“Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.”
Thich Nhat Hanh
Inspirational Woman Of The Day
May 7, 2012 by 10 Comments
J.K. Rowling (b. July 31, 1965, in Chipping Sodbury, England) became an international literary sensation when the first three installments of her Harry Potter children’s book series took over the top three slots of The New York Times best-seller list. The phenomenal response to Rowling’s books culminated in 2000, when Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire became the fastest-selling book in history.
Early Struggles
J.K. Rowling was born Joanne Kathleen Rowling, on July 31, 1965, in Chipping Sodbury, near Bristol, England. As a single mother living in Edinburgh, Scotland, Rowling became an international literary sensation in 1999, when the first three installments of her Harry Potter children’s book series took over the top three slots of The New York Times best-seller list after achieving similar success in her native United Kingdom. The phenomenal response to Rowling’s books culminated in July 2000, when the fourth volume in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, became the fastest-selling book in history.
A graduate of Exeter University, Rowling moved to Portugal in 1990 to teach English. There, she met and married the Portuguese journalist Jorge Arantes. The couple’s daughter, Jessica, was born in 1993. After her marriage ended in divorce, Rowling moved to Edinburgh with her daughter to live near her younger sister, Di. While struggling to support Jessica and herself on welfare, Rowling worked on a book, the idea for which had reportedly occurred to her while she was traveling on a train from Manchester to London in 1990. After a number of rejections, she finally sold the book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (the word “Philosopher” was changed to “Sorcerer” for its publication in America), for the equivalent of about $4,000. The book, and its subseqent series, chronicled the life of Harry Potter, a young wizard, and his motley band of cohorts at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Fame and Fortune
By the summer of 2000, the first three Harry Potter books, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban earned approximately $480 million in three years, with over 35 million copies in print in 35 languages. In July 2000, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire saw a first printing of 5.3 million copies and advance orders of over 1.8 million. After a postponed release date, the fifth installment, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, hit bookstores in June 2003. The sixth installment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, sold 6.9 million copies in the United States in its first 24 hours, the biggest opening in publishing history. Prior to its July 2007 release, the seventh and final installment in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was the largest ever pre-ordered book at chain stores Barnes & Noble and Borders, and at Amazon.com.
Rowling, now Britain’s 13th wealthiest woman—wealthier than even the Queen—does not plan to write any more books in the series, but has not entirely ruled out the possibility.
A film version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, directed byChris Columbus, was released in November 2001. In its opening weekend in the U.S., the film debuted on a record 8,200 screens and smashed the previous box-office record, earning an estimated $93.5 million ($20 million more than the revious recordholder, 1999’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park). It ended the year as the top-grossing movie of 2001. The second and third films in the series opened in November 2002 and June 2004 respectively, each enjoying similar record-breaking box-office success. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, directed by Mike Newell, was released in 2005. The fifth movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, released in July 2007, featured screenwriter Michael Goldenberg, who replaced Steve Kloves, writer of the first four films. In 2009, the film version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is scheduled to hit theaters on July 17. The movie is expected to gross several million at the box office. The Potter films came to an end in 2011.
Local Inspiration
May 7, 2012 by 5 Comments
NJ Women Making a Difference: Wendy Worden, Calypso Creative
Wendy Worden President of Calypso Creative in Paramus, New Jersey, is the latest “NJ Woman Making a Difference” to be featured on mybergen.com, myhudsoncounty.com, yourhunterdon.com, yourmorris.com and yoursomerset.com.
Many business, nonprofit and community leaders in the tri-state area may already be familiar with Worden through her work with some of the region’s most successful community events.
A graduate of Holy Angels and Boston University, Ms. Worden has been involved with strategic planning since beginning her career at Seiko USA 20 years ago. Volunteer efforts with local non-profit organizations led to a desire to “do more than sell a few watches” and so Ms. Worden embarked on the next stage of her career by transferring her strategic planning and organizational skills to the non-profit world. It’s this role that has provided the opportunity for her to combine her skills and experience with the ability to positively impact organizations and communities.
Calypso Creative is a team of fundraising professionals with over 20 years of experience in nonprofit management and fundraising, Calypso can provide your organization with the expertise, energy, positivity and professionalism to reach your development goals. No matter the size of your organization, Calypso can help. Wendy Worden and her team are passionate and committed to helping businesses in NJ and NY grow their fundraising efforts.
Women In The News
May 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Michelle Bachelet Statement for the 12th International Association of Women in Development Forum on Women’s Rights and Development
Posted on April 21 2012
believe that economic power is absolutely fundamental to women’s empowerment and gender equality. And it is especially important now in this time of financial stress and insecurity. That is why I am placing a specialemphasis this year on advancing women’s political participation and economic empowerment.
I know from my own personal experience as a political activist and political leader that my own economic power shaped my political vision.
I worked hard to become a doctor, a Minister of Health, a Minister of Defense. And I know that if I had not been Minister of Defense, and perceived as a tough and decisive leader in the military and defense sector, I probably would not have been elected President.
We still have to overcome stereotypes and outmoded definitions and perceptions of power. We still have to overcome deeply entrenched notions of masculinity and sexism and move towards real equality.
That is why equal rights and social protection were at the heart of my government in Chile during 2006 – 2010. Many reforms were implemented and huge investments were made to enhance access to health, pensions,education, housing, water and sanitation and especially to promote child development and gender equality.
I am often asked: What does it take to make economic change for women?
It takes laws, policies and programmes that advance women’s rights, equal opportunities and equal access.
Women need equal access to decent work, resources, assets, markets, social services and social and legal protection.
It takes a focus on inclusion, human rights and equality. It takes men sharing equal responsibilities with women for housework and childcare.
And, it takes political will. This means taking the time to build coalitions and alliances. When I ran for President of Chile, I reached out to trade unions, and to civil society.
Most importantly, and this will come as no surprise to you: It takes women!
To make economic change, women need to demand and claim their rights. From the Beijing Platform for Action, to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, to the ILO Conventions including the new one on domestic workers, and other treaties.
All around the world changes are happening in women’s lives – in many countries, women are discovering new freedoms, exploring new horizons and breaking away from old patterns, stereotypes and limitations.
In the process, they are often facing opposition and exploitation, and encountering new forms of oppression.
A new report by Pathway found that where projects, programmes and policies have made a difference, they have done so because they recognised the power of relationships, and the importance of confronting limiting stereotypes and institutionalising new norms.
At the heart of these changes have been women’s organisations and movements, visionary and committed women leaders, and collective action by women like yourselves.
Two lessons have been learned. First, to build equality, the deep structural causes of gender inequality and discrimination must be firmly addressed. We need structural change. None of us want to see women recruited and put to work to maintain a status quo that is unfair and exploits them.
Secondly, collective action provides the foundation for sustained empowerment. For UN Women, these two findings constitute valuable guides for our work.
To all of you gathered for this AWID Conference, I look forward to working with you for women’s rights, empowerment and equality.
I am pleased to announce that I am in the final stages of establishing a global civil society advisory group to advise me. I will be announcing the composition of this group shortly. I have taken every care to ensure that the group is based on recommendations from civil society, is diverse, eminent and rotational.
Advisory groups at country and regional levels are also being set up and some of you may be aware of these processes already. This is a very important step for UN Women and I very much look forward to strengthened collaboration.
As we move forward, we will make progress by being wise and courageous, never giving up and staying united for our common cause of women’s rights and justice!
I thank you and wish you much success!
LadyRomp 