#1Act

 

I love love love this!!!

There is a new social movement, to help prevent bullying, started by the nonprofit group Bystander Revolution. To participate, all you have to do is perform a random act of kindness, upload a selfie including your finger in it (not THAT finger) with the hashtag #1Act and a description of what your random act of kindness was, and then challenge others to do the same.

 

I will be sharing mine soon, and I challenge all of you to do the same.

 

Everyone has the power to make a difference, no matter how small, so what are you waiting for?

 

~Hannah ♥

Documentary of the Week: A Place at the Table

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This week I am choosing the documentary A Place at the Table, which is also one of my favorite documentaries to date. A Place at the Table, released in 2013, delves into the topic of widespread hunger in the United States, and details the reasons behind it, as well as some of the effects it has on the individuals affected by it. Coming from a family that has had to sometimes rely on food stamps, this topic was close to my heart, and I feel it did a great job of showing the struggle that lower income families - especially those relying on a single parent - go through to try to feed their families. There are so many topics that this documentary covers; "food deserts", where families have to travel 45+ minutes just to reach a place where they can buy anything more than highly processed convenience foods; the problems with the income requirements of the SNAP program; the problems with the farm subsidy program, that makes highly processed foods cheap; and of course the serious health effects these cheap, highly processed foods have on our national health and the rising disease rates, especially in our children.

I feel that too many people are quick to judge those that have to depend on welfare, without trying to understand the difficulties they face, and the struggles they go through, just to feed their children, and I hope that those who watch this will be able to better understand how hard it can be. Nutritious, good quality food should not be reserved for those who can afford it, or live in a good area, but should be available for everyone.

I highly recommend watching A Place at the Table, as well as reading the book, by the same name. They are both very informative, and full of tons of statistics and cited research, if you want to look into the topic more deeply.

 

Until next time!

~Hannah ♥

More to Come

When I started this blog in July, I was planning on writing more often, which is why I had started the "Documentary of the Week" series. Unfortunately for the blog (although fortunate for me), I switched to a new job around this time and became much busier than I thought I would be. Luckily though, I have gotten to a point where I will have some extra time set aside and I will be able to use this time for writing. (Yay!)

So be looking for many more posts in the near future.

Talk to you again soon!
 ~ Hannah ♥

Jane Goodall on Being Emotional

 

I love Jane Goodall.

Ever since I was in Roots & Shoots in the fifth grade and started learning about her life and experiences, I have just loved her, and I am so thankful that I had the chance to listen to her speak and was able to meet her. She truly is a beautiful soul and has led such an amazing, inspirational life.

I love the thoughts she shares in this video on her views towards treating other beings and the importance of pairing empathy with our intellect, in order for us to achieve our full potential.

Rethink Homelessness

I think too often when we see a homeless person standing with a cardboard sign, asking for money, we are too quick to judge them, and many times assume that they are homeless because they are lazy, or have chosen to become so. We tend to forget that there is always another side to the story, and that these people have pasts, and have faced challenges that we have no idea about. I love how this video demonstrates this, and how thought provoking it is.

Enjoy!

~ Hannah ♥

Love This

Documentary of the Week: Half the Sky

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I recently watched a two part documentary series titled Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. This documentary is based on a bestselling book of the same name, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. I have not yet read the book, although it is now on my list of books to read, but I thought that the movie was amazing. Half the Sky discusses the oppressive circumstances that a huge number of women face worldwide, and shows ways in which some of these women are overcoming them. A-list celebrities, including Meg Ryan and America Ferrera, travel with Nicholas Kristof to countries where some of these oppressive conditions, such as forced prostitution, gender-based violence, and sex trafficking, are most prevalent. Watching this documentary, for me, was both heartbreaking and inspirational, and it really opened my eyes to some of the issues that women and girls face throughout the world, that aren't always as publicized, and seem oftentimes to be hidden, or hushed up. I am truly inspired by how these strong women are able to overcome such terrible experiences and use them to grow stronger and to help others. If you are interested in watching Half the Sky (which I would highly recommend), you can stream it on Netflix, as well as buying it on iTunes. For more information on the Half the Sky Movement, you can follow the link here.