Gender Now Activity Book:School Edition is coming….OUT! (and we want the world to know)
"an indispensable tool in our work to create more gender inclusive and accepting schools"
-Joel Baum, Director, Education and Training, Gender Spectrum
This October 11th celebrate National Coming Out Day with the release of our newest book:
Gender Now Activity Book: School Edition 
Our new activity book contains all the great info from the original coloring book adapted for the public school environment. Meet the Gender Team and learn that there are many ways to feel on the inside no matter what body you have on the outside through stories from nature, history, and different cultures. Did you know that clown fish can change their bodies from boy to girl? Or that in some countries they know there’s not just boys and girls? The Bugis of Indonesia have 5 genders!
Read more or view inside>>>
And, in case you need a little background music while you’re perusing the pages, here’s a classic by Diana Ross:
Filed under Events, General, LGBTQI Families | Tags: acceptance, book release, empowerment, family, fun, gender, GENDER NOW, lgbt | Comment (0)International Day of Action for Rivers
While searching the web this weekend, we came across a wonderful blog post by Katy Yan on the International Rivers website about Maya’s latest children’s book, I Know the River Loves Me. Katy says:
This is a great book for a young child or classroom, but it also reminds the rest of us about the power that comes from combining words and art, poetry and paint. The author herself was inspired by the Yuba River in California, along with rivers in India, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and Mexico, to share her love of rivers with her daughter and a new generation of river protectors.
This year’s International Day of Action for Rivers on March 14 is all about harnessing creative energy to protect and celebrate our rivers. Take this book and that day to remember that there are still free flowing rivers out there, and that no matter how threatened your river may be, it’s never too late to protect, restore or fall in love with it again.
About the International Day
of Action for Rivers:
On March 14, 2011 unite with communities around the world and take part in the fourteenth Annual International Day of Action Against Dams and For Rivers, Water and Life. Be inspired to hold your own creative action: Express your love for rivers through music and dance, speak out against human rights violations with paintings and photographs, and call for a better energy and water management model through poetry and words. Find events in your area or create your own.
Read more of Katy’s blog post or learn how you can call and listen to Maya read her book, I Know the River Loves Me.
Filed under Events, General | Tags: celebration, day of action, empowerment, fun | Comment (0)The Blessing of a Ban
This week we celebrate Banned Books Week. Banned books are insights into a culture’s deepest fears. They speak to what we’re trying not to face, what we’re in total denial of or what we feel we must suppress to maintain and protect the current order. Clearly these books hold power. For one, a book like this has become visible enough to be a problem and two, its contents are so powerful they must be controlled. These are books to pay attention to.
I imagine one day we will look back as a planet and be impressed with how limited our thinking was during this time. 
I imagine in this future day, we will generally think many more thoughts than we do now and we will feel completely free to do so. This is a natural future to me because in my imaginary world, thought and awareness always expand.
I have a professor friend I work with in Alabama. Last year during an interview I told him I didn’t think my new coloring book, Gender Now, would be banned despite the fact that it has naked children showing multiple gender expression. He said I should be so lucky to have my book banned. I laughed. Yesyes. I should be so lucky! Lucky enough for my book to join the list of those books that in their mere existence present the great opportunity for us to expand our minds to the point of freedom.
Here’s to all the banned books, the good, the bad, the brilliant and the brave. To you I show respect by happily falling through the dark, out of my clothes and into the dough of the night kitchen! In salutation of all those who have helped expand our minds…I play. I expand. I know. I am free.
And I sing into that night…You will never imprison my mind. (Gandhi)
About Banned Books Week: Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than a thousand books have been challenged since 1982. More at: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/
Filed under Events, General, LGBTQI Families | Tags: acceptance, ban, courage, gender, lgbt, library | Comment (0)Reflection Press turns 1!
We did it! Thanks to the awesome support from our friends and community, Reflection Press turns 1 this month! And as a special anniversary treat for our blog readers we’ve assembled a mini-guide to Claiming Face that specifically focuses on The 3 Rules. Request your free copy and learn more about Claiming Face: Self-Empowerment through Self-Portraiture.
We also created a video reflection of our past year, how the creative process worked for us, and some of our plans for the future. You can view the short 5 minute video below. Thanks for your support in making this a great first year!!
Listen to Maya read I Know the River Loves Me on the SF Public Library Children’s Storyline
The San Francisco Public library has partnered with Children’s Book Press to promote Hispanic Heritage Month and the Children’s Storyline. Children’s Book Press generously granted the library permission to record I Know The River Loves Me: Yo sé río me ama by Maya Christina Gonzalez in four languages. Maya recorded the English language version for their growing Storyline library.
You can listen to her read the book by Continue reading »
Filed under General, Maya in the Classroom | Tags: children, hispanic heritage month, library | Comment (0)
