Several months ago, I submitted my suggestion for Miss Representation to the Oneota Film Festival.
I was thrilled to see that it made the cut and saw it with my husband at 9 AM this morning in one of the large lecture halls at Luther College.
I have written before about the impact of media on girls and women. It drives me CRAZY! This film just fueled my fire.
As the mother of a 14-year-old daughter, I get to witness first hand the detrimental effect of the media on this generation. Sure, we were concerned about our weight and appearance when we were young. But not like this. And not as young.
According to the film, American teenagers consume 10.75 hours of media per day. This is unheard of!
In one week American teenagers spend 31 hours watching TV, 17 hours listening to music, 3 hours watching movies, 4 hours reading magazines, 10 hours online. That’s 10 hours and 45 minutes of media consumption a day. ~Miss Representation
During this time, they see ads that tell them that they’re not beautiful enough, not buff enough, and not rich enough. Not to mention violence against women and portrayals of women as sex objects. Female politicians are scrutinized based on their looks rather than their policies. And mostly, we see young, attractive, slim women – even though we all know they don’t represent the majority of American women.
This reminds me of the book Think where Lisa Bloom reminds us women to stop buying the sleazy magazines and to use our brains to learn about the real world around us. She talks about how her producer wants her to cover celebrity stories over important world events. Because it’s what people want to hear…
And there’s the crux of the matter, isn’t it. We can’t blame it all on the media. We all share some responsibility for what we watch, what we let our children watch, and voting for good content with our money. That’s not to give the media a pass – no way! They also share responsibility for what they put out.
I’m not going to get into the debate of whether or not policy change is what’s needed. However, we can all be part of making a change here.
The Miss Representation movement has a great twitter campaign where if you see an inappropriate ad/TV show/video game/etc you can tweet the name of it followed by the #notbuyingit tag.
Maybelline’s “baby lips?” @RepresentPledge
#NotBuyingIt I am a WOMAN not a baby.
You can also take the pledge on the Miss Representation website and spread the word.
We’re canceling Netflix for a while and have already cancelled Teen Vogue (working on Seventeen). I’ve just had enough. I want a better world for my daughter – just like the creator of Miss Representation. It can happen if we get off our couches, stop mindlessly surfing the Internet, and start making some noise.
And if you’ve even tentatively considering running for public office – do it! You’ll be better at it than you think.
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I had heard the term “fistula” and knew it was a bad thing. However, until I red Nicholas Kristof’s Half the Sky, I really had no idea what it was all about. It was an eye-opener!
Obstetric fistulas (try saying that ten times fast) typically occur during prolonged childbirth. In developed countries, we resolve this situation with a C-section, thus virtually eliminating obstetric fistulas. However, many women in the developing world either do not have access to emergency obstetric surgery or don’t get to a hospital until it’s too late.
Obstetric fistulas cause urine and/or feces to leak from the affected woman’s body. This often results in the women being marginalized, shunned by their husbands, and destined to a life of extreme poverty and solitude. In fact, due to the stench that is caused by the leakage, these women are often forced to live in a hut on the outskirts of the village.
Those women with fistulas are the lepers of our time. ~Nicholas Kristof
The good news is that obstetric fistulas can be corrected with a fairly inexpensive surgery (around $450), thus giving life back to these ostracized women.
The rest of this blog post is about the Worldwide Fistula Fund, which focuses exclusively on prevention and treatment of obstetric fistulas. This information is based on content on their website as well as an interview with Mark Shaker, the executive director.
Worldwide Fistula Fund Overview
The Worldwide Fistula Fund (WFF) has been around for sixteen years. One of the founders, Dr. Wall was working in Nigeria as an anthropologist and became aware of the fistula problem. He decided to go to medical school so he could perform obstetric fistula surgeries and founded the Worldwide Fistula Fund, the first non-profit of its kind. He was committed to the West African region, so the organization has focused its efforts in this part of the world, and specifically in Niger.
Another reason for working in Niger is that it is one of the poorest and under-served countries in the world. As the WFF has been working relentlessly to build a fistula hospital in Niger, the goal has been to build a model of care that can be replicated elsewhere.
“And if it can be done in Niger, it can be done anywhere,” says Shaker.
Obstetric Fistula Surgeries
The team from WFF, including Dr. Wall and Dr. Arrowsmith, has been traveling to Niger quarterly for several years to perform these life-restoring surgeries. As part of the visit, the team trains surgeons in the region on obstetric fistula surgery. They also train nurses and other medical staff.
“One of the core values of WFF is to help build capacity in the region,” says Shaker.
Some women travel several days to reach the medical center where the surgeries are performed. Sometimes, there are more women than surgery spots. In this case, the women are asked to come back next quarter. It’s worth the wait for these women.
It is fixable! ~Mark Shaker, Executive Director, WFF
According to the WFF website, “estimates range as high as 3.5 million women with this condition in sub-Saharan Africa, with up to 130,000 new cases each year.” There is plenty of work to be done!
What About Prevention?
One of the topics I was curious about was the question about prevention. Obstetric fistulas have been a non-issue in countries with good maternal care for 150 years. So I wondered, what is being done to prevent obstetric fistulas from happening in the first place?
Shaker told me with great enthusiasm about their partnership with Health & Development International (founded by Norwegian Dr. Seim) in creating community-based prevention programs following the model that was used to eradicate guinea worm disease.
They educate tribal elders and community members on the causes of obstetric fistulas and even get permission from the expecting fathers to take his wife to the hospital, should he be away working the fields. There are also field workers who collect data about who is pregnant, etc to assess risk.
My favorite education trick Shaker told me about is the phrase “When the sun sets twice.” Meaning, if you have been in labor for more than full day, it’s time to go to the hospital!
I also asked about preventing teen pregnancies. Shaker indicated that this is a very sensitive topic in the conservative area in which they work. Rather than focusing on family planning or child marriage at this point, they work in other ways to ensure that the teenage mothers are as healthy as they can be by providing nutrion education and vitamins. There’s a lot of trust that has to be built up with a new program like this.
Danja Fistula Center
All the work from the last 16 years is finally paying off – big time! On February 6, surgeons in Niger will perform the first surgery at WFF’s Danja Fistula Center. This is the result of the hard work of the WFF to bring obstetric fistula surgery to Niger in a more permanent, impactful way.
The ribbon cutting ceremony will take place on February 11. What joy!
According to the WFF website, within five years the hospital will:
- provide care for up to 2,500 women with fistula
- train at least 30 doctors from Niger and other African countries in fistula repair
- develop community-based programs to aid in the prevention of obstructed labor (the major cause of fistula)
- institute far-reaching rehabilitation programs to help fistula patients develop economic opportunities for themselves and their families.
After the Surgery
So what happens to these women after they have a successful fistula surgery? Many have been shunned in their villages and do not want to go back. They also have nothing to go back to, no skills, and are illiterate.
WFF works with these women to train them in different vocations, teach them to read and write, and sometimes offers career opportunities like in the story of one charismatic patient who came to the WFF Fistula Center to get help after four failed surgeries. She took it upon herself to coach the first-timers through the whole process, helping prepare these patients for the surgery and recovery.
When she wasn’t able to get the surgery the first time, she came back the next quarter and provided the same orientation services, this time on request of the WFF. She is now a staff member!
The woman on the right (we’ll call her Maryama) is another example of a successful fistula surgery patient. She had lost her first child in the complicated childbirth that caused her fistula to develop. Due to the odor, her husband had forced her to move home with her parents. She thought her life was over. Then she heard about WFF and made the trip to have the surgery that would change her life. She was able to return back to her village and resume a normal life!
Read more about Maryama and other brave women at the WFF’s Stories of Hope.
How You Can Help
The WFF has a nice blog post that outlines ten ways to give to the organization. It is a creative list, and you should read all the options. Some of my favorites are:
- Spread the word about obstetric fistula by forwarding our newsletter, sharing our stories on Facebook or retweeting us!
- Donate stocks instead of cash!
- Start an online fundraiser on Crowdrise.
- Donate Delta miles to help our team get back and forth from Niger.
Now that you know about this condition and this marvelous organization, is there any way you can’t help?
Learn More
This video from the CNN article, ‘Dead women walking’ find hope in corrective surgery, is informative and interesting to watch:
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Photo by "brainloc" at RGBStock.
I’m excited to announce that I’ll be following a whole food, plant-based diet in 2012 (and hopefully forever). The health benefits and the benefits to our planet are just too great to ignore.
Here are a few highlights from my journey to get here:
In 2009, I spent a year as a pescatarian. I.e., in addition to plant foods, I ate dairy, eggs, and fish. This was primarily a reaction to reading books like Fast Food Nation
and seeing the film Food Inc. I wanted to boycott the meat industry and take a stand against animal cruelty.
In 2010, I decided to go back to eating some meat, mostly because I didn’t want to complicate things too much during our family meals and when visiting friends or relatives. I would eat meat when it was served and also eat it when I prepared it for my family (using only organic meat).
This past fall, I went through an elimination diet for a couple of months, which basically meant being vegan for over a month. I felt better than I’d felt in years! Then the holidays hit, and I started eating all the foods that come with the season like lots of meat, dairy, and sweets. I gained six of my seven lost pounds back and (even worse) my stomach is back to giving me trouble.
During my end-of-the-year break, I’ve watched a couple of documentaries reminding me of why eating a plant-based diet is a smart thing to do beyond the animal rights issues:
Forks over Knives
This documentary features researcher Colin Campbell (author of The China Study
), Dr. Esselstyn (conducted clinical study on the beneficial effects of eating a plant-based diet), and over a dozen other people who have discovered the life-saving properties of a plant-based diet.
I had read The China Study a while ago and was convinced by the clear scientific results linking animal protein (e.g. casein, the protein found in cow’s milk) to our western diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and autoimmune diseases. However, it wasn’t enough to push me over the edge into (near) veganism.
However, this movie pretty much did it. It is powerful and positive. It’s not about “giving up meat,” but rather making healthy choices to beat disease. The thing is, I’d rather not get sick the first place, so I want to start now!
Fat Sick & Nearly Dead
Can you “fix” an autoimmune disease by changing your diet? Joe Cross of Australia wanted to find out. So he spent two months in the US drinking only home-made fruit and vegetable juices. On the way, he met a fat, sick, and nearly dead truck driver from Iowa, who had the exact same disease. (Spoiler alert!) They both manage to turn their lives around and get off the bothersome steroids used for keeping their disease at bay.
I have written about the healing power of food in the past, but I am just wowed every time I encounter these stories. That food can be your medicine – if you put your mind to it. Truly inspiring!
The Benefits of a Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet
Here are just some of the benefits of following a whole food, plant-based diet (according to books I’ve read and documentaries I’ve watched):
- You vote with your money against animal producers who don’t worry too much about the well-being of their animals. (Yes, only if you’re currently eating conventionally-raised meat.)
- Organic plant-based food is safe. You don’t have to repeatedly wash your hands and worry about salmonella and e coli (assuming it’s not grown in the vicinity of a CAFO and getting contaminated).
- Prevents and can actually reverse many of our “western” diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and many others.
- It’s cheaper!
- Growing plants requires less of the earth’s resources than producing meat.
- Less greenhouse gasses emitted from cattle.
- It’s a more sustainable way to eat.
A global shift toward a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change. ~2010 U.N. Report
The Whole Foods Aspect
Just eating a plant-based diet isn’t necessarily healthy in itself. If you eat french fries and potato chips every day, you’re probably not in much better shape than the meat eaters.
This is why it’s important to highlight the “whole foods” aspect of eating a plant-based diet. It’s best to eat the vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes as close to the shape they were when they were harvested. This includes olives and other sources of oil.
Excluding refined sugar is a big part of my individualized plan for healthier, and more sustainable eating. Sugar is everywhere and eliminating it from your diet helps control blood sugar levels and encourages you to eat more whole foods, which better nourish both your brain and body.
I’m super pumped about eating this way and hope that you will consider joining me.
Here’s to a healthy and happy 2012!
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Have you noticed that Christmas is right around the corner? Kind of hard to miss. Lights everywhere, annoying car and jewelry commercials on TV, and Christmas songs playing over the loudspeakers.
Don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas, I really do! I love the smells, the anticipation, the get-togethers, the concerts, and the fudge!
It’s just so easy to get sucked into the obligatory stress and, subsequently, frantically trying to survive the holidays.
“Survive the holidays.”
Think about that for a second. Why should this amazing season be something to “survive?”
Because we’ve created expectations for ourselves and others that at times are too much: Too much baking. Too much shopping. Too much cleaning.
Well, enough! Let’s enjoy the holiday season instead of trying to survive it.
Limit Holiday Gift List
Sounds harsh… Won’t people be offended or hurt if you don’t give them a gift? Maybe. But is it worth all the extra stress?
With our limited budget this year and lack of interest in spending too much money on random “stuff,” our family has a very small gift list. We buy gifts for the immediate family and any extended family we will see in person over the holidays (three people). I am also planning to give a very personal (and inexpensive) gift to a few close friends.
That’s it.
Now, if you have the money, and you love shopping, and you have lots of people to buy for, have at it! This is about personalizing the holiday activities to reduce your stress. If the shopping part doesn’t stress you out, go for it!
Clean Just Enough
Confession: I have a cleaning problem. I want my entire house to be spotless for any special occasion (or ideally all the time), and especially for Christmas. This causes a lot of unnecessary stress.
My daughter often reminds me that it doesn’t have to be perfect. Partly to get out of her chores, but part of her is so right. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Jesus was born in a dusty and dirty stable!
This year, we’ve been skimping on cleaning leading up to Christmas to save our energy for a two-hour cleanup the day before Christmas Eve. Setting a time limit on cleaning forces you to be more efficient and helps from a psychological standpoint as well.
Make (Only) the Recipes You Love
I love to bake and make candy during the holiday season. But doing too much of it can turn a fun activity into a meltdown (just ask my husband!).
What I’ve done the past few years is stuck with my three favorite recipes: Traditional Swedish gingerbread cookies, saffron rolls (lussekatter), and marsipan.
No more. No less.
My husband makes one round of fudge.
No more. No less.
My daughter cooks up one batch of toffee.
No more. No less.
Bake what you love! And enjoy every bite of it.
Socialize at Your Own Pace
“Ugh – I have so many parties to go to…” Really? Are you upset because you’ve been invited to too many parties? Isn’t it wonderful that you have so many friends and are so involved in the community!?!
The beauty with invitations is that they are not a subpoena. You can say no. Politely.
Parties can be a lot of fun, but if there’s one every night of the week, it can become overwhelming.
Look at your calendar and select the events that mean a lot to you (and the person who invited you) and make sure not to overbook yourself and your family.
The holidays are about community and being together. So be together! With people who make you happy.
And don’t complain about too many party invitations.
Remember Why We Celebrate
OK. I will be the last person to put a “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” sign in my front yard. But not because I don’t think it’s an important message.
Because it is.
Whatever tradition you adhere to, remembering the reason for the celebration is key to surviving the holidays.
Why?
Well, I’ll use the Christian example, because it’s what I know best. We celebrate Christmas in honor of the birth of Jesus. According to the Bible, Jesus was born by refugees in a stable. We also learn that angels sang for joy and shepherds and sages visited him to honor his birth. The sages brought valuable gifts (which I’m sure his parents truly appreciated).
In the New Testament, Jesus speaks highly of the poor and the children. (The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these…) He teaches us that worldly possessions are not all they’re cracked up to be. Rather, we should sell what we have and give the money to the poor. Jesus personifies voluntary simplicity (but doesn’t mind a bottle of expensive perfume being rubbed onto his body – a thoughtful gift given with love).
Remembering the story can really help us relax and focus on the important aspects of this celebration: Being together and sharing the Christmas story, enjoying meals with friends, singing like the angels, and giving precious, meaningful gifts to loved ones as a symbol of our reverence.
It’s not about buying loads of gifts (just for the sake of buying), or manic cleaning, or baking for days, or even going to dozens of parties.
Don’t “survive” the holidays… Embrace simplicity and be at peace!
P.S. I hope you realize that this blog post is just as much a peptalk to myself as it is sharing these thoughts with you! And as a part of personalizing my holidays, I’ll be taking the rest of the year off from blogging. I will be back in the new year with lots of fresh ideas and musings and look forward to an amazing 2012. Peace to you and yours.
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I have such a talented family. Earlier this week, I wrote about my sister Priscilla, who is an artist. Today, it’s time to talk about my awesome brothers.
My brother David Åhlén, is third in the sibling line and only two years younger than me (yes, my mom had babies three years in a row…). He has always been interested in music. While I got presents such as calculators and dictionaries (I was the “brainy” one), and my sister received gifts of sketchbooks and water colors, my brother (actually both my brothers) unwrapped toy saxophones and guitars.
Eventually we all ended up in music, playing piano, guitar, and all varieties of string instruments (except for viola, so we never had a perfect quartet). David started a band at age 14, which I was privileged to join as the keyboard player. We played original music and held a fair amount of concerts. Every year we entered a music competition for young musicians, and when I was a senior in high school, we actually made it to the top ten in the country (Sweden).
This was mostly due to David’s extreme talent in creating catchy tunes and his charisma on stage. He continued to play in various bands, but eventually decided that bands where not for him and pursued a solo career. He’s recorded multiple albums and has received raving reviews for his later work, where he has returned to his roots in the church.
David Ahlen manages to convey the emotional sense of a spiritual world in a stripped down simplicity displaying a raw and unafraid voice. ~Cyclic Defrost, Australia
David is able to pull off the artist life by living simply. For the past several years, his growing family has lived in a 3-room apartment in Stockholm, Sweden. They recently moved into a slightly larger place in order to give their three kids a little bit more space. He does what he loves and can’t really imagine doing anything else.
Enjoy this rendition of Lo How A Rose Er Blooming, which he recently recorded for a collection album:
David Ahlen – Det ar en Ros Utsprungen (Lo How A Rose Er Blooming) / A Light Goes On – 2011 from Danny Joe Gibson – Artist on Vimeo.
My brother Tobias, who is six years my junior, started playing the double bass at age six. It was the cutest thing you ever saw. His teacher, who was also my violin teacher, took him on earlier than normal due to his amazing musical talent. By the time Tobias was 16, he was one of the best double bass players in the country. He was accepted into the Royal College of Music in Stockholm after just one year of high school.
During his college years, he participated in top notch youth orchestras and played with the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra on occasion. Tobias is also an amazing piano player and can mesmerize your heart with jazz tunes and you have no choice but to sing along.
Over the last several years, Tobias has spent much of his time on making string and orchestra arrangements for various recordings and events and enjoys composing original music on his keyboard and iMac.
Now my dear brothers have a joint venture, thehourislate, where they offer:
- A record label
- Music production / studio work
- Music for film / TV
- Arrangements
I’m just so proud of these “boys” and what they’ve accomplished. What I really enjoy is how all of us siblings (there’s five of us – I have one more post to write!) have independently come to the conclusion that doing what you love is more important that living a cushy life. It took me the longest, and I’m thankful to have the support of my family.
It’s almost a new year. A good time for reflection. Make a list of the things you love to do and create a plan to maximize the amount of time you spend on those things.
We have only one life.
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