Women are honored as role models for girls served by APCH in its GirlPower Project A Place Called Home (APCH), which for 20 years has provided a safe haven for underserved youth in South Central Los Angeles, honored four outstanding women whose personal and professional lives provide inspiration to the young women and girls served by APCH’s programs, most notably those enrolled in its GirlPower Project. “We’re so fortunate to be able to recognize these four women whose professional and volunteer leadership continues to make a difference for our community’s children,” said Jonathan Zeichner, APCH’s executive director. “We constantly seek to present role models to our young people— outstanding women and men who influence our society for the greater good. There’s little question that Amy Ziering, Dana Green, Susan Feldman and Alison Pincus fall into that illustrious category.” An award-winning and Oscar-nominated documentary producer and director, Amy Ziering was presented with the GirlPower Social Change Award. While the award recognizes Ziering’s body of work, it particularly honors her 2012 documentary “The Invisible War,” a groundbreaking investigation into the epidemic of rape in the U.S. military. The film won major awards at the Sundance Film Festival and the Independent Spirit Awards. Ziering’s other ...

Hello all Travelers!  Traveling Diva is proud to announce the launch of the very first and ONLY Travel & Food show on iTunes! I will be joining Emmy winning comedian Mark DeCarlo each week as he embarks on a great quest for food, travel and fun! Mark will be having interviews each week with interesting and unique folks across the world who travel for a living, including musicians, chefs, and comedians.   This month, we will be giving away Cancun discount coupons and a chance to win a HD Underwater VIVITAR 850W CAMERA to all subscribers! Here's what you have to do: 1. Subscribe to A FORK ON THE ROAD show on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/a-fork-on-the-road/id637933581?mt=2 2. Let us know you subscribed and give us your email address.  You can do this by following and tweeting @MarkDeCarlo #AForkOnTheRoad, or sending us an email to: markdecarlotv@gmail.com, or leave us amessage at 424-250-FORK. 3. We will send you the code and enter you in the contest.  Winners announced on the podcast JULY 4th, 2013. Also, Mark is here to help YOU the listener with your travel-related questions. All you have to do is call 424 - 250 - FORK, leave your name and contact information and we'll have you on the show ...

CASE LOGIC CAMERA BAG / SLING BACKPACK: This tough and ready SLR sling was designed to keep pace with your approach to photography. Rugged styling with a professional grade interior and organization will take you anywhere the shots are waiting. $35-$80 ONLINE http://www.caselogic.com/en-us/us/products/camera-cases/view-all/slr-sling-_-slrc_-_205_-_black BAGGIE ALL ZIPPER POUCH: – Say NO to plastic baggies, please!  Instead, the designers put their toiletries in a Nomadic Inc. for Container Store case. Our Baggie All Zippered Pouch features the season’s must-have prints – right off the runways and into your bag! An ingenious compact design features separate compartments so you can stay organized while on the go. Use it to hold everything from makeup and accessories to school supplies or diaper bag essentials. Since it’s food-safe, it can even tote dry snacks.  http://www.containerstore.com/shop/travel/travelEssentials?utm_medium=feed&productId=10032737&utm_source=shopping&sku=10057748 $9.99 SOLIO SOLAR CHARGER powers PDA’s on the go. According to Bradshaw, “it’s as easy as it gets.”  The Solio Bolt battery pack and solar charger is your perfect companion, keeping you online and in-touch on the go. With an on-board battery and rotating solar panels, the Solio Bolt charges popular USB powered gadgets from your smartphone and MP3 player, to your e-reader, GPS, and camera. The design allows a pencil to be ...

An Open Letter to Jay-Z "Dear Mr. Z, I just heard your new track, “Open Letter,” released today. It’s got everything I love about your music: looping internal rhymes, an infectious beat, and imagery that draws me into a kind of swaggering, defiant fantasy. Speaking of defiant fantasies, I’ve been following news of your recent trip to the island nation of Cuba. As the son of a Cuban refugee, and cousin and nephew to many Cubans on the island, I cringe when Americans visit Cuba for a fun island vacation. For one thing it’s illegal (which nobody seems to care about), but more importantly, it's either ignorant of or calloused to the struggles of Cubans on the island. I actually encourage my friends to travel to Cuba, to bear witness to one of the great tragedies of our time, to learn about the real Cuba, to put a human face on the caricature of Americans that the Castros propagate. Exchange and travel between our two nations should be a catalyst for change, as it has been even in my own family. But for me, Cuba is not the place to have a fun, sexy, vacation. Because for Cubans on the island and living ...

"Sometimes if something scares me, I lean right into it. I’m not a brave person—I’m more of a fearless idiot." ~Nia Vardalos   A phone call and 14 hours notice turned Nia Vardalos’ world into a whirlwind.  Becoming a mother of a preschooler in less than a day is not something many of us have experienced. What did she do, you ask?  She smiled, took it all in and wrote it all down.   “INSTANT MOM is the story of how, with just 14 hours notice, I became the mom of a pre-schooler. There's even a How-To-Adopt section (that part was harrrrrd to write) but the book is not just about adoption. It's about my family and friends, movies and food," writes  Nia.   “Ian and I are so giddy we got matched with our delightful daughter, we'll donate from the proceeds to adoption groups.”   For the USA, order Nia Vardalos' book INSTANT MOM here: http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Instant-Mom-Nia-Vardalos?isbn=9780062231833&HCHP=TB_Instant+Mom   Early praise for INSTANT MOM:   "Readers can feel the tension between desire to share her joy and good fortune and wish to maintain her child’s privacy. Vardalos offers candor,humor, and poignancy in her account of adoption and parenthood as she pokes fun at parenting memoirs but delivers on emotional impact." ~BOOKLIST   "...laugh-out-loud and painful-in-the-shins moments ...