Our Book Club

Another thing I've decided for the ladies to do is start a book club. I would like to read Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain by Portia de Rossi and The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Unbearable Lightness is a novel about a girl who suffer through anorexia and deals with issues teenage girls face now (such as being pressured to be exactly as the women portrayed in the media look like). Persepolis is a graphic novel about a girl growing up in Iran. It'll really help the Ladies see what a girl their age went through in another country. The only obstacle I see is getting money to buy the books for the girls. However, as long as we have a goal, we can figure out how to accomplish it.
I would really like for the girls to read these books in order to get different perspectives of the world. Unbearable Lightness is written by actress Portia de Rossi--I really suggest reading the description of the book on Amazon. I honestly cannot wait to read it. Persepolis I've already read, but I would definitely be willing to read it more than once. It's about an Iranian girl growing up during the Islamic Revolution. Both books are memoirs, but Persepolis is written in comic strips. I really loved Persepolis and I really felt like I could relate to the girl in the novel even though she lived in a different place and at a different time. I hope the ladies really learn from both books.

Learning Seminars

So, my first decision for the Ladies of Chinquapin is to have learning seminars that I feel will truly benefit the girls. We should have four of these seminars and each will focus on teaching about one of the following: Self Esteem, Sex, Success and Etiquette. I want to focus on these topics and have the ladies informed on how to have a higher self esteem, use protection, strive for their goals and act during formal events. Learning these skills are essential to their futures.

Self esteem is always a big issue with girls my age. I have problems with my self esteem all the time, and I know it will be a big help for girls to learn how to deal with their self esteem. Sex is a topic that many girls might be uncomfortable talking about, but it's very important that girls my age learn about using protection and having safe sex.

Not only do I want the girls to learn about personal issues, but about issues they may face in the future--more professional topics. In one of my previous posts I had a TEDTalk by Sheryl Sandberg and she discusses three obstacles women in the workplace face and how to overcome them. Our seminar on success should be similar to this. Another important factor of the professional world is networking. I know that I have no idea how to network, behave at formal events, or dress for the workplace. The etiquette session should address all of these things.

Now that it's decided what our informative seminars will be about, the next step is to find someone to lead these sessions. I would like to get in contact with someone that would be willing to volunteer to lead these seminars. However, if we can't find anyone, then Ale and I would be willing to try to lead them. The important thing, is that the ladies learn how to overcome any issues they are dealing with or might deal with and that they get questions answered here because they might not be able to talk to their parents about it.