BEAUTY WITHIN ~ TEEN ESTEEM ™

Study Finds Bias Persists Against Gay and Lesbian Actors Read More

Shameless ways America tells boys not to be “girly”   Men should have the same freedom as women, but, if having qualities traditionally ascribed to women, they are demonized  and viewed as   to sensitive, to feminine or worse. Women are free to experience the world and express themselves by appearing  masculine or feminine. It's somewhat normal for women to switch between femininity and masculinity according to whatever's 'useful' or whatever's considered to be 'fun' at the time, drag queen 'Dominique' feels that "men should have the same freedom".  The male species has yet to acquire the same freedom to publicly express their femininity. With digital media surrounding our every move 24/7  its easy to acknowledge that women are encouraged to freely express their masculinity without sacraficing their sexuality. Take for example the 80s power suit. So why do we insist our men stay strictly confined to a very narrow definition o...

Enter Nominations Know someone under 35 who's making a difference in the LGBTQ community? Nominate them for the 2013 State Farm Good Neighbor Award for Emerging LGBTQ Leaders.  READ MORE       "Showcasing inspirational stories of young people achieving success and how they made it."   "INSPIRING YOUNG PEOPLE TO GO DO AND CHANGE THE WORLD"   "Inspiring young people" "We want young people to realize their learning environments are important, and that they do have the means to affect them."     Good Neighbor Award nominations

Today is National Voter Registration Day registertovote.com Tuesday, Sept. 25, marks National Voter Registration Day, a day where everyone is encouraged to, as the name would imply, register to vote.  For decades, the process of registering to vote in California has been done manually. A prospective voter picks up a registration form at a local library or other distribution point, fills out the information and mails it in. A government worker checks the information and registers the voter. That can take weeks. The Internet, however, has compressed that process into minutes. registertovote.com   Californians Can Now Register To Vote Online

Business & Baseball- Game   TOGETHER WE CAN DO ANYTHING!

How to Set Goals With a Worksheet? 1. Decide what it is you want to achieve. For example, if you want to own your own business, write that down. 2. Describe your goal. If you want to own a business by summer, name a specific date and write down the name of the business and how much money you will need to put away to start your business. What is the Purpose of Setting Goals? Goals are ideas, dreams, ambitions and accomplishments that a person is reaching for. Some goals are for the near future and some are what are known as long term goals. The purpose of goal setting is to set a standard for yourself. Give yourself a mark to measure your progress by and to push yourself to reach. Goals breed ambition and drive. Focus ; Train your brain. Any skill worth having requires practice. Learning to focus is no different. Invest time in mastering attention training or meditation — both are great ways to practice taming distractions and improving focus. What's ...

Childhood hunger is a big problem with a simple solution. We can end child hunger in America.

Ebony’s September issue has four covers: one featuring Trayvon’s parents and brother, and three with photos of prominent black men and their sons wearing hoodies. The covers are to honor the teen who was shot to death by George Zimmerman last year in Sanford, Fla. Zimmerman’s recent acquittal sparked nationwide protests and boycotts of Florida by celebrities such as Stevie Wonder. “Our groundbreaking September 2013 issue will explore concerns around racial bias, how to find solutions for those concerns and how to heal and move forward. We are honored to have Trayvon’s parents and his brother, Jahvaris Fulton, grace the cover of our subscribers’ issue.” says Ebony. Did the Tea Party call for a boycott of Ebony magazine over this  cover that pays tribute to Trayvon Martin? While the covers were well received by readers on numerous internet sites, such as Jezebel.com , according to Ebony , they drew criticism from whites in general, and the Tea Party, in particular, which r...

Homecoming season is once again upon us, which can only mean one thing: stories about transgender high school kids running for king and queen. Cassidy Lynn Campbell broke down in tears Friday night when she learned that she had been crowned homecoming queen. The senior at Marina High School in Huntington Beach was born male but told The Times she always felt like a girl. In high school, she began  Transgender is the state of one's gender identity (self-identification as woman, man, neither or both) not matching one's assigned sex (identification by others as male, female or intersex based on physical/ genetic sex ). [ 1 ] Transgender does not imply any specific form of sexual orientation ; transgender people may identify as heterosexual , homosexual , bisexual , pansexual , polysexual , or asexual ; some may consider conventional sexual orientation labels inadequate or inapplicable to them. The precise definition for transgender remains in flux. "Transgender...

After Big Brother crowned Andy Herren the $500,000 victor of the 15th cycle, several houseguests found out the extent of the negative attention they received from their actions and insensitive remarks made inside the house. Is bullying ever acceptable? Are racial slurs ever appropriate? Racial slurs, which are a particularly aggressive form of racial discrimination, can lead to anxiety, depression and increased stress. A minority who works in an environment where racial insults are a regular part of life will experience a damaging cumulative effect over time, which can lead to chronic stress. According to one study, the stress resulting from racial slurs and other forms of discrimination builds up over time and can actually lead to heart disease. This Health Journal sponsored study focused on black women who listed racism as a stressor in their lives. The study showed that these wom...

A Nevada high school student sent “instant messages” to his friends from his home computer that threatened mass shootings at his school.  School officials suspended the student based on the threat to school safety and the potential disruption of school activity.  Falling in line with other Federal circuits, the Ninth Circuit upheld the officials’ decision to discipline. ( Wynar v. Douglas County School District ). read more: Bullying stops us from being who we want to be, and prevents us from expressing ourselves freely, and might even make us feel unsafe. If you are bullied, say something! If you are bullying, it’s not cool! Parents play a key role in preventing and responding to bullying. If you know or suspect that your child is involved in bullying, there are several resources that may help.  :

No matter when, where, or how you served, and what you’ve experienced in civilian life, you may be dealing with issues that affect your well-being or get in the way of your relationships, work, or daily activities. Every day, Veterans connect with resources and support to manage the issues they may be facing and find solutions for improving their lives.

This woman, once a 23-year-old college grad who was 5’7″ and weighed more than 170 pounds, has come a long way. Such a long way that she’s now Miss America. That’s right, this once plus-sized beauty is the new Miss America, Nina Davuluri.  According to Radar Online, just two years ago, the New Yorker had just finished school and found that she packed on 50 pounds after four years of study. She was ready to make a change. Davuluri says that she was “ashamed of myself for allowing myself to get so out of shape. I realized that I needed to make some serious changes if I wanted to get healthy and feel confident about myself.” Davuluri made smarter food choices and started working out at her local gym. Before she knew it, she had shed 15 pounds and had planned to stay at that size. But when she made the decision to make a foray back into pageant life (Miss Greater Rochester), she decided to work even harder to shed more pounds to possibly be Miss America. She got on a strict food pla...

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is a condition that can affect children and adolescents. ADHD is one of the most common childhood psychiatric conditions, affecting 9.5% of school-aged children in the United States. The exact origin of ADHD is unknown, but researchers believe the disorder may be caused by a variety of factors. Learn more about the causes of ADHD . Children with ADHD generally have problems paying attention or concentrating. They can't seem to follow directions and are easily bored or frustrated with tasks. They also tend to move constantly and are impulsive, not stopping to think before they act. These behaviors are generally common in children. But they occur more often than usual and are more severe in a child with ADHD.

High School Football Player Dies After Helmet-to-Helmet Collision    Damon Janes, a 16-year-old junior running back for the Brocton (N.Y.) High School varsity football team, died Monday as a result of injuries suffered from a helmet-to-helmet hit on Friday night. Anyone who watches football knows that the sport is full of jarring hits. In fact, for many, the chance to see someone on the other team get his “bell rung” is one of the game's major draws. However, as high-school football practices kick into high gear around the country, there’s something else parents need to watch out for: concussions.Concussions are high-impact blows to the head, neck or face which cause temporary rapid-onset neurological impairment as well as possible loss of consciousness. They are some of the most common injuries in football, especially among high-school athletes. In fact, 20% of all high-school football players will suffer at least one concussion over the course ...

Yellow Fever also happens to be Ng'endo's thesis film, made last year, at the  Royal College of Art  in London. It's a short film which continues to travel the film festival circuit, attracting acclaim along the way, and rightfully so. IN HER OWN WORDS "I am interested in the concept of skin and race, and what they imply; in the ideas and theories sown into our flesh that change with the arc of time. I believe skin and the body, are often distorted into a topographical division between reality and illusion. The idea of beauty has become globalised, creating homogenous aspirations, and distorting people’s self-image across the planet. In my film, I focus on African women’s self-image, through memories and interviews; using mixed media to describe this almost schizophrenic self-visualization that I and many others have grown up with."

When Beauty Becomes A Beast And if it pleases the court, our final exhibit. Liam fell asleep one night next to the beautiful young woman we saw in these photos, and woke up to this horned beast. This picture was taken in August 2013, on the red carpet of the MTV VMAs, where Miley rendered a raunchy performance that shall live in infamy.

A mural on Avenue B at 14th Street  in the East Village pays tribute to the victims of 9/11. There was a hole in the city’s skyline after the twin towers of the World Trade Center crashed to the ground in a smoldering mountain of ash and twisted steel on Sept. 11, 2001. To channel a collective grief, New Yorkers across the five boroughs turned to paint, creating commemorative murals to remember the buildings and to honor the thousands of people who lost their lives. Grazyna Choo and her son Kenneth look at this WTC mural on Second Street and Avenue X in Gravesend, Brooklyn. A young child stares at a 9/11 mural on 39th St in Brooklyn.

Party Of One: Tips On Cooking For Yourself Even if you’re not a great cook or live in a dorm room, bachelor apartment, or other accommodation without a full kitchen, you can learn to cook tasty, healthy, and inexpensive meals.  food project #1. was preserving more sour cherries. shayn pitted and washed them, then we added some sugar and let them macerate. once the sugar was dissolved, we froze them in a tub. for some reason, they didn't freeze very quickly, so last night i put some of the cherry sauce over my froyo and it was AMAZING. the longer-term plan for the cherries, if i get final say, is a white chocolate-mascarpone tart, maybe with a graham cracker crust, maybe with an almond crust. but, it's nice being able to take them out and use them at will! food project #2. I made some arugula pesto--arugula, sauteed garlic, almonds, parm, salt, pepper--and discovered the total genius that is the kitchenaid food mill attachment. it makes your pesto this love...

10 Tips to Improve Your Smartphone Photos Make sure you have permission to take a picture. A number of places forbid camera phones . Cell phones are doing more and more these days including doubling as tiny cameras. For many people the camera feature sits unused. Luckily, it is surprisingly easy to take pictures with your phone. Once you have done it you will be snapping images with ease and still taking calls.Whether it be a random, spur-of-the-moment snapshot or well-thought-out compositions, a camera phone is a valuable tool for photography. Often, the most inspiring pictures occur in everyday life when you do not have a standard camera with you. The phone that you are carrying in your pocket can capture those impromptu photo moments when it's impractical or impossible to have your SLR or other camera with you at all times. And, if you know their limitations, it is possible to take great, memorable pictures on your camera...

Station Apologizes to CBS' Julie Chen Comments from a former news director caused her to develop a complex about her Asian heritage, she said. "Officials at WDTN have apologized to talk and reality show host Julie Chen a day after she revealed [that] comments from one of the station's former news directors led to her developing a complex about her Asian heritage that ended in plastic surgery ," Amelia Robinson wrote Thursday for the Dayton Daily News in Ohio. " 'We are sorry to hear about what happened to CBS' Julie Chen in 1995 when she was a reporter at WDTN-TV,' Joe Abouzeid , WDTN and WBDT president and general manager said in a statement. 'The station was under different management and ownership during that time. At WDTN and WBDT, we don't tolerate racism or discrimination of any kind.' " 'It is cold out in the field. I wanted to try to get a seat on the anchor desk so I asked my news director ...

White Moms Raising Black Daughters.  In a piece at MyBrownBaby , Stacey Conner, a white mother, explores the complex social challenges surrounding the grooming of her black daughter's hair, including dealing with comments from classmates, strangers and black and white mothers.   It's a strange no-man's land I find myself in; I fear the judgment of black moms that I meet and dread the questions of white moms. I imagine with anxiety how Saige might feel about it in just a few years. "The kids laughed at my hair today," Saige pipes up at the dinner table.  "They said it sticks up funny." My heart thumps painfully sideways in my chest.  Her hair is done with two ponies on either side of the top of her head. We call the style Mickies, because the deep, thick black balls above her forehead look like Mickey Mouse ears.  The back I left natural to give both Saige and me a break and to let her hair rest.  It looks beautiful when she leaves in t...

In a departure from events a half-century ago, women played a larger role in commemoration of  last months March on Washington."Fifty years ago, women were not up here speaking, but here we are today," Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, told a crowd that contained substantially more women than its predecessor in 1963. Keynote speakers included Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., minority leader of the House of Representatives, and King's daughter, the Rev. Bernice King, who offered a moving final prayer to close the event. Sybrina Fulton, mother of slain black teenager, Trayvon Martin, provided a tribute of her son, and Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain civil rights worker Medgar Evers, also addressed the crowd. During the original event, women such as Rosa Parks and Dorothy Height marched down Independence Avenue, while men walked down Pennsylvania Avenue, where the media congregated. All participants strolled down Ind...

Watch! Janelle Monae talks about "The Electric Lady," making music for "the queer community"  The gorgeous and talented Janelle Monae recently sat down for a chat with NewNowNext to talk about the inspiration for her new CD, The Electric Lady . In the clip above, Monae explains how painting helped her write The Electric Lady and reveals her plan to turn it into a film. She also discusses her “dream collaboration” with Prince and creating a song with  Erykah Badu  for “the underdogs” (which she says includes “the queer community”).

According to the Domestic Violence Research Center , one in four women have experienced physical violence by a partner, and 74 percent of Americans personally know someone who is or has been a victim of domestic violence.

“School Is The Tool To Brainwash The Youth”  Jaden Smith, the teen actor of “Karate Kid” and “After Earth” fame and the son of Will, studies TED Talks and “Aesop’s Fables” with his father , as revealed in a bizarre New York magazine interview about the pair’s pursuit of higher wisdom earlier this summer. Will: [Mimicking] “So how do you think your life is similar or un-similar to people’s names in Calabasas?” For our family, the entire structure of our life, our home , our business relationships—the entire purpose is for everyone to be able to create in a way that makes them happy. Fame is almost an inconsequential by-product of what we’re really trying to accomplish. We are trying to put great things into the world, we’re trying to have fun, and we’re trying to become the greatest versions of ourselves in the process of doing things we love. So the idea of fame or exploitation or orchestrating the media is sometimes even less than desirable for us. The father-so...

m.a.m.a. earth Presents In this workshop, Holistic Health Counselor, dancer, performer, artist and art educator, Erika Elizondo, will teach you the top ten lifestyle changes you can make to strengthen your liver and optimize your quality of life and health. Let's celebrate the things we've learned from our mothers and grandmothers and get inspired about wellness. Make your own healing tea to take home!

7 in 10 girls believe that they are not good enough or don’t measure up in some way, including their looks, performance in school and relationships with friends and family members.   A girl’s self-esteem is more strongly related to how she views her own body shape and body weight, than how much she actually weighs.  38 percent of boys in middle school and high school reported using protein supplements and nearly 6 percent admitted to experimenting with steroids. The top wish among all teen girls is for their parents to communicate better with them. This includes frequent and more open conversations. Teen girls that have a negative view of themselves are four times more likely to take part in activities with boys that they’ve ended up regretting later. About 20 percent of teens will experience depression before they reach adulthood. 75 percent of girls with low self-esteem reported engaging in negative activities like cutting, bullying, smoking, drinkin...

The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in their teaching.Sharing ideas is a critical part of all great teaching, and now the Library of Congress has a new tool for exchanging ideas with the nation’s K-12 teachers: @TeachingLC, its new Twitter feed for educators.

Under-18 Models and the Law: Understanding the New Legislation