ART HEALS: TAKE A WALK IN MY SHOES

A traveling exhibit by clients at 180 - TURNING LIVES AROUND, INC.

180 Turning Lives Around is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to ending domestic and sexual violence in our community. The shoes represent each clients journey. The process of creating these shoes has touched many women, men, and children. Telling their story of abuse is one of the first “steps” in healing from the devastating effects of domestic violence. Art provides a safe and non-threatening way for survivors to speak out and release the pain that has been part of their lives. These shoes are their way to break this silence and share their story with you in a safe and confidential way.

The hope is that the powerful messages in this exhibit raise awareness of the affects of domestic violence and abuse within our community.

The SHOES will arrive at CARLA GIZZI on DECEMBER 3rd with a WINE AND CHEESE RECEPTION. All are welcomed, please bring a friend. The exhibit will be on display till December 10th. A portion of all sales at Carla Gizzi will be donated to 180....so SHOP FOR THE CAUSE!!

LOOKING FOR EXTRA HOLIDAY CASH?? Do you have any old or outdated jewelry just taking up space in your jewelry box? Earth Treasures will be present to buy your old Gold and Silver jewelry at its weight value and you will be paid CASH ON THE SPOT! Earth Treasures will also donate a portion of each transaction to 180.

Don't miss it!!!

Step Up—Help create awareness for domestic violence in Monmouth County.

Step Out —Visit this powerful exhibit.

THURSDAY DECEMBER 3rd.

Carla Gizzi - Jewelry & Home Decor

169 West Front Street ~ Red Bank NJ 07701

732-450-0122

DISNEY OFFERS REFUNDS ON BABY EINSTEIN VIDEOS

The Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood is Victorious! Their successful campaign to persuade Disney to give refunds to parents who purchased Baby Einstein videos has become a huge international story. Media coverage includes a front page story in The New York Times ("No Genius in Your Crib? Get a Refund"); stories on Good Morning America and the CBS Evening News; and articles in hundreds of newspapers throughout the United States and Canada. Parents in other countries are now demanding their money back.

Many, including | THE EYE |, have virally spread news about commercialism for babies and children—on blogs, Twitter and Facebook. Screen time for babies and more recently Disney's deceptive marketing has become a hot topic, especially on parenting blogs and listservs. Pediatricians are also planning to distribute information about the refunds in their offices.

The message? Baby Einstein DVDs are not educational. The New York Times called the refunds "a tacit admission that [Baby Einstein] did not increase infant intellect." Now parents will be able to rely on honest information and solid research - not marketing hype - when making important decisions about if and when to let their youngest and most vulnerable children watch screen media. One mom said, "It's great that parents will now have one less thing to worry about. No longer will they feel the pressure to have their babies watch so-called educational videos or risk falling behind."

For a refund go to CCFC's website where there are instructions for how to get a refund, more about CCFC's campaign, a fact sheet on baby videos, and links to all the press coverage.

RAISE ME UP LAUNCHES FOSTER CARE MEDIA CAMPAIGN

A lot of people are under the impression that in order to impact the life of a child in foster care, they have to become a foster parent. Raise Me Up wants to show people how easy it is to dramatically change the life of a vulnerable child in foster care with just a small commitment of time. Get the facts.

The message of the Raise Me Up campaign is: “You don’t have to raise a foster child to raise them up. You just have to raise your hand and say you’ll help.” New Jerseyans will be invited to visit the Raise Me Up Web site through powerful television, radio and transit advertisements where they will learn about a variety of ways to

volunteer and help youth across the state and right in their own community.

Goals of the Raise Me Up campaign:

• Strengthen families and improve the lives of millions of children.

• Inspire action and engagement.

• Focus people on the real challenges facing children in foster care.

Hear personal stories

GET INVOLVED.

Find opportunities to volunteer in New Jersey.

Find opportunities nationwide

For more information contact:

New Jersey Department of Children and Families

Office of Communications and Legislation

222 South Warren Street – 3rd Floor

P.O. Box 729

Trenton, NJ 08625

Phone: 609-262-0422

Fax: 609-777-0443

Email: Communications@dcf.state.nj.us

Web site: www.nj.gov/dcf

FOR THE LOVE OF READING

Reading Rainbow, a children's reading show hosted by LeVar Burton ended broadcast on Friday, August 28, 2009 due to lack of funding after a 26 year run on PBS. The multi Emmy award-winning show had not produced any new episodes in the past three years due to a $210,000 per episode price tag. Not only was funding support unavailable to renew the show's broadcast rights, through research the Corporation for Public Broadcasting found that a shift in educational television programming had taken place in recent years. Reading Rainbow's concentration was initially based on teaching kids why to read as opposed to teaching them how to read through phonetics and spelling. This recent policy change seems to have smothered the idea of inspiring children to read just for the love of it as well as for the sake of enjoying and understanding storytelling. The affiliated Reading Rainbow website will also cease production in December. The program was popular for use in the classroom setting and will continue to be available for screening in schools.

SCHOLASTIC SELLING KIDS ON TRINKETS, NOT BOOKS

For many of us, Scholastic's book clubs played an important role in our childhood by providing the opportunity to purchase low-cost, high-quality literature in schools. We remember the excitement of thumbing through the monthly flyers to make our selections and the thrill when our orders arrived.

But something has changed. Scholastic's book clubs have become a Trojan horse for marketing toys, trinkets, and electronic media-many of which promote popular brands. A review by Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) of Scholastic's elementary and middle school book clubs found that one-third of the items for sale are either not books or are books packaged with other items such as jewelry and toys.

CCFC reviewed every item in Scholastic's 2008 monthly Lucky (for grades 2-3) and Arrow (grades 4-6) book club flyers. Of the items advertised, 14% were not books, including the M&M's Kart Racing Wii videogame; a remote control car; the American Idol event planner; ("Track this season of American Idol"); the Princess Room Alarm ("A princess needs her privacy!"); a wireless controller for the PS2 gaming system; a make-your-own flip flops kit ("hang out at the pool in style"); and the Monopoly® SpongeBob SquarePants™ Edition computer game. An additional 19% of the items were books that were marketed with additional toys, gadgets, or jewelry. For example, the book Get Rich Quick is sold with a dollar-shaped money clip ("to hold all your new cash!"); the Friends 4 Ever Style Pack consists of a book and two lip gloss rings; and Hannah Montana: Seeing Green comes with a guitar pick bracelet.

The opportunity to sell directly to children in schools is not a right. It's a privilege - and an extremely profitable one at that. Last year, Scholastic's book clubs generated $336.7 million in revenue.

It's bad enough that so many of the books sold by Scholastic are de-facto promotions for media properties like High School Musical and SpongeBob. But there's no justification for marketing an M&M videogame or lip gloss in elementary schools. Teachers should not be enlisted as sales agents for products that have little or no educational value and compete with books for children's attention and families' limited resources. If Scholastic wants to maintain their unique commercial access to young students, they need to do better.

In the past Scholastic listened to the concerns of parents. When 5,000 wrote to them demanding that they stop promoting the highly sexualized Bratz brand in schools, they discontinued their Bratz line. It's time to consider the danger of Scholastic's marketing and promotion practices in schools and voice your concerns.

Visit the CCFC website to let Scholastic know it's time to return to selling books - and only books - through their in-school book clubs.

THE CASE FOR MAKE BELIEVE

Dr. Susan Linn, the co- founder and Director of the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood has recently released The Case for Make Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World.

In The Case for Make Believe, Linn demonstrates that, while creative play is crucial to human development, nurturing make believe in modern day America is not only countercultural - it's a threat to corporate profits.

At the heart of the book are gripping stories of children at home, at school, and in a therapist's office using make-believe to grapple with real-life issues from entering kindergarten to the death of a sibling. In an age when toys promote TV shows, dress-up means Disney costumes, and parents believe Baby Einstein is educational, Linn lays out the inextricable links between play, creativity, and health, showing us how and why we need to protect our children from corporations that aim to limit their imaginations.

Listen to Dr. Susan Linn on the Leonard Lopate Show.

Get a signed copy with your $75 donation to the organization.
Or just buy the book.