Follow Your Dreams.

This sounds rather simple, and the truth: IT IS.  Today we all are running around at nine million miles an hour constantly doing things we think are SO important and meaningful, when in reality if we stopped, slowed down and focused on one thing at a time we would be able to see the bigger picture.


"The essence of leadership is being able to see the ice burg before it hits the Titanic." Huffington says in this talk.

She's right!  By constantly pushing our bodies to the brink every day we begin to literally walk around like the living dead.  Being a zombi gets you nowhere accept blown apart by Bruce Campbell's Boom-stick.

Not to mention dreams.  Living in constant reality does not give the body time dream and dreams are extremely important.  Through dreams humans are able to grasp beyond everyday  life and imagine the unimaginable.  People learn what they are to live for, what they want to strive for and most importantly they learn who they want to become.  I believe Arianna Huffington merely scratched the surface with this issue.  It is only through our dreams that we are able to conceptualize what we want our world to become.

I feel there is no better way to end my 30 days than on a note about dreams.  I have so many for this blog, and for my own future.  Without a doubt this challenge has enriched my experiences and given me entirely new perspectives on things I never would have heard about otherwise.  I am proud to say that I have completed this challenge and look forward to passing the blog off to the next student.

Best wishes! And don't forget to Dream big!

Chelsey L. Hughes

The Color Purple's Alice Walker

Considering there are only a few days left in March and we are yet honor just one truly fantastic woman, I feel now is the perfect time.   Her name is Alice Walker, and she is most notably known for writing the novel The Color Purple.

[Produced into a movie by Steven Spielberg in 1985, staring Danny Glover, Whoppi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey to name a few, then later created into a Tony Award winning Broadway hit also produced by Oprah Winfrey, which will be playing at the Huntington Keith-Albee Theatre this Friday April 1, 8:00 PM in case you haven't seen this masterpiece].  





 Alice Walker accomplished much more than writing Pulitzer prize winning novels and having them be turned into plays.  According to About.com's bibliography: "She was the eighth child of Georgia sharecroppers.  After a childhood accident blinded her in one eye she went on to become valedictorian of her local school, and attend Spelman College and Sarah Lawrence College on scholarships, graduating in 1965.  


Alice Walker volunteered in the voter registration drives of the 1960s in Georgia, and went to work after college in the Welfare Department in New York City.


Alice Walker married in 1967 (and divorced in 1976). Her first book of poems came out in 1968 and her first novel just after her daughter's birth in 1970.


Alice Walker's early poems, novels and short stories dealt with themes familiar to readers of her later works: rape, violence, isolation, troubled relationships, multi-generational perspectives, sexism and racism.


When The Color Purple came out in 1982, Walker became known to an even wider audience. Her Pulitzer Prize and the movie by Steven Spielberg brought both fame and controversy. She was widely criticized for negative portrayals of men in The Color Purple, though many critics admitted that the movie presented more simplistic negative pictures than the book's more nuanced portrayals.

Walker also published a biography of the poet, Langston Hughes, and worked to recover and

publicize the nearly-lost works of writer Zora Neale Hurston. She's credited with introducing the word "womanist" for African American feminism.

From left: The ninth President of The City College of New York, Bernard Harleston; Dennis Brutus, Paule Marshall, and Alice Walker at the 1988 Langston Hughes Festival at CCNY. Source: The City College of New York Archives. 

In 1989 and 1992, in two books, The Temple of My Familiar and Possessing the Secret of Joy, Walker took on the issue of female circumcision in Africa, which brought further controversy: was Walker a cultural imperialist to criticize a different culture?


Her works are known for their portrayals of the African American woman's life. She depicts vividly the sexism, racism and poverty that make that life often a struggle. But she also portrays as part of that life, the strengths of family, community, self-worth, and spirituality.


Many of her novels depict women in other periods of history than our own. Just as with non-fiction women's history writing, such portrayals give a sense of the differences and similarities of women's condition today and in that other time.


Alice Walker continues not only to write, but to be active in environmental, feminist/womanist causes, and issues of economic justice."


Again thanks to About.com for the bio.  


Looking for more by Alice Walker:

Alice Walker Bibliography:

• In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women. Alice Walker, Trade Paperback, 1974 (reprint).
• I Love Myself When I Am Laughing...& Then Again When I Am Looking Mean & Impressive: A Zora Neale Hurston Reader. Zora Neale Hurston; Alice Walker, editor. Trade Paperback, 1979.
• The Color Purple: Alice Walker. Trade Paperback, 1998 (originally 1982).
• In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose: Alice Walker, Trade Paperback, 1984 (originally 1983).
• Good Night, Willie Lee, I'll See You in the Morning: Poems: Alice Walker, Trade Paperback, 1984.
• Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful: Poems: Alice Walker, Trade Paperback, 1986.
• Living by the Word: Selected Writings, 1973-1987: Alice Walker, Trade Paperback, 1989 (originally 1988).
• The Temple of My Familiar: Alice Walker, Trade Paperback, 1997 (originally 1989).
• Possessing the Secret of Joy: Alice Walker (editor: Bill Grose), Paperback, 1993 (originally 1992).
• Alice Walker & Zora Neale Hurston: The Common Bond: Lillie P. Howard, Contributions in Afro-American & African Series #163 (1993)
• Her Blue Body Everything We Know: Earthling Poems, 1965-1990 Complete: Alice Walker, Trade Paperback, 1993.
• Same River Twice: Honoring the Difficult: A Meditation on Life, Spirit, Art & the Making of the Film, The Color Purple, Ten Years Later: Alice Walker, 1997 (originally 1996).
• Alice Walker Banned: The Banned Works: Alice Walker, edited and with commentary by Patricia Holt, Hardcover, 1996. Includes Walker's short stories "Roselily" and "Am I Blue?", plus the opening of The Color Purple, and raises questions of censorship.
• Anything We Love Can Be Saved: A Writer's Activism: Essays, Speeches, Statements and Letters. Alice Walker, Hardcover, 1997. Also Paperback.
• By the Light of My Father's Smile: A Novel: Alice Walker, Trade Paperback, 1999.
• Alice Walker: An Annotated Bibliography: Erma D. Banks and Keith Byerman, Hardcover, 1989.
• Alice Walker: Harold Bloom, editor. Library Binding, January 1990. Critical essays on The Color Purple and other works by Alice Walker.
• Alice Walker Bibliographies on the Web

Sexy Sucker Punch

"From the very first frames of the film, "Sucker Punch" rejects reality," says film reviewer Drew McWeeny. The opening literally allows the audience to walk on to Director Zack Snyders stage and into the life of Baby Doll (Emily Browning's) worst day ever.  In a movie about freeing yourself from the chains of your own personal misfortune never have I enjoyed a ride more.  


This film is a perfect lesson to artists and designers everywhere.  It seems to be that ever shot, every costume, every cheesed up slogan and run down insane asylum room was specifically chosen.  Often I would wonder... "Did they go too far?  What's the point? I mean a dragon?  A pink bunny?"  Then I realized "Hell.  No."  This movie is the very definition of "Bad Ass".  Everything used in this film DOES have a purpose.  Looks, sounds, emotions all tie in together to create climax and pitfalls at ever turn.  Most reviews of this film have been poor and I am starting to wonder... did they even watch it?  This film is about breaking all the rules thus with that choice, making completely new ones. From naming the brunet "Blondie" to the opening number with Echo's version of Cher's "Sweet Dreams" ever frame that is shown hits like a perfectly timed music video. 


The characters in this film do have lots of lose ends, but that's part of their charm.  I don't know who walks into a facility for the mentally insane and thinks they're going to be able to understand the intricacies of those who are found there.  Like the two sisters "Rocket" and "Sweet Pea" who somehow end up behind the walls after Rocket ran away from home.  Also, in the image to the left Rocket is standing among a toy train set with a needle (which I have no clue what that's alluding to) along with her outfit.  It's the not knowing that makes this film.  I also love the lack of actual names given to the characters, it's nice to see something different. The film feels so much like a graphic novel that just sprung off the page but the story was never written previously (unlike Snyder's previous films "300" and "Watchmen").  


Another aspect in this movie: sexuality.  It's everywhere.  The costumes especially, but these chicks are just down right hot, independent women who know how to get the job done.  Ladies you're crazy if you wouldn't want to be them, men you're lying if you say you don't want them.   


Yes, this movie does take some effort to watch.  Rolling along the lines of Christopher Nolan's Inception by allowing the "theatre of the mind" to take over.  The story line dwells within three different realities.  The best part: realities within realities leaves the story open for so much interpretation.  Does death ever really even happen? How do you know when you're actually alive? 


No matter what you think of this film, get it or not you can not deny it is hands down a feast for the senses.  

The Washing Machine, Best Invention EVER!

This is a change to learn something.  The washing machine used so heavily by your mother, your grandmother and the women before them is quite possibly the greatest invention to come from the industrial revolution, or at least that's how Hans Rosling feels.  The cool thing I liked about this talk was how interactive the washing machine was.  By placing a human inside and having them hand out things the machine honestly came to life on stage.  This talk is something that should be seen as a great way subtly implement drama into public speaking.  Among all Rosling's good points were hidden gems of surprise and captivation through live movement.

Note:  I find it interesting that this TedTalk is found under TedWomen... A man speaks for this talk and yet for some reason... only women do laundry?  I don't know how I feel about this.  I feel men are perfectly capable of handling laundering and although I almost always love everything that comes from TED this was questionable on basis of being sexist?  Or was it?  Hmmm I'm not sure.  Either way Rosling does make a good point and the drama behind his plea is worth watching.

Paris, Prison, Puppies

Advertising Agency: DDB, New Zealand
Copywriter: Martin Brown, Bridget Short
Art Director: Darran Wong Kam, Pete Thompson

Ok, yes Paris Hilton may not be role model of the year, nor anything about her something worth following, BUT...look at this ad.  Old new yes, but I'd never see this before.  I find it amazingly well done.  For a broadcast story to have an image like this selling I believe is very powerful.

Take a look at this photo, Paris isn't really even in it.  Sure, she looks terrified in her reflection, but the who thing driving the eye in the ad is the look on the little dog's face.  I believe using the dog and the set up of this entire image gives a slightly fun feel to a seriously not so fun situation that one of America's royals (like it or not) found herself in.  By putting the image in first person audiences, even if for a brief second are allowed to be in Paris' shoes, but again the little puppy allows them to see that, well none of it can be too terrible.

Case it point.  This ad totally sells to the story. Thoughts?

Lung Cancer; a Fashion Faux Pas

Agencey: Foote, Cone & Belding; Singapore


Well, what do we think?  First of all I do believe without doing any further research or wondering, its easy to get what's going on here.  Models, from what I gather, have a tendency for not the healthiest of lifestyles.  Personally, I know plenty of actors and show-biz type folks who would agree smoking does keep the weight off.  In fact I had one professor in class tell me, "Ya the 80s were all about the super-model diet -- cigarets and a Diet Coke."

Honestly, I really enjoy these.  Unfortunately I could not find the text for the smaller copy in these ads, but I don't really think it is necessary.  If I had to guess I would say it just elaborates on the effects of Lung Caner in women.  Which unless you've been living ten miles underground for the last 70 years I'd say you already know.  I believe FCB is aiming at the high fashion, high pressure and high vanity industry.

Think in your life who is smoking?  Why?  It doesn't matter if they admit it or not I would bet $500,000 house in the Grand Caimans that deep down somewhere they feel just tad bit "cooler" when sitting around outside, in a bar or a local coffee shop with their empowering, confidence boosting cig in hand.  It's like you're part of this elite, unspoken brotherhood or something.

That's what these ads get at, trying to show that, while smoking may be leading to some cool things now...really you could be the most attractive person in the world... it means nothing if your dead.  My major critique would have to be the women look too beautiful.  They are taking away from the point.  Zombify them up a even more and have the fashion be he only "pretty" thing worth looking at. All the same the ads do justice to their point.

Elizabeth Taylor, Empowering Legend

The world will forever remember Elizabeth Taylor as a house hold beauty, a name and a face that  harkens back to classic Hollywood.  She be a definition of grace and elegance but what about Liz Taylor -- one of the greatest PR women of all time:

Taylor fought many battles but one of her first, and most successful was battle she raged against AIDs.  Even before President Reagan Elisabeth Taylor was raging war on this disease. In the following article from Good.is learn more about the woman behind the grace.  She truly was an inspiring and influential woman: 

Remember: Elizabeth Taylor Fought AIDS Before Even President Reagan

While many are marking Elizabeth Taylor's passing today by pointing out her great beauty or talent as an actor, we here at GOOD would be remiss if we didn't note the tremendous strides Taylor made in the fight against AIDS.

While then President Reagan remained shamefully mum at the outset of America's AIDS crisis—which is 30 years old this year—Taylor partnered with Dr. Michael Gottlieb and others to form the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR). With that organization as her lifelong platform, Taylor raised awareness of AIDS like no one before her—and also raised more than $100 million to combat the disease.

In 1987, Taylor, then the national chairwoman of amfAR, was even able to get Reagan to break his silence on AIDS by speaking at that year's annual fundraising dinner. "I am writing from my heart to ask if you both would attend the dinner," she wrote in a letter to Ronald and Nancy Reagan prior to the event, "and if you, Mr. President, would give the keynote speech." Reagan gave the speech—six years too late, of course—and Reagan's speechwriter would later admit that the Gipper might have begged off had it not been for Taylor's personal appeal.

By the time Reagan gave that speech, 40,000 Americans had already diedof AIDS. Shudder to think how long he'd have ignored those thousands passed had it not been for Elizabeth Taylor.

[Article from: www.good.is]

Looking for more?  Watch this video obituary from SkyNews:

1, Adidas Women's World Cup - China vs USA commercial

This. Is. Amazing.  

No but seriously there really were no words the first time I saw this ad.  Even though it's from 2003, when I first watched it the only thing I could physically do was let my jaw hang open and catch flies.  Why?  You know the answer yourself if you think about it.

Single shots, following a single item, the soccer ball with a single word to focus on -- Adidas. What makes it cool? Lots of them :D and they are so perfectly in sync!  It's just down right impressive in a crazy super-hero-soccer-woman kind of way!  Normal people don't do this. Hence, why we watch the FIFA World Cup.  Something else this ad does well is NOT play down women's sports.  If anything the commercial works to make the women more hard-core than the men, and that is an encouraging thing.

The ad was designed by Adidas to play up the rivalry between USA and China, and how could it not?  If a chinese soccer team showed up for morning practice on the front lawn of your hotel...what would you do? Although, I still feel the ad stays pretty balanced when it comes to the intimidation factor.  While the Chinese women are looking seriously intense with their strict discipline and uniformity, you can just feel the confidence exploding from the American side. It's American women, they're eyes are telling you, "We don't do uniform.  We never have.  We're not impressed. Now, let's play."

The goal was to create commercial that shows off a product, meanwhile capitalizing on the rivalry that exists between two nations.  Consider this challenge, complete.

I just really want to watch the game now!  

2, Levi's Jeans

 Ok, so what does this commercial say?  It speaks out to ever little girl who has turned into a sexy woman and still wants a pony (aka me!). I love this because the target market is going after a very nice niche of women.  Excited, young, woman who feel they can do anything and their jeans need to be able to keep up!  Way to rock it out Levi!

What is this commercial lacking?  How about the fact that it's a little random?  Agreed.  Thoughts?

3 Pantene, You Can Shine.

So this commercial may not be english, but it should be.  What if you were def, but you really wanted to learn to play the violin? Ok so what if you were def and mute?  Of course everyone in the world would be telling you how you will be doing nothing but becoming a failure, right?  Now, against all odds, you and your fabulous hair have taken the work by shock and done it!  This ad from Thailand acts on that little thing in a girls brain that tells her when she's looking good and feeling good, she can do anything.

Too often I feel advertisers see that as weakness in women and strike out to take advantage of them, but not here.  In this case it's made into a four minuet cinematic inspiration.

Pantene, You Can Shine.

4, GIRLS from Harvard Invent a Soccer that Captures Energy with Every Kick.

... Oh.  My.  God.  This ad is more of an infomercial for the most amazing thing I've ever seen and I'm in love.  For every fifteen minuets of play a simple, round, soccer ball can power an LED light for up to three hours... THREE HOURS!!!  When  you couple this with the fact that 25% of the world's children do not have electricity, but nearly every one of them plays soccer... that's what I call seeing a problem and creating a solution.

The women created this ball as a renewable energy for children in developing countries. The ad from sOccet showcases an invention with revolutionary potential for the developing world; its tone matches the excitement and tremendous power of the simple idea it features. If you'll notice the splice-like nature of the shots, combined with jumps in segments works create the experience of an electrical short, meanwhile showcasing the ordinary, subtle product the entire time. Not to mention it was the brains of 4 women who put it together?!  Way to go ladies!

Article from Popular Mechanics:
The Soccer Ball That Makes Electricity During the Game


The Brilliant Idea: A soccer ball that can power an LED light, providing clean energy in developing countries.

BY LOGAN WARD AND THE EDITORS OF POPULAR MECHANICS

September 29, 2010 6:30 AM

Julia Silverman, Jessica Lin and Jessica Matthews

Photograph by Nick Ruechel

Small-scale, hand-cranked generators that power lights and radios are practical in places where there’s no electricity. But they’re not a whole lot of fun. Four undergraduate students at Harvard University decided to harvest the kinetic energy of soccer, the world’s most popular sport, instead. After just 15 minutes of play, their sOccket ball could provide families in sub-Saharan Africa—where less than 25 percent of the population has access to reliable electricity—with 3 hours of LED light, a clean, efficient alternative to kerosene lamps. 

The mechanics are straightforward: When the sOccket rolls, a magnetic slug slides back and forth inside an inductive coil in the ball, generating 

power that is stored in a capacitor. Field-tested in South Africa during the World Cup, sOccket 2.0 has an embedded DC jack and weighs only 5 ounces more than a FIFA-regulated ball. A future version should hold enough juice—3.7 volts at a capacity of 600 milliamps per hour—to charge a basic cellphone. The women partnered with a manufacturer in Cape Town and hope to subsidize developing-world discounts with sales in the U.S. 

Still want to know more about how it works? Check out one of the developers and see her story on where the ideas came from.  You may be surprised to learn none of them were engineers. 

Number 6, Target Kaleidoscopic Fashion Spectacular

Everyone knows Target to be this ordinary discount clothing brand, but what about when they take women, fashion and stop outside the runway into the box rather than out of it?  This astonishing and beautifully executed live fashion show is simply mesmerizing to me along with the  thousands who gathered to watch on the streets below. An ingenious way to promote a product, while engaging viewers in a tangible experience.

Target Kaleidoscopic Fashion Spectacular in New York City, was a collaboration between advertising agency Mother New York and media production company Legs Media. 

According to a journalists Laura Neilson, "The 20 minute-long light show extravaganza featured dancers and models grooving in the window frames of various rooms, illuminated intermittently by colored flashes synched to original music written by Sam Spiegel (also known as Squeak E. Clean of N.A.S.A.). The event was intended as a celebration of the mega-retailer's fall 2010 fashion lineup, although we took the term "fashion show" pretty loosely, choosing to focus more on the "show" than the fashion. Truthfully, it was pretty hard to even  notice the clothes given all the other sensational visuals.

Serendipitously, Target couldn't have chosen a better night for such an audio-visual blowout. The sunset was breathtaking, and far more than the red carpet turnout, which included Nina Garcia, Penn Badgley, Mary-Louise Parker, and a few gals from The City, it provided the perfect overture for the night's performance."

Number 8, Satisfaction the granny remake for EqualPayday

Watch and think.

Although a tad bit on the long side, I am very thankful to my good friend Neil Garton from Morgantown, WV for posting this.  It's amazing what this ad is saying.  We are forcing our women to work until their grannie-hood, by paying them so little. Thanks to all the bums jiggling, and teeth licking imagery the audience visualizes (maybe in an slightly exaggerated way) what it's like to work into your late 60s.  I realize my friend posted this out of possibly just entertainment, but that's what I like even more.  

Real issues have become pure entertainment.  

Hurrah!!! Ads doing what you were created to do. 

Text Reads "The less you earn the longer you work."

About Equal Pay Day:

Equal Payday is a worldwide organization that pleads for equal pay for women. The 

campaign is a Belgian initiative by the organization ‘zij-kant’ (her-side), the progressive 

women’s movement in Flanders, Belgium. 

On average, women earn 23% less than men and this inequality is brought to mind every 

year at the end of March, because women have to work a year and 3 months (till March) to 

earn as much as men do in a year.

The idea behind this year’s campaign is that ‘getting paid less equals having to work longer’.

Advertising agency Mortierbrigade has come up with a striking campaign: a remake of the 

world famous Benny Benassi video ‘Satisfaction’. In the original video you see sexy young 

women handle power tools in a highly sensual way. In the new video the babes have 

become old women who are still doing the same work. Every one of them old grannies 

around 60 years old who still have to give their best. 

Jens Mortier of mortierbrigade: “‘Satisfaction’ is one of the most famous videos in the world. 

Many parodies have been made, but no one has ever done this for a real advertiser, and to 

address a real problem. The video is the perfect setting to symbolize women who have to 

work too long. Benny Benassi himself gave his blessing to use both music and video.”

Vera Claes of zij-kant: “With this campaign we’re looking to reach young people, because 

the sooner they are made aware of this injustice, the sooner they can do something about it. 

Which is all the more urgent, as your current pay determines your pension. This remake was 

the ideal way to do that.”

I believe they've done it. :)

PS just for your information TEDs top 10 has been revamped to Chelsey Hughes' Top 10 :D

Number 9, Nike's "The Girl Effect".

My number nine in Teds 10 ads worth watching:





"This ad uses animation brilliantly to make clear the benefits of investing in a single worthy cause. It sheds light -- and hope -- on one of the most overlooked, yet promising, assets on this planet: 12-year-old girls."- TEDtalk


For those of you who still think Nike is up to no good, try this one one for size.  Nike's three minuet long kinetic type video launches their idea for, "The Girl Effect".  The interesting thing, they don't even say their name in the commercial.  I find it amazing that company with a pretty poor PR rep wouldn't plaster themselves all over this, yet they do not.  maybe that's supposed to be the idea?

While this is an awesome example of kinetic type, I feel this ad could stop about 2 min in, but it keeps going.  I feel it becomes almost too overstated yet the point is made.  Young girls need our help.

Watch and let me know what YOU think...

Teds 10 Ads Worth Spreading

According to the website Alltop, "The folks behind TED believe the online advertising trend that has brought an onslaught of obnoxious, in-your-face ads to our computer screens has caused more annoyance than anything else. To combat this irritating trend, TED has selected ten ads that “tell a story, share an idea, make an authentic human connection, become unforgettable.” The 2-5 minute spots may run longer than the usual 30 second commercials seen on television, but their form of intelligent engagement makes them worth watching."

Thus, for the next 10 days I have chosen to focus on 10 ads (chosen by TedTALKS) worth spreading.  At first I thought, eh lets cram them all into one day, then I watched the ads.  They are so mind blowing that  they could not truly have their due if smashed all together.  

And so, today I give you # 10:

Nokia

The World’s Smallest Stop-motion Character Animation

So what makes this ad so amazing, the people at TED say, "We love how this ad brings showcase and entertainment together, demonstrating a new smartphone's imaging capabilities through a magical, microscopic animation. (Fun fact: this ad holds a Guinness World Record as the smallest stop-motion animated film.)"

Spice Up Your Life.

Spice Girls - Giving You Everything Part 1 (see the rest on youtube).

Tonight we pay homage to one of the top selling bands of all time: The Spice Girls!  What is it about this group that made them so amazing?  They catered to everyone!  Baby Spice, Ginger Spice, Sporty Spice, Posh Spice and Scary Spice, no matter what every woman found a way to fit in somewhere.  The lifespan of the Spice Girls is something to this day fans would sell a kidney for just to see a reunion tour.  But how did they become this crazy mega pop sensation? What reeled people into loving platform shoes and peace signs?

Honestly, even after watching their documentary on youtube, I don't have much of an answer and I think that's what is fantastic.  Here is a pop singing sensation that is about one thing, "Girl Power".  No one knew when they first started to preach their message if they were going to fail or make it, and these days the odds of making it are about as slim as the space between peanut butter and jelly on a sandwich... nonexistent.  Yet, the cosmos came together and poored in just the right combination of things to equal TA-DA! Success!

I feel like if there was a way to figure out the exact combinations though, then advertising wouldn't be nearly as fun or exciting.  Having that risk of failure is something not everyone on this planet can handle, and while I'm sure the Big Man Upstairs would like a guarantee of a profit, the risk of failure definitely allows for growth in a person and a company.

Here's to the Spice Girls, to their success and GIRL POWER!

Sometimes You just Really Need a Little Mad Housewife.

There's just something about it.  Something about the sound of the cork as it "pops" from the bottle.  Something about the first sweet smell as it touches your nose.  Something about the thrill of your taste buds as a perfectly chilled liquid touches your lips.  Ah, shoulders relax.  Tensions of the week melt away like ice in the summer sun. When I look down to read the side of my freshly popped cork it tells me, "This IS what's for dinner honey."  Yes, my weekend has started.

What is all this lavish luxury I've found myself in?  I give all the credit to one newly, economical wine bottling company: MAD HOUSEWIFE WINE.  If ever a company knew how to create a character for a brand, Mad Housewife Wine has done it.

Their Philosophy: "Above all else, wine should be fun, relaxing, and something you can afford to look forward to at the end of each and every day. 

This is your time. Time to enjoy a moment to yourself. A moment without the madness."

I just love how this wine hits its target.  It knows exactly what someone (especially a woman) is looking for in a glass of wine.  The company capitalizes on the fact that sometimes, the only sanity a woman can find is the time she takes to herself to get away and simply sip her cabernet.  Seriously, women, the dregs of society seems to hold us to these standards men will never understand.  No matter how hard they try they will always think like men.  Yet, here within this small bottling company and simple art a tiny taste of heaven can be reached.  (Just don't try to stay there too long ;)

That is what true advertising can do.  Not just create a connection, but give the consumer something they never even knew they needed (and that's NOT a bad thing).  Advertising should work just like a bottle of Mad Housewife; excite you and refresh you, be something you look forward to and once opened you know that only good things will come. 

Please drink responsibly. 

The Author of "Eat, Pray, Love" Un-Neuter Your Creativity.

Elizabeth Gilbert, "...this peculiar thing is that I wrote this book, this memoir called Eat, Pray, Love which decidedly unlike any of my previous books umm went out in the, world for some reason, and became this big mega sensation, international, best-seller thing.  The result of which is that every where I go people treat me like I'm doomed.  Seriously, doomed...doomed."

These are the words of a mega sensation crying out to the creatives.  She asks, "What is it about creative ventures that seems to have us cry out to each other?"  To elaborate, she then discusses her father, and the fact that "...he never had chemical engineer block?"  And she's right We creatives are different.  We have always know it.  The way we dress, our hair, personalities and constant strange analogies have always made us stand out from others.

Go on, pick out the creative in this image:
  v  


The question anymore isn't why are we different, trust me, if you're labeled amongst us, you can answer that. The question is why do we have this stigma of being really "undone" by our creative gifts?  We are accepting "...this notion that creativity and suffering are somehow inherently linked, and that artistry in the end will somehow always lead to anguish," Gilbert says.

Watch her TedTALK and listen:

We do need to not be scared of the work that we love, and only know how to do.  Think of it more like this perhaps.  Gilbert reminds her audience of a time when people thought they were mere vessels for the creativity gods to use. Maybe what makes us different is the fact that our minds are just more open those who whisper in our ears?

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  As a creative, if I could be anyone else I would.  I know the life I have chosen will not be as easy as some other.  The truth though, I can't do anything but see beauty, creativity, design and art in my world.  This is who am and the only way I know how to live.

To you ask this:  Where does your creativity come from? What is the one job or passion you cannot live without doing?  Do you have a Doby or a house elf living in your walls whispering what to do?  Or are you waiting for that perfect selection of words to blow across a field so you can chase them down? What inspires you?

Women, and their Fear of Public Transportation.

Fact:  More women today use public transportation than men.


Fact: Women feel public transportation to be unsafe.

So what must be done?  There is currently a cry out to agencies to figure out a way to help both men and women feel "safer" when using any form of public transportation.  Cries for ideas from designers, not engineers, transportation specialists, or some other specialists in their field is what they are looking for.  

What's more is the companies have realized they need to call their target to the table.  Women have an issue with feeling safe and thus women are the ones being called on.  What does this say for how society is building itself?  The people are crying out, and the agencies hear them.


How awesome is this?!  People now realize the implications of good design.  Not only is it useful, good design plays an extremely important part in how we perceive the environment we live in.  Happy design makes for happy people. 
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Article

How to Ease Women’s Fear of 

Transportation Environments:

Case Studies and Best Practices

ABSTRACT

The relationship between women´s fear and the built environment has been the subject of research with clear findings that women feel unsafe in many public spaces. These often include transportation environments. Desolate bus stops and train cars, dimly lit park-and-ride lots and parking structures, but also overcrowded transit vehicles represent stressful settings for many women, who often feel compelled to change their transportation modes and travel patterns in order to avoid them. Past research has shown that transit passengers´ fears and concerns about safety influence their travel decisions. But while the relationship between women´s fear of crime and public space has been the focus of considerable research, transit environments have received less attention. This study seeks to address this gap by, 1) identifying the perspectives and needs of women regarding safety from crime in transit environments through a comprehensive literature review and in depth interviews with representatives of 16 national women´s interest groups; 2) assessing if these needs are met by transit agencies, through a survey of 131 U.S transit operators; and 3) discussing model programs and best practices from the U.S. and overseas that address women´s concerns about safe travel. We found that women transit passengers have some distinct travel needs, but these needs are not well addressed in the U.S., where only a handful of transit operators have specific programs in place targeting the safety needs of women riders. In contrast, some other countries have adopted specific measures and policies in response to women´s transit safety needs. We also found a mismatch between the expressed needs of women passengers and the types and locations of common safety/security strategies adopted by transit agencies. Based on feedback from our interviews and case studies we offer a series of policy recommendations. While community opposition to TODs has been pronounced, very little empirical research exists that indicates whether this opposition is well-founded. Economic theory suggests that if a TOD has a negative effect on the surrounding residential neighborhoods, then that effect should lower land prices and in turn, the housing prices in these neighborhoods. Similarly, an increase in the housing prices would mean a positive effect of TODs on the surrounding neighborhoods. This study empirically estimates the impact of four San Francisco Bay Area sub-urban TODs on single-family home sale prices. The study finds that the case study suburban TODs either had no impact or had a positive impact on the surrounding single-family home sale prices.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Ph.D – Principal Investigator Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris is professor and former chair of the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA. She holds a doctorate in urban planning and master´s degrees in architecture and urban planning from the University of Southern California. Her areas of specialization are urban design, and physical and land use planning. She has published extensively on issues of downtown development, inner-city revitalization, cultural uses of parks and open spaces, transit-oriented design and transit safety. Her projects have been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, Federal Transit Administration, California Department of Transportation, Poverty and Race Research Action Council, California Policy Research Center, the John Randolph and Dora Haynes Foundation, and the Mineta Transportation Institute. Dr. Loukaitou-Sideris has served as a consultant to the Transportation Research Board, Federal Highway Administration, Southern California Association of Governments, Los Angeles Metro, South Bay Cities Council of Governments, Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Transportation and Education Ministries of Greece, and many municipal governments on issues of urban design, land use and transportation, and higher education. She is the coauthor of Sidewalks: Conflict and Negotiation over Public Space (MIT Press: 2009) and Urban Design Downtown: Poetics and Politics of Form (University of California Press: 1998), and the coeditor of Jobs and Economic Development in Minority Communities (Temple University Press: 2006).

MEMBERS OF THE RESEARCH TEAM Amanda Bornstein Amanda Bornstein holds a Master´s degree from the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA. She has a B.A. in American Studies from Tufts University and a B.F.A. in Visual Art from the School of the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. Her research interests include how urban design can be used as a tool to improve safety and quality of life in neighborhoods. Camille Fink, M.A. Camille N.Y. Fink is a Ph.D. student in the UCLA Department of Urban Planning. Her interests include transportation safety and security; transportation equity; race, gender, and the built environment; and ethnographic research methods. She has a B.A. in sociology from the University of California, Davis, and an M.A. in urban planning from UCLA. Shahin Gerami, Ph.D. Shahin Gerami is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Sciences and Coordinator of the Program of Women´s Studies at San Jose State University. She holds a law degree from the University of Tehran, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Oklahoma. Linda Samuels Linda Samuels is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA. She holds a Master of Architecture degree from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Design from the University of Florida. Before coming to UCLA, she taught in the College of Architecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her current research considers the role of the road as a political space in the American built environment. TECHNICAL MTI Report 09-01 How to Ease Women´s Fear of Transportation Environments: Case Studies and Best Practices Principal Investigator: Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris Published: October 2009 Keywords: Transit safety, Women         Research Brief        PDF Version