Hi Smart Girls!

Just a quick note to say that I’m back on the east coast visiting family, and probably won’t be posting anything new on Smart Girls Know for a week or so. My family and I flew in last Thursday and have been having a great trip so far, already visiting the Baltimore National Aquarium, singing karaoke, and eating far too many cookies. Next up…Dutch Wonderland, Rockefeller Center, and the Empire State Building with my three-year-old son who is beyond excited. Oh yeah…and more cookies, of course. I hope you all have a great holiday and are spending time chilling out, playing, sleeping, and living in the moment!

I’ll talk to you in the New Year!

Love & Peace,

Debbie

Hey everyone,

I wanted to send out a quick note to encourage you to check out Dove’s Reality Diaries live chat tonight at 8pm EST/5pm PST. If you’re not already clued in, Dove’s Reality Diaries has been following four real girls as they share their personal struggles with self-esteem issues, including beauty, boys, and body image.

My friend Jessica Weiner is part of this cool campaign, and has been giving the four seventeen-year-old girls – Irene, Jordyn, Sydney, and Chelsea (see pic below) – homework to help them face their self-esteem issues head-on, and hosting live “talk back” workshops like the one happening tonight. The girls have also been doing video blogs, which you can check out on the site, and recording parts of their life with handheld cameras.

To find out more and be a part of this global live event tonight, visit the site here.

And if you participate, please add a comment to this blog entry and tell everyone what you thought!

Peace & Love, Debbie

Hey everyone,

I wanted to send out a quick note to encourage you to check out Dove’s Reality Diaries live chat tonight at 8pm EST/5pm PST. If you’re not already clued in, Dove’s Reality Diaries has been following four real girls as they share their personal struggles with self-esteem issues, including beauty, boys, and body image.

My friend Jessica Weiner is part of this cool campaign, and has been giving the four seventeen-year-old girls – Irene, Jordyn, Sydney, and Chelsea (see pic below) – homework to help them face their self-esteem issues head-on, and hosting live “talk back” workshops like the one happening tonight. The girls have also been doing video blogs, which you can check out on the site, and recording parts of their life with handheld cameras.

To find out more and be a part of this global live event tonight, visit the site here.

And if you participate, please add a comment to this blog entry and tell everyone what you thought!

Peace & Love, Debbie

Have you seen the video from Fall Out Boy for their single Me and You? The video tells the story of two teens in love whose lives are horrifically interrupted when the boy is kidnapped and forced to be a child soldier. Fall Out Boy teamed up with Invisible Children, the organization created by three young filmmakers as a result of their film Invisible Children: Rough Cut, which exposes the tragic realities of northern Uganda’s child soldiers.

Having worked at UNICEF on child rights issues for several years, this is an issue close to my heart. Kudos to Fall Out Boy for bringing attention to the painful issue of child soldiers through their powerful video. Check it out:

Here are some shocking statistics about child soldiers from Human Rights Watch:

• as many as 300,000 children under the age of 18 and as young as 8 serve in government forces or armed rebel groups around the world
• child soldiers are being used in conflicts all over the world including in Africa, South America, and the Middle East
• children are most likely to become child soldiers if they are poor, separated from their families, have limited access to education, are orphans or refugees
• many child soldiers are abducted and forced into service
• child soldiers aren’t only boys…in El Salvador, Ethiopia, and Uganda, almost a third of the child soldiers are reported to be girls

Click here to find out how you can get involved with the Invisible Children campaign and make a difference.

To read the first-hand account of a child soldier from Sierra Leone, check out the excellent book by Ishmael Beah.

Just a quick note to say that if you’re in the Seattle area, come out and hear me read at 826 Seattle this Saturday, December 8, at 12pm. I’ll be joining other local writers including Seattle poet laureate finalist Jared Leising and The Stranger writer Christopher Frizzelle in celebrating 826 Seattle’s 2nd birthday!

826 Seattle is a nonprofit writing and tutoring center dedicated to helping youth, ages six to 18, improve their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

826 Seattle is one of six 826 National chapters. The other chapters are in Valencia, Ann Arbor, Brooklyn, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Find out more about 826 Seattle’s 2nd Birthday Celebration here!