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ProfileIssue: Gemini 09 - The Summer Reading Issue

Read About Women Who Are Changing the World

If you don't know who Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Wangari Maathai, and Nina Disesa are, then you have some reading to do this summer!

ayaanhirsialism_107Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Memoirs by these three women gave me inspiration and courage because each of them learned how to survive and succeed in male-dominated environments that were oppressive to women.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali who was raised as a traditional Muslim in Somalia, was married off by her father to a distant cousin in Canada against her wishes. She fled to the Netherlands where she was given asylum and eventually citizenship. Ms. Hirsi Ali is now a champion of free speech and women's rights.

wangarimaathaism_109Wangari MaathaiWangari Maathai is the first woman in East and Central Africa to receive a Ph.D., and in 2004, she became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Born in Nyeri, Kenya in 1940 and educated in the U.S. in the same exchange program that brought President Obama's father to the states, Ms. Maathai founded the successful Green Belt Movement in 1977.

Nina DiSesa, Chairman of the largest advertising agency in the world made it to the top by learning how to understand ninadisesasm_110Nina DiSesaand manage men. About halfway through her career, Ms. DiSesa decided that if she was going make it in the advertising business, she had to aim for the top. What she didn’t realize was that getting to the top meant she would have to make some major adjustments to gain access to that world – the world of men where arrogance and sexual humor prevail – the boys club!

See all three memoirs in the advertising section on the right. dots

 

by ann janda

Profile Archives (total entries: 37)

Pisces 2009 - The Movie Issue

Movies That Changed Our Lives

stephteleen1_107Cinema Paradiso - My all-time favorite - it is a movie about life in a small town, the youthful need to escape, the ultimate joy of returning home, and the unending strength that you can feel by forming a deep bond with someone - I love it because it made me recognize the importance of personal relationships - I cry every time I see this movie!

Steph Teleen, Owner of Jakfish Active Maternity Clothing

(more)

Capricorn 09

Natalia Almada Makes EL GENERAL

el_generalsm_200Courtesy of Women Make Movies, www.wmm.com.Past and present collide when filmmaker Natalia Almada brings to life audio recordings she inherited from her grandmother. These recordings feature Alicia Calles’s reminiscences about her own father—Natalia’s great-grandfather—General Plutarco Elías Calles, a revolutionary general who became president of Mexico in 1924. Today, he remains one of Mexico’s most controversial figures, illustrating both the idealism and injustices of the country’s history. (read more)

Sagittarius 08 & Honest Self Expression

Saying It Like It Is

kblume_lg_236“Kathryn Blume is Al Gore on crack. With red hair. And a uterus.” 

I’ve been called a lot of things in my years as an actor and activist: A quirky Sarah Jessica Parker. A commie pinko. A hopium toker. Adorable.

You’ve got to figure with reactions like that, you must at least be getting someone’s attention. The paradox of doing politically-oriented theater, which also strives to be high quality art, is that you’re trying to get someone’s attention without looking like you are. You’re trying to encourage your audience to be mindful of a relevant issue by telling a story so good, they won’t be consciously aware that you’re trying to teach them something.