Save It for Later: Mother's Day

In Save It for Later you’re getting a brief run-down of each week's stand-outs from things I've bookmarked to "read later" either from Diigo "Read Later" list, Pulse News, Twitter, and/or Pinterest.  


Read Reel Girl

Reel Girl Screen Capture

I took my 12-year-old daughter out to get her nails done on Wednesday for our monthly “date night.”  It was a pleasant experience, she’s a fun kid and I love her so, so much.  However, the salon had their giant flat-screen tuned to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer who was going on and on about the women in Cleveland who were found and brought to safety after a decade of being held captive, raped and tortured.  The coverage was annoying, to say the least, and failed to articulate the real problems we have with violence against women in the US.

In lieu of CNN, please check out these two articles from Reel Girl who does a great job articulating the complexities of violence against women in this country:

Ex-wife of Ariel Castro charged him with domestic violence, case dropped
Rep. Jackie Speier takes the lead to stop sexual assault in the USA

Stories about Moms

On a lighter note, I have been curating “Stories about Moms” for a little over a year on Pinterest.  It’s a group board, so if you’re on it, start adding and a BIG "thank you" to those who have.  If you would like to add some stories let me know.  If you are looking for a lot of wonderful stories about moms, you now know where to go!

Stories about Moms

Kid President

Lastly, I was reading some blogs in an attempt to catch up (I still haven't, but will, eventually, by the end of the year) and came across a lovely Mother's Day post from one of my favorite bloggers, Kimberly Rues of Rubber Chicken Madness.  In it was this video message from Kid President, of course.  Check it out!

Wednesday's Woman And finally (which always follows "lastly" ...in case you didn't know) don't forget to check out the inspiring Mother's Day Edition of Wednesday's Woman. Happy Mother's Day!

Save It for Later: 3 Things April

In Save It for Later you’re getting a brief run-down of each week's stand-outs from things I've bookmarked to "read later" either from my Diigo "Read Later" list, Pulse News, Twitter, and/or Pinterest.

I haven’t blogged for a month, so my read later list is quite extensive.  I’ll spare you the lot of it and share with you what I think is most important.  All happen to be relating to April.

April is National Poetry Month.  This week BlogHer gave us 6 Amazing Last-Minute Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month.  I really like #5 which is an online app called That Can Be My Next Tweet that mashes up your own Twitter stream to create tweets that are somewhat poetic.  I tried the app.  Here are some of my mashed up tweets:

I Want and comment. I Want and the lights go. Do I pay my friend, Anna Mahler....

Linking up with a great info you've been posting here and doing nothing.

Couldn't be happier to one's courage. - I am now a difference in the great women making history?

Number 7 on the BlogHer list, spine poetry, is also fun.  Stack up a few books, take a photo of their spines, and voila, their titles make poetry.  Here’s one that I attempted:

You can share yours on Twitter with the hashtag #spinepoetry.

For more ideas on last minute National Poetry Month celebrations check out the BlogHer article or Poets.org

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.  As a survivor of child sexual abuse this is an awareness campaign close to my heart.  Like most of these month-long campaigns, I feel it is one that should be at the forefront of our awareness all year.

In the pursuit to eradicate child abuse the most important tool is prevention.  Prevention can only happen through education, answering the question of “how do we stop this from happening?”  The Child Welfare Information Gateway has a wealth of information on prevention geared towards parents, professionals and educators.  I also have been curating information on prevention on Pinterest for over a year.  There are several organizations working towards the prevention of child abuse.  The video below is from one such organization, Darkness to Light.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.  In light of the Steubenville rape case getting so much media attention, this campaign couldn’t be more timely.  I have been gathering information on preventing sexual assault at Pinterest and you can check out some very informative links by clicking here.  The National Sexual Violence Resource Center is always my first stop for solid, accessible information.  Their current campaign is "Talk early, talk often. Prevent sexual violence"  

Also, check out the newly launched NO MORE, “The first unifying symbol to express support for ending domestic violence and sexual assault,” which provides tools for individuals to get involved locally and on social media in order to shed light on the invisible problems of sexual assault and domestic violence.  I downloaded their free toolkit containing sample social media posts, email templates, and more.  I think it's great and you should download and use it, too:   Activate NO MORE

April is just about to turn into May but don't expect this to be the last you read here about the prevention of child abuse and the awareness/prevention of sexual assault.  Beware, I just may subject you to the torture of my own poetry, too!