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Theresa Ruth Howard Dancer/Writer/Teacher Theresa Ruth Howard began her professional dance career with the Philadelphia Civic Ballet Company at the age of twelve. Later she joined the Dance Theatre of Harlem where she had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Africa. She has worked with choreographer Donald Byrd as a soloist in his staging of New York City Opera's Carmina Burana, his critically acclaimed Harlem Nutcracker, as well as the controversial domestic violence work The Beast. She was invited to be a guest artist with Complexions: A Concept in their 10th anniversary season. In 2004 she became a founding member of Armitage Gone! Dance. As a writer Ms. Howard has contributed to Russell Simmons’ One World magazine (art), and The Source (social politics), as well as Pointe and Dance Magazine. While teaching in Italy for the International Dance Association she was asked to become a contributor for the premiere Italian dance magazine Expressions. Her engaging, no nonsense writing style caught the eye of both the readers of Dance Magazine and its Editor in Chief who not only made her a contributing editor and has collaborated with Ms. Howard in See and Say Web-reviews. Her articles about body image prompted her to develop a workshop for young adult (dancers and non-dancers) My Body My Image that addresses their perceptions both positive and negative about their bodies and endeavoring to bring them closer to a place of Acceptance and Appreciation. She recently launched a blog by the same name to reach a broader audience (mybodymyimage.com) As a teacher Ms. Howard has been an Artist in Residence at Hollins University in and New Haven University in addition to teaching at Sarah Lawrence College, Marymount, Shenandoah, and Radford Universities, and the historical American Dance Festival. As a result of her work at ADF Ms. Howard was invited to Sochi, Russia to adjudicate the arts competition Expectations of Europe and teach master classes, and in Burundi, Africa where she coached and taught the Burundi Dance Company. Currently she on faculty at The Ailey School but also extensively throughout Italy and Canada. Ms. Howard's belief in the development, and nurturing of children lead her to work with at risk youth. At the Jacob Riis Settlement House in Queensbridge New York, she founded S.I.S.T.A (Socially Intelligent Sisters Taking Action) a mentoring program for teen-age girls where she worked to empower them to become the creators of their destinies. In addition she developed a dance program, which lead to an exchange with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Through her teaching and travels Ms. Howard began to observe a universal disenchantment and disconnection in teenagers that disturbed her, thus she set out to address it. Combining her philosophies of life and teaching, with the skills she garnered through outreach programs with diverse communities, she developed the personal development workshop Principles of Engagement: Connecting Youth to the Infinite Possibilities Within which gives teens a set of workable tools to increase their levels of success at tasks, and goals not only in dance, and all aspect of their lives. Theresa Ruth Howard is certainly diverse and multifaceted as an artist, and is moved to both write and create work; however she sees every student she encounters as a work in progress, and the potential to change the world one person at a time. The only was to make this world a better place it to be better people in it!

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Plastic Surgeon, Does Daughter’s Boob Job (WATCH)


This could be a follow up on my piece Creating Body Image: When Parents are the Problem. In “The Cutting Edge,” a new episode of “20/20” set to air Friday, 10 p.m. EST. Babara Walters takes a look at the world of plastic surgery, the procedures and the patient of all ages, from the 83 year old woman who decided to have her breasts enhanced to the 18 year old who’s father did her breast surgery.
Now here is the thing, Dr.Michael Niccole has 2 adopted daughter (both 23) and her regularly performed various procedures on both of them, from belly button reconstruction (an Charm at 10 years of age) Rhinoplasty, breast augmentation, lip injections, and Botox for both the armpits to stop sweating (understandable) to facial which for me at the tender age of 23 is just ridiculous. It’s a very strange dynamic, in the clip we see his daughters and a gaggle of their girlfriends in the Niccole’s office as they all wait to be tinkered with. WTF?!

One of Niccole’s daughters Brittany 23, had her breast done (by her father) at 18 to “Build her “self esteem” yes to build her self esteem and she said it with a straight face. Let me say this, TRUE self esteem is not built through a bra cup size! in my opinion for a person with low self esteem it only gives them the assets to create situations and relationships that might end up being more damaging to a fledgling self esteem because it is an artificial sense of empowerment. It’s akin to the “power suit” sure it makes you feel strong when you have it on but when you take it off you are still you. True empowerment is built from doing the internal, personal work, not “having work done” it is not something you implant, or put on, it is something that you cultivate and develop through experience. Just sayin’

In a later portion of the clip, as Niccole’s other daughter Charm settles into her father’s chair putting protective goggles on (preparing for a laser treatment of some sort) she asks coquettishly “Dad how do I look?” and he replies “Sexy” really. I don’t know about you but that’s a bit creepy. Remember when Joe Simpson make the remark about his daughter Jessica Simpson’s double D’s?

Take a look at this clip it looks like this will be an interesting program, Walters is also talking to the Queen of plastic herself Joan Rivers! Take a look.

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Why the Wheat We Eat Makes us “Fat” and Sick…

This was a hard blow to me I loves ma bread, I do I do…DAMN DAMN DAMN!
I found this really interesting. I was wondering why so many people are coming down with allergies to wheat or Ciliac Disease, well here is the reason. Ugh, just another thing to frickin’ give up!

hosted by Huffington Post

Mark Hyman, MD

Practicing physician

 

Gluten-free is hot these days. There are books and websites, restaurants with gluten free menus, and grocery stores with hundreds of new gluten-free food products on the shelf. Is this a fad, or a reflection of response to a real problem?

Yes, gluten is a real problem. But the problem is not just gluten. In fact, there are three major hidden reasons that wheat products, not just gluten (along with sugar in all its forms) is a major contributor to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, depression and so many other modern ills.

This is why there are now 30 percent more obese than undernourished in the world, and why chronic lifestyle and dietary driven disease kills more than twice as many people as infectious disease globally. These non-communicable, chronic diseases will cost our global economy $47 trillion over the next 20 years.

Sadly, this tsunami of chronic illness is increasingly caused by eating our beloved diet staple, bread, the staff of life, and all the wheat products hidden in everything from soups to vodka to lipstick to envelope adhesive.

The biggest problem is wheat, the major source of gluten in our diet. But wheat weaves its misery through many mechanisms, not just the gluten! The history of wheat parallels the history of chronic disease and obesity across the world. Supermarkets today contain walls of wheat and corn disguised in literally hundreds of thousands of different food-like products, or FrankenFoods. Each American now consumes about 55 pounds of wheat flour every year.

It is not just the amount but also the hidden components of wheat that drive weight gain and disease. This is not the wheat your great-grandmother used to bake her bread. It is FrankenWheat — a scientifically engineered food product developed in the last 50 years.

dwarf wheat

natural wheat

How Wheat — and Gluten — Trigger Weight Gain, Prediabetes, Diabetes and More

This new modern wheat may look like wheat, but it is different in three important ways that all drive obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia and more.

  1. It contains a Super Starch — amylopectin A that is super fattening.
  2. It contains a form of Super Gluten that is super-inflammatory.
  3. It contains forms of a Super Drug that is super-addictive and makes you crave and eat more.

The Super Starch

The Bible says, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Eating bread is nearly a religious commandment. But the Einkorn, heirloom, Biblical wheat of our ancestors is something modern humans never eat.

Instead, we eat dwarf wheat, the product of genetic manipulation and hybridization that created short, stubby, hardy, high-yielding wheat plants with much higher amounts of starch and gluten and many more chromosomes coding for all sorts of new odd proteins. The man who engineered this modern wheat won the Nobel Prize — it promised to feed millions of starving around the world. Well, it has, and it has made them fat and sick.

The first major difference of this dwarf wheat is that it contains very high levels of a super starch called amylopectin A. This is how we get big fluffy Wonder Bread and Cinnabons.

Here’s the downside. Two slices of whole wheat bread now raise your blood sugar more than two tablespoons of table sugar.

There is no difference between whole wheat and white flour here. The biggest scam perpetrated on the unsuspecting public is the inclusion of “whole grains” in many processed foods full of sugar and wheat, giving the food a virtuous glow. The best way to avoid foods that are bad for you is to stay away from foods with health claims on the labels. They are usually hiding something bad.

In people with diabetes, both white and whole grain bread raises blood sugar levels 70 to 120 mg/dl over starting levels. We know that foods with a high glycemic index make people store belly fat, trigger hidden fires of inflammation in the body and give you a fatty liver, leading the whole cascade of obesity, pre-diabetes and diabetes. This problem now affects every other American and is the major driver of nearly all chronic disease and most our health care costs. Diabetes now sucks up one in three Medicare dollars.

The Super Gluten

Not only does this dwarf, FrankenWheat, contain the super starch, but it also contains super gluten which is much more likely to create inflammation in the body. And in addition to a host of inflammatory and chronic diseases caused by gluten, it causes obesity and diabetes.

Gluten is that sticky protein in wheat that holds bread together and makes it rise. The old fourteen-chromosome-containing Einkorn wheat codes for the small number of gluten proteins, and those that it does produce are the least likely to trigger celiac disease and inflammation. The new dwarf wheat contains twenty-eight or twice as many chromosomes and produces a large variety of gluten proteins, including the ones most likely to cause celiac disease.

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A Chat With Choreographer Camille A.Brown (pt3)


Here is the final segment of my chat with Camille A.Brown, here how she found her fit with Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, the importance of saying THANK YOU,what she looks for in a dancer, how to approach a choreographer you are interested in working with (important, my young ones) and how she feels about her body now. I have to say that this interview inspired me even more to learn more about the dancers I love to watch and admire. Everyone has a body story and it is so interesting to hear people’s individual journeys, whether it is overcoming physical obstacles, injuries, or just learning how to be a working dancer and staying healthy. I so adore Camille BRACCHIO! (private joke) but in watching these clips I fall in love with her all over again. She is so honest and generous with her information ( not everyone is like that). Thank you thank you Ms.Camille A Period Brown! Enjoy!
* the beeping towards the end is Camille’s phone she is ALWAYS in Demand!lol

The ADELE Effect? French Elle Feature + Sized Model on Cover

Could this be a case of “If you build it, they will come” Well Adele SWEPT the Grammies last night and is even the cover girl for American Vogue but could she be the initiator of breaking boundaries in fashion as well? French Vogue has just featured Tara Lynn (a plus sized model) on their cover, in her skivvies no less, and have deemed her “The Body”. What’s up wit dat?

And she has a B.O.D.Y I love her curves and her are real woman curves. I’m loving it! I love that they featured her body, not covering it up but almost celebrating it. Are we turning the corner here? Where it might be a fluke or are eyes starting to see differently? only time will tell but let’s enjoy it while it lasts! Work it Tara give ’em all you got (and from this cover, you already are!)

here is an interview she did (it’s in French/ and a bit in English)

A Chat with Choreographer Camille A. Brown Part 2 Video


Here is the second part of my delightful conversation with Camille A. Brown. In this segment she talks about her body image where they came from. Hear the SHOCKING weight revelation she drops I was stunned. She talks about how the at North Carolina School of the Arts and the techniques there helped changed her body! The Work Works! She also reveals how her body type and the issues that came with them was the source of her finding her choreographic talent. I think one of the most important things that came out of this segment is when she talks about how NCSA was a great fit for her- and our conversation around that is great information for all you looking for Colleges and even high schools or dance programs (even summer intensives). So without further ado Miss. Brown!

Adele speaks about her Body Image- VIDEO


I adore Adele for so many reasons. The comments Karl Lagerfeld made about her being “A little too fat” sickened me so much that I didn’t bother to give him posting space! However Adele sat with Anderson Cooper and spoke about her feelings about her body and the comments and I will honor her with sharing it with you!

A Lesson in Life From Whitney (Michael and Amy) Where were WE?

I am dumfounded by the news that the legendary songstress Whitney Houston has died at 48 years of age. For me, and so many others she provided the soundtrack for our teen aged years. I was saving all of my love, I wanted to dance with some one… However during her struggles with addiction, a tumultuous marriage to Bobby Brown and the reality series that gave us the inside skinny on her life “Booobbbiiiie” there is something within me that is saddened and pissed off that through most of those hard times and even when she seemed to pull through them she was public butt of a joke, as was Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse.

Too often we as a society use the plights and illnesses of famous people as fodder for our entertainment. Photos of disheveled  and strung out stars sell, they make for great blog posts and magazine covers. We forget that this is a human being in crisis, in need of help, support and compassion. Just 2 nights before her passing there were numerous blog posts of Houston leaving parties looking like, either she had had a good time or a “Great” time (if you know what I mean) with text that alluded to the idea that she had fallen off the wagon. Now whether that be the case or not, and whether her death was from drugs or of natural causes (i.e. a heart attack- that might have been as a result of years of drug use) or not, this is not, in my opinion the way we should be treating these people.

We can all recall the field day gossip outlets had with Amy Winehouse when she was truly in crisis. Monikers like Amy “Crackhouse” and the like were assigned to her.  I would read and think that this was just mean spirited and insensitive, and damaging. Up until the day he died Michael Jackson was hounded, taunted, teased and talked about, be it for his appearance, his lifestyle, the accusations of child molestation. Does this not amount to bullying? and aren’t we vehemently against bullying these days? Yet the moment he passed it was like all of that fell away and what he contributed to the world, his efforts of humanitarianism, his artistry and brilliance were the only things that people could speak of.THAT was WHO and WHAT he was, not his nose or the masks or the eccentric behavior. Of course it is in bad form to speak ill of the dead, but it only takes a month or so for comics or writers of television shows to start up with the jokes. I know, I know it’s what they do, and we laugh and in a way it’s funny, and in a way healing but I still think that some how we are missing something, we are missing an opportunity to,  as a society show up for people like this a different way.

I feel like we as a society fail them in a way. We fail to see them, to support them. Where they are with us through their art, creating the soundtracks of our lives: bolstering us up, giving us the strength to soldier on, to persevere, or the permission to cry, rage, and even to love or survive loss, and yet when they need our true love — our true support as fans…we fall short. When they need to feel our admiration, when they need a stadium sized intervention with people chanting “We love you, don’t die!” Were are we? Are we scrolling blogs keekeeing about what a hot mess they are?

My heart truly went out to Amy Winehoues’s father because he truly fought for his mother’s life with ever breath in his body. Even when the world, while loving her music and being entertained by it, were almost more entertained watching her demise. I wonder about the people in their camps who might have a vested interest in their staying sick and dependent. I think about the parents, lovers, “friends” managers and agents… I just wonder. I think of the Lindsey Lohans, and the Peter Dohertys and I wonder, could it be different for them, could we be different for them?

I don’t know but I Will Always Love Her!!!

Rest sweet angel in peace…

A Chat With Choreographer Camille A. Brown!!!

First I have to say that I have long been a fan, and friend of Camille, I have admired her work, her authenticity, honesty and sense of humor. We have gotten together to talk about life, art and girl stuff for ages and always with a great deal of laughter (as you will see) When I started My Body My Image she was one of the first interviews on my list. Pinning her down was the issue- that girl is always on the go getting it done. Camille is a petite fire ball of a woman with a unique at times sort of little girl like voice which at first might make you think she’s a push over but when it comes to her work, her point of view and doing business she might as well be 6 feet tall with a wrestler’s build a voice with some bass to it, she does not mess around! The thing I like best about her is her honesty. She is direct about all things, always works to be honest and maintain her personal integrity and while being respectful especially when she knows it might be hard to hear or it might result in a conflict- especially with her work. She’s like a lioness! (ok that description means a lot more with her new hair color! lol) It was my pleasure to sit and chat with her in a  3 part series in the about how she came to dance, her training her body issues, and how she overcame them.  In later segments we get into how she started choreographing  and her time dancing with Ronald K. Brown’s Evidence. (I think it’s funny that she shares the middle initial and last name thing with one of her mentors!) I call this a chat rather than in interview because it ending up with us being more like girlfriends kicking back then me having an Oprah moment. However I think that this the best way to “get” Camille. She is so very generous with her knowledge and supportive of her dancers (all of them including the students she works with around the country). Her body story is so moving and inspiring and I am so happy that she shared it with me—and you! and now Part 1 of Camille A Period Brown!

 

Evolution of a Secured Feminine

For more information on Camille A. Brown: http://www.camilleabrown.org/

Please Excuse my “Stop Bitching and Start a Revolution” Jack Kerouac tee, I forgot I had it on!!! but in a sense I have stopped bitching and started a revolution so in a way it is apropos, albeit possibly in appropriate for a certain age group (who in private probably use worse language) however it’s no excuse! just listen to Camille!!!

P(2)AS Challenge WEEK 1 – 7 DAYS DOWN

Hey my P(2)ASers!

I just wanted to check in to see how you are doing with the challenge! I will be coming around to check in on your progress. I would love to hear what you have experienced. Take a moment and comment on what your first week of 100%ing felt like, did you experience a change? was it harder then you thought? are you enjoying it or is it too much? Let me know we all want to hear!

 

I have to say that I am a bit disappointed in the fact that only 6 of you have “signed” in… I saw a lot of hands go up when we launched the challenge….

 

I hope that even though you may not have signed your name through the comment box that you have taken on the challenge, viewed some of the compiled information and are in the game!!!

can’t wait to hear!

click READ MORE to leave your comment

Ms. H

3 Sisters with the Rare “WereWolf” Disease and their Dream of Living a Normal Life…

Documentary filmmaker Sneh Gupta is planning make a film of the girls in a bid to help their dream of becoming almost hair free - with the eventual aim of finding marriageDocumentary filmmaker Sneh Gupta is planning make a film of the girls in a bid to help their dream of becoming almost hair free – with the eventual aim of finding marriage
This is a sobering story. These young girls are not only afflicted with a rare genetic disorder but they are also living in a country where being a female is… frowned upon. There have been reports of female infanticide  due to a preference for male children. According to some studies, more than 16 million baby girls a year in India are killed by their mothers or by village midwives called dayans. So the fact that these three young ladies are alive is already in a way a survival story. Add to that, culturally females survival often depends on being able to marry (and their families being able to afford the dowry). Now imagine having a condition that effected your physical appearance…
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It is one of the rarest conditions in the world, affecting just one in a billion people.

However, in an incredible quirk of fate, three sisters have all been blighted by a condition known as werewolf syndrome – where they are covered from head to foot in thick hair.

Savita, 23, Monisha, 18, and 16-year-old Savitri Sangli, who live in a small village near Pune, central India, inherited the hypertrichosis universalis disorder from their father.

All three struggle to keep the condition under control with cream and hope they one day might eventually be able to pay for specialist laser treatment to rid them of their excessive hair.

Despite the devastating effects of the syndrome, the siblings still dream of a day when they might get married.

Hypertrichosis universalis is a genetic mutation, in which cells that normally switch off hair growth in unusual areas, like the eyelids and forehead, are left switched on.

It means the girls have had abnormal hair growth on their bodies and even their faces, affecting their eyebrows, nose and giving them appearance of having a beard.

They must use a special cream every day – otherwise the hair will quickly return. The youngest sister Savitri is still virtually covered in hair.


The girl’s mother Anita Sambhaji Raut has six daughters in total with only three having werewolf syndrome.

The condition was passed down by the girls’ father, who Anita was forced to marry aged at the age of 12.

Because theirs was an arranged marriage and she did not lay eyes on him until the wedding day, she had no idea he was suffering from the condition himself.

Anita and her daughters are now desperate to fund laser surgery that will help to finally remove the curse of excess hair and allow the girls to lead normal lives.

Hopes: The girls dream of marriage and a day when they might be hair-free

In their small village near Pune, central India, the Sangli have little prospects for marriage and the eldest Savita sometimes gets sent home from work when her hair begins to show.

Laser surgery would cost 350,000 Indian rupees – or £4,500 per girl – but the family are not wealthy enough to be able to afford it.


Genetic: The girls stand in front of a picture of their father with their mother (front middle) and two of their other sisters who are unaffected by the disorderGenetic: The girls stand in front of a picture of their father with their mother (front middle) and two of their other sisters who are unaffected by the disorder.