Today is National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Did you know that today, May 5th is National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy? The purpose of this day is to have teens focus on the importance of avoiding teen pregnancy and other consequences of unprotected sex, (i.e., STDs, HIV, etc.):

About the National Day
"The ninth annual National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy will take place on May 5, 2010. The purpose of the National Day is to focus the attention of teens on the importance of avoiding teen pregnancy and other serious consequences of sex. On the National Day, teens nationwide are asked to go http://www.stayteen.org/ and take a short, scenario-based quiz (available in English and Spanish). The online quiz challenges young people to think carefully about what they would do in a number of risky sexual situations.
In addition to the online quiz, The National Campaign is also offering an online game with challenging puzzles testing teens’ knowledge about issues related to teen pregnancy. Teens can add the game their social networking profiles and those who complete the puzzles will be eligible to win prizes. Also, The National Campaign is launching a PSA design contest encouraging teens to submit their artwork and ideas about teen pregnancy prevention. Winning submissions will be distributed nationwide.

Organized by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, the National Day has widespread support from more than 200 national organizations and media outlets who serve as official National Day partners.

Why a National Day?
The extraordinary declines in teen pregnancy and childbearing over the past two decades have proven to cynics that progress can be made on tough issues. In fact, few social problems have improved quite as dramatically over the past decade as teen pregnancy. The most recent news on this front, however, has not been positive. After consistent and steady declines beginning in the early 1990s, the nation's teen pregnancy rate rose 3% in 2006, according recent data from the Guttmacher Institute.Clearly a renewed focus on preventing teen pregnancy is needed. We hope that—in some modest way—the National Day will help teens think carefully about sex and contraception, the possibility of pregnancy, and the lifelong challenges of being a parent

How Do Teens Participate?
Teens can support the National Day by simply logging onto StayTeen.org on May 5th (and throughout May) and taking the National Day Quiz. The online Quiz will be posted in both English and Spanish on May 1, 2010 and will be available throughout May. Print versions of the Quiz will also be available so that teens without internet access can still participate. The National Day Quiz is appropriate for teens ages 13 and up.

Making a Difference
Each year, we ask teens to tell us what they thought about the National Day Quiz in a post-quiz evaluation survey and many do. Among the findings from last year’s survey:
74% said the Quiz made them think about what they might do in such situations;
61% said the Quiz made the risks of sex and teen pregnancy seem more real to them;
56% said they’d learned something new from the Quiz about the consequences of sex;
62% said they’d talk to their friends about the situations described in the Quiz;
53% said the Quiz made them think about things they hadn’t thought about before;
54% said they’d encourage others to take the Quiz;
59% said some of the situations in the Quiz were things that they or their friends had faced; and
45% said they’d talk to their parents or other adults about the situations described in the Quiz.
Additionally, one-helf (50%) of the respondants reported taking the quiz as part of a school activity and 35% said they took the quiz at home. Nearly one-third of teens (31%) learned about the quiz from a parent, teacher, or another trusted adult and more than one-quarter (27%) of teens learned about the quiz from one of our National Day partners.
Teens were also given the opportunity to comment on the quiz. Here is a sampling of their responses:
“I thought it was a very good eye-opener. Most teens don’t think about how much getting pregnant could screw up their lives. I think this quiz will help people start thinking about sex and teen pregnancy and help them realize that they might not be as smart as they think.” ~ Girl, age 15
“I thought the quiz was put together in a way that made it both informational and entertaining. I know lots of people who could have benefited from this quiz and will recommend it my friends so they don’t get caught up in similar situations.” ~ Guy, age 17
“I thought the quiz was a great way to show what could happen if you don’t protect yourself. Sex is very serious, and it shouldn’t be taken lightly. This quiz is a wake up call to many teens.” ~ Girl, age 15
“I thought it was a good quiz. It seems like a good way to teach teens about sex if they are too afraid to ask their parents and are afraid of what they might say or do.” ~Guy, age 15
“This quiz made me think about how this stuff really does happen in real life. Before prom, many of my friends told me that they were thinking about having sex. If I had known about this website, I definitely would have recommended it!” ~ Girl, age 16

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Cut It Out! Recognizing Influential Black Women During Black History Month

Gwendolyn Brooks

(June 7, 1917 - December 3, 2000)

Gwendolyn Brooks was an African American writer and poet. Her work dealt with the everyday life of urban blacks. She was the first African American poet to win the Pulitzer Prize (1949), and in 1968 she was named the poet laureate of Illinois.

Brooks graduated from Wilson Junior College in Chicago in 1936. Her early verses appeared in the Chicago Defender, a newspaper written primarily for that city's African American community. Her first published collection, A Street in Bronzeville (1945), reveals her talent for making the ordinary life of her neighbours extraordinary. Annie Allen (1949), for which she won the Pulitzer Prize, is a loosely connected series of poems related to an African American girl's growing up in Chicago. The same theme was used for Brooks's novel Maud Martha (1953).

The Bean Eaters (1960) contains some of her best verse. Her Selected Poems (1963) was followed in 1968 by In the Mecca, half of which is a long narrative poem about people in the Mecca, a vast, fortresslike apartment building erected on the South Side of Chicago in 1891, which had long since deteriorated into a slum. The second half of the book contains individual poems, among which the most noteworthy are “Boy Breaking Glass” and “Malcolm X.” Brooks also wrote a book for children, Bronzeville Boys and Girls (1956). The autobiographical Report from Part One(1972) was an assemblage of personal memoirs, interviews, and letters; it was followed, though much later, byReport from Part Two (1996). Her other works include Primer for Blacks (1980), Young Poet's Primer (1980), To Disembark (1981), The Near-Johannesburg Boy, and Other Poems (1986), Blacks (1987), Winnie (1988), andChildren Coming Home (1991).

In 1985–86 Brooks was Library of Congress consultant in poetry (now poet laureate consultant in poetry), and in 1989 she received a lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts. She became a professor of English at Chicago State University in 1990, a position she held until her death. (Source)

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Cut It Out! Recognizing Influential Black Women During Black History Month

Elizabeth Catlett

(April 15, 1915 - )

Elizabeth Catlett is an African American sculptor and painter who expressed the struggles of her people using her amazing talent. Her art pieces helped to bring a social consciousness to the world of art.

"She was born in Washington D.C. She passed a competitive exam for entry to the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1932, but was refused into its school of art due to her race. She therefore entered Howard University and studied for one year under Lois Mailou Jones to become a textile designer. She changed her major to painting when she discovered what concepts and messages could be conveyed in this form of art. The concepts which were conveyed in the Mexican Muralists were the turning point in her dedication to Socialist expressive art. Upon graduation with honors from Howard University in 1937, Elizabeth Catlett went on to the State University of Iowa. At IOWA, she studied under Grant Wood (artist of American Gothic and Daughters of Revolution). Wood encouraged her "to paint what we knew most intimately." Catlett was the first student to receive a M.F.A. degree from the State University of Iowa in 1940. Her master's thesis, MOTHER AND CHILD, won the AMERICAN NEGRO EXHIBITION in Chicago in 1940. (more)

Source, Source

Art pieces by Elizabeth Catlett:

Mother and Child

Sharecropper

New Generation

Two Generations

Three Women of America

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Cut It Out! Recognizing Influential Black Women During Black History Month

Assata Shakur

(January 16, 1947 - )

Assata Shakur (aka JoAnne Deborah Byron Chesimard) is a political activist and former member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army; who, after being convicted of the murder of NJ State Trooper, Werner Foerster, escaped from a NJ prison and is now living in exile in Cuba.

Here is Assata's story, in her own words:

"My name is Assata ("she who struggles") Shakur ("the thankful one"), and I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I was left with no other choice than to flee from the political repression, racism and violence that dominate the US government's policy towards people of color. I am an ex political prisoner, and I have been living in exile in Cuba since 1984. I have been a political activist most of my life, and although the U.S. government has done everything in its power to criminalize me, I am not a criminal, nor have I ever been one. In the 1960s, I participated in various struggles: the black liberation movement, the student rights movement, and the movement to end the war in Vietnam. I joined the Black Panther Party. By 1969 the Black Panther Party had become the number one organization targeted by the FBI's COINTELPRO program. because the Black Panther Party demanded the total liberation of black people, J. Edgar Hoover called it "greatest threat to the internal security of the country" and vowed to destroy it and its leaders and activists.

Political Prisoner to Exiled
On May 2, 1973 I, along with Zayd Malik Shakur and Sundiata Acoli were stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike, supposedly for a "faulty tail light."Sundiata Acoli got out of the car to determine why we were stopped. Zayd and I remained in the car. State trooper Harper then came to the car, opened the door and began to question us. Because we were black, and riding in a car with Vermont license plates, he claimed he became "suspicious." He then drew his gun, pointed it at us, and told us to put our hands up in the air, in front of us, where he could see them. I complied and in a split second, there was a sound that came from outside the car, there was a sudden movement, and I was shot once with my arms held up in the air, and then once again from the back. Zayd Malik Shakur was later killed, trooper Werner Forester was killed, and even though trooper Harper admitted that he shot and killed Zayd Malik Shakur, under the New Jersey felony murder law, I was charged with killing both Zayd Malik Shakur, who was my closest friend and comrade, and charged in the death of trooper Forester. Never in my life have I felt such grief. Zayd had vowed to protect me, and to help me to get to a safe place, and it was clear that he had lost his life, trying to protect both me and Sundiata. Although he was also unarmed, and the gun that killed trooper Forester was found under Zayd’s leg, Sundiata Acoli, who was captured later, was also charged with both deaths. Neither Sundiata Acoli nor I ever received a fair trial. We were both convicted in the news media way before our trials. No news media was ever permitted to interview us, although the New Jersey police and the FBI fed stories to the press on a daily basis. In 1977, I was convicted by an all- white jury and sentenced to life plus 33 years in prison. In 1979, fearing that I would be murdered in prison, and knowing that I would never receive any justice, I was liberated from prison, aided by committed comrades who understood the depths of the injustices in my case, and who were also extremely fearful for my life." (more)

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Cut It Out! Recognizing Influential Black Women During Black History Month

Cathy Hughes

(April 22, 1947 - )

Cathy Hughes is a radio and television personality, business executive, and entrepreneur.

"[She] is the founder and chairperson of Radio One, Inc., the largest African American owned and operated broadcast-company in the nation. Radio One is the first African American company in radio history to dominate several major markets simultaneously and possesses the first woman-owned radio station to rank #1 in any major market. In 1995, Radio One purchased WKYS in Washington, D.C. for $40 million — the largest transaction between two Black companies in broadcasting history.

In May of 1999, Cathy Hughes and her son Alfred Liggins (President & CEO) took their company public. Hughes made history again by becoming the first African American woman with a company on the stock exchange. Radio One’s value is currently in excess of $2 billion dollars. In 2000, Black Enterprise named Radio One, “Company of the Year”, Fortune rated it one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For”, and Radio One was inducted into the Maryland Business Hall of Fame.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, she moved to Washington, D.C. in 1971 and became a lecturer in the newly established School of Communications at Howard University. She entered radio in 1973 as general sales manager at WHUR, Howard University Radio, increasing station revenue from $250,000 to $3 million in her first year." (more)

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The Danger of The Single Story by Chimamanda Adiche

Every so often, we choose to use space on our blog to post issues, topics, etc. that are extremely noteworthy. The following video of Novelist Chimamanda Adichie, is an important piece where she talks about "The Danger of a Single Story." In this particular video, Adichie talks about how:

"Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. [She] tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding."

Adichie's talk was completely on point as she touched upon how we are in danger of creating one story to define who we are, as well as others. The talk was empowering and we especially appreciated these following quotes from her speech:

"All of these stories make me who I am, but to insist on only these negative stories is to flatten my experience and to overlook the many other stories that form me."

"The single story creates stereotypes and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue but, that they are incomplete. They make one story become the whole story."

"Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people but stories can also repair that broken dignity."

Destroy Stereotypes!!

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