Alpha Montessori Update

It was a total delight to visit Alpha Montessori this past April. The first class of nine students just graduated in an emotional and inspiring ceremony. (See photos below or watch the ceremony here.) Many of these children started in the very early days of the school when Alpha Montessori was not much more than a concept, a vision of what education could bring. Yet all have now been accepted into English medium upper schools, a fantastic accomplishment. They are stunning examples of how confident, competent, self-directed, and articulate Montessori children can become, regardless of background. The students presented individually chosen and…

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High School Graduation Circa 2015

For the record, I am a big fan of alternative education programs. I’m opposed to the thrust and consequences of both No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, especially their emphases on extensive standardized testing and connecting teacher assessments to student test scores. The Montessorian in me fully recognizes that all students learn differently, that there are many paths to success, and that there are multiple measures of knowledge. I want to see students encouraged to develop individual strengths and not penalized by failure on narrow, inappropriate skill assessments. But are there limits here, folks? Are there NO…

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La Violencia – Justice in Guatemala?

  The civil war in Guatemala officially ended in 1996, but like many deeply rooted disputes about power, land, and control, this one seems not to have really ended. Reconciliation, justice, and reparations are slow to come, and a violent life is still the norm for many in Guatemala. At the always-wonderful Through Women's Eyes Film Festival in Sarasota this weekend I saw La Violencia, directed by Til Frohlich and Pia Janning, a documentary about the toll of the civil war on the Mayans of Guatemala. Many women bravely spoke up uring the trial of former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt. They detailed…

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News Flash!

SPOILED on Screen   A video of SPOILED will be shown TONIGHT - Friday, March 6 - in New York at the International Conference on Masculinities. We are thrilled to be a part of this large gathering of social scientists, policy makers, practitioners, researchers, and activists, all working together to enhance gender justice. Here's some of the info from our program to put the performance in context. Violence, Masculinity, and the Making of SPOILED All the stories in SPOILED are based on recent incidents in India and the USA. Two girls, living in a home with no toilet, were raped and…

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SPOILED – Staged Performances

Thanks to the wonderful support from many colleagues, family, and friends, SPOILED will be on the stage in workshop performances In New York this February. We received great comments at the reading this month and rehearsals are beginning now. Will you be in New York on February 15, 16, or 17? Come to Stage Left Studio! Tickets for the February shows can be purchased through Stage Left Studio, here: Tickets: SPOILED Still interested in supporting the play - and the cause - but can't make it to the show? We need donations NOW to bring SPOILED to conferences later this spring. We…

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SPOILED: Backer’s Reading January 14

SPOILED, the theatrical performance I've been working on for over a year, is on the way to the stage.  Read on and please, help us produce this work! Performance and Tax-deductible Donations: See Stage Left Studio (Contributions to Cheryl King, our Producer. Note "Spoiled" in the Artist line.) The issue: We know that rigid gender roles contribute greatly to violence against women. But we’ve found that rigid and distorted gender roles really damage both sexes – so we need to understand and involve men in conversations about the roots of this violence. By looking at events in the world’s two…

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A Mighty Girl

      Does A Mighty Girl (www.amightygirl.com) really have the world's largest collection of books, toys, music, and movies for "smart, confident, and courageous girls"? Well, I can't prove that 'world' claim, but it's the best compilation I've seen in a long, long time. For those of you who go nuts at the still prevalent stereotypical female roles in movies and wonder why entirely pink aisles in toy stores persist or wish there were more books about girls doing interesting things - and not just forced pedantic bios of Marie Curie - this website is a godsend. In addition to all those books, toys,…

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Spoiled: September

  First reading of SPOILED Friday September 26  - 7 PM Theaterlab 357 West 36th Street NYC, 3rd Floor Performed by Elizabeth Hess, Talkback after the performance moderated by Karen Hilbe   A Performance in Pre-Production What Are We Doing to Our Men? An Exploration of Men’s Attitudes and Gender-Based Violence Summary: SPOILED: A theatrical exploration of masculine self-image and its connection to violence against women (VAW) in India and the USA. Project in Development: What’s up with men these days? In India and the US, the world’s largest democracies, recent acts of violence against women have catapulted onto the…

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The Daily Show and Pink October

I received many comments on my Pink October post which took a rather dim view of corporations  sharing our Breast Cancer pain. (If you missed the original post, read it here.) Now the folks at the Daily Show - good ole John Stewart and Samantha Bee - have their own take on this subject, aired December 3rd.  Yes, those pink drill bits really do exist. And Breast Cancer Action is featured too. Check it out here.  And get out those pink ribbons.    

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The Last Taboo? Take the Health Quiz

What's this condition? 10 questions to test your health knowledge Every day approximately 300 million people worldwide are affected by this physical condition. It is estimated that approximately half the global population will be struck at some point in their lives. In much of the world, sufferers experience significant stigma and are often humiliated and shunned. It is not communicable. It is genetic, though there is no routine testing. Unlike leprosy (Hansen’s Disease), another disease leading to cruel social stigma, there is no cure for this condition. With guidance, symptoms can be managed to significantly lessen the pain. Many of those…

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