Host Your Own Salon!

(Image by Anna Niestroj)

Suited to the occasion of the upcoming Girls on Web Society meeting in Berlin in December, Carola Muysers has written a post on how to host a successful salon* (Wie gründe ich erfolgreich einen Salon? Tipps aus erster Hand).

Amongst other things, she recommends you settle on a certain topic, name your event, and hold a round of introductions. Being friendly and curious is equally important to encourage diversity and  controversial points of view in discussions.

So, if you can't make it to our meeting in Berlin, why not host your own bloggers' get-together in your region? Free online services like Doodle offer coordinating tools that make finding a date and time at everyone's convenience easy as pie. And any small party is better than no party, right?

* Wondering what a salon might be? Wikipedia has the answer either in English or German.

 Danielle Depicciotto

Stacey Kent - Raconte Moi

The Independent on The Gender Gap in Upbringing

"I do think girls are more vulnerable in our society - all the more reason for me to make my daughters feel empowered by treating them the same as I would boys."

Helga found an interesting article describing how mothers, sometimes unintentionally, treat their sons and daughters differently. PinkStinks is mentioned, too. (Via Mädchenmannschaft)

Demo in Munich: My Body, My Choice!

 

(Via Mädchenblog)

✒ Typo Competition ✎

Almost two weeks to go still! More info at Design*Sponge.

Cold Landscapes @ The Palpable Obscure

Anastasia has uploaded Cold Landscapes, a beautiful new photo collection.

What makes "A Good Wife"?

Egyptian blogger Eman Hashim tears apart a TV series called The Good Wife, starring Julianna Margulies, in an article asking What's so good about this “Good Wife”? Eman touches upon issues like single partenting and societal expectations of female behaviour, and would surely appreciate your comments.

Tagesspiegel Diversity Scholarship

The German daily Tagesspiegel and the European School of Management are offering a full-tuition MBA scholarship for applicants from Germany who are first or second generation immigrants to the country:  

As managers who come from diverse backgrounds are still under-represented in German industry, ESMT aims to support talented young people with a migrant background on their way to leadership positions.

Applicants have to meet certain requirements, write an essay demonstrating that they have approached the idea of diversity in their career or private lives, and submit an online application before 15 November 2010.

For German Readers: Migrantinnen in Führungspositionen

Heute bittet die FH Bielefeld um Unterstützung des Forschungsprojektes „Migrantinnen in Führungspositionen“, das vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) gefördert wird: Es werden noch Frauen mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund in Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft sowie in Selbständigkeit gesucht, die an der Onlineumfrage des Projekts teilnehmen. Alle Daten werden wie üblich "rein statistisch und anonym" ausgewertet. Freiwillige vor!

Mariam of Frau mit Bart

Today's guest on GCB is Mariam of Frau mit Bart ["Bearded Woman"], who caught my attention when she was introduced by Helga of the Mädchenmannschaft last August. 

Follow the jump below to find out why Mariam started blogging, what life has been like since she's started to let her beard grow, and why a certain amount of readers is important to keep blogging.

For German Readers: Axel Springer Preis für junge Journalisten

Du bist Journalist/in und nicht älter als 33? Bestens, dann kannst Du Dich nämlich noch bis zum 10. Januar 2011 um den Axel Springer Preis für junge Journalisten bewerben. Ausgezeichnet werden Beiträge in den Kategorien Internet (!), Print, Fernsehen und Hörfunk. Teilnehmen lohnt sich: Es warten Geldpreise im Gesamtwert von 54.000€. Viel Erfolg!

D.I.Y. Foreign Aid

Elaine, a friend of mine working in American politics, alerted me to a New York Times article entitled "D.I.Y. Foreign-Aid Revolution". In it, Nicholas D. Kristof, co-author of the book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide introduces women of all ages, who have accomplished extraordinary achievements for communities all around the world - often making immense personal sacrifices. One of the women portrayed is Maggie Doyne, 23, who extended her gap year indefinitely and - instead of going to college - founded her own school and orphanage for Nepalese children. On Maggies blog, I found the video of a presentation she gave, letting us in on her motivation, progress, and aspirations. Other projects portrayed in the article include Elisabeth Scharpf's initiative to provide sanitary pads to women as to curb absenteeism at work or school during menstrual periods (Sustainable Health Enterprises or SHE Innovates Blog), or Lisa Shannon, who started Run for Congo Women, an NGO raising money for women suffering from war and rape in eastern Congo.

For German Readers: Wer liebt ihre Vagina?

Wer's noch nicht auf dem Mädchenblog oder bei der Mädchenmannschaft gesehen hat:

Entdecker Danilola sucht die Urheberin dieser netten Berliner Streetart-Aktion. Kann jemand helfen?

Swap Your Clothes Online @ Kleiderkreisel

Fr. Jona&son wrote an interesting post on a new German clothes swapping platform called "Kleiderkreisel". It was modelled after a similar Lithuanian concept, and registration and use of the service are free. Very interesting! 

Kiersten Essenpreis of Twaggies

A while back, I stumbled upon Kiersten and Twaggies on Twitter. The idea is simple, but clever: Twaggies illustrates Tweets.

Follow the jump below to find out which other blogs Kiersten maintains, what kind of topics get covered on Twaggies, and why focusing on the negative aspects of blogging might just leave you... dead or something.

Lykke Li - Live

My Choice is Not a Crime!

In Queensland, as in other Australian states and territories, women and doctors can be tried under 19th century criminal codes and face years of imprisonment for choosing an abortion. These laws have already seen women seeking abortions after sexual assault turned away from public hospitals, and left doctors fearing imprisonment for providing advice and treatment.  Abortion has to be dealt with in the health code, not the criminal code! 

Support the Australian National Petition for Choice in their efforts to legalize abortion by signing their online petition today.  
(Via Mädchenblog)

For German Readers: Reise in die Vergangenheit

Die transsexuelle Svenja erinnert sich in einem rührenden Post an ihre erste große Liebe Dian, die sie im Sommer 2010 nach dreißig Jahren wiedersah...

Watch What You Watch

...Only why is everyone in the video made up like they are?

Either way: Don't thoughtlessly copy famous people - think for yourselves! 

More info at watchwhatyouwatch.org.
 

For German Readers: "Tief im Herzen ist jeder ein Integrationsverweigerer"

Scientist and blogger Elke Brüns wrote an article for the German daily Frankfurter Rundschau. In it, she discusses the 'symbolic universe' of Berlin-Neukölln and asks whether we all aren't intergration deniers at heart. Accordingly, she entitled the article "Tief im Herzen ist jeder ein Integrationsverweigerer".

Blog Action Day: WATER!

As promised, I am participating in today's WATER initiative by introducing to you Alexandra Cousteau, granddaughter of world famous explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. 

I first heard of her in the summer of 2008, when I was interning with CNN International in London. Producer Abi Moore (one of the minds behind the PinkStinks campaign) and director Georgi Banks-Davies had the idea of  featuring  Alexandra on Principal Voices, a show portraying leading experts in climate change and energy.

Alexandra runs both her own blog Blue Legacy and Twitter account, where she informs about critical water issues. Her goal is to inspire people to take action in meaningful ways: By saving water, by raising awareness, and by participating in regional efforts to preserve local watersheds.

Alexandra herself is setting a good example: Currently, she and her team are on a 14,500-mile journey across North America to investigate water issues “in the backyard” of one of the world’s leading economies. Check out her photo collection to learn more about that most recent trip.

Julia Stelzner of juliastelzner.de

By way of exception, I'm introducing to you a second fashion-arts-culture blog in ten days: political scientist Julia Stelzner's. Like Anna of Kalinka², Julia is writing on design-related issues for a living: Working as a copywriter during daytime, Julia is spending her evenings charging her blog with clothes and culinary delights. Sounds good to you?

Just follow the jump below to learn more!

(Picture taken from postsecret.)

Are Bloggers Pimpled and Bald?

And, if so, would it matter? Andrew Marr of the BBC obviously got something wrong when he said that "a lot of bloggers seem to be socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed, young men sitting in their mother's basements and ranting." He went on about how "the so-called citizen journalism is the spewings and rantings of very drunk people late at night." If, like me, you disagree, why don't you send an e-mail to his office, setting the record straight? Mine read:

Dear Mr. Marr,

I think you got something wrong when you said many bloggers were "socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed, young men sitting in their mother's basements and ranting". In fact, there are lots of female bloggers, too, and quite a few of us are pretty. Please see for yourself:

http://girlsblogtoo.blogspot.com/search/label/Blogger%20Portrait%20Series

Best regards from Berlin, where I'm sitting at my very own desk - as opposed to: in my mother's basement.

Annina Luzie Schmid

Feel free to use, alter, copy and paste! 
(Source.)

For German Readers: Annina bei Radio Fritz über den #YMS2010

Last Saturday, the gorgeous Lili Masuhr of Radio Fritz asked me a couple of questions regarding the Young Media Summit for a radio show called "Trackback". Like the title suggests, it deals with all things web-related. My interview is about seven minutes long and in German - hope you guys will like it!

Wer wenig Zeit hat, spult am besten gleich zu Minute 15.17 vor, da geht's los. ;-)

For German Readers: 11 Fragen an Jana Mänz

Remeber German blogger Jana Mänz? She answered another eleven interview questions revolving around photography here.

Eveline Exner of Küchentanz

Today, please meet Eveline Exner of Küchentanz, an exquisite food blog that goes beyond tasty recipes. 

Follow the jump below to find out why Eveline likes her blog to be uncomfortable sometimes, why she has never accepted advertising offers, and to read her advice on what not to do when blogging.

Facebook, Handbags, Breast Cancer, and Sex

Apparently, October is breast cancer awareness month. I had no idea such a thing existed until I received a message asking me to announce in my Facebook status where I like [to put] my purse when I get home. The word purse was to be replaced with the word it. Already, statuses like "I like it on the kitchen table" or "I like it behind my door" were popping up everywhere.

Said message was mailed out to women only. It explained how the initiative was modelled after similar previous campaigns. Last year's task, for example, asked female users to give away the colour of their underwear in the name of breast cancer - in order to make "men wonder for days what is with the colors and make it to the news"...

Facebook, Handtaschen, Brustkrebs und Sex (Deutsch)

Nach dem Sprung gibt es die deutsche Version meines englischen Originalartikels zur gegenwärtigen Brustkrebs-Status-Aktion auf Facebook. Kommentare willkommen!

Tegan & Sara - Walking with a Ghost

Ava's Transatlantic Green Salon

On 7 October 2010, Ava's Green Salon, a blog-based Berlin-American initiative for sustainability, will open its doors for the first time. American political scientist Steven Hill and Hans-Josef Fell, energy spokesperson of the German green party, will kick off a series of events bringing together experts, activists, and artists to discuss their ideas. Topic of the launch night is "Europe Energized?". Follow the jump below for a brief interview with Isabel Cole, the mastermind behind the project.

#YMS2010 - Day 3

Picture by Tarek Amr

Very much to my surprise, I was asked to sit on the podium during the presentation of our Young Media Summit 2010 results at Cairo University yesterday afternoon. Wow.

The question directed at me specifically was whether social media like Facebook or Twitter could contribute to intercultural dialogue. In groups, we had worked on variations of the topic in the morning, and had come to the following conclusions*:

Anna Eimerl of Kalinka²

Today's blogger portrait introduces Anna Eimerl, editor of hipidy-hip style and fashion blog Kalinka².

Follow the jump below if you don't know a) who Oksana Robski is, b) what kind of photos Anna prefers to use or c) how to handle below the belt online discussions...

#YMS2010 - Day 2

Picture by Osama Romoh

Today we finally got to discuss what we came to discuss: Blogging! We started with group work: Three tables, three moderators, three topics:

What are your reasons for Blogging?
Is "Blogging" a Profession? and
Who are your readers?

I was moderator of the profession group, which meant...

#YMS2010 - Day 1

After a pleasingly uneventful flight from Berlin to Cairo, Tessa, Julia, Markus and I safely landed in Egypt last night. Not knowing, of course, that thanks to local traffic and belated Stefan and Hardy, it would take us another three hours to get to our hotel. But we did, and my decision to go to bed straight away proved dead right - sitting in the conference room all day today, getting to know each other while tweeting, blogging, debating and listening to presenters and translators was pretty exhausting. And while now the others are swimming some rounds in one of Cairo's largest swimming pools, I am in my hotel room, typing this...

Young Media Summit 2010: Cairo, Here We Come!

I was lucky enough to have been invited as a participant in the first ever Young Media Summit, which will take place in Cairo, Egypt, from 2 - 4 October 2010. Over three days, fellow bloggers and myself will debate on "Orient and Occident on the World Wide Web": Is blogging the same in Germany and the Arab world? Can bloggers contribute to intercultural exchange? With the help of interpreters, we are hoping to find valuable answers to these and other questions. On Monday, we will present and discuss our findings during a public event at Cairo University. I will try and post regular updates from the conference until then. For starters, you might also want to read the German introductory posts about our trip by my colleagues Teresa of Flannel Apparel and Stefan of Ruhrbarone.

The Young Media Summit is organized by Deutsche Welle’s DW-Akademie and the Deutschland-Zentrum Kairo, and is being funded by the German Foreign Office. It is meant to be the first in a series of annual summits held to facilitate exchange and networking among young media professionals from the Arab world and Germany.