I need a late pass. I was supposed to write this post on March 10, joining a number of bloggers and the Red Pump Project in observance of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. I must admit that my procrastination along with a weeklong stay in Austin, TX for South by Southwest pushed back the publish date of this post. Nevertheless, here I am with my 2011 NWGHAAD post. Better late than never.
This is the third year I’m joining up with the Red Pump Project to write about …

Right now, congressional negotiations over the final details of the health care reform bill are going on behind closed doors — and Congressman Bart Stupak is still insisting that the final bill include his total ban on private health insurance coverage for abortion.
Yes, one man is holding health care reform hostage. His goal: dictating the kind of health insurance coverage tens of millions of women will receive under reform.  - Planned Parenthood Action Fund
I don’t know about you, but this just is not right. I don’t believe this is what …

It seems like we’ve been talking about HIV/AIDS forever, right? I can’t remember NOT talking about it, being born in ’81 and all. It seems like someone is always beating us over the head with statistics like, “there are more than 1 million adults and adolescents in the United States living with HIV; Approximately one-fifth of them (21%) do not know that they are HIV-infected,” (DHHS). From healthcare workers to celebrities, everyone is imploring us to wrap it up, practice safe sex, and be discerning when choosing our sexual partners. …

Sharing this so that interested bloggers may participate.
Dear blogger friends,
You’re invited to take part in a Planned Parenthood Blogger Bee!
On Wednesday, Dec. 2, Planned Parenthood will be holding a National Day of Action to lobby the Senate for health care reform that ensures women’s access to reproductive health care. In order to get the word out as quickly and widely as possible, Planned Parenthood is asking bloggers to write about the National Day of Action and the negative impact that the Stupak amendment would have on health care reform …

I’m pretty disgusted right about now. I was asleep, knocked out due to my sickness and woke up at midnight to find that the House had passed a health care reform bill (HR 3962). Sounds good at first, especially since we have been trying to get SOME form of legislation moving through the process. Unfortunately, this is not what I was hoping for. I get the feeling that most people had/have no idea that today, in what felt like a backdoor sneak move, Representative Bart Stupak put forth an amendment …

Today is “Taking it to the Streets” day for Strong Start, an organization dedicated to educating young people about healthy relationships and ending teen dating violence. Eleven organizations in Atlanta,, Austin, Boston, Bridgeport, the Bronx, Idaho, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Oakland, Providence, and Wichita will be helping spread the message about healthy relationships. According to the website, Start Strong is also encouraging people to join the conversation online – “We are asking for your best thinking, your best advice, your best observations to get this country learning about healthy relationships, how …

As posted to the Domestic Violence Awareness: Making Advocacy Accessible Facebook Cause (to which I am a contributor).
As human beings we are blessed with the ability to express ourselves through language and, by extension, the written word. From the beginning of time, words have been used to capture the mundane details of life, identify objects, show the way to hidden places, record history, and foretell the future. There is also power in words where they allow us to share our innermost thoughts, feelings and ideas. Writing let’s us harness …

I’ve been watching the Sundance Channel’s miniseries Brick City about the struggle of Newark, New Jersey’s mayor and residents to live in the city and bring it out of crime, poverty and despair into the city of progress and hope it once was. According to the Sundance Channel,
Created and directed by the award-winning filmmakers Mark Benjamin and Marc Levin, BRICK CITY, is a five-part documentary series that fans out around the city of Newark, New Jersey to capture the daily drama of a community striving to become a better, safer, …

Bill Gates Sr. (dad to richie rich, Bill Jr.) made the following comment while reviewing the book, Half the Sky:
When a man partners with a strong woman, everyone benefits…. What I find remarkable is that more men around the globe don’t realize how much stronger they would be if partnered with a strong woman. Way too often and in too many corners of the globe, women are denied the opportunity to reach their full potential. It’s wrong and it’s backward, and of course, the irony is that by keeping women …

SaltPepperGarlic is a nonprofit catering company run by a sister/brother team, Jasmine & Nathaniel Baker, to raise funds to cover Nathaniel’s tuition at the Culinary Institute of America.  Like many other families, the Bakers are struggling in this economy and have had to get creative to fund their education. According to their FB site, Nathaniel is the #1 junior chef in Delaware, and #14 in the country! This man wants to cook and deserves that CIA education!
I stumbled upon SaltPepperGarlic via a Facebook pal’s profile. Working on my second post-grad …