Gender: Female
Sign: Scorpio
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Wednesday, October 24, 2007
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What if you were beautiful?
Category: Life
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What if you were beautiful?
Hey Everyone!! One of our favorite guest bloggers is back with an amazing piece to share with all of you. Please give a warm welcome to Trudi Evans again!! Trudi Evans is the publisher of As We Are Magazine (http://www.aswearemagazine.com) and online publication supporting women, and the current president of the Eating Disorders Action Group in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She likes to see the beauty in everyone. If you want to be a successful writer, a life coach might ask "what would it look like to be a successful writer?" They like that question what would it look like. So what would it look like to be beautiful today? That's a hard question for most girls and women. The quick response would usually entail taller, thinner, blonder, straighter teeth, wider eyes, smaller nose, or a myriad of other physical features. What if you looked in a mirror and saw the words "this is what beautiful looks like" right above your reflection? I volunteer with the Eating Disorders Action Group and this is what we're bringing to people in our community - a mirror with those words over it, and the opportunity to see one's self under that heading, in full public view. It is unnerving for some and liberating for others. But without changing a thing about a person's appearance, they can go from ugly to beautiful with only a shift in perception. Beautiful is defined in so many ways, but for me, it is defined by what moves me. A warm genuine smile, the bright red leaves on the trees in October, the sound of my son singing to himself while he sits on the toilet. It's also in my reflection when I choose to see it. I see a whole woman, filled with both a life lived and a future filled with potential. My freckles remind me of glitter, and my posture shows my resolve. What does beautiful look like to you? Post these words above your mirror and see if you change your mind. THIS IS WHAT BEAUTIFUL LOOKS LIKE.
9:37 AM
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6 Comments - 12 Kudos
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Monday, October 08, 2007
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Let yourself be beautiful
Hi Everyone,
I am saddened to present to you the last entry from Karly Randolph Pitman. It has been awesome to have Karly's words on our page, and we will surely miss her wisdom.
Karly Randolph Pitman is the founder of First Ourselves, helping women love their bodies, feel beautiful, and make self care a top priority. She lives with her husband and four children in the mountains of Montana, although she told her husband they're moving to the beach next year. Karly feeds her spirit by running, inhaling books, watching movies, and dancing in the living room with her family. Learn more at www.firstourselves.com.
"We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?"
-Marianne Williamson
For the past week, I have been conducting an experiment. Every morning when I wake up, I close my eyes, breathe deeply, and ask myself this question: "If I were not afraid, I would..."
The answers have been fascinating, and far reaching. One that keeps appearing over and over again is, "If I were not afraid, I would let myself be beautiful."
I find this startling: What is so fearful about being beautiful? In our appearance focused culture, why would I shrink from being as ravishing as possible?
Here's why I'm afraid. I'm afraid of attracting envy. I'm afraid that I'll get too attached to my appearance, only to grasp when it fades. I'm afraid because if I feel beautiful and confident I won't have an excuse for not pursuing my passions and dreams. I'm afraid because I won't have a reason to hide myself from the world.
I'm afraid because I'll have to change my perception of myself, and accept my divine worth, abiding in the image of God.
Wow.
I am afraid of my goodness. I am afraid of being my physical best.
My revelations remind me of all the drop dead gorgeous women I know, who if you ask them if they think they're beautiful will say, "I'm beautiful on the inside," as if their fabulous outer package is the equivalent of scrap metal. By contrast, I remember an interview between Oprah and Selma Hayek, where Selma unselfconsciously owned her beauty. I found that so inspiring.
My friend Sabrina and I were talking about how if weren't afraid we would get out of our sweats and Eddie Bauer pants. Yet the last few times we've run into each other we've been wearing...sweats and Eddie Bauer pants.
As Marianne Williamson so eloquently reminds us, we serve no one when we hide our beauty. Enjoy it; it's a gift, no different from your intelligence, your empathy, or your compassion. Each is to be celebrated, enjoyed, and used.Yes, your beauty will change, and it isn't permanent, but just as a bright, sunny day will eventually turn to darkness or rain, that doesn't mean you can't dance in the sun while it shines.
Use your beauty. Embrace it. Share it with the world. Let yourself be beautiful.
10:43 AM
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Monday, October 01, 2007
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Shrinking the Cesspool
Category: Blogging
Shrinking the Cesspool
Hi Everyone, Ask and you shall receive. I recently sent out a request to the With Jess network and asked if anyone was interested in Guest Blogging for me and the responses have been overwhelming!! I am excited to introduce to you our next Guest Blogger, Karly Randolph Pitman. She is a perfect fit for the With Jess audience and I think you will really be inspired by her words. Karly Randolph Pitman is the founder of First Ourselves, helping women love their bodies, feel beautiful, and make self care a top priority. She lives with her husband and four children in the mountains of Montana, although she told her husband they're moving to the beach next year. Karly feeds her spirit by running, inhaling books, watching movies, and dancing in the living room with her family. Learn more at www.firstourselves.com. How many of you have woken up this way: You spend twenty minutes in front of a full length mirror, trying on several outfits to find the one that makes you feel "skinny." Then you carefully apply your makeup to hide any wrinkles, age spots, and pimples. You skip breakfast, because eating makes you feel "too full" (read: fat) so low blood sugar leaves you edgy and irritable. You try reassuring yourself that you look okay (making sure to double check the mirror one last time before exiting the house), only to see your neighbor/co-worker/anyone on the street looking oh-so fabulous. Your confidence sinks, as thoughts of feeling fat, frumpy, ugly and old peck at your peace of mind. Ladies, let's laugh at ourselves, because we've all been there. We live in a society fixated on appearance and the physical body. Weight obsession now affects young girls as young as eight or six; not just women and teenagers. Statistics show our models for beauty -- fashion models, actresses, and other entertainment personalities -- are getting thinner, and thinner. Eating disorders are more and more common, beginning at earlier ages, among 7 and 10 year old girls. In her book "Like Mother, Like Daughter," nutritionist Debra Waterhouse writes about how a mother's negative body image can be passed down to her daughters. A culture, too, can bequeath a negative body image: 51% of 9 and 10 year old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet; 42% of 1st through 3rd grade girls want to be thinner; young girls would prefer to have cancer, lose both their parents, or live through a nuclear holocaust than to be fat. How can a woman, or a little girl, love her body in such a toxic environment? How do we change this mess we've created? When I first got the idea for helping women conquer body hatred, I thought the best way to change the status quo would be to attack the instigators----the beauty companies, the media, the fashion industry, Hollywood, the music industry---that feed our obsession with physical vanity. But I came to see my approach was wrong, and doomed to fail. Why? You cannot create positive change from negativity. Attacking others won't help women love their bodies. How can hatred create love? At the least, I figure if Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. could topple segregation with non-violent means, certainly I could help women love their bodies without resorting to violence. On this site you will not find missives leading you to campaign against those who you believe perpetrate body hatred in women. I will not ask you to channel your anger in protest. I am not telling you to rant and rave against the powers that be. Instead, I am asking you to face your body issues. Simply focus on yourself: heal your body neuroses. That, I believe is enough. I like to think of body hatred as a cesspool of negative thought. Imagine a deep, dark well of disgust, shame and despair. Each time you berate your body, or judge it, or judge or berate another's, you tap into that cesspool, increasing its power. This, I believe, is the true cause of body hatred today: we are all feeding off one another's disgust. We have created this toxic environment; our thoughts grow its power. We have created the cesspool. The universe is just complying in kind, by giving us a physical manifestation of our inner reality. You can think, as I did, that body bashing is an individual problem; it doesn't affect others. As long as I keep my anguish to myself, why does it matter? It matters because I am feeding the cesspool. I am helping to create the toxic environment. I am creating pain in the world: every seven year old girl on a diet is simply following in my footsteps. Let's imagine a different reality. What if we were able to love, accept and cherish our bodies? What if we were able to diminish the cesspool? What if we were able to create a counterbalance, a positive force? Imagine a well of love, nurturance, and joy. Each time we celebrate a woman's beauty, cherish our bodies, and praise our physical selves, we would grow that pool of light. And what would happen to the cesspool? It would wither, shrink, and desist. Love would take its place. So just think: every time you accept your body, or another woman's, you diminish the cesspool. You help create an alternative universe. And then, gradually, our new inner reality will replace our outer reality. We will no longer have an outer manifestation of body hatred. Imagine such a place: for you, your sister, your daughter, your granddaughter. I am calling for a body hatred fast. I want to try an experiment: for 60 days, let's refrain from having negative comments or thoughts about our body or anyone else's. When negative thoughts appear, transform them into a compliment or a positive statement. When other women bring up their body image garbage, change the subject. Refrain from gossiping about people's appearance---positive or negative. Let's see if we can shrink the cesspool. Let's see what other thoughts occupy our minds. When I think about the vast amounts of energy women have stored up in thoughts about weight or bodies, I can't help but wonder: what could we achieve if our thoughts and minds were directed elsewhere? If you think the world would be a better place if more women ran it, think about how we could run it if we weren't so preoccupied on things that ultimately don't matter. Try it from this perspective: if you had to think of a way to suppress the women of the world, what better way to do so than by feeding an obsessive distraction with appearance, so that women can't focus their energy on what truly needs their help and devotion. Let's create a world where our daughters aren't dieting in kindergarten. Let's create a world where emaciated women are not the ideal. Let's create a world where we celebrate our bodies by using them to make the world a better place. Let's create our alternate universe. First, ourselves: then, the world.
4:34 PM
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3 Comments - 4 Kudos
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Thursday, September 13, 2007
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Tackle a Challenge
Hi Everyone, Ask and you shall receive. I recently sent out a request to the With Jess network and asked if anyone was interested in Guest Blogging for me and the responses have been overwhelming!! I am excited to introduce to you our next Guest Blogger, Karly Randolph. She is a perfect fit for the With Jess audience and I think you will really be inspired by her words. It is my pleasure to share with you Karly Randolph's first guest blog... Karly Randolph Pitman is the founder of First Ourselves, helping women love their bodies, feel beautiful, and make self care a top priority. She lives with her husband and four children in the mountains of Montana, although she told her husband they're moving to the beach next year. Karly feeds her spirit by running, inhaling books, watching movies, and dancing in the living room with her family. Learn more at www.firstourselves.com. Over the weekend, I spontaneously turned an early morning jog into a speedwork session; my first in over a year, since becoming pregnant last spring. I ran down to a park, and ran 600 hundred meter repeats. At one point, a woman walking her dog exclaimed, "Man, you're fast." I'll be totally honest: I felt like She-Ra. Granted, I probably had a nice steady stream of endorphins pumping through my system, but I think my good feelings stemmed from more than just hormones. I felt good because I tackled a challenge: I willingly took on something hard. I could have gone for an easy jog. But I followed my intuitive impulse, and pushed myself. It makes me think of something I saw on a coffee cup in a gift store yesterday: "May you have enough challenges to keep you strong." Yes. I'm all for making life easier than it needs to be. Alan Cohen's message of making success easy had a profound effect on me, a completely different philosophy from the "No pain, no gain," mentality I'd previously harbored. But sometimes a challenge is a good thing. It gives you the opportunity to flex your muscles, to rise to the occasion. It provides an opportunity to align your integrity with your behavior: to put your beliefs into action. I thought of this last week when I faced a difficult conversation with an employee. Rather than fearing it (assertion hasn't been my historical strong suit), I embraced it as a growth opportunity. I was scared and afraid, but I made the phone call, anyway. And afterwards? I felt just as empowered as I had after running sprints. I also realized that the conversation wasn't that hard to do, after all. And this is how we grow: every time we confront something difficult or fearful. We move up a notch, so that the next time we face a similar situation, we're unfazed. When life throws you huge obstacles, it's really a compliment in disguise: it means you're ready for the next level. What challenge can you tackle this week? Maybe there's a difficult conversation that you've been avoiding. Maybe you want to call about that job offer. Maybe you want to face that addiction that holds you back. Maybe it's time to wear a bathing suit and going swimming. The challenge itself doesn't matter; it can be anything. Victory, in all its forms, tastes the same: sweet.
4:40 PM
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1 Comments - 1 Kudos
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Friday, August 24, 2007
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Purrfectly Content
Current mood:  cheerful
Category: Pets and Animals
This is the last guest blog post we have from Trudi Evans for the time being. If you have missed any of the great posts she honored us with, please check out the archived post section to catch up. We have truly enjoyed the entries Trudi has shared with us, and we look forward to bringing you more posts from her in the near future. Trudi Evans is the publisher of As We Are Magazine( http://www.aswearemagazine.com) new space on the web for women to feel good, speak out and be heard. When she's not promoting the magazine, Trudi acts as the president of the board of directors for the Eating Disorders Action Group ( http://www.edag.ca), plays in the sprinkler with her 4 ½ year old son, hangs out with her husband of ten years, and chases the cat back into the house. She is currently growing pumpkins in containers on her deck and thinking about female super heroes. Several years ago, we had this very large cat. When we adopted him, he was somewhere in the 20lb range, and a very lonely dude. He happily threw all 20lbs into any lap available at any time and would reward every kind touch with a deep rumbling purr. He was with us for five years and in that time, we tried to help him shed more pounds than fur and become the svelte feline we knew he could be. After consulting the vet, we changed his food. We made sure he got the healthiest of treats. And then we tried exercise. Exercising a cat might be the dumbest thing I've ever tried. I came home from the pet store one day, armed with a variety of toys to tempt his inner kitty into playing and running around. I carefully examined my purchases and found a shiny, crinkly, feathery thing on a stick that seemed like it would tempt any cat into being frisky. I parked myself on the living room floor and crinkled the end of the new toy to catch the cat's attention. He perked up, waddled over and had a look. I was on a roll. Using the plastic rod attached to it, I dragged the toy along the floor, and as it would get near the cat, he took a swat at it. He's hooked, I thought. I couldn't have been more wrong. One swipe, and he flopped over, content to lay on the floor and watch as I made a fool out of myself, imitating how a cat, such as he, should use these great toys I had bought for him. I tried the squeaky mouse, the feathers-on-a-spring, and every last toy from that bag. He watched. Once, he stretched. And that was his entire exercise regimen. If only he'd been as motivated as my friend Kate's cat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZpWL21hAh4
11:51 AM
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Thursday, August 16, 2007
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Hey Mom, Be Yourself
Current mood: inspired
Category: inspired Life
Another one from our fantastic guest blogger Trudi Evans...
Trudi Evans is the publisher of As We Are Magazine(http://www.aswearemagazine.com) new space on the web for women to feel good, speak out and be heard. When she's not promoting the magazine, Trudi acts as the president of the board of directors for the Eating Disorders Action Group (http://www.edag.ca), plays in the sprinkler with her 4 ½ year old son, hangs out with her husband of ten years, and chases the cat back into the house. She is currently growing pumpkins in containers on her deck and thinking about female super heroes.
They say that when we look at the world through the eyes of children, we get to experience the firsts all over again.
My son Sam is 4 ½ years old. He goes to daycare part-time and he's an affable, social kid. The girls call him Sam-Sam-the-ladies-man. The teachers are heartbroken that he's off to school this fall and they won't get their daily dose of Sam-lovin'. The boys take their time to high-five and hug him before he leaves every day. In fact, they sort of treat him like a rock star.
This was not my exact experience as a child. I was painfully shy and withdrawn (oh, how I've changed!). I sort of slipped in and out of the shadows. When Sam came home on Tuesday night and wanted his toenails painted purple, I wondered: can I handle the pain of childhood taunting again? How will I support him when they inevitably reject his non-conformist ways? This wasn't the first I wanted to re-experience.
After his lavender bubble bath, my little metrosamuel got out and had his nails trimmed and painted. His wee toes now sport a deep and royal metallic purple. He was giddy with excitement at his cool new toes and could not wait for daycare the next day. He even passed on wearing his favourite shoes for sandals so his toes would be visible all the time.
Before I tell you what happened to Sam that day, let me tell you about David. David goes to Sam's daycare and every day when he arrives, he heads straight for the dress-up clothes and pulls on the same purple princess gown over his camouflage shorts and football tee-shirt and wears it the entire day. He loves his purple gown.
When Sam arrived at daycare with his purple toes, he barreled down the stairs to show his favourite teacher. David ripped across the room, his purple gown flouncing around him, took one look at Sam's toes and cried "Toenail polish is for girls!" and huffed off.
At 4 ½, my kid doesn't quite get irony. My husband, on the other hand, couldn't hold in his laughter. Amazingly, Sam just shrugged his shoulders, rolled his eyes and went off to play.
When he came home at the end of the day, I asked him if everyone loved his toes. His face was full of sadness. "They laughed at me mom. They thought it was silly for a boy to have toe paint." I offered to remove it for him.
"No way! I'm wearing this forever." He exclaimed.
This was a first I was happy to experience. Confidence and non-conformity are traits I always admire in others, and here I was admiring it in my son, age 4 ½.
12:50 AM
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5 Comments - 8 Kudos
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Monday, August 13, 2007
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Feel Good (originally published on As We Are)
Current mood:  contemplative
Category: Life
Another one from our fantastic guest blogger Trudi Evans...
Trudi Evans is the publisher of As We Are Magazine(http://www.aswearemagazine.com) new space on the web for women to feel good, speak out and be heard. When she's not promoting the magazine, Trudi acts as the president of the board of directors for the Eating Disorders Action Group (http://www.edag.ca), plays in the sprinkler with her 4 ½ year old son, hangs out with her husband of ten years, and chases the cat back into the house. She is currently growing pumpkins in containers on her deck and thinking about female super heroes.
Do you feel good about yourself? A big reason why I started my website As We Are (http://www.aswearemagazine) is to support women in feeling great about them. I believe that when women are confident, they become great creators of change. In order for me to go forward and support charitable groups with my skills and time and to publish my magazine, I needed to look at myself and say "wow, I rock". And you know what? I do. I'm not waiting to wear a size whatever before I tackle the world because I no longer need those external validations to move forward. And you don't either!
Let's explore how to feel good.
I've learned (albeit slowly), that the way I feel about myself is in my control. When my feel good cues came from other people in the form of compliments or admiration, my feel bad cues were in their hands as well. Negative observations about my work or appearance would bring me down and in order to be brought back up, I needed more validation from somewhere else.
That is, until I took control of my self-esteem. The first thing I did was make a pact with myself to stop putting myself down. For years, I was the queen of self-deprecating humor and verbal abuse aimed straight at me. Cheesy as it sounds, but you wouldn't talk about others the way you talk about yourself, so why is it ok to put yourself down?
I have some theories. The first is that we are taught at a very young age, that a healthy self-esteem is actually conceit. And no one likes a conceited girl. The higher you see yourself, the farther they can knock you down. You are an open target when you feel good about yourself. Someone wants to knock you down a peg or two until you feel as badly about yourself as they feel about themselves. Compliments come to those who are lowest and need boosting. Teenagers live this day in and day out and sadly, adults don't often shake it off as they mature.
What if you made all your choices based on what you thought you deserved, when you felt your worst? The fact is, we make a lot of choices in that moment. Theory number two includes having to admit that we have made some poor choices because we didn't see ourselves as worthy of more. From choosing a partner who's critical of our every breath, to staying at an unfulfilling job and ignoring our true talents and dreams, we create a life that validates all those negative feelings about ourselves. This creates conflict as we accept our bodaciousness. How does someone as amazing as me, live a life as lousy as this? Facing those choices and making great changes create anxiety, fear, and self-doubt.
A great support system makes it easier to deal with stepping out of the life you're in and into the one you deserve, but what if you don't have that support system? You may have friends and family who love you, but do they love themselves? When they don't, they may have difficulty supporting your new rockin' self and the life you want to create that reflects it. Your confidence reminds them of their own fear of loving themselves and they often feel left behind. That's what As We Are is about – daily support to help you to keep moving forward with your awesomeness and build a network of confident, self-loving women.
What do you do to bring yourself up when you feel down?
3:26 PM
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3 Comments - 6 Kudos
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Tuesday, August 07, 2007
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Chick Flicks
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
Chick Flicks
Another one from our fantastic guest blogger Trudi Evans... Trudi Evans is the publisher of As We Are Magazine( http://www.aswearemagazine.com) new space on the web for women to feel good, speak out and be heard. When she's not promoting the magazine, Trudi acts as the president of the board of directors for the Eating Disorders Action Group ( http://www.edag.ca), plays in the sprinkler with her 4 ½ year old son, hangs out with her husband of ten years, and chases the cat back into the house. She is currently growing pumpkins in containers on her deck and thinking about female super heroes. I'm not a big movie-buff. I don't see many films in the movie theatre (too cheap to hire a babysitter) and I generally know what I'm going to like, so I don't see a lot of films that presume will fall outside that realm. That sounds awful, I just realized; much like judging a book by its cover. I should work on that. The term chick flick tends to be a bit derogatory. They are films that no only appeal to women more than men, but are assumed to be mindless and meaningless. The fact is, that isn't always true. Some of my favourite films fall into this genre. So when you're looking for something to feed your inner-chick, perhaps you'll want to check out some of these. If you've seen them before, maybe it's time to watch them again! Auntie Mame (1958) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051383/Long before the term chick-flick or the idea that single women could possibly be happy on their own, there was Rosalind Russell as Auntie Mame. Funny, independent, opinionated and ahead of her time, Mame never fails to remind me to be myself. Quote to live by: Yes! Live! Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death! A League of Their Own (1992) ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104694/) This film stars some big name women: Gena Davis, Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell and was directed by Penny Marshall. It is a fictional story based on the real life All American Girls Baseball League that was started in the U.S.A. during World War II. While many of the able men were overseas fighting, the baseball commission decided they wanted to keep the folks at home focused on something positive and what do people love? Baseball! Thinking that the women would be more entertainer than athlete, they were dressed up in skirts and lipstick and paraded about, but they triumphed with their passion and skill for the sport. This movie never fails to make me well up with admiration and pride, and yes, I cry. But it's a good cry. Steele Magnolias (1989) ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098384/) This movie has been around long enough that most people know it is a real tear-jerker, but the movie really shines in the way it depicts friendships among women. A variety of complex women played by Sally Field, Olympia Dukakis, Shirley MacLaine, Dolly Parton, Darryl Hannah and Julia Roberts, are woven together in ways that are real and heartbreaking and filled with hope. Olympia Dukakis plays Clairee and utters my favourite line in the movie: If you can't find anything good to say about anybody, come sit by me. Watch this one with friends. Bring tissue. Erin Brockovich (2000) ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195685/) I'm a bit of a sucker for movies based in real life. There are so many great stories about women that don't get told and I'd like to see the film industry find a way to tell more of them. Erin is a real person who lived this real story, that Julia Roberts depicted in the Hollywood version. When a tenacious single mother with a big mouth takes on a big corporation on behalf of the little guy, she becomes a real-life heroine. Erin inspires. The list goes on and on and on. I have an equally long list of movies I haven't yet seen, but will keep working my way through. I'm always on the look for stories about women that inform and inspire me. It is not often that Hollywood gets it right when it comes to portraying women, so I feel it's important to hold close the stories that ring true for me. The beauty of every art, including film, is that there is something for everyone. Selfishly, I hope they make more movies for me.
10:09 AM
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Friday, August 03, 2007
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Bionic Blogger
Current mood:  excited
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
Another one from our fantastic guest blogger Trudi Evans...
Trudi Evans is the publisher of As We Are Magazine (http://www.aswearemagazine.com) –a new space on the web for women to feel good, speak out and be heard. When she's not promoting the magazine, Trudi acts as the president of the board of directors for the Eating Disorders Action Group (http://www.edag.ca), plays in the sprinkler with her 4 ½ year old son, hangs out with her husband of ten years, and chases the cat back into the house. She is currently growing pumpkins in containers on her deck and thinking about female super heroes.
In the mid-'70s, I was The Bionic Woman. Lindsay Wagner may have played her on TV, but I was on the real streets with my neighbourhood friend, Neil, who was The Six Million Dollar Man. We saved smaller children and animals, and protected the gardens with our bionic leaps, complete with sound effects. For our inspiration, watch this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKGXpFLMlLY).
I was entranced the other day when, on my giant television screen, an unfamiliar face appeared and claimed to be The Bionic Woman. I went to NBC (http://www.nbc.com/Bionic_Woman/) and lo and behold, she is back, and from the clip, she no longer moves with cheesy sound effects. In fact, she's tough, kicks some ass, and could be my revived super heroine.
The dictionary says that bionic means utilizing electronic devices and mechanical parts to assist humans in performing difficult, dangerous, or intricate tasks, as by supplementing or duplicating parts of the body. In my six-year-old head, it just meant cool. I wanted to be tough and cool just like her. I wanted to be strong and fast and be equal to my partner Steve Austin (The Six Million Dollar Man), never needing to be rescued.
In fact, when I would show fear of doing something, like jumping off a ten-foot-high snow bank, all Neil would have to say is, "...but you're bionic!" and my fear would dissipate. My superpower would take over, and off I'd leap (much to the demise of my mother's blood pressure).
NBC has a lot to live up to. I'm a 36-year-old woman who's looking for a super heroine to believe in. I'm tired of the current super heroes. Damsels be damned! I want my Bionic Woman to rescue mere mortal men.
And I want good dialogue. Yes, I want a lot from this show. I was a fickle fan of Gilmore Girls. I loved the speed at which they spoke, the smattering of sarcasm, and the way the dialogue was peppered with pop culture references. I enjoyed the strength of the women, not only the main characters, but also the women in the community—Miss Patty, Suki, and Babette.
Could NBC possibly combine the qualities of Gilmore Girls that I so admired with the speed and strength of the Bionic Woman and make a show that will have me lusting after my very own Bionic Woman Underoos? This fall, I'll find out.
Even if it's not great, please put it on your calendar and tune in for a few episodes. We need to tell the networks that the time has come for more strong female characters on television. We WILL watch!
10:52 AM
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Tuesday, July 31, 2007
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Who Do I Want To Be?
Current mood: happy
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes
Hi Everyone,
I am honored to have Trudi Evans as a guest blogger for us for this coming week. She is truly a force to be reckoned with and I think you will find her posts touching, funny, and dead on. It is my pleaseure to introduce to you Trudi Evans...
"Trudi Evans is the publisher of As We Are Magazine (http://www.aswearemagazine.com) – a new space on the web for women to feel good, speak out and be heard. When she's not promoting the magazine, Trudi acts as the president of the board of directors for the Eating Disorders Action Group (http://www.edag.ca), plays in the sprinkler with her 4 ½ year old son, hangs out with her husband of ten years, and chases the cat back into the house. She is currently growing pumpkins in containers on her deck and thinking about female super heroes."
Who Do I Want To Be?
Even as a teenager, I often wondered what kind of older woman I would be. Now, in my thirties, I think about it regularly. Who will I be when I am 65? And I let that dream of who I want to become, infuse my choices about who I am today. In my mind, I see myself with long grey hair flowing about my shoulders, wearing a long embroidered, ethnic-inspired dress. I am smiling. I am so incredibly comfortable in my skin. I see myself outside in the warm sun, pulling vegetables from my garden. I am taking a break in my day from my work and activism. I am involved. I'm not tied to this image forever, but I realize that some of my deepest values are depicted here.
- Love thyself. Having grey hair that isn't coloured to make me look younger and being happy regardless of my shape or size is important to me. It is what I work on every day of my life. Well, maybe not the graying hair since mine isn't grey yet. But the self-love is what is important to me.
- Spend time outdoors. I don't seem myself climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro at any time in my life, but I would like to learn to grow a good vegetable garden. Right now, I stick to container gardening – I recognize my own limitations with time and dedication, but someday, I am going to hoe the row.
- Involvement. One of my favourite holiday traditions is to watch Charlie Brown's Christmas. In it, Charlie can't find his holiday mojo and consults with Lucy who wisely tells him that what he needs is involvement. I am much like Charlie, in that when I'm not involved in something, I feel like a bit of a slug. I don't need to be on the go all the time, but I need to be a part of things that are bigger than me. This year, I've been actively involved with a local eating disorders group. It has inspired me to want to do other things and really find ways to make an impact in my community. It has also connected me to some really amazing people, and that is often enough.
It's possible that when I'm 65, the idea of looking like an aging hippy won't appeal to me as much as it does now. And what I look like when I get there really won't matter. I could be a highly coiffed, designer clad woman and be just as happy because what is most important is that I stay connected to my values and use those to live now and to guide me into the woman I will become.
9:57 AM
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