Like me, you too may be a novice to the online world of Second Life. I was. In fact, I had never even heard of it until reading an article in Business 2.0 on the ‘virtual Rockefeller’ of this unreal real estate universe, Anshe Chung. 
Chung, whose real name is Ailin Graef, is a 33 year old Chinese woman who joined Second Life in 2004. While Chung won’t disclose how much money she makes from Second Life, CEO of Linden Lab, Philip Rosedale who runs Second Life estimates that Chung’s earnings are around $150K per year. ‘I make customers happy,’ Chung declares. Good for her. Is there such a thing as virtual President in the world of Second Life? Rosedale says, ‘She is the government.’ Maybe Chung’s already there.
Of all the recent articles about life/work balance, few have included the opinions of corporate men, tending instead to focus on balance from an exclusively female perspective. The 11.28 issue of Fortune, however, features ‘Get A Life’ an article by Jody Miller and Matt Miller which includes opinions from top male execs 
Howard Schultz, Bill George and David Neeleman. I was a Starbucks fan {tall, non-fat, sugar-free, caramel macchiato please} before this article but after reading Howard Schultz’s comment about having a ‘dialogue’ with employees who want to discuss the 24/7 workload, I felt good about supporting a company whose CEO is open to such ‘soft’ conversations like balance and employee satisfaction.
Miller & Miller do an exceptional job of bringing a current, male perspective (perfect for the predominantly male readership of Fortune) to the 24/7 work mentality. Their declaration early in the article that ‘…anyone who understands America knows that unless men want something, too, not much will change.’ serves as a powerful channel for the quest for greater balance in corporate America today. Equally refreshing is Fortune’s choice of this hot topic as a cover story, especially timely as families ready themselves for the holidays.
Girls age 9-15 from the South Shore (Mass) gather weekly for strength training and self-esteem building as part of the Teen Esteem program hosted by Body to Soul Fitness Inc. in Pembroke, MA. The girls participate in a 30-minute exercise class like yoga 
followed by a 45-minute workshop on topics such as anger management, media influence and peer pressure. The next session starts January 11. Kudos to the fabulous crew at Body and Soul for making a difference in the lives of young girls.
The November 14 issue of Fortune features the annual Most Powerful Women list with Martha Stewart at No. 21 (a return…she didn’t make the list in 2004) and ‘The Empress of Ebay’ Meg Whitman leading the list again at No. 1. There are a range of fresh, new faces (Mary Minneck of Coca-Cola; Ginni Rometty of IBM) along with some old-timers 
(Andrea Jung of Avon; Oprah Winfrey of Harpo) and some glaring losses (Carly Fiorina formerly of HP and Myrtle Potter of Genetech). It’s a terrific way to see who’s who in business and some details about their companies, who they are. This whole issue is chockful of fabulous articles like the cover story on Martha Stewart interview with Martha Stewart (featured on the cover: ‘I cannot be destroyed”) as well as a really interesting article on female management style by Janet Guyon (‘The Art of the Decision’). More from the entire issue.
The Job Market section of the Sunday Times featured a terrific article by Hillary Chura detailing the rise in opportunities for white collar parents (read: moms) who had taken time off to raise their children and were looking to return to the workplace. 
With the millions of baby boomers starting retirement toward the end of this decade, employers will be losing a huge percentage of their workforce. This is good news for moms who are planning to return to work after some time bringing up baby. Big business take notice! It would behoove all companies (not just non-profits and smaller organizations) to sit up and take notice of their star employees and make it easy for them to return to work after their time away. Strategies to keep those on-ramps open for moms (and there must be a few random dads) include keeping your network current; expanding your skillsets and including ‘strategic’ volunteer experience on your resume. Chura’s article is encouraging without sugar-coating the real challenges that continue to exist for parents who take a detour from their career. Well-worth the read.
Time has named the top 5 governors and 2 of them are women-Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas. Governorships are often stepping stone to The White House (think Reagan, Clinton) so an in-depth look at the top 5 as named by Time is timely. Read the full article here from The White House Project website. Kudos to Time for choosing to feature 2 prominent women.
The Connecticut section of the NYT reported Sunday that a house that Martha Stewart purchased will be the location for a new reality TV show which will feature six women from various backgrounds renovating the 100+ year old fixer-upper in Norwalk, CT. 
Stewart’s decision to turn this house into an opportunity for women who have less than she was doubtless influenced by the women who were her fellow inmates during her five month tenure at Alderson Federal Correction Institute. Regardless of the reason, the decision is a smart one on the part of Stewart. Insiders comment that Stewart is humbler, more down to earth and at greater ease with herself since leaving Alderson. Who can argue with decisions like this one as the result?
An article {The Coming Storm Over a Cancer Vaccine} in the October 31 issue of Fortune takes an in-depth look at Merck’s new cervical cancer vaccine. Christian conservatives fear that vaccinating a young girl against a future cancer whose virus (HPV) is transmitted, in most cases, through sexual intercourse will be taken as indirect approval of sexual activity. Instead, they advocate for abstinence programs. But cancer survivor Diane Kae offers some sage thoughts in the Fortune article, ‘No matter how chaste your daughters are, there is still a risk of them getting the disease. Why would you want them to go through that?’. Why indeed? Chastity aside, 1 out of 5 women are raped or suffer from some type of sexual or physical assault in their lifetime. The debate over this vaccine will be intense but for some of us, there is no question of the action that we might take for our own daughter. If there is something that could be done to prevent my future daughter from getting cancer, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
The Arts section of the November 8 issue of the NYT 
featured an article about the collection of writings by the late Marjorie Williams. Williams was a journalist who wrote for Vanity Fair and The Washington Post before her death from liver cancer earlier this year. Her book of writings, The Woman at the Washington Zoo, was edited by her husband, Timothy Noah and released this week by Public Affairs. A book that features Williams’ past columns as well as musings by her about her life and death struck me as especially authentic as I finished the concluding sentences of the article. Here’s an excerpt, “Whether the bad time I had just had lasted five days or five weeks, some inner voice eventually said-and still says-Never mind. Today is a ravishing day, and I will put on a short skirt and high heels and see how much of the future I can inhale.” If only we could all adopt that sunny attitude more often. Check back here for more detailed thoughts on the book after I’ve finished it.
Alessandra Stanley’s piece in More magazine (March 2005….a little dated I know but still relevant) laments the passing of strong female role models like Murphy Brown in favor of the dim-witted, vapid posse of Desperate Housewives. I agree. Where are the smart women of television yesteryear? They don’t all have to be Susan Dey and the smart, attractive women of LA Law 
but it would be a pleasant change of pace to have some semblance of intelligence in the women on today’s TV. With the exception of The Oprah Winfrey Show, of course, even the daytime talk shows have turned trashy. The Tyra Banks Show seems to be scraping the absolute bottom of the barrel as one episode recently features Ms. Banks offering her breasts to ‘an expert’ for groping to ‘prove’ that they really were her own. What??! The majority of television viewers are women. What am I missing here? Maybe I am the odd duck who would rather see a clever female detective in her 60’s investigating crime in Small Town, USA or even a Barnes-turned-Ewing working in retail just for her own sense of satisfaction. They are stronger, more intriguing role models than a scantily-clad Teri Hatcher coyly walking down a catwalk. What smart, sassy woman can rescue us from ourselves? Any ideas?
Hey Moms–how much of your self-esteem is tied up in the achievements or extra-curricular activities of your children? In Uncommon Confidence, we discuss the dangers of allowing too much of our self-esteem to be tied to other people’s lives, including the lives of our children or husband. Interestingly, an article in the November issue of Health magazine, discusses this trend. Today’s moms tend to over-parent–scheduling their child’s after-school activities until they resemble an actor’s PR calendar, encouraging children to continue lessons long past the point of desire, or rejecting a child’s authentic desire in lieu of a futile quest for perfection. 
This over-parenting trend has been very visible recently in books like Perfect Madness and The Mommy Myth so Health’s article is another timely reminder of how damaging it can be to tie in our own self-esteem with our child’s. Why is this damaging? When anyone’s self-esteem is too ensconced in one area {i.e. the housewife whose entire existence revolves around her husband} the emotional devastation that arrives when that one area is lost can overwhelmingly cripple someone, much more so than if their self-esteem had been healthily connected to different areas of their life (work, family, physical body, hobbies, etc.) instead of just one. Lesson? What’s good for you is also good for your child.
In Uncommon Confidence, we discuss how self-esteem is affected by all parts of who we are…including what we wear, how we look, what we eat. An article in the Orlando Sentinel reminds us of this as it details the creation of Dignity U Wear. Founder Henri Landwirth created Dignity U Wear five years ago to provide new clothes to those in need. We all know how fabulous we feel when we wear an outfit that fits us well and makes us look good. Landwirth knows the connection between clothes and dignity and to date has over 100 companies providing new clothing to this organization. Clothes are available for kids and adults alike. 
Jessa Heisey, Director of Development for The Children’s Home Society says it best when she notes, “There’s something about new clothing that makes you feel special.”. Well said.
I have had a jam-packed week and am now getting caught up on some news of note that I thought was worth a mention. So, forgive the recent lack of posts!
Maureen Dowd’s article in Sunday’s NYT, What’s a Modern Girl to Do?, offered plenty of thought-provoking questions about how women see themselves today. The commentary was amusing while also giving the reader plenty to ponder on such as who picks up the check (hint: one of Dowd’s girlfriends warns ‘If you offer and they accept, then it’s over’ Ouch!); what success means to women today in terms of relationships and family; 
the impact of women’s magazine on our perception of ourselves and our bodies, etc. ..mixed medley of beauty, power, money and self-esteem (of course) as they relate to a woman’s Authentic Self in society today. Worth checking out.
The November issue of Essence magazine features a superb article on the reasons why we must let our Authentic Self ( my term) shine through in our relationships, especially in those serious ‘Is he The One?’-type committments. 
One of the fabulous women in my most recent session of Uncommon Confidence brought in a copy of the article to share. Read a snipit of the article here or head to the store to pick up the hardcopy. Thanks Angie!
