Quote of the Day: “What we plant in the soil of contemplation, we shall reap in the harvest of action.” – Meister Eckhart
Photo: by seabamirum – CC license on Flickr
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Reprinted with permission from World At Large, a news website of nature, science, health, politics, and travel.
Marking its 30th anniversary, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) has been renewed by U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt with $28 million dollars for conservation of coastal and non-coastal wetlands across the country.
Wetland areas constitute one of the most important and also fragile ecosystems in the nation and the world. They’re home to a panoply of specialized plants that act as a buffer between storm surges and property, they help to prevent soil erosion, and provide nesting and feeding habitat for hundreds of waterbird species.
Of the funds issued, $23.9 million was allocated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners to conserve or restore more than 150,000 acres of wetland and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, shorebirds, and songbirds in 20 different states. These grants will be matched by more than $72 million in partner funds.
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For instance, the Upper Snake River in eastern Idaho will receive $1 million to ensure the protection of one of America’s great rivers—surrounded by 1,691 acres of migrating, breeding, and wintering habitat for birds like the trumpeter swan, northern pintail, and mallard.
Programs benefitting the Missouri River Valley Wetlands and the Texas Bays, Wetlands, and Prairies II will get $1 million each to acquire, restore, and enhance major wetland and grassland complexes within the Missouri River Alluvial Plain in western Iowa and northwest Missouri and on the mid-coast of Texas. The funding will aid populations of northern pintail and lesser scaup, and in the South, mottled ducks, black-bellied whistling ducks, and fulvous whistling ducks.
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The commission also approved $4.2 million from the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund to conserve 2,200 acres in Klamath Marsh National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. These funds were raised largely through the sale of Federal Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamps, commonly known as “Duck Stamps.”
Funds raised from the sale of Federal Duck Stamps go toward the acquisition or lease of habitat for the National Wildlife Refuge System. Duck Stamps—while required for waterfowl hunters as an annual license—are also voluntarily purchased by birders, outdoor enthusiasts, and fans of national wildlife preserves who understand the value of protecting some of the most diverse and important wildlife habitats in our nation.
31 small grants were already approved in March. The commission has authorized $5 million for more grants to fund small scale conservation projects—and this year, $3 million in grants were matched by $11.1 million in private partner funds.
“These public-private grants help uphold President Trump’s important promise to America’s sportsmen and women to preserve our nation’s wildlife and provide access to our public lands for future generations,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt.
“Landmark legislation like the North American Wetlands Conservation Act has made that possible for all Americans and these treasured natural resources during the past 30 years.”
Multiply The Good By Sharing The Positive News With Your Friends On Social Media — File photo by Bureau of Land Management, CC
A woman was thrilled to be reunited with the last text messages from her late father after a diver managed to find the iPhone she had lost in a river 15 months earlier.
39-year-old Erica Bennett was doubly stunned to hear a diver had found the device buried in silt on the Edisto River bed, in Ridgeville, South Carolina. Not only that, the phone still worked.
Bennett had originally lost the iPhone after it fell overboard during a river float trip in June 2018. Her husband had dived into the water to try and retrieve the cell phone, but couldn’t find it.
When Erica realized the device was gone—along with all of the last text messages from her father William Sikes—she couldn’t help but cry tears of grief.
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Sikes had died that month from leukemia at the age of 63.
“That was one of the things that hit me hard [about the phone],” says Erica. “I thought I would never be able to read those words again.
“All I remember is thinking of all the photos and texts I had just lost in the bottom of that river. Memories I thought I would never get back.”
A year later in September 2019, Michael Bennett (no relation) was scuba diving in the Edisto River and saw a large rock in eight feet of murky water. When he saw a phone lanyard trailing behind it, he managed to uncover the lost iPhone.
“I have found hundreds of phones on my dives, but most of them do not turn on. I figured it would never work,” said the 25-year-old diver.
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Michael, who is also a full-time YouTuber, took the iPhone home with him, plugged it into a charger and the device turned on. Since he did not know the iPhone’s password, he removed the SIM card and inserted it into a different phone. He the found Erica’s cell phone number by retrieving her contacts.
Luckily, Erica had kept the same cell phone digits.
The personal trainer was getting into bed when she received Michael’s call on September 22nd.
“I thought it was a spam call at first,” she said. “It was unbelievable. I felt like I was getting punk’d.”
The next day, Michael delivered the long-lost iPhone to Erica, reuniting her with the messages from her late father.
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“There were big waves of emotions. I felt really happy and relieved,” said Erica.
The cell phone’s screen is dimmer and the battery drains quicker after spending more than a year on a river bed—but Erica said the most important thing is that she can now read her father’s last words again.
“I have those memories back now,” she said. “It’s just a phone. But then again, it’s not.”
(WATCH the video below)
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This week, a food company announced that they have successfully taken “one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind” in producing lab-grown meat in space.
Aleph Farms, an Israeli food company that grows cultivated beef steaks, says that they managed to grow the material aboard the International Space Station 248 miles (339 kilometers) away from any natural resources.
Aleph Farms’ production method of cultivated beef steaks relies on mimicking a natural process of muscle-tissue regeneration occurring inside the cow’s body, but under controlled conditions.
Within the framework of this experiment on the Russian segment of the ISS, a successful proof of concept has been established in assembling a small-scale muscle tissue in a 3D bioprinter developed by 3D Bioprinting Solutions, under micro-gravity conditions. This cutting-edge research in some of the most extreme environments imaginable, serves as an essential growth indicator of sustainable food production methods that don’t exacerbate land waste, water waste, and pollution. These methods are also aimed at feeding the rapidly growing population, predicted to reach 10 billion individuals by 2050.
Through an international collaboration set to reach new heights with 3D Bioprinting Solutions, Meal Source Technologies, and Finless Foods— Aleph Farms, co-founded with the food-tech incubator The Kitchen, and Professort Shulamit Levenberg of the Technion university, is making a significant progress toward fulfilling its promise: to enable on Earth unconditional access to safe and nutritious meat anytime, anywhere, while using minimal resources.
In an historic report published on the 10th of September 2019, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, established by the United Nations, has emphasized the integral contribution of the conventional animal farming methods on climate change, creating “a challenging situation worse and undermining food security.” The 107 authors who contributed to the report have shed light on climate change effects on land, especially desertification, land degradation, and diminishing availability of food supplies.
“In space, we don’t have 10,000 or 15,000 liters (4,000 gallons) of water available to produce one kilogram (2.205 pound) of beef,” says Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms.
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“This joint experiment marks a significant first step toward achieving our vision to ensure food security for generations to come, while preserving our natural resources.
Jonathan Berger, who is CEO of the mission’s partnering organization The Kitchen, added: “The mission of providing access to high-quality nutrition anytime, anywhere in a sustainable way is an increasing challenge for all humans. On Earth or up above, we count on innovators like Aleph Farms to take the initiative to provide solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems, such as the climate crisis.”
(WATCH the news coverage below) – Photo by NASA
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When two Arab brothers found out that one of their clients was a Holocaust survivor, they insisted on performing their services free of charge.
According to a recent online report from the Times of Israel, Simon and Salim Matari are two Israeli plumbers who were called to fix a broken pipe in an elderly woman’s home in Haifa earlier this week.
The house belonged to 95-year-old Rosa Meir. As Simon fixed the leaky plumbing fixture, Salim chatted with the woman about her life and learned that she was a Holocaust survivor.
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Once the Matari brothers had successfully fixed the plumbing system, they knew that they could not charge the woman for the $285 service fee.
Instead, they left a note for Meir saying: “Holocaust survivor, may you have health until 120 [years old], from Matari Simon and Matari Salim.”
Not only that, they added that their services cost zero shekels—and if she ever had need for additional services in the future, then they would be more than happy to return to her home and fix her plumbing for free.
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Quote of the Day: “Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” – Rabindranath Tagore
Photo: by Joseph Walker – CC license on Flickr, cropped
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Not many brides wear a parachute to their own wedding—but a woman named Ruth did just that when she married her childhood friend, Claude Hensinger shortly after World War II.
The parachute survived, along with the groom, during an aborted WWII mission, when Maj. Hensinger was a B-29 pilot. In August of 1944, he was returning to an Allied base from a bombing run over Yowata, Japan when an engine caught fire. The entire crew had to abandon ship over China, and that’s when the epic parachute unfurled to save his life. That night, it also served as a blanket and pillow for Hensinger as he waited for daybreak.
Luckily, the crew was able to reassemble the next day, and they were taken in by friendly Chinese. Maj. Hensinger was able to return safely to the US, and when the war ended a year later, he resettled in his native Pennsylvania, taking his lifesaving parachute with him.
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Back in civilian life again, Claude decided to look up his friend Ruth and began courting her. When it was time to propose marriage, Ruth was startled to see Hensinger on his knee offering not a ring, but the precious fabric that aided him during wartime.
“This is the parachute that saved my life. I want you to make a wedding dress out of it,” he said.
While Ruth wasn’t exactly sure what to do with the massive yardage of nylon, inspiration hit when she saw a billowing dress in a store window designed to look like the one featured in Gone with the Wind. She hired a local seamstress to sew the bodice and veil, and Ruth herself designed and created the skirt from the parachute. She used the parachute cords to create ruching all around the skirt, hiking it higher in front and leaving it longer in back for a train.
With his request for a parachute wedding dress finally realized, Claude married Ruth in Neffs Lutheran Church in Neffs, Pennsylvania, July 19th, 1947, getting his first glimpse of the gown as she walked down the aisle.
The historical dress was later worn by both their daughter and their son’s bride, and today is housed at the Smithsonian Institution as a significant item in American History.
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New reports say that countries in Latin America have set an ambitious new goal for renewable energy that is more than double what has been pledged by the European Union.
Back in September, Colombia’s energy minister Maria Fernanda Suarez told Reuters that nine Latin American countries have collectively set a target for achieving 70% renewable energy use by 2030.
The countries participating in the historic pact include Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Colombia, while Panama and Brazil are reportedly still considering participation.
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With the EU only maintaining a goal for 32% energy, Suarez says that Latin American legislators made the announcement for their ambitious new initiative with the intention of putting themselves at the forefront of the international fight against the climate crisis with the UN climate change summit taking place in Chile in December.
“It’s the most ambitious goal in terms of a global region. Right now nine countries in the region have agreed to this plan and we will continue to get more countries to be part of this goal ahead of the upcoming summit,” she told Reuters, adding that “the introduction of viable renewables, meaning wind, solar biomass or other clean energy, is the first priority” for Colombia’s own renewable energy goals.
Power Up With Positivity By Sharing The Good News To Social Media — File photo by Steven Damron, CC
When Megan moved to a new school and members of her new drill team learned about the loss she endured one year ago, they rallied the entire high school to comfort her—and honor her fallen friend…
Hear our Good News Guru tell the heartwarming story on the radio in Los Angeles—during the October 4, 2019 Ellen K. Morning Show on KOST-103.5.
SEE the full story with photos on GNN…
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When 6-year-old Hayden Williams was terrified of sleeping alone in his new bedroom, his mother Amanda tried everything to soothe his anxieties—but nothing worked.
Before the family had moved to a new home in Eldridge, Iowa, Hayden had shared a room with his 15-year-old sister; but since then, the youngster with an active imagination, has refused to sleep alone for fear of being attacked by the monsters and villains he believed to be lurking in the new house.
“I’ve tried everything under the sun to get him to sleep in his own room,” Amanda wrote in a Facebook post back in August. “Nothing is helping. He says he … can’t stop the scary thoughts that are creeping into it. He begged me to call the police and a doctor to help him. Seriously breaks my mama heart.”
Determined to convince her son that there was nothing to be afraid of, Amanda took him to the police station in hopes that one of the officers would have the time to ease his fears.
“Of course I’m his mama who fiercely protects him and assures him that those things aren’t real,” she added. “Still doesn’t convince him those things don’t exist. Nothing wrong with allowing him to think an officer could help.”
Initially, Amanda was anxious that the police officers would look down on her for bringing her son to the station like this—but, after taking Hayden to the Eldridge Police Department, the youngster was almost immediately befriended by Officer Bruce Schwartz.
After the officer listened to Hayden’s story, he visited the family home so he could inspect the bedroom and reassure his new pint-sized friend that there weren’t any villains hiding in the closet. Schwartz also confessed that he too experienced scary thoughts before bedtime—but he always made them go away by thinking about happier things instead.
Schwartz’s inspection proved to be just what Hayden needed; the very next day, he awoke at 7AM and proudly told his mother that he had made it alone throughout the night. Not only that, Officer Schwartz returned the same morning so he could check up on Hayden just as his mother was snapping some back-to-school photos of the youngster.
Amanda took some pictures of Hayden and Schwartz and published them to Facebook so she could praise the officer for his kindness.
“Truly takes a village to raise kids right these days! I am beyond thankful that Officer Schwartz took time out of his busy day to come over and talk with Hayden,” Amanda wrote.
“He had a GREAT night last night and went to sleep peacefully and is a very vibrant happy little man. This too will pass and I’m happy Officer Schwartz had a hand in Hayden getting over this very normal hump most children experience.
“Officer Schwartz, if you’re reading this, thank you from the bottom of my mama heart. The kindness you’ve shown Hayden certainly doesn’t go unnoticed and I know he will remember this forever.”
Be Sure And Share This Sweet Story Of Community Kindness With Your Friends On Social Media…
Education has a laundry problem. According to teachers nationwide, one in five students struggle with access to clean clothes, which leads to students missing school—and those kids who miss school are seven times more likely to drop out.
When the Whirlpool laundry brand heard about this hidden problem of chronic absenteeism, it decided to break down this barrier to attendance by providing schools access to clean clothes—and it’s actually working.
Today, embarking on its fifth year, the Care Counts laundry program has grown to support students in need across 18 U.S. cities, providing laundry machines for more than 38,000 students in 82 schools around the country.
“New data this year continues to show the program has contributed to decreases in chronic absenteeism,” said Chelsey Whitehead, senior brand manager for Whirlpool. “And we are just getting started.”
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This year, for the first time, Care Counts is inviting schools that serve low-income families nationwide to apply for a laundry pair to bring this program to even more students.
“We hope to make even more progress by expanding the program well beyond the footprint of our pilot program.”
In analyzing the most recent data from the 2018-2019 school year, Whirlpool found more promising results:
“We know every day counts. Getting students back in the classroom can make the difference between staying on course with their academic performance, or falling behind in a significant way,” said Dr. Richard Rende, a developmental psychologist, researcher and educator. “Since its inception, the program has contributed to decreases in chronic absenteeism and increases in grades and levels of self-esteem in at-risk students. The data indicates substantial promise for the program and at-risk students nationwide.”
With research over the years showing the program has the greatest impact on high-risk elementary school students, the nationwide expansion will focus on qualified Title I elementary schools. Whirlpool is partnering with CSC Serviceworks, an industry leader in installation and service, to help more schools combat the laundry crisis.
“This program is such an easy way to help solve a very difficult problem in our schools,” said Jo Carrigan, principal of Doull Elementary. “We’ve been lucky enough to be a part of the program to see the results firsthand, and I’m so happy that the program is opening applications because there are countless schools not just here in Denver—but all over the country that will benefit. Our new washer and dryer are an amazing resource for our students.”
With the help of Dr. Rende, Whirlpool collects and analyzes anonymized laundry and school attendance data to prove that access to clean clothes improves attendance and more.
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The program is pivoting this 2019-2020 academic year to study the longitudinal impact of clean clothes on educational development. To keep a pulse on the effectiveness of the program, new regions involved in the collection of anonymous laundry, attendance and grades data include: Cleveland, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Miami and Phoenix. Whirlpool works with Teach For America to identify these qualified and at-need schools.
The first phase of the pilot study in 2015-2016 proved the program is feasible and sustainable for schools. A second phase from 2016-2019 observed notable increases in attendance after implementation of the program for elementary and middle school students at risk for chronic and problematic levels of absenteeism.
To learn more about the program or nominate a school to receive a washer and dryer, check out the Care Counts website.
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Quote of the Day: “Your desire to be near to a window is your desire to be close to life!” – Mehmet Murat ildan
Photo: by F Mira – CC license on Flickr
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Listen to this heartwarming tale of a little boy’s dream come true in this week’s edition of MOTH Monday, a partnership with Good News Network that features inspiring videos from The MOTH, a nonprofit group showcasing the art of storytelling.
When Kwong Yue Yang was a little boy in school, he spent ages trying to figure out how to get his classmates to think he was cool.
He finally came up with the perfect plan to win over his classmates after he heard that Jackie Chan was visiting a restaurant in his Australian hometown.
Unfortunately, Yang failed to muster up the courage to introduce himself to his kung fu hero; but as he struggled with his own desperation and fear in the restaurant, he ended up learning a very valuable lesson.
(LISTEN to the sweet story below)
The Moth gives people an opportunity to tell a true story in front of a live audience, and sometimes their stories are chosen to air on the radio show, now celebrating its tenth year, and broadcasting on 485+ public radio stations—and on The Moth podcast, which is downloaded over 52 million times a year. The Moth’s third book, Occasional Magic: True Stories About Defying the Impossible is now available for purchase through your favorite booksellers.
Don’t Hesitate To Share This Sweet Story With Your Friends On Social Media…
An exciting new study published this week has found that deep brain stimulation (DBS) of a specific area in the brain provides a robust antidepressant effect that is sustained over a long period of time in patients with treatment-resistant depression—the most severely depressed patients who have not responded to other treatments.
Deep brain stimulation, currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat essential tremor, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, is a neurosurgical procedure involving the placement of a neurostimulator (sometimes referred to as a “brain pacemaker”), which sends high-frequency electrical impulses through implanted electrodes deep in the brain to specific brain areas responsible for the symptoms of each disorder.
The long-term data presented in this study, conducted at Emory University and led by Professor Helen S. Mayberg, validates earlier work conducted by the research team and lays the foundation for additional studies to refine and optimize DBS for these patients. The study was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
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Dr. Mayberg led the first trial of DBS on the region of the brain called the subcallosal cingulate (SCC), known as Brodmann Area 25, for treatment-resistant depression patients in 2005, demonstrating that it could have clinical benefit. Subsequent small open-label trials produced similarly favorable results, yet despite these encouraging open-label results, a multi-center, randomized trial was halted early due to a lack of statistically significant antidepressant response at the designated, six-month a priori time point.
“Despite the fact that larger trials were halted early, what my colleagues and I were seeing as we continued to follow patients from our initial trials was that over time, they were getting better and not only that, they were staying better. So we stayed the course,” says Dr. Mayberg.
“Over eight years of observation, most of our study participants experienced an antidepressant response to the deep brain stimulation of Area 25 that was robust and sustained. Given that patients with treatment-resistant depression are highly susceptible to recurrent depressive episodes, the ability of DBS to support long-term maintenance of an antidepressant response and prevention of relapse is a treatment advance that can mean the difference between getting on with your life or always looking over your shoulder for your next debilitating depressive episode.”
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Specifically, the study documents the long-term outcome data (4 to 8 years) for 28 patients who were enrolled in an open-label clinical trial of SCC DBS for treatment-resistant depression. Three-quarters of all participants met the treatment response criterion for more than half of their participation in the study. Of 28 participants, 14 completed at least eight years of follow-up, 11 others completed at least four years, and three dropped out prior to eight years of participation. Data presented through this study support the long-term safety and sustained efficacy of SCC DBS for treatment-resistant depression.
“While clinical trials generally are structured to compare active and placebo treatments over the short term, our research results suggest that the most important strength of DBS in this hard-to-treat clinical population lies in its sustained effects over the long-term,” says Dr. Andrea Crowell, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine. “For people suffering from inescapable depression, the possibility that DBS can lead to significant and sustained improvement in depressive symptoms over several years will be welcome news.”
All study participants met criteria for either major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder type 2 and were in a current depressive episode of at least 12 months duration with non-response to at least four antidepressant treatments, psychotherapy, and electroconvulsive therapy. All study participants underwent SCC DBS surgery at Emory University School of Medicine with the same surgeon and received the same device. The first 17 participants were implanted between 2007 to 2009 in an open-label trial with a one-month, single-blind, stimulation-off, lead-in period.
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An additional 11 participants with major depressive disorder were implanted using tractography-guided anatomical targeting between 2011 and 2013. A total of 178 patient-years of data were collected and combined for analysis in this long-term follow-up study. Participants were seen by a study psychiatrist weekly for 32 weeks, starting at least four weeks prior to surgery. Visits were then tapered to every six months for years 2-8 of the study. Currently, 23 patients continue in long-term follow-up.
“At the Center for Advanced Circuit Therapeutics at Mount Sinai, we are currently gearing up for the next phase of this research, now funded by the National Institutes of Health Brain Initiative,” says Dr. Mayberg.
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“Our new study will recruit treatment-resistant depression patients, as before, but they will be implanted with a new research prototype DBS system (Summit RC+S) that allows simultaneous recordings of brain activity directly from the site of stimulation during active DBS therapy. Advanced imaging, behavioral, and physiological assessments will also be performed at regular intervals in the lab.
“These studies will provide an unprecedented opportunity to monitor the trajectory of recovery over days, weeks, and months at the neural level,” she added. “Building on preliminary findings from Emory, we anticipate that these brain signatures will provide important new insights into DBS mechanisms and, importantly, will help guide future decisions about DBS management that can further optimize clinical outcomes in our patients.”
Reprinted from The Mount Sinai Hospital
Treat Your Friends To Some Good News By Sharing This To Social Media – File photo by Dr. Craig Hacking, A. Prof Frank Gaillar, CC
17-year-old Tyra Winters isn’t just renowned at her high school for being an excellent cheerleader—she is also now making national headlines for saving the life of a choking toddler last month.
Tyra and her teammates from Rockwall High School in Texas had been aboard a homecoming parade float, waving to the crowd when she saw a woman holding a toddler and crying for help.
The 2-year-old boy, who had been choking on a piece of candy, was quickly turning purple when Tyra spotted him from the float.
The boy’s mother, Nicole Hornback, says that she had tried to perform the Heimlich maneuver on her son, but since she never learned how to perform the technique properly, she failed to dislodge the candy.
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“I just happened to look over to him and there was no noise, there was no coughing, there was no breathing,” Hornback told KTVT in the interview below. “And at that moment that’s when I tried to give him the Heimlich, and I’ve never taken a class. To feel so useless as a mother was the most terrifying thing in my life.”
After Hornback started calling for help, Tyra jumped off of the float and ran to the distressed mother’s side. The senior then grabbed the toddler, turned him upside down, and dislodged the candy simply by giving him three firm slaps on the back.
Tyra says that she learned how to help choking children as a result of her mother working in the medical field—and Hornback could not be more grateful for the teen’s intervention.
(WATCH the news coverage below) – Photo by KTVT
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Since the start of the #MeToo movement, actress Emma Watson has been a leading advocate for preventing sexual harassment in the workplace—and the launch of her latest project is helping to do just that.
Back in August, Watson collaborated with the Time’s Up UK Justice and Equality Fund to create a first-of-its-kind telephone hotline that provides free legal advice to women experiencing harassment in the workplace.
The hotline, which is available to women in England and Wales, is currently only open on Mondays and Tuesdays—although the group says that they plan on expanding their operating hours within the new future.
Research suggests that as many as 1 in 2 of women have experienced sexual harassment at work, although only 1 in 5 are comfortable reporting it to human resources. The hotline’s legal advice will be provided by Rights of Women legal staff and volunteer women employment lawyers through a dedicated telephone line. Women calling will be able to get specialist legal advice on what behavior constitutes sexual harassment, how to bring a grievance against their employer, how to make a claim in the Employment Tribunal, settlement agreements and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and other related legal problems faced by women experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace.
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The advice line is funded by the Time’s Up UK Justice and Equality Fund, managed by the UK Fund for Women and Girls, and kickstarted by donations from other celebrities such as Watson, who donated $1.2 million to the project.
Watson published a statement on the hotline’s launch, saying: “It’s completely staggering to think that this is the only service of its type given that research has found that as many as one in two women experience sexual harassment in the workplace.
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“It finally feels like people are realizing the scale of the problem, and I’m certainly hopeful that with global standards such as the recent International Labour Organization treaty on harassment at work, we’ll start to see a new climate of prevention and accountability on this issue domestically.
“Understanding what your rights are, how you can assert them, and the choices you have if you’ve experienced harassment, is such a vital part of creating safe workplaces for everyone, and this advice line is such a huge development in ensuring that all women are supported, wherever we work,” she concluded.
Multiply The Good By Sharing The Positive News With Your Friends On Social Media — Photo by Emma Watson / Instagram
A British teen has just finished writing a novel with her favorite author despite their 66-year age gap.
Aspiring writer Taryn Everdeen was only 15 years old when she first wrote a fan letter to 84-year-old Carolyn Meyer in Albuquerque, New Mexico to thank the author for her historical novels.
“Carolyn was one of my favorite authors. I grew up reading her books. When I was nine or ten I would listen on cassette every night … That led to a love of history,” recalls Taryn.
“I was visiting Hever Castle, the home of Anne Boleyn, and I wondered why I was so excited about history. Then I remembered reading these books and becoming obsessed with the Tudors.
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Taryn, who is from Norwich, England, was then stunned when Carolyn wrote back and suggested they collaborate on a project.
Meyer, an American author who writes novels for children and young adults, has sold millions of copies of her historical fictions, most notably the “Young Royals” series. She has published more than 60 children books, although she has never wanted to work with another writer until she was “blown away” by the Taryn’s letter.
“Every now and then someone comes along with whom I have a strong and immediate connection regardless of age, gender and background,” says Meyer. “The age difference was, believe it or not, irrelevant.”
After Taryn wrote to her three years ago, Meyer invited the young Brit to stay with her in the US so they could write a novel together.
They settled on a time-traveling story about a teenage boy in present-day Roanoke Island, North Carolina and a girl living in Happisburgh, Norfolk during the 1500s.
In addition to the pair sending ideas to each other via email, Meyer visited Taryn last year and Taryn flew to the US over the summer after she finished her school exams.
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The pair now have a first draft of “Mirror of Time” which they plan to give to Meyer’s agent and gauge interest from publishers.
“This has been my first proper go at writing a novel. We have been working on it for three years. It’s amazing,” says Taryn. “[And] I have never met anyone like her.
“She is completely unlike any stereotype of an 84-year-old. I think she is a really powerful role model. She’s my mentor, and my work partner, but I see her as a friend more than anything else.”
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Taryn, now 18 years old, returns from her trip to the USA this week and plans to have a gap year before starting university next year.
“We worked hard, but we got up to other things together, too. While I was there, we went to a few theater shows, I went with her to an open mic where she did a stand-up comedy routine, and we went on a road-trip to Taos, staying in a motel overnight there.
“She’s very open, and I can talk to her about pretty much all the things I talk to my other friends about,” she added. “She’s taught me how to be a better writer.”
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Quote of the Day: “All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.” – Winston Churchill
Photo: by Stan Lupo – CC license on Flickr, cropped
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The City of Angels opened their hearts for a woman with an angelic voice, and it’s lifting her up to new heights.
A homeless Russian-American woman was singing opera in the subway when an admiring police officer asked if he could tweet a video of her voice—and, now she is now beyond grateful to the man who changed her life.
After the melodic encounter rocketed her to fame, the folks at the LA police department asked Emily Zamourka what they could do for her.
What she wanted most was to thank Officer Frazier for sharing the video, so they set up a meeting:
“I can’t believe this is happening,” she said as she broke into tears and embraced the brawny Frazier who wrapped her in a bear hug.
We saw with our brains, but we listened with our hearts.
— LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) October 3, 2019
Her voice continues to captivate our city, and as the offers for help pour in, we asked: “Emily, what can we do for you?” Her answer: “I want to thank Officer Frazier for taking the video.”
Her wish was granted tonight. pic.twitter.com/lH4V51YTZ4
In just one day, the video of her voice echoing on a subway platform opened a floodgate of online donations and paid singing gigs. On Saturday, she sang the identical operatic song in front of thousands at the grand opening of Historic Little Italy in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles councilman Joe Buscaino, an Italian-American who was involved with event organizers, invited Zamourka to do a performance. After his speech, he introduced her to the crowd before she sang the Italian aria by Puccinni.
Holding the microphone, she said, “I’m so glad that I could touch your hearts with my voice. Thank you so much. I’m so overwhelmed.”
The councilman and his staff have taken the formerly homeless woman under their wing, helping her to get shelter and paying her $700 for the 3-minute performance.
After serious health problems a decade ago, the 52-year-old musician and former piano teacher was struggling to make ends meet. Then, disaster stuck when, she said, the $10,000 violin, which she played on sidewalks in order to make extra money, was taken and destroyed by a passerby. After that, she became homeless.
A GoFundMe campaign started by a consultant for Buscaino has raised more than $68,000—with many donors hoping it will be enough to replace her violin.
Zamourka says so many violins have been offered to her since the story went viral—and she “very much appreciates“ all the generosity—but she is waiting for an opportunity to acquire one that is closer to the stringed beauty that she lost.
“My violin was a very special violin,” she told TMZ. “I’m looking for an instrument that I can fall in love with.”
Over the whirlwind of last week, Zamourka was offered a recording contract from music producer Joel Diamond who drafted an offer letter in the hopes of creating a classical-EDM crossover hit. But with counsel from others, she is wisely keeping her options open.
She just wants to return to her normal life, working again as an artist to sustain herself. Thanks to Officer Frazier and all the kind donations, it looks like that dream is just around the corner.
(WATCH the video of her Little Italy performance…)
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