Giulia:
Katie Halper
February 11, 2008 | 8:50 pm EST
Our second installation of the TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is here give you the very best of Katie, Nicole, Giulia, Gina and Kerry! More blogs means more to love this Valentine’s Day week, and more social action means a healthier and happier world for everyone. Check out our most popular posts of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites.
Katie:
5 Ways to Take Action and Get Action On Valentine’s Day
Top 10 Guilt-Free Valentine’s Day Jewelry Gifts: Show Your Valentine You Have a Heart
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Nicole:
Kiva: Microlending to Change Lives
Top 10 New Releases to Inspire Social Change
Alicia Keys Uses Grammys to Help Keep a Child Alive
V-Day Celebrates Its 10 Year Anniversary!
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Gina:
Top 10 Movie Characters That Make A Difference
Art As Politics In “The Silence Before Bach”
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Kerry:
Being in love with more than one person at the same time is risky business. Yet these 5 couples have it all: they are able to love more than one person without causing the broken hearts and dishes that often accompany polyamorous relationships. What’s their trick? They love each other AND the planet, human rights, and civil rights, and they take action to make the world a better place together. Because these lovebirds bring so much love to each other and the world, because their heart-felt hard work has won my heart, I’d like to give them a Valiant Valentine Award (VVA).
Today’s Valiant Valentine, which kicks off my 5-part Valentine’s week-long series, goes to a couple who has already received a few awards here and there, though none as prestigious as the VVA. She’s a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador who scored Academy Awards, and awards from Amnesty International and The Center for Constitutional Rights. He’s no small potatoes either, having won his own Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a Best actor “Prix” at Cannes.
This Valentine’s day, as I promised readers last week, you don’t have to choose between buying your loved one a diamond necklace made by enslaved children, or a hemp necklace made under humane conditions (probably in Berkeley). And if you’ve seen Blood Diamond, whose trailer is above, or Gem Slaves, or Congo’s Curse, both made by IRIN, I have a feeling you’re not going to want to taint your valentine with blood-made jewelry. So here is a list of 10 great Valentine’s Day jewelry gifts that will let you glitter guilt-free. Make sure you come back tomorrow to check out my next top 10 Valentines Gifts with Heart list. For now, let’s talk about jewelry, starting with the most affordable and working our way up:
If you love someone, you probably don’t want to give them a gift made under hateful conditions. Sadly, most common valentines day gifts– flowers, chocolate, and jewelry– are likely to involve child labor, child slavery, violence, human rights abuses and environmental degradation. But don’t worry. You don’t have to swear off of gift-giving. Nor do you have to give your valentine a handmade dream catcher, a hemp hacky sack or a recycled nalgene to say I love you guilt-free. Instead, say I love you– and children, and the earth, and workers– by buying fair trade chocolates, flowers, and jewelry. Buy something your valentine can really love you for. And come back next week for my valentine gifts with heart top 10 list.
by joining Chris Martin and other activists in calling on world leaders to make trade fair!
Monday night I fell asleep watching Millionaire Matchmaker on Bravo, the new show in which Patti Stanger, president of The Millionaires Club (sounds like a fake Highschool team, doesn’t it?) sets up hot women with rich men.
As Jezebel so perfectly explains it Stanger is hired by the men, she gives them makeovers, has them speak with therapists, has them meet with a stylist–anything it takes to give women at least one other reason to date these guys besides their bank accounts.
I think my favorite part of the show is how the captions for the men have their name and then below it the title “Millionaire.” No not doctor, not lawyer, not nice guy. MILLIONAIRE. These men have been twiddled down to what apparently matters most, the cash that burns a hole deep in their pockets yet that same cash cannot fill the hole deep in their hearts… (hey Bravo, feel free to use that tag line).
Stager’s essentially runs a casting agency which finds attractive women to play the role of a Millionaires trophy date. And plenty of men and women seem a-okay with that.
PLEASE check out Jezebel for a great clip in which Stanger discusses how the pool of female applicants aren’t hot enough (they’re only 7s, in her book), and then minutes later bitch about how men only care about looks. It’s a hilariously contradictory clip.
Whether you’re a millionaire or an unemployed, broke romantic looking for love, be careful when using dating services especially online. For tips on how to date online safely visit http://www.consumer.state.ny.us/pressreleases/2007/feb082007.htm
