfectly good breasts were buying them to make their breasts look bigger. While I find that slightly off-putting—perhaps resenting that they have what I don’t but still are not satisfied—it’s great to have the company.
I wear my shell-like prosthesis to make my breasts appear to be the same size, or as close to the same size, as possible. Sometimes I run around boldly without it. But at other times when I’m without it, I become profoundly self-conscious, rounding my shoulders to keep from freaking other people out. In truth, however, I’m self-conscious about my body in general and a bad thigh day can send me to the same self-conscious place.
As regards my breast, I don’t have much choice. My arrogant breast surgeon declined to have a plastic surgeon in attendance when he tackled my cancer, reassuring me that I would not need reconstruction. How wrong he was. In addition to the vast amount of tissue he removed, he left me with a scar that begins under my right arm and sweeps under my breast, ending not far from my heart. Right after surgery came radiation therapy, which further altered the breast.
I’ve talked to doctors since then but have never settled on a good option. I fear an implant would interfere with the mammography reading. Reconstruction using tissue from another part of my body—my stomach, or behind my right shoulder blade—could compromise muscle function, and I’m unwilling to take that risk. Because the skin and tissue of my breast have been irradiated, it is an uncongenial place, as one breast surgeon told me, “to muck around in.”
So here I am with this crazy bosom. While my healthy breast has grown through the years, the other one seems smaller and smaller by comparison. Because of the radiation it will never grow again. The asymmetry defies nature, not to mention the relentless images of breast beauty all around us. But it’s my asymmetry. It’s my record of things past. It keeps me from getting too cocky, too comfortable here, too caught up in the small things to forget the big picture.
It also reminds me of how truly miraculous the body is. It can give up a part of itself—a tender, sweet, beloved part of itself—and soldier on. Its spirit is indomitable. And when you come right down to it, that spirit is the human spirit–something else I’m reminded of every day.
Living Lopsided in a Symmetrical World
When I first saw the silicon breast shells that I had bought at My Secret mastectomy boutique on Manhattan’s Upper West Side for sale at Lord and Taylor, I was stunned. One of those shells—called in medical parlance a prosthesis—had been a secret part of my life for years, from the time I surrendered half of my right breast to a surgeon’s knife, an excision that helped to cure my cancer.Clearly those silicon saucers were not a secret anymore. Women with perfectly good breasts were buying them to make their breasts look bigger. While I find that slightly off-putting—perhaps resenting that they have what I don’t but still are not satisfied—it’s great to have the company.
I wear my shell-like prosthesis to make my breasts appear to be the same size, or as close to the same size, as possible. Sometimes I run around boldly without it. But at other times when I’m without it, I become profoundly self-conscious, rounding my shoulders to keep from freaking other people out. In truth, however, I’m self-conscious about my body in general and a bad thigh day can send me to the same self-conscious place.
As regards my breast, I don’t have much choice. My arrogant breast surgeon declined to have a plastic surgeon in attendance when he tackled my cancer, reassuring me that I would not need reconstruction. How wrong he was. In addition to the vast amount of tissue he removed, he left me with a scar that begins under my right arm and sweeps under my breast, ending not far from my heart. Right after surgery came radiation therapy, which further altered the breast.
I’ve talked to doctors since then but have never settled on a good option. I fear an implant would interfere with the mammography reading. Reconstruction using tissue from another part of my body—my stomach, or behind my right shoulder blade—could compromise muscle function, and I’m unwilling to take that risk. Because the skin and tissue of my breast have been irradiated, it is an uncongenial place, as one breast surgeon told me, “to muck around in.”
So here I am with this crazy bosom. While my healthy breast has grown through the years, the other one seems smaller and smaller by comparison. Because of the radiation it will never grow again. The asymmetry defies nature, not to mention the relentless images of breast beauty all around us. But it’s my asymmetry. It’s my record of things past. It keeps me from getting too cocky, too comfortable here, too caught up in the small things to forget the big picture.
It also reminds me of how truly miraculous the body is. It can give up a part of itself—a tender, sweet, beloved part of itself—and soldier on. Its spirit is indomitable. And when you come right down to it, that spirit is the human spirit–something else I’m reminded of every day.
Cosmetic Vaginal Surgeons Clueless
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
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By Angela Bonavoglia
At a “first-ever” conference on what they hope is a growing field, surgeons showed an appalling indifference to how women experience sexual pleasure.
Some 150 gynecologists, urogynecologists and plastic surgeons met last month to observe, in bloody still shots and loops of video, the signature ways that the fathers of vaginal cosmetic surgery—and they’re all men—carve, burn, cauterize, and stitch the female labia, clitoral environs, vaginal canal, and other points south. They cut in order to create supposedly longed for “designer” vaginas and thereby “enhance sexual gratification.”
Those physicians were gathered for the “first-ever Global Symposium on Cosmetic Vaginal Surgery.” It was the opening salvo in a worldwide effort by the symposium’s sponsor, the nascent International Society of Cosmetogynecology, to set standards for and promote this “new subspecialty.”
Actually, cosmetogynecology is not a real subspecialty (yet) nor is vaginal cosmetic surgery all that new. Fourteen years ago, the star of the symposium—gynecologist David 90210 Matlock—began aiming his lasers at women’s genitals, performing and promoting his “Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation” techniques, which he trademarked and refuses to publish.
Since then, we’ve seen a blizzard of popular press; an explosion of websites for cosmetic vaginal surgery, complete with explicit “before” and “after” vulva shots; and well earned criticism, most notably, from the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
I decided to head for the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando after perusing the symposium’s agenda online and discovering a presentation entitled: “The Great Controversy: Does Vaginal Rejuvenation Enhance Sexual Gratification?” Following more than a decade of female genital slicing and dicing, I was stunned that they might not know the answer to that question. After 11 hours of presentations by 20 male physicians from five countries (Chile, Greece, the Dominican Republic, Brazil and the U.S.), I can tell you with confidence: They don’t have a clue.
“Will it be a Rim or a Barbie?”
In a world where internet porn, Brazilian waxes, and celebrity flashers are ubiquitous, it’s not surprising that one of the most spotlighted procedures of the day was labiaplasty. That’s surgery to reduce the inner (minora) or outer (majora) vaginal lips because they are, to quote the doctors, “too large, loose, floppy, bulky, excessive, uneven, redundant, or overpigmented.”
California urogynecologist Red Alinsod—who believes he is the busiest aesthetic vaginal surgeon on the West Coast—proudly presented his signature labiaplasties. They include the “Rim,” wherein he leaves just the edge of the inner labia, and the “Barbie,” wherein he cuts the entire inner labia off.
A few of the presenters acknowledged that no data exist on whether a labiaplasty will burst during childbirth—a major issue since many of the women having labiaplasties are younger, including patients under 18. But not a single speaker raised the issue of the potential impact of labiaplasties on female sensation or sexual stimulation.
Asked for a comment by email on this missing question, Leonore Tiefer, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at NYU and Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a sex therapist, wrote me: “In the opinion of most sexologists, the labia are part of the arousal structures of the genitals and their loss impairs sexual experience.”
Matlock and his disciples (most of the presenters) insisted that for a labiaplasty to provide “a complete aesthetic look,” some of the skin around the clitoris has to be excised. Yet, this can be the cruelest cut, leaving the woman to experience pain, not pleasure, when the clitoris swells and she is sexually aroused.
So inconsequential is this issue that the physicians, including several presenters, who conducted a soon-to-be published, first ever, U.S. multi-center study on outcomes of cosmetic vaginal surgery did not separate out the women who had a “clitoral hood reduction,” much less attempt to assess the impact of that procedure on pain during sexual arousal.
Cosmetic Vaginal Surgeons Clueless
By Angela BonavogliaAt a “first-ever” conference on what they hope is a growing field, surgeons showed an appalling indifference to how women experience sexual pleasure.
Some 150 gynecologists, urogynecologists and plastic surgeons met last month to observe, in bloody still shots and loops of video, the signature ways that the fathers of vaginal cosmetic surgery—and they’re all men—carve, burn, cauterize, and stitch the female labia, clitoral environs, vaginal canal, and other points south. They cut in order to create supposedly longed for “designer” vaginas and thereby “enhance sexual gratification.”
Those physicians were gathered for the “first-ever Global Symposium on Cosmetic Vaginal Surgery.” It was the opening salvo in a worldwide effort by the symposium’s sponsor, the nascent International Society of Cosmetogynecology, to set standards for and promote this “new subspecialty.”
Actually, cosmetogynecology is not a real subspecialty (yet) nor is vaginal cosmetic surgery all that new. Fourteen years ago, the star of the symposium—gynecologist David 90210 Matlock—began aiming his lasers at women’s genitals, performing and promoting his “Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation” techniques, which he trademarked and refuses to publish.
Since then, we’ve seen a blizzard of popular press; an explosion of websites for cosmetic vaginal surgery, complete with explicit “before” and “after” vulva shots; and well earned criticism, most notably, from the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
I decided to head for the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando after perusing the symposium’s agenda online and discovering a presentation entitled: “The Great Controversy: Does Vaginal Rejuvenation Enhance Sexual Gratification?” Following more than a decade of female genital slicing and dicing, I was stunned that they might not know the answer to that question. After 11 hours of presentations by 20 male physicians from five countries (Chile, Greece, the Dominican Republic, Brazil and the U.S.), I can tell you with confidence: They don’t have a clue.
“Will it be a Rim or a Barbie?”
In a world where internet porn, Brazilian waxes, and celebrity flashers are ubiquitous, it’s not surprising that one of the most spotlighted procedures of the day was labiaplasty. That’s surgery to reduce the inner (minora) or outer (majora) vaginal lips because they are, to quote the doctors, “too large, loose, floppy, bulky, excessive, uneven, redundant, or overpigmented.”
California urogynecologist Red Alinsod—who believes he is the busiest aesthetic vaginal surgeon on the West Coast—proudly presented his signature labiaplasties. They include the “Rim,” wherein he leaves just the edge of the inner labia, and the “Barbie,” wherein he cuts the entire inner labia off.
A few of the presenters acknowledged that no data exist on whether a labiaplasty will burst during childbirth—a major issue since many of the women having labiaplasties are younger, including patients under 18. But not a single speaker raised the issue of the potential impact of labiaplasties on female sensation or sexual stimulation.
Asked for a comment by email on this missing question, Leonore Tiefer, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at NYU and Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a sex therapist, wrote me: “In the opinion of most sexologists, the labia are part of the arousal structures of the genitals and their loss impairs sexual experience.”
Matlock and his disciples (most of the presenters) insisted that for a labiaplasty to provide “a complete aesthetic look,” some of the skin around the clitoris has to be excised. Yet, this can be the cruelest cut, leaving the woman to experience pain, not pleasure, when the clitoris swells and she is sexually aroused.
So inconsequential is this issue that the physicians, including several presenters, who conducted a soon-to-be published, first ever, U.S. multi-center study on outcomes of cosmetic vaginal surgery did not separate out the women who had a “clitoral hood reduction,” much less attempt to assess the impact of that procedure on pain during sexual arousal.
Five Ideas on Meaningful Consent in Trauma Journalism
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
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The Dart Center-Europe also has a very useful two-page tip sheet for journalists reporting on sexual violence, reproduced here.
Five Ideas on Meaningful Consent in Trauma Journalism
1. Meaningful consent comes from the survivor. If your fixer says, “Sure, you can write about her, she said it’s fine,” that's not enough. You have to look at the person whose trauma story you want to expose to the world and say to her directly in whatever language you speak, “Here’s who I am. Here’s what I’m doing. I would like to interview you/ride along with you/etc. and write about that for an American audience in a national magazine/American listeners to national radio/etc.” We work through translators all the time. But translators do not have the power of consent: It is not their story.
Five Ideas on Meaningful Consent in Trauma Journalism
Not everything in these suggestions is practical for breaking news reporters, or in all reporting situations. But for long-form or feature work of the type that sparked the current debate, I think these are important things to think about.
Many of these ideas -- along with examples of best practices -- are developed in my piece, "The Pornography Trap: How Not to Write About Rape," which was published in January in the Columbia Journalism Review.The Dart Center-Europe also has a very useful two-page tip sheet for journalists reporting on sexual violence, reproduced here.
Five Ideas on Meaningful Consent in Trauma Journalism
1. Meaningful consent comes from the survivor. If your fixer says, “Sure, you can write about her, she said it’s fine,” that's not enough. You have to look at the person whose trauma story you want to expose to the world and say to her directly in whatever language you speak, “Here’s who I am. Here’s what I’m doing. I would like to interview you/ride along with you/etc. and write about that for an American audience in a national magazine/American listeners to national radio/etc.” We work through translators all the time. But translators do not have the power of consent: It is not their story.
I've Got You By Mélange Lavonne
I stumbled on her one day, completely by accident. That's a park, in Los Angeles, where I spent a LOT of time as a young, baby "butch." She tickles me: strong and sweet. I'm not sending any hidden messages here. I just love this video and wanted you to see it. She so makes me smile!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
"Wild Things"
Uploaded by rriverstone1 on Jan 12, 2012
Go back into the darkness
Like the Wild Thing that you are
You're teeth are far too sharp, my love
I'm afraid you'll go too far
I'm sure you liked the shelter
I gave so willingly
But wild, wild things can turn on you
And you've got to set them free
(Chorus)
Set them free, no matter what they say
Set them free, for they live another way
It's the Spirit of the Wild Things
That you love so much to see
But wild, wild things can turn on you
And you've got to set them free
Oh, you've got to set them free
Oh oh oh oh oh ah ah ah ha na na na
Set them free
Set them free
Set them free
Set them free
WELCOME...You've arrived at the official website of singer/songwriter Cris Williamson. Here you'll find information on Cris' latest release, concert schedules, teaching engagements, photos, interviews and more. Read entries directly from Cris' Road Journal http://criswilliamson.com/
These are the original raw video clips created by JCMDI.COM, many of which are used in the finished productions featured on the JCMDI main channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/JcmdiStockFootage#g/
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Very Clever
Uploaded by Divinity33372 on Jan 10, 2012
If this video is blocked in your country let me know. I may upload it to another site. This views expressed are mine alone and they are just opinions.
Misquoted 100,000-300,000 figure
http://www.sp2.upenn.edu/restes/CSEC_Files/Exec_Sum_020220.pdf
Sporting events
http://www.gaatw.org/publications/WhatstheCostofaRumour.11.15.2011.pdf
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The Tim Tebow Phenomenon
Dennis, I'm thinning the herd of my over 400 subscriptions, b/c I want to hear voices of the under-represented: Queers, women, economically exploited, folks of color, folks with disabilities, Mad folk...people whose voices get drowned in a sea of precocious, educated, privileged white guys who all say the same, tired stuff. So, I'm watching videos VERY critically these days. You're staying. Thx 4 the gender-bust in this. brilliant. shared all over the place. not bad, 4 a white guy! ;)
Tim Tebow , Football, Nfl, Video, NFL Playoffs, Tebow Broncos, Tim Tebow Denver Broncos, Broncos Patriots, 315, john 3:16, tebow jesus, tebowing, prayer, acronym, acronymTV, dennis trainor jr, time tebow highlight, tim tebow touchdown,
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Thursday, January 05, 2012
La Llorona, Frida Kahlo, Salma Hayek, Chavela Vargas
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
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michelle,
I am writing all of this originally. This is no cut-and-paste from some website. Frida Kahlo is one of the most important women of the Western hemisphere, and she nearly faded into obscurity, but for a few Mexicana and Chicana feminist activists who kept her memory alive in the latter part of the 20th century.
Salma Hayek http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salma_Hayek took up the film project. She is, herself, a formidable, Mexican woman of great intellect, humor and talent. This is her project. She even raised the funds for it. And, as I said, she is Executive Producer of (and had a few walk-on roles in) "Ugly Betty." Beautiful as Ms. Hayek is, she finds it difficult to find good roles. She is considered too short and too "heavy." Her film career is dazzling; the roles to which she agrees are profoundly powerful. And she is funny as hell! Most brilliant women are.
Fact is, La Llorona is Mother Mexico. She is an Aztec goddess, Cihuacoatl or Coatlicue, fierce and powerful, mourning the death of her children at the hands of Spanish conquistadores. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Llorona Interestingly, the singer I mention, Chevala Vargas, is a "fierce, skull-faced" woman now, perfect for the song, which is a signature piece of her career.
La Llorona has been turned into a common ghost and cautionary tale: don't be too proud or materialistic. In other words, be a humble, Mexican, peasant woman, obedient to church and men. And she is blamed for her children's death. In fact, she is a bogey man: she is used to warn children to behave, to stay inside after dark; they tell children she'll kidnap and drown them. It's a terrible perversion of a profound story.
the popular legend:
http://easiestspanish.blogspot.com/2007/08/legend-of-weeping-woman-la-llorona.html
Ms. Kahlo kept her family name when she married Diego Rivera: a tremendous declaration of independence in Mexican culture. She could not bear live children, and nearly died in childbirth. So, the song is appropriate to her on many levels; she represents indigenous Mexico, feminism, preservation of culture in the midst of tremendous social revolution and world fascism.
She refused the "Western" fashion of the time of shaving legs and underarms. She refused to trim her "unibrow." She refused to capitulate to the arrogance of European & U.S. academics, intelligentsia, revolutionaries, radicals and the like that one proves one's legitimacy by looking as urbane as possible. In fact, she considered such a betrayal to her indigenous, national and cultural roots. The only exception to this was a brief period in her life when she cut her hair and dressed as a man, in Western clothing. This, too, was an act of protest.
Rivera is probably most famous (and it's not fair, as it's U.S.-centric: his brilliant mural art is all over Mexico and is rightly proclaimed as among the best of his contemporaries, anywhere) for a mural, commissioned by Rockefeller, who later demanded he remove portraits of Communist leaders in it. Rivera refused to change the painting and it was destroyed. It is METICULOUSLY recreated in this film. https://www.google.com/search?q=frida+kahlo&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=MoI&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnso&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=KzcGT7iWAtHPiAL3iPhK&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CBQQ_AUoAQ&biw=1004&bih=465#pq=frida+kahlo&hl=en&ds=i&cp=24&gs_id=63&xhr=t&q=diego+rivera+mural+rockefeller&pf=p&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&tbm=isch&sa=1&sclient=psy-ab&pbx=1&oq=%22Diego+Rivera%22+mural+Roc&aq=0&aqi=g2&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=dd2929341c21e46f&biw=1004&bih=465 It made me cry, to see it. He was a bastard, but a very important one to North American and particularly Mexican culture. And he must have been a great spirit, otherwise, Kahlo would never have loved him so fiercely. By the way: she was the ONLY woman in his life who seduced HIM, rather than the other way around.
Their lives together were tempestuous, passionate, discordant and harmonious. I'm afraid Frieda was too smart and too strong for him, actually. They finally built 2 houses, next to each other, connected by a catwalk on the upper stories. I can relate, given my past liaisons with partners I held very dear, but ultimately wanted to kill.
This video shows scenes from the film, so you have a sampler of how beautifully filmed it is http://youtu.be/XCUddHPYvCY included are her accident, a magnificent tango with her lover, Chavela Vargas, and the piece contains a bit of Chavela Vargas' scene in the film, singing the song. Ms. Vargas insisted she be allowed to sing "La Llarona" in the film for Frida, and because it is one of her signature songs. The scene where Frida is being carried in her 4 poster bed is her only gallery showing in Mexico, during her lifetime. She was dying and in a great deal of pain, but insisted she be brought to see her work on display.
I truly love Frida Kahlo and am very grateful someone with as much integrity as Salma Hayek chose to create this movie. It is meticulous and respectful.
michelle,
I am writing all of this originally. This is no cut-and-paste from some website. Frida Kahlo is one of the most important women of the Western hemisphere, and she nearly faded into obscurity, but for a few Mexicana and Chicana feminist activists who kept her memory alive in the latter part of the 20th century.
Salma Hayek http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salma_Hayek took up the film project. She is, herself, a formidable, Mexican woman of great intellect, humor and talent. This is her project. She even raised the funds for it. And, as I said, she is Executive Producer of (and had a few walk-on roles in) "Ugly Betty." Beautiful as Ms. Hayek is, she finds it difficult to find good roles. She is considered too short and too "heavy." Her film career is dazzling; the roles to which she agrees are profoundly powerful. And she is funny as hell! Most brilliant women are.
Fact is, La Llorona is Mother Mexico. She is an Aztec goddess, Cihuacoatl or Coatlicue, fierce and powerful, mourning the death of her children at the hands of Spanish conquistadores. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Llorona Interestingly, the singer I mention, Chevala Vargas, is a "fierce, skull-faced" woman now, perfect for the song, which is a signature piece of her career.
La Llorona has been turned into a common ghost and cautionary tale: don't be too proud or materialistic. In other words, be a humble, Mexican, peasant woman, obedient to church and men. And she is blamed for her children's death. In fact, she is a bogey man: she is used to warn children to behave, to stay inside after dark; they tell children she'll kidnap and drown them. It's a terrible perversion of a profound story.
the popular legend:
http://easiestspanish.blogspot.com/2007/08/legend-of-weeping-woman-la-llorona.html
Ms. Kahlo kept her family name when she married Diego Rivera: a tremendous declaration of independence in Mexican culture. She could not bear live children, and nearly died in childbirth. So, the song is appropriate to her on many levels; she represents indigenous Mexico, feminism, preservation of culture in the midst of tremendous social revolution and world fascism.
She refused the "Western" fashion of the time of shaving legs and underarms. She refused to trim her "unibrow." She refused to capitulate to the arrogance of European & U.S. academics, intelligentsia, revolutionaries, radicals and the like that one proves one's legitimacy by looking as urbane as possible. In fact, she considered such a betrayal to her indigenous, national and cultural roots. The only exception to this was a brief period in her life when she cut her hair and dressed as a man, in Western clothing. This, too, was an act of protest.
Rivera is probably most famous (and it's not fair, as it's U.S.-centric: his brilliant mural art is all over Mexico and is rightly proclaimed as among the best of his contemporaries, anywhere) for a mural, commissioned by Rockefeller, who later demanded he remove portraits of Communist leaders in it. Rivera refused to change the painting and it was destroyed. It is METICULOUSLY recreated in this film. https://www.google.com/search?q=frida+kahlo&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=MoI&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnso&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=KzcGT7iWAtHPiAL3iPhK&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CBQQ_AUoAQ&biw=1004&bih=465#pq=frida+kahlo&hl=en&ds=i&cp=24&gs_id=63&xhr=t&q=diego+rivera+mural+rockefeller&pf=p&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&tbm=isch&sa=1&sclient=psy-ab&pbx=1&oq=%22Diego+Rivera%22+mural+Roc&aq=0&aqi=g2&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=dd2929341c21e46f&biw=1004&bih=465 It made me cry, to see it. He was a bastard, but a very important one to North American and particularly Mexican culture. And he must have been a great spirit, otherwise, Kahlo would never have loved him so fiercely. By the way: she was the ONLY woman in his life who seduced HIM, rather than the other way around.
Their lives together were tempestuous, passionate, discordant and harmonious. I'm afraid Frieda was too smart and too strong for him, actually. They finally built 2 houses, next to each other, connected by a catwalk on the upper stories. I can relate, given my past liaisons with partners I held very dear, but ultimately wanted to kill.
This video shows scenes from the film, so you have a sampler of how beautifully filmed it is http://youtu.be/XCUddHPYvCY included are her accident, a magnificent tango with her lover, Chavela Vargas, and the piece contains a bit of Chavela Vargas' scene in the film, singing the song. Ms. Vargas insisted she be allowed to sing "La Llarona" in the film for Frida, and because it is one of her signature songs. The scene where Frida is being carried in her 4 poster bed is her only gallery showing in Mexico, during her lifetime. She was dying and in a great deal of pain, but insisted she be brought to see her work on display.
I truly love Frida Kahlo and am very grateful someone with as much integrity as Salma Hayek chose to create this movie. It is meticulous and respectful.
Saving Our Daughters From An Army Of Princesses
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
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nope: girls only go through a "princess phase" if encouraged into it. Boys like bright colors, sparkles and fluffy things, too, at that age, but are given guns and fooballs
Cinderella Ate My Daughter
Why I Hoped for a Boy
Here is my dirty little secret: as a journalist, I have spent nearly two decades writing about girls, thinking about girls, talking about how girls should be raised. Yet, when I finally got pregnant myself, I was terrified at the thought of having a daughter. While my friends, especially those who'd already had sons, braced themselves against disappointment should the delivery room doc announce, "It's a boy," I felt like the perpetual backseat driver who freezes when handed the wheel. I was supposed to be an expert on girls' behavior. I had spouted off about it everywhere from The New York Times to the Los Angeles Times, from the Today show to FOX TV. I had been on NPR repeatedly. And that was the problem: What if, after all that, I was not up to the challenge myself? What if I couldn't raise the ideal daughter? With a boy, I figured, I would be off the hook.
And truly, I thought having a son was a done deal. A few years before my daughter was born, I had read about some British guy who'd discovered that two-thirds of couples in which the husband was five or more years older than the wife had a boy as their first child. Bingo. My husband, Steven, is nearly a decade older than I am. So clearly I was covered.
Then I saw the incontrovertible proof on the sonogram (or what they said was incontrovertible proof; to me, it looked indistinguishable from, say, a nose) and I suddenly realized I had wanted a girl — desperately, passionately — all along. I had just been afraid to admit it. But I still fretted over how I would raise her, what kind of role model I would be, whether I would take my own smugly written advice on the complexities surrounding girls' beauty, body image, education, achievement. Would I embrace frilly dresses or ban Barbies? Push soccer cleats or tutus? Shopping for her layette, I grumbled over the relentless color coding of babies. Who cared whether the crib sheets were pink or glen plaid? During those months, I must have started a million sentences with "My daughter will never…"
nope: girls only go through a "princess phase" if encouraged into it. Boys like bright colors, sparkles and fluffy things, too, at that age, but are given guns and fooballs
Saving Our Daughters From An Army Of Princesses
Excerpt: 'Cinderella Ate My Daughter'
Cinderella Ate My Daughter
By Peggy Orenstein
Hardcover, 256 pages
Harper
List Price: $25.99
Here is my dirty little secret: as a journalist, I have spent nearly two decades writing about girls, thinking about girls, talking about how girls should be raised. Yet, when I finally got pregnant myself, I was terrified at the thought of having a daughter. While my friends, especially those who'd already had sons, braced themselves against disappointment should the delivery room doc announce, "It's a boy," I felt like the perpetual backseat driver who freezes when handed the wheel. I was supposed to be an expert on girls' behavior. I had spouted off about it everywhere from The New York Times to the Los Angeles Times, from the Today show to FOX TV. I had been on NPR repeatedly. And that was the problem: What if, after all that, I was not up to the challenge myself? What if I couldn't raise the ideal daughter? With a boy, I figured, I would be off the hook.
And truly, I thought having a son was a done deal. A few years before my daughter was born, I had read about some British guy who'd discovered that two-thirds of couples in which the husband was five or more years older than the wife had a boy as their first child. Bingo. My husband, Steven, is nearly a decade older than I am. So clearly I was covered.
Then I saw the incontrovertible proof on the sonogram (or what they said was incontrovertible proof; to me, it looked indistinguishable from, say, a nose) and I suddenly realized I had wanted a girl — desperately, passionately — all along. I had just been afraid to admit it. But I still fretted over how I would raise her, what kind of role model I would be, whether I would take my own smugly written advice on the complexities surrounding girls' beauty, body image, education, achievement. Would I embrace frilly dresses or ban Barbies? Push soccer cleats or tutus? Shopping for her layette, I grumbled over the relentless color coding of babies. Who cared whether the crib sheets were pink or glen plaid? During those months, I must have started a million sentences with "My daughter will never…"
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