Photographs by Joanna Lipper, Woodhull Fellow
as posted in http://socialdocumentary.net/

Joanna Lipper traveled to Zanzibar in the summer of 2009 to photograph women of diverse religious, ethnic, and economic backgrounds in both urban and rural settings. She visited Jambiani, a rural village on the east coast of Unguja where women work as seaweed farmers.  Zanzibar lacks the large-scale infrastructure and hardware needed to process seaweed and extract valuable algae. Therefore the raw materials are shipped abroad. Without microfinance loans, improved education, and community organization amongst laborers, seaweed farming as a cash-generating, economically empowering occupation for rural village women, runs the risk of becoming obsolete in Zanzibar.

Click here to view the exhibit.

By Molly Castelloe Fong, Ph.D. (Woodhull Alumna)

originally posted to PysychologyToday.com in “The Me in We”

Warner Brother’s recent Invictus tells the story of the most consequential game of rugby in history, South Africa’s defeat of New Zealand in the 1995 World Cup. The movie, starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela, also gives us a lens for viewing the potential of alternative diplomacy.

Rugby had been a White man’s game, a symbol of the oppressive apartheid regime. The South African rugby team, the Springboks (gazelles), was all Afrikaners except for one Black. Yet President Nelson Mandela seized the event as an opportunity to unite a newly-founded nation.

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Statement by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, on the 30^th Anniversary of the Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), December 18, 2009

Originally posted to United States Mission to the United Nations, USUN

Thirty years ago today, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).   The Obama Administration strongly supports this landmark treaty, and is committed to United States ratification.

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By Zanade Mann, (Woodhull Alumna)

1) Create an Action Plan
Write down how many networking events you want to attend each month and cross out each one you do. Keeping a detailed list will help you stay focused. Aim for two events a month.

2) Start a Virtual Group
Event planning through social networking like Facebook or Meetup.com is a great, easy way to get a group together. So start a group that lists events going on in your area, or locate a one related to an event and network online before the actual meeting. continue

By Leeat Graneck, (Woodhull Alumna)

-       One act of kindness – random or not – tiny or big — for someone you know or a stranger. For example, spend an extra minute in the hallway to ask someone how they are doing AND wait for their response; let someone cut in front of you on the road; tell someone they are wonderful; express every inclination you have towards affection and nurture. Yes. Every. Single. One. continue

By Beth Fiteni, Environmental Health Advocate, (Woodhull Alumna) as posted in Newsday, November 25, 2009.

I never look forward to Thanksgiving.   Not because my family gatherings are unpleasant, or because I am unpatriotic, but because of what Thanksgiving has come to symbolize: overindulgence, without much thought of consequences.  In a time when more of us are thinking about our impact on the planet, it’s time to re-evaluate how we celebrate this holiday.

Everyone likes to think that Thanksgiving turkeys live in bucolic conditions, but the realities of big-business agriculture in the United States contradict that image.   Some of us may not care if the way our food was produced has negative consequences, but what was Thanksgiving originally supposed to mean?

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By Madeline Wheeler (Woodhull Alumna), as posted in the Huffington Post on November 16, 2009.

When asked to come up with a list of the top 10 books for 2009 to counter Publisher’s Weekly all male Top Ten Best Books of 2009, our group of over 5000 women writers at She Writes decided not to make a list. What point could be made by making a top 10 female authors list? Virginia Woolf posited that great artists are androgynous. It is hard to believe the claim that PW was dismayed that their list turned up all male. There isn’t anything new about a top 10 list — they’re fun — but can they effect change? A controversial top 10 … well, that’s something. continue

Originally posted to Sassy Women Online

by Eva C. Haldane (Woodhull Alumna)

This weekend I had the opportunity to attend Woodhull’s Young Women’s Ethical Leadership Retreat.  It couldn’t have come at a better time.  In my life I’m still adjusting to my transition from full time employee to full time student, a different apartment and roommate and all my own personal issues.  It came after I did something that wasn’t too ethical and was beating myself up over it and getting beat up over it by the person I did it to.  In short, I was kind of a mess.  I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect,  but Leah and my aunt had both told me it would change my life.  I was looking for a change and so I went open minded. continue

by Leeat Granek, (Woodhull Alumna)

(Original version and discussion available on The Huffington Post here)

Photo: HooverFamilyPhotos, Flickr

I recently read a book that changed my life.

The Highly Intuitive Child by Catherine Crawford explained me to myself in ways that 11 years in university, a PhD in Psychology, and two years working in the profession failed to do.

In this short book, Crawford describes a certain kind of kid who is especially sensitive, especially intuitive, and especially empathic and who teaches parents how to nurture and care for them in a world that makes them feel they are crazy, “too sensitive,” or just plain old weird.

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