“Till It Happens To You” is Lady Gaga’s powerful new song which she co-wrote for use in the documentary on campus rape in the United States called “The Hunting Ground.” The numbers make it clear that drastic action is needed to raise the kind of men who would never degrade themselves to subjecting someone to… Read More Respecting Human Dignity While Working to Eliminate Rape
I found an old copy of O, The Oprah Magazine in my stuff earlier this week. I used to read those regularly, part of a chain of friends who would read them, be amazed by the wisdom it contained, and pass them along, sometimes with little notes tucked into it. I smiled and decided to… Read More O, Are You Really About Empowerment? Some Thoughts Post Magazine Ad Dissection
I have a confession to make: I’m a little bit of a documentary junkie. I just finished watching Food. Inc for the third time, and I intend to watch it another time… If not more. Because time is limited, I have to select the documentaries I watch (and re-watch) very carefully; usually they have to… Read More Knowledge as a Source of Empowerment versus a Cause for Despair
Kim Kardashians’ nude selfies has been a trending topic for a few weeks now. While the pictures themselves are nothing spectacular to warrant the trend, the surrounding conversations about the implications of her posts have been fascinating to me, to say the least. I am particularly intrigued by the concept of Kim demonstrating a sense… Read More What Empowerment Means and How Kim Kardashian Has It Wrong
I mentioned before that there are probably more good people in this world than bad ones. This is a completely unscientific statement, but I wouldn’t be surprise if a survey determined that, indeed, more people are prone to performing a kind deed rather than a bad one. How, then, can’t this majority of good people… Read More How the Selfish and the Selfless can Enter into an Unhealthy Relationship
There are different levels to awareness; therefore, while we can be aware of certain things for long periods of time, it’s only when they hit close to home that one’s vision zooms in and details pop out like never before. Straight after the initial shock of a cancer diagnosis in my family comes Breast Cancer… Read More From Building Awareness to Taking Action Against Cancer or its Effect
Let’s be honest, ladies; we do experience mood swings that take us completely by surprise. It’s so confusing, irritating, and frustrating to not understand what is going on in our own bodies and minds. I can understand that it’s also irritating to those around us to live through a mood swing; but what is needed… Read More What Did He Mean? Some Thoughts on Justin Bieber’s Latest Track
It’s funny how we can fool ourselves into believing we are doing everything we can only to have our eyes opened—sometimes painfully—by something seemingly minor. I have always prided myself on not being racist. While just like everyone else, I make flash judgments based on experience, I am also very aware of this pattern of… Read More Are We Unintentionally Appropriating Black Culture? A Difficult but Important Question to Reflect on
The advantages of journaling have long been touted. On the scientific side, studies list its many health benefits. On the spiritual side, it can help us bring ourselves into account each day. There is also the sheer pleasure of putting pen to paper which might be linked to the number of beautiful journals (here, here,… Read More Journaling: Fleeing Mordor to Seek the Safety of the Shire
The process of refining one’s character is a highly exciting one, but isn’t always easy. While there are a lot of great tools that help us along, there are also many pitfalls we can get stuck behind. There seem to be a lot of self-empowering messages in North American society. Some of the first ones… Read More The Shady Friend that is Leniency