I received the message below in my email inbox and thought I would share with others who may be interested. If you have any questions please see the information below and also feel free to share this conference with others!

The Young Democrats of America are excited to announce our inaugural Faith and Values Leadership Summit, which will take place March 23-25, 2012 in Washington, DC. The goal of the Summit is to develop a group of committed young Democrats eager and ready to lead at the intersection of faith and politics and redefine the political conversation around values for the Millennial generation. This groundbreaking gathering will bring together 100 young leaders from across the country for an action-packed weekend of political training, leadership development and community building led by top national experts in the field of faith and politics.

Applicants must be between the ages of 18 and 35. There is no registration fee for the Summit. To apply, fill out this short survey and send a one-page resume to ydafaithandvalues@gmail.com. We will select participants based on their leadership qualifications and their commitment to Democratic faith outreach. The application will be open until 5pm EST February 15, 2012 and all applicants will be notified whether or not they are accepted by 5pm EST on February 22, 2012. Take a look at the Faith and Values Leadership Summit page on our website for more information.

The Faith and Values Leadership Summit is part of the YDA Faith and Values Initiative, which kicked off in October 2011. Over the past four months we have built a strong team and run a number of high-profile events on faith and values with key Democratic leaders. To learn more about the Faith and Values Initiative, visit our website, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @ydafaithvalues. To receive updates and get involved, sign up here.

Sincerely,

Josh Dickson
Faith & Values Director
Young Democrats of America

This post marks the one year anniversary of the Double-Latte Project. I started this project as a way to give back in a small way and to highlight some great organizations and people in my corner of the internet. In 2011, I focused on the following three areas: Women & Politics, Public and Independent Media and people in my network. In 2012, I will be focusing on the 2012 Election, People of Color and Women and Girls and to start year two, this month’s Double-Latte selection is:

Why Highlight BLACK GIRLS ROCK!?

When I think about the issues that are important to me, BLACK GIRLS ROCK! encompasses many of them in one space. As a Black woman, it is really important to me to see positive images of black girls and women and all women really – especially women of color. However, looking to the history of the United States and the problems that people of color have had too many times Black girls, women and bodies have been looked at in a negative manner i.e., Hottentot Venus and Video Vixens. Organizations like BLACK GIRLS ROCK! and the various programs they have to support the positive growth of Black girls works to push back against historical negative stereotypes about Black girls and women.

When I was a kid, I was blessed to be involved in organizations like Jack and Jill and even participate in a local sorority’s debutante program where I learned many of the skills that are being offered by BLACK GIRLS ROCK! Additionally, my parents were educators who stressed the importance of giving back and worked to bring tutoring programs and other needs to marganized neighborhoods in my area. When I was older though, I saw how programs like those offered by BLACK GIRLS ROCK! were not as widespread as the programs for girls from my economic class and above. And I wished that these programs could be more widespread. Because from my perspective as a kid, a teen and even now adult, programs available to Black girls from “lower” income backgrounds were and are similar to the programs my parents worked on – focused on tutoring and college prep. Though these programs are indeed necessary and need to be continued and expanded, as well, so are the types of programs and activities being offered by debutante programs, Jack and Jill and well BLACK GIRLS ROCK! So when I started the Double-latte Project, I knew I had to find a way to highlight BLACK GIRLS ROCK!

Moving beyond class, as a smart and quirky Black girl, I suffered self-esteem issues because I was different from the stereotypes of what it meant to be “Black” and I was teased because of it. As a girl, I played volleyball and the viola…not activities that aligned with the “being Black” list of acceptable activities. However, BLACK GIRLS ROCK! has opportunities for Black girls to gain an appreciation and love for all sorts of activities many that are not on the acceptable list of “being Black” activities like going to Broadway plays and going to overnight camp which I think is fantastic!

I love that BLACK GIRLS ROCK! has a writing program and DJing workshops. In addition to expanding the opportunities for healthy personal growth for all Black girls I love how their programs expand ideas around what Black girls are able to do and like to do. And this is why I am highlighting BLACK GIRLS ROCK! as a Double-Latte Selection!

About BLACK GIRLS ROCK!

According to their website, BLACK GIRLS ROCK!:

is 501(c)3 non-profit youth empowerment and mentoring organization established to promote the arts for young women of color, as well as to encourage dialogue and analysis of the ways women of color are portrayed in the media.

Additionally, for the last two years BLACK GIRLS ROCK! have received national attention through the broadcasting of an awards show on the BET network.

Photo from the BLACK GIRLS ROCK! Gala

So if you think that BLACK GIRLS ROCK! or even if you don’t, please check out BLACK GIRLS ROCK!’s website, follow them on Twitter or like them on Facebook and don’t forget make a donation!

Why EMILY’s List

Unfortunately, the role of money in campaigns has increased dramatically and causes the accessibility to running for electoral office to be contingent on the access to millions of dollars, especially at the national level. To assist in the need, political parties and organizations called Political Action Committees (PACs) were created to collect funds to support candidates around issues or group membership. When discussing PACs who fundraise based on “Women’s Issues” and their influence on the trajectory of women politicians in United States politics, EMILY’s List is a positive catalyst.

In their twenty-six years of existence, EMILY’s List has raised almost $83,000,000 dollars for female Democratic candidates and their successful formula has been duplicated and imitated on various levels across the United States. Some examples of PACs that have developed from the EMILY’s List model are The Wish List and Maggie’s List, more obvious adaptations, as well as  Women Campaign Fund PAC and WUFPAC (Women Under Forty PAC), their Emily List influence is not as obvious.

Additionally, EMILY’s List has been central to the election of several influential female politicians in the United States such as Hillary Clinton, Debbie Stabenow and Maria Cantwell, who are listed in the photo above, as well as Claire McCaskill, Patty Murray and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. With the 2012 election cycle less than a year away, EMILY’s List’s work will be an important factor in ensuring that key Democratic women incumbents are re-elected and new Democratic challengers are elected.

In summation, the influence of EMILY’s List is wide spread and the continuance of their mission and the broader mission of increasing the number of women in electoral office is needed in the current US Campaign climate which is why EMILY’s List is this month’s Double-Latte Selection.

About Emily’s List

According to their official website:

EMILY’s List is dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women to office.

EMILY’s List chooses to do this in several ways. One way is by the way I shared above, fundraising for pro-Choice Democratic female candidates running for electoral office. Another way is by training women to work on political campaigns through their Training Program & Job Bank. An additional way is by mobilizing women voters through their Women Vote! project which through research, information technology and grassroots mobilization works to increase the number of women going to the polls on election day.

EMILY’s List & Importance of the 2012 Election for Women in Politics

As shared on the website of Double-Latte Selection The 2012 Project, the 2012 election cycle is a unique opportunity that only comes once a decade for women to make gains in their representation in electoral politics.

Basically, elections ending in two i.e., 1992, 2002, 2012 are the first elections that reflect new representative districts based on the updated US Census numbers. Because of the re-drawing and shaping of electoral districts nationally and locally that happens in this process, new seats are created that create an opportunity for women and other underrepresented groups to enter into US politics (the US has a severe incumbency problem e.g. once elected many politicians can stay in office until death like Strom Thurmond and Robert Byrd).

Where EMILY’s List, for me, comes into the picture with the importance of the 2012 Election cycle is two fold. One, EMILY’s List provides key funds for female political incumbents to stay in office and continue their work as well as gives opportunity for newcomers in key races. Two, EMILY’s List through their training program increases the probability that quality campaign workers can work with female candidates who are either new to running for office or represent key races on national and local levels.

In a time where “women’s issues” like birth control coverage by insurance companies and a women’s right to choose are being debated to overturn, shouldn’t our nation’s legislative bodies descriptively be represented by the effected constituency group i.e., women? No matter where you fall in the above debates the importance of the voices of the group most directly affected by these debate outcomes are important  from either side of the isle. Yet even though women are fifty percent of the US population they make up no more than twenty-four percent of the representation in legislative bodies nationally and state-wide.

And this is why EMILY’s List is important for the 2012 Election cycle. Their campaign contributions combined with their political training of women to work on campaigns combined with their mobilization of women voters will help assure that gains are made to make US Legislatures nationally and state-wide more reflective of its 50/50 population.

In conjunction with this day, this month’s Double Latte Selection features an organization working against Domestic Violence:

Why Witney’s Lights

There are a few reasons why I have chosen Witney’s Lights for  this month’s selection and I will discuss two of them here.

The first reason is how I came to know of Winey’s Lights and the work of its founder, Quincy A. Lucas. During the 2008 Democratic Convention, on my way to the convention as a volunteer I learned that Barack Obama selected Joe Biden to be his running mate. As a Delawarean, well I was raised one I now live in another state, I was ECSTATIC because well Joe Biden is from Delaware and also because Joe Biden was my first choice for President in 2008. Later, I heard about the selection of Lucas to be the official nominator at the convention and how her selection was connected to the work that Biden put in towards the passing of the Violence Against Women Act.

So after hearing Lucas’ nomination speech I heard more and more about her sister who died as a victim of domestic violence and later heard through an event our sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., chapters had honoring the work Lucas has done through the non-profit she created in her sister’s memory to assist other women from falling into a situation of domestic violence.

The second reason why I am selecting Witney’s Lights this month is connected to how I came to know about Las Hermanas Mirabal or The Butterflies. While studying abroad in the Dominican Republic, we learned about Dominican history and a big event in modern Dominican history is the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. An important extension of this event is Las Hermanas Mirabal who I call the catalysts to the fall of the Trujillo regime.  Now, one of the great things about studying abroad is that not only can you read about history you can experience it so one day my study abroad group when to the Mirabal Sisters’ museum where we got to see what life was like for the sisters in that time. We also got to meet the surviving Mirabal sister, Dede.

Reading and learning and seeing about the Mirabal sisters made domestic violence real for me in a way that it was not real for me before. I grew up in a suburban middle class environment so domestic violence was something that was far away for me. Of course I knew it was a bad and terrible thing but learning this history and visiting their graves and seeing the remains of the car that they were riding in before they were taken to their deaths…its hard to put into words but the best way I can put it is that it made me see how easily that could have been me (I hope people don’t misread that statement). Or maybe the combination of reading and seeing made the issue of domestic violence more tangible so that I was more aware and affected by its existence.

About Witney’s Lights

Witney’s Lights is named after the late Dr. Witney Holland Rose a University of Maryland Psychiatrist
who was murdered in 2003 by her ex-boyfriend. Witney’s Lights is a grassroots non-profit organization
committed to eliminating domestic violence through awareness, education, prevention, advocacy, and a
commitment to advancing the initiatives laid out in the landmark, Violence Against Women Act of 1994.*

About the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

Previously, 25 November was observed in Latin America and a growing number of other countries around the world as “International Day Against Violence Against Women”. With no standard title, it was also referred to as “No Violence Against Women Day” and the “Day to End Violence Against Women”. It was first declared by the first Feminist Encuentro for Latin America and the Caribbean held in Bogota, Colombia (18 to 21 July 1981). At that Encuentro women systematically denounced gender violence from domestic battery, to rape and sexual harassment, to state violence including torture and abuses of women political prisoners. The date was chosen to commemorate the lives of the Mirabal sisters. It originally marked the day that the three Mirabal sisters from the Dominican Republic were violently assassinated in 1960 during the Trujillo dictatorship (Rafael Trujillo 1930-1961). The day was used to pay tribute to the Mirabal sisters, as well as global recognition of gender violence.#

The reasons shared above combined with a few others is why I am taking time in the month of the International Day Against Violence Against Women to select Witney’s Lights as this month’s Double-Latte selection. So please take time to visit the Witney’s Lights website, follow them on Twitter or even take time to find out if there is something you can do to prevent the prevalence of Domestic Violence or to assist victims in rebuilding their lives. For example, Witney’s Lights holds a 5K Run/Walk each year to promote Domestic Violence awareness and to raise funds for its programs to prevent domestic violence from happening and to assist victims of this abusive crime.

* http://www.witneyslights.com/WhoWeAre.html

# http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/news/vawd.html

According to the Women’s Media Center:

Male guests outnumber female guests one to four

and

Women hold less than 3% of media decision making positions

To shift the above:

The Women’s Media Center makes women visible and powerful in the media. Led by our Interim President, Julie Burton, the WMC works with the media to ensure that women’s stories are told and women’s voices are heard. We do this in three ways: through our media advocacy campaigns; by creating our own media; and by training women to participate directly in media. We are directly engaged with the media at all levels to ensure that a diverse group of women is present in newsrooms, on air, in print and online, as sources and subjects.

Why I Selected The Women’s Media Center?

One of the areas that I am highlighting with this year’s Double Latte Selections is Public and Independent Media which I feel is very important in any society. Additionally,in my own personal research I research female elites in electoral politics and while what the Women’s Media Center does is not directly connected with Women and Politics they are assisting in an area that is an important cog in politics today, the media.

Looking to recent coverage of female political candidates, one of the best ways to improve how women who pursue electoral politics or political positions are perceived is to have more people that “look like them” to participate in the reporting of politics. Please note that I put “look like them” in parentheses as it is a loose reference as not all women are alike simply because they are women. Additionally, it is not a complete solution to just add more women to media and stir as simply because more women are reporting the news it does not automatically mean that they will report on female candidates any better than the men are currently doing are. However, adding women does increase the probability of a positive shift in the reporting practices on women in politics, especially if some of the new women in media are trained by groups like The Women’s Media Center.

So please check out their website, follow them on Twitter, like them on Facebook and view their YouTube page and of course take time to donate especially if you like what you see!!

Until next time,

DNMP

Dear Mr. Jones,

I recently read the Op-Ed that appeared in your paper, I read the article online, on 11 August 2011 written by Dr. Jill Biden and Former US Senator Bill Frist. While I was happy to see your newspaper address a needed issue via the opinions section I was shocked to see Dr. Jill Biden not only listed without her full title but only as the wife of Vice President Joe Biden: “Jill Biden is the wife of Vice President Biden. Bill Frist is a former Republican senator from Tennessee.”

I understand that space is of the essence in journalism but considering the large amount of work and contributions Dr. Jill Biden has made to improve, most recently, Community College Education, I wish your paper would have taken a few more words to include the fact that Jill Biden is a Dr. (PhD) and is an educator instead of simply referring to her marital status connection to a prominent man in politics.

I do hope that you consider updating this Op-Ed to reflect Dr. Biden’s occupation and not just her marital status as occupation references are standard in Op-Eds especially by those prominent in politics. Furthermore, please refer to this LA Times article from 2009 where Dr. Biden shares that she prefers to be referred to as Dr. Biden. If you have a policy similar to the papers mentioned in the LA Times article please consider the alternative attribution: Jill Biden, PhD.

I thank you for your time and consideration. Feel free to email me if you have questions.

Take care,

DNMP Politico

Why Generation Enterprise?

Well one of my focus’ for this year’s Double-Latte selections is people in my network and one of the founders of Generation Enterprise is a member of a fellowship program that I did, the Institute for International Public Policy (IIPP). I met Clara Chow in 2005 as I was serving as the assistant, traditionally an older fellow, for IIPP’s Summer Sophomore Institute.

In addition to the network connection, I am highlighting Generation Enterprise because I really enjoy that they are working to help “street kids” by not just giving them handouts but by giving them tools to build a better life in the long term. I also enjoy that these young adult philanthropists not only lived their experiences, either where they grew up or where they studied abroad or worked, they have decided and acted to make the world a better place then they found it.

What does Generation Enterprise Do?

We are the Generation Enterprise leadership team, an all-volunteer group of young community leaders working on four continents to realize one revolutionary vision: that street youth in the world’s biggest cities and most formidable slums can become socially responsible business owners and pull their communities out of poverty.

In 2009, we launched a pilot project in Lagos, the world’s fastest-growing megacity. Our business training and incubation program, YouthBank, equipped homeless and unemployed youth to build viable, sustainable businesses that would allow them to leave gangs, prostitution, odd jobs, and criminal activity.

Now, we’re working with partners in the public, private, and social sectors to create a network of incubators focused on drawing at-risk youth out of the shadows and into the formal economy.

To get a visual about what this great organization is doing, check out this clip from a documentary being produced about their work!

Why is Generation Enterprise’s Work is Important?

Because Generation Enterprise takes what I call a “Teach a Man to Fish” approach, the effects of their program are more long lasting and more likely to keep program participants out of poverty. Youth that are a part of their program receive loans to help them start a business but they also receive training, in a fellowship like format from my understanding, so that participants do not just receive funds and are left on their own.

Also, because the businesses and ventures that these young people take on are local it also assists in the sustainable development of towns and countries around the world and prevents the occurrence of brain drain.

Final Thoughts

Highlighting this organization and others in my network like Shea Yeleen is a lot of fun. It is also a reminder for me of some of the amazing and great people in my network.

I am really proud of the great people around me who have done more than talk about their dreams and wishes and have taken the time to do something! Its motivation for me to do the same!

Thank you for reading! Please take time to connect with Generation Enterprise on LinkedIn and on Facebook!

Why WUFPAC?

Like Running Start, I selected WUFPAC because of my deep desire to help increase the number of women in politics around the world. Additionally, I have selected WUFPAC at this time because the 2012 election cycle is approaching quickly and well in the words of the meaning of the most well known and many times imitated Women’s PAC EMILY’s List - Early Money Is Like Yeast.

I also like WUFPAC because unlike Double-Latte Selection The 2012 Project, WUFPAC is focused on getting young women elected to office and those under 40 of either gender are of slim supply in electoral office in Washington. In many ways, WUFPAC is like two birds in one stone- one bird is women and the other bird is youth at least based on Washington standards

About WUFPAC

According to their website:

WUFPAC was started in January 1999 by a group of young women, representing diverse political and geographic backgrounds, gathered together in Washington, DC to discuss the role of young women in politics. Recognizing that political capital is built by political tenure and frustrated by the low percentage of women currently holding political office, they created WUFPAC to support the efforts of young women running for Congress and statewide offices. WUFPAC was incorporated as a Washington, DC non-profit corporation in January 1999 and filed its statement of organization with the Federal Election Commission soon thereafter. The first WUFPAC executive board was assembled in the early months of 1999. WUFPAC has been active in political cycles since 2002.

Final Thought on the importance of WUFPAC

Looking to the progress that women in politics have gained from increasing numbers of women presidents to even a legislature having more women than men (Rwanda), the importance of engaging women in politics at an early age is more important than ever. What if Hillary Clinton had started running for local office at 25 or even 30? What about the youngest Congressman who is just shy of 30? Based on the current age of many politicians he could just possibly be in politics for the next 30 y ears and climb into several other higher political positions. WUFPAC highlights this importance of starting early in politics with the hope that women who start earlier have the potential to move up the political ladder thus increasing the probability and percentage of women who are in political positions of power in the long term. I also think that WUFPAC addresses a specific need of women running in the United States, though more and more I see that this is needed in other countries as well, money. Unfortunately, money is needed to run for political office in the US and lots of it. In 2010, over $1 Billion dollars was raised and spent on all political races. Check out Open Secrets for more information and statistics about money and elections.

Basically, if we the people desire to make political change it takes more than finding a great candidate it also takes funding that candidate at a level that allows them to compete with the status quo. I love that WUFPAC does that for two demographics that need more representation in politics – women and younger US citizens!

In the mist of all the excitement and pomp and circumstance, I purchased the two books Dr. Tatum had written: Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race and Assimilation Blues Black Families in White Communities: Who Succeeds and Why? Unfortunately, well maybe fortunately as I was working on completing my degree doing research among other things, these books have sat on my shelf for the better part of about nine years until recently.

During a recent vacation, I decided to take a few books along to finally read and Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? was one of them; I read the book in about two days. Why Are all the Black Kids is a refreshing text that contrary to the catchy title discusses more than why all the Black kids are sitting together. Tatum discusses the development of racial awareness and identity in children from all ethnic and racial backgrounds, focusing on her area of expertise — the Black/White dichotomy. The book is a mix of academic knowledge, information received while in the classroom as well as stories from her own experience as a parent.

As an alumna of Spelman College, I learned a lot about Black/African Diaspora history and gained a whole new way to look at the world, a transformation so infamous to the Spelman experience that the gentlemen across the street at Morehouse even had a term for the freshman women who were absorbing all this new found information – ADWized. However, the information that Tatum shares about the stages of racial awareness and identity was something that was not shared in my ADW experience and while reading her book I said to myself that I wish I had the information in this book when I was in junior high and high school — frankly it would have done wonders starting around the fifth and sixth grade.

One of the main reasons why I was able to get through this book quickly was because I could relate to what was being shared and I identified with many of the students Tatum used as examples to support her points in the book. Furthermore, I connected quickly with the book as soon as Tatum shared why she uses the term people of color, a term I have been using more and more during the last year and a half or so (I don’t like using the term minority because it is diminutive and reenforces the “othering” that is common place in mainstream/European descendant US culture that has trickled down to the other US cultures effecting the self-esteem and effective action of people of color).

Why Are All the Black Kids is broken down into five parts: An introduction that shares the terms Tatum uses in the book, a section on understanding Blackness in a White world, a section on Whiteness in a White world, a section on Beyond Black and White and closes with a section on Breaking the Silence. As fruitful as it was for me to read the section on Blackness, as a Black female in the US, I feel that some of the real hidden gems in the book, especially considering the title of this piece, are the sections on Whiteness in a White world and Beyond Black and White. The latter section includes a discussion on the ethnic and racial development for mixed race children something that is still not widely discussed in the United States.

There are so many excerpts I could share but I choose the quote below because when I read it I felt it described the essence of my struggles growing up as a “smart Black kid.” Also this quote reflects one of the main reasons why I ended up attending Spelman College, the only Historically Black College and University (HBCU) I applied to. I wanted to be in a space with people “like me” i.e., other smart Black kids. Ironically, at least from the US perspective, going to Spelman I also learned that diversity is not just about race but it can be class, personal interests, family background and more:

One young Black woman from a predominately White community described exactly this [lack of full acceptance by Black and White peers] situation in an interview. In a school with a lot of racial tension, Terri felt that “the worse thing that happened” was the rejection she experienced from the other Black children who were being bussed to her school. Though she wanted to be friends with them, they teased her, calling her an “oreo cookie” and sometimes beating her up. The only Black friend Terri had was a biracial girl from her neighborhood.

If you are a parent, an auntie or even a close friend of a child or someone with children of any age — get this book in their hands! What Dr. Tatum shares in this book is vital information for parents and children alike. I have only been back from vacation a bit over a week and I have already let a friend and fellow graduate student with children borrow this book with all its markings and all.

I throughly enjoyed this book which reads as a 300 page expose on the underlying tones and effects of this genre of TV which has gained increasing popularity since the year 2000, thanks cheap & effective non-union programming

At times the book reads a bit severe BUT I quickly saw that this was a necessary “evil” used to counter the effects of a decade and a half, more or less, of the severe images TV execs and producers have been pushing in “reality” programming.

One of the biggest realizations I had while reading was seeing how even a smart and educated academic in training woman like myself has been effected by “unscripted” programming. I, like many in the US, vilianized Omarosa from The Apprentice Season 1. Reading this book I can see how much the TV execs/producers’ pushing of negative stereotypes about women of color is a problem.  I also realized that it is highly probably that I mostly saw Omorsa through their eyes as a Black female entitled diva and that’s the nice version of the summarization. An extension of this realization was my “dislike” of Yaya from America’s Next Top Model. Ironically, many aspects of her personality and her stance on many issues, the non-over -exaggerated TV versions, are closer to me as a Black woman of color born in the United States than not. Bite One.

Bites Two through Three are some of my favorite quotes in the book:

From a Section Titled “China Dolls, Dragon Ladies, and Spicy Latinas”

Second-cycle winner Yoanna House, named one of Latina magazine’s “It Girls,” notably avoided such typecasting [traditional Latina typcasting as "firey" and a "hoochie"]. Since she is fair-skinned enough to pass for white, the show chose to erase her hethnicity, playing into the standard Hollywood convention that positions Caucasians as the “default” American. Most viewers were unaware that she was half-Mexican. Instead, media outlets from NPR and Time Out Chicago to International Cosmetic News refer to Jaslene as “the first Latina” to win the sereis, an assumption ecoched by ATNM‘s fans.

From a Section Titled “Sex: It’s Only Okay if She Doesn’t Really Want It”

For a genre overflowing with casual sex, reality TV is surprisingly opposed to women’s desire. Looking the part of femme fatale is expected; acting the part will earn you a scarlet letter. We learn that women should be continually sexually available…so long as it is for a man’s pleasure, not their own.

From a Section Titled “It’s Not at All about Making Better Television”

In this “bold new era,” well-written TV fiction is more the exception (Mad Men, 30 Rock) than the rule. chasing Survivor-style ratings, networks give scripted series very little time to cultivate audiences, making it hard for new shows to survive. ABC yanked Sally Field’s drama The Court, about a female Supreme Court justice, after only three episodes; they let Geena Davis serve as Commander in Chief for only one season. Networks are not only decreasing the number of slots available for quality scripted programs (which, unlike reality series, offer union writers, crew, and actors fair pay and health insurance), they’re also slashing their budgets.

With that last quote, I have to say RIP Cashmere Mafia, Friday Night Lights, Lipstick Jungle, and Friday Night Lights

Basically, Pozner’s book really opened my eyes to a problem I began to see on my own prior to reading while giving me solid tools in addition to greater understanding so that I can counter the troubling messages reality TV is putting out there.

If you are reading this post, read this book, and don’t stop there. Share this book with the teens in your life and/or the big reality TV fans in your circles and homes.

To pick up your own copy or copies for others of this must read for men and women alike click here, follow the author on Twitter here and gain access to how you can combat mainstream corporate media’s slanted messages here.

-DNMP