DEEP WATERS

Last weekend my family and I watched STEP , a powerful documentary featuring a group of high school seniors from a public charter school for girls in Baltimore City. Directed by Amanda Lipitz, Step follows the real life story of the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women's step team and the graduating seniors from the team. The poignant portrayal led to an award at the Sundance Film Festival, and after watching it, I concur. Disclaimer: Of course I'm a little partial to this story since Baltimore (pronounced Bal-de-more by natives - LOL) is my hometown. However, anyone with a heart for young people, for education and for witnessing others receive a "hand-up" in life would be inspired by this story. Now before I list the reasons YOU should find this movie and watch it too**, I'll answer a question some of you might have right now... What is a step team anyway??? I'm so glad you asked! A step team is similar to a dance or jump rope team. Popu...

The world is outraged.  I am outraged. Twitter and other social media outlets are ablaze with #Bringbackourgirls hashtags. On April 15*, the day we Americans were consumed with getting our taxes mailed out, more than 300 teenage girls were abducted from the Chibok Government Girls Secondary School in northeast Nigeria. Today, it's been reported that 8 more girls have been kidnapped. Like me, you may have wondered how so many girls could have been abducted at one time. According to USA Today , one of the reported 53 girls that escaped stated that the schoolgirls heard gunshots from a nearby town. Uniformed men posing as members of the Nigerian military arrived at the school, instructing the girls to go outside. These impostors were the kidnappers, members of an Islamic militant group named Boko Haram, which means "western education is a sin". Boko Haram's leader, Abubakar Shekau, has admitted to the abductions on video and declared the girls slaves. Accor...

Okay so, if you know me at all, you know I love a good read. AND I love to tell other people about that good read. So today I'm passing on a book maybe some of you have heard about, some of you not. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell is a great read. As a matter of fact, I think it should be required reading for parents of children under age 21. Outliers  details the fastest route to personal success. And by personal success, I don't mean becoming insanely rich and famous. As a matter of fact, Gladwell himself states, "It is not how much money we make that ultimately makes us happy between nine and five. It's whether our work fulfills us." Instead, Outliers chronicles those who have found fulfillment and efficacy in life and shows the rest of us how to achieve the same in our own sphere of life. He also shatters the myth of the "self-made man" or the "overnight success." His theory: our background, culture, famil...