Did you know that the research show that the majority of teen girls are more afraid of becoming "fat" than of nuclear war, cancer or losing their parents.

the average american woman is 5'4" and weighs 140 pounds. The average model is 5'11" and weighs 117 pounds. Which do we think is normal? We think it is the model and so most people think they are fat and hopelessly so, which stops people from thinking healthy eating and exercise are doing something to help them.

what do you think?

b

From Maddy- top picture is of the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall...two of the world's most sacred sites, Islam's Dome and Judaism's Wall...look how close they are. cool huh?

bottom picture is me with one of my farm families

hey everyone,
we are now all a TWITTER...so girls, join as followers. and give us ideas of what to post. Poetry or a random thought works tooooo...

tweet tweet goes the beautiful bird.

b

Core Girl Maddy has taken a year before college to go and work on organic farms in Italy, Spain, Israel and then--who knows. She has a great blog of her adventures and insights AND PICTURES. check it out!

http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Minnesota/Minneapolis/blog-435045.html


it is so cool.

We've been working with girls in the WISE CHARTER SCHOOL in North Minneapolis. Barbara and Jen with the help of Hannah and Molly (on Fridays) work with 12 girls on THursday and Friday afternoons after school. Right now they are working on an emotion poem the made as a group: Here it is:
I am Angry
Angry is red and white and black shifting from one to another
It is the shape of a broken heart
And as big as your arms can stretch.
Angry smells bitter like vinegar
And when angry gets added in, it curdles and bubbles and changes everything around it.
It moves like an earthquake—slow at first and then destroying everything from the top down. Or a fast waterfall tumbling over everything.
Angry sounds like screaming.
It sounds like a building when it falls.
And What do I want to do with Angry?
- take it out and slam it on the ground.
- Let it calm down by leaving it alone
-: Wherever I found it, I feel like leaving it there.
-- I want to make angry happy by doing something fun
- I want anger to be a teacher to help me make the world better.

what emotion would you choose? what does it smell like. how does it move. what do you want to do with it?
=When I pull back the layers, I see angry is really afraid.

We did a very fun workshop with Latina girls from Casa de Esperanza last night. Maddy and Hannah worked with me to teach and we went to Izzy's icecream afterwards to talk.

Hannah had some interesting thoughts about the stereotypes we have identified for the sections (she can go into it in more detail) . But in summary, she felt they were too soft. If what we are exploring is not the stereotype that everyone can say "oh, I know that is not true...not all Muslims want to kill me" but we are exploring the residue power that has on us in more subtle ways that result in us staying away from others...then maybe we need those stereotypes to be what stereotypes are: UGLY.

What would you not say out loud? That Christians are self-righteous and think I am going to hell because I don't agree with them? That Jews are trying to dominate the world and control all the money and don't care about what others need. That Atheists have no moral center and think I am stupid for believing in God.

worth thinking about and sharing your ideas...BEFORE friday at 9 a.m. Because that is when the Structure group is going to get together and write the open intro and interstitials.

So get your thoughts in to the blog.

b

Great!!! Meetings yesterday. Such fantastic ideas and energy. Undercover is coming together with wonderful insights. This is an important program and you will all take it to the next step!

General update on the sections we worked on. Get more info on the blog

Structure group (Kirsten, Rachel, Maddy, Annie) NEXT MEETING: Friday, July 10 at 10:00 a.m. At Barbara's house to write script.
-talked about the core information that needed to introduce the program:
Who we are
Why we decided to do this
Visual introduction to the kind of thing we will see
Why these specific religions
Stepping into experiences (instead of staying away)

Basically came to the conclusion that while we may not believe the big stereotypes...really, the residue of that stereotype permeates our perceptions and hence we avoid these groups of people. Making it harder to get along and connect with each other.

In summary for each segment was:
Muslims are terrorists. We know that is not true, we don't believe the big hype...but we do feel they judge us and look foreign and scarey...so we stay away.

2. Jewish people are an exclusive club that is not easily accessible. They are stuck in the past and have these weird outdated rules. We don't want to offend so we stay away.

3. Christians are evangelical and want me to change. I feel judged so I stay away.

4. Atheists are very intellectual and all tied up in science. They think I am childish and stupid for believing differently than them. So I stay away.

The idea is that each section will have a iconic image to introduce each section while you hear girls voices saying the above ideas.

Muslim- Najma walking away from the camera in full hijab
Jewish- Maddy lighting Shabbath candles
Christian-a girl in a church reading a bible
Atheist-Kirsten at a chalk board or white board writing an equation.
"We wondered what would happen if you took God out of the equation"

Group decided that statistics didn't make sense-given the personal nature of the experiences. And to avoid other religions, since we don't have time to get into them. (Those can be included in the outreach). We will wait on the outro conclusion plan until we are a little further along.

The introduction piece will be framed around a little of the history. And will be the group shooting the interstitials...and talking directly to camera (or other interesting creative ways to introduce information—ie. A note on the log sheets, a line writing on the sidewalk in chalk, an email or text message, a phone call). This section will be fast fun and answer the questions that need to be set up. Who are we, what are we doing, why, how and why did we choose to focus on the sections we did.

Group will be getting together on FRIDAY, July 10 at 10:00 to work on the script and shot sheets for the intro and interstitials.
SHOOT DAY is scheduled for July 18...(the one day that both Maddy and Hannah are in town at the same time!). EVERYONE PLAN ON SHOOTING ON THIS DAY...it will be a full day.

MUSLIM section: Molly, Hannah, Kirsten, Maddy
The drive malfunctioned after falling off the coffee table. So this group did not view the material yet. We are loading a new drive today. We talked about not using much of the steps interviews but including the Iman’s interview, the interview with Suhra, the prayers and Ramadan and bedroom interviews (particularly with Saida and Najma) and then the experience of buying and wearing hijabs. Introduce what Islam means, the reason people wear the hijab, that it is a choice people make and that it identifies people as different and what that feels like. Do not think we need to shoot any more material.

JEWISH section: Maddy, Molly, Hannah
We want to open up the beginning of this to address some of the issues of What does being Jewish mean. Addressing the perceptions of separation and weird ancient rules that don’t make any sense. Then Why did we choose Shabbat as the activity. What is Shabbat. Experience the Shabbat-- Highlight the rules and how they shifted from confusing to comforting. End with Havdala and Saida’s reflection room. Include Fishman’s market, bedroom interviews, people on the streets, rabbi, etc.
Maddy will get more material on her hard drive today and the group will talk on Friday, July 10 and pass off the hard drive to Hannah and Molly for review and beginning edit on July 11-18... Then it gets passed back to Maddy for edit. Do not think we need to shoot anymore material.

So we are on our way. More soon.

Atheist group meeting.
Hannah, Molly, Kirsten, Anne and Rebecca met Sunday, July 5th.
Group please add more notes to blog. I will post this their as well in hopes to create a conversational component to this.)

First we talked about Unaffiliated and its really being separate from Atheism. They talked about asking the entire group about how it fits in. Maybe it is incorporated into every section. We shared that many of the interviews and people we spoke with about being unaffiliated still seemed to have a belief in god. We decided to shelf unaffiliated and request a group discussion. It would be great to get something going on the blog!

Hannah shared her experiences viewing the sequence and interviews. Her sense was that the next piece shot really needed to focus on community and connection. Kirsten added that in the other sections there is a real sense of sharing in an experience and that they needed to find a way to accomplish this in the Atheist section.
Everyone felt this could be done in the group coffee time and moved onto to discussing what people, what they, are interested in knowing about atheism. Rebecca will speak with Bjorn about joining their next gathering or creating our own.

Points that were brought up to discuss during our gathering:
What stories are in the news about Atheists? Where and what kind of information is the public getting? (Kirsten will research this and share with the group prior to our meeting)
Look at and talk to them about Atheists side of standing up for their beliefs. Talk about separation of church and state.
What is their feeling of religion as a whole?
Discuss the treatment they receive / what are the perceptions people have of Atheists.
Talk about community. We hear community discussed a lot in the context of religion and its meaning to people. And because Atheism is not a religion and does not have a central meeting place people seem to wonder why they would come together. Yet we know they do. We talked about humans, even the most introverted, needing social connections. The girls shared that their experience with Atheists (their peers who identify as Atheists) is that it feels individual and given there is no designated building icon, etc. What brings them together?
Do they share family gatherings, traditions/holidays... What events bring them together?
Talk about the convention and its purpose.
What do they enjoy about coming together?
What were their personal journeys? How did they come to this place, when did they know / identify as Atheists?
Where is Atheism around the world? (Molly will research this)

The idea is that this will be a real conversation/connection as opposed to an interview feeling. Questions will be loose and conversational. IT will be getting personal and sharing stories and an understanding.

They also discussed wanted to get a couple youth interviews. They are thinking about their peers to see if anyone who identifies as Atheist would be a good interview. Rebecca will also check with Bjorn to see if he could identify someone(s) for us.

Our hope is to get this completed ASAP. I will update after I speak with Bjorn regarding scheduling a video shoot.

Hannah passed the drive onto Annie to view.

We had some really productive meetings yesterday. We created the outline for our intro and interstitials, which we will be shooting on July 18th. If you are a CG make sure you can be there! We need as many of us as possible to be there. And trust me, you won't want to miss it.

After a quick jump off Barbara's table, the Muslim section hard drive was making interesting noises and refusing to function. But don't worry, we have the footage on another drive. The Muslim section will be meeting again this Tuesday from 7-9pm and Friday starting at 4:30pm. The interstitial section will also be meeting on Friday, starting at 9am to script the intro and interstitials. For the Jewish section, we need the rest of the footage (bedroom interviews, Fishman's etc), but after we get that we have a clear plan for finishing and editing. Thankfully we don't need to shoot anymore.

So that's the update for now. I wasn't at the meeting for the Atheist section group, but I heard it went well.

The final stage of Undercover making begins---the teams have their assignments and the first meetings are set up to refine the segments.
Everyone had a great discussion about stereotypes at our Sunday meeting. How can we share the stereotypes that permeate the culture we are in, shape our unconscious perceptions and not unjustly accuse people of close minded thinking. We don't want this project to be angry or elitist or easily written off as a liberal rant. The interstitial team is going to research finding subtle and not so subtle examples of limited thinking/stereotyping in the media...and we will try to have something for each section that addresses the preconceived notions (especially the ones we don't think we think!) as a lead in to each section.

the teams are:
Interstitial: Kirsten, Rachel, Maddy, Annie, Katie
Hijab/Muslim- Molly, Hannah, Kirsten, Maddy
Shabbat/Jewish-Maddy, Molly, Hannah, Jayzmine
Baptism/Christian-Kaisi, Rachel, Jayzmine, Katie
Atheist-Hannah, ANnie, Molly, Kirsten

Each team will view what we've done so far and then meet to discuss next steps:
July 5th meetings:
9a-10 a- Atheist group
10:30 a-12:p=Intro/interstitial group
1:00p-3:00 p- Hijab/Muslim group
3:30-5:30-Shabbat/Jewish group

Follow this blog to see the thoughts as the girls work...

SUMMER CAMPS!

Check out our website (www.tvbygirls.tv) for information about our week-long camps this summer.

July 20th – 24th 9AM – 5PM
July 27th – 31st 9AM – 5PM
August 3rd– 7th 9AM – 5PM

Specialty weeks:
August 10th –14th 9AM – 5PM
Documentary video focus
August 17th –21st 9AM – 5PM
Spoke word / Poetry video focus
August 24th –28th 9AM – 5PM
Music video focus

A mission....

If you have taken a workshop with us.... be it one hour, one day, several weeks or several years....
draw a picture or find images and create a collage that expresses what you “got out” of participating in our program. Visually express how you benefited from your time with us and how you’ve changed because of it.

Then post it here or email it to me: rebecca@tvbygirls.tv

Thanks!

-Rebecca

Tonight we went to the Minnesota Women's Lawyers Association Girl Empowerment event. It was fantastic.

This video is amazing! It will brighten your day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBjLW5_dGAM

Remembering Laney



We were shocked and saddened by the recent loss of our friend, Laney. Her struggle with Lupus was not an easy one. Still, she remained strong and with great spirit, spunk and creativity. She is an inspiration to us all. I feel very fortunate to have shared time with her in our TVbyGIRLS creations and am very happy that she became a part of our TVBG's family.

I am so thankful for all the amazing people who have entered my life because of connections through TVbyGIRLS. I have gotten to watch and be a part of so many young women's lives as they find their places and develop their voices. I have had the opportunity to support, to encourage and to hold close to my heart, so many who are helping to shape this world.

I am thankful to Laney for her courage, dedication and loving heart.

My thoughts are with her family, especially her Mom, Elaine and sister, Simone. I feel the loss of a friend,and a young, young, woman, very deeply. However, as a mother, I can only imagine the deep, deep, devastation one feels in loosing a child. Sending love and thoughts......

-Rebecca

An exercise.

The girls have been busy working on Undercover and we have had a lot of meetings over the past few weeks. Many of which have been very intellectual conversations, plans and discoveries. They have also been busy conducting interviews... people on the street as well as experts.

We decided to mix it up a bit at our last meeting and give the girls an opportunity to go out, with a camera, and do some evocative self searching and shooting.
Using the elements: Fire, Water, Earth and Air we had them find a location that connected to each element. Once there they opened an envelope we had given them with questions. A different question for each element.

1. What does it mean to belong? What does it mean to not belong?
2. What does connecting feel like?
What do you connect to and why?
3. How do you see God/spiritual power?
4. How do you find opening? What does it feel like?
5. What does fear feel like?

They were to find a way to use the elements (fire/light, water, air and earth) to first Meditate and listen for an answer. And then create a visual response.

They were very silent as well as very animated. Maddy, Rachel, Kirsten and Kaisi... share with us what the experience was like.....
What did you notice? How did this process help you? What did you learn about yourself?
What were your challenges? How did you succeed?

We'll post some of their video from this shoot soon.

Feel free to give this a try yourself. Our questions were in connection to the girls work on Undercover. A way to explore as well as acquire some evocative images as b-roll. You might choose questions like:

What strength of mine never fails to create miracles?
What is a strength I have that takes all my courage to access?
What strength of mine is waiting to emerge?

Give it a try and let us know how it goes!

You MUST see American Teen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqDG4UDeFoQ

I cam across this short film and thought it was very interesting and quite relevant to what we've been talking about: fear of the unknown and of differences. The most interesting part to me was that there was no dialogue and no official statement or explanation of the film's meaning, so you get to draw your own conclusions. I had some pretty strong emotions watching it and I'm really curious to see what you all think.

http://www.youtube.com/v/RpjHSiQLPmA&hl=en

This is going to be kind of a sacreligious post (no pun intended having to do with Undercover). TVbyGirls tends to be rooted in media. I know that we know and value other ways to communicate, but, for example, the whole point of having this blog is to be communicating with the world via this newfangled medium of digital communications and internet. However, during the summer, I find myself really not wanting to spend time on the computer (an excuse - although not a very good one - for not blogging as often). Even when it's awful and hot and sticky outside, I don't want to waste time - that could otherwise be spent with friends or nature or both - sitting in front of a screen. I am wondering if anyone feels the same, and how much time (on average) each of you spend on the computer or watching TV or playing video games every day. Does it change between the summer and the school/ work year?

So… at our last meeting some of you were asking me about Christianity and I told you that basically, Christianity boils down to 2 things: Love Jesus and Love People. (To me, that’s what the cross symbolizes – one beam reaching up to God and one beam reaching out to people.) Some of you asked how it could be this easy and it does seem easy but it isn’t. Not really. The thing is, unlike what TV, our friends, and popular culture says, the word “love” is not a feeling. It is a verb – an action verb – active - requiring and demanding action. And, Christianity (again, contrary to what some people calling themselves Christians act like) Christianity is based on the belief that we are all jerks and idiots – all of us. We all screw up and guilty of sin but God loves us anyway.

There is no way that we can earn our way to heaven or atone enough for our screw-ups via sacrifices (ala Old Testament) or good deeds or whatever. So… God sent His Son - perfectly sinless, innocent and blameless, to take the punishment and be the sacrifice that would atone for us. All we have to do is accept it. I’m sure you have all seen people carrying signs at sporting events that says John 3:16 on them. That verse says that “God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son so that all who believe in him might not perish but have everlasting life.” Well…. The thing is, if you keep reading, it gets better. It says that the thing is, that it is not the fact that we love God that is so important, it is that He loves us. And, he does. He hates the sin but loves the sinner. And… He commands us to love (and forgive like He has forgiven us) all people – friends and enemies. Murderers and saints. All sins are equal under God’s eyes. So… yea… someone who cheats on their taxes or lies to their parents or writes their name on someone else’s homework assignment is no different than a prostitute, or a bank robber or a murderer or a pedophile. And, even though those actions are all sin, we are to still show everyone God’s love. (Okay… Tell me again that’s easy!?)

Part of the problem and differences in Christianity is this. How do you show God’s love? Well… to some people, they read the Bible and decide people should act a certain way and spend a lot of time/energy loudly asserting this. The problem is…. Is this love? The people doing would say yes. But I think God would not be so worried about body piercings and tattoos as much as he would be worried about urban decay. I don’t think God would be as offended by your language when you tell someone that conditions at a homeless shelter are “crappy” as He would be offended by the conditions at the homeless shelter. I think whatever religion you are, it is important to think about what is God really saying – what are His rules – and what rules are made up by human beings. Anyway… Philip Yancey had a great visual book (you can borrow it if you want!) called “What’s So Amazing About Grace?” that shows is in a visual way what Christianity – true Christianity, not the distorted-by-human-beings-who-know-everything-and-are-better-than-you Christianity - is all about. Some of it is on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybS2Hf19sSk