2007-2019 Daily excerpts of new fashion, culture, lifestyle, activism and women's news posts. Continues on current AOC Daily.
Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Winner In Death Reminds Us: Be A Hummingbird
Kenyan environmentalist and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai died late Sunday from cancer. At 71, Mrs Maathai was one of the most widely respected women in Africa, wearing many hats as an environmentalist, feminist, politician, rabble-rouser, human rights advocate and head of the Green Belt Movement.
Shy & Retiring to Social Butterflies
Asian Elephants Are Social Networkers Science NOW
Shermin de Silva, a graduate student at U of Penn and behavioral ecologist at the Elephant, Forest and Environment Conservation Trust in Sri Lanka, and her team believe that elephants express degrees of social diversity found in female humans. Some elephants have just a few female friends with bonds that go on for years, while others are more extroverted social betterflies.
The two-year study tracked nearly 300 pachyderms for five seasons in the Udawalawe National Park in Sri Lanka.
Among the elephant matriarchy, females and babies stay together, while males roam separate from the group. Studying the elephant relationships based on ‘top five friends’ the researchers found that elepants sustained their long-distance friendships by communicating with chemicals and noise.
Much to their surprise, some females were extremely extroverted, changing friends daily. About 16 percent of the elephants completely changed their ‘top five friends’ over the two-year period.
In all, the research shows that female Asian elephants live in a very dynamic society, where individuals leave and rejoin small groups at will. This behavior is similar to those seen in other intelligent mammals, like dolphins and chimpanzees, and simultaneously maintaining many relationships suggests “a high level of cognitive capacity,” says behavioral ecologist Phyllis Lee, another member of the team.
Hillary Clinton on Foreign Aid Cuts
While ‘Project Runway’s’ Tim Gunn spent his time dissing Hillary Clinton’s pant suits and gender-confused style with George Lopez last night, the Secretary of State was focused on warning Congress that she will fight to block a Republican push to restrict aid for Israel’s Arab neighbors and Pakistan and cut off climate change funds.
The bill cuts off any funds to NGOs that support or promote abortions, which effectively kills any family planning assistance to women in poor countries.
Clinton is on record saying she will ask President Obama to veto the bill that would also bar defense aid to Egypt, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority and Yemen if extremist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah and Hamas are part of the government. via The Hill
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
First lady Michelle Obama does push ups with Archbishop Desmond Tutu as they participated in youth activities raising awareness for HIV prevention at Cape Town Stadium June 23, 2011. Image via AP.@Jezebel.comWe choose our muses carefully at Anne of Carversville. Working on our story about Shakira in Israel this week, we found this wonderful set of images of Michelle Obama, Shakira and Angelina Jolie. International Business News didn’t call them Smart Sensuality women, our insider term for larger-than-life women with sex appeal, major intelligence and hearts that don’t stop giving.
Did we mention that Smart Sensuality women have a sense of humor and know how to handle the Boys Club? One look at Michelle Obama above, and we rest our case.
First Lady MIchelle Obama, Shakira and Angelina Jolie have all figured prominently in our websites.
Anne created AnneofCarversville.com after reading Angelina Jolie’s July 2007 Esquire interview. See Smart Sensuality Angelina Jolie: Virtue Considered in Carversville’s Country Air. Shakira became Anne’s muse in June of 2009 with Shakira, a Smart Sensuality Activist, Takes Me Back to Colombia, Where My Life Journey Really Began.
Anne campaigned for Hillary Clinton but loves Michelle Obama to death, like most of America and nations around the world. We don’t use the word ‘muse’ loosely, and we have only a few. Add Madonna, who is also a cornerstone of Anne of Carversville.
Girls and Boys Clubs
We’re tracking the Boys Club most days now. It’s time to throw in the Girls Club, too.
Not to worry; we’re not going to gender war here. This is a love fest, based on our belief that Smart Sensuality women have a great balance of estrogen and testosterone and represent the ONLY possibility for getting us into the 22nd century, without blowing ourselves to bits. Let’s hit the road.
U.S. first lady Michelle Obama, her mother Marian Robinson, daughters Malia (2nd L) and Sasha (3rd L), nephew Avery Robinson (4th L), and niece Leslie Robinson dance with children and caretakers as they visit the Emthonjeni Community Center in Zandspruit Township, Johannesburg, June 21, 2011.
Saving the World’s Children
Gates and UK pledge $2.3 billion for vaccines for poor Reuters
Billionaire Bill Gates and Britain pledged $2.3 billion at an international donor conference on Monday to fund vaccination programs to protect children in poor countries against diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this sobering photo of an aging, pensive Bill Gates speaks volumes to us. Many of us are concerned that time is running out on key challenges of our time. More than once, Bill Gates has acknowledged that we just might not beat the clock.
Judge Tanya Walton Pratt (left) may rule today on Planned Parenthood’s injunction request.RedTracker| Judge Tanya Walton Pratt of Federal District Court is expected to rule today on Planned Parenthood of Indiana’s request for an injunction and temporary restraining order on Indiana’s new law that cuts off about $3 million in public funds used to pay for birth control, cancer screening and tests for sexually transmitted disease.
Fort Wayne’s The Journal Gazette reports that about 30 supporters of Planned Parenthood of Indiana rallied Monday night, chanting ‘Mister, Mister, get your hands off my sister.’ Many motorists honked in support, and a few gave the the protesters ‘the finger’.
Femen, SlutWalks, Lysistrata | Body Politics Is On the Move
Meet FEMEN, a small group of ‘Topless Fighters’ who are fighting sex tourism and prostitution in Ukraine as members of Femen.
Little woman with red hair Anna Hutsol is the head ofFEMEN. The 26-year-old economist sits in front of her laptop, directing her topless fighters with the help of two mobile phones.
Will Fashion Help Challenge America's Catholic Bishops?
This editorial ‘Pagan Something’ on Flamboyant Magazine is a discovery via Vogue Italia’s Talents focus on photographer Marco D’Amico and stylist Italo Pantano.
The editorial begins with a quote by Theda Kenyon, author of ‘Witches Still Live’:
The blackest chapter in the history of Witchcraft lies not in the malevolence of Witches but in the deliberate, gloating cruelty of their prosecutors.
Republican War on Women | Without Facts, Lie, Distort, & Mock Women's Rights
After watching this video on YouTube , of Howie Rich training Tea Party goes in guerrilla Internet tactics like giving Liberal books a 1-star rating on Amazon and Conservative ones a 5-star — even though they haven’t read either book, Senator Jon Kyl’s strategy of lying on the Senate floor about Planned Parenthood services comes right out of this Tea Party activist guide.
Howie Rich pretty much tells Tea Party people to do what is required to destroy the enemy (that would be me). Educating Americans factually is not part of their goal. Smear the opposition — which is a classic Eugene McCarthy tactic — is embraced by the Tea Party, then leveraged by the Republican War on Women by Senator Jon Kyl on the Senate floor.
RedTracker | The future of Planned Parenthood, an organization 90 years old, is held in the hands of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Mormon who personally opposes abortion and has previously run ads expressing his anti-abortion stance.
“On 97 percent of our work, Sen. Reid and Planned Parenthood are completely together,” Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told POLITICO.
House Republican said this afternoon that the fight is not over abortion, without using the abortion word.
Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, calling herself “a pro-choice Republican from California,” said the shutdown fight is “about three things: spending, more spending and too much spending.”
Fox News women agree that there would be no shutdown if more women were in Congress.
Shakira's Barefoot Foundation Commits $400,000 to School in Haiti
Shakira is one of our muses here at Anne of Carversville, a quintessential Smart Sensuality woman: smart, sexy and with heart. A constant activist for the poor and underprivileged, Shakira walks her talk in word and deed.
Shakira was in Haiti on Thursday, celebrating the upcoming renovation of a historic Catholic girls school, severely damaged in the country’s devastating 2010 earthquake. Shakira always gets down with the people. In Haiti, with her song ‘Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) setting the mood, Shakira grooved with students from Port-au-Prince’s Elie Dubois high school.
Karl Lagerfeld’s 2011 Ciet Coke Collection
Anne Talks Business| Karl Lagerfeld will again team up with Coca-Cola Light with a series of new designs that will be available in 11 countries across Europe starting in April. This graphic of Karl as the face of Diet Coke comes from last year’s collection.
Three new bottles are above, in a ‘Love It Light’ campaign and will hit stores in June 2011. via Popsop.com
The Coca-Cola Light campaign is a Modern values one, compared to Evian’s couture bottle collection, which attempts to position at least part of the project under a sustainability umbrella, making it appeal to to Cultural Creatives and perhaps the Smart Sensuality woman.
Shakira: Brainiac Smart Sensuality Activist with Curves
One of our most important AOC articles took off yesterday, moving into the top 5 after a hiatus. Originally written in 2009 when Shakira’s ‘She Wolf’ video hit the charts, Anne explains much of her philosophy about the Smart Sensuality woman: smart and sexy with heart.
Shakira | Permanently Committed to A Better World
Like their sexy gal pal, the Smarty Pants guys are concerned about the real issues of our times. Only powerful thinking and strong alliances will save the planet from the devastating effects of global poverty, women’s subjugation, lack of childhood education and environmental catastrophe.
With Howard Buffett and Carlos Slim Helu on her side, Shakira is cruising in her determined crusade to change the world.
Jezebel on Beyonce | Mark Pillai | African Queen | L’Officiel Paris March 2011 AOC BBC
Anne doesn’t know what to make of Jezebel’s Dodai Stewart skewering Beyonce for wearing a painted face in her new editorial for L’Officiel Paris’ March 2011 issue celebrating African Queen.
Stylelite is downright condescending, writing ‘The magazine that convinced singer Beyonce Knowles to paint her skin a darker shade of brown for a photo shoot says she wasn’t in blackface, but in ritualistic African face covering.’
The politically correct American blogosphere doesn’t even give a grown woman like Beyonce — more successful than all of us wrapped up together — credit for having her own mind in a fashion shoot. Now that’s equally politically incorrect in our view. Hmmm.
Did a white woman write that comment? Rubbish! This entire fiasco is one more reminder that Americans are culturally provincial beyond description.
Is Gawker Dialing for Traffic?
There is the possibility that Gawker’s plunging web traffic is behind the story. Jezebel and all of Gawker’s other blogs have lost enormous traffic with their new website design — which is terrible in our opinion.
On February 18th, Tech Crunch wrote that traffic had nosedived from a high of 561,000 to 257,000, citing Quantcast data. Gizmdo’s numbers declined from 746,000 to 420,000. (Note: the format is obviously being changed today.)
Maybe Nick Denton asked writers to juice up their posts in a big way. Watever the reason, Anne believes the entire controversy is nonsense.
Fashion Misogyny | Is It Real?
What isn’t nonsense is Amanda Platell’s accusation that the fashion industry is misogynistic. In an articulate, biting essay for Daily Mail, Platell writes that fashion’s obsession with Andrek Pejic is the final nail in the coffin of an industry that has transformed the ideal female body into a rail thin, breastless, hipless cariacature of the female body.
Simply stated, writes Amanda, many fashion designers wish women would just go away — except for buying their clothes, of course.
Anne has shared her same concerns on this topic but links Amanda Platell’s observations into the larger cultural landscape of trying to control women’s bodies in America. She includes Alexander McQueen’s forniphilia table — women as furniture — and the new revelations that he called Eva Herzigova a f*cking b*tch, screaming at her in a fashion show moment.
Indeed, fashion has a complex relationship with women’s bodies, female sexuality and empowerment, a common theme at AOC.
Amanda Platell Says Some Fashion Designers Are MisogynisticAOC BBC
RedTracker| The Vatican had a busy day, with the Pope moving from news of his new Discovery Channel series on exorcisms from the Vatican files to denouncing the big bang theory of life in our universe as a result of chance.
The Pope rarely talks about science and creation, but today was unyielding in his assertion that “The universe is not the result of chance, as some would want to make us believe.”
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