TED Heads and Why I Love TED Talks

Supporting Green Spaces Worldwide - Hariyo Chowk

With only 11 more days to go, please help support in any way you can this Kickstarter project - Hariyo Chowk!  Hariyo Chowk, meaning a "green square" in Nepalese, offers the community members in Katmandu, Nepal a much needed vibrant urban green space to play, create, and learn.  For more information visit their blog and Kickstarter page!

Life's Defining Moments: The Moment I Knew

Thank you for this opportunity to share my excitement with you and your readers.

We all have them. We're in the midst of some minor or major quandary and suddenly or not so suddenly, after much toiling and heartache, the clouds part and the view becomes clear. Deeper understanding breaks through the chaos and confusion and sheds the light we need to propel us forward The Moment I Knew: Reflections from Women on Life's Defining Moments by Terri Spahr, Editor is a collection of thirty real-life stories or poems of just such events.

It has been a thrill for me to have my story included in this candid, inspiring anthology. "This One's On Me" chronicles my friendship with a sweet girl friend that ends in heartbreak. But then a surprising epiphany assures me that all is okay.  

From concept to publication and beyond, Terri Spahr-Nelson and her Reflections From Women crew have labored tirelessly, keeping each author in the loop with regular emails and publicity opportunities. Further, proceeds from the sale of The Moment I Knew are donated to charities that empower women. To order a copy of the book and learn more about the Reflections From Women organization and to learn how you can submit a story for future anthologies, please click onthe link.

WCC guest post contributor Grace Peterson is a married mother of four grown children. She is an avid gardener and writes a garden column as well as a garden blog. She is pursuing publication of a memoir and also authors a writing blog. Her essay titled, "This One's On Me" is included in the women's anthology The Moment I Knew. She lives in western Oregon. Her blog is, www.gracepete.com.

MAC Cosmetics + WCC = Fantastic Event!

Dear Beautiful and Unique You,

There is no doubt in my mind that beauty truly comes from deep within.  Of course, a little lipstick or a fabulous new eye shadow can never hurt!

To support your great new look from MAC this evening, the following questions are offered as a tool to help you get to know one another and more importantly, yourself.

 

With Much Admiration,

Carly Goldberg, MSW, LCSW

Founder and Executive Director

Beautiful You

What does beauty mean to you?

Who are the people in your life that you consider beautiful?

Where do you see beauty in the world?

When did you first learn you were beautiful?

When did you first accept you were beautiful?

What makes you unique, distinct and beautifully you?

How do you nourish and care for yourself?

Who in your life can you turn to and rely on to help you reflect on the unique and beautiful person that you are, especially on days when you can not see it for yourself (and we all have them!)

Voices from the WCC/MAC event:

Thanks for a fun event last night…The best thing about the event was the camaraderie with the other women. It was like we were all cheering each other on. Everyone was very complimentary to everyone else, even if we had just met that night. – Cara

Thanks so much for including us last night! It was such a fun evening with so many wonderful ladies! - Kate

I had a great time at the MAC event. It was a great night for trying something new and over the past few months I have been pro "try something new." It was great to be around other beautiful women and to have candid conversation about beauty as well as honest and frank conversation about when we first knew ourselves to be beautiful.  So thank you for organizing a fabulous event that simply allowed us to re own ourselves through our words, our diversity, our laughter, and of course makeup!  Thanks again! – Ahyana

Hey! I went to MAC today and saw one of the makeup artist from last week. She said we were an easy going group and we inspired her so much! – Bridgette

Hey Carly, thanks for having the event tonight. My wife was really happy to get out and I think she really enjoyed it. She was really in a different world on the car ride home. – Husband of a Participant! ;)

A Tribute to 9/11/01 - My Social Work Perspective

     I was 23 years old the morning I got on the 1/9 subway line from 235^th street station down to Christopher Street and 7^th Avenue. I was basking in the calm and quiet that is the West Village in early morning beginning anew and recovering from the rhythms of the previous night. Small Ecuadorian men were washing and sweeping the sidewalks clean, keeping up appearances outside hot spots such as Babbo Ristorante and charming four-story brownstone residences where wealth resides and poverty sleeps overnight on its stoop.  The contrast is striking; it always is in major urban playgrounds. The lines of vulnerability are not often blurred and everyone knows their place. 5^th avenue and Washington Square north was no exception; until that morning. That morning, everyone was vulnerable.

     September 11, 2001 was my first day of classes as a transfer student at New York University’s then Ehrenkranz School of Social Work (NYU).  Walking to class that morning I was not consciously thinking how entering the academic and professional world of social work would change my life or how the sense of a plane “flying low” would change thousands of people’s lives.  Moments later on the corner of Washington Square North and University place word instantaneously spread that a plane was indeed flying low and hit a building –the world trade center. 

     In disbelief, a group of us rushed to 5^th avenue and Washington Square North and at the crossroads of extreme wealth, sickening poverty, starving artists, underserved domestic workers caring for others’ children, inquiring academics, and international passersby – in that moment, the portrait so often photographed through the outline of the arches with its iconoclastic shapes and romantic visions were awash. Beyond the historical Washington Square Arch I stared in disbelief at an unthinkable an unimaginable sight. A sight so unimaginable my brain could not comprehend the unfolding atrocity that would forever make its mark on our individual and collective histories. Amid the confusion, noise, chaos and unfolding reality that the United States was under attack by terrorists, I clearly heard our school’s faculty members mutter to one another, “this is going to change our profession forever.”  Those words felt profound, daring and prophetic, but at that time I couldn’t imagine how. 

     I have held onto those seemingly prophetic words for nearly a decade, though throughout my academic and clinical career I have only seen glimpses of how I expected those words to manifest.  In obvious and direct ways the NYU social work faculty as well as neighboring schools and community social workers participated in provided crisis counseling, assisting with victim services and relief efforts of various sorts.  There was no shortage of volunteerism, and I was aware of our faculty and the social work community at large working tirelessly on behalf of the victims, survivors, City of New York and our country.  The obvious applications of social work was apparent in providing trauma based therapeutic interventions, concrete social services such as navigating survivor funds in years to come and assistance with benefits, shelter, clothing, food, etc., and shortly in subsequent years research and literature supporting our knowledge base of trauma work.  However, I had a sense that this attack, this literal crash would shift perspectives and consciousness as to the environment and global world that we are now living and working in as social workers.  

A WCC Event - Sponsored by MAC Cosmetics and Nordstrom!

WHO: M.A.C Cosmetics and the Women's Collaborative Circle.

WHAT: A FREE 2 hour workshop! Come out to relax, have fun, play and receive a free makeover! Learn and share how to bring out your inner and outer confidence, power, beauty and sassiness.

WHEN: Thursday, September 22, 2011. Arrive at 6:00pm for socializing, food and raffle prizes courtesy of Nordstrom!

Workshop will be from 6:30pm-8:30pm.

WHERE: Nordstrom at the King of Prussia Mall - 190 North Gulph Road, King of Prussia, PA19406.

WHY: Because we love you!

*** Please RSVP to carly@womenscollaborativecircle.org by September 19th.  

Space is limited to 15 women, so act fast! ***

... AND BECAUSE MY MOTHER LOVED NOTHING MORE THAN TO TALK TO WOMEN AND PUT LIPSTICK ON THEM!

My mother's vanity. Photo by Yael Glick.

My mother, Jane, died a year ago this past August.  With the many wonderful memories, great sadness and life lessons she left with me, she also left her deluge of empty M.A.C cosmetic containers.


She used to tell me that she came out of her mother's womb wearing a full face of makeup!  I never doubted this. One part artistic expression, one part profession, but mostly a way to "show face" even in the midst of grave illness, my mother loved her makeup.  Rarely would a day would go by that I did not see her artistically and with verve put on her makeup and get dressed to perfection.  Rarely would a day go by when I would see her and she wouldn't comment, "Don't you want to just put on a little more lipstick?"  The answer for me was almost always a resounding, NO! While I did and do wear makeup, it is not at all in the same spirit as my mother.
   
My mother reaped much joy from spending hours at the M.A.C counter at Nordstrom, often buying something that I deemed she didn't need. What she needed more, however, was what went with the purchase: striking up a conversation with another customer, listening to her life story and telling her that there isn't anything a great new lipstick couldn't fix! These impromptu M.A.C-counter-therapy-sessions were just what Jane ordered.


So, here I am last week with several bulging bags of half-used and empty M.A.C containers.  I know that M.A.C has a recycling program - bring back six empty containers and get a free lipstick.  What was I going to do with twenty new lipsticks?! I mean I got one (Lady Bug - a tomato red) but more than one would take a lifetime to wear.  So, in the spirit of my mother I spontaneously gave away her empty containers and gave nearly 20 women (mostly mothers and daughters this past Sunday) all new lipsticks! It was bittersweet but mostly sweet.  


This impromptu act caught the attention of the makeup artists at the M.A.C counter that morning and in the spirit of paying it forward, they offered to give me and a group of women free, private makeovers!  I was touched and wanted to take things one step further.  I thought, what better way to share in the spirit of giving than to offer the WCC community a FUN and EXCITING night out! 

Don't miss out on this fantastic event! 

RSVP by 9/19 to reserve your spot to carly@womenscollaborativecircle.org. 

{While this is a free event, donations would be greatly appreciated! The WCC thanks you for your support!}

Lesbians of Long Island - A Short Documentary

Hey there WCC community!  I wanted to share with you a shout out we received from Beryl Fine.  Beryl is a New York City based photographer and filmaker who contacted the WCC in the hopes of us sharing her newest endeavor - a short documentary film called Lesbians of Long Island.  Here is what she told us:

Lesbians of Long Island is a short documentary by yours truly Beryl Fine. The film centers around my aunt Lisa, her partner Lois, as well as their sidekick pooches Paddy and Abby (do you see how we love poetry?).

My exploration of my aunts began in August of 2010 when I moved from San Francisco to New York in hopes of expanding proverbial horizons (artistically and metaphorically). My aunt Lisa opened her home to me as I transitioned to a New York state of mind, (I grew up on the left coast in Santa Cruz, California). My family is not a traditional one bound by deep seeded ties. Growing up we rarely visited, moving in with Lisa was an introduction, but also developed into my first real experience getting to know her as a relative and friend. Soon I began to realize that Lisa and her partner Lois where quite the dynamic duo of smart ass antics and abrasive crass humor. They are two peas in a pod that complimented one another in perfect symmetry. I was living under my aunt’s roof for two short months before realizing I should begin to record my time spent in Long Island. What began to manifest was that these lovely ladies where not only totally normal (I use that phrase loosely) but also companions who are in love.

There is a prescribed notion in the media that love is bound by some kind of struggle and a battle which must be fought. What I want to communicate with Lesbians of Long Island is that love is not an intangible beast that must be conquered. Instead I pose the idea that it is normal and so essential that it fits seamlessly and effortlessly into the lives of Lisa and Lois. 

These lovely ladies don’t fit cultural personification of “gay”, actually that’s the furthest adjective anyone could use to describe their lives. My aunts are typical Jews living in Long Island. They posses no flamboyant qualities. They shop at Sam’s club and they watch CSI and King of Queens EVERY NIGHT and on the weekends they go to Carvel for chocolate soft serve ice cream. Paddy (a pit-bull mix) and Abby (a king Charles Cavalier Spaniel) act as their partners in crime following them at their heels and completing the equation of their amore.

I’m a believer that talk is cheap and that seeing is in fact believing. I have launched a fundraiser for my project on Kickstarter. I’m asking the world at large for help with the financing of this short. The money will be used to spread the love and joy that is Lesbians of Long Island. It will help pay for international and domestic film festival admission fees, it will also help with production costs, distribution and other miscellaneous fees that generally get racked up when producing a film. I’m asking the world to help me raise $3,500, a small feat which I know I can accomplish with your help. 

Check out her project and support the film!

Behind the Scenes at the WCC - TEDx Philadelphia Coming Your Way!

Well, what can I say - I am TED obsessed (as you can see by the various posts here on this blog with TED speakers)! Then, I was invited by TEDx Philadelphia committee member E Bond of rough draft books (a totally amazing, creative and awesome woman and bookbinder) to share my ideas for the upcoming TEDx Philadelphia event.  Well, I was honored.  I never have a shortage of ideas so I couldn't wait to meet with like minded folks and brainstorm.  This idea hour did not fail!  There were so many amazing men and woman from various walks of life in Philadelphia.  I wanted to share with you a sneak peak of the behind the scenes look of the making of the November 8, 2011 event at Temple University's Performing Arts Center!

TED Talk for Social Workers and the Rest of Us

I love TED talks. That is why I was so excited when a colleague of mine sent me this TEDx talk.



Dr. Brené Brown is a researcher professor at the University of Houston, Graduate College of Social Work, where she has spent the past ten years studying a concept that she calls Wholeheartedness, posing the questions: How do we engage in our lives from a place of authenticity and worthiness? How do we cultivate the courage, compassion, and connection that we need to embrace our imperfections and to recognize that we are enough -- that we are worthy of love, belonging and joy? Brené is the author of I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn't): Telling the Truth About Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power (2007) and the forthcoming books, The Gifts of Imperfection (2010) and Wholehearted: Spiritual Adventures in Falling Apart, Growing Up, and Finding Joy ( 2011).

For more information about Brene Brown and her work, check out her beautiful, profound and inspiring website!

Your WCC Holiday Shopping Guide!

Chanukah is already here and Christmas and Kwanza are just around the corner... so what are you getting your loved ones?  Here are some suggestions that will support women and girls around the globe and save you a trip to the mall!

1. Heifer International - Heifer International is a global nonprofit with a proven solution to ending hunger and poverty in a sustainable way. Heifer helps empower millions of families to lift them out of poverty and hunger to self-reliance through gifts of livestock, seeds and trees and extensive training, which provide a multiplying source of food and income.

2. Ten Thousand Villages - Ten Thousand Villages' mission is to create opportunities for artisans in developing countries to earn income by bringing their products and stories to our markets through long-term fair trading relationships.

3. Nest - Nest is a nonprofit organization that empowers female artists and artisans around the world. Using a unique combination of interest-free microfinance loans, mentoring from established designers, as well as a market in which to sell their crafts, Nest helps its loan recipients create successful small businesses. Nest instills pride of ownership, preserves ancient artistic traditions and successfully moves women from poverty to self-sufficiency.

4. Goods 4 Good - Our slogan is straightforward because our mission is straightforward: through the innovative use of surplus, G4G promotes the development of orphans and vulnerable children.  Send an E-Card or make a donation to help out this amazing organization!

5. Peacekeeper Cause-Metics - Peacekeeper Cause-Metics is the first cosmetics line to give all of its after-tax, distributable profits to women’s health advocacy and urgent human rights issues. PeaceKeeper builds a bridge between extraordinary women in the land of plenty and extraordinary women who, by chance of birth, don’t have our resources or opportunities.

6. Nothing But Nets - Nothing But Nets is a global, grassroots campaign to raise awareness and funding to combat malaria, one of the largest killers of children in Africa. With a $10 contribution, Nothing But Nets provides individuals – from CEOs to youth, professional athletes to faith leaders – the opportunity to join the global fight against malaria by sending a net and saving a life.

7. Global Girlfriend - Specializes in fairley traded apparel and accessories hand-made by women and communities in need. 

8. Women's Peace Collection - The Women’s Peace Collection is an enterprise that fully supports women in regions of conflict and post-conflict – as mothers, peace builders, entrepreneurs, and skilled artisans.

9. Global Sistergoods -  Brings you the finest in fair trade, eco-friendly, and handmade gifts, jewelry, handbags, accessories, children's clothing and toys, baskets, and home decor items. All of our fair trade products are made by women from around the world, and offer the high quality and one-of-a-kind feel that today's socially responsible customer demands. Each fair trade product is as unique as the woman who makes it, and each purchase helps women throughout the world earn a living wage and build beautiful, thriving communities.

10. One Mango Tree -  One Mango Tree uses a fair trade model to provide income generating opportunities for women in impoverished and conflict-ridden areas of the globe.  Our first project is now well underway in Northern Uganda, a region devastated by more than twenty years of armed conflict. The war has taken the lives of thousands, displaced more than two million, and destroyed the once-vibrant local culture and economy. 

11. Same Sky - Is a fair-trade company whose mission is to empower women worldwide and inspire a movement of women empowering women.  Founded in 2007, Same Sky aims to be a part of the global movement lifting women out of poverty by giving them the tools to become entrepreneurs and lead self sustaining lives. 

12. Vital Voices - Our mission is to identify, invest in and bring visibility to extraordinary women around the world by unleashing their leadership potential to transform lives and accelerate peace and prosperity in their communities.

13. Kiva - Kiva's mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Speaking Their Voices - Rehabilitation Through the Arts

From guest contributor Anne Twomey Lloyd:

I work in an arts program with women who are incarcerated in the only maximum security prison in New York state. I feel free when I’m behind bars with the women. Our classes are a combination of profound and sometimes heartbreaking moments and absolutely hilarious silliness. It’s three hours each week when nobody is judged on past actions, and all of us are witness to the innocent, radiant creativity that binds us together.

We open each session with meditation and yoga stretches, which can help provide tools for living in an environment as highly stressed as the facility in which our students live.

Currently, we’re exploring myths. We frequently discuss how these stories can be recognized in our own lives.

Just this morning, one of our students wrote a monologue from Ariadne’s point of view at being abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos after he promised to marry her. She wrote about Ariadne’s shock and anger at being left there as Theseus sailed off. When she read her work to us in class, Ariadne became a sorrowful, heartbroken woman sitting right in front of us. Talk about bringing a myth to life.

We meet in a huge gym inside the prison, and my workshop partner, Kim, is choreographing a dance piece telling the story of a Hawaiian myth. We work to CD recordings of beautiful, evocative, modern music that refreshes the cavernous gym’s humid, stale air.

We are beginning to create a performance piece on myths, collecting and polishing the best of our weekly work. We’ll present it using the stage in our gym to fellow inmates and prison teachers and administrators. 

Kim and I say good bye to our students and exchange wishes with all to have a good week. We come out of class energized, exclaiming about the acting of one very shy woman, or the writing and surprising wit of another. We move on to the rest of our lives, keenly aware that we get to come out of the prison. As we pass through endless heavy gates slowly sliding open and then closed behind us, past fences of barbed wire, we know that some of the closeness and commonality we share with our students is left behind the walls.

Anne Twomey Lloyd works through RTA (Rehabilitation Through the Arts), a program of Prison Communities International.  For more information about RTA and their women's program, visit http://www.rta-arts.com/.

Taking Time to Turn Inward

I stumbled across this short film and I thought I would share it with you all.  I recently took a rare day to step away from my numerous email accounts, telephone calls, messages and the daily demands to be called upon.  Caution: taking time to turn inward may result in the reduction of stress, clarity of purpose and rekindling of passion.  Enjoy!

Making Their Voices Heard - Femicide in Juarez

National Organization for Women defines Femicide as the mass murder of women simply because they are women. It is the term that has been coined in response to the murders of nearly 400 young women on the U.S.-Mexico border in the city of Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas.

For more than a decade, the city of Juarez, near the US-Mexico border, has been a killing field for young women, the site of nearly 400 unsolved murders and many more abductions. Despite the horrific nature of these crimes, authorities at all levels exhibit indifference, and there is strong evidence that some officials may be involved in the crimes. Impunity and corruption has permitted the criminals, whoever they are, to continue committing these acts, knowing there will be no consequences.

A significant number of victims work in maquiladoras — sweatshops that produce items for export, with 90 percent of the products destined for the United States. The maquiladoras employ mainly young women at poverty-level wages. In combination with lax environmental regulations and low tariffs under the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the maquiladoras are amassing tremendous wealth. Yet despite the crime wave, they offer almost no protection for their workers. High profile government campaigns such as Ponte Vista (Be Aware), a self defense program, and supplying women with whistles have proven to be ineffective and are carried out mainly for public relations purposes.

Small advances in the struggle for justice are due to the perseverance of victims' families who cannot be silenced despite the efforts of state and federal authorities to keep them quiet. Campaigns by local, national and international non-governmental organizations have been very important in the efforts for justice. Often grassroots groups in Juarez work in a climate of threats and defamation by government officials for making one simple demand — STOP THE FEMICIDE!

Currently in Philadelphia there is an art exhibit Ni Una Mas - Not One More: The Juarez Murders at Drexel University's Leonard Pearlstein Gallery now through July 16th.  For more information check out this May 27, 2010 Philadelphia Inquierer article, "The Border's Other Murders" by Eric Zilmer. 

Pretty (Outspoken)

  

Speaking Their Voices - The Kitchen Sisters

The Women's Collaborative Circle recently received an email from the Kitchen Sisters introducing us to their latest radio story about the Traveller Girls in Ireland, which is part of their new NPR series on the Hidden World of Girls.  This Peabody Award-Winning dynamic duo are a gem in the world of story telling and I am so excited to share some of their work with you!

From the Hidden World of Girls website - The Kitchen Sisters are launching a new NPR multimedia series exploring the hidden world of girls. Stories of coming of age, rituals and rites of passage, secret identities—of women who crossed a line, blazed a trail, changed the tide.

About the Kitchen Sisters Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva from their website: 

The Kitchen Sisters, Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, are award winning NPR documentary producers who have been working together for more than twenty-five years. They are the creators of the popular Hidden Kitchens series on Morning Edition, the Peabody Award winning NPR series Lost & Found Sound and the post 9-11 Sonic Memorial Project, co-produced with colleague, Jay Allison. They are currently producing an NPR and online series about girls around the world.

As independent producers, they are the creators of more than 200 stories for public broadcast about the lives, histories, art and rituals of people who have shaped our diverse cultural heritage. They are the recipients of numerous awards including the duPont-Columbia Award, two Peabodys, three Audies and many others.

They are the authors of Hidden Kitchens, Stories, Recipes and More from NPR’s The Kitchen Sisters, a 2005 New York Times Notable Book and a James Beard nominee.

The Kitchen Sisters are involved in educating and training new voices for public media. They teach at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, the Social Documentary Graduate Program at UC Santa Cruz and give presentations and workshops at universities, radio stations, and public events throughout the country and abroad. They have an active internship program and participate in the public radio community throughout the country.

Their non-profit organization, The Kitchen Sisters Productions is dedicated to exploring complex cultural issues through personal stories, bringing seldom heard voices to air, and building community through storytelling.

In addition to producing radio, Davia Nelson is also a screenwriter and casting director. She lives in San Francisco. Nikki Silva is also a museum curator and exhibit consultant.  She lives with her family on a commune near Santa Cruz, California.

One of my personal favorite stories is that of  Georgia Gilmore.  In the 1950s, a group of Montgomery, Ala., women baked and sold pies, cookies and cakes in beauty salons and on street corners to help fund the Montgomery bus boycott.

The Club from Nowhere, as the group was known, was the brainchild of Georgia Gilmore, a cafeteria worker fired for her organizing efforts. She was one of the unsung heroes of the civil rights era. The Kitchen Sisters and producer Jamie York tell her story.  For the full story, transcript and audio visit npr.org.   

I encourage you to visit their website to hear excerpts of their work, full stories and more about the impetus behind their amazing work!