Your Child, The Artist D.I.Y. Tips for Moms & Dads By Ellyn Parker [Originally published in the 2005 Expo newspaper] Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. --Pablo Picasso There exists, in all of us, an inert level of creativity. As a parent, nurturing this in your children may become more than a fun after-school activity. It may become a duty, like making sure your child brushes their teeth and ties their shoes--eventually teaching them to do these things themselves. Making Time As parents and creative people ourselves, we often must work harder to make sure our children learn to blossom creatively in our crazy world. Sometimes we set expectations too high, or find ourselves entrenched in daily lives of school, laundry and commuting. It is difficult to fit in creative time for ourselves as parents, much less find fun and inspiring activities for our children. Add the challenge of finding activities that rival the cost of a week's worth of groceries, and we've got ourselves quite a challenge. But by using our creative instinct and being resourceful, we can find the tools for our children to be creatively vibrant and productive for now and for the rest of their lives. Learning to Listen The Bay Area is home to some cool and kid-friendly bands who host regular Saturday afternoon post -nap shows. The SippyCups (www.thesippycups.com) gig at reasonable afternoon hours, charge low covers and rock out some all ages sing-along favorites. But this ain't Raffi. The SippyCups manage, impressively, to get the young ones bouncing to a nice rendition of The Ramones "Elated." Recently, Cafe Du Nord hosted a tea-time performance of Pink Floyd's "The Wall," performed by a group of 8- to14-year-olds from Paul Green's School of Rock (www.schoolofrock.com). There actually is one, just like the movie. For amazing inspiration in a natural environment, check out summer-long free concerts at Stern Grove (www.sterngrove.com) in San Francisco. You can pack our own lunch and a bottle of wine, and hang while the little ones dance in the grass. If you want to cultivate the improv musician in your kids, head down to Cafe International (508 Haight Street at Fillmore Street) (www.cafeinternational.com) on a Sunday from 4-8 p.m. This Lower Haight coffee shop hosts free Sunday afternoon jazz with local favorites Top Cat and Miles Ahead. For the improv portion of the afternoon, the band plays backup to anyone who is brave enough to face the crowd. There are always a couple of small wonders getting the buzz of fronting a band. Bring an instrument for your budding Coltrane and set them loose. Stuck in a Red State? Create your own music. The old pots-and-pans jam in the kitchen is as tried as it is true. Let them sing loudly and play the same line over and over on the guitar. (I mean really, did you learn "Wish You Were Here" on the first try?) Kids are surprisingly more porous when it comes to learning. But you will only squelch the creative process by telling them to keep it down or stop repeating themselves. Ignore it, applaud it, but let them rock. Explore Together Play Barney in your stereo and they will learn Barney. Play BB King and they will sing you the blues. Challenge the usual suspects in their CD player or iPod by sneaking in a little Miles or adding some samba to their playlist. You can both explore new music together. You never know, you might just have something in common. Nothing will destroy a creative streak in a kid like a coloring book. Chuck them. Blank paper, crayons, markers and cheap watercolors can be all you need to encourage your developing Picasso. Grab one of your old art school textbooks and pick an artist's style to mimic. You can talk about Picasso's cubism and drawing in abstract forms. Use Georgia O'Keefe's use of close-ups to look at backyard flowers in a whole new way. Get crazy and let them Jackson Pollock an old T-shirt. Dr. Seuss mobiles, Van Gogh's starry nights, a Seurat dot-painting ... the possibilities are limitless. Beat the Budget Low on supplies? Look no further than your own kitchen. Use the bottom of a cut celery stalk for vegetable prints. Paint with the juice of a beet. SCRAP (834 Toland Street, SF, 415/647-1746, www.scrap-sf.org) is an inspiring outing for child and adult artists alike. Let your kids wander and fill a grocery bag with items for sculptures and 3-D pieces. You will be amazed how delighted they are at getting to choose their own materials. Once you get the goods home, store them in clear mason jars or see-through bags so that they can clearly visualize the materials. A trip to SCRAP and a new container of glue can fill an entire rainy weekend and yield you some cool new art. Old cardboard makes a nice matte board when painted and covered with old buttons and glitter. Let it Grow Let your children process. Let them create freely, with no judgment. Don't give them art projects that have expectations. Allow them to flourish and create at their own pace. Let them take their time when visualizing the masterpiece. Think about how many times you stared at blank canvas for days before the first brush stroke. Naomi Rifkin of Bay Area Brush Fire (www.paintbrushfire.org) says, "We have made artists out to be some kind of exotic, rare and sometimes crazy people. The idea of creating to express oneself is as old as cave paintings, when someone put stick to stone, or whatever materials they used, and declared 'This is how I see the world.' Process painting takes us to that primal creative urge. I think the need to communicate our experience lives within us. So if everyone has this impulse, then everyone is an artist." There are plenty of amazing online resources for children's art. Google any artist and you can find examples of their work and biographical information. Let your kids know about other inspirational and influential artists. Explain why it was important that Picasso drew a lady with three eyes. Then let your child get to work on a three-eyed monster. Let them dance to their own rhythm. If you are a punk rock fan, they might only love jazz. Let your children explore their own art. By exposing them to new inspirations they will grow as artists and as little people. By encouraging freedom in creating, you will push them to choose creatively in all aspects of their lives. The choice to use more yellow or blue crayons translates into creative decisions about how they choose to eat, the process in which they deal with every day stress, and the manner in which they choose to vent the struggles of every day life as they grow into adults. We can easily overwhelm our children with our own artistic opinions. Our most precious creations need to find their own creative voices. Ellyn Parker is an event producer, arts advocate, educator, and the proud mother of seven-year-old tae kwon do champ, Alia Anaya. She ran the now shuttered underground arts gallery 691, and is co-owner of Olao Records,

Bay Area Arts Unite at Seventh Annual Expo for the Artist & Musician The Bay Area's only grassroots connection fair for independent arts, music and culture! On September 16, 2006, the Expo for the Artist & Musician celebrates its seventh anniversary at SomArts Cultural Center in San Francisco's South of Market district. The Expo is an all-day extravaganza featuring more than 100 Bay Area arts organizations, free workshops, performances and hundreds of local artists and musicians. Attendees can browse tables staffed by local galleries, nonprofits, collectives and small businesses; present portfolios and music demos; and participate in seminars on marketing their art, finding grants, making a demo tape, artist’s legal issues, the history and future of the arts in the Bay Area and much more. The Expo exists to help creative people and organizations of ALL types find resources, promote themselves and connect with likeminded individuals. Admission is just $2 at the door — and no one is turned away for lack of funds. This year the Expo features: • TWENTY satellite workshops happening around San Francisco the week of the Expo • The debut Expo Salon Show Sept. 11-16 — artist's reception Thursday, Sept. 14. • Two panels examining the history and future of Bay Area art and underground culture, featuring Dr. Hal Robbins of the Church of the SubGenius, Ron Turner (Last Gasp Press), V. Vale of ReSearch, filmmaker Gordon Winiemko, 21Grand curator Sarah Lockhart and more. • Exhibitors representing more than 100 arts organizations, service groups, galleries, studios, schools and nonprofits from every corner of the arts and music community • Workshops, speakers, skillshares and panel discussions • A Community Arts Showcase, featuring two stages of diverse, fresh local performers • A hands-on Children’s Activity Area • Delicious food and an outdoor beer and wine garden. Since 2000, the Expo has acquired a diverse and dedicated constituency, stacks of wildly enthusiastic evaluation forms, and a review from the San Francisco Chronicle that dubs us “New Utopians” working for “a better future for San Francisco.” As we grow, the Expo remains a low-cost event, firmly in the grassroots, and dedicated to strengthening creative and cultural activity, participation and cross-pollination at the community level. The Expo is made possible in part by the Walter & Elise Haas and William & Flora Hewlett foundations, the Zellerbach Family Fund, Make Magazine, KUSF 90.3 FM, Laughing Squid and Brown Paper Tickets. Saturday, September 16, 2006, 11 am-6 pm SomArts, 934 Brannan St., San Francisco $2 Admission • No One Turned Away artsandmedia.net/expo/ • expo_info@artsandmedia.net (415) 861-5302 A service of Independent Arts & Media Seventh Annual Expo for the Artist & Musician — Performance & Speakers 1 Check for updates and a complete schedule @ www.artsandmedia.net/expo/ All of the following events take place at SomArts on Sept 16. See our “Workshops 2006” schedule below for a list of events we will be hosting throughout the city during the week prior to the Expo. * Workshops at the Expo sponsored by Make Magazine * Main Stage 12:30 D.I.Y. & How-To. With Make Magazine 1:30 KC Jiang: Eastern And Western melodies on harmonica & Irish whistle. 2:00 Bay Area Now ... Really. This moment in Bay Area arts, from aesthetic achievement to mere trend-chasing. With Weasel Walter (musicologist/performer), Sarah Lockhart (21Grand), Gordon Winiemko (filmmaker), Chaim Bertam (Kitchen Sink/SF Bay Guardian). 3:15 Ledbetter. New folk (jbledbetter.com) 3:45 Liije. Vocals/piano/guitar (lijiemusic.com) 4:15 History of SF Underground Art. "Back in the day" comes to life as Those Who Were There tell all! Punk roots, indy publishing, flower-power legacies and mind- cracking reality hacking. With: Dr. Hal Robbins (Church of the SubGenius), Ron Turner (Last Gasp Press), V. Vale (ReSearch), Diamond Dave Whitaker. Outside Acoustic stage 12:30 Gemini Soul/Ajamu Akinyele. Jazz funk fusion. (ajamu.net) 1:00 Robert Temple, Socially conscious soul folk. (roberttemplemusic.com) 1:30 Jean Mazzei of Flying Venus, Acoustic burlesque rock. (myspace.com/flyingvenus) 2:00 Voodoo Cabaret, Ritualistic, shamanistic, theatrical experience. (afrocrusade.com) 2:40 John Anaya, Dark romping political cabaret songs. (johnanaya.com) 3:00 Cowboy Dale, Hillbilly love songs. (myspace.com/olaorecords) 3:20 The Herman Hayte Quartet, Old- time swing standards. 4:15 Temple of Poi, Poi dancing workshop & demonstration. (templeofpoi.com) Saturday, September 16, 2006, 11 am-6 pm SomArts, 934 Brannan St., San Francisco $2 Admission • No One Turned Away artsandmedia.net/expo/ • expo_info@artsandmedia.net (415) 861-5302 A service of Independent Arts & Media Seventh Annual Expo for the Artist & Musician — Performance & Speakers 2 Check for updates and a complete schedule @ www.artsandmedia.net/expo/ All of the following events take place at SomArts on Sept 16. See our “Workshops 2006” schedule below for a list of events we will be hosting throughout the city during the week prior to the Expo. * Workshops at the Expo sponsored by Make Magazine * Classroom 11:00 Portfolio Assembly & How-To. The basics on portfolios assembly, artist statements, gallery submissions and more. Portfolio review follows. With: Jessica Hobbs, others TBA. 12:30 Get It in The Papers: Press kits for musicians & performers. Learn what should be in an excellent press kit, and bring your own for review, praise and advice. With Jesse Townley (924 Gillman, Alternative Tentacles), Jocelyn Kane (SF Ent. Commission). 2:00 The Independent Press. Find out how the indy press finds amazing writing, and what it takes to get it to you. With Jennifer Joseph (Manic D Press), Charlie Anders (Other Mag). 3:30 The Art of Marketing. Lecture and hands- on workshop covering marketing and research strategies for artists. Bring a notebook! With: Arts marketing consultant Therese Martin. Dance Studio 2:00 Embodying the Divine Feminine that Lies in all Women. A dance and movement workshops with Isis Starr, San Francisco's own living legend. 3:00 "BURLESQUERCISE!" Ever watched a burlesque show and thought "That looks like fun, I'd love to do that!" Well, now you can learn to strut your stuff in a sexy and lighthearted class atmosphere. With: Bombshell Betty. Children’s Activity Area (Indoors) All day hands-on activities for the young ones with the good folks from Scrap and Brushfire Painting. Catering Provided by Juicy Lucy's Juice Bar & Organic Foods Save the Date! ***Introducing the Expo For the Artist & Musician Salon Show*** At Crucible Steel Gallery@CELLspace, Sept. 11-16; Reception, Thursday Sept. 14, 7:00-9:00 This year the Expo will debut a week-long exhibition of recent work by a wide variety of local artists, hosted by the Crucible Steel Gallery at CELLspace. Join us for wine and cheese at the artist reception and pre-Expo Mixer on Thursday Sept. 14, 7:00-9:00 p.m. for a chance to meet the artists and mingle with Expo exhibitors. Saturday, September 16, 2006, 11 am-6 pm SomArts, 934 Brannan St., San Francisco $2 Admission • No One Turned Away artsandmedia.net/expo/ • expo_info@artsandmedia.net (415) 861-5302 A service of Independent Arts & Media Seventh Annual Expo for the Artist & Musician — Off-Site Workshops 2006 Check for updates and a complete schedule @ www.artsandmedia.net/expo/ Along with the many speakers, skillshares and panel discussions featured at the event itself, the Expo will be hosting a week-long series of TWENTY free workshops throughout the city! Thursday, Sept. 7 Event Planning 101: From Dream to Day Of Elbo Room, 6-9pm, 647 Valencia Street, SF Stories and advice on upcoming events. With: DJ PussPuss, Melinda Adams (Lilycat.com). Friday, Sept. 8 Pirate Radio: “Get your Airwave Booty” Edinburgh Castle, 6-9pm, 950 Geary Street, SF This workshop will cover the technology, the FCC, the freedom of speech, and ins and outs of running an independent, low-power FM station. With: Pirate Cat Radio hosts & producers. Saturday, Sept. 9 FILM SCREENING: "Punk Like Me" ... Eat a burrito and follow your dreams. The Dark Room, 2-5pm, 2263 Mission Street. SF Get a burrito from one of the many fine Mission restaurants and see a screening of “Punk Like Me,” a documentary about getting off your ass and making your teenage dreams come true. Monday, Sept. 11 Printmaking You Can Do In Your Kitchen Cellspace, 5:45-7pm, 2050 Bryant St, SF Real printmaking techniques using materials you can use on the go. Experiments with linoleum block, collograph, monoprinting and more. With: Matthew Searle (Zeum). Bookbinding 101 Cellspace, 5:45-7pm Learn the basics of making an art book. With: Nicole Passeratti (CELLspace). Making a Demo Tape: How to get the first recording of your sound down Sadie's Flying Elephant, 5:45-7pm, 491 Potrero Ave, SF. With: Killian MacGeraghty (Gun & Doll Show), Jesse Townley (Alternative Tentacles), Charlotte Summer (recording artist), Jim Fourniadis (recording engineer). Tuesday, Sept. 12 Show Your Work @ the San Francisco International Arts Festival Noon, Flood Building, 870 Market St., Ste. 1185 The San Francisco International Arts Festival is currently looking for artists, arts organizations and presenting partners to participate in the May 2008 Festival. Bring a brown-bag lunch! Foundation Center-San Francisco, Grantseeking Basics for Individuals in the Arts, Two Classes! Foundation Center-San Francisco 312 Sutter Street, Suite 606 2:30-4pm: For individuals involved in the arts and looking to fund any arts-related project. 4-4:45pm: For students, artists, academic researchers, libraries, financial aid officers. Learn to search through detailed descriptions of more than 6,000 foundation programs. Cut-out Animation Demonstration Cellspace, 5:45-7pm Dive quickly into the process of animation with magazine cut-outs. See a variety of techniques and get some ideas for your own film. With: Matthew Searle (Zeum). Saturday, September 16, 2006, 11 am-6 pm SomArts, 934 Brannan St., San Francisco $2 Admission • No One Turned Away artsandmedia.net/expo/ • expo_info@artsandmedia.net (415) 861-5302 A service of Independent Arts & Media Guerrilla Stencils Cellspace, 5:45-7pm Cheap, easy to generate, readily distributable: Stenciling plays a key role in the arsenal of the guerrilla artist. Learn some stencil history while you learn to create your own stencils in text, line art & photorealism forms. With: Guillermo Godinez (CELLspace/Exit Media). 'Zine Making: Publishing Your Own Annie’s, 5:45-7, 917 Folsom St, SF An overview of all production and design aspects of making your own 'zine, including a sample layout, handouts and special secrets. With: Matt Holdaway (A Multitude of Voices). Wednesday, Sept. 13 Grant Fundamentals CELLspace, 5:45-7pm CELLspace executive director Zoe Garvin will lead you through the fundamental steps of researching, writing and applying for grants that suit the needs and goals of for your NPO, community agency or for individual artists. Pinhole Photography CELLspace, 5:45-7pm Hands-on demo about how to create your own photos with the simplest of equipment. With: Katie Hennessy (CELLspace). Blogging tell us about it Sadie's, 5:45-7pm Learn how to tell your life story or just rant via blogging. Becoming a "reality internet" star is just this class and a few key strokes away. With: Kevin Smokler (Citizen Media Press Corps). 10 Tips for Successful Grant Proposals Annie’s Social Club, 5:45-7 Learn to “sell” your work to funders with a well- crafted grant proposal! We'll focus on their interests and how best to tell them your story. With: Dalya Massachi (Writing for Nonprofit Success). Thursday, 9/14 Artist's EDGE: Causing a World of Prosperous Artists Cellspace, 5:45-7pm Debra Russell, Certified Artist's Success Coach F@#k, I can’t say that anymore Location TBA, 7-9pm Censorship: Learn what you are and aren’t allowed to do, say, and show these days, and if there is any way to change or get around it. With: Annalee Newitz (Other Magazine, techsploitation.com), Mark Kliem (LavenderLounge.com), LadyMonster (ladymonster.com), Thomas Roche (eros- zine.com). Contract Basics Arthouse/California Lawyers for the Arts Location and Time TBA This workshop will review basics of the agreement process, and cover the alternatives to formal "contracts," such as memoranda of understanding and letter agreements. The principle of "Get it in writing," will be emphasized, along with a primer on when to seek legal advice. Comics With Madhappys Location and time TBA. Hang out with the folks behind this free San Francisco comix newspaper for an open drawing session, exquisite corpse and group mini comics. (www.madhappys.com) Saturday, September 16, 2006, 11 am-6 pm SomArts, 934 Brannan St., San Francisco $2 Admission • No One Turned Away artsandmedia.net/expo/ • expo_info@artsandmedia.net (415) 861-5302 A service of Independent Arts & Media Seventh Annual Expo for the Artist & Musician — Exhibitors as of Aug 20, 2006 There will be up to 120 organizations at the Expo on Sept. 16 21Grand 924 Gilman Street Alternative Tentacles Archimedia + Telescape Artist's EDGE ArtWork SF Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) Bay Area Women in Film & television (BAWIFT) Bindlestiff Studio Black Rock Arts Foundation Brown Paper Tickets Brush Fire Painting California Lawyers for the Arts/ArtHouse Cellspace Community Art Center/ Crucible Steel Gallery Chameleon Music Promotion CounterCorp Film Festival The El Fornio Historical Society Film Arts Foundation Filthmilk Flash Productions The Foundation Center - San Francisco Full Calendar Fua Dia Congo Graphic Art Workshop H. E. A. R. Hyphen Mag: Asian America Unabridged Intersection for the Arts Independent Arts & Media KUSF 90.3 FM KZSU 90.1 FM The LAB Madhappys Make Magazine Manic D Press Mission Arts Foundation Mr. Dodgy Photography Music Lawyers International The Nocturnes Night Photography The Octavia Blvd Art Show Planet Drum Foundation Pacific Art League Project Spera RE/Search Publications Rodent Records Scroungers Center for Reusable Art Parts SF Community Music Center San Francisco Children's Art Center San Francisco Media Archive San Francisco Vegetarian Society San Francisco Women Artists La Vache Enragee Productions Visual Aid Women Artists Environmental Directory Ylem: Artists Using Science & Technology

Sex sells. It screams at us from the cover of every magazine, the evening news, and every piece of culture we consume. The cultural and critical analysis theory tells us that the media industry exploits the masses by producing formulized media content that appeals to mass audiences. The purpose of this exploitation is designed to promote a dominant ideology and preserve it at the cultural level or as a social status quo. This is particularly relevant in magazines targeted at women from age 18-50. In any grocery store checkout line, the racks are filled with magazines promoting beauty and weight loss tips, with front pages featuring some scantily clad starlet all implying that we as women need to be sexier. In studying this theory, in addition to promoting a culture of eternal youth and agelessness, these magazines also contribute to the constant perpetuation of the idea that women need to improve their sexual skills. This reinforces the ideology that all women need to improve our selves, and are in turn inferior, especially in matters of bedroom performance. It also reiterates the idea that women are here to get, keep and please their male counterparts. Media bombards us with imagery and advertising that implies that women should be sexy and skinny and dressed a certain way. I looked at three magazines that are all aimed at women. Self, Jane and Alternative Medicine. These magazines all take a subtler approach than Glamour or Vogue, but the underlying messages are still the same. All three had front cover tag lines that urged women to improve their sexual prowess. Self Magazine, Be bold in bed and have the best sex of your life. So reads the cover of Aprils magazine. When you first thumb through the pages of Self, it is filled with colorful ads for health and beauty ads. It is stocked with exercise advice and workout routines for women who wish to improve themselves. But as you dig deeper into the core of the magazine, you get to page 208, with the bold headline Feel 100exier. Why is it that magazines aimed at female readers almost always include an article focusing on how to get better in bed? According to Self, 80f women suffer from sexual insecurities, and by just practicing a few of their simple tips, all women can improve at pleasing their sexual partner. Most of the tips included are vague and fall right inline with most of the other advice included in this issue.wear sexy lingerie, spritz on perfume, don a pair of high heels or get a professional beauty treatment. I expect Self means for the reader to buy the Victorias Secret lingerie, the Dior perfume, the Prada shoes and visit one of the many spas they advertise. It suggests reading an erotic magazine or just relaxing at a spa. I think that most of the advice in this article was simply to encourage women to remain insecure about their sexual worth, and to go buy something from one of their advertisers to make themselves feel better about being terrible in bed. Jane Magazine, Be the best in bedtips and tricks that will make you an instant legend. (March) Great sex tonight! (February). Two of seemingly alternative Jane magazines cover screamed out the message once again that women need to better at sex. Jane touts itself to be the magazine for the rest of us. But it still embraces the same viewpoint that most mainstream womens magazines give of the need to be younger, skinnier and sexier. Funny, I did check out a few magazines targeting men including Maxim, FHM and Esquire, but no front cover tag lines telling men to be better at sex. Janes take on sexual improvement mimicked the articles in all the magazines I studied. All advocated for small, very high heeled shoes, expensive lingerie or spa treatments. Jane also included tips from readers. This mostly consisted of super-lists of porn or erotic books, DVDs and websites to visit in order to watch and learn, I suppose. Most of the websites listed, including nerve.com and fleshbot.com are filled with advertising links to porn sites and offers for premium subscription services. Again, most of the hot tips to make woman more successful in the sack, all include the necessity for purchasing power. I picked up the October 2005 copy of Alternative Medicine Magazine after absorbing almost too much of the be prettier imagery that is so prevalent in womens magazines. I had to laugh when I looked at the front cover, which proclaimed Low libido, No libido? The sensuality solution. Even though the cover features a natural looking real woman, this magazine also perpetuates the ideal that women just need to improve just about everything. It is also filled with weight loss tips, vitamin and wrinkle-busting cream ads and beauty tips. And there, on page 66, the obligatory article stocked with tips to make women better sex partners. Alternative Medicine did touch briefly on the importance of mind-body connection before the page filled with recommendations for all natural lubricants, $200 Kama Sutra books (the same one recommended in Jane as a matter of fact) and private passion party providers. It did not include the standard tip to strap on a pair of flirty high heels, but it did have web links to several high-end beauty spas and online sex toy stores. In the end, the bulk of this article was focused on product placement and the eternal perpetuation of a more youthful culture. In a consequence more serious than shoe sales or increased advertising revenue comes another repercussion of the ideal that women need to improve their sexuality. This media blitz of sexual inferiority creates an urgent sense in women that they are sick and need a cure. This in turns creates a market for, and then sells pharmaceuticals. Consider the following excerpt from Our Bodies, Our Selves (www.ourbodiesourselves.com) Many of us have strong ideas about how much desire we think we should have. Movies, television shows and magazines often portray women as highly sexual. Drug companies and the popular media capitalize on these images and bombard us with messages about how to increase our sexual appetites. While these portrayals are accurate for some of us, they represent only a narrow slice of the wide range of womens experiences. Paradoxically, while desire is supposed to be invisible in girls, pharmaceutical companies (and medical researchers often hired by those companies) have begun to define low sexual desire in women as a medical disorder deserving of medical treatment. This completely reaffirms the underlying agenda of magazine publishers, who want to sell ads to pharmaceutical companies. Viagra ads saturate spam and advertising everywhere. Sales of sexual dysfunction products for men total over $17 billion a year. Think of the potential money to be made from women from their ever perpetuated sexual dysfunction. The British Medical Journal even stated that the 43f women who are estimated to be sexually dysfunctional seems to be an exaggerated number and is questioned by researchers. The more the media continues to perpetuate the concept that women are sexual inferior, dysfunctional or just not good enough, the more all women will continue to fall prey to mainline advertising campaigns that sell a pill for every cure. We as women are not broken or in need of a quick sexual fixer upper. We as a nation continue to perpetuate this cultural idea. One of those concerned is Dr Sandra Leiblum, professor of psychiatry at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and a clinical psychologist. She believes real dysfunction is much less prevalent than 43Àand that the figure has contributed to an overmedicalisation of women's sexuality, where changes in sexual desire are the norm. "I think there is dissatisfaction and perhaps disinterest among a lot of women, but that doesn't mean they have a disease," she said during an interview at the recent New York educational workshop. (www.bmj.com) This explains why the magazine industry must continue to add features perpetuating the myth that women are not sexually sufficient. If we do not have the right shoes, lipstick, books, facials or lubricants, we will be failures at sex and need a medical solution. This creates advertising revenue for the big pharmaceutical companies and easily we become a nation addicted. And even those women who dont pop the female equivalent to Viagra, or some ill prescribed antidepressant, will be very likely to shopbuy those cute flirty shoes, that red teddy and Tantra book or that romantic Spa getaway weekend. All advertising industry stands to turn a profit as women are led to believe that what they buy or take creates who they are in and out of the bedroom. 8:37 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remo

The real intention of Mother's Day Category: Blogging In 1872 Julia Ward Howe, reformer and poet and the author of the lyrics to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, issued a Mother's Day Proclamation. She was the first in America to suggest that a day each year be set aside dedicated to honoring the ideals of motherhood and peace. For the next 8 years she celebrated the holiday, "Mother's Peace Day" with a group of women in Boston. It is Anna Jarvis who is credited with bringing about the official observance of Mother's Day. Very attached to her mother, she conceived the holdiay as a remembrance of her late mother who had earlier tried to establish "Mother's Friendship Days" to heal the scars of the Civil War. She waged a successful campaign to have the holiday officially proclaimed Mother's Day in 1914 as a holiday to encourage children to honor their mothers.It didn't take long, much to Anna Jarvis' bitter regret, for the holiday to deteriorate into commercialism. Shortly before her death, Jarvis told a reporter that she regretted ever having started Mother's Day. Mother's Day Proclamation - 1870 by Julia Ward Howe Arise then...women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts! Whether your baptism be of water or of tears! Say firmly: "We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies, Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, For caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, the women of one country, Will be too tender of those of another country To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs." From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice." Blood does not wipe our dishonor, Nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil At the summons of war, Let women now leave all that may be left of home For a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means Whereby the great human family can live in peace... Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, But of God - In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask That a general congress of women without limit of nationality, May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient And the earliest period consistent with its objects, To promote the alliance of the different nationalities, The amicable settlement of international questions, The great and general interests of peace.

May Day has different meanings to all of us...Lei Day in hawaii...The pagans and celtics celebrate Beltane... Check out a little background on how this day came to stand for workers rights here in the US..relevant right now I think... The happy idea of using a proletarian holiday celebration as a means to attain the eight-hour day was first born in Australia. The workers there decided in 1856 to organize a day of complete stoppage together with meetings and entertainment as a demonstration in favor of the eight-hour day. The day of this celebration was to be April 21. At first, the Australian workers intended this only for the year 1856. But this first celebration had such a strong effect on the proletarian masses of Australia, enlivening them and leading to new agitation, that it was decided to repeat the celebration every year. In fact, what could give the workers greater courage and faith in their own strength than a mass work stoppage which they had decided themselves? What could give more courage to the eternal slaves of the factories and the workshops than the mustering of their own troops? Thus, the idea of a proletarian celebration was quickly accepted and, from Australia, began to spread to other countries until finally it had conquered the whole proletarian world. The first to follow the example of the Australian workers were the Americans. In 1886 they decided that May 1 should be the day of universal work stoppage. On this day 200,000 of them left their work and demanded the eight-hour day. Later, police and legal harassment prevented the workers for many years from repeating this [size] demonstration. However in 1888 they renewed their decision and decided that the next celebration would be May 1, 1890. In the meanwhile, the workers' movement in Europe had grown strong and animated. The most powerful expression of this movement occurred at the International Workers' Congress in 1889. At this Congress, attended by four hundred delegates, it was decided that the eight-hour day must be the first demand. Whereupon the delegate of the French unions, the worker Lavigne from Bordeaux, moved that this demand be expressed in all countries through a universal work stoppage. The delegate of the American workers called attention to the decision of his comrades to strike on May 1, 1890, and the Congress decided on this date for the universal proletarian celebration. In this case, as thirty years before in Australia, the workers really thought only of a one-time demonstration. The Congress decided that the workers of all lands would demonstrate together for the eight-hour day on May 1, 1890. No one spoke of a repetition of the holiday for the next years. Naturally no one could predict the lightninglike way in which this idea would succeed and how quickly it would be adopted by the working classes. However, it was enough to celebrate the May Day simply one time in order that everyone understand and feel that May Day must be a yearly and continuing institution. The first of May demanded the introduction of the eight-hour day. But even after this goal was reached, May Day was not given up. As long as the struggle of the workers against the bourgeoisie and the ruling class continues, as long as all demands are not met, May Day will be the yearly expression of these demands. And, when better days dawn, when the working class of the world has won its deliverance then too humanity will probably celebrate May Day in honor of the bitter struggles and the many sufferings of the past.