NYC + May = La Vie en Rose

This year I realized that 

I <3 May!

I heart the fresh, crispy sunny mornings 

the new green on the streets 

the multicolor sunsets

and the excitement of leaving all those layers of 

clothing at home.

Besides, people seem to be in a better mood, 

don't they?

NYC in particular, 

shines during this time of the year.

It only takes a few days for New Yorkers

to shake off the winter flakes

and hit all those outdoor cafes, beer gardens and rooftops 

spread throughout the city.

All of a sudden, 

La Vie becomes Bella again!

(or at least that's how it feels)

How would a mythical May weekend 

in NYC look like?

Friday, 6PM -- happy hour at the closest beer garden. 

Whether you are in Manhattan, Queens or Brooklyn, it will be crowded.  

Guaranteed.  

The good thing is that after a few pitchers, 

you forget who is around you 

and how long you have to wait in the bathroom line. 

Remember, La Vie Est Belle!

Saturday -- wake up excited 'cause it's Saturday,

 have a leisurely walk with your dog, 

grab a coffee and call your fam.

By 1PM -- be showered and ready to hit the the flea markets. 

After taking part of an exhausting 3-4hr treasure hunt, 

grab a quick bite, and recharge to meet friends 

and enjoy the sunset

while chugging a few cold beers.  

What comes after the sun is gone

is only up to you...

Sunday -- wake up a bit concerned 'cause it's Sunday already,

do house chores

and have brunch....

what would NYC be without a brunch?

In most cases, brunch leads to dinner

but if not, hop on your bike and 

spend those final hours of the weekend

in solitude, regrouping yourself 

and getting ready 

for the next five days

before the weekend is back again.

"Life, too, is like that. You live it forward, but understand it backward"

I have never been scared of being old.

Well, maybe a few times but in general, 

I've always been the kind of kid who wanted to pretend to be older.

Yours Truly and Her

What you want me to say...

I thought being older was cooler than being young.

Clearly, it was all based on the underlying assumption

that being young = immature = wrong 

and therefore, 

being old = mature = good.

F***ed up, I know but c'on, 

we are all f***ed up in our own ways, 

so leave your judgments aside.

So, life has been determined to show me that my assumption

was indeed, f***ed up.

You can read past entries to see what I mean,

so will just say

that life is a huge collage.

"A wise realization" my mom and dad would say.

"Yeah, whatever" I would respond.

I have been having backwards moments

like never before.

This is how it goes:

I enter my own mental space

I sit down and begin to see my life projected 

in the screen of my own mind.

I go back to my early years when I used to spend my summers 

with my two favorite people at the time, my grandparents.

And then very consciously, 

I see the passing of time

and for a few seconds

I can subtly get a grasp of the impermanence 

and connectedness in life.

Pretty amazing the routes that life takes you.

Pretty scary the decisions that we ought to make.

So much fun all the adventures, trips and laughter that we experience.

So fucked up all the tears, heartbreaks, and pain.

So amazing the countries, cities and places that we visit.

So sad all the people that come and go.

So delicious all the flavors that we taste.

So lucky to experience it all.

Intense.

I know.

But by now you should know me

and none of this should catch you by surprise.

Anyhoo, a random entry without "pies y cabeza"

for a humid and raining

Saturday evening in May.

Hasta la proxima, 

Sil

P.S. The quote from the title is from Abraham Verghese, Cutting for Stone.

GIRL POWER: The new trend of the 21st century?

Hi All,

I've decided to use this platform

to share with you 

my first article on a topic that, as you know,

I am very passionate about.

Hope you enjoy it.

“There’s been a great deal of progress in government policies, education, civil society, and in the private sector. We’re moving in a way we’ve not seen before.”[1] With these words, Melanne Verveer, the United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues, referred to the state of the plight for women’s and girl’s rights during last month’s Women in the World Summit in New York City.

Since 2010, the Women in the World Summit brings together women of all walks of life to celebrate and advance women’s and girls’ rights both at home and abroad. The event is one of the many campaigns and initiatives that have been launched in the past five years to give a voice to the other half of the world’s population. In 2009, Nicholas D. Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, published “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into opportunity forWomen Worldwide” which lead to the release of a world-wide documentary and a social movement. And only a few months ago, Facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg, jumped on the trend, launching her new book “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will toLead” in an attempt to create a new “feminist movement at work.” 

Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner, the executive director of the Matilda JoslynGage Foundation in Fayetteville, NY, professor at Syracuse University, and a tireless women’s rights advocate, calls this moment a “paradigm shift in the women’s rights movement.” 

“The patriarchal experiment has been a failure,” she said in a phone interview. “There is a general awakening that there needs to be a different paradigm based on relationships and not on greed and power.”

So, are we in fact experiencing a “tipping point for women”?[2]  Are the Women in the World Summit, Nicholas Kristof’s “Half the Sky,” and” Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” products of a new era for women’s and girl’s rights? Are we experiencing a new wave of Girl Power that is determined to stay?

In the mid-90s, the British pop group the Spice Girls mainstreamed the term “Girl Power” with their songs calling for female empowerment understood as girls putting their feet down and clamoring for equality and freedom. “Just girl power is all we need. We know how we got this far. Strength and courage and a wonder bra," said the lyrics of their hit, The Power of Spice.  American R&B trio Destiny’s Child set the tone for Girl Power on this side of the Atlantic with songs like Independent Women. The media latched onto the term and the response it had on the female audience and turned Girl Power into a media campaign for the empowerment of girls, mostly in the western world.

Since then, the term has forged divisions and has been subjected to criticisms for its commercialized and perhaps misleading understanding of female empowerment.

“Girl Empowerment is allowing a girl to see her potential,” Justin Reeves, Director of NGO partnerships at the 10X10 – Educate Girls. Change theWorld campaign, said in a phone interview. “Empowering girls gives answer to a lot of the problems in the world,” he said.

In talking about the origins of the global campaign, Mr. Reeves explained how everything began five years ago, when Richard Robins, the Director of Girl Rising, the documentary around which the 10x10 campaign has been built, connected the dots between global development and female empowerment. Female empowerment, understood now as providing women and girls around the globe with the education, support and skills needed to make them active participants in the fight for their own rights, to ultimately achieve social change now and for the future; quite a far-reaching effect.

 

Under the slogan “Educate Girls. Change the World,” 10x10 Girl Rising’s finely tailored social and media strategy is reaching crowds, raising awareness, and empowering women and girls both at home and abroad. And they are not alone. As a domino effect, in 2008, the Girl Effect campaign was launched by the NIKE Foundation in partnership with the NoVo Foundation. The campaign, with its sophisticated, innovative and appealing videos, went viral, quickly spreading the same idea “…by investing in girls, you can stop poverty before it starts.”

Under the same framework and at a grassroots level, in December 2012 the InternationalCoalition of Sites of Conscience launched Girl Ambassadors for Human Rights (GAHR), a new venture for girls’ empowerment. “Women and girls are more likely than men and boys to be poor, uneducated, or victims of violence. Women’s empowerment and full participation in society is key to combating these very social problems,” said Elizabeth Silkes, Executive Director at the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience. 

During its first year, GAHR has engaged fifty 15 to 17 year-old girls from Sri Lanka, Chile and the USA, equipping them with the knowledge, skills and perspective to serve as future global ambassadors and local activists for human rights and gender equality.  “Increasing women’s civic engagement not only responds to their rights as citizens; it also enriches political discourse, decision-making and inclusiveness,” Ms. Silkes said.

“There has always been a special place in my heart for women's rights, primarily from my mother. So, of course, I jumped at the chance to be part of a program that brought together not only that, but also human rights in general,” said Mikayla Cleary-Hammarstedt, a 2013 US Girl Ambassador. 

“I wanted to begin the process of expanding my horizons, learning about new cultures and meeting new people. I’ve learned that there is so much around you that you don't know. You just have to open your eyes and want to see it.”

The Girl Power movement is witnessing an interesting, yet unexpected turn of events, in which female empowerment is closely connected to larger, global social issues. 

“Investing in girls is a return investment” said Mr. Reeves.  “People are catching on. Investing in girls is an argument that makes sense to people and it’s easy to support.” And it must be making sense when corporations such as INTEL and NIKE are investing in and attaching their brands to the plight for girls’ rights around the world. 

“The philanthropic world is picking up,” agreed Dr. Swagner. “If you want to fund ‘smart,’ you fund girls and women. Investing in women and girls is investing in the future.”

The multiplier effects of this new notion of female empowerment are proving to be extraordinary. The outspoken commitment to girls’ advancement is awakening initiatives, forums, women and girls around the globe. Women and girls are embracing their place and role in society and are demanding it both at home and abroad.  Women and girls are joining forces and raising their voices to show and prove that keeping ‘the other half of the world’ involved is key in making the world a sustainable living place. 

Ten years have passed since the Spice Girls mainstreamed the concept of Girl Power, and whether we call it Girl Power, Girl Rising, Girl Effect, or Girl Ambassadors, the fact is that “GIRL” is on the forefront of the global agenda. As Mr. Reeves stated, “people are catching on.” This very much might be the time to truly stop violence, discrimination and inequality towards women.  

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[1] Quote by Tina Brown. Luisita Lopez Torregrosa. “Progress, Once Conference at a Time.” The New York Times 2 April, 2013. Print.

[2] Luisita Lopez Torregrosa. “Progress, Once Conference at a Time.” The New York Times 2 April, 2013. Print.