my daughter - lena headey

Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones) wrote a beautiful blog post on Plan USA, a non-profit for the betterment and equality of girl's future around the globe. She writes about her hope for her new baby:

I am having a baby girl in six weeks. You have all been so lovely in your messages to me, and I thank you for that. 

My daughter will have freedom of choice. She will be free to dance, to sing, to be educated in the fields that spark her passion, to marry if she wants, to marry WHO she wants, to remain single, or to fall in love with another woman. She'll be able to wear what she wants, put on lipstick, and read books that spark debate and expand her mind.

She will be loved, protected, respected, and celebrated.  

All these things that should be, and will be, basic human rights, are a promise to my daughter. My humble request is that you give what you can and maybe - just maybe - we can bring about the change we all wish to see.

Human equality is one of my greatest passions the more I learn about the world. The conditions in which a child grows up, lives, and learns create the foundation for a healthy future. In order to get an education, she needs to go to school, without the fear of attack or failure. In order for her to be happy, she should be able to love whoever she wants, without feeling that she is wrong. When we build a community where children do not have to worry about these basic human essentials, they will have more freedom to discover and exercise their own passions.

I believe that the world is missing out on many girls' full potential.

Read Plan USA's article and donate here. Or make a difference for the child in your community, in any small way you can.

Terry Gross on living by herself

Last week Marc Maron did an outstanding interview with Fresh Air's Terry Gross. One of her lines that strike out to me was when she talked about leaving home when she was a teenager in the late 60's:

"You know what I need? You know what I really, really need? I need to live alone. I need to find out who I am - outside of a group, outside of a marriage. I was too young to be committed... and I need to know myself... And I think that a lot of women go through this. Coming of age, when I came of age, when I started college in 1968... it was kind of understood that you grow up, you get married, you have children, and even if you have a job, that's the trajectory. And like I said before, I knew I wanted a different life, and I knew at some point that to have that life I need to know who I was. And without picking up on what other people wanted of me, or asked of me, or projected on me, or any of that, and that required having some room totally by myself, which I never had in my life."  - Terry Gross 

Listen to the interview here.

ballet 422

I know very little about the ballet world, but watching Ballet 422 - a documentary about the birth of the 422nd ballet for the New York City Ballet - took me up-close to a place that was once mysterious and magical. The film took apart the pieces that creates a ballet and showed how Justin Peck, a talented, young choreographer pieced it together with tasteful vision. It's amazing to watch how an idea was conceived into the form of an iPhone video and pen and paper, then brought to life with dancers, costume, and music. Even just watching them work their way towards the premiere made me very nervous.

A great documentary that captures the creative process and bringing ideas to life.

Carey Mulligan in NYC

Carey Mulligan as a New Yorker is one of the cutest things you'll see today. Watch as she tries everything from Uber to street performers to SoulCycle...

Yosemite

A couple of weeks ago, my friends and I rented a cabin in the woods by the Yosemite Valley so we could do two days of hiking. We were hit with unexpected weather: cloudiness and snow on the first day, and then a complete turnaround with warm and sunny weather the next. But with the backdrop of the Yosemite Valley, seeing with the myriad of weather conditions allowed us to appreciate the valley in all of its form and beauty.

Images featuring Vernal Falls / Mirror Lake / Half Dome 
Lodging from airbnb