“What do you think of this ad from Air New Zealand?”

The question, and a YouTube link, came from my friend Bebhinn Kelly, Chief Fashionista at www.hellwafashion.com, and a regular supplier of juicy, thought-provoking and sometimes controversial material for AWR.

I clicked. I watched. I pondered. I considered blogging. I demurred.

That was earlier this week. This morning, I got my daily

One year ago this week violence erupted once again in Palestine. It continued unabated for weeks. Hundreds of people were killed. Thousands of homes were destroyed. Millions of lives were impacted.

Today, one year later, the living conditions in Palestine continue to be disastrous. It’s an ongoing tragedy.

And yet, there’s also hope.

Many women, in particular, refuse to accept the status

Susan notes: US journalist, author, blogger and self-confessed “dove” Sara Davidson is in Afghanistan researching the views of Afghan women on the US military presence in their country, and more. Her blog posts are fascinating. In this, the fifth to date, she documents some of the paradoxical views she and her colleagues have discovered. Links to Davidson's blog and website are at the end of this

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Twenty-nine-year-old communications professional and blogger Sara Refai has a Masters Degree in Social Psychology, and has worked with political analysis companies, conflict resolution organisations, and PR agencies over the last six years.   As part of the Lebanese diaspora, she has lived in both the Middle East and the West, where she's studied and learned about different cultures and how

The auditorium fell dead silent when Dr. Sunitha Krishnan stepped onto the stage at TED India on November 6. And Tedsters around the world, watching via a live stream webcast, were transfixed – or at least we were in Dubai!

The diminutive, soft-spoken, anti-trafficking crusader, who was gang-raped as a teenager, began her talk with the heart-wrenching stories of three children – Pranitha,

Journalist and camerawoman Margaret Moth is one of a kind.

No doubt. No argument. And definitely no tears.

Born Margaret Wilson, Moth changed her last name after asking herself what stopped her from having her own moniker rather than inheriting her father’s, or adopting a husband’s.

Her choice was inspired, she says, by a friend’s Tiger Moth plane, from which she frequently sky dived as

I was going to start this blog entry with a caveat.

But then I decided it probably wouldn’t do much good – someone somewhere is bound to be offended by what follows. So there are no apologies here. I’ll seek forgiveness later if required.

Before I go any further, a word of advice: whoever you are, wherever you are, register for the next and closest TEDx event within reach (the worldwide

My Mom has Alzheimer's.

She doesn't know what time of the day it is, let alone the day of the week, or the month.

Sometimes she doesn't know even know the season of the year. Or what she just ate. Or the name of her cat.

One day soon she won't know who I am either.

But even in her demented state of mind, she knows it's wrong to torture people, she knows that sometimes you

Dr. Janet Rose Wojtalik has seven powerful “secrets” to share about parenting girls – secrets that will help today’s moms and dads create the strong, independent, amazing women of the future.

One of three children born to working-class parents, Wojtalik says she herself struggled to break free from negative, gender-biased parental and societal messages, and the fear of failure, to eventually