Tell the Grammys to Apologize for Trivializing Domestic Violence

Dear feminist bloggers and advocates,

I’m reaching out to request your help in calling the Grammys to account for trivializing domestic violence. Chris Brown’s performance at the Grammys last Sunday night, the first time since he beat up then-girlfriend Rihanna, has caused significant outrage. What’s more shocking is that Grammy Executive Producer Ken Ehrlich thinks that the awards show was “the victim of what happened.”

When Brett Simon saw that Chris Brown was back performing on the prestigious show last night, while still on probation for the domestic assault, he was upset. When he heard that the Grammys thought they were the real victim, he had to do something. That’s when Brett started a Change.org petition demanding an apology and a donation to a domestic violence organization.

Below is a list of tweets targeting Grammy performers and presenters, asking them to join the campaign. We’d appreciate if you would tweet and share with your networks. You can see further info on the campaign here: http://news.change.org/stories/tell-the-grammys-no-you-were-not-the-victim-of-chris-browns-domestic-violence

Thanks,
Alex

.@officialAdele Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@AliciaKeys Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@katyperry Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@NickiMinaj Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@coldplay Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@taylorswift13 Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@BrunoMars Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@OfficialCarrieU Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@springsteen Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@foofighters Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@PaulMcCartney Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@fosterthepeople Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@thebandperry Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@BlakeShelton Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@thecivilwars Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@DavidGuetta Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@LilTunechi Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@IAMJHUD Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@theBonnieRaitt Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@dianakrall Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@maceoparker Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@Maroon5 Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@adamlevine Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@jrcarmichael Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@jamesbvalentine Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

@itstonybennett Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@GlenCampbell Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@marcanthony Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@dierksbentley Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@jackblack42 Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@Reba Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@Drake Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@Fergie Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@GwynethPaltrow Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@ladyantebellum Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@Miranda_Lambert Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@RyanSeacrest Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

.@questlove Will you ask the @TheGrammys to apologize for trivializing domestic violence & donate to support victims? http://chn.ge/xBEHlH

March 5: Fighting For A World Where Girls Are Not For Sale: Talk with Author/Activist/ Survivor Rachel Lloyd at The Cooper Union

Monday, March 5 at 6:30 PM

GIRLS LIKE US:
Fighting For A World Where Girls Are Not For Sale

Talk with Author/Activist/ Survivor Rachel Lloyd at The Cooper Union

Free and open to the public

WHAT:               GIRLS LIKE US:  Fighting For A World Where Girls Are Not For Sale
Rachel Lloyd tells the moving story of her escape from the commercial sex trade in Europe, detailed in her memoir, Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not For Sale, at The Cooper Union-Rose Auditorium on Monday, March 5 at 6:30 PM.  Once a teenage victim of exploitation, she has devoted her career to activism and helping other young girls escape “the life.”   Today Lloyd is executive director of GEMS: Girls Educational and Mentoring Services in New York City and has turned it into one of the nation’s most groundbreaking nonprofit organizations.

WHO:             Rachel Lloyd is a nationally recognized expert on the issue of commercial sexual exploitation. In 1998, with only a computer and $30, Lloyd, a survivor of commercial sexual exploitation, established GEMS: Girls Educational and Mentoring Services to support girls and young women victimized by the commercial sex industry in the U.S.   Now the nation’s largest organization offering direct services to girls and young women, ages 12-24, who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking, GEMS empowers survivors to escape the sex industry and develop to their full potential.

WHEN:          Monday, March 5, 2012 at 6:30 PM

WHERE:       The Cooper Union – The Great Hall, 7 E. 7th St. (bet 3rd and 4th Aves), NYC, 10003 Subways: Astor Place (6), 8th Street (N, R))

COST:            Free

INFO:             212.353.4195; cooper.edu; events@ cooper.edu

PRESS CONTACT: Jolene Travis, (212) 353-4158, jolene@cooper.edu

Find The Cooper Union on Facebook at https://facebook.com/cooperunion and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/cooperunion.

The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art is a distinguished private college of art, architecture and engineering founded in 1859 by Peter Cooper, an inventor, industrialist and philanthropist.

Urgent Deadline 2/14 12 noon: Orgs Needed to Support Contraceptive Coverage in Student Health Plans

Dear friends,

For the past few weeks, birth control (of all things), has been all over the media because of the Administration’s recent decision to make sure that birth control is covered through health plans (except for those that work at churches and other houses of worship).

After the President’s announcement today to allow religious-affiliated institutions to opt-out of directly covering contraception they may oppose (insurance companies would then step in), still members of Congress are bent on dismantling this important advancement.

Please join Advocates for Youth, Campus Progress, Young Invincibles and fellow national, state, local and campus-based youth organizations by signing on to this statement in support of the Administration’s decision as well as including contraceptive coverage in student health plans. Young women are too often the ones who can’t access contraception because of cost, and we want to make sure youth voice is heard in this national debate.

If you are not a youth-focused organization, but you have a “youth arm,” please consider signing-on the statement using the name of your youth arm. While we appreciate the support of all organizations working on access to contraception, we want to ensure that young people’s voices are heard on this important issue.

To sign-on, please email the following information to Sarah at sarah@advocatesforyouth.org by Tuesday, February 14th at noon EST.

Organization’s Name:

Location:

Campus (if applicable):

Contact Person’s Name:

Contact Person’s Email Address:

We’re hoping to deliver a the letter to Congress before any vote happens on this issue which could be as soon as early next week. Please share this with students you work with, as we welcome sign-ons from individual student organizations at college campuses across the country.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Sincerely,

Sarah

Sarah Audelo

Senior Domestic Policy Manager

Advocates for Youth

2000 M Street NW Suite 750

Washington, DC 20036

202.419.3420 ext. 14

www.amplifyyourvoice.org

www.advocatesforyouth.org

Treehouse by Cristina Dominguez

Cape Ivy welding the door into the frame. It stands locked before me but calls my name. Yet, you are afraid the dense underbrush will disrupt my senses. Afraid that my luck for lumber is a numbered Chinese wish to be laughed at for its poor English; as if its meaning, like its words, were foolish. If you don’t cover it with a white sheet grandbabies will fight over that bit of thrift future where you briefly dipped in ink and slid into the binding, what you were hiding. If you let me lay on the dark wood floor you put down to make the cold sting, the one that kept you both in bed, I will, in the crook of my arms and the bend of my knees, gather in every corner of my warm body the sounds that alarm you, the ones that call out the fears that echo in the canopy.

Tender shoot, you grew so far from home. Old love initials scarred into your bark. You bear it like an epitaph under which a buried soldier lies. Unable to rest with his fatal battle wound, he paces in your flesh and you linger on the front lines, the undertow of an empty shore sucking on your calloused fleet. But I can reach your moving limbs and the climb takes me closer to the lamp on your desk that followed me against what made sense, through a changing sky and zones of time. I can fall and tear my dress. I can bleed and will live. My scratched hands, the scar on your tummy, our scrapped knees, your leaves in my hair, are unmaking the bed I made this morning. Let me be what I am to you, the wild woman serving you tea in the room whose walls couldn’t stand a chance. Let me be, Benoni tree, let me be the bull in your branches building a mosaic from the fragments of your fish bowl.

February 10th: Screening of Ann Richards’ Texas at Barnard College!

Friday, February 10th, 2012

Screening of Ann Richards’ Texas
Diana Event Oval, LL100 Diana Center, Barnard College
6:00 PM

Ann Richards’ Texas is a new feature length documentary about the late Texas Governor Ann Richards (1933 -2006) one of the most beloved Democratic politicians of her day. Attend at a special MYD rate for just $7! Further details available HERE.

Next Tuesday February 7th! Pro-Choice Action Team Launch Party

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

Pro-Choice Action Team Launch Party
56 Greenwich Avenue (at Perry Street)
6:00 to 8:30pm

Check out this event featuring NARAL Pro-Choice New York’s new President, Andrea Miller, where we are launching our new statewide reproductive rights network!  Facebook event HERE.

NEDAwareness Week Screening of the documentary film, Someday Melissa on Feb. 28th

You are invited to attend the NEDAwareness Week Screening of the documentary film, Someday Melissa: The story of an eating disorder, loss and hope, hosted by NEDA and NEDA Network Member Someday Melissa at Pace University’s Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts in New York City on February 28, 2012.

Film begins at 7:00 p.m., doors open at 6:00 p.m. Tickets are a suggested donation of $10. To secure a ticket, . For more on the film, visit www.somedaymelissa.com.

A panel discussion moderated by WABC-TV Anchor Diana Williams will follow the screening. Panelists include: Judy Avrin, Filmmaker and mother of Melissa; Danna Markson, LCSW, Eating Disorders Specialist & Co-Executive Producer; Kimberly Dennis, MD, Medical Director, Timberline Knolls; and Vic Avon, author, activist and NEDA Spokesperson.

NEDAwareness Week 2012: Everybody Knows Somebody

Our 25th Anniversary of NEDAwareness Week is marked by the historic lighting of New York City’s Empire State Building in NEDA colors on February 28, 2012. Click here to see 25 years of awareness in action!
New guides and activities for 2012!

For Dads and Families…

Calling all dads! You’re invited to attend the launch of the Parent, Family & Friends Network Webinar Series, featuring the free webinar For Dads by Dads: Tips for supporting a child with an eating disorder and practicing self-care. Led by NEDA Navigators Paul Cordero and Mike Polan, it’s a perfect opportunity for dads who want to learn and get support from other fathers, and anyone interested in the role of fathers in the recovery process. !

For Artists…

Calendar Contest: Submit your art for a chance to be published in the 2013 NEDA Calendar!

For Teens…

Register now to download:

Teen Activist Guide complete with media literacy how-to activity guides, tips for successful activism online, articles by young people who’ve made a real difference, creative activity guides, how to help a friend and more!
Teen Blogging Guide featuring tips on how to get started, stats on eating disorders, how to share your story & setting healthy boundaries on the internet.
And for the teen artists out there:

Teen Voices (NEDAwareness Week Partner Organization) Artist of the Month Competition! March’s theme is Beauty Is More Than Skin Deep. There are great prizes for the winner of each month, and an Artist of the Year will be selected to win a full scholarship (tuition, room, and board) to the renowned School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston’s Pre-College Summer Art Studio—a $4,000 value! Learn more!

For Print & Online Education…

New articles for print or online publication from authors Geneen Roth, Aimee Liu, Claire Mysko, Evelyn Tribole, Deb Burgard & Lisa Lee on topics including empowering girls, dangers of dieting, weight stigma and eating disorders in Asian-American communities. Register for NEDAwareness Week to download an article.

For the Workplace and Schools…

Distribute the free NEDA Toolkits CD-ROM: Fill out the free online CD-ROM request form on the PFN homepage and NEDA will send a copy, with a letter of introduction, to a local educational institution on your behalf. CD-ROM includes the Parent, Educator and Coach & Athletic Trainer Toolkits.

A free Educator Packet is available to registered participants and includes everything you need for great classroom activities:  Media literacy tools, activity list for teens, film list with discussion guide, grade school activity outline, printable bookmarks and flyers, and more.

Raise awareness in your workplace, school or other community setting. The discounted NEDAwareness Week Kits – including posters, pamphlets, NEDA pens, signs & symptoms bookmarks, and much more – are !

Events & Speakers…

Volunteers are available to speak at your NEDAwareness Week events! for a Volunteer Speaker in your area. Planning on speaking yourself?  Join us for the Volunteer Speaker Training Webinar with NEDA Ambassador Jenni Schaefer and NEDA Navigators Clinical Advisor Ilene Fishman, LCSW.  !

NEDAwareness Week events are taking place across the country. near you!

Holding an event? and post your events on the NEDA Website.

Partners…

NEDAwareness Week Partners will be holding creative, fun NEDAwareness Week activities and encouraging their constituents to join us in this national outreach effort. to learn about our partners!

Speak at the Annual NEDA Conference: What About Us? Diversity and Complexity in Eating Disorders

Speak at the Annual NEDA Conference!

2012 Theme: What About Us? Diversity and Complexity in Eating Disorders

We are accepting session proposals for 2012 NEDA Conference until February 15, 2012. Click here to view the guidelines and submit your proposal today.

Submission deadline: 11:59 pm EST, February 15, 2012

Action Alert: Birth Control Coverage Is Under Attack

Birth-Control Coverage Is Under Attack
Birth-control opponents are protesting the Obama administration’s decision to ensure birth-control coverage for millions of women.

Anti-choice lawmakers are so hostile to birth control that one representative called the new coverage policy “unrelated to the basic needs of health care.” How is birth control not basic health care when 99 percent of women use it at some point in the lives?

Help stop a bill that would take away birth-control coverage from millions of women.

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