Miss Representation

A few months ago I posted the trailer for Miss Representation -- here it is again (at the bottom of this post) with multiple opportunities to see the whole thing:

MISS REPRESENTATION 

Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Miss Representationis written and directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom and exposes how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America. The film challenges the media's limited and often disparaging portrayals of women and girls, which make it difficult for women to achieve leadership positions and for the average woman to feel powerful herself. The film had its broadcast premiere on OWN Oprah Winfrey Network in October 2011.

For more information about the film and the national campaign to influence media which has arisen out if it, visit www.missrepresentation.org. 

PORTLAND INFO: 

Smith College Club of Maine hosts screening of

Miss Representation

Sunday, January 29, 2:00 PM

Catherine McAuley High School

631 Stevens Ave., Portland

Though the screening is being offered to students free of charge, a suggested donation of $5 is being collected. (see poster here)For more information about the screening, please contact Rebecca Rundquist at rebquist@hotmail.com or at (207) 712-6430.

FREEPORT INFO : 1/30 @ 6:30PM 

Freeport Performing Arts Center http://www.maineboystomen.org/event/miss-representation/

Outing Club Link

The eventbrite registration link has been fixed on the outing club page -- if you want to bookmark it, it is http://www.outingclubspring2012.eventbrite.com  

Also, please remember to distribute Clynk Bags to support OC (and buy snowshoes for the school!) -- Bags are in Jessica's office and can be given to friends and relations, placed conveniently at work, etc. etc.  The tag is already on the bag - once full, it gets dropped off at a Hannaford Clynk site and money is magically sent to FSP!

Links and More Links

I had a few tech problems last week and some links have built up :

From Helen - a wonderful NYT article about the importance of solitude for problem solving and the bleed from "collaboration" to "group think."  The author has a book coming out about introverts - I'm looking forward to reading it.

From Audra : Disney Princesses vs. Miyazaki  -- Kiki's Delivery Service is one of my favorite movies, but GeekDad lays out even more reasons to vote Miyazaki... Maybe we can have a FSP trip to see his newest movie, a take on the Borrowers, the February.

From Leisa :  In Smaller Voices,  I Have A Dream  - despite MLK-day behind us, the message is so powerful and worth listening to more than once!

From Kim :  An interesting article about how some STEM programs designed to pull girls in are having an opposite effect.

Arts Fest Extraordinaire

While Maya captured my happiness on film, the arts festival has prompted a longer and deeper sense of wonder in me.  Watching kids engage so deeply in a collaborative process that yielded such profound pieces in such a short time was just incredible.  The queries that arose from their work were really sophisticated:

• What is it to capture someone's image - what does it mean to represent someone else? 
• What is it to "have come from different boats, but all be in the same boat now?"
• What is it to honor and celebrate individual differences, and unique individual gifts, but still maintain equal opportunity (and how do we decide which gifts are most valuable in a community?) 
• What are our deepest questions for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr?  What are our questions for each other about maintaining his vision for equality and peace and nonviolence? 
• What does "Equality" really mean to us? 

The use of the arts to explore these questions was so fabulous and I hope the conversation goes on for a long time. 

For me, it was followed up by listening to Bill McKibbon on Friday night. I am hoping I can convince Bethany to write a guest post - she could summarize much better than I can - but the take away for me is that we (adults) need to try some art activism ourselves, and really commit to creating political change by influencing others about our deepest commitment to equality and a healthy planet. 

Kim in Wonderland...

MLK week + visiting artists + conga line = 1 happy Kim!

Cracking Teenagers' Online Codes

As follow-up to our forum about our kids' technology use, and as a precursor to our spring kid/parent forum on technology, here's an article that Mary sent me about Danah Boyd, a GenX Micorsoft researcher with a different perspective.

Portland Performing Arts Festival

A brand new Performing Arts Festival is being planned for this summer :

June 28 - July 1, 2012

Four days, nine performances.
Artists from Maine and around the nation.
Portland's newest reason to shine.


JOIN US

Portland Performing Arts Festival
Public Announcement and Open House
Friday, Jan. 20, 5pm - 7pm
Rines Auditorium, Portland Public Library

Writing Contests

There are 3 kids writing contests swirling about right now:

Telling Room  Maine Magazine : Searching for Maine, Searching for ME   (due March 7th / Middle School)

Flower Show : Use Your Imagination to Describe In Detail A  Celebration You Would Plan Outdoors -- all ages due Feb 16

Cornerstones for Science Read Write Win :  http://cornerstonesofscience.org/readwritewin-teens.aspx#rww2012    Grades 3 & up Due  March

Event tomorrow @ PPL

Come hear McKay Jenkins!
This Wednesday, January 11th, 12:00 PM
Part of the Brown Bag Lunch Series at the
Portland Public Library, Rines Auditorium

It's very appropriate that Jenkins is making this presentation in Maine. He focused some of his research here, where 16 Mainers had participated in our Body of Evidence study to determine the levels of toxic chemicals in their own bodies - with startling results. 

We also think January is a great month for Jenkins to visit Maine. This is the first month that the ban on the toxic chemical BPA goes into effect for any baby bottles, sippy cups, and reusable containers sold statewide.

Jenkins' work is a great call to action for us to build on our progress and continue working to remove harmful toxic chemicals from our every day products. So get involved!

2012 resolution : Try A New Food