social activism: page 2......... .Talent Development Resources -..home page...site map
....
"When
violence against women and girls end, we will know we were heard." Eve
Ensler & Salma Hayek
"When
violence..., I will let my body sing" singer
Denyce Graves
photographs
by Joyce Tenneson ...V-Day
: Until the Violence Stops
more
organizations:. LACAAW
LA Commission on Assaults Against Women SISTERFIRE:
Radical Women of Color Artists & Activists
.
~ ~
********************
Eve Ensler and "The Vagina Monologues"
'Eve Ensler's groundbreaking
show.. is a series of sly, lyrical, incisive first-person vignettes,
most of them hilarious, some
heartbreaking, all of them illuminating women's lives. It was on Eve's
first national tour that The
Vagina Monologues turned from a play into a crusade.
"So many women came up to talk
to me about having been beaten and raped and incested that I started to
feel
I was going to have a breakdown,"
Ensler says. "I made a decision that I was going to figure out my purpose,
my mission. And one day the
answer rose up: 'Stop. Violence. Toward. Women.'
From that moment on, my life
has been completely and utterly clear." In 1997, Ensler gathered a group
of friends
and asked them to help her figure
out a way to use The Vagina Monologues to end violence toward women.
"And we came up with V-Day:
Vagina Day, anti-Violence Day, Victory Day," Ensler says. "We invited all
these great women to come, and
they agreed. Now it's more than a show, it's a campaign."' [from
oprah.com]
RAINN
the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network Breaking
The Silence: Women Speak out against Sexual Violence
~ ~ ~ ~
We
are all powerful beyond our wildest imaginations. We have been conditioned,
numbed,
and manipulated
over time into giving our power away to name brands, corporations, and
governmental
officials, just for starters. It's time we take the power back!
We have the
power to change the world. Everything we do and say does change the world.
Even our inactions
have impact. If I had walked away from the destruction of the redwoods
without trying
to stop it, my inactions would have had as much adverse impact as my decision
to live in
a threatened ancient redwood tree.
In every moment
of every day we make choices, and every choice has an impact, positive
or negative.
We are moving either toward the problem or toward the solution.
Our ability
to change the world lies in our hands, minds, hearts, bodies, and spirits
- committed in action.
It's not only
that we can make a difference, it's that we do make the difference. The
kind of change we
make is up
to us. Each and every one of us has the power to heal or to hurt, to be
the hero or the destroyer -
with every
moment, with every breath of every day.
Julia
Butterfly Hill
...from
book:**One
Makes the Difference: Inspiring Actions that Change Our World by Julia
Butterfly Hill, Jessica Hurley
No level of individual self-actualization alone can sustain the marginalized and oppressed. We must be linked to collective struggle, to communities of resistance that move us outward, into the world. .....
bell hooks
quote from Jan Phillips' Museletter janphillips.com
related page : collaboration
Moondance promotes, encourages, educates
and rewards non-violent
conflict resolution in the arts &
film.
Our much-coveted Columbine Awards
are given to the film-makers
&/or writers who best depict
alternatives to violence as a method of
dealing with conflicts, whether personal,
local, national or international,
and/or show why violence as a solution
to conflict is ultimately
counter-productive and inhumane.
Our mission is to present a vibrant
and growing collection of films
and writings, which is an ideal means
for communication across
perceived boundaries of race, culture,
age and gender.
~ ~ ~ ~*******************
Gillian Anderson doesn't pretend that she got into show business to make a difference
in anyone's life but her own. "For many years I was so self-focused," she says.
But soon after she landed her first job, portraying Dana Scully on The X-Files,
"it became clear to me that people can come from nothing and make something
of themselves. That was my experience; it was important for me to share that." ...
[She] became a spokesperson for the Feminist Majority Foundation in 1996,
an organization that advocates political, economic, and social equality for women ...
[and she] raises money to fund research into neurofibromatosis.. Her younger brother
Aaron is battling the disease. ...
"I'm not much of a public person, and I have mixed feelings about the celebrity aspect
of the business I'm in," Anderson says. "The only true benefit is when one can be of service."
[George Magazine, April 2000]
~ ~ ~ ~
Oscar-nominated actress Samantha Morton has hit out at Anna Friel for stripping off for a charity photo to raise money for BREAST CANCER CARE. The star of Sweet and Lowdown (1999) was furious when she saw shots of the British star baring all.
She says, "I got really angry because all these f***ing sexy celebrities got their kit off and I know people who've had breast cancer, who've had mastectomies, and the last thing they want to see is Anna Friel naked... I just thought it ended up promoting her. It really wound me up and wound up a lot of women I knew... If you're going to work for a charity, you should make sure you're doing it for all the right reasons."
[imdb.com celeb news 4.6.00]
~ ~ ~ ~
******************
"Quantum leaps are required
now, enormous leaps of courage. The courage we need
is existential. It requires
an enormous courage, an outrageous contagious courage,
to reclaim our powers that
have been stolen from us.
Regaining those powers means
creating a new feminism, not based on the imitation of male
language or careerism. We
need to participate in the universe as fully as possible, to recognize
the connection of all living
beings, and that all beings are living.
We need to connect with the
big universe. Insofar as we are alive, we can use the experience
of suffering, that knowledge,
to get us closer in touch with the utter battle to choose a life
that is life-affirming."
Mary Daly, "Feminist
Philosopher and Author and Teacher
for 30 Years at the
Boston College Theology Department"
"Being
part of the industry, I consider the arts to be preventative medicine.
The Summer
School for the Arts is changing a lot of young people's lives:
(students)
from all over our state and across the country as well.
A lot of
these young people are in harms way and we are able to enhance a lot of
lives.
They come
from inner city schools and difficult environments; they are with us for
four weeks...
it's like
a Fame summer school.
We've seen
a lot of success stories. It isn't necessarily that they become stars,
however
some do extremely well, but the most important outcome is that we are
making
a difference in the quality of their lives."
Wendy Goldberg - who helped start
CSSSA 18 years ago
'The impulse for the site
comes from [Cheryl Saban's] belief
that "there could be lots
of people out there who'd like to be
philanthropic. But," she
adds, "people need to be taught how to give." ...
She also adds "without someone
ready to lend a helping hand, people
lose their self-esteem very
fast." In other words, counter to the idea
that extreme adversity is
good for the soul--as opposed to embittering--
Saban says, essentially,
it's knowing that other people care that can help
pull people out of a rut.
So finding that a lot of
folks she knew, similarly blessed with
financial resources and
an ability to shape their lives and schedules
to some degree, would "get
together and talk about what we're doing,"
on the charity/giving/non-profit
front, it suddenly occurred to her to
compile that information
in one place and make it easily accessible
to anyone looking to plug
in, specifically for groups or programs
that help children."
from article "50 Ways to Help Your Children" by Mark London Williams, digitalcoastweekly.com
Lindsay Wagner is on the
Board of Advisors - the mission of the organization
has been "to empower young
women, and to provide opportunities for girls
and women to share in mentoring
relationships, as well as to create ways
to bridge the gender, culture,
and generation gaps between people."
> book related
to site: Linda Wolf.
Daughters
of the Moon, Sisters of the Sun :
Young Women & Mentors on the Transition to Womanhood
"This book tells about the
lives of a group of teenage girls, their relationships,
and the culture in which
they live. It is about the courage it takes to face and
change self-destructive
thinking and behavior, to live with unanswered questions,
to persevere against odds,
to accept oneself, to tell the truth, to stay connected,
to forgive, to say no, to
change habits, to be passionate... It is about living
in the web of life from
the female perspective, about history and the women
who have struggled for equality,
opportunity, education and inclusion."
Sarah Jessica Parker - U.S. Fund for UNICEF's first special representative for the performing arts [1998].
"Kids love to have tasks and specific things to do. Children also like to help, and when they contribute,
it not only makes them feel that they are being acknowledged for doing something important, it helps
them feel loved. 'Trick-or-Treat' [the 'Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF' campaign] is also a great way for
children to learn about volunteering and the world around them. They learn about children who suffer
from serious health and environmental threats. They also learn that in the world they live in, they can
change another child's life for the better." Sarah Jessica Parker
Parker joins National Ambassadors Maya Angelou, Katie Couric, Jane Curtin, Laurence Fishburne,
James Kiberd, and Edward James Olmos; Summer Sanders, U.S. Fund for UNICEF's special representative
for sports; and Claudia Schiffer, a member of the organization's Arts and Entertainment Support Committee.
"Take chances, make mistakes. That's how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage.
You have to fail in order to practice being brave." Mary Tyler Moore
(from Words of Women - Quotations for Success [software for Windows])
".. I have had juvenile diabetes for more than thirty years. .. In many ways I have been more fortunate than
others who have diabetes. While I have almost faced blindness from diabetic retinopathy, I am still able to see.
While I have faced the possibility of amputation, I am still able to walk. But, things could have turned out
differently for me as they have for millions of Americans, and the future of any person with diabetes is always
uncertain. However... there is hope for a cure. Every day, 35 children in this country are diagnosed with juvenile
diabetes, and one American dies from diabetes every three minutes. We owe it to these children and the 16 million
Americans with the disease to pursue all promising research avenues..."
Mary Tyler Moore [from address to a Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee - posted on JDF website]
"..dedicated to delivering educational and inspirational information that promotes self-discovery and social accountability. By using the power of media and technology together, we aspire to unleash the full potential of the human spirit."
"A citizen-based, international network of spiritual activists. Our mission is to make a stand in our local and national communities for the role of spiritual principle in solving the problems of the world.
"We feel that a holistic political conversation - one which honors the power of both mind and spirit to help heal the world - is emerging throughout the global community.
founders: Neale Donald Walsch, Marianne Williamson [left]
We had become a culture -- and most of us are well aware of this -- that glorified the meaningless
and the stupid. We romanced violence on television and movies. We were culturally very immature
before this, and I hope we will never go back. It's time for us to grow up. ...
Now, the real wisdom within us, the real intelligence within us, our real care for the brothers and sisters
who walk this planet with us, can come forward and express itself.
We've always had that power within us. We just didn't lead with it, and now perhaps we will. We need
our love and wisdom to extend not only to people in this country, but to people all around the world --
people who have suffered as we do, who suffer as we do now in some cases, and who stand to suffer
as we will if things go a certain way. All of us must think deeply about these things.
Marianne Williamson [from Entertainment Tonight interview Sept. 18, 2001, posted on her site]
....book: Marianne Williamson Imagine: What America Could Be in the 21st Century
"Our deepest understanding of the world today involves our recognition of the creative,
yet often fragile, marriage between the inner and outer realms."
~ ~ ~ ~
"I want people to feel more comfortable with their parts that are scarred and broken," said Helen Hunt. She.. was drawn to [her movie "Pay It Forward"] because three years earlier her mother -- Jane Hunt -- saw a local newscast about a disfigured woman and from that has launched the Healing Hands Project.
[flatironfilms.com]
Jane Hunt: "I was watching a TV news story, `What's Right with L.A.' The piece was about a Jamaican woman,
Carol Guscott, who had been brutally attacked by robbers in her shop. The robbers tied her up and threw battery acid
on her face, saying she would never be able to identify them. Carol was left viciously scarred and nearly blind.
I might never have picked up the phone, but Awareness picked up the phone and started calling... I had heard that
Carol Guscott lived in Fullerton." ... And so Jane and Carol met. Carol was wearing a mask and a towel around
her neck. They spoke and Jane discovered that Carol needed a surgeon to reconstruct her face.
And voila! Through Jane's efforts, it happened. The chief of plastic surgery at Century City hospital would provide
all surgery to Carol free of charge. The hospital would donate everything. ...
Soon even more people showed up to do what they could do. Jane thought that she (and everyone else helping)
should be doing this for someone else. ... Healing Hands Project was born."
"I believe the older you get, the more radical you become. Rabble-rousing, tree-hugging, heart-bleeding ?
that's the stuff I like. I am essentially an activist, an agitator and a saboteur.'
The self-described `renegade business leader' was born Anita Lucia Perella during the Second World War
in the small English seaside town of Littlehampton to Italian immigrant parents. As a result, she says,
`I was a natural outsider, and I was drawn to other outsiders and rebels.' Her schoolgirl idol was James Dean."
An annotated list of recorded sources, from traditional ballads to punk,
compiled by Gerri Gribi - "As a feminist folk musician, I'm often asked
to suggest songs related to domestic abuse or sexual assault.
So, as part of my "summer vacation," I took on the task of researching
and compiling an annotated list of songs with accessible recorded versions.
I've even included links to lyrics when I can find them online." Gerri Gribi
"When my wife Michele and I came across a report called 'Starting Points: Meeting the Needs
of our Youngest Children' by the Carnegie Corporation a few years ago, we were amazed to see
that the report confirmed everything that we had instinctively known for years.
It found that the emotional, physical, and intellectual experiences of a child's first three years
are vital in laying the foundation for who he or she becomes in the future. ... Based on what we learned
about child development Michele and I launched the I Am Your Child Campaign and Foundation in 1997
in order to raise public awareness about early childhood development and to try to influence public policy
makers to increase spending on early childhood programs."
"The environment is like the guy walking around with high blood pressure. It doesn't seem like anything's wrong,
and then all of a sudden it becomes devastating and irreversible, and it happens very quickly. I would hate to
have an environmental heart-attack in order to wake us up, because by then I think it would be too late. So we
have to keep emphasizing the fact that even though it doesn't seem overtly apparent, the 'high blood pressure'
is there." Rob Reiner from Environmental Media Association site
...books
Sherry Ruth Anderson, Ph.D. and Paul H. Ray, Ph.D. The Cultural Creatives : How 50 Million People Are Changing the World
"Direct personal experience is also important to Cultural Creatives in the projects they create and give their time and money to support. They expect to follow through on their values with personal action. Many are convinced that if they are not engaged, their convictions are 'just talk.' They express more idealism and altruism, and less cynicism, than Americans. Sixty-five percent say 'having your work make a contribution to society' is very or extremely important. Fifty-four percent say 'wanting to be involved in creating a better society' is very or extremely important. And their actions line up with these values ..."
Suzi Gablik The Reenchantment of Art [reader:] "Using examples of environmental artists, Gablick provides insights into new working methods of important contemporary artists. These artists are using their creative abilty to amend the destruction of modern society by engaging in art practices that give 'something worthwhile' back to the earth and its people."
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![[Image]](bluline2.gif){kind=small}
...V-Day : Until the Violence Stops
Eve Ensler and "The Vagina Monologues"
...from
book:**One
Makes the Difference: Inspiring Actions that Change Our World by Julia
Butterfly Hill, Jessica Hurley
![[Image]](images/Moondance.jpg)
![[Image]](images/MaryDaly.jpg)
Juvenile Diabetes Foundation (JDF) International
...books
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