Melissa Harris-Perry is a New Editor

NORTHRIDGE, CA–Melissa Harris-Perry took a new job as an editor for Elle.com last month.

Washington Times

 

Elle.com has a new editor-at-large. Melissa Harris-Perry took the position last Tuesday. She is a former professor, former host of an MSNBC show and the founder of  the Anna Julia Cooper Center in North Carolina. Perri left MSNBC earlier this year amid controversy over her role with the cable channel.

Her new platform will mainly focus on the intersection race, gender and politics. She says the new position is an opportunity to combine her expertise as a scholar and commitments as a public intellectual.

 

Though Perry’s-main platform will be about race, gender, and politics she will give some attention  to culture, community, family, and fashion.

She says she wants to tell the overlooked stories of minority women and girls.Perry taught political science at multiple universities including The University of Chicago and Princeton.She created the AJC Center in 2011. The goal of the AJC Center is to create a positive dialogue about race and gender by providing research on these topics.

Four years ago- she was hired as the host of the Melissa Harris-Perry Show on MSNBC. She left MSNBC because she was upset over the assignments the network was giving her. She wanted to do more political coverage. Perry wrote a snarky email to her staff, which soon became public. In the email she said that she was not a token or a mammy for the network. She resigned shortly thereafter.

By Angel Johnson

Contributions from The Washington Times, Elle.com and NPR

Picture, The Washington Times

EDUCATE YOURSELF

The History Maker

MSNBC Parts Ways With Program Host Melissa Harris-Perry

MSNBC Replaces Melissa Harris-Perry With Joy Reid

 

Obama Speaks at the Sewall-Belmont House

PALO  ALTO, CA- President Obama honored a pioneer in women’s rights at today’s equal payday ceremony at the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum.

osizneias.com

President Obama used a newly dedicated monument as a platform to push for equal pay. Sewall-Belmont House or the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument is the former headquarters for the National Woman’s Party. Obama compared the pay gap to the women’s suffrage movement.

The monument is named after former activist Alva Belmont. She played a huge role in the women’s suffrage movement. In 1913 Belmont established the National Woman’s Party, which helped get the 19th amendment passed. Belmont–Paul’s National Equality Monument is where women wrote more than 600 legal documents.

During his speech Obama made a push for a female president. He didn’t mention whether he is in support of Hillary Clinton but, he believes a female should be elected President one day.

He doesn’t know how long it will take for a female to get elected in office, but he believes it will soon. Obama says he wants young boys and girls to come to the monument to learn how hard women have fought for equality. He looks forward to the day when people will be shocked that there was even a pay gap.

Obama also pushed the Paycheck Fairness Act. The act will protect employers from retaliation if they want to talk about a pay raise. A recent report shows women have to work twice as hard to make what a man made in 2015. Obama says the pay gap will close eventually as the country progresses.

The Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument is the ninth national monument that honors women. It is the  second monument to recognize a female pioneer in women’s rights.

The first was the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument, which was dedicated in 2013. The National Woman’s Party will be 100 years old in June.

By Angel Johnson

Contributions made by The Washington Post and The Washington Times

EDUCATE YOURSELF

Men Write About Equal Pay

How D.C. is Closing the Pay Gap

History of Alice Paul

 

 

FitBit Petition

PALO ALTO, CA- For the past few months FitBit has been causing controversy at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There is  petition challenging the school’s FitBit policy.

 

                      Fierce Mobile Health care

Kaitlin Irwin a self-esteem blogger for Proud2Bme, created the petition when she heard about the university’s decision, which infringes on privacy she believes.

The University has always had a high standard for physical fitness.The new policy requires that all incoming freshmen wear FitBit bracelets to track their steps.
When Oral Roberts first made headlines–the National Eating Disorder Awareness organization created the hashtag don’t track me.

Freshmen are supposed to get in 10-thousand steps a day and will be graded at the end of the semester.Some Oral Roberts students say there are other ways to exercise.

They say bike riding or swimming is just as effective as FitBit. In the past the university required all incoming freshmen to document their physical activity manually.

Oral Roberts says they are not singling out freshmen because FitBit is offered to all students. Anyone who attends Oral Roberts is required to take a fitness class every semester.

The university says this is the next step because of technology and it emphasizes their whole-person education program. The program advocates for physical, emotional and spiritual health.

Irwin says, people have different body types and it’s absurd to grade students on their fitness. NEDA fully supports the petition because they believe FitBit can affect freshmen’s self-esteem.

They say grading students on their physical fitness may cause them to over exercise. Incoming freshmen have a lot to balance socially and academically.

In a recent NEDA survey found about five percent of teens have a pre-existing eating disorder before they enter college. During NEDAwareness week last February, the organization found 10-million men and 20-million women struggle with eating disorders.NEDA just wants people to be comfortable in their bodies.

 

By Angel Johnson

Contributions from The Mighty and Fierce Mobile Healthcare

Photo, FitBit

EDUCATE YOURSELF

FitBit Review

Making The Most of Your FitBit

Apple vs. FitBit…

 

Michelle Obama’s Making Music

NORTHRIDGE, CA- Michelle Obama continues to advocate for young girls across the globe through music.

Baller Alert

First Lady Michelle Obama dropped a new single on ITunes Tuesday night.

The song is called, “This Is For My Girls” and it promotes education.

It was released the day before Obama was set to speak as the Keynote at the South By South West Music Festival.

Though she didn’t sing on the track it features well known artists like Missy Elliott and Kelly Clarkson.

Obama created this song to coincide with her campaign “Let Girls Learn.”

It’s an initiative to help more 60,000,000 girls around the world get an education.

She says she wants girls to be able follow their dreams and make an impact in their communities. Many of the celebrities on the song tweeted Obama their support.

This isn’t the first song the First Lady made. Last year she recorded a rap song to inspire young people to go to college. The song was called, “Go To College.” She also created a parody to the song “Turn Down For What.” Aside from singing she created the youth oriented campaign called “Let’s Move.” The program encouraged youth to be active and stay fit.

She partnered with Beyonce to create a remix to Beyonce’s song “Get Me Bodied.”

At the South By South West event she was asked once again if she would run for president.

She said she won’t run because she wants to spend time with her daughters.

She’ll also have more time to get involved in her various projects after her duties as the First Lady are over.

She says she can get more work done without all of the cameras and the constraints that come with being First Lady. All proceeds from her new song will go to the Let Girls Learn program.

By Angel Johnson

Contributions made by: Entertainment Tonight.

Photo: Baller Alert

EDUCATE YOURSELF

Let Girls Learn

2 Yrs. Later Terror Group Still Holds Nigerian Schoolgirls

Michelle Obama Promotes Education in Harlem