Archives for 2015

A Social Media Helpline for Schools: I Can Helpline

May 19, 2015 Once upon a time, call-in centers were helpful first responders to direct levels of care, staffed with human specialists not robots, touch tone prompts, and layered redirected voicemails entangled like spaghetti.In a throwback to an era of personal, customized approaches to dilemmas, the newly proposed social media hotline  for schools, called I Can Helpline.org, … [Read more...]

I Am Elemental: Superheroes Strike A Pitch Perfect Toy Tenor

May 11, 2015 With superheroes crushing box office numbers with Hulk style force and toy merchandisers frantically scrambling to address market demand for sheroes deleted from mass media like an invisibly evil comic book spell, hashtags like #IncludeTheGirls are trumpeting a Herculean reminder that the new era of girls dubbed “Generation K” for Katniss will NOT be dissed and … [Read more...]

Strong Is The New Pretty: Interview with Kate T. Parker

April 30, 2015 Adamant as I am about shifting appearance cues in the media towards a "whole person" lens, it's no surprise I was thrilled to hear photographer Kate T. Parker's catchphrase, "Strong is the new pretty" was not only commanding my own teen daughter's attention on Instagram, or that of my colleagues in our Brave Girls Alliance,  but that her hit photo series was … [Read more...]

Positive Picks! Progress in Upending Gender Stereotypes

May 29, 2015 Update Check out the all new Kickstarter from Gecko Clothing featuring "funky, ethical, organic, unisex" clothes crowdsourcing both the design and the funding!  There's a strong sense of urgency with this adorable selection of togs, as this startup has an "all or nothing" timer on their crowdfunding so if you want it to see the light of day in the … [Read more...]

Selma March: The Power of Empathy, Storytelling

Mar. 7, 2015 Selma March, 50 years later, commemoration of Bloody Sunday. #Selma50Anyone who has seen the movie "Selma" knows the split second power of media storytelling to jolt viewers into a visceral, emotional sidewinder.The teens on either side of me were wide-eyed, visibly shaken, and riveted as the dialogue shifted from children playfully bantering about hairstyles to … [Read more...]