One day we took a trip to Fine Fare supermarket to compare the difference between cleaning products made with toxic chemicals and organic cleaning products. We got to the detergent aisle and noticed we were surrounded by some of the most harmful products for everyday use in households. There was a whole section for Roach Spray and many other products that are unhealthy for the people and their homes. We talked about what the chemicals in the products can do, like Roach Spray. We talked about how it can cause asthma and cancer. Many New Yorkers suffer from asthma because of the pests in their house leading them to use roach spray, then they breathe in those hazardous chemicals. There were not many organic or green products in the low income supermarkets. Supermarkets should help to educate the customers with the products they’re using and try to help people become green. A greener world is a happier world!

Today we woke up kind of early to go to see the Senator’s staff.  I was a bit tired but I did get to meet a woman name Jillian Youngblood, who talked to us about her job.  We met a lot of interesting women throughout the day. It was a new experience for me and something I wasn’t use to but we still had fun.  Later we had lunch, I had crispy chicken and a big salad.  We met some more people then took a billion pictures!  Finally, we went back to the Code Pink House and some of us napped and then we changed to go to dinner in a nice resturant called Busboys and Poets.  I ate pizza but the good kind.  The day sounds short but honestly it was soooooo long.  Now we’re back in the Code Pink House chilling and making the best of our last day here in Washington DC!

Hillary Clinton is the wife of Bill Clinton as well as a woman running for president.
Her full name is Hillary Diane Rodham. She was born on October 26, 1947.
She was an undergraduate at Wellesley College. She entered Yale Law School and met Bill Clinton through some program in
Yale. Bill said he remembered when he met Hillary. She walked up to him and said “If you’re going to keep staring at me,
I might as well introduce myself.” They were inseparable after that. They got married in 1975. Then she joined the faculty
of the University of Arkansas Law School the same year and the Rose Law Firm in 1976. Bill became governor of Arkansas
in 1978, had a daughter in 1980, and Hillary became Arkansas First Lady for 12 years. During her years of being the
First Lady she chaired the Arkansas Educational Standards Committee, co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children
and Families and more. She was elected United States Senator from New York on November 7, 2000.
She is the first First Lady elected to the United States Senate and the first woman elected statewide in New York.
She got a Grammy for her book 1996 book “It Takes a Village and Other Lessons Children Teach Us”. Now she is running
for president and hopefully she gets elected. Also she is a Democrat. =D

It’s a bird!  It’s a plane!  No…it’s the Fabulous Grace to save the Girls Club from debt!  I interviewed Grace Brissett in the Lower Eastside Girls Club.  We had a nice little interview in Grace’s office.  I asked Grace some questions about her and her job.  She answered “In March it will be 9 years that I’ve been working here.  I started working here because a friend of mine was the art teacher here.  She called and said I should check out the Girls Club, so I did.  I started here as a volunteer for a Fencing Class.  Before I started working here, I worked at a marketing research firm as a data analysts.  My position at the Girls Club is the Director of Finances and Human Resources.  My main responsibilities are to keep track of all finances at the Girls Club and make sure all the money is deposited and keep track of the money that’s spent.  I also oversee human resources like medical insurance and anything to do with human resources.”  Then I asked Grace, “What is a typical work day like for you?”  Her first response, “Crazy!  I do a lot of different things in one day.  I do a lot of different projects.  I multi-task.  I look at outside agencies, venders, and the staff at the Girls Club require petty cash and checks.  I also write your paychecks and other paychecks.”
I asked, “What do you like best about your job?”  She thought for a second and answered, “It”s changed over the years. I used to spend time with the girls and in programs (I liked that the most) but now i spend my time in the office. But what i like about my job is the wonderful movement to empower girls. The most challenging part of my job is getting everyone to give me the things I need in order to get other things. I need petty cash, invoicers, receipts and information. I need those things to do my job.” Wow! Grace has a busy schedule but wait! There’s more! “The advice I would have for young women follow your path of whatever you are passionate about. Move towards what you’re passionate about because you’ll be happy and successful. Don’t let anyone say NO to you. When a door closes on you open another one. Also, place yourself around people who do the things you want to do. Always be around people that have been to the same places you want to go to because they had experience. Always be involved and don’t be afraid to ask questions.” The interview was coming to an end. I asked “What is the best professional advice that you ever received?” She said “Honestly, I never received any. I always take initiative and do the things I want to do.” The last question I asked was “Are there any ways that Cascading Leadership members can help you with your work?” She had to think about this just a little. She said “With my job there’s a lot of highly privileged information because of finances because the info needs to be discreet. But, I guess they can help with filing. The information is confidential.” Woah, Grace! Take a minute to breathe.

So when we all got here, we stayed in the Marin Headlands Hostel, which is like a dorm room with just rows of bunkbeds. Down in the basement was the game room where they had a foosball table and a pool table and vending machines of snacks and drinks. We stayed there for three days and we left the Marin Headlands Hostel this morning. The hostel was a little creepy because it was right next to the woods and it was very dark at night. Yesterday, we had cereal for breakfast which we bought and prepared ourselves. Then we went to the Bioneers Conference. Later on that night, there were left over bean burritos from the Conference and someone decided to take them along with us. There were so many burritos and nobody even wanted them. So Sierra went around to the other people staying in the hostel and asked if they would like the burritos. Some people took them and some people didn’t. This morning we made eggs and toast for breakfast, but we were in a rush to leave. We had to rush through many things this morning. We finally got to the conference and heard some more amazing speakers such as Kenny Ausubel, Majora Carter, Eve Ensler, Evon Peter, and more. Afterwards, we ate lunch and now we’re blogging. This should be a fun night on our last day out in California.

VAGINA! VAGINA! VAGINA! What a way to begin a conference. Eve Ensler, creator of the play “The Vagina Monolouge,” a very inspiring women, began to talk about just being a woman and what being a woman means. She shared many sad, inspiring, stories. Eve had most of us in tears, literally crying, from this one specfic story. She went to the Congo in South Africa, where pratically every baby girl, little girl, and woman are raped everyday. A 10 month old baby was raped and died two months ago in Eve’s friend’s arms. A 9 year old girl was raped and her bladder is shrinking more and more. She can’t control herself and she uses the bathroom on herself all the time. Even three boys watched their own mother get raped. All of these stories made many people including myself in the conference room cry. Eve is an amazing woman who strives to help all women who are abused physically and sexually. She has to be the most beautiful, wonderful, fabulous, nicest woman in the world for all she is doing and has done. Personally, I think Eve is better than Oprah. I feel Oprah mostly tries to support african american women most of the time, which is good because they need all the support they can get, but Eve goes to many different places in the world like Pakistan, Afgnistan, Africa, etc. Eve was very inspirational and Van Jones was very educational as well as entertaining. He talked about what is going on in the environment today. The poor wasnt worried about the polar bears becoming extinct, but their own lives at risk because of pollution and global warming. He talked about trying to get kids to go green and work with solar powered energy and green solutions. He was also a very, very nice man. Also very informative and inspiring to help make BIG changes in the world. Kenny Ausubel, the president and founder of Bioneers, also came in the conference room to talk and answer questions. He was also a very nice man. He talked about what inspired him to start the whole Bioneers and how it got started and his plans for the Bioneers Conference now and in the future. All of the Speakers were amazing and inspiring and I’m so happy I was able to attend this conference.

This is my first time ever coming to Bioneers conference. It’s not what I expected. I thought we were going to sit in a big auditorium for hours listening to people talk, bored out of our minds. But it wasn’t anything like that. We split up into groups and toured around the place. We shared ideas about the Bioneers conference and what we can do to make things more interesting in the youth’s point of view. We had pizza and salad for lunch. We had a very long break (maybe two hours) and we were a little bored walking around for two hours. Soon we had burritos (again) and an open mic began. Sierra were the first to go to the mic and talk, tell jokes, and then sing. People began to join us as we sang and started to dance. We were too loud most of the time but, had fun anyway. Then the party was over. We went back to the Hostel and now I’m tired but ready to take on Lee in Fooseball! To end this day, I want to say, Sierra and I know how to start a party! =]