Friday Five-ish

http://www.themilitantbaker.com/2013/03/things-no-one-will-tell-fat-girls-so-i.html

http://www.upworthy.com/burn-the-libraries-down-kidz-can-learned-stuff-on-there-oan?c=ufb1

http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/im-not-leaving-my-profession-it-has.html

http://www.eatthedamncake.com/2013/04/24/this-is-not-a-first-world-problem/

http://www.myhusbandismybestfriend.info/2013/04/jada-pinkett-smith-writes-letter-about.html

http://www.lateenough.com/2013/04/being-different-is-not-cute-and-fun-but-be-yourself-anyway

http://flyingfishtailoutpost1.tumblr.com/post/46394081344/that-time-i-pressure-cleaned-the-porch-with-a-hurricane

http://www.nopointsforstyle.com/2011/01/contrary-to-the-natural-order.html

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp

Friday Falafel* Five

Here is this week’s offering of great posts that I’ve read. I hope you’ll click through and give them a read or a look.

ADD and Autism

 

http://momnos.blogspot.com/2013/04/our-kind-of-autism-awareness.html (autism awareness)

http://www.diycouturier.com/post/47249603128/21-tips-to-keep-your-shit-together-when-youre (depression)

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/04/its-different-girls-adhd/63746/ (ADHD in girls)

 

Kindness and Love

 

http://www.kindovermatter.com/2013/04/through-lens-of-kindness.html (kind photography)

http://mad.ly/68e5a3 (you deserve love)

http://www.kindovermatter.com/2013/04/only-connect.html (making connections is what it’s all about)

 

Creativity

http://99u.com/articles/14599/the-5-most-dangerous-creativity-killers (make a change, if necessary)

 

Equality, Freedom and Poverty

 

http://www.upworthy.com/history-may-not-remember-this-speech-but-i-guarantee-that-you-will?c=ufb1 (equal rights in marriage (video))

http://www.upworthy.com/its-hard-enough-convincing-some-women-they-need-feminism-so-when-a-dude-gets-it?c=ufb1 (equal rights in gender)

http://billmoyers.com/content/slideshow-poverty-in-todays-america/ (photos of poverty in america)

 

*The falafel is in there because it makes about as much sense as me continuing to say FIVE every week.

Womanly wednesday (April 10)

http://www.upworthy.com/8-things-women-want-that-most-men-take-for-granted?c=ufb1

Generation M

I’ve been a little lax about posting in my Man Up and Womanly Arts categories. To be honest, it’s hard to maintain the energy needed to be that worked up about it all the time. So I throw in the towel sometimes for a while. (Obviously it has NOTHING to do with my focus challenges. At all.) Also, I have a little wiggle room because I am raising a man-cub and while there are lots of gender and gender role issues to deal with for boys, the boxes they are put in have a little more room. However, I do sometimes come across something that really needs to be shared. This is one of those things.

Generation M for Misogyny

“Another generation of women and girls is being trained to please men, to do whatever they can to not make men unhappy, to stroke men’s egos and to know their second class status and not complain about it” 

http://empowering-girls.blogspot.com/2011/08/generation-m-for-misogyny.html

“Girls today are raised around images of idealized beauty, where airbrushed perfection informs girls of the standards of beauty in our society, and it is also no accident that the words “Hot” and “Sexy” appear on almost every cover of teen magazines aimed at girls and where makeover tips are found throughout. It is against this background of idealized beauty, and the beauty industry’s insistence that girls and young women have many imperfections that this beauty industry thrives.” 

Please click through and watch the video. It’s less than six minutes.

Womanly Wednesday: Willow Smith

I want to be Willow Smith when I grow up.

The other day she was co-hosting with Oprah on her Amazing Kids episode and I have to say that I was pretty impressed with her poise and confidence.

I think that her parents are doing a great job of instilling these qualities in her.

I’ll admit that when her song Whip My Hair came out I didn’t get it at first. I thought the message was good, but the song a little annoying. It has started to grow on me. According to Willow, the song is about doing your own thing.

Willow is really very much on the cutting edge of fashion. And when you’re on the cutting edge of anything, sometimes you fall off. It’s the nature of the beast. Oprah asked her about being sometimes on the Best Dressed List and some times on the Not-So-Best Dressed List. She asked her which one felt better. Willow answered, “It doesn’t make any difference.”

I gotta love a girl who doesn’t give a flying flip about what the media says about her style. Most of us can’t get over what the lady at the grocery store might think.

So, I tip my hat to her (and her Mom and Dad) for her style, her boldness, and her confidence. Someday I hope I’m that girl.

International Women’s Day! (March 8)

Here’s wishing you a powerful and inspirational International Women’s Day!

http://www.internationalwomensday.com/about.asp

Say Yes!

She’s next

Here’s the thing about me and flash mobs. I was raised on musicals. I know the words to most songs from most musicals (older ones at least). Flash mobs are a very cool manifestation of my lifelong desire to have my world suddenly burst into choreographed song and dance wherever I go. So this beautiful flash mob is all tangled up in my childhood dreams of living in a musical and my adulthood dreams of empowering women and girls to believe in themselves and each other. It made me cry. See, little girl, even the most improbable dreams have the power to come true. I need to be on the look out for a flash mob near me 🙂

I believe she is amazing! flash mob

Some things you can do:

How To Celebrate International Women’s Day from Your Comfortable Suburban Home

Womanly Wednesday: Amazing Women Rock! and intro

I don’t think I’d be doing myself and future generations a service if I only blogged about the removing of men’s stereotypes and confining boxes. I am passionate about the betterment of women as well. If you take a peak on my blogroll, you’ll see Girl Effect which is a really good website for what we can do to raise women’s status around the world and thus, the world.

In honor of Women’s History (Herstory) Month and my new Womanly Wednesday posts, I’d like to highlight a new website I’ve recently found. It’s called

Amazing Women Rock.

This particular link is to a blog post describing the Incredible women who will be speaking at the TED Conference this year. You can also find TED over there in my blogroll. They are awesome, too!

When I get a little more time, I’ll be adding AmazingWomenRock.com to the list as well.

So, talk to you later!

PS. Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss!