Inspired by the beautiful Bollywood dance number of Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionare? Want to take your chance with a new style of dance? Now is your chance! On Thursday, Febuary 11, 2010Urban Girl Squad will host an Intro to Bollywood Dance Class at The Dance Theater Workshop at 7:00PM.
Join Urban Girl Squad as we learn “BollyBasics,” an introduction to the famous Indian folk dance called Bollywood, with the founder of Bollywood dance company Dhoonya Dance. Dhoonya Dance is a growing dance company that has taught Bollywood on Oprah! In our class, you’ll learn the fundamentals of Bollywood and Pop Bhangra dance in a fun, beginner’s setting. No dance experience is necessary. You’ll get a great workout, learn a new style of dance, and meet new women in NYC!
At this class, you’ll learn Bollywood Basics and receive:
A gift bag of South Asian goodies from City Saheli, including a Bollywood CD, a pamphlet with basic Bollywood steps, a henna tattoo, and a piece of South Asian inspired jewelry. City Saheli is an online platform that brings to you New York City with a South Asian twist–you can learn more about new types of yoga, natural healing, fusion designers and more.
1 free class for every 4 class package you purchase from Dhoonya Dance
Dhoonya Dance is home of the best Bollywood talent, teachers and training providing simple, artistic instruction. The Dhooyna Method of Bollywood dance emphasizes strong fundamentals and choreography rooted in traditional, folk and classical Indian dance.
About Urban Girl Squad
Amanda Hofman created Urban Girl Squad, a community-based social group for women in their 20’s and 30’s in New York City, in January 2008. Urban Girl Squad creates opportunities for these women to try new things, spend time with friends, and meet new people. Our events include food and wine tastings, beauty and fashion nights, dance and fitness classes, sports events, cocktail parties and more. We provide special, discounted access to the city–you’ll meet store owners and designers, taste gourmet food and drinks, receive personal attention from popular venues, and score some amazing gift bags. The welcoming atmosphere at our events makes it easy for members to attend on their own or with friends!
Join us on February 11th as we learn the basics of Bollywood dance. Space is limited and advanced placement is required, so purchase your ticket today! Wear comfortable, workout/yoga attire. No shoes necessary.
Fast Facts:
Date: Thursday, February 11, 2010
Location: The Dance Theater Workshop
219 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011
General Mills is the leading cereal brand, and has been commited to offering parents a healthy and nutritious breakfast to feed their children without worrying about massive sugar consumption. I know what you’re thinking, cereals like Trix and Cinnamon Toast Crunch not containing massive amounts of sugar? Well, it may come as a surprise, but pre-sweetended cereals, such as the two mentioned above, only account for about 5% of sugar in a child’s diet and General Mills is dedicated to cutting down the amount of sugars present in their cereals to single-digit grams while also increasing the amount of key nutrients in their cereals, such as calcium and vitamin D. General Mills’ brand cereals are also a great provider of whole grain; making ready-to-eat cereal the number one source of whole grains in a child’s diet.
Cereal Health and Wellness has made some really great information on calories per-serving of major breakfast items available, which you can check out below:
I would have thought that oatmeal would be a healthier option for a child’s breakfast, but as it turns out, cereal and skim milk comes in at 20 calories less than oatmeal and skim milk, which I found really interesting.
While we may know the cliche statement that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, there is a lot of weight to it that parents need to pay a little more attention to, instead of letting children fend for themselves if they’re a little older to find something to run out the door with. Cereal is a really fast and easy breakfast and a 1998 study showed that children who eat breakfast perform better in school, compared to children who skip the first meal of the day. Children who eat breakfast also score higher on tests, are less likely to miss class or be tardy and have fewer reported discripline problems. As you can see, breakfast goes a long way!
General Mills cereal is absolutely commited to you and your child’s health and nutrition and they are offering a coupon for $1 off of your choice of General Mills cereals. Click here to get your coupon!
Disclosure: I was given the opportunity to spread the word about General Mills’ commitment to reducing sugars in cereals from General Mills and MyBlogSpark. For this post, I received VIP coupons, the online coupon link, and the information from General Mills and MyBlogSpark.
While doing some blog hopping yesterday, I came across a great post from 5 Minutes for Mom on the topic of depression, anxiety and living with mental illness. I was completely taken aback (in a good way) with the amount of uninhibited honesty in which Janice wrote about her own struggles and how she had always resisted writing about her depression and anxiety in fear of her readers judging her and thinking that she is weak and unable to do her job. What very few people who read this site know is that I am very familiar with this subject matter. Janice conquered her self-proclaimed “selfish fears” of being judged and ended on a very positive note–that people with mental illness are strong people who fight every single day and so I wanted to respond to her. I was going to respond in the plain old comment form us bloggers love so much but I thought that this subject matter should be talked about openly on all platforms because people who suffer from mental illness are widespread and people who suffer alone and in silence make up the bulk of that population. And so, I decided to blog here and hopefully she knows that she is definitely not alone and anyone who happens to find it can also take comfort in knowing that.
While most people who suffer from any form of depression, whether major depressive disorder (also referred to as clinical depression and unipolar disorder), manic depression, or it’s more severe twin bipolar disorder and so on, have a chemical imbalance that affects their brains and the way they function and respond to whatever elements are around them and it is said that those symptoms and later, those diagnoses have always been a part of them genetically. This is not the case with me; at least I don’t believe it is and after checking with the whole host of psychologists and psychiatrists I have been with over the years, neither do they. I am a special case, though sadly, not that special nor rare–I have been diagnosed as having Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which has also led me to adopt major depressive disorder.
I was diagnosed with PTSD after everything in my life started feeling like it was just too much. I was overwhelmed, stressed over just about everything, my life seemed to cease resembling what it had always looked like to me. I was in high school and as if high school did not impose enough stress and anxiety on my life in itself, the never-ending questions being asked by myself and others were daunting. I was being expected to know exactly what I wanted to do after high school and not just what I wanted to do, but where I was going and what school would be taking me there. These sort of pressures are already overwhelming for average teenagers, start piling these questions onto a teenager who suddenly feels like they’re crawling out of their own skin and have no idea how something like that could sprout up out of nowhere and convince themselves that they must be crazy and well, you’ve got quite the situation on your hands. I ended up dropping out of high school as a senior and moving out of my father’s house and in with my best friend and her mother. It was not the best of decisions, but it did force me to get a grasp on what was going on with me. After getting a job, living with my friend and her mother for six months and then finally getting enough money together to move into my own apartment, I started going to therapy which luckily for me, was located right across the street from my apartment because those are the kind of perks you get when you move into the middle of a high-trafficked city.
I got a hold on my PTSD. I learned to understand it and the triggers that sent me into episodes of mentally and sometimes even physically re-living abusive and traumatic events from my childhood, which is to blame for my mental illness. My mother was (and maybe still is, I don’t know, I haven’t seen her or heard from her very much at all in upwards of ten years) a drug addict and an alcoholic who kept many, many boyfriends, as well as her dealers and sometimes they were one in the same, around constantly and were the abusers who left me as another statistic of childhood sexual assault.
Janice was completely spot-on when she said that people who live with mental illness fight every day and every day, it is a struggle, but with the right knowledge (remember, in whatever situation you are in, knowledge is power), coping mechanisms and of course, support from people you trust and who do not pass judgement or look at you as being less than anything, it is something that we conquer; and then we get up in the morning the next day and do it again. However, Janis did touch upon why she had never written about this particular struggle of hers and that is because of fear of being judged, which is completely understandable and the reason why I had never brought it to light on Woman Tribune; but also of people thinking that she could not do her job well.
I have been a blogger for many years now. I started blogging on Teen Open Diary and LiveJournal when I was 13 and had just gotten a computer in our house, and I began dabbling in web design and development at 14. I have literally grown up online, which is why I can say with absolute certainty that my mental illness has little impact on my ability to blog and to effectively market and promote my blog. Sure, there are days when I absolutely, positively cannot get out of bed in the morning, which makes me pretty lucky to have a laptop that I keep set up right next to my bed for days like that. And sure, there are times when I absolutely, positively cannot blog because the words just will not come out of me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t send out a short and sweet Tweet, which does help keep your repour up with your dedicated and passionate readers who follow you on Twitter. (Shameless plug: You can follow Woman Tribune on Twitter right here.) I think the internet gives people who live with mental illness even more opportunities to excel. We don’t have to leave the house, which is why you’ll probably be hard pressed to ever see me attend a blogger’s conference, given the fact that having PTSD does make me a bit of a hermit, and we can truly “write out” our struggles, triumphs, tribulations and victories and that is the biggest coping mechanism there is.
Edited to add: I forgot a little “update” on my situation, I suppose. I’m currently 23 years old, I did end up getting my GED less than a year after dropping out of high school and as far as where I’m going and how I’m getting there, I still don’t have that figured all out. However, I can say that for the most part, while I do struggle with my PTSD and depression and while some days I do feel like a walking zombie, for the most part, I am happy. I have a loving partner, an adorable cat, two amazing stepdaughters who show me that I can have a maternal instinct of sorts, regardless of my personal vendettas and while I can’t say that I have a thriving career or a big, fancy house, I do have an apartment in a great area and as far as my “career,” well, you’re looking at it.
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I want to thank Janice of 5 Minutes for Mom for opening up the discussion on mental illness and the fears many of us who are also living with it have about “coming out.” Thank you for the inspiration to let it all hang out.
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Wheat Food Council. All opinions are 100% mine.
As very busy women are prone to do, myself included, going to the grocery store and sticking a bunch of items in your cart, dashing through the checkout and back home is a mundane and sometimes even tedious task. Very, very rarely do we think about the items we are throwing into our carts while checking our watches and making sure we’re out of the store in time to run the other errands we have on our lists. Where do these foods come from? How were the fruits, vegetables and wheat farmed? Where did our wheat come from, anyway? Well, thanks to a great new interactive, online multimedia program we can now not only find out where certain types of wheat come from and how they are planted, farmed and ultimately get to be served on our dinner tables, we can virtually see and even actively take part in the farm-to-fork process.
How Wheat Works is educating the masses on where wheat starts and where it ends up in four phases–growth, harvest, milling/baking and your local grocery store. This is all made possible by the Wheat Foods Council who are striving to shed new light on wheat education and its nutritional properties and will ultimately result in informed food choices for families everywhere.
When I first saw the website and started going through the process, I immediately thought, “This is awesome, I get to play a game!”, which is when you know a company is doing something right when it comes to educating people on making more informed choices on pretty much anything. Adults are a lot like children in that respect, because even as we have gotten older, we’re still willing to do just about anything if it means having a little fun in the process–and I am no exception.
But while there is a definite fun factor in addition to learning a lot more on where the most popular grain comes from and how it winds up on your kitchen table, the Wheat Foods Council is also giving back in a very positive way with this initiative. For each participant who signs up at How Wheat Works and plants their virtual wheat field, the Council will donate two pounds of flour, up to 90,000 pounds to Operation Homefront, a non-profit organization providing assistance to US troops and their families who are in need. That is a lot of flour and it will undoubtedly make a great difference in the lives of those who need it.
The Wheat Foods Council is also extending this program to reach the youth population with their additional website, wheatfoods.org, which is chock full of great resources about wheat, fiber and grains, Just for Kids education about wheat and even recipes and photos, a great deal of which look absolutely amazing and I know I’ll have to try!
I learned a great deal from How Wheat Works, including where certain types of wheat are grown and that my state of Pennsylvania only grows one type of wheat and my state had one, very small and lonely dot indicating wheat was grown here at all. So go check out the website, plant a virtual wheat field and above all, make a difference by getting the Wheat Food Council up to 90,000 pounds of flour donated to Operation Homefront.
Alexa Ray Joel had made many headlines in the past few months after an overdose on sleep medication after, she says, experiencing real depression after a breakup with her boyfriend.
While many of us have had very hard breakups in our lives, some people do experience such heart-wrenching depression that cannot be cured with wallowing either with our best girlfriends, a sad movie, a large pizza with everything on it and copious amounts of ice cream. Because of her own experience, Alexa Ray Joel took to her Facebook page to spread the word about her “current passion”:
I have many exciting new developments for the New Year, and I hope all of you can be a part of it!! This includes new creative projects, and even more volunteer work in hopes to give back to the community and, most importantly, to help young girls with something I feel I know a GREAT deal about: Heartbreak-Related Depression. Although it does not get much attention in our society, it is a very serious and painful condition that often gets “swept under the carpet”. I hope to bring this topic more to light… I’m even going back to school for Psychology in hopes to learn more about this and many other afflictions that many of us have had to face… after all, there’s nothing more fascinating than the human mind and it’s respective conditions…
I think that it’s pretty awesome that she isn’t merely using her celebrity status and her name to blindly “educate” people who may need real help and is going back to school for psychology so she can initiate some real change for those who need it most.
PETA has a very long history of promoting their vegetarian and vegan lifestyle by using very bold approaches that are often outright offensive, sexist, misogynist and above all, untrue. Yet another notch in the ‘PETA lies’ bedpost is their newest Santa Clause ad which claims that cow’s milk causes impotence.
In my (most humble) opinion, PETA is merely using scare tactics (or “kicking a guy when he’s down,” in a matter of speaking) in order to get people to pay attention. Sadly, their ‘punch in the gut’ tactics have worked, which is why we’re still seeing ads from them popping up again and again, all of them skirting right on by questionable and pushing up against insulting and this ad in particular, if you took PETA’s logo off of it, it could have been an ad for how to buy Viagra online.
There is absolutely no proof to be seen that supports their accusation that cow’s milk causes impotence and because so many of their ads and promotional techniques have been brought to question by several different reputable resources over the years, there are a great number of people who see them for who they truly are. People who are vegetarian and vegan and who would support PETA, had it not been for their “shock jock” nature, have seen through them for years and by using these types of marketing techniques and creating health risks that have no factual data supporting it to put on billboards, flyers and other marketing materials, they are alienating the same people who would otherwise support them and their cause.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recently come out advising women that they should not get regular mammograms in their 40’s, as women have been told that they should do for quite a number of years now, and that they should wait until their 50’s. They have also advised that self breast exams do not work, therefore women should not worry about giving themselves self breast exams.
As soon as I heard about this new information I was instantly skeptical. Whose best interests are in mind here, those of women or those of the medical profession working in a recession and eager to cut as many costs as possible? After delving into the research about these new guidelines, I have determined that my initial skepticism was correct and that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are actually now contributing to the rise of deaths due to breast cancer that will occur as soon as women start following these guidelines because they think that this “task force” has their best interests in mind and they absolutely do not. A huge amount of breast cancer survivors have been women who have noticed lumps in their breasts by doing self breast exams and women who have been lucky enough to survive breast cancer have been women who have had their cancer detected early. If these same women who are survivors of this disease were told not to worry about having frequent mammograms before the age of 50 would be dead right now and we would have even more women dying from breast cancer than ever before just by taking the advice of this so-called task force who are giving out very bad information.
For the first time in…well, probably forever, I agree wholeheartedly with what Elisabeth Hasselbeck said on a recent episode of The View. Check it out below:
This contest is closed. Check out our winner here.
While there are many benefits, events, charities, organizations, businesses and people who have dedicated their time, their experiences, their inspiration and their money to helping in whatever ways they can in the fight against breast cancer, there are still very limited resources for women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer themselves or who are close to someone who has been diagnosed to receive the support they need most. A diagnosis like this, regardless of the stage is absolutely terrifying, gut-wrenching, heart-breaking and truly difficult to go through, especially if you don’t have a rock-solid support system of various people around you who understand your grief and frustration and people who will understand while you go through the emotional roller coaster a diagnosis and treatment will send you through. But luckily, Pink Together was created just for this purpose.
Pink Together is a national campaign dedicated to supporting those impacted by breast cancer. Their website, PinkTogether.com is a safe space where everyone can share hope and inspiration by sharing stories of breast cancer survivors and supporters within the community. Pink Together has already helped countless survivors and supporters of those survivors.
For the month of October, General Mills has come to the support of Pink Together and will be donating $2 million to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. They have also turned the packaging of some of their most trusted products pink for the month in an effort to continue to raise awareness about breast cancer.
Giveaway!
Thanks to Pink Together and MyBlogSpark, we have been given the opportunity to give away an Inspiring Hope gift basket that includes a sleeved travel mug, a running ribbon charm bracelet, a pink leather strap keychain, a pink cinch bag and a set of inspirational note cards.
All of the gifts in the Inspiring Hope gift basket are from Shop Komen, where 25% of the merchandise purchase price benefits Susan G Komen for the Cure in the fight against breast cancer. All of these fabulous gifts will remind you of how important the fight against breast cancer is throughout the entire year, and not just in October when we spread awareness for breast cancer awareness month. I can also personally attest that the sleeved travel mug is the absolute best quality travel mug I have ever found.
To win the Inspiring Hope gift basket, all you have to do is a leave a comment telling us what woman inspires you the most and why. [REQUIRED]
Blog about this giveaway with a link back to this post. This is worth 3 entries so leave 3 separate comments with a link to your post.
This contest ends Friday, October 30th at 11:59PM EST. The winner will be contacted by email and has 48 hours to respond with their necessary information. If no action is taken, another winner will be picked.
October is breast cancer awareness month and over the month we have been covering a great deal of initiatives that through people-powered activism have seen great strides in fighting against breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime–that’s 12% of all women who will be personally impacted by this disease. But because people know that with hard work, dedication and doing what they can to help fight against breast cancer, we will hopefully see an impact through research to find a cure for breast cancer and also spreading the word on how to prevent it.
While there are many different ways you can participate in the fight against breast cancer, but the simplest by far is Yoplait’s Save Lids to Save Lives program. It’s super simple, but you will be making a tremendous impact! Over the past 11 years Yoplait has donated more than $22 million to the breast cancer cause through Save Life to Save Lives as well as other initiatives. Last year alone, participants across the country helped Yoplait meet its $1.5 million donation goal to Susan G Komen for the Cure and this year, Yoplait needs your help too and they have also teamed up with Kristi Funk, Founder of the Pink Lotus Breast Center in Beverly Hills. She has committed herself to educating women and men about the importance of breast cancer risk reduction, early detection and ways to support the cause.
How You Can Help
When you’re in the grocery store, pick up Yoplait yogurt with the pink lids. Save your lids and mail them in (don’t forget to rinse them off!) by December 31, 2009. For every lid that is mailed in, Yoplait will donate 10 cents to Susan G Komen for the Cure up to $1.5 million, with a guaranteed donation of $500,000! That is absolutely incredible! Don’t forget to also encourage your friends and family to do the same and you can even create an online lid collection team just by visiting Your Lid Matters.
Giveaway!
Thanks to MyBlogSpark and Yoplait, I have the opportunity to help a lucky Woman Tribune reader help Yoplait’s Save Lids to Save Lives program!
When you promise to make a difference, we are giving away a Promise to Make a Difference gift which includes a coupon for a free package of any flavor Yo-Plus or Yo-Plus Light yogurt 4-pack and two other Yoplait breast cancer awareness keepsakes
To win the Promise to Make a Difference gift leave a comment on how you plan to help Yoplait in the fight against breast cancer whether it’s participating in an annual walk/run, collecting your Yoplait pink lids, donating directly to Susan G Komen for the Cure, talking to your friends and family about breast cancer or how to give yourself a self breast exam–whatever you’re doing to help the fight, what is it? [REQUIRED]
For additional entries:
Tweet about Yoplait’s Save Lids to Save Lives campaign and raise awareness about the importance of saving your Yoplait lids. Don’t forget to leave a comment with the URL of your tweet!
Feel free to copy and paste this tweet:
RT @WomanTribune Join Yoplait in the fight against breast cancer. Save your pink lids & send in by Dec 31! http://tinyurl.com/ykuanzz
Start or join a collection team on Your Lid Matters and leave a comment indicating what you have done.
Send an ecard to a friend or family member about breast cancer awareness and to raise awareness about Yoplait’s Save Lids to Save Lives. To do this go to Your Lid Matters and click all the way on the bottom ‘Share Your Passion.’ Leave a comment here saying what ecard you chose to send.
Blog about Yoplait’s Save Lids to Save Lives campaign and post Dr. Funk’s video (above). Leave a comment here with the URL of your blog post!
This contest ends TONIGHT, October 23rd at 11:59PM
We are all guilty of thinking and saying stuff like this–to our family members, to our friends and even to ourselves. We are all guilty of self-criticism when we look in the mirror and notice that the skirt that fit us perfectly and hugged our hips in all the right places last season but doesn’t go past our thighs this season. We have all thought we were too fat, we have all dieted in hopes of becoming skinnier, more attractive, the “thin ideal.”
Women have more pressure than ever right now to look attractive, to dazzle with our appearance, to wear all the right fashions and to strive to look like the women who grace the covers of magazines. This is especially true of younger women and teens who obsess over this thin ideal and who will stop at nothing to attain it. These thoughts that so often enter our brains and things people tell us, whether we have gained weight and they ask if we are under stress because of it or if we lose weight and we’re told how great we look because we shed five or ten or fifteen pounds. While we’ve undoubtedly thought this was normal, it actually has a very damaging impact on women. That is why Tri Delta has launched a five-day body activism campaign, Fat Talk Free Week.
Fat Talk Free Week (October 19th-23rd) draws attention to body image issues and the damaging impact of the thin ideal on women in society. This annual public awareness effort stemmed from Tri Delta’s award-winning body image education and eating disorders prevention program, Reflections: Body Image Program.
The supermodels and people we see on the covers of magazines are thinner than 98% of women and a great percentage of these women think that they too can look just like what they see on these magazine covers and on television and in movies, but often we see, especially on magazine covers, is an airbrushed and heavily-photoshopped appearance of that person. Not even the person being put on the pedestal of ideal weight and beauty looks like that! Tri-Delta is in pursuit of the healthy ideal, which has absolutely no bearing on our weight or size. The healthy ideal is all about our physical health, mental health and our quality of life and that is what truly matters. Tri Delta’s initiative this past week has been about eliminating fat talk and they believe that by eliminating fat talk, we can begin to change the way women think about their bodies and accept their bodies just the way they are because if you’re healthy, then why does anything else matter? Why do we care so much about the size that sits on the tags of our clothing or how other women and men may look at us and what they may think if they see us in a swimsuit or a form-fitting top or a short skirt.
51% of 9 and 10 year old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet.
Research has shown that very young girls, ages 5-7 who are exposed to Barbie, the best-selling fashion doll in the world who has unattainable and unhealthy body proportions and who if was a real person, would be too thin to menstruate, have lower body esteem and want a thinner body than they have.
As many as 10 million females are suffering from anorexia or bulimia. That’s more than are suffering from breast cancer.
Because it is the last day of Fat Talk Free Week, do something good for yourself today. Choose one friend or family member and discuss one thing you each like about yourself. Or start a journal of all the good things your body allows you to do. Learn how to take a compliment! The next time someone gives you a compliment, rather than objecting and saying something like “No, I’m so fat,” practice taking a deep breath and saying “Thank you.”