Wednesday, December 30, 2009

One Race Global Film Foundation

Check it out! (Noveau)

The One Race Global Film Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded by actor, director and writer Vin Diesel, with the mission of fostering the growth of diverse national and international voices in under-served communities within the global entertainment industry.
Through education and training in film, video, and new media production, One Race students gain hands-on experience as writers producers, directors, actors, cinematographers, physical production technicians and editors of short film and video projects during an intensive summer training program and year-round weekend workshops conducted in host countries.

Good to see and congrats to the foundation and Vin Diesel.

Website Link: http://www.oneraceglobalfilmfoundation.org

More Information? http://culturalcommentaryartist.ning.com

Let Your Inner Voice Rise-
Gloria J Harden-Bailey

Saturday, December 26, 2009

ForbesWoman Views

Welcome Everyone,

I recently was quoted in a Forbes.com Magazine article written by Caroline Howard, the Deputy Online Editor at ForbesWoman.com

My commentary represents my personal statement based on education, work, travel, social, cultural and political history and not necessarily the perspetive of my employer.

Caroline sought the opinion of the ForbesWoman online community group in regards to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor image in the Latina community and her symbolic statement to wear red finger nail polish for her photo shoot for the cover of Latina Magazine.
(See: http://www.latina.com)

I have posted the article: Check it Out!

ForbesWoman Views
Tweets (And More) Of The Week: Why Are We Looking At Sotomayor's Red Nails?
ForbesWoman Community 12.24.09, 12:00 PM ET

Heads turn and mouses click at the sight of "first" photos. Consider the hoopla and steep price tag surrounding the People and Hello! get of the first exclusive photos of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's newborn twins last year.

While convincing the Hollywood power couple to smile for the camera came in at a reported tune of some $14 million, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor decided to grant her first photo shoot as new justice to Latina magazine. For obvious reasons.

On this month's cover, Sotomayor appears to be pledging allegiance. The colors and her expression convey the muted tones of quiet authority. All except for her bright red nails.

Florian Bachleda, the creative director of the magazine, recently wrote a post about the photo shoot with Sotomayor on the Society of Publication Designers Web site, "A Wise Latina and the Color Red: Latina's Justice Sotomayor Cover." "On the day of the shoot, Justice Sotomayor entered the room with a big smile on her face, and the first thing she did was extend her hand and introduce herself to everyone in the room. Everyone ... it was incredibly refreshing to see."

But what's up with her nails? Bachleda writes that during Sotomayor's confirmation hearings, the justice was fully prepped on everything from potentially explosive questions down to her dress and nail color. She was, apparently, advised to keep the lacquer neutral. But, he continues, "on the day of the White House reception celebrating her appointment, Sotomayor asked the president to look at her freshly manicured nails, holding up her hands to show off her favorite color: a fire-engine red. The president chuckled, saying that she had been warned against that color."

Why red and, really, should we even be looking at her nails? To answer the first question, Latina Editor Mimi Valdés says, "In many Latino families, red is a very important and symbolic color. ... For many, the color is very much a point of pride." We put the second question to the ForbesWoman community.

Gloria J. Bailey, director for Diversity and Outreach at East Carolina University-Fine Arts, weighs in: "Good for judge Sotomayor for being proud of her heritage and the symbols of her Latina Culture. She represents all of the people and also has a right to acknowledge her own history as a part of the American experience. It is time that America accepts the full story of all our people."

Courtney Smith says, "Not sure why this is such an issue ... but after reading the article, very appropriate considering what red is supposed to represent."

Blogger Paola Bonomo, who writes the blog Live From Planet Paola, directs us to two of her posts on similar subjects after informing the community, "I am in favor of women wearing whatever they see fit, including nail colors." One post was on Carme Chacón, the Spanish defense minister who was roundly criticized ("mostly by men, obviously") for presiding over a military parade wearing an elegant pantsuit rather than a dress. The second post was a celebration of the daring décolletage of Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany and No. 1 on this year's ForbesWoman 100 Most Powerful Woman list.

Ratzo Rizzo strikes a similar chord, demanding powerful women have the right to dress feminine: "I wonder why we always want to de-feminize any woman in a position of power or authority. We should feel powerful as women doing all of the things women can do--including wearing fabulous nail polish."

The personal is political, writes Kathleen Meghan Serafin, who sees the red polish as symbol of Sotomayor's bravada: "While I think it is great that a Latina is now a Supreme Court Justice, Sotomayor was the wrong Latina. Based on her previous public statements, it seems she will not make impartial judgments. The red nail polish says 'look at me.' Very distracting. She is supposed to be doing a job, and it is not as the next Oprah."

Marianne Mullen disagrees, noting, "There is nothing wrong or improper about wearing red nail polish. What's next, that women can't color their hair if they are on the bench? Good for her. She's staying true to herself in a man's world."

But a great majority of our community fired barbs at even bringing up the topic. Amy Pietrasanta sighs, "Oh please, who cares? I have a dream--that someday women will be judged by the content of their character and not their nails, hairdos and outfits." Gen Lee adds, "Ditto. She deserves merits on her own, not on how she looks. Let's move on." Jean Kristensen sums up with: "I think that focusing on the color of a woman's nails it ridiculous and completely unfair. I also point out that I love red nail polish and wear it whenever I chose."

Readers, where do you stand in the debate?

Tweets (And More) of the Week is a series of reader-created conversations. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Yahoo! Shine, and we look forward to featuring you on our site.
See Also: Judging Sonia

Enjoy this story? Keep reading at ForbesWoman.

About ForbesWoman Group on Linkedin.com
"Building a global community of smart, accomplished women who
are curious about one another and about business. Connecting
the Forbes newsroom and the Forbes audience. Serving the
interests of executives, entrepreneurs and professionals."

Happy Reading from Rise.
Let Your Inner Voice Rise-
(aka: Gloria J Harden-Bailey)
http://innervoice-rise.blogspot
http://culturalcommentaryartist.ning.com

Sunday, December 20, 2009

NBCD Journal 20 Holidays

NBCD Journal 20
Happy Holidays Everyone and Welcome Back!
Holiday Menu
It has been a pretty busy year and the holiday break will give us all a chance to rest and restore positive energy. The menu for this Christmas will be a combination of homemade and special order.
This year, I decided to keep things light and make Leek Soup for Christmas Eve. It reminds me of a bowl of Leek soup I had at a California Kitchen Restaurant in Manhattan Beach, California several years ago. I like to add sage, turkey ham and a few more golden potatoes to my soup. One of the ingredients in Leek Soup is white wine so I chose Sandy Cross Vineyards Muscadine wine that is bottled in Mount Airy, North Carolina. The Duplin Carolina Bald Head Red Sweet Table wine works well with punch drinks. I am going to try my best to venture to Raleigh/Durham to try the California Kitchen’s new Moroccan Salad or Baja Fish Tacos with Blue Corn Tortilla Chips. I will let you know how it turns out. As a base, I chose Knorr Leek Recipe Mix and just follow the directions on the package. Speaking of special orders, I will be picking up a Whole Cajun Turkey and a mini ham from the Honey Baked Ham store. My menu side items will be scalloped potatoes with reduced fat cheddar cheese. My main vegetable will be the underrepresented Cauliflower. Once I lightly steam my cauliflower, I plan on adding sautéed corn, orange bell pepper, and onions to it. This should give me a colorful dish. I am adding a side of corn bread stuffing for the kids. Homemade stuffing is great but if you are in a hurry, Stove Top stuffing will do fine.
One of the favorite deserts in our house is Pecan Pie and Peach Cobbler so I will have that on hand for everyone to consume. There are also good pecan pies at the Honey Baked Ham store, Food Lion, Kroger, Harris Teeter and Sams Club. I decided to purchase pie crust for the canned peach pie filling and picked up a jar of Delmonte fresh peaches to lighten the taste of the canned filling. You will notice I am bias to the texture, taste, sight and smell of the food I eat which makes cooking more enjoyable for me. For New Years I plan on a seafood menu of crab salad, shrimp, black eye peas and rice for good luck and the addition of Chinese food. As a child, my family would go to our favorite Chinese food restaurant for New Years Eve and come home and ring in the New Year.

Stress Release
The holidays can be stressful on the cook so I de-stress by playing holiday music of old school, new school, jazz and classics. Some of the holiday classic songs I listen to while I cook were my father’s favorite singers such as Nat King Cole and Johnny Mathis. Natalie Cole is unforgettable also.
The Luciana Souza/Romero Lubambo Duos II acoustic jazz CD is wonderful. Luciana’s voice is crisp and melodic. Lately, I have been burning up the Al Jarreau song “Brite N’ Sunny Babe”. Yep ladies, I consider myself a Brite N’ Sunny Babe for the New Year. I hope you do too.
Thanks Natalie Cole for making us fabulous 40 and up women of today look good. A Class Act.
Meanwhile, my kids and I are listening to everything from the Black Eye Peas, Lupe Fiasco, Barcelona, Beyonce’, Shakira, The Fray, Mary J Blige, John Legend ,Alicia Keys, The Avett Brothers and many others.
Don’t forget to dance to the music while cooking. It’s a fun way to burn off those holiday calories.

Check it out:
You can find other health and cultural commentary by visiting the blogs:
http://innervoice-rise.blogspot.com
http://culturalcommentaryartist.ning.com
Web Tip: http://www.nataliecole.com
I wish you a positive, energetic and bright New Year.
Keep the faith and stay mentally, physically and spiritually healthy!
Gloria J Harden-Bailey

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Hate vs. Love

Hate is powerful and comes in many forms. Some hate manifest itself on the surface while other forms of hate remain hidden until impulsively forced to the surface. The latter is more dangerous at times than the surface hate because it is slow growing and perpetually builds. The events that are happening in the world today is the same hate from the past. The difference is that it is suttle and dressed up, wrapped in false sincerity with a bow on top. The irony of hidden hate is that it deteriorates the person who expresses such anger by slowly dispiriting their soul and eating away at the love that wishes to enter their lives. When that dispiriting takes place they become half of the person they seek to be. Hate crosses boundaries into family, friends, associates, organizations and religious life. We give hate false power.
Humans mindlessly hate over petty jealousy, status, culture, religions, historical views, lack of love and the list goes on.
Love on the other hand turns jealousy into admiration; status into praise; culture into appreciation; religions into profound spirituality and disagareeable historical views into understanding. The power of love transcends time, perspectives and emotions without giving thought to who it embraces. It is the perfect pinnacle of acceptance in the face of superiority, inferiority and prejudice.
Love cares for the disheartened; the elderly; the children and the human spirit. It is the care giver and care taker of all. It transforms your life and those around you. Love cries our tears and weeps for the soul. Love forces us to seek a deeper meaning. Love is eternal and fulfilling and ever so faithful in it's elation and joy.
Love must and always will eliminate hate.

Let Your Inner Voice Rise-
Gloria J Harden-Bailey

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

What's all this Hair Business About?

NBCD Journal 17

What is all this hair business about?

Over the past few years I have changed hair styles, some by choice and other styles by no choice but it’s a journey that all women take and particularly as it relates to African American hair. There are so many directions the hair industry has lead, pushed and shoved African American women to invent and re-invent the next trendy hairstyle without analyzing the consequence that plays out every day on our subconscious mind and the damage of the hair follicles. While I am certainly grateful that we have come a long way in advancing the health of a hair product or the versatility of how we can wear our hair, it has taken a long time for the industry to combine a diversity of beauty and hair fashion from the old school straight- fried- and laid to the side to free flowing locks, curly wavy coifs and natural styles. We as Black women have endured a lot of pressure to conform to a standard main stream beauty which does not accept us in the state we enter this world from birth. What if tomorrow all the hair products disappeared from the face of the earth, would we still feel beautiful? Think about that for a minute.
I like to stay active and choose hairstyles that will allow me to exercise without worrying about my hair.
Unfortunately, there are Black women who will not work out or swim as much just to keep their hair perfect. I choose my health over the image of a hairstyle any day. Don’t get me wrong, I like to look pretty but hair should not compromise my health and weight goals. God willing, I want to stick around in this life to look and feel good for many more years.

Stay, mentally, physically and spiritually healthy—

Let Your Inner Voice Rise-
Gloria J Harden-Bailey

Friday, November 27, 2009

Family and Career Choices

I was recently having an online discussion with the ForbesWoman Group and responded to a very interesting topic posted by the Deputy Online Editor.
The topic was: Do You Have to Justify Your Career?
Several women responded with their views and experiences and I agreed with some of their views.

My Response was:
"In my case, there were times when people made me feel you had to justify a career until I had to change the mindset of those around me who only saw me in the traditional women roles as only an academic wife, mother, professional volunteer, etc. All those roles are fine because I am all those roles simultaneously and I enjoyed raising my 3 children when I worked from home and I have no regrets about it. My children ages are 18yrs, 14yrs and 8 years old."

"When I entered back into a structured formal workforce, some of the beliefs that women fit only into specific roles, particularly in certain circles and geographic locations are still rooted.
So, I changed the views of those around me and educated them about the wide spectrum of opportunities, careers and entrepreneur ventures for women that have always been there historically." A Forbes Woman Group Colleague mentioned her philosophy of using the term "Our Career" whereby she implemented having her spouse and children embrace that her profession did not belong just to her and it was apart of all their lives. I thought that was a good approach and another discussion colleague mentioned our socities "Gender Construction" and how there still exist presumptions that we need to keep chipping away at in order for women to continue to pursue opportunities.

"One of the great things that I have embraced with each phase so far in my life is that you don't need approval to make yourself happy and to educate your family, friends and co-workers that following my dreams is a benefit we can all share."

Ironically, many women still perpetuate their own entrapment by upholding traditional customs that are outdated; holding fast to some religious doctrines that continue to restrict, oppress and stereotype them. Women still degrade and disrespect each other views, race and culture to the detriment and suppression of their own gender. We need not be our own worse enemies and we can not blame all of our behavior on men if we are not willing to change ourselves.
In fact the wonderous and positive growth that takes place inside of me whether it is spiritual, an individual, mother, wife, career and whatever else I am yet to be is not something to be threatened by but can only enhance the lives of our male counterparts and human connections.

Let Your Inner Voice Rise-
Gloria J Harden-Bailey

Friday, November 6, 2009

NBCD Journal 19
Fall is in full Swing!
Welcome back everyone. I hope you are all staying healthy despite the viral flu seasons and multiple vaccinations. Take the time to take care of yourself and get your regular physical exams and stick to your wellness plan. In my prior journals I have discussed dietary habits, recipes and the mental aspect of health. All those things are important to long term wellness. Currently, I am transitioning through a period of slowing down and listening to the clues of what my body is telling me.
I have started cleansing my body of toxins through colonic herbal recipes that are safe and time released. Check with your doctor before you begin any colonic or fasting program. I am utilizing my cleansing kit in moderation, meaning I still fit it into my daily routine by eating very moderately and primarily at dinner time with the rest of the family and of course the food choice is healthy as possible because I want to set the best healthy living example as possible for my children.
Cleansing my system will also help with various food allergies and rid yourself of toxins and hydrate the body and skin. I have fasted several times before and it has always rejuvenated me inside and out as well as spiritually. I always have practiced a balanced approach to my health. Events and issues just force you to come to terms with who you are and that is a good thing.

Healthy Deserts
In the previous journal, I talked about low sugar deserts. My sons tested and baked a Betty Crocker pre-packaged reduced sugar cake with low sugar icing. It turned out fine. You could tell some of the sugar was missing but overall it was flavorful. I did not have him make the cake mix from scratch, although he can but the reality is that when he is on his own and a fully equipped kitchen and food ingredients are not available to make homemade recipes then he still will need to take that trip to the grocery to make informed and wise food selections. Unless it is a passion of your child to cook the following scenario will play out whereby your son or daughter will be influenced by their peers food choices and not to mention young men and women in college dorm eating unhealthy without their parents looking over their shoulders. So it goes back to healthy behavior, practicality and balance. Don’t take the fun out of enjoying your holiday deserts. The best approach is moderation. In other words don’t overeat yourself into a nap or have to go find loose clothing to accommodate your full stomachs.
This year, I am continuing thanksgiving on a budget and going out to enjoy holiday meals, with family, loved ones, friends, neighbors and associates.

Mental Inspiration
I have a few words to share about inspiration. For as long as I can remember, ideas, images and words have come to me in a flow of light. It’s hard to explain because it is so intense and personal and unique to who I am. It can happen in the middle of the night in my dreams, while I am driving, in the middle of a conversation and other places that thoughts decide to drop in or come back to me for a reason you cannot decipher just yet because the purpose is not meant to be revealed at that point.
During these holidays and everyday of the year we all ponder the highs and lows of life. Some years you experience the positive upturn of events and other times loss and grief. I have been through both and recently my siblings and I, as hundreds of other families, have a family member that is battling the last stages of Alzheimer Disease. Concurrently, my daughter is happily and stressfully preparing herself for college. I have found that it is important and mentally healthy to release stress through prayer, meditation and exercise. Choose what works for you. For instance, I was on the treadmill one morning with my IPOD earphones plugged in listening to Jazz vocalist Al Jarreau and the song “Waltz for Debby” melodically flowed into my ears and the harmonic story unfolds about a little girl who treasures her dolls, favorite toys, dances to silent music, revels in her playful inspired antics and how she transitions to a woman. At that moment the inspiration hit like a lightning bolt and that encompassed my grief for the loss of my loved one to Alzheimer, the loss of my daughter to becoming a women as she goes off to college, the loss of my age related youth but happy to find new youthful inspiration. It goes to show you that the old tale that death and dying does not just come in (3’s) three’s but so does life. As Al Jarreau continues to sing in my head, I think of myself dancing to the silent music and songs that are spun of gold and the songs that me and my mother danced to and the dances that my daughter and I leaped across the floor to and I laugh with joy because I get the message that love, joy, sadness, grief and peace is as it should be as other life comes to an end and new youth springs eternal and all is as it should be.
So, the lesson is once again as we all grow that there is continued BALANCE.
Hats off to artist Al Jarreau for inspiring me to hit my mental inspirational stride as he sings the lyrics “In the Sun she Dances to silent music, songs that are spun of gold somewhere in her own little head.” “The dolls, bears and toys will miss her but so will I.” Here my inspirational tribute to my Mom and daughter; The things you have embraced and touched will miss you and so will I, so dance in the sun and I hope the same wish for you too!

Check it out:

You can find my other diet, health and cultural commentary artist journals by visiting the blogs:
http://culturalcommentaryartist.ning.com
http://innervoice-rise.blogspot.com

Keep the faith and stay mentally, physically and spiritually healthy!

Gloria J Harden-Bailey