Velvet Verbosity

In case you haven’t noticed, I like to take action. Helps me to sleep better at night. Sometimes pushing through to hope gets heavy, so I wanted to share with you two things that are a little more fun or inspiring.

1. The “Show Our Beauty: A Challenge to Women’s Magazines” campaign over at thepoint.com. The campaign asks a major women’s magazine to release an issue sans airbrushing or photoshopping either on the cover or in any of the features. Whew!  Just thinking about that must be making the glamour girls sweat in their Dolce and Gabbana.  No need!  If they agree, you agree to buy two copies of the magazine if and when the untouched photo issue hits the stands. No action is required unless the objective is reached, so it’s a win-win proposition. We’d give women (and especially young girls) a break from the onslaught of “perfect” imagery, and whatever magazine picks up and delivers on the challenge will see some major sales as a reward. Consumer action at its best. It will take you minutes and if no magazine accepts the challenge, you’ve lost nothing. If a magazine does accept and deliver, you’ve seen how joining forces can move mountains - big, airbrushed, glitter topped mountains. Join the campaign here and, of course, spread the word.

2. A Flash of Genius, the movie, based on a true story, about Dr. Robert Kearns, the man who invented the intermittent windshield wiper and had it stolen by Ford (bad Ford). He fought back, and eventually triumphed. I love me a story where one man/woman takes on the Goliath. Anyone want to see it with me? We can make a date to see it on the same night, and have a blog discussion next day. Here’s the trailer.

With love,

Don’t worry, I won’t let you forget about the campaign to boycott Goodyear Tire Company starting on Mother’s Day if they don’t make good on what a jury originally awarded Ms. Ledbetter. I’m persistent like that.

But for serious…I still need all your help. I need you to not let your readers forget about it. There’s so much in the world to be concerned about. There’s so little time to do anything about it all. I know. Here’s an opportunity to just sign up to NOT do something. To NOT spend your money with a corporation that allowed unfair pay practices, not just for Ledbetter, but for other women in the company too, and got away with it. Here’s your chance to do something by NOT doing much of anything at all. How often does an offer like that come along?

Well, except for you bloggers. You, YOU I need to do something. To not let this slip away and get forgotten. If you haven’t already, you can add the campaign button to your blog. You can post the campaign link every day at the beginning or ending of your posts. You can gently remind your readers that they too can blog about the campaign and then take but a few seconds to sign up for the boycott. You can stumble and Digg these stories, and the original campaign. You can do what bloggers do best…TALK!

Because bloggers are awesome like that.  If only Dooce would blog about it.