See Jane Do...

Top Twelve See Jane Do Stories of Extraordinary Women in 2009

"May the dreams of your past be the reality of your future"

In 2009 See Jane Do connected with everyday women who are fulfilling their dreams to create a better future for the planet and generations to come.  Despite a year of transition and change the women we met are consistent with their message; to persevere, to have hope, to connect with others, and to follow your passion.  

With over one hundred women we interviewed this year, we've shared our top twelve stories of everyday women who are doing extraordinary things for the planet and the lessons we learned from each of them.  We look forward to more stories and inspired action in 2010!

1.  Millions of people can come together peacefully to create change.

The See Jane Do team attended President Obama's inauguration and the Peace Ball in Washington D.C.  We also interviewed incredible women at the SYRCL's Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival

Extraordinary Jane's:  Woman's National Democratic Club, Multi-Racial book club, Rachel Barge of Campus in Power, Emma's Revolution, plus interviews with teachers, mothers, musicians, veterans, teen agers, soldiers, students, business owners, activists, and other concerned Americans.

2.  Renewing our relationship with food can also renew our community.

Extraordinary Jane's:  Wendy Van Wagner of In the Kitchen, Jo McProud of Riverhill Farm

3.  Sharing our stories can link generations and inspire a movement.

See Jane Do participated in Gather the Women's International Women's Day event.

Extraordinary Jane's:  Gather the Women and Jean Shinoda Bolen

4.  When you operate through your heart and passion, positive change is possible and others will join you.

Extraordinary Jane's:  Goldman Environmental Prize winners (four of which were women), Green Moms Carnival, Mable Yee, founder of Engage Her, Gloria Steinem  and Amy Goodman.

5.  I will not raise my child to kill another mother's child.

See Jane Do was invited to cover CODEPINK's annual mother's day peace event in Washington D.C.

Extraordinary Jane's: Medea Benjamin, Colonel Ann Wright, Iraq War Veteran and mother, Lindsey Cambpell, Women for Women Director in Afghanistan, Sweeta Nori, mother of Iraq Soldier, Cynthia Benjamin, Jodie Evans, actress and activist, Mimi Kennedy and many other incredible women.

6.  Our planet, our life, our health, our children are worth more than gold and coal.

See Jane Do features women who are taking planet earth off the market.  

Extraordinary Jane's:  Maria Gunnoe and Judy Bonds fighting Mountain Top Removal.  Lydia Olympic, tribal council member fighting open pit gold mining and preserving the largest salmon run.

7.  You're one click away from changing policy, sharing your story and connecting with community. 

See Jane Do attends BlogHer and features the pioneers of the online revolution.

Extraordinary Jane's:  BlogHer founders and Joan Blades, co-founder of MoveOn.org and MomsRising.org.

8.  The traditions of the past will support us in the future.  

Grandma Jane is rockin the world!   Standing up for conservation and peace these grandmothers are taking on multi-billion corporations to protect their health, the planet and their grandchildren.

Extraordinary Jane's:  Grandmothers for Peace, Alla Ivanovna Gafner and other participants of Pacific Environment.

9. We need to challenge assumptions that just because something has been done for many years (traditional school lunches), doesn't make it right.  One person has the power to create an impact (and kids love brown rice). 

We revisit school lunches that kids actually line up for and how the Slow Food movement can help.

Extraordinary Jane's:  Renegade Lunch Lady, Chef Ann Cooper, Aimee Retzler, Tania Carlone, and Erika Lesser, Director of Slow Food USA.

10.  With our purchase power we can change the world.

We featured women who are making the planet less trashy with less plastic.

Extraordinary Jane's:  Beth Terry of Fake Plastic Fish, activist and artist, Kathleen Egan, and educator Anna Cummins of Agalita.

11.  I want you to run for office!  Women might make up half the work force and half the population but we still don't have balanced leadership in the United States.

The United States is a long way from balanced leadership but we're half way to reaching the tipping point (30% representation is needed).  Numerous organizations have formed to train women to take the lead and run.

Extraordinary Jane's:  Marie Wilson, president and founder of The White House Project, Kristine Pagan, White House Project alumni and aspiring candidate, Mayor Reinette Senum, and Gloria Feldt, author, activist, and former CEO of Planned Parenthood.

12.  In order to have a healthy planet we must have healthy people.  

Women are taking their health into their own hands and putting the hope in healthcare.

Extraordinary Jane's:  Kim Robinson and Eileen Schnitger of Women's Health Specialists

Behind the Scenes with BlogHer Founders: How Blogging Works for Women

July 24th, 2009 kicks off the largest conference for women bloggers in the world.  Bloggers from all over are convening in Chicago to connect in real life including the See Jane Do team.  We went behind the scenes with BlogHer founders, Jory Des Jardins and Elisa Camahort Page to learn blogging basics and essentials, why blogging works for women, and the steps that led to this incredible online community for women.

This segment also includes everyday extraordinary bloggers:  Vanessa Smith, Rachel Barge, Anita Jackson, Stefania Pomponi Butler and Jane Gassner.

Click here to listen to the interview.  

Tweeting, Twurling and Blogging: Women Change the World with Social Media

As women, telling stories comes naturally to most of us.  We also know how to get the word out fast.  Incorporate social networking and the on-line movement and there's potential for a social change explosion. It seems women are starting to renew our communities and the planet at an extremely rapid pace with the support of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook in addition to women oriented organizations like BlogHer and MomsRising.org. 

In pursuit of the next episode of See Jane Do we have been extremely inspired by the incredible women we've met who are taking new media to a new level.  As mothers, we were thrilled to meet the "godmother of the on-line movement" (as her staff refers to her), Joan Blades.  You know Joan, she is the co-founder of MoveOn.org.  She wanted to provide a voice for women in the White House so several years ago she co-founded MomsRising.org.  MomsRising has created an on-line movement that is transforming issues often prevalent to women, families and caretakers including; health-care, family leave, fair wages, and childcare.  "With over 250,000 members MomsRising is creating change we can see", says staff member and mother Anita Jackson. 

I met Anita at the SCHIP celebration in Sacramento.  I spotted the MomsRising group in the ballroom immediately as Jackson was bouncing her adorable 4 month old daughter on her lap.  MomsRising circulates numerous petitions, one of which was for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), bringing health-care to 11 million children.  MomsRising members contributed 135,000 letters to support this program.  Jackson was thrilled, "creating change is one click away.  MomsRising makes it easy for women to have a voice and make a difference in policy that effects family, children, and caregivers".  See Jane Do will feature more on MomsRising in our upcoming episode on March 25th, 2009 on KVMR.

New media is a wonderful way to bring issues concerning women to the table for discussion and action.  I recently read about entrepreneur Sheila Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television and now co-owner of the Washington Mystics who is utilizing Twitter to create the first "Tweet-a-thon" according to the Washington Times.  Johnson produced the film A Powerful Noise which highlights the stories of three women who are persevering through severe living environments. 

Adrienne Washington reports that during the Tweet-a-thon "NCM Fathom will donate 10 cents for each Tweet - up to 50,000 Tweets - to CARE, which helps 65 million people in 70 countries become self-sufficient but focuses on women and children, who disproportionately suffer from poverty."  A Powerful Noise will premiere March 5th in theaters across the nation in celebration of International Women's Day on March 8th.

 

At See Jane Do we love a good story.   We want to the share the stories of everyday extraordinary women we've interviewed with as many people as possible, so... we've been getting friendly with Facebook.  According to iStrategy over half of the Facebook users are women.  And yes, we've taken to tweeting on twitter. 

 

We're always looking for new friends and followers.  How are you using social networks to create positive change?  Share with us at [email protected]. 

 

Elisa