Help Lisa Ward Crowdfund Detroit's 'Flower House' On IndieGoGo

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Help Lisa Ward Crowdfund Detroit’s ‘Flower House’ On IndieGoGo

I’m Lisa Waud and I’m the creator of Flower House. In October 2015, along with the help from florists friends both local and from across the country, I will fill the interior walls and ceilings of a 16-room abandoned house with American-grown fresh flowers and living plants. 

Imagine it now: You walk across the crumbling threshold of a house that has been vacant for over a decade, signs of former lives gathered in the windowsills and trapped in the fencing. It overlooks six busy lanes of I-75 and the whooshing of cars on its one-way highway service drive street. The second you step inside, the city sounds are muted. Every surface is lush with color and life. A floral carpet, a wall of foliage, a ceiling dripping with vines. This disarray and decay was once a home and will blossom again.

Inspired by a long-time fascination with the installations of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, and moved by images of a 2012 Dior Show, I purchased two houses on the Hamtramck city auction in October 2014 to launch the project.

After the floral art installation, our project partners, Reclaim Detroit, will responsibly deconstruct the houses, diverting as much as 75% of the materials in the building from the landfill.

When the structures are gone, we will convert the plot of land into Flower House Farm, a functional, beautiful flower farm for my floral design business, Pot & Box.

I’ve been in business as Pot & Box for over 8 years, with one studio in Ann Arbor and one in Hamtramck. We offer floral design for special events and weddings, as well as horticultural decor and container garden services for residences and businesses across Southeast Michigan.

Jane Fonda Is Never At A Loss For Words in W Magazine & In Cannes

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Jane Fonda Says Being A Fashion Icon Is A ‘Hoot’ In W Magazine June 2015

Jane Fonda delivers spectacular images and an in-depth interview with Lynn Hirschberg in the June issue of W Magazine. This is not the only place Jane is talking. 

AOC wrote last night that Jane Fonda was one of two recipients of the first-ever Women in Motion awards,presented in Cannes by  Kering CEO François-HenriPinault. Discrimination against women by the film industry is a major, front burner topic of conversation in Cannes this season. 

Producer Megan Ellison was the other Women in Motion recepient and she delivered terse words to white men in the audience, for which she received s rousing ovation. Never one to be shy with words, Jane Fonda also gave a spirited response about the film industry’s gender gap. 

‘The fact is that most film directors are men, white men. Most major roles are male roles and (it’s) the reason that I’m excited about this award,’ she said. ‘Women have to become part of the very heart of movie making.’

Fonda Stops The Set For Breastpumping

Fonda is currently starring in the Netflix series ‘Grace and Frankie’, playing with Lily Tomlin as two women whose husbands — the couples being long-time friends —  fall in love with each other.  A nice story about Fonda walking her talk in the workplace came to light yesterday when actor June Diane Raphael, breastfeeding her newborn son, joined the comic series. Raphael was late to the series’ first table read, because she was busy pumping reports Huff Po.

It’s very hard in the workplace to get time from your employers to pump and to do it in a sanitary and safe environment, so I found on set that Jane was really an ally for me in terms of getting what I needed — I needed to stop working every three hours and pump breastmilk,” Raphael said. “And that was a women’s issue, that was a health issue, that was an issue for many reasons. So having her, this iconic activist, in my corner and being one of my bosses was incredible and really helpful.

Activist Ads Challenge Fashion Industry On Child Labor Saying 'A Dress Shouldn't Cost A Childhood'

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Timed perhaps with the Cannes release of Livia Firth’s ‘The True Cost’ Fashion Industry documentary, the Brazilian affiliate of the children’s rights group Save the Children — known as Abrinq Foundation, has released a series of public-service announcements about the realities of under-aged labor in the fashion industry.

Created by Lew’Lara\TBWA the fashionable images show a child peering through the stylish stripes that serve to enslave worldwide in the global pursuit of fashion fashion. The São Paulo agency says the project’s intent isn’t to criticize the fashion industry, but to ‘draw the attention of the people for a cause so serious as child labor.’

Coupled with the hashtag #Dress4Good, the campaign encourages members of the public to post ‘positive fashion-forward images’ on their social media.

Afghan Rapper Sonita Alizadeh Fights Against Child Brides From Wasatch Academy Utah

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Afghan Rapper Sonita Alizadeh Fights Against Child Brides From Wasatch Academy Utah

Sonita Alizadeh is a young Afghan woman who had the audacity to resist being married off at age 15. Alizadeh’s family was forced to move to Iran when she was eight years old. As an undocumented Afghan, she was not entitled to be educated in Iran, leaving her to work as a janitor at a charity that supported Afghan children in her situation. We tell her incredible story in Sensual Rebel, but Sonita’s famous rap must be front page news.

Sonita … brides for sale