On January 28, 1985 Lionel Richie, Quincy Jones and the late Michael Jackson put together (literally) a Band of Brothers (and Sisters) to perform the now iconic single “We are the World” for African famine relief. The record raised more than $30 million and set a precedent for celebrity involvement in charitable causes.
Last evening new band of brothers and sisters, some of whom were not even born when the original single was produced, convened in the same studio as their predecessors. Together they sang to celebrate the Silver Anniversary of the single by recording a 2010 version to raise funds for the victims of earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
The 100-strong chorus crooned for over six hours and included such artists as: Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Tony Bennett, Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Drake, LL Cool J, and will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas, as well as Justin Bieber, Wyclef Jean, Pink, Jeff Bridges, Vince Vaughn, Usher, Akon, T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Toni Braxton, Snoop Dogg and Josh Groban among others.
Recognizing that times are tough for all—we at hireheels.com ask you to support these efforts and the people of Haiti any way possible. The video for the single will be premiered on February 12, 2010 on NBC at the opening of the Vancouver Olympic games. Information on purchasing the single, which is still in production, is forthcoming. We’ll keep you posted.
Remember HireHeelers… You and Me are the collective WE—We are the World—so let’s stand tall (as we have so many times before). Together we can affect REAL change, protect those who are less fortunate and speak for those who don’t have the power or ability to speak for themselves.
Photo credit: “We Are The World 25 Years for Haiti” recording session held at Jim Henson Studios in Hollywood, California. Credit: Kevin Mazur / WireImage.
“This whole Initiative is in the WE business,” Bill Clinton exclaimed at the conclusion of the 5th Clinton Global Initiative, the most brilliant marriage of philanthropy and capitalism ever staged. Somehow I suspect Bill’s philosophy is largely inspired by his own very personal concept of “WE” – his other half…of the Clinton brand – Hillary.
He further charmed: “Thank you for giving me the first chance I’ve had to see Hillary…Most of what I do today, I’ve learned from her.”
Wow. Just wow.
They say that marriage is only as strong as its weakest partner. For the Clintons’ very public partnership, it would seem that getting through the roughest of patches required one to summon enough strength for two. Maybe we’re all a bit too comfortable weighing in on the Clinton marriage (the media have certainly claimed it as eminent domain), but what I saw the other day in a very public forum was a very private moment.
We gals have been told that by allowing a man to believe he is in charge…well, that is the art of being a woman. How nice to see that art appreciated. Dare anyone question why Bill Clinton fought so hard for Hillary during her presidential run, they need only see what he so plainly showed in a way that only Bill Clinton can communicate. We all felt it.
I understand why everyone wants to touch Bill Clinton. I met Bill a couple of years ago at a fairly intimate 4th of July fundraiser for his wife Hillary at Terry McAuliffe’s home. Upon arrival, the President couldn’t even escape the walkway to reach the party, due to the collective weight of the instant cluster of folk in tow. Showing no trace of annoyance, he graciously indulged as many as he could, much to the chagrin of an unusually polite Secret Service detail.
With a worn copy of My Life in-hand (and no make-up on-face) I slinked through the all-male cluster to reach the President, intent on engaging him beyond a 15-second, gushing handshake. Thankfully, I succeeded.
I asked Mr. Clinton how ordinary citizens could play a more active role in idea-sharing events such as the Renaissance Weekends he and Hillary so inspiringly referenced in their apres White House memoirs. As I defended my circle of close-talking space, he revealed the release of his brand new book Giving and convincingly told a mesmerized crowd it only takes one person to change the world. It was his intensity on the topic that not only took over the moment but struck a cord with me. He elaborated how those Renaissance weekends inspired the creation of Clinton Global Initiative (then approaching its 3rd year) and how they would soon stream CGI over the internet so anyone who wanted to share and participate, could. Those five minutes changed my life.
That evening I was convinced that Hillary and Bill Clinton would become the next leaders of the free world. The truth is, they never stopped and still are.
To say that spending a week at the Clinton Global Initiative was inspiring simply doesn’t grab the gravitas of the experience. Indeed, it has taken me over a week to process and collect my thoughts on the entire journey, from receiving word of my approved credentials to my reflective flight home.
Perched just feet away from Bill’s mind-blowing brilliance for four consecutive days has its ups and downs though. Think Viagra for your brain…sent into overdrive with no “off” button…stimulating and exhausting.
The Heels of the Hire variety are curiously clacking
in the halls of The 5th Annual Clinton Global
Initiative (CGI) in New York City to feast on a buffet
of knowledge, innovation and wisdom imparted by
more than 60 current and former heads of state and
private sector moguls. Think: E-Harmony for NGOs,
CEOs and ‘E’GOs on viagra, power-courting in
hopes of break-through sex…errr, sorry, I meant
breakout sessions.
Indeed Princess finds herself embedded in the very
press corps that once kicked Hillary Clinton to the
curb during the 2008 election. But I digress. This
year HireHeels is covering the entire event so that we
plug in to the very issues affecting Women around
the globe.
If you’ve been following our journey, you’re well
aware of the highs and lows… from slapping Chris
Matthews live on MSNBC’s Hardball to debating Fox’
s Neil Cavuto, we’ll take any pot-holed terrain that
threatens to destroy our sister-heels…not only here
in America’s power-chick capital, but also in places as
remote as Rwanda and Congo.
Rumor has it that CGI is exploring an ALL-CHICK
CGI. Some may call that reverse sexism but after
scanning the sea of empty seats at today’s “Investing
in Women and Girls” Opening Plenary session, it is
clear to me that this topic, to use Bill’s words earlier,
isn’t always sexy enough to take root. Have no fear…
HireHeels is here…with more to come on W.E.E.
(Women’s Economic Empowerment) and others
issues.
Meanwhile, you can plug into CGI’s vibrant vibe via
the streaming video (or pre-recorded sessions) in
Shoe-Tube. Princess is far from satiatied but will try
to share as much blister-free commentary as possible
with splashing, tweeting and posting along the way.
We’re sure you ladies are familiar with that tasty treat of delectable dishin’—”Daily Candy.” The richly packed newsletter that pops into sassy and savvy gals’ email boxes all over the world each weekday. Recently its male counterpart “Urban Daddy,” a similarly snarky (although slightly chauvinistic), informational popped up on the e-scene. The boys wrote a beauty last Friday that we heels felt compelled to share (natch, with our customarily cheeky commentary)…
BHAHAHAHAHAHHHHAAAAAAAAA…
Incredibly entertaining… These “Urban Daddy” guys are the “Man.” Even more entertaining than the diatribe—is their handle… They call themselves the “Bastards.” The self-important, egomaniacal… Pardon us, we digress.
Note to All DUDES (or Would-be Duds) Everywhere:
WE GOT YOUR NUMBER PAL…
Some of us just choose to let you think we don’t notice all of your stupid behavioral flaws—but don’t think for a nanosecond that we’re so into you… that behaving like:
An ass
A non-committal, paranoid, wack job
A self-absorbed clod
A dickhead
A mean-spirited S.O.B.
An abominable Bad Boy
is all at acceptable.
Note to the Bastards or “Terds” (as Quentin T. would say)…Women don’t need a stupid $1 app (although one is available) to remember a man’s important STATS… If we don’t “remember” you on your
birthday—it’s not because we forgot the date, it’s because we don’t want you for one…
To all of you GOOD MEN out there, and yes there are a few—we’ll remember you on your birthday every year… And that secret place where we put our tongue (yes, the one that makes your eyes roll and toes curl), we’ll remember that often too!
On this Labor Day, 9.7, Americans are “celebrating” the worst jobless rate since 1982 — our shoe budget is dashed for sure. While the boys of Goldman Sachs were Net-Jetting to St. Tropez blowing their bonuses, the rest of us have been relegated to the clearance rack (praying for an 80% off sale @ Saks), and are expected to do a lot more work for considerably less money. Is joblessness becoming the trend in America?
It’s not even that we have a high jobless rate —which coincidentally is also “9.7″—it’s that The Land of the Free has a lot of free time on its hands and is also working for free! So, are those of us who are willing to work, willing to do so for half of what they used to earn, or even for free?
Sadly, YES!
And by the way, for those of you who think we’ve been musing through mykonos or ambling along the amalfi coast this summer. Not so much. These hireheelers have been workin’ it — heel-toein’ it to the canyons of NYC, through the canals of Amsterdam and (teetering) on the cobblestones of Beantown… nor did these politistas have an appetite for the healthcare buffet, town brawls or green tea parties.
So what’s next?
Well, short of digging a “Gold”man (who’s preferably not short LOL), these gals are going to labor on and celebrate our enterpreneurial spirit… hopefully inspiring you savvy hireheelers along the way.
ON CONSIGNMENT: Amy Siskind is the founder of New Agenda, a women’s group which sprung up during the 2008 presidential election in defense of women’s rights.
Ah, the hacks that killed the women’s movement are back at it again. Yesterday, a young woman writer named Michelle Goldberg wrote a piece in The Daily Beast titled The Re-invention of Hillary Clinton, in which Michelle writes that she has apparently discovered (my emphasis added):
A year ago today, Hillary Clinton ended her presidential campaign-to the relief of many. But even her critics must admit that as secretary of State, she’s been a feminist hero to behold.
To the relief of who Michelle? You?
Yes – Michelle goes on (my emphasis again):
One year ago today, Hillary Clinton ended her presidential campaign, much to the relief of millions of ardent Barack Obama supporters like me. Throughout the primaries, I had been irritated and then outraged by those who argued feminism obliged women to back her… So when she made her rousing and gracious speech in the National Building Museum, conceding defeat but celebrating "18 million cracks" in that highest, hardest glass ceiling," I was too furious to really hear her.
Now, if you click on the "irritated" link above, you’ll be taken to an article the Michelle wrote titled "3 A.M. For Feminism" after the Democratic National Committee Rules Committee on May 31, 2008. The DNC RBC event is significant because, amongst other things, WomenCount, PUMA and Just Say No Deal were all born. Michelle, however, a self proclaimed "ardent Obama supporter" was not happy. Michelle interviewed me for her 3 A.M. article that day in DC after my speech: I’m Not Your Sweetie Howard Dean in which I described my disappointment with the DNC for turning a blind eye to the sexism directly at Hillary Clinton. Michelle, an ardent Obama supporter, didn’t like what I had to say. Now, let me pause for a moment and say this: if Michelle Goldberg is ever attacked in a sexist way, The New Agenda will come to her defense. This is what we do!We speak out against sexism directly at any and all women. That said, women like Michelle are exactly the reason why feminist has fallen on hard times to begin with. You see, Michelle is part of the clique, and if you don’t meet her criteria, then well, apparently you are not a feminist. Let me explain.
As many of you know, The New Agenda, along with many other organizations and blogs, spoke out about the Ms. Magazine Cover featuring President Obama. As a result of our speaking out, we were interviewed on CNN (see below) and as well, I wrote a piece
for The Daily Beast titled How Feminism Became the F-Word.
Ms. Magazine and its owner did not like that we were speaking out, and so, started a smear campaign. In an email blast to a listserve of feminist writers, as associate editor as Ms. sent around a note: The cover is generating some backlash online from Hillary supporters Michelle Goldberg was apparently part of this listserve – here was her response:
I quoted the woman who wrote about this for The Daily Beast months ago in my TNR piece about Hillary holdouts. She was cheering for John McCain. That’s not what a feminist looks like, as far as I’m concerned… (and apparently Michelle’s comment upset enough people on this listserve that my inbox got five copies.)
So, let’s see Michelle. First Hillary Clinton was not a feminist – oh until today when you discovered that she was. And any woman who is either a Republican or votes that way in any election is not a feminist either. Oh and I am not a feminist either since I spoke out about sexism in the DNC (sexism only counts if the Republicans do it). Who then Michelle is a feminist in your book?
You see this is the reason that feminism fell on tough times the membership ranks have dwindled in recent years. For Michelle, if you don’t fit every criteria on her list, then apparently, you are not good enough to be part of whatever she believes she is speaking for. But Michelle, you don’t speak for us. You speak for what has been and no longer is. You see, your clique is so small, you have become a self-contained unit of few. The future looks bright and frankly quite different. We call it Big Tent Feminism – it’s inclusive, it’s revolutionary, and it’s truly the way forward. So maybe Michelle, now that you are no longer too “furious to hear”, you can evolve to the next generation of the women’s movement and join us. Just like Motel 6, we’ll leave the light on!
P.S.: Just one side note: Michelle Goldberg actually had her publisher reach out to me in December 2008 to preview her upcoming book. I guess back then,
I was still a feminist!
Slouched in my cushy, cracked leather Jetblue seat, I welcomed the announcement to turn off all wireless devices and pulled out some saved newspaper sections (yes, I still read print!). I landed on a recent New York Times business feature on AOL-Time Warner’s split. Wasn’t that marriage just eight years ago? Then again, eight years is an eternity in technology and now, quite possibly, real-life marriage.
Having just spent the past two weeks in my beloved Massachusetts flying between Beantown and Nantucket and back again, I had a rare opportunity to cover a lot of social mileage. And what I came away with (aside from a few nasty hangovers) left me a bit shell-shocked. My long-standing social circles from the late 90’s were largely intact, but, those weddings I attended or the ones I didn’t get invited to… D.I.V.O.R.C.E.
Then it got me thinking, can modern marriage survive modern technology? More specifically: Can couples remain afloat in a swirling sea of social networking sites?
Think back to how you felt when your desktop speakers blared: You’ve Got Mail! You did have AOL, didn’t you? Heck, just about everyone on the planet had an AOL account. And who didn’t find themselves lurking in a chatroom or two? The never-truly-hip AOL was eventually tainted with the “creep factor” (which has also seeped into Craigslist and a few other sites). Advice to those of you clinging to your @aol.com address: It’s time for change.
Today however we are über-SMS: Socially-Media-Sophisticated. It’s all a gal can do to text, blog and tweet while getting pedicured during her lunch break – with some texts reading more like a Danielle Steel novel. Has our finetuning of online social networking skills awoken others parts of us that, well, were asleep? If so, could that explain the increased divorce rate?
Apparently, yes. The Guardian recently reported that "cyber affairs" are being cited with greater frequency in disruptions of real marriages. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace are, according to divorce lawyers, the online enablers.
Lately a handful of married exes and colleagues tracked me down to giddily remind me of their Facebook presence. Here they go again, casting their fishing rods! It’s as if somehow these social networking sites have awarded them a clean slate, granting them a license to, dare I say, stray. I wonder how their wives would feel about their chatting up former gal-pals online? Then again, social networking sites are a boon for desperate housewives.
There’s no question that being part of a supportive, dynamic duo is the preferred way to go. But how do you manage ‘it’ while now having to manage all of ‘them’ (the ‘them’ being all of your new social network pals). Don’t expect any marital wisdom from this princess. I just discovered my less-than-significant other not only has a blog, but belongs to multiple social networks. Hmmm… he ain’t sending me cupcakes.
Maybe social media will run its course and land the same fate as AOL. And maybe marriage, as in staying married, will make a comeback. I will ponder these and other profound thoughts as I prepare to tweet this post.
Unlike Gucci Gal, I’m no horsie gal, but couldn’t giddy up fast enough to post on this wonderfully inspiring story.
In one of the most amazing competitions ever witnessed, Rachel Alexandra outran her macho, co-contending colts to win the 134th Preakness Stakes yesterday at Pimlico Race Track. Spectactors watched in awe as Alexandra snagged the lead when she was halfway to the the finish.
Hardly a quirky racehorse name, “Rachel Alexandra” was named after the granddaughter of her original owner. But he didn’t deem her worthy to compete with the ‘boys.’ It was her new owner, Jess Jackson of the famed Kendall-Jackson Vineyard, who knew she had the moxy to get the done!
This spectacularly beautiful filly deserves more than just few headlines. Though always a fave among her sister-fillies, Rachel Alexandra’s Preakness win was even grander because she was set against the ‘boys.’ But what this makes her victory so special is that she is the first filly to win the race since 1924, four years after women were given their voting rights.
How symbolic!
Indeed, the ladies were the winners yesterday, not just because so many at Pimlico placed their bets on Rachel Alexander, but because the win was earned by the best contender. Rachel Alexandra reminded us that girls do rule!
Now if we could only we could take the White House!
The other night I rested my toes after a week’s worth of viral networking (of the wine, not swine variety) to take in the new beltway-based thriller, State Of Play. Even for you politistas and conspiratistas, I give it an ‘on demand’ rating — ’twill remind you why you liked Russell Crowe and why Ben’s acting roles should be limited to the pop-corny, fluffy stuff.
Without giving too much of the flick away, State of Play revolves around the extra-marital affair of a republican congressman, played by Affleck, and the incestuous ties to his former college roomie, a WashPo-esqe investigative reporter played by Crowe. So when I woke up on Monday morning to the revelation that John Edwards’ closest aides were plotting a secret plan to derail his candidacy if he won, I found my own convenient tie.
I know what you’re thinking: Does anyone really care about John Edwards, his cowardly candidacy or his penchant for a certain leopard-donning, docu-making-dominatrix?
Indeed, John Edwards’ campaign was nothing more than a massive waste of volunteer energy, voter enthusiasm and donor money. CNN’sEd Rollins added his brilliant opinion yesterday: "I think he hurt the party." Party? Try a certain female’s candidacy!
But, it was the immeasurable waste of media airtime devoted to the massively-hyped (and hence coveted) John Edwards endorsement that was the cardinal sin, among others, of last year’s election. Indeed, The Obama campaign had a stake in not only Edwards’ staying in the race, but also dropping out.
But even as early as Iowa, Hillary Clinton could have conceivably wooed Edwards’ loyalists and won the Caucus, truly giving her, not Obama, the “MO.”
Who knows who knew what and when they knew it…though it’s clear many knew ‘IT,’ including Elizabeth Edwards. Mr. Edwards should have taken his wife’s sage advice by NOT seeking a second run for the presidency.
Regardless, this hireheeler calls the entire Edwards ‘affair’ a “State of Unfair Play!”
