Talk:Half the Sky

Untitled
Second Generation Seeds Are Almost Always Stronger. I have been reflecting on some of my favorite social art installations that I have seen over the years and one in particular stuck in my mind. While I was doing a project a the Getty I took a half a day and wandered over to the Skirball Cultural Center where they had an exhibit called "Women Hold Up Half the Sky" http://www.vertebraela.com/women-hold-up-half-the-sky-at-t…/. The installation was based on a book by the husband-wife team of Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. "Half the Sky focuses on sex trafficking, maternal mortality, sexual violence, microfinance and girls' education. Carolyn See, the book critic of The Washington Post, said in her review: "'Half the Sky' is a call to arms, a call for help, a call for contributions, but also a call for volunteers. It asks us to open our eyes to this enormous humanitarian issue. It does so with exquisitely crafted prose and sensationally interesting material....I really do think this is one of the most important books I have ever reviewed." When I walked through the installation it did not have much of an impact on me because as that time I had already been serving women like that for more than 13 years so it was nothing new to me. It had the usual massive full room art installation, sub-projects by community groups, educational component and hands on activity, full documentary, photography of the outreach projects, books and craft items and other fundraising merchandise for sale in the gift shop etc. It was well curated but it was not particularly innovative or fresh and as a curator all of that is standard procedure for me so I guess I did not think much about it. Maybe I was not in the state of mind to integrate all of it at the time but it was one of those uncomfortable installations that sticks with you over time and takes root in your soul and changes you from the inside out. A similar seed had been planted in my heart back in 1997 during my first trip to Africa where I worked with women and orphans who had been trafficked. Over the years I have continued to work with women to empower and challenge them to stand up for themselves but I always felt that my work accomplished very little. It seemed to me that for every woman that was freed 20 more remained enslaved and even those that took steps of faith to get out still struggled to truly get free permanently. At the time I visited the The Skirball in 2011 for the "Women Hold Up Half the Sky Exhibit" I was underwhelmed. The exhibit was just another look at that struggle and yes they shared a few stories of success that paralleled my own work with those women but it just did not seem to me to have anything fresh to say. Now, several years later I am able to look back on the 3-4 hours that I spent at the Skirball and understand why it was so important though it is very hard still to put it into words. Here is what I think happened. There was a seed that was planted in my life back in 1997 and I nurtured it for many years but at some point the plant just stopped growing and died but not before it produced new seed. Those dormant seeds lay in my heart until I saw the exhibit at the Skirball in 2011 but like many seeds they still required a great deal of time and effort to turn them into a strong and healthy plant. The women Hold Up Half the Sky Exhibit nourished and provided water and sun to bring those dormant seeds to life but they are the type of seed that produces a plant that grows very very slowly. At the time I visited the exhibit I think I was so tired from fighting the good fight that I literally shut my heart down to anything related to dealing with human trafficking or women's issues. It is overwhelming to continually serve in ministry and stand your ground against evil year after year. At the time of the exhibit it was not clear to me how I would find the energy to continue to stand my ground on those issues but the seeds watered and nourished by the exhibit at the Skirball took deep and everlasting root in my life and unlike the original seed planted in Africa the second generation of seeds are much stronger and more resilient and the plant is strong and sturdy with deep roots and it will not die. Not only that but these new plants will bear much fruit and that fruit will be strong and resilient and impossible to destroy. What sticks with me most is how many people are weak and refuse to fight this fight. I am so tired of the peacemakers who absolutely refuse to pick up arms and fight for what is right. It disgusts me when people won't fight for what is right. When police officers turn the other way, when community leaders sacrifice the young women in the name of tourism, when families shun the women in their lives because they have been violated, when people choose to live in comfort while those around them have to sell their bodies to feed the children that they were impregnated with when they were raped, when greedy and corrupt men stick needles in womens arms and sell them for sex to line their own pockets and when women have no right to vote or drive and no opportunity then something is very very wrong and the most disgusting person of all is the person who sees that and chooses not to get involved...the person who chooses not to fight. I see clearly that every individual must take responsibility to address these issues and stand up for what is right and that does not mean dialoguing about it. It means fighting for these women to be freed. Whether we like it or not we are at war and those that refuse to fight are cowards and I for one am very tired of them trying to shove their peaceful attitudes down my throat. As I continue in my journey to use my gifts and talents for God's glory it occurs to me that some of you may have seen some of my art installations I have curated over the years and experience the same thing I experienced when I went to see "Women Hold up Half the Sky". Perhaps at the time it did not impress nor impact you greatly. I can only hope that the seeds I chose to nourish and water by sharing my gifts and abilities will take root and grow and flourish and I hope you will choose to fight for what you know is right. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.170.187.15 (talk) 19:56, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Gutier k1. Peer reviewers: Meza s1, Lopez a4, Elsieparmar.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 23:00, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Not an advertisement
The article quotes several favourable reviews, but that doesn't make it an advertisement. The book has received praise from some critics. -- Eastmain (talk) 02:47, 11 October 2009 (UTC)
 * I'll check the wiki criteria if I get a chance but if you accept this as-is you'd have to allow for articles on every piece of software or widget for which a magazine or two did a product review: consumer report+ anything perhaps would then qualify. The quotes are mostly predictions about the future and I'll concede nostradamus would be notable but this still reads like an ad. I guess my point is that book reviews are essentially just opinions of one person without much oversight or particular review. The fact that someone chose to do a story on the book suggests notability and in fact is probably independent or the author. If the book had some significant notable impact beyond this I guess I'd understand it, but do you want every piece of software the PC mag does a review on to be included? I'm all for inclusion and even inclusion of obscure topics but still. A review is not a literary criticism or other work of substance. Nerdseeksblonde (talk) 16:00, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

Advert/COI

 * Agree about advert per unsourced best seller. This article has been tagged advert twice before, and was removed without discussion or fixing issue due to COI editor. I marked as such. Widefox (talk) 09:43, 27 June 2012 (UTC)

Edits and Suggestions
I would not refer to Kristof and WuDunn as a "husband-wife team". I think this drives the reader away from the incredible research they have done to thinking about their love story. Also, it sounds a bit misogynistic because Kristof is put first making it seem as though he carried most of the load in the research.

I would also not use the phrase "the paramount moral challenge" as part of the synopsis for the book, first because it is not cited and secondly because it is unnecessary and repetitive.

I also would not use an entire critique by The Washington Post to give a perspective on the book, I think the same view on the book could be given without actually copying and pasting a whole critique.

Since the nonprofits mentioned in the book are also mentioned in this article, it'd be nice to put a hyperlink on them to the Wikipedia page of each of the organizations.

In the "Overview" the documentary Half the Sky is mentioned. I think that because the book and the documentaries are not the same thing, two different articles should be created.

This article becomes repetitive by mentioning each celebrity that participated in the documentary twice.

I think there is some misinformation being spread by saying that most of these girls were abducted from their families, some of these girls were actually sold by their families.

There are also some minor grammar mistakes: -Original: "visited organizations that help to give opportunities to oppressed females" Corrected: visited organizations that give opportunities to oppressed females" -Original: "Many of the girls are sold to brothel because their parents could not afford their lives." Corrected: "Many of the girls are sold into brothels because their parents could not afford raising them." -Stay in present tense: "Doors are locked from the outside, and the room is small, dark and dirty. They were treated as objects, raped and sexually abused by men." -Original: "Diseases were transmitted to their bodies" Corrected: "They become infected with diseases" -Original: "The birth attendants, in the documentary, told Kristof that once they know the practice would risk women's health and bodies, so they stop exercising it." Correction: This is not coherent at all.

This quote has been inserted but not analyzed at all. "“The police wouldn’t listen to her. The brothel owners not only threatened to kill her, they also threatened to kidnap her two young daughters and sell them to a brothel,” states in the book (8)."

The "Activism and Supporting Organization" must be related back to the book or documentary, it cannot just try to explain some organizations. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gutier k1 (talk • contribs) 04:17, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

Gutier k1 (talk) 04:19, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

I think the overview doesn't offer much information on the book itself rather than on the series, so I think if it contained more information about the book before talking about the television series. I found this sentence unnecessary for the overview section, it could be mentioned in the activism and supporting organization section: "Several nonprofit organizations mentioned in Half the Sky have produced additional events and materials in support of the book, including a live event[3] from CARE and a reader's companion[4] from EngenderHealth." I agree with Gutier k1 comment that the series and the book are two different things and for that reason they should each have their own article. At the same time I think it is still important to say that there is a series that is similar to the book, unless there are two completely different things. I also do agree that the quote is too long and can be an issue as it summarizes someone else's thought and is partially opinionated. The author repeats the names of the actresses twice so moving them to a different place would be the most efficient way of adding them.

The section Plots and Focuses on Women's Control of Own Body is really a summary of the series not the actual book so I think the article itself isn't specific with who the article is written about.

There are a lot of generalization within the article too, with statements like India has the biggest trafficking problem in the world. There is no citation. The next sentence starts with because and that is not okay. There should be a flow through the article and there are sentences that could be combined.

One of the serious issues that was found in Somaliland is female genital mutilation. When speaking on mutilation, the Western world will call it mutilation, but for some cultures it is not just how the Western society doesn't consider circumcision as a form of mutilation.Lopez a4 (talk) 22:28, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

I agree with much of what was said above. The lead of the page makes it sound like you're going to talk about the content in the book and what made it so meaningful today. I agree with Gutierk1 about how "the husband-wife team" should be removed. The overview section starts out well and then you include a quote making it sound like a review and a biased source, rather than an online encyclopedia. The same goes for the quotes included later on. In the "plots and focus on women's control of own bodies" section, you start out by mentioning the six countries in the book and the documentary, yet you only discuss what happened in India. I understand that "india has the biggest trafficking problem in the world" (which needs a citation also by the way), but you should still mention or talk about the issues in the five other countries visited. They were all in the book and documentary for a reason. Why? You mention Somalia briefly but you can expand a lot on it, especially considering how much information is included about India. The last section, "activism and supporting organization" was better than the other sections. I think you should make it "organizations" (plural) because you're talking about multiple. Also, the last two sentences seemed biased because you don't really need to include ending sentences like that to act as a conclusion. Elsieparmar (talk) 15:18, 5 November 2016 (UTC)

I agree with removing the "husband-wife team" part; I don't think it's very necessary. I don't see how the review in the first paragraph of the article makes sense to be put there. I think that a better solution would probably be to put it in another section with the reviews or public reception of the book. I also agree with what was said above with the need for another article that talks about the documentary, or at the least it should be in a different section. The section titles "Plots and Focuses on Women's Control of Own Body" should be changed since then it is talking about the documentary and not the book. The sentence "India has the..word" should be revised. It could be revised to say that this is just one problem the documentary showcases or maybe like Elsieparmar suggested, the other countries should be discussed as well.Overall, I think that the sentences are a bit choppy. I think this is because it is talking about several topics presented in the documentary. Therefore, these topics can be split into different sub-sections or just worded differently so that they flow better. Meza s1 (talk) 05:05, 11 November 2016 (UTC) meza_s1