I tried my hardest not to cry but they got me with this one.
What you see here is a 70 pound difference. I grew up a bigger girl; but for 8 years of my life, I lived in a mental prison. I constantly counted calories and obsessively worked out to an unhealthy size 0 with 9% body fat. I lost my period for five years. My butt cheeks didn’t even touch! (Yep, you heard me…) Nothing mattered but performing my rituals and compulsions I conjured up in my head. I did not have any space in my brain to see the world around me, connect with people, and ultimately live. Constantly striving to be something else, you do not have time to think about the important things in life — friends, loved ones, learning, giving back, following your passions, etc. I was always thinking, “When I weigh ___, I’ll be happy… my life will be perfect.” This is the biggest lie in the world. Life is here, now. You cannot wait for a certain event or milestone to truly begin living your life.
So with time, countless doctors, helpful books, and role models in the plus industry, I began to heal. The transformation was not easy (it was actually quite hellish), but I made a decision to choose freedom. I started listening to my body and respecting it. I eat organic and all-natural whole foods, and I love working out and being active. My motto is to just be as healthy as I can be (body, mind, & soul), and wherever I end up, is where I’m supposed to be. It is my passion to show people that once you are true to your authentic self, doors begin to open and you can truly live your life to the fullest.
-Heather-
I’m so excited to be bringing (alongside GoodWoman) the screening ofFree Angela Davis And All Political Prisoners (Documentary) by Shola Lynch to the West Palm Beach (Muvico Parisian 20 & IMAX) on May 23rd at 7:30PM.
About the Free Angela Davis Documentary:
Free Angela is a gripping historic account of the events that catapulted a young University of California philosophy professor into a controversial political icon in the turbulent late 1960’s. Angela Davis joins the Communist Party, protests with the Black Panthers, and becomes a principle spokesperson for the burgeoning prison reform movement. As a result, she finds herself fighting to keep her job, and in the national media spotlight characterized by her many detractors as a dangerous subversive menace, and by her supporters as a strong leader challenging authority and boldly advocating for “Power to All People.” So on August 7th, 1970, when Angela is implicated in the politically motivated kidnapping and murder of a judge in a brazen daylight shootout at the Marin County, CA courthouse, the nation wonders and Newsweek magazine asks: “What would prompt the daughter of the black bourgeoisie to take a desperate turn to terrorism?” Angela flees California, convinced she will not be given a fair trial and is placed on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list.
After a national manhunt she is captured two months later in New York City. Charged with murder, kidnapping and conspiracy, Angela is put on trial in one of the most sensational court cases of its time. After a two-year legal battle, an all white jury acquits her on all charges in 1972. It’s an edge-of-your seat thriller told for the first time by Angela and others who lived through the events firsthand. The interviews recount the politics that led her to challenge authority and spur a worldwide movement for her freedom that cemented Angela Davis, and her signature Afro hairstyle, as an iconic symbol of this still relevant political and social movement — the right to challenge the system.
Free Angela is a must see documentary! A candid and powerful account of the tumultuous times and a woman who challenges a society that is afraid of all that she represents. Filled with elements of intrigue, suspense and conspiracies, the film delivers by empowering and inspiring diverse international audiences with its message of hope and redemption.
You know her name. Now, you will finally know her story.
Follow the conversation on Twitter! #FreeAngela
See you there!
Purchase your tickets here: http://www.tugg.com/events/3854
How can I put this eloquently?
This SHIT has got to stop. NOW.
Rehtaeh Parsons Was My Daughter - Glenn Canning on the life, rape and death of his 17 year old daughter.
Currently planning something to honor this young lady and her family. Stay tuned.
Global Renaissance Woman
Dr. Maya Angelou is one of the most renowned and influential voices of our time. Hailed as a global renaissance woman, Dr. Angelou is a celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist.
Born on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, Dr. Angelou was raised in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. In Stamps, Dr. Angelou experienced the brutality of racial discrimination, but she also absorbed the unshakable faith and values of traditional African-American family, community, and culture.
As a teenager, Dr. Angelou’s love for the arts won her a scholarship to study dance and drama at San Francisco’s Labor School. At 14, she dropped out to become San Francisco’s first African-American female cable car conductor. She later finished high school, giving birth to her son, Guy, a few weeks after graduation. As a young single mother, she supported her son by working as a waitress and cook, however her passion for music, dance, performance, and poetry would soon take center stage.
In 1954 and 1955, Dr. Angelou toured Europe with a production of the opera Porgy and Bess. She studied modern dance with Martha Graham, danced with Alvin Ailey on television variety shows and, in 1957, recorded her first album, Calypso Lady. In 1958, she moved to New York, where she joined the Harlem Writers Guild, acted in the historic Off-Broadway production of Jean Genet’s The Blacks and wrote and performed Cabaret for Freedom.
In 1960, Dr. Angelou moved to Cairo, Egypt where she served as editor of the English language weekly The Arab Observer. The next year, she moved to Ghana where she taught at the University of Ghana’s School of Music and Drama, worked as feature editor for The African Review and wrote for The Ghanaian Times.
During her years abroad, Dr. Angelou read and studied voraciously, mastering French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and the West African language Fanti. While in Ghana, she met with Malcolm X and, in 1964, returned to America to help him build his new Organization of African American Unity.
Shortly after her arrival in the United States, Malcolm X was assassinated, and the organization dissolved. Soon after X’s assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked Dr. Angelou to serve as Northern Coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King’s assassination, falling on her birthday in 1968, left her devastated.
With the guidance of her friend, the novelist James Baldwin, she began work on the book that would become I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Published in 1970, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was published to international acclaim and enormous popular success. The list of her published verse, non-fiction, and fiction now includes more than 30 bestselling titles.
A trailblazer in film and television, Dr. Angelou wrote the screenplay and composed the score for the 1972 film Georgia, Georgia. Her script, the first by an African American woman ever to be filmed, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
She continues to appear on television and in films including the landmark television adaptation of Alex Haley’s Roots (1977) and John Singleton’s Poetic Justice (1993). In 1996, she directed her first feature film, Down in the Delta. In 2008, she composed poetry for and narrated the award-winning documentary The Black Candle, directed by M.K. Asante.
Dr. Angelou has served on two presidential committees, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Arts in 2000, the Lincoln Medal in 2008, and has received 3 Grammy Awards. President Clinton requested that she compose a poem to read at his inauguration in 1993. Dr. Angelou’s reading of her poem “On the Pulse of the Morning” was broadcast live around the world.
Dr. Angelou has received over 30 honorary degrees and is Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.
Dr. Angelou’s words and actions continue to stir our souls, energize our bodies, liberate our minds, and heal our hearts.
TEDxTeen - Tavi Gevinson: Still Figuring it Out
Important Take Aways from this video:
1. Be unapologetic about who you are…
2. You are allowed to be a contradiction…
3. Being a feminist doesn’t mean you’re consistent in your views about equality, women’s issues, etc. (Who the hell is?!)
4. And my favorite… just be STEVIE NICKS.
:)
NEO
“Success and likeability are positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women”. Sheryl Sandberg ,Facebook COO -
2013 National Grammar Day Tweeted Haiku Contest WINNING entry by @ArikaOkrent :
I am an error
And I will reveal myself
After you press send
I stumbled upon, or huffposted upon, these two amazing women today while scouring the Internet for all things “kick-ass-chick” related.
Watch the video and share with a young (or not-so young) lady in your life. Plant those seeds!
Founded in January 2012, she++ was Stanford’s first conference on women in technology. In April 2012, we hosted a lineup of inspirational women in tech—from companies such as Google, Facebook, Dropbox, and Pinterest, among others—and 250+ attendees on Stanford’s campus. After positive feedback from attendees, mentors, and the press, we have decided to expand she++ into a full-fledged community that inspires women to empower computer science. Through a number of initiatives, we aim to create community and momentum for female technologists.
