IWLA Journal

INSPIRED WOMEN OF LOS ANGELES IS AN ONLINE COMMUNITY FACILITATING SUPPORT & CREATIVE COLLABORATION THROUGH ART, ACTIVISM & AWARENESS. _______________________________ Want to join our community? Email us + follow us on Instagram & Twitter. + Artists + Events + Directory + Interviews + Inspiration Want to submit to our blog? Click here. #INSPIREDWOMENOFLA _______________________________ The word "inspired" was originally used for a divine or supernatural being, in the sense ‘impart a truth or idea to someone.’ It means, "to fill (someone) with the urge or ability to do or feel something, especially to do something creative." _______________________________

[itsnotjustpms]

[jillianleedy]

[geekgirlintraining]

This is an important message.

[micdotcom]

Teen Vogue took on white supremacy over Teen Choice Awards. We spoke to their editor about the decision.

Also, here are the donation links to the medical fund, UVA black student alliance and BLM chapter.

[richincolor]

In light of what happened recently in Charlottesville, here are ways you can help courtesy of Sara Benincasa on Twitter. Donate to local non-profits, signal boost, and show your support for the Black Student Alliance at University of Virginia. If you have spare money, support the Black Student Alliance or the counter protestor legal fund.

[destinyrush]

A hero without a cape

[nyshadidntbreakit]

Her name is Theresa Kachindamoto, and she is a senior chief - political leader of a region with a population of about 900,000 people.

She didn’t run for election; she was appointed, without her knowledge, while she was living and working in a completely different part of the country. She just received a call one day telling her to come back to her childhood home, because she was in charge now.

So she did; and when she arrived, she discovered widespread sexual abuse of children. She browbeat 50 uncooperative local leaders into accepting her decision to annul all the marriages. She then fired four of them when they continued to allow children to be married off in their areas. She still faces widespread opposition from parents who consider it their right to sexually abuse their daughters if they want to; but Kachindamoto very evidently does not give a fuck, and is continuing to use political and legal means to protect children in the region.

She’s not just an anonymous do-gooder; she’s an effective political leader despite incredibly difficult circumstances. Theresa Kachindamoto.

[desiremyblack]

(via TumbleOn)

[aki-anyway]

When someone says these days sexism and misogyny don’t exist anymore show them this.

[profeminist]

Rahim Kanani: As president and CEO of CARE USA, how would you characterize the global trend in awareness, advocacy and action towards the social, political and economic empowerment of women and girls around the world?

Helene Gayle: I guess you could say the stars have aligned. It’s as if many of the world’s biggest and smartest thinkers have come to the same conclusion almost at once: you can’t marginalize more than half of the globe’s population and expect to see any meaningful solutions to the problems that ail the world. Perhaps it’s because we’re all faced with the same facts: 60 percent of the world’s one billion poorest people are female; women work two-thirds of working hours but earn only 10 percent of the income; nearly two thirds of children out of school in the world are girls.

No matter how you measure it, women and girls bear the brunt of poverty. But it’s also clear that women are also our greatest hope for ending it. We at CARE have long believed that if you change the life of a girl or woman, you don’t just change that individual, you change her family and then her community. By doing so, you begin to turn those grim statistics around. Consider that for every year of education you give a girl or woman, she’s more likely to have good health, to give birth to a child who survives and to send that child to school. Investing early, when that woman-to-be is a girl, only amplifies the impact, unlocking potential earlier in life and yielding greater returns for her and everyone around her.

The stars really shouldn’t have to align for girls and women to realize their full potential. They deserve solutions that endure, something much closer to a constellation.“

Read the interview here: Helene Gayle, President and CEO of CARE USA, on Empowering Women and Girls Worldwide

[detroitlib]

Dorothy Ashby    (August 6, 1930 – April 13, 1986)

Jazz harpist and composer, born Dorothy Jeanne Thompson.

Dorothy Thompson grew up around music in Detroit where her father, guitarist Wiley Thompson, often brought home fellow jazz musicians. Even as a young girl, she would provide support and background to their music by playing the piano. She attended Cass Technical High School. While in high school she played a number of instruments (including the saxophone and string bass) before coming upon the harp.

She attended Wayne State University in Detroit where she studied piano and music education. After she graduated, she began playing the piano in the jazz scene in Detroit, though by 1952 she had made the harp her main instrument. At first her fellow jazz musicians were resistant to the idea of adding the harp, which they perceived as an instrument of classical music and somewhat ethereal in sound in jazz performances. So Ashby overcame their initial resistance and built support for the harp as a jazz instrument by organizing free shows and playing at dances and weddings with her trio.  During the 1960s, she also had her own radio show in Detroit.

In the 1960s Dorothy Ashby, together with her husband, formed a theatrical group to produce plays that would be relevant to the African American community of Detroit. This production group went by several names depending on the theater production.

They created a series of theatrical musical plays that Dorothy and John Ashby produced together as this theatrical company, the Ashby Players. In the case of most of the plays, John Ashby wrote the scripts and Dorothy Ashby wrote the music and lyrics to all the songs in the plays. Dorothy Ashby also played harp and piano on the soundtracks to all of her plays. (Wikipedia)

View of Dorothy Ashby playing harp at reception for American Institute of Architects. Handwritten on back: “Dorothy Ashby. Reception for Amer. Inst. of Architects, 6-20-71.”

Courtesy of the E. Azalia Hackley Collection of African Americans in the Performing Arts, Detroit Public Library

[olearypoetry]

[ithelpstodream]

[smartassjen]

Didn’t realize someone had posted this on Tumblr. Cool.

As exhausting as all the blowback I’ve gotten for this (trans women are remarkable able to unify misogynists and radical feminists in their disgust of us), I’ve been really touched by how many people have reached out to say this argument has changed their mind on the subject.

I’m going to keep talking about it until it stops happening, or trans women cease being murdered for triggering male anxieties.

[paul-simons-muse-deactivated202]

Hey this is super important. Thanks for having the bravery to say it.

[racingwest]

reblog guys this is important

[lucasthefandomboy]

@thefingerfuckingfemalefury

[thefingerfuckingfemalefury]

^ REBLOGGING FOR TRUTH

[dickensign]

[daughterofscotland]

See the source for the whole comic, it’s brilliant.

[selenas]

“I am not free while any woman is unfree. Even if her shackles are different from my own.” - Audre Lorde

[outrageauxbonnesmoeurs]

[missbanana21-deactivated2023021]

just-grasping-at-straws :

love-as-thou-wilt :

outrageauxbonnesmoeurs :

Vintage women being badass. You’re welcome.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking ladies were demure and silent in the past. 

I would like more female characters being this open

[funkpunkandrollmuhfucka2]

The Supremes recording at Hitsville in Detroit, 1965

[gregorygalloway]

The 11th studio album by Aretha Franklin was released on 10 March 1967.

In her label debut for Atlantic records, the 24-year-old Franklin delivered a blend of “rocking soul, dreamy pop and reflective testifying” (Robert Christgau wrote in the Village Voice a the time) that went to #2 on the Billboard charts but received bland critical reviews at the time. Rolling Stone was critical of the production and playing of seasoned studio musicians, including guitarists Chips Moman and Jimmy Johnson, keyboardist Spooner Oldham, and bassist Tommy Cogbill. In 2002, Rolling Stone placed the album at #1 on their “Women in Rock: 50 Essential Albums” list.

I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You was the 2nd of 4 albums released by Franklin in 1967.

[plannedparenthood]

#TechStandsWithPP: A message from Tumblr’s CEO and Planned Parenthood’s president

When Planned Parenthood was founded a century ago, it was illegal to even hand out information about birth control. Thanks to generations of brave women and men who formed secret societies, challenged unjust laws, and started Planned Parenthood health centers in their own towns, we’ve come a long way since. Millions of people, regardless of income or insurance coverage, now have access to birth control, cancer screenings, and STI testing and treatment. Each year, Planned Parenthood proudly provides health information to nearly 70 million people online and 1 million people in classrooms and communities across the country. Today, America is at a 30-year low in unintended pregnancy and a historic low in teen pregnancy.

But all of that progress is a reminder of how much women and men in America now stand to lose. Extreme politicians at every level of government are doing everything they can to block millions of people from coming to Planned Parenthood, deny access to affordable health care, and roll back women’s rights over their own bodies. We are facing a national health disaster, especially in our most vulnerable communities.

That’s why we’re calling on the tech industry to join Tumblr in standing with Planned Parenthood and standing up for access to health care.

A 100-year-old health care provider and the platform powering 335 million blogs may seem like an unlikely pair. But over the last few years, Tumblr and Planned Parenthood have teamed up to provide information and organize communities in support of reproductive rights. We’re proud of all we’ve accomplished together and with overwhelming support from the Tumblr community.

Technology has become instrumental in the fight for fairness and equality across a range of issues. It has the power to influence public debate, mobilize communities, and — most importantly — offer creative solutions to help people receive better care, no matter where they live or who they are. Finally, the tech industry owes its success to the brilliant people it employs and the communities it serves — and we cannot take their health for granted.

It won’t be easy, but doing nothing isn’t an option when lives are at stake. We need to work together to break down barriers to care and information for the millions of people desperate to take ownership of their sexual and reproductive health, and tackle disparities in health care access and outcomes.

Now is the time to be vocal, visible, and active in your support of Planned Parenthood — starting with the #TechStandsWithPP hashtag to share stories about how Planned Parenthood has touched your life, or the life of anyone you know. Call on your co-workers and peers to do the same.

In health care, education, and nearly every industry, we’re doing things that would have been unthinkable a century ago. Think of all we can achieve together in the decades to come if we combine the creativity, innovation, and energy of the tech community with Planned Parenthood’s commitment to helping people everywhere — no matter what.

— David Karp + Cecile Richards

[adamgoldberg]

women’s march la / cinestill.