Category Archives: Personal Empowerment

This is the third of several upcoming feature articles we are publishing which were written by Boothbay Region High Schools AP Language students. According to BRHS AP Language teacher Mark Gorey, the articles are a different incarnation of their Champions of Change proposals. One of the requirements for this assignment was to cite research sources.

A schools culture has more influence on life and learning in the schoolhouse than the president of the country, the state department of education, the superintendent, the school board, or even the principal, teachers, and parents can ever have. Roland S. Barth, The Culture Builder.

In the 2008-2009 school year, the student enrollment for Boothbay Region High School was 256. 10 years later, in the 2018-2019 school year, the number of students had dropped a notable 29% to 183 students (Student Enrollment). But the students that have left are not the only ones who are unhappy with the Boothbay Region High School. A significant population of the students in our high school have, at some point in their high school career, expressed a wish to leave (Figure 1). I was one of these students. This should not be the case and must be changed. Students should not feel they have to leave our school system in order to fulfill their needs. In order to dig down to the roots of the problem, we must ask one simple question: why? Why are students leaving our school system without anyone batting an eye, or trying to change the reason(s) that pushed them away in the first place? Although it is not the only reason for Boothbays declining enrollment, one of the major contributing factors is the culture at Boothbay Region High School.

School culture is the system of beliefs, values, norms, and expectations that governs the feelings and subsequent behaviors of all school constituents (Fiore). School culture strongly influences, not only students, but staff and faculty members alike. To put it simply: a positive culture will have a positive impact on a school. Conversely, a negative culture will have a negative impact on a school. If a school has a strong and positive culture, Students learn and enjoy learning, teachers teach and enjoy teaching, principals lead and enjoy leading, and parents support and enjoy supporting (School Climate). Though some may say that school culture should not have the priority over students academic achievement, we can not graduate accomplished students in an environment that does not allow for their success. As it stands now, our culture is inadequate. Bonds between students are being ruptured by a sense of unhealthy competition, student voices are not being heard or respected, and the overall aura of our school on a daily basis is that of unhappiness. In walking through the hallways alone, you can hear remarks from all types of students about wishing they were elsewhere and not at school.

To make a change for the better, I am calling for the creation of a positive school culture within the Boothbay Region High School. If we create more positive connections and relationships between students and staff, establish a Student Advisory Board, and create more school-wide involvement and engagement, we will begin to see students rising to their full potential because the culture around them finally enables them to do so. Students will then begin staying within our school system and flourishing like never before.

Over the last decade, the number of students that have left our school system has been far too many to count on just two hands. Mentioned earlier was a 29% decrease in student population over ten years, but this disadvantageous percentage is only growing. In the 2009-2010 school year, the student enrollment for Boothbay Region High School was around 260. Now, in the 2019-2020 school year, the enrollment is around 177 (Welch). That is a 32% decrease in the student population. Though there are many possible factors that could have resulted in such a drastic decrease, a major contributing aspect to this decrease in enrollment is school choice. For students who do not live directly in a town with a high school, the town in which they live helps to pay for these students to attend high school wherever they would like. This puts school choice in the hands of these students and their families. I am one of them. I have lived on Southport Island my whole life and attended Southport Central School from kindergarten through sixth grade. As soon as I entered high school, I was unhappy, so I did not let my school choice advantage go to waste. I researched, inquired, and even toured other schools. I wanted to leave because I was dreading coming to school every day. I wasnt happy at Boothbay Region High School, surrounded by unhappy students that were tearing each other down as an outlet of their own misery at Boothbay Region High School. So I explored other options. But now there are others experiencing these same feelings I had, feelings that I wouldn't wish on anyone. According to a survey answered by 120 members of the BRHS student body, 43.3%-- 52 of the 120 students-- agree with the following statement: the culture of Boothbay Region High School is stifling, or keeping me from reaching my full potential in some way. 43.3% of students feel the same way I felt. It is only a matter of time before they explore other options as well. Who knows whether they will stay, like I did, or leave like the handfuls of students that have been unsatisfied with BRHS. These students that have left our system did not only disperse to public schools but private schools just the same. The variety of schools to which BRHS has lost students ultimately proves that it was the aspects within the alternative schools that Boothbay Region High School just could not compete with. Whether it is the academics, the people, or just the overall aura of the other schools, it was BRHS could not offer that drew our students away.

Even though the students that left could not see them, I stayed because I realized that there was the potential to make a change. Boothbay has amazing and qualified teachers, a variety of course offerings, sports and extracurriculars, resources that can be utilized by every type of student and, most importantly, a lot of room for improvement. BRHS has the potential to start attracting and keeping students. These students could begin to blossom, as people and academically within our school. We arent reaching this now, as our declining enrollment has proven, but that does not mean we cant start. So, rather than leaving and taking advantage of my school choice, I began looking at it as the starting line for improving our schools culture. We, as a school community, have the power to change something as drastic but as simple as the environment in which our students walk into every day. So what can we do to make students start choosing Boothbay?

The first thing when looking at school culture is taking a step back to observe the overall school dynamic and how all members interact with one another. School culture is all about building positive connections. It is about cooperation from all aspects of a school system, and building comfortable gateways for communication to flow (Shafer). Progress will come from creating these constructive relationships within the school system. Presently, there is a sense of detachment and disengagement within our school that has been recognized by students and staff, and is preventing this constructive collaboration. The interim principal, Mrs. Campbell, acknowledges this: I do have a sense at times that we can be a little disconnected, and so one of the things that I get excited about is, how can I help to make better connections and relationships? Let's bring folks together. Right now, were all sort of in our own different... I guess boxes, our own sort of areas, and I'd like to see an opportunity for folks to really come together to celebrate the school. Maybe some folks might eye-roll, but I truly believe, I genuinely believe, that a school is a family. it's its own community.

Campbell shares that a positive school culture, like any end goal, can only be reached in small steps. More specifically to the topic, she suggests creating common experience, common language. Bringing the students and staff together through common experience and opportunity is a major change that can be made in order to create these positive connections. Currently, the only common ground that students and staff share is getting up in the morning and going to school for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week. In creating a new and engaging platform for common ground, students and staff will be united in a whole new light. One example of common ground that BRHS is beginning to see is the practice of First Friday activities. On the first Friday of every month, students are encouraged to sign up for one

staff-run activity to participate in. These activities take many different forms such as finger painting, basketball, kickball, board games, jewelry making and even academic study. This wide range of activities that appeals to all types of students helps to engage the entire student body. This is the type of common experience that sits at the base of a positive school culture. A collaborative and engaging experience outside the typical classroom setting that tailors to all students, because, a positive school culture is going to look different for each student (Crocker).

When these positive connections are made and the school becomes more collaborative, students will feel comfortable expressing their ideas or concerns to leaders among the student body. These student leaders will convey these ideas or concerns to staff members, and the staff will inform the decision-makers within the school system. One example of this system in action is student government. Currently, our student government prioritizes dance organization and fundraising. Though students may have ideas for improving our school, these ideas are not expressed. Our student governments preoccupation with short-term ideas drowns out the long-term improvements for our school. If a new group within our student body was created, prioritizing ideas and concerns that deal with improving our school, our school could have the potential to change aspects that, through the students eyes, are in need of improvement. This type of group is called a Student Advisory Board. This type of leadership group would consist of all types of students ranging in social status, academic status, grade, and gender. This board would discuss ideas or concerns that have surfaced from either within the group or within the student body, and convey these to the staff advisory group-- a group consisting of administrators and one representative from each discipline. Mr. Crocker, BRHSs dean of students, adds that a school reflects its leaders. When strong leadership is established by the administration of a school, it will have a trickle-down effect. Presently, the leadership in the Boothbay Region High School has been inconsistent with the changing of the principal several times this year. Mr. Cherry, an English teacher within our school, acknowledges that presently there's a lack of clear leadership at the top. Leadership is something that is learned, so another major change that needs to be achieved is establishing a clear and strong system for the students to emulate. Once this change is made, the Student Advisory Board will be able to succeed.

Mrs. Campbell agrees that a group like this is imperative. Mr. Crocker recognizes that, If kids are given guidance and opportunity they will run with it. He understands that the school needs to consist of more student-given guidance and opportunity instead of [administrators] just saying what to do and how to do it The more voice you give to students, the happier they will be. The more buy-in you have [from students], the more likely it is to continue. This necessary student-given guidance will be created by this Student Advisory Board. When such a group is created, it opens up a line of clear and constructive communication between students and staff: a positive connection. This will leave the door open for students to continue expressing themselves, and the school system will begin to see positive outcomes.

In Plainfield, New Hampshire, there is a private high school called Kimball Union Academy (KUA). They have built their foundation on trust and belonging, and see students both doing well in school and doing good in the world because of these motives. The Head of Outreach at KUA, Kevin Ramos-Glew, is a strong believer and advocate for this type of positive foundation. Its the core of who we arethe safety, inclusivity, diversity, the sense of belonging. A large contributor to their schools positive principles is a special initiative at Stanford University called The Belonging Project. This project strives towards emotional health and wellbeing through the creation of positive connections, in order to see students success in all aspects of life. This project is built on four main goals, which have been adapted both at Stanford as well as Kimball Union Academy. We have done research into Belonging through Stanfords Positive Psychology studies and firmly believe that when kids/people feel safe and a strong sense of belonging/contribution/value, they can learn. We simplify it to top brain vs. bottom brain...which says that you cant access your top brain (learning) if your reptilian (bottom) brain is activated in search of safety (Ramos-Glew).

This known principle at KUA helps to foster a sense of belonging, which is an absolute necessity in a successful school. If students feel a sense of safety and belonging in the classroom, they will be able to thrive. Individuals develop a sense of belonging when they feel connected to other people, especially those who share their distinct life experiences, interests, or goals. University activities that foster a sense of belonging promote mental and physical health and help individuals to flourish in all aspects of their lives, (Department of Psychiatry). Students and faculty share these types of distinct life experiences, interests, or goals. This common ground is school.

As well as prioritizing The Belonging Project, KUA also practices the previously stated concept of a student-run leadership group: Ten years ago we shirted to a student-centered leadership program in which they generate and execute a great deal of the planning, programs and even school [meetings]. We support and offer ideas, but really encourage the kids to take it and run with it (Ramos-Glew).

This student group has created a foundation of trust, empowerment, and comfort among the students of this high school knowing that their voices are being heard. At Boothbay Region High School, we are seeing the opposite of this: student voices being stifled, not being heard, and not being respected. This school year, BRHS made the decision to change the failing grade from a 60 to a 70. This new standard will be enforced starting in the 2020-2021 school year. Before this decision was made, however, a survey was sent out by the administration to gather student input on this topic. The results of the survey showed clearly that the majority of students wanted to keep the failing grade at a 60, and not change it to a 70. Nonetheless, their ideas were tossed aside and the grade was changed anyways. The decision was made with disregard to the wide-held student beliefs that opposed this policy change. This is just one example situation of many in which student voices are trampled over by the voices of adults with more authority.

Changing this concept is more than necessary. When students know that their ideas are going to be heard, and know that their input is just as important as those of adults, it creates that sense of belonging that has so concretely been linked to success in and outside the classroom. This is the type of feeling that students should be carrying with them to BRHS everyday, not a feeling that their opinion is irrelevant.

While culture has a major impact on the atmosphere within a school system, that is not the only aspect it is capable of improving. Culture affects students learning just as greatly as it does the overall environment of the school. In fact, School culture is the secret to school successes (Demerath). Having a positive school culture is scientifically proven to improve students' academic achievement. The best grounds for student growth, in all aspects, is a positive climate in which we can flourish. A study conducted in 2012 by researchers at Yale University, spreading across 63 fifth/sixth-grade classrooms (1,399 students), observed how emotional engagement and a positive climate impacted students' academic achievement. Compounded with previous studies, it was concluded that, Classrooms high in positive climate and low in negative climate are characterized by a sense of connectedness and belongingness, enjoyment and enthusiasm, and respect. Prior research shows that students in classrooms with these characteristics engage more in learning (Furrer & Skinner)... (Reyes, Brackett, et al, 707). As well as higher student engagement in the classroom, positive culture has also been linked to higher student academic success. In one study, middle school students who reported higher levels of engagement were 75% more likely to have higher grades and attend school regularly than those with lower levels of engagement (Klem & Connell, 2004) (Reyes, Brackett, et al, 700). The grades achieved by students in a positive environment proved to be significantly higher than the grades achieved in a negative environment, as concluded by the study. Specifically, for every one unit increase in CEC [Classroom Emotional Climate], grades increased by 3.83 points, which corresponded approximately to half a letter grade higher (e.g., from a B to a B+) (Reyes, Brackett, et al, 706). Classrooms with a positive environment have a higher CEC, and classrooms with a negative environment have a lower CEC. Not only do students in a positive climate experience a stronger sense of involvement in the classroom, but their academic status is also far higher than students in a negative environment. In settings where a students idea can thrive, their academics will as well.

When a school community fosters a sense of belonging, students will be more motivated and comfortable to achieve new levels of success. But, here at BRHS, there is a strong sense of competition. When students are submerged in unhealthy competition, they will perform in the opposite manner. Unhealthy competition creates a negative environment.

The hunger to compete within BRHS when it comes to grades stifles our students, corrupts our sense of belonging, and crushes the common ground. Whether the result of this competition presents itself as a fear of being wrong, a fear of speaking up in class, test anxiety, or even believing that your B is not a good enough grade, this problem is prevalent enough that the BRHS administrators have disabled students access to their Grade Point Averages (GPAs) in order to prevent students from viewing and therefore comparing their GPAs with their peers. However, this is not unique to Boothbay. The college application process, the fight among class members for a top 10 spot in their graduating class, the contest for valedictorian and salutatorian; all of these are examples of how schools promote unhealthy competition. It is not specific to Boothbay, but to all high schools across the nation. In order to mend this break between reality and students perceived failure,'' everyone needs to be accepting of everyone. Everybody must be more empathetic towards everybody.

No matter the letter grade we are achieving, the competition should not be between each other. By prioritizing and developing this strong sense of acceptance, the bridge between students can be rebuilt. One way of doing this would be increasing school involvement and interaction. At the nearby Lincoln Academy in Newcastle, Maine, there are weekly assemblies that take place in order to increase the feeling of community and belonging within the school system. These assemblies are referred to as Community Meeting. These assemblies provide the opportunity for students, staff, and even members of the community to take center stage; whether this looks like a musical performance, a presentation, an announcement, a poetic reading, or the routine awarding of points to advisor groups as a continuation of the year-long game between advisors, this weekly practice brings the school community together in an admirable way. This type of activity could benefit BRHS just as it has Lincoln Academy. By creating time for a routine assembly (weekly, biweekly monthly, etc.) that promotes positive school culture through involvement, it will get the students, staff, and even community members on the same route to the ultimate end goal: an environment in which students are comfortable, and can succeed.

School culture is a subject that should not be taken lightly. The recognition of our desired objective, the creation of positive connections within the school system, and the prioritization of such an environment are the first steps to seeing a result that is beneficial to everyone within the school system. When a positive culture is created, students will begin to choose Boothbay Region High School. Enrollment will only grow with this cultivation of a better atmosphere, and the results will benefit all who are involved with the school system. A positive culture is the breeding ground for positive outcomes. Paraphrasing Thoreau, we must stop clipping the leaves of this problem in hopes of a change, and instead dig down to the roots.

Works Cited

Campbell, Tricia. Personal interview. 4 March 2020.

Cherry, Michael. Personal Interview. 3 March 2020.

Community Survey. 5 February 2020.

Crocker, Allan. Personal Interview. 5 March 2020

Demerath, Peter. School Culture Drives Student Achievement UMN CEHD. CEHD

Vision 2020, 11 Jan. 2018, https://cehdvision2020.umn.edu/blog/strong-school-culture/.

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. The Belonging Project at Stanford University. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, https://med.stanford.edu/psychiatry/special-initiatives/belonging.html.

Fiore, Douglas J. Creating Connections for Better Schools: How Leaders Enhance School Culture. New York: Routledge, 2013. PDF.

Ramos-Glew, Kevin. Personal Interview. 2 January 2020.

Reyes, Maria R., et al. Classroom Emotional Climate, Student Engagement, and Academic Achievement. Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, American Psychology Association, 2012, http://ei.yale.edu/publication/classroom-emotional-climate-student-engagement-and-academic-achievement/.

School Climate Improvement Action Guide for Working with Students. School Climate Improvement Resource Package. National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments. 31 Dec. 2016,

https://eric.ed.gov/?q=improving+schools+&ft=on&id=ED580912%5D.

Shafer, Leah. What Makes a Good School Culture? Harvard Graduate School of Education,

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/18/07/what-makes-good-school-culture.

Student Survey. 3 February 2020.

Student Enrollment Data. Student Enrollment Data | Department of Education,

https://www.maine.gov/doe/data-reporting/reporting/warehouse/student-enrollment-data.

Welch, Dan. Personal Interview. 25 November 2019.

Read more from the original source:

Positive School Culture: Why it Must be Prioritized in Order to Improve the Social, Learning, and Teaching Environment of Boothbay Region High School...

As fans gear up to celebrate the spirit of Eurovision 2020 around the world, we want to appreciate the work of all the artists of this year by taking a closer look at each participating country's songs. From examining their similarities to acknowledging their languages of choice, these are the entries of 2020.

The Eurovision Song Contest always provides an eclectic mix of musical tastes and a melting pot of culture through its music. What do these Eurovision 2020 songs have in common, how many songs are sung in their native language and what overall themes have emerged from their lyrics? Without further ado, let's find out!

A number of Eurovision 2020 songs centre around life's difficulties and the process of self-development, self-discovery and growth. Benny Cristo's Kemama, for the Czech Republic, is based on his real-life experiences growing up with adversity. The same is echoed in Sandro's song for Cyprus, Running, that takes a looks at life's hardships and the storms we have to weather on the way. Moreover, The Roop's On Fire, for Lithuania, was inspired by others' lack of self-confidence and the idea that people underestimate and write themselves off too often and too quickly.

Finland's Aksel spoke about this feeling of inadequacy in Looking Back and asks whether the milestones we set for our lives have any real value or does achieving them even make us happy. In Gjons Tears' Rpondez-moi, for Switzerland, we hear him work through his personal story that addresses the themes of origin and self-questioning: "Everyone asks themselves why exactly we are here, where do we come from and where are we going... these are questions that I think about a lot".

Meanwhile, Belgium's Hooverphonic wrote Release Me from personal experience. It is about coming to terms with finality and saying goodbye, which everyone has to do, "at one point in life, to a friend, family or lover," said Alex Callier, member of the band.

Poland's song Empires, sung by Alicja, talks about human nature to "build and destroy"; how people tend to build empires, but ultimately become blind to what is important.

Despite some introspective heaviness, many of the songs sing lessons of empowerment, encouragement and optimism in the end. As Jeangu Macrooy's (the Netherlands) title suggests, the highs and lows that life brings ultimately allow us to Grow.

Lesley Roy (Ireland) embodies this message of resilience in her song, Story Of My Life, about overcoming things in life and getting back up again. "We dont speak often about the mental health problems our generation faces," says VICTORIA from Bulgaria, who's song, Tears Getting Sober, also tells a story about overcoming pain and then moving forward. With her entry, she hopes to inspire others to do the same.

Sandro further portrays this concept in his song which pushes others to keep on Running through such times of difficulty. Vincent Bueno's song for Austria, Alive, is also about change and draws listeners to action by telling the story of becoming alive through the release of one's own ego.

Many other Eurovision 2020 entries endeavour to encourage others to choose their own paths in life, like in Grow, where Jeangu hopes he makes people, "feel a little less lonely in their search for happiness". Gjons Tears' also wants to inspire others to take their own path in life with his song and Aksel wishes to, "make people understand that they should seize the day". This is a sentiment exemplified in the Danish entry YES, performed by Ben & Tan, in their upbeat, happy and hopeful entry that motivates everyone to say yes to life and love.

Azerbaijan's entry, Efendi's Cleopatra, is a song about not second-guessing yourself, trusting your gut instinct, standing up for yourself and being a queen - even when things get tough. With this song, she aims to motivate listeners to be proud of themselves. This is very much in line with the message from Lithuania's The Roop.

Stefania's SUPERG!RL (Greece) challenges teenagers to believe in themselves and chase their dreams, while Samanta Tina's Still Breathing (Latvia) similarly spreads a strong message of female empowerment. Both artists' songs reflecting their experiences with the struggle of juggling multiple projects and the expectation of "doing it all".

On a light note, YOU from Vasil (North Macedonia) invites us to connect, open up, dance, and celebrate the moment. The official music video embodies the song by portraying the moment someone shows you that it takes, "just one look, one connection, to make a difference and start a beautiful change for the better," says Vasil.

The class of Eurovision 2020 have shown that despite life's hurdles, we can always fight, learn from the experience and rise above.

While there are a large number of entries about confidence, resilience, and life's complications, there are also a few songs about love and relationships, from ROXEN's Alcohol You to Uku Suviste's What Love Is. And what is the Eurovision Song Contest without love songs, anyway?

Go_A's entry for Ukraine, Solovey, is about a strong girl who falls in love. When she realizes that she is no longer taken seriously, her strength enables her to turn the tables and handle the situation with dignity. Norway's Attention differs from this message, in that it is based on Ulrikke's personal experience of change ourselves to please others when it comes to love.

Australia's Montaigne depicts the 'enough is enough' phase of a relationship breakdown in Don't Break Me, in which she reflects on the situation, "where one person feels like they are putting much more time, energy and resources into the relationship than the other person and becomes frustrated and resentful".

Alternatively, Uku Suviste's What is Love is about the feelings that come with falling in love, while Ben Dolic's Violent Thing (Germany) is about "working on love". On the other hand, Senhit's entry, Freaky, is a song to celebrate life, freedom, love in all its forms. The San Marino artist reminds us that, "today, more than ever, we need to feel close to each other, to dance and to smile. Nevertheless, do not stop doing that."

Although some songs talked about the challenges of unrequited love, adapting ourselves to suit others and the ending of a relationship, the class of Eurovision 2020 also reminded us of the beautiful experience of new love and reminds us to acknowledge love in all its shapes and sizes.

WATCH: All the Eurovision 2020 songs' official video clips on our official YouTube page.

Many of the Eurovision 2020 songs were written, composed and/or produced by the multi-talented representative artists themselves. Gjon's Tears, for example, wrote and composed Rpondez-moi with songwriters Xavier Michel, Aliz Oswald and producer Jeroen Swinnen as part of a Swiss songwriter camp. As did Ana Sokli, with Bojan Simoni, for her song Voda for Slovenia.

James Newman from the United Kingdom also penned his entry, My Last Breath, himself alongside an all-star team of Adam Argyle, Ed Drewett and Iain James.

Norway's Attention was written by Ulrikke together with Christian Ingebrigtsen from the world-famous pop group A1 and Eurovision legend, Kjetil Mrland. The Norwegian representative wrote the song over a few sessions, spending a lot of time on the production. She said it was important that her "song sounded organic and raw" and did so by implementing live string players in the studio instead of computer-generated strings.

Latvian representative Samanta Tina produced her 2020 entry alongside producer Arnis Rainskis which was also co-written by Aminata Savadogo. Story Of My Life, Ireland's Eurovision song by Lesley Roy, was penned and co-produced by the artist in collaboration with some of her favourite co-writers in Nashville: Robert Marvin, Catt Gravitt and Tom Shapiro. Uku Suviste even composed his song What Love Is for Estonia as did VAL from Belarus for their song Da Vidna.

The Netherlands' Jeangu Macrooy provided all instruments and arrangements for his song, together with Perquisite, in addition to writing it himself. Similarly, Alex Callier from Hooverphonic (Belgium) wrote Release Me as well as composed their entry with Italian composer, Luca Chiaravalli.

Some of other artists involved in their song-making process include Iceland's Dai og Gagnamagni (Think About Things), Georgia's Tornike Kipiani (Take Me As I Am), France's Tom Leeb (Mon Allie), the Czech Republic's Benny Cristo (Kemama), Sandro for Cyprus (Running), Bulgaria's VICTORIA (Tears Getting Sober), Austria's Vincent Bueno (Alive), Australia's Montaigne (Don't Break Me) and Armenia's Athena Manoukian (Chains On You).

FIND OUT MORE: Check out the artist's participant pages to learn more about the development of each song and who contributed to them.

As reflected on a lot in recent years, most songs for Eurovision 2020 are sung in English: a total of 28 this year, including Moldova's Prison sung by Natalia Gordienko, The Mamas (Sweden) with their song Move, Fall From The Sky by Arilena Ara from Albania and Destiny's All Of My Love for Malta.

That leaves us with another 13 songs in other languages. Tom Leeb's Mon Allie (The Best In Me) is sung in a combination of English and French and, technically, Georgia's Tornike Kipiani sings in English, Italian, Spanish and German in Take Me As I Am.

While Russia's Litte Big adds a splash of Spanish into their largely English-speaking song Uno, Spain's entry, Universo, is sung fully in Spanish by Blas Cant. VAL performs in Belarusian, Damir Kedo's song Divlji Vjetre is sung in Croatian, Diodato's Fai Rumore in Italian, Ana Sokli's in Slovenian, Elisa, with her song Medo De Sentir, in Portugees and Hurricane's Hasta La Vista in their native Serbian.

This year, the artist with the most languages in a song goes to Israel's Feker Libi, sung by Eden Alene, which uses an impressive 4 languages: English, Hebrew, Amharic and Arabic.

Interestingly, Go_A's song Solovey, meaning 'Nightingale', is the first time in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest that Ukraine has submitted a song entirely in the Ukrainian language.

LISTEN: Stream all the Eurovision 2020 songs on Spotify or buy the official ESC 2020 tribute CD in the Eurovision shop.

While many entries are not singing in their native language, some go on to incorporate their culture and background into the music itself.

Azerbaijan's Cleopatra from Efendi incorporates ethnic sounds with 3 traditional Azerbaijani instruments; an oud (a traditional guitar-like string instrument), a balaban (a wind instrument) and a tar (a string instrument added to the UNESCO's List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity).

Feker Libi, for Israel, is a colourful pop gem that fuses together African dance beats with an infectious middle eastern sound. Ukrainian folk instruments and ethnic vocals give a Ukrainian vibe in Solovey, while Vasil's YOU incorporates ethnic chants, bass, plucks, tarabuka and chords to enhance that cultural vibe throughout the song.

Can't get enough of the Eurovision 2020 songs? Be sure to tune in to the Eurovision Song Celebration 2020 on Tuesday 12 and Thursday 14 May, Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light on Saturday 16 May and your country's other alternative broadcasting shows.

Originally posted here:

Breaking down the songs of Eurovision 2020 - Eurovision.tv

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"I could so easily have written a jolly romp of a book without putting the real bits in it, says Vanessa Branson, talking on FaceTime from her garden in Sussex.

They may not all be jolly, but the rollercoaster revelations that Richard Bransons 60-year-old baby sister has chosen to include about her own life in this family memoir, One Hundred Summers, are nothing if not juicy.

The first part focuses on the lives of Bransons grandparents and parents. She paints touching portraits of her late, shy barrister father, and impish extrovert mother, now 96 and suffering from dementia, who raised Richard, Vanessa and their sister Lindy to be stoical, risk-taking and hard-working.

I was going to stop writing when we were born because that felt too scary and indulgent, Branson says, but then friends told me sharing my story was a generous thing to do and the memories just bubbled up.

Her brother has already written several volumes of autobiography, and her mother published Mums the Word in 2013, so you could say writing about the family runs in the family.

(Getty Images)

After an idyllic-sounding outdoorsy childhood, Branson writes about being bullied at primary school, failing her 11-plus she was dyslexic and being packed off to board at Box Hill School in Surrey at 10.

I thought Id stop there, but I really enjoyed writing about my own life and then I got to 16 and had that abortion, she says. I asked a friend if I should put it in, and she said, If you dont, then whats the point of writing a memoir, if its not for other people to empathise with you? So I thought, F**k it, and once Id written that down, there was no shame. I love that feeling of not carrying any shame about anything.

Branson has laid herself bare, literally, detailing everything from how she lost her virginity at school, My God, it hurt, to the story of her abortion after a fling with a racing car driver and having to pay for it using her childhood savings. I didnt need counselling and I certainly didnt want sympathy, she writes.

(Richard Young/Shutterstock)

In the mid-Seventies, she went to live in London with Richard, who had started Virgin Records, and felt utterly out of her depth among a seething mass of rock-and-roll eccentricity at a party until Mike Tubular Bells Oldfield, rescued her and they embarked on a brief affair, with Oldfield driving her around in his embarrassingly loud red Ferrari.

Attempts at self-improvement included a fruitless bilingual secretarial course, a Cordon Bleu cookery diploma, a course in interior design, and an immersion in art history in Florence that inspired her lifelong passion for the arts.

In 1986 she opened the Vanessa Devereux Gallery in London, and almost two decades later, restored the crumbling El Fenn palace in Marrakech into a beautiful boutique hotel, and founded the Marrakech Biennale arts festival. Tracey Emin has written poems for her. Grayson Perry has made an urn for her funeral ashes.

A terrible moment in the book came on her wedding day to the dazzling Robert Devereux, when he caught her smoking and threatened to divorce her if she ever did it again.

The culture of our marriage had been set, she writes. Sure enough, in spite of having four children, trouble lay ahead. She is remarkably candid about their problems, him leaving her for his 26-year-old assistant on his 40th birthday, and their subsequent marriage bust-up.

A year later, she got a boob job. It was such a folly. I call myself a feminist and then I go and do something like that! But at the time having beautiful perfect breasts had the most ridiculous effect of empowerment. Within two weeks, men were like bees round a honeypot, she says, explaining her insecurity at being left for someone so much younger.

But Im completely free of that now and its a very good feeling. Sixty is a great stage in life to be at. She is currently single, though various liaisons are woven through the book.

Remarkably, 20 years on, just as she was finishing writing it, Devereux emailed her an unequivocal apology, taking full responsibility for their failed marriage, having seen himself in a documentary made by their son Louis.

It took courage; it was a gift, she says, and has included it at the end. Everyone in her family was supportive. I asked Richard about writing the book and he said, Go for it, its really good.

Today, she is make-up free, her long grey hair in braids. She spends her days planting trees and is working on a novel featuring a female protagonist in the arts world, living in lockdown.

Shes no longer commercially involved in art, apart from running workshops on her Scottish island, Eilean Shona, where she operates a superior B&B.

(Mark Large/Daily Mail/Shuttersto)

Artists will respond to the crisis positively, she thinks. Theyre visionaries and this reset is no bad thing for the art world. Everything was going so fast before which wasnt good for creativity. Now theres going to be more connection with nature. Being able to see the skies and the clarity of the light is just extraordinary. Not having the persistent noise of aeroplanes in the background is such a joy, even in Sussex.

That doesnt stop Branson, who sits on the board of Virgin Unite (Virgins social responsibility arm), from defending her brother after his recent pasting in the media for asking for a government bailout for Virgin Atlantic. One journalist called him a wizened tycoon worth 4billion begging for 500million of taxpayers cash.

She says: It was mean and misplaced. The wizened tycoon has been incredibly loyal to his family and friends and more. But he was such an easy target. Hes put himself in front of the press a lot and when people are down, its easy to kick them. He acknowledges his communication wasnt right. But he wasnt asking for a personal loan. It was just to keep [Virgin] going, because it employs a lot of people and is expensive to mothball. His companies have all paid tax in the countries they do business from. Hes got extraordinary spirit and hell push on.

As will she, clearly. Her children, their partners and her two-year-old grandson have all just gone back to London having been in splendid isolation with her. She believes the young are being made to suffer at the expense of the elderly and favours the Swedish model.

We cant just all wait around for a vaccine, weve got to get going again. A lot of people whove been dying would have died by the end of the year, so the number of deaths is not the relevant figure. Whats more important is that more people should have it. Young people are being severely damaged and sacrificed for our generation. They should all be out working, not locked up.

For all the glitz, I say, she seems to have suffered a lot, but the stoical Branson will have none of it.

Ive had a fabulous life and I dont want anyone to feel sorry for me, she laughs. And theres still lots more ahead!

One Hundred Summers: A Family Story by Vanessa Branson (Mensch, 22.70) is published on May 21

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Vanessa Branson on family, her new memoir and why her brother Richard is no 'wizened tycoon' - Evening Standard

Boca Chamber Member Update:

BOCA RATON, FL The Junior League of Boca Raton will present a virtual seminar by noted author Barb Schmidt offering tips on handling anxiety during the COVID-19 crisis, Facing the New Normal: Tools to Rise Above Anxiety. The seminar will be presented live on Zoom on Tuesday, May 14 at 4 p.m. or offered on demand on the Junior League of Boca Ratons Facebook Page.

When things become too much, its easy to allow anxiety and fear to take control of our minds and lives. Meditation and mindfulness practices have been proven to ease stress and promote more productive thinking, said Cristy Stewart-Harfmann, President of the Junior League of Boca Raton. Barbs deep knowledge and advice on coping with stress will be of great use to the community, especially during these trying times.

Barb Schmidt and Michelle Maros will help viewers understand the roots of anxiety, cultivate practices to manage stress, and find a sense of inner joy, even in difficult times.

A practitioner of mindfulness and meditation for over 30 years, Barb Schmidt is the author of the internationally bestselling book The Practice. Schmidt has been on over 100 retreats and studied with teachers around the world, from Deepak Chopra to the Dalai Lama. In 2011, she founded the non-profit organization Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life to bring mindfulness teachings to the community and make them accessible to everyone. She has taught meditation courses at Nova Southeastern University Florida Atlantic University and oversees The Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life Wellness Series, designed to empower women to live life fully, at Boca Raton Regional Hospitals Christine E. Lynn Womens Health & Wellness Institute.

Michelle Maros is Peaceful Mind Peaceful Lifes Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director. She teaches workshops and seminars on mindfulness, meditation, and personal empowerment at Boca Raton Regional Hospital and Florida Atlantic University.This is a difficult time for everyone, and stress is through the roof for some people. We hope that this virtual workshop will provide some concrete tools to reduce that stress, Barb Schmidt said.

To participate, please register at https://www.jlbr.org/mindfulness/

About the Junior League of Boca Raton

Throughout the year, JLBR members will contribute more than 35,000 volunteer hours and donate more than $250,000 to support our mission of training volunteers, developing the potential of women and improving the South Florida community through impact areas: child welfare, hunger, and nonprofit support. To learn more about the JLBR, please contact the JLBR office at 561-620-2553 or visit http://www.JLBR.org. Connect with us on facebook.com/JuniorLeagueBocaRaton, or twitter.com/JLBocaRaton

###

CONTACT:Debbie Abrams, [emailprotected]561-289-1378

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Junior League of Boca Raton Presents Virtual Talk by Barb Schmidt on "Facing the New Normal: Tools to Rise Above Anxiety" - The Boca Raton...

Announces the Global Fraud & Identity Solutions Group; Cohen held leadership roles at RSA, EMC and Intel

CHICAGO, May 06, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TransUnion (TRU) today announced the creation of its Global Fraud & Identity Solutions Group, a move focused on uniting all aspects of the companys fraud risk offerings, and the hiring of industry veteran, Shai Cohen, to lead the group.

For years TransUnion has been a leading force in fraud prevention with a steady stream of high-profile acquisitions, product innovations and industry hires, said Tim Martin, executive vice president and chief global solutions officer at TransUnion. Were excited to bring in a proven leader from some of the worlds most respected cybersecurity and technology companies to unite these efforts and take our fraud prevention solutions to the next level.

The 21st Century has brought profound shifts in consumer purchasing patterns to digital channels which have been accelerated recently by the COVID-19 pandemic. In light of this, the group will accelerate the global go-to-market of TransUnions long-standing IDVision fraud prevention product suite with solutions from recently acquired companies; most notably iovation and Callcredit Information Group.

Cohen, senior vice president of global fraud solutions at TransUnion, joins the company from RSA where he was the general manager of its Fraud and Risk Intelligence business. Previously he served in leadership roles at EMC and Intel.

I joined TransUnion because of the breadth and depth of data insights it has into consumers and device reputation that, when pieced together, can be a significant weapon in fighting fraud and improving the consumer experience, said Cohen. Im looking forward to bringing all of TransUnions global fraud solutions together, and driving the innovation and growth uniquely possible because of the assets and resources TransUnion has.

TransUnion IDVision with iovation offers the most precise and comprehensive view of a consumer by uniting intelligence about consumer records and device behavior. By doing this, businesses get the best fraud risk analysis while remaining good stewards of data, and maintaining security, privacy and regulatory compliance.

Businesses have leveraged TransUnion IDVision for years to fight fraud globally through its identity-based solution derived from more than a billion consumer records. iovations device intelligence and authentication solutions, now available in IDVision, have been helping businesses fight fraud globally since 2004 through its intelligence about the behavior and reputation of billions of devices worldwide.CallValidate, formerly part of Callcredit Information Group, is TransUnions market leading fraud prevention and identity verification solution in the U.K. TransUnions U.K. heritage in fraud prevention and identity verification dates back to 2002.

When TransUnion employees move back from remote COVID-19 working accommodations, Cohen and the Global Fraud & Identity Solutions Group will be headquartered out of TransUnions Portland, Ore. office in the U.S., but with significant operations in Chicago, the U.K. and other major centers around the world. For more details about TransUnions Global Fraud & Identity Solutions offerings, go here.

About TransUnion (TRU)TransUnion is a global information and insights company that makes trust possible in the modern economy. We do this by providing a comprehensive picture of each person so they can be reliably and safely represented in the marketplace. As a result, businesses and consumers can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good.

TransUnion Global Fraud & Identity Solutions unite both consumer and device identities to detect threats across markets while ensuring friction-right user experiences. The solutions, all part of theIDVision with iovation suite, fuse traditional data science with machine learning to provide businesses unique insights about consumer transactions, safeguarding tens of millions of transactions each day.

A leading presence in more than 30 countries across five continents, TransUnion provides solutions that help create economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for hundreds of millions of people.

Story continues

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TransUnion Accelerates the Expansion of its Global Fraud Business and Hires Shai Cohen to Lead it - Yahoo Finance

Dr. William Small, Jr.

By Dr. William Small, Jr.

Old sayings often get to be old because they are most often true. One such saying that comes immediately to mind, suggests that when America gets a cold, Black America gets pneumonia. The current Covid-19 crisis illustrates that in spite of all of the political, social and economic progress that we are proud of proclaiming, it is really time for Black America to take a reality check.

There is no dispute that Black folks in America have enjoyed success in any number of areas, in fact, we have continued to make advancements in every phase of American life. And really no one is or should be surprised. The open hostility, physical violence, forced marginalization and other forms of brutality that were codified into American law and custom occurred not because the predominant belief was that we could not compete.

The marginalization and brutality to which Black people in America, and globally, are subjected to existed to ensure the predominant society that we will not be able to compete. In a capitalistic society, it is very easy for participants to begin to over value certain aspects of the opportunity to simply participate in the effort to catch the brass ring.

You cannot win it unless you are in it is an old adage that has become an artificial standard for judging ones engagement and prospect for success. On the track, the rabbit in the race never wins. We have to ask ourselves whether we as Black folks have taken on the mind set of that proverbial rabbit? Black people have been excluded from legitimate opportunities to participate for so long, until the very opportunity to participate, even on a marginal level, is too often seen as the victory in and of itself.

Participation and competition are not synonyms. Participation or competition that is not accompanied by any real prospect of winning is really little more than a pacifying form of engagement. Covid-19 has visited Black communities across this nation to once again remind us of our social, political and economic vulnerable status as American citizens. A government that does not extend to its citizens, the equal protection of the law, and an equal opportunity to compete and win , suggest that the game which government is managing is rigged.

If I as a participant accept my mere participation as the victory, then the game is not just rigged, but it is lost at the outset. Likewise, the inclusion of one does not suggest that the barrier has fallen and there is room for more- not to mention many more. In 2020, Black people are still celebrating the first which more than likely translates into the only. This essay is not a rant against individual and personal achievement. I am, nevertheless, unapologetically arguing that unless we as a people begin to re-emphasize and consciously reconnect with the importance of our collective achievement, we will with increasing efficiency, insure our continuing demise and disempowerment as a people.

The profile of Black illness and death that the Covid-19 pandemic has painted of Black life and success in America, I predict will be replicated on the global stage as well. This profile provides a direct challenge to all that we as Black people are comfortable calling success. That challenge says: that unless those of us who are fortunate enough to successfully compete, on any level, raise our torch to shine a light on the poverty and the injustices suffered by our Brothers and sisters, we will in effect cast a long and dark shadow over their misery.

The successful Black folks will become the new guarantors of our brothers perpetual misery. If we cannot commit to be the architects of our own salvation, how can we expect anyone to assume that responsibility for us? Moreover, if we can in our own minds, rise to the heights of power and success in the reputed richest and most powerful nation in the world and our people, quite generally, after hundreds of years of direct hostility continue to suffer the injustices of government practices and policies, how are we defining success? Who has the primary responsibility to protect and defend the rights and hopes of Africans and African Americans who are being systematically left behind?

The attention given to the special impacts of this pandemic during this crisis will determine the general condition of Black America when the next calamitous event occurs. We will either be stronger, or we will be weaker, but predictably we will not be the same. Discrimination, marginalization and exclusion are erosive. The condition of Black America, as revealed by the impacts of the current Covid-19 pandemic reflects a sad irony, in that in a Presidential election year, when the Black vote has been acknowledged as being essential to the possibility of defeating President Trump and returning to a greater semblance of political sanity and rationality as a nation, it takes a world-wide pandemic for America to hopefully reexamine the historic consequences of hundreds of years discrimination against Black people. In spite of the fact that loyal Black Americans constitute a significant majority of the lives that have been lost to date, we arrive at an acknowledgement of these devastating impacts on Black America as an appendix to the national conversation.

Without calling names, or drawing comparisons between the old and the new, it suffices to say that the voices of establishment Black Leadership have become entirely too silent and neglectful in addressing the negative conditions impacting the opportunity structure for Black America. Have we locked ourselves into a political catch-22? Is it that unless we are running for a national office, we have nothing to say about the condition of Black America? Moreover, if we are running for national office, we cannot say anything specific about the conditions of Black America, because we have to represent everybody?

The political space between Black elected officials, organizations and institutions and Black empowerment organizations like Black Lives Matter, Dr. William Barber and a host of non-establishment endorsed grass roots movements is irrationally inexplicable. If Black America is not crumbling under the weight of its own success, where is the political agenda for Black Empowerment? Where is the conversation about the development of such an agenda? Has the pattern of Black political action and engagement become a prescription to insure the perpetual marginalization and political impotence of collective Black American interests?

If the answer to that question is no, then the most important question waiting to be answered is: what is it that prevents us from being able to protect and aggressively defend the interests and collective well-being of our communities, and our people?

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COVID-19 and Black America: Things A Vaccine Will Not Cure - charlestonchronicle.net

Most of us believe that to fix the wrongs of our society, we need to raise the youngergenerations with more responsibility.

It is while we hold this optimism in our hearts that we are encountered with the ground reality of our teenagers and how we are still far away from bridging the gap of inequality between genders.

Purported screenshots from a group chat under the name of Bois Locker Room have overwhelmed social media since Saturday night. The group is said to be formed on Instagram in the last week of March by hundreds of young high school and college-going boys.

The purpose of the formation of the group is claimed to be sharing pictures of mostly underage girls as young as 14 years old, while passing pervertedly sexually explicit comments, expressing their intentions with these girls including threats of sexual violence.

The pictures in question have different sources, while some are taken from Instagram accounts of the girls, others are reportedly morphed or had been sent in confidence.

Some of us might not even be surprised by the content of these chats for we have lived under the same environment and experienced the same things back in our school days.

Yes, weve managed to move a step forward from how things were 5-7 years ago, now were at least starting to hold our boys accountable, moving away from the long-lived narrative of boys will be boys but how does that alone fix the issue?

All the group members in question belong to well-reputed South Delhi and Noida schools, if this is how toxic the situation is in some of the best schools in the country, then are we even ready to address the gravity of the situation that might be looming in the bigger picture?

Most of us can relate to how normal the objectification and violation of privacy used to feel back in school and that we had to unlearn that normalisation once we were able to think for ourselves if we ever did manage to unlearn it.

The important question that needs to be addressed is how did we or these children even manage to learn it in the first place? That too at an age when we are still starting in the world and most of our opinions and behaviours are just an enactment of what we have observed around us.

If we look at things this way, holding these boys accountable in isolation seems to be an unfair way to go about it. Schools, parents, media, and everyone else responsible for the bringing up of this generation need to be called out for their role in the failure of prevention if not the promotion of the cycle of patriarchy.

One of the schools in question is my alma mater and I, from personal experience, can affirm that the school itself implicitly promotes patriarchal norms.

It used to seem that the schools response to incidents of harassment was to put its girls in more modest clothing. The school changed its uniform for girls, mandating suits and dupattas for them as soon as they start developing their bodies in an attempt to protect them and not distract the boys.

I can recall how our juniors were disallowed to wear sarees on their farewell due to complaints of catcalling from my batch and the authorities' problems with the blouse designs.The topic of menstruation was discussed in a closed auditorium only in the presence of girls and we were even given an excuse that we could tell the boys as to where we had to go.

Sex education was never included in the curriculum, neither were we made aware of cyberbullying and how to deal with it. '

I can also recall teachers being aware of the circulation of some photographs back in my time and not taking any stance on the issue in an official capacity.

The school never felt approachable if any personal experiences had to be discussed and even the presence of counsellors was never emphasised, students were made to go visit them if they continued to display problematic behaviour like having persistently low grades or flouting classes, thus attaching a stigma around visiting these counsellors.

Our schools need to realise the importance of sex education and the role it can play in establishing a more gender-sensitive ground. These are adolescents who are starting to discover and develop their sexuality, repressing their curiosity might lead to violent and toxic outbursts.

It is very important to guide them through this process and to ensure a healthy outlet for it, more importantly, to inculcate values of respect towards the other gender.

It should become an essential part of the curriculum rather than a forced duty which is brushed off in the form of one or two workshops that are held at the schools convenience.

The lack of presence of sex education in schools and at home leads to kids trying to satiate their curiosity on the internet and we are all aware of the downright sexual objectification of women that exists there. It is important to remember that teenagers have impressionable minds and they will emulate the things they pick on from their environment, role models, and peers. Parents as well need to let go off the taboo around sex education and create a judgment-free zone with their children.

Therefore, its not just schools and parents who need to champion the cause of raising a more responsible generation, it's the media too. Content created in the form of songs and movies is deeply entrenched in toxic masculinity and on most occasions normalises objectification of women.

There is a dire need for the industry to discontinue its promotion of misogynistic and patriarchal practices. It's time the media realises that it's not merely a reflection of social values of the society but that it plays a pivotal role in setting the social norm and the impact that has on the impressionable youth.

How is this generation expected to be better than the ones before them if there were no active changes in the way they are brought up?

Instead of imposing more restrictions on girls, we need to focus on creating an environment where everyone can feel safe and comfortable. Values of gender sensitivity, empowerment, and empathy need to be inculcated and promoted as the new cool if we are to reach gender equality in our lifetime.

Its time we start holding accountable everyone that is involved in bringing up this generation and ensure that active measures are being taken to instill values of gender equality in the generation that we have such high hopes from.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

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Bois Locker Room: It's high time to bury 'boys will be boys' excuse - WION

Natalie Wood is a cinematic icon who had received three Oscar nominations by age 25 and whose films included Splendor in the Grass, Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story. Since her drowning in 1981, however, her legacy has been colored by speculation and lurid tell-alls, fueled at least in part by the reopening of the police investigation into her death decades later.

None of those accounts, though, had the intimate knowledge of the actress home life afforded in both a new HBO documentary and a memoir from Woods daughter, actress Natasha Gregson Wagner. Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind and More Than Love is each a vivid portrait of Natalie Wood, the person.

Its been an organic process of my personal growth, Gregson Wagner says of why she was finally willing to share her mothers story as she knew it. The 49-year-old says she and her family had always been advised not to sustain supposition about her mothers death by responding to it, even when it included accusations that Robert Wagner, Woods husband and Gregson Wagners beloved stepfather, was involved.

Years of therapy, being in a happy marriage and becoming a mother prepared her to talk about this publicly without feeling defensive, she says. Im stronger now.

Also, she admits, Emotionally staying young or childlike, I felt was a way I could stay connected to my mom. Gregson Wagner was 11 when her mother died.

Gregson Wagner took the title for her book, More Than Love, from a phrase her parents would exchange with each other: I love you more than love. The words appear on Woods tombstone. Its a deeply intimate chronicle of life with her famous mother and how Woods death devastated the family.

She also produced and conducted interviews in Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind, directed by Laurent Bouzereau (Five Came Back). The documentary benefits from the participation of some of those closest to Wood, including Wagner. The film is more about the legendary actress and her career than the mother-daughter relationship in the book, but it too focuses on the person, not her death.

I didnt want to do an investigative, reportage kind of film; this is the story of a family, says Bouzereau. This was a story of love. I never felt the pressure of having to be a reporter or a detective. That wasnt the point of the film at all.

There is likely no single definitive chronicle of any complex life, and many valid points of view can seem to conflict. These friendly portraits omit certain infamous stories associated with Woods legend true or false, such tales arent addressed and the two works come down firmly on the side that her death was an accident.

More than anything, they paint a private portrait of the public figure. Gregson Wagners book overflows with remembrances of Woods love and her own extreme attachment to her famous mother. When the author reviewed a treasure trove of Woods personal writings, she was stuck by the twentysomething Woods drive to educate herself, wanting to be deeper than just a movie star growing and probing and looking within.

Despite other depictions of Wood, here she is a strong personality: the boss, the engine of her family and captain of her career. She would arrange everyones daily schedules and social calendars. She was one of the first actresses in the studio system to successfully demand some control over film selection, equal pay with male costars and eventually, profit participation.

Bouzereau, who has been making documentaries about cinema for 25 years, says: In a sense, you look at her choices of her films and they become autobiographical. When you look at her trajectory as an actress, you see the evolution of cinema. She was making movies with filmmakers like Paul Mazursky and Sydney Pollack, who were just beginning their careers, making movies out on the streets for someone who had grown up on sound stages, that must have been shocking, and yet she wasnt afraid of any of that. When she passed away, she was going to direct; she was going to be in a play.

I found her extremely modern and relevant. Today, shed be working with Tarantino and Spielberg and directing.

Bouzereau says the Wood film that best reflects that journey is Splendor in the Grass, the drama she made with Elia Kazan and Warren Beatty: That movie shows a journey of empowerment, which I think she went through herself.

Though the film and book are devoted to the person, they couldnt ignore the circumstances of Woods death. That meant getting Wagner to revisit that night on camera.

Natasha and I knew that would be the make-it or break-it aspect of the film. If it didnt have the impact we thought it should have, we wouldnt make the documentary, said Bouzereau. It was an amazing revelation, how open he could be on the matter.

Gregson Wagner says, We wanted it to feel like an intimate conversation my stepfather and I would have had without the cameras about a night that changed our lives forever.

This film feels like weve released this burden from our family like a balloon at the beach or a kite it goes up into the sky and its gone. Were all lighter because of it now.

I also own the fact that well never know for sure what happened to my mom, because she was alone the night she died But she wants us to carry on. We are what remains behind.

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Intimate portraits piece together the puzzle of Natalie Wood, the person and mother - theday.com

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As the governments worldwide are struggling to contain the spread of COVID-19, governance has become more challenging as ever before. Although technology has been a supporting hand for the decision-makers to manage the crisis, the challenges still persist. Governments not only need to strengthen the healthcare infra considering the growing pressure due to the pandemic, but they also need to look at fulfilling peoples needs, arrangements for migrant labourers who lost their jobs, regular sanitization, and much more. Considering the Indian scenario, another major challenge is pumping economy and for that, the Centre gave a few relaxations to open non-essential shops as well. However, due to crowding, a few of them have been shut again, this also poses a challenge. Addressing the topic of Governance in times of Corona Dr Kalpana Gopalan, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Youth Empowerment and Sports, Government of Karnataka presented her views in a webinar organised by Elets Technomedia and hosted by Dr Ravi Gupta, Founder and CEO, Elets Technomedia.

About Youth Empowerment and Sports Department and NSS

She began with a briefing on working of the Youth Empowerment and Sports department saying, We have three wings, the youth empowerment, sports and the National Social Service (NSS) wing. Youth affairs work through a kind of informal association of youth clubs throughout the states. So, we have about 3,400 youth clubs. Dr Gopalan is also the head of the NSS and they have as many as 5 lakh students spread over 34 universities and 4 directorates.

The Corona Times

Dr Gopalan taking up the discussions on the Corona effect said, We had hints that the Government will be heading to complete lockdown. We took proactive steps and started sending back the students we had in our hostels. And by the time the lockdown was announced on March 24, there were only 150 students left the hostels. Most of our decisions were related to the education departments decisions regarding examinations, so when exams were postponed in Karnataka, the students were sent back to their homes with a proper escort to ensure their safety, she added.

Adding on to the situation in times of crisis, Dr Gopalan said, We were also mobilizing the NSS. We have to educate and train the NSS students as they are involved in awareness creation, food distribution, sanitizers and mask distribution. The training sessions began from March 25 with the National Health Mission (NHM), she added.

Going Digital

Dr Gopalan, elaborating on the training sessions said, Initially we did live training sessions face to face, later on, the training sessions were shifted to online platforms. She further said that till date they have trained more than 40,000 NSS volunteers and officers. The training sessions they conducted were done using the resources of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences and also with NIMHANS which is located in Bengaluru.

Dr Gopalan told about the latest training that was conducted for non-medical volunteers. We have also organized a special program called Namma Mannay Nanna Surakshe, which stands for my home, my safety. In this, we gathered about thirty sports persons and creative personalities online. We started the awareness exercise, but what it became was a sharing of collective experience and we had about 40,000 -50,000 views, she added.

Talking about going digital, Dr Gopalan said, We have everything online like affiliation of our sports club, reservation of stadiums, reservation of the auditorium, education fee reimbursement, sports scholarships, everything is already online. All the tenders that area floated are also done through our online platform e-procurement portal. Hence, it is completely e-tendering, she mentioned.

Moreover, We also have a database of all sports students who are participating in national level competitions, Olympics, and mini Olympics. All the details including their bank accounts, their blood group, their complete details, and their performance levels are in the digital database.

Health, safety and the exit

Taking her words towards the health and safety aspect, Dr Gopalan said, We put the health and safety of our citizens paramount. Our containment primarily worked for the migrated worker. We have set up public health shelters where food is also provided. She further said, Within the resources available, we are trying to ensure the safety of our citizens, the migrant workers, the volunteers to the maximum extent we can. In this battle, I think all of us have a role to play and each of us has a personal social responsibility, Dr Gopalan added.

Talking on the exit strategy, she said, In the lockdown, we are using the ease and adaptability process so that the exit should be much more calibrated. It is not going to be switch on and switch off. It is a gradual and step by step strategy.

Concluding her address she said, If we see the current situation, the supply chain is broken, the production chain is broken, the labourers are not there where they were, perhaps we are doing the best in crisis.

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Elets Webinar| Effective Governance: A Changing Paradigm in times of Corona - Elets

Raven Barrett is paying homage to every black mom, one tee at a time. The Charlotte, N.C.-based founder and create[her] of the black mom-focused online boutique Cocoiv has hit a sweet spot in capturing quintessential aspects of black motherhood; culling generations of wisdom, humor and tributes into an Instagram-ready collection of apparel and accessoriesand before you even ask, yes, they offer gift cards. (So your super-late behind can look super-thoughtful allowing your favorite matriarch choose her own gift this Mothers Dayits a win-win!)

Opening a little over a year ago, Barrett was inspired to launch Cocoiv when she became a mother to her now two-year-old daughter. I wanted to create a brand that paid respect to the women who empowered me throughout my pregnancy journey and something that reflected my new stage in life: Black motherhood, Barrett tells The Glow Up.

There are plenty of mommy brands out and though I can relate to a lot of those brands, I didnt see products that fully reflected who I was as a black woman, let alone a black mom, she adds, so I created Cocoiv.

Like a famous black mom we know and love, for Barrett, the iv in Cocoiv represents the Roman numeral fourspecifically, the four generations of women in her familywhile Coco represents their various skin tones. These are the women who empowered Barretts journey into both motherhood and entrepreneurship and each is reflected in Cocoiv. The essence of Cocoivs products is curated around conversations from a black womans point of view and these women play a huge part in the topics of conversations that I choose, she shares, adding, They are also a huge part of the voice of the brand.

Her Southern grandmotheror Ms. Betty Petty as she is known to Cocoivs Instagram following (called Coco Mamas)is the matriarch of her family, and represents the wisdom of the brand with her wealth of lived experience. Barretts mother is the inspirational component: Im still amazed at how she raised three kids on her own and managed to stay sane through it all, Barrett says.

The humor that runs throughout Cocoivs product line always comes with a dose of education, which Barrett says reflects her relationship with her aunt, who also inspired Cocoivs Grown Folk Business Tuesdays.

Shes the one I go to when I need a good laugh but also when I need a judgment-free zone and a listening ear, says Barrett. She reflects the sisterhood of the brand.

And then, theres Barretts daughter, who, even as a toddler, embodies the empowerment behind the brand. If it wasnt for her, I couldnt call myself a mom. I wouldnt have experienced the struggles that put me in this place to even run a business, let alone realize the power that my story has in uplifting other women. If it wasnt for her, I wouldnt have this platform to share other womens stories as well, she says.

Cocoivs platform and aforementioned sisterhood begin with an inspirational Monday mantra Barrett sends her followers to jumpstart [their] week on a positive note, followed by HerStory each Monday afternoon, where Barrett features an article from a different black mom blogger weekly and shares her story via Cocoivs IG feed. The purpose of it is to show that were more alike than we think, she says. Even if you cant relate to a story that week, youll definitely learn something about the things other women experience and will hopefully be more compassionate.

Helping to dispel any notion that there can only be one black success story in a respective space, this Mothers Day, Cocoiv partnered with fellow black mom empowerment brand Black Mamas Say on the Mama project, which showcases the cultural beauty and uniqueness of black motherhood. And spinning off of Grown Folk Business Tuesdays, Barrett recently launched a personal, transparent, and interactive IGTV series called Grown Folk Diaries, in which eight moms share their perspectives on different topics that we deal with as black women balancing motherhood, sex, good hair, microaggressions, relationships, and a host of other topics, she explains.

Obviously, virtual connections are what its all about right now, and as a mom and mom-preneur, Barrett is balancing both roles from home...and trying not to put too much pressure on herself to be superwoman.

Its been challenging managing business while trying to keep her entertained, she admits. One minute, Im packaging an order, and the next minute Im vacuuming because she managed to open a cereal box and pour all the cereal on the floor. These days there is a lot of Aht! Aht! Put that down, what are you doing back there going on. In due time, Ill create a schedule for us and pray that we can stick to it, she jokes, before adding:

But in all seriousness, be patient with yourself. Be patient with your kids. Try to enjoy this time you have together. It may be hard to remember right now, but just a few months ago, many of us were trying to find ways to spend more time with our kids. So take this time to love on them.

The Glow Up tip: You can shop all of Cocoivs products on their site now and send a digital gift cardjust in time for Mothers Day!

See more here:

Get Her a Gift That Gets It: The Cocoiv Collection Captures the Wit, Warmth and Magic of Black Moms - The Root