Spoiled: September

  First reading of SPOILED Friday September 26  - 7 PM Theaterlab 357 West 36th Street NYC, 3rd Floor Performed by Elizabeth Hess, Talkback after the performance moderated by Karen Hilbe   A Performance in Pre-Production What Are We Doing to Our Men? An Exploration of Men’s Attitudes and Gender-Based Violence Summary: SPOILED: A theatrical exploration of masculine self-image and its connection to violence against women (VAW) in India and the USA. Project in Development: What’s up with men these days? In India and the US, the world’s largest democracies, recent acts of violence against women have catapulted onto the…

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CEDAW – The International Women’s Rights Treaty You Never Heard Of

SEPTEMBER 2015 UPDATE Sarasota, Florida has added its name to the cities seeking local CEDAW ordinances. We hope to join San Francisco, Los Angeles, Louisville, and many other cities bringing CEDAW to their communities. Stay tuned and see here for more info on the Cities for CEDAW initiative. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ June 2014 A Primer: What the hell is CEDAW and why should I care? What is CEDAW? CEDAW – conveniently pronounced “see-daw” - is the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Admittedly, this is a mouthful, but most international treaties are, so we won’t let that…

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Alpha Montessori

Alpha Montessori As a committed Montessorian, I was curious about what Montessori schools were in New Delhi.   The first ones I visited were very disappointing. The Montessori name has been an advertising slogan for many years, often disguising schools with little to no Montessori practices or philosophies at work, and that is what I found here. So I was delighted  when I found Rajesh Batra, school director, and he led me to Alpha. "The Alpha Montessori School, located in Mandawali, an impoverished community in East Delhi, India, was founded to provide high quality education to low-income children and provide them…

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Birthday Celebrations: Charity

How about adopting this birthday tradition? Birthdays are a big deal in many parts of India.  Some widely respected traditions include wearing new clothes, blessing parents, feeding others birthday cake - often including some messy frosting face smearing - and, in some offices, taking the day off work. But another practice I especially like is to give to charity.  Many people donate to a charity on this special day, especially by giving clothing or food to an orphanage or perhaps hosting a meal at a shelter home. It is both a blessing for the person celebrating the birthday as well…

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Glimpses of Asia: Success!

GLIMPSES OF ASIA   FUNDRAISER FOR APNE AAP Friday April 11 A great night for  Glimpses of Asia and a great event for Apne Aap.      One hundred and fifty people crowded the house and garden near Khan Market graciously offered by one of our AWA members. Every photo was auctioned and 38 lucky guests came away high bidders. Our colleagues from Apne Aap offered news of the organization and provided inspiration for further bidding, though we missed Apne Aap founder Ruchira Gupta who had to be in New York that night. Apne Aap works in Delhi, West Bengal and Bihar; today…

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Field Trip – Holy Family Asha Niwas

An outing: six of the girls from Holy Family, a visiting colleague from the US, and yours truly went to the Nehru Museum and Planetarium last Saturday.  I take as many girls as my car can hold (six if they're older, eight if they're little) on different outings when they are not in school. On other days we've been to factories, parks, the Purana Quila, restaurants, offices, historical sights, a hotel and a very cool indoor climbing wall. But this time we chose the Nehru Museum, had a picnic, and visited the Planetarium for a sky show.  It was a…

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