Blog.

August 29, 2010

For the last two weeks since I returned from the mission trip in Honduras, some of you have been asking for updates on how the week went.

While I was there, I was surprised to determine immediately that my response to that question would be rather too in-depth and complicated to answer here. If I had to nail it down to one word, it was perspective-changing. We saw smiles where there was suffering and hope where it looked to me as though there should've been none. Unless we have witnessed a place like this, we cannot imagine that our fellow humans are living in conditions where they don't have water to drink...as we run the sink while we're brushing our teeth (please stop doing this). We can't appreciate that these people have to live with an infection that would interrupt our work, our sleep, our play, our identities...and they make due with these illnesses for months, until American doctors show up to offer them care. We have no inkling for what exists when we're stripped -- sometimes literally, stripped -- of 95% of our material possessions, our entertainment, the promise of meals every day, and the ways we stay connected to one another via technology.

What does exist when all that falls away?

God.

I was stunned. I saw God everywhere. I saw Him in the smiles on children's dirty faces, in the optimistic food hunt of a hungry puppy, in the patience and care that our doctors administered. I saw God in an impeccably-timed blue butterfly, the pine trees during our zipline, the ancient Mayan Ruins surrounded by green green green. I saw God in a  game of four square after our bus broke down (it's Monday, so sure God: we'll play this week your way), in the faces of the women who fed us breakfast and dinner at Dr. Rice's mission house, and in the wince of an 18-year-old mother whose hand I held as she weathered contractions before delivering her second baby. She smiled at me because she saw how her pain was affecting me. I realized then how weak I am. I realized then how strong women are.

I realized how blessed we Americans are to have doctors. Our healthcare system is in flux, and I pray for the Americans who are suffering...I give thanks, however, that we do have healthcare professionals in our reach. Say thank you to your doctors, your dentist, your pharmacist, nurses. Say thank you to God that you live in a free, first-world country that gives us a voice in the system and allows us to leave on occasion so that you may study and travel and appreciate other cultures as well as how great ours is. Yes, these are basic human rights -- but many, many humans don't have them.

I met some incredible people -- Honduran and American -- on that trip. I wish I could reveal more about how they helped transform me in this blog, but rest assured...they will be part of an upcoming book project. What we witnessed will probably make you laugh, cry and shiver (the medical procedures were intense, you guys)!

I thank very deeply the friends, mentors and colleagues who, over the years, have inspired and encouraged me to use my life to make someone else's a little better; to be a sign of hope for another person who has only hope to survive on. If you are interested in becoming more active in volunteering opportunities, I'll be really happy to share my experience. I urge you to start your research, pray that your chance to help others makes itself clear to you, and reach out to people you know who are already using their lives to better others'. We can all be the change.

Start with you.

Start now.


July 18, 2010

If good friends are life's riches, then I could be on the Forbes 100.

And this:

Life is short. Ride more rollercoasters.



July 13, 2010

Countdown to Honduras has begun. As I mentioned in my video for the Oprah Winfrey Network's viewer competition, August 7 kicks off my first service trip ever. Tonight was the first meeting our mission group held since I signed up for the trip in June, and I'm so excited for this totally new adventure to help administer health and spirituality to the good people in Copan and the surrounding villages.

The quantity and caliber of healthcarers that are leading this trip are incredible -- we have a dermatologist whom I've admired since I was a kid, a very talented oral surgeon, a ground-breaking obstetrician, and one of the most dedicated pharmacists I've ever seen. And that list only scratches the surface. To be fair, I have no medical training...but I'm starting to pep-talk myself into giving every person I encounter there as much love and care as little-ol'-I can offer.

Know how I know that will be plenty good enough? Because when you voted for my Oprah video a few weeks ago -- over 61,000 votes, people! -- every moment of your time, every vote, every ounce of your care meant so much to me. I was hoping for, like, 10,000 votes, and that would've been outstanding...then when we surpassed that, my heart just kept squealing with gratitude and delight. Seriously! Like a little kid!

Not everyone on this trip is an expert in God and medicine, but I have no doubt that our impact will be significant. You taught me that when you reach out to help someone else, even a little bit of kindness equals a ton to the person you're helping.

All that said, an old college friend of mine is raising money for Habitat for Humanity in Los Angeles. If that's a cause you feel moved to support, here's the link to help Jen Wise reach her goal for Habitat. Looking at the donation increments, I remembered what you taught me: your small token of generosity is, in many ways, equivalent to the goal. No amount is ever "not enough" -- the recipient will find joy in your kindness that, as Elizabeth Gilbert said in Eat Pray Love, sends ripples of peace out into the whole world. It amazes us all to be reminded, Man: people are good.

Know what else proves to me that people are good? The Ski Lodge. On this blog last year I got nostalgic about my favorite pub up the hill from my house where I rode my sled, played in the downstairs arcade and ate nachos for dinner when I was growing up. This week was the awesome annual outdoor music festival that I experienced for the first time, and I saw so many people whom I hadn't seen in years: my friends, my parents' friends, and new friends who transformed my little Pennsylvania hometown to a weekend of feels-like-endless FUN. Sitting on the Lodge's deck, toasting and laughing and dancing, I just kept thinking to myself: this is what life's all about.

Thanks guys. You seriously rock.

June 30, 2010

When he sees me online working at night, my friend Augusto, whom I find to be the most talented (and handsomest!) hair stylist in Northern Italy, tells me that I really need to start getting to bed earlier. I agree, Augusto -- wholeheartedly -- although I always get so much done at night.

This last nighttime task is not a to-do, however. It's a privilege. Before I head to bed I came here to extend a great big one of these to the universe:

June 10, 2010

We're over 6,000 votes, my friends. Such amazing people you all are to be voting for my show idea on the Oprah Winfrey Network with such support, enthusiasm and hope! I'll do everything I can to make you part of the show! Please go here to continue to click and VOTE -- if you're 18 years of age and a legal resident of the U.S., you can vote as many times as you like (and if you're really psyched to keep voting, here's a shortcut: click VOTE + Backspace. You won't have to wait while the page loads)! Again here's the link -- THANKS!

June 9, 2010

Friends, today my video audition to host a show on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) went live. Please support what the show will do -- and it's possible you could be part of it! Click here to view and VOTE as many times as you like, as long as you're at least 18 years old and a legal resident of the U.S.

THANK YOU!!! We're part of a new era, and we're going to keep changing the world!

Again, please go here to cast your vote -- and leave a comment as well!

May 5, 2010

This was one of those really good work days. It was so full of energy and great contacts that I just had to get on here and share the love.

Part of what made it so energizing was that I interviewed Lisa Oz, Dr. Mehmet Oz's wife and author of the truly amazing new book US: Transforming Ourselves and the Relationships That Matter Most. Lisa and I met at a party when Dr. Oz's book YOU: On a Diet hit the NYTimes Bestseller List in 2006, and I told Lisa on the phone today, "Ever since I met you I've always thought to myself, 'I hope I get to encounter Lisa Oz again.'"

She said, "And here we are!"

Indeed there we were, and instantly I remembered why I'd been so taken with Lisa the first time. Our interview will go live on LimeLife.com next week, but for now I'll explain that US explores the crucial (and often overlooked) link between our relationships and our health. The book also gives tips and inspiration for doing our inner "work" to improve ourselves and our bonds with others. It's one of the most relevant books I've seen in awhile, and I encourage you to just pick it up and learn a little about Lisa's message if you come across US in a bookstore (it's a beautiful blue jacket featuring Mrs. Oz's always-stunning face).

That said, there are more really awesome authors who have come into my life rather recently, and if you could use recommendations for summer reads or something to snuggle up with at night with the windows open (love summer coming!), check these out:

• Rocco Wachman and Matt Pelligrini wrote COWBOY: The Ultimate Guide To Living Like A Great American Icon. (I have joked that like Pam Houston, cowboys are my weakness [actually a lot of things are my weakness], but this book is just so much fun. Great Dad's Day gift idea, and you may recognize Rocco Wachman as the cowboy who went vegan and told his story on the Dr. Oz Show. I saw the episode -- felt like I'd known that man for years and so admired his lifestyle change.)
• Harmon Leon's The American Dream: Walking In the Shoes of Carnies, Arms Dealers, Immigrant Dreamers, Pot Farmers and Christian Believers. Harmon is a friend of mine from all these poker gigs I've been covering, and his is one of the funniest, wackiest and most genuine people I know. Harmon does incredible infiltration work in sectors of society that many of us only dare wonder about (he earnestly followed a group called Hookers for Jesus for Penthouse -- here's the link) and brings humanity and laughter to every conversation I've ever seen him in. Plus, admit it: you're curious about carnies too.
• Sue Carswell's Faded Pictures From My Backyard: A Memoir. The book details Sue's life growing up linked to an orphanage when she was a child -- not because she was an orphan, but because her parents helped run the home. Forget that Sue travels to Curaçao, Vegas and Monte Carlo in a single month as part of her work. Forget that she has made herself such a rich and gracious resource for a still-establishing writer like me. Forget that her bio reads this: Sue Carswell is a Vanity Fair reporter/researcher. She is a published author,  former senior story editor for "Good Morning America," contributing launch editor for "O, The Oprah Magazine," former executive editor for Random House Inc., senior editor at Simon & Schuster, and former correspondent for People magazine.
  Sue Carswell is a great writer and a wonderful person, and all of this comes through in Faded Pictures. (Plus the photos are incredible.)
  
• I've just finished my first Adriana Trigiani book (thank you, my awesome editor Amy Bendell at HarperCollins for the recommendation). My Trigiani first time happened to be Very Valentine. If you love anything related to Italy, family, couture shoes or food, you will love Trigiani. (Um, yes. I did too.) You will really love her if you enjoy an author whose voice you sometimes mistake for your best friend's. Could not lap Very Valentine up fast enough, and I hope meeting Adriana is in my future. (My near future, if I'm being picky.)
  
• Alphie McCourt's A Long Stone's Throw. I read this book in its very early manuscript phase, and if you know me, you know that I hold Alphie McCourt and his dear wife Lynn and his beautiful daughter Allison close to my heart as friends. Alphie holds steadfast to the brilliant, heartbreaking, hilarious McCourt authoring tradition, and his experience of moving from Ireland to New York City will read in a day. Such a lovely man and a fantastic writer.

These friends and colleagues are nothing less than giant blessings in my life, and they each have impacted me both personally and professionally. If you are craving some inspiration, just pick up one of these titles or drop me a line. After my chat with Lisa Oz today, I think I have enough to go around...

April 19, 2010

Dear Friends:

I am sleepy, but never too sleepy to tell you what I'm thinking. It's this: THANK YOU for all of your support these last few months, especially as things have become so super-official with my book, HOW TO LOVE AN AMERICAN MAN.

If you've been following this site, you know that since January I have been traveling consistently. Here's the thing: the trips are all for work. It's definitely fun work, but there's not a ton of time for play, and I've been feeling the itch to go travel again...like, a month away in a very exotic locale. (Remember how happy I was the first time I came home from Italy?) But while I haven't been able to really make my escapade, you've been coming here to me, and I love it when you stop by.

I'm thrilled to say that this site enjoys visitors from all over the globe. Hopefully you'll agree that I try to be a good hostess and keep up with all of your emails, but I know that on occasion there's one or two I might miss. If this is truly one of your favorite destinations, hopefully you'll like questi saluti (that's "these greetings," in Italiano):

What's up Paris and Bordeaux, what's up London, Montreal, what's up San Fran, Sacramento and L.A. Hi to Singapore, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Australia, Slovakia and Denmark (really!) and ciao sempre a la mia famiglia e miei amici in Roma, Milano, Correggio e Firenze. Mi manchate tutti. Hi always to St. Louis (go Cards, hi Aunt Beck!), NYC (you come here every day and I adore you all), New Jersey (man are you loyal), and Cleveland (you are too). Twenty-five of the states in the U.S. come up regularly in my analytics, guys...hola babies!

And of course there's this lovely hometown where I lived until I was 18 and returned two years ago. It's likely I'll be taking off again before the year is out, but DuBois, PA, you will always be my home. Thank you for your love on this site and when we run into each other out and about -- can't wait to see you at my book parties. (At the moment, we're looking at a spring or summer 2011 release for my book...you summer readers are going to love taking me with you to the beach! [This girl loves the beach.])

I'm sending you all the love and good wishes that you're sending me, and more. Grazie di tutto, amici! Thanks for visiting, friends!

February 25, 2010

Apart from my book with HarperCollins (blog post below) and the celeb interviews that I have coming out of the North American Poker Tour in Las Vegas (PokerStars.net is the BEST! My interview with Jason Alexander is live in my "Celebrity Interviews" section now), there's another project I'm working on. It's with my awesome friend and colleague, renowned photographer Joelle Watt. In the coming months you'll see us launch our Web site for La Storia Studio -- a project unlike anything that the wedding or photography markets are offering right now. Go to my "Contact Me" section if you're interested in more details, and we'll talk.

By the way, if you knew me circa 1989 through 1992, you know I was a huge -- HUGE -- New Kids On the Block fan. On Friday at NAPT, I -- wow, I can't believe I'm even saying it -- I MET DONNIE WAHLBERG. Such a babe, such a doll. My interview with Donnie will go live on LimeLife at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning, and of course, I'll be linking to it right here. New Kids On the Block are back together, and I'll be there to see them in June!!!

UPDATE: Here's the Donnie Wahlberg interview!

DREAMS COME TRUE! BELIEVE BELIEVE BELIEVE!!!!

February 3, 2010

Two big updates:

Today my awesome editor, Amy Bendell, sent out the highly-anticipated (by me, anyway) announcement that she and the Harper imprint at HarperCollins have bought rights to publish my memoir. Here's a snippet of the announcement from Publishers Marketplace:

Kristine Gasbarre's HOW TO LOVE AN AMERICAN MAN ... to Amy Bendell and Lisa Sharkey of Harper,  for publication in January 2011, by Janet Rosen at Sheree Bykofsky Associates (World English).

Janet, Sheree, Lisa, Amy and the whole gang at Harper: Thank you, thank you. I understand how blessed I am to be working with such an incredible publishing team and can't wait to see what's in store for us.

Second big update: this evening while on a business trip, my lovely dad finally got to dine at the restaurant where my best friend Shayna's husband, the gobsmackingly, lipsmackingly talented John Ireland, is the executive chef. It's The Wine Bar in Saratoga Springs, New York, and if you make one foodie trip in 2010, GO HERE. Dad's giving it five stars -- and this a man who loves an unbelievable lamb chop...loves a good glass of merlot...loves a nice Cuban...but has learned through many years and many destinations of travel that you can't find such delicacies just anywhere. Which is why my dear father can't stop talking about John Ireland and the Wine Bar. (Seriously, I'm not just being biased: food TV is hot on John's tail. If you don't already know him, meet him and eat his food before he gets famous and all you can do is wish television had an olfactory function.)

Just had an epiphany: John, think you'd want to cater one of my book's launch parties? Why, this is the best idea I've had all day...

January 15, 2010

Just wanted to share my excitement over my interview with American fashion king Kenneth Cole -- love this man! He and his wife Maria Cuomo Cole do amazing work for The Foundation For AIDS Resarch amfAR and the homeless organization HELP USA.

As if Kenneth Cole designs aren't stunning enough, the man behind them is a gem as well. We had a few really enjoyable exchanges at PokerStars Caribbean Adventure last weekend -- thanks for the great interview, Mr. Cole! He filled me in on the amazing things he has happening in the spring, as well as what next season's look is. (Read the interview to find out!)

Speaking of the social awareness (not only fashionable but kind and necessary), it's so important for all of us to be providing relief in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake this week. Keep giving, people! This is what makes us America.

We at LimeLife have listed the easy ways you can donate -- go here if you haven't had a chance till now.

January 11, 2010

Returned home late last night from six days at Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure in Nassau, Bahamas -- amazing!! Met poker pro and E! star Vanessa Rousso (can you say gorgeous, inside and out?!) and the youngest World Series of Poker champ in history, Joe Cada. And, oh yeah babes...there were celebs. We're talking Slash, Joanna Krupa, Montel Williams, Boris Becker, Jayde Nicole and loads of others.

Stay tuned for links to my red carpet interviews with Nelly, Kelly Rowland and American fashion king Kenneth Cole! All three got personal with me, plus revealed their upcoming projects...and all three are astonishingly kind people. I'll explain what I mean in the interviews.

(Started reading the new Elizabeth Gilbert in the airport, and note to self: Never start one of her books when I have so many deadlines...love her.)

January 1, 2010

Happy New Year!!! Happy New Decade!!!

December 21, 2009

Best birthday ever. All the world is about to welcome a new decade, but a new decade also started for me today -- the thirties!

Everything that I hoped would happen in my twenties, did...God's good, isn't He? Thanks to the people near to me and far away who helped make my birthday so very special with celebrations, wishes of happiness, gifts I adored and can totally use!, and your love and faith in me both on my birthday and throughout my life. The sentiment is 100% mutual.

Most especially a big thanks to my Mom and Dad, who are seriously the BEST. I couldn't have done any of this without your undying support. Love you both so much.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE, and happy winter! I wish an amazing new decade full of blessings to you all!

November 24, 2009

What am I thankful for this year? My awesome loved ones, a career I adore (and can do in my pajamas), and last week's interview with Dancing With the Stars winner Kym Johnson! Congratulations Kym Johnson and Donny Osmond, you are both superstars.

(Oooh, to feel this close to the action!)

Kym, see you for Burn the Floor in December -- can't wait. Thanks for the fab interview you gave LimeLife and me.

Dear World: Kym Johnson is gorgeous inside and out.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!!! So many things to be thankful for. God bless.

November 1, 2009

Two-thirds of my life are now officially composed of...writing.

No no, I say it happily -- this is I wanted for my life. I just try to imagine life before writing and sort of...can't, probably the same way my best friend tries to remember life before she gave birth to her daughter last week (can't wait to meet you, Everlie!).

Right now, I'm working on my first book (or, okay, maybe my fourth? but my first one that a publisher will publish). This project...well, it's sort of like my baby. I had a laborious day yesterday, some pain in my story's development, sometimes wondering whether I was actually capable of shaping its existence. But then today the words flowed and the thoughts connected and -- I love when this happens -- even some tears came. This story made itself clear that it has to be told.

Determined little spirit, it is. I remember a talk that one of my favorite writers Elizabeth Gilbert gave, when she said one of her favorite writers once revealed that when a story idea comes to her, it's like a great wind that blows down from the mountains and if she doesn't catch the idea, it disappears through her and ends up she doesn't know where. I'm learning that same thing -- still not getting so caught up in the writing-down part for fear every earthly observation would consume me even more than it already does -- but the idea that this story is not properly mine. It's sort of on loan from heaven, a message somehow regarding divinity that simply has to be shared with us common folk. I'm simply a vessel. Finally understanding this, my former dogma I want to be a writer begins to sound as self-serving as the woman who says she wants to have a baby for the mere purpose of advancing her role in the universe. Think about it:

I want to be a writer
vs.
I want to share a story,

same as

I want to be a mom
vs.
 I want to give life to another.

It reminds me of something a psychic once told my mom, that children choose their parents before we enter the womb. We know exactly whom we desire to birth us and teach us about living. This story chose me to tell it more than I chose to tell this story. It's exciting and exhausting, and every day I don't know if I'm really capable of getting it out to its perfection...but I put my heart in it, and, sometimes, I have to push. And I have to believe that in early 2011 when I finally see the final result -- when I can hold it in my hands -- I won't remember how hard it was...I'll only see how amazingly it turned out.


September 15, 2009

The window in front of my desk looks out over Treasure Lake, the Central Pennsylvania gem I grew up on. My childhood is composed almost completely of memories here, tubing with my best friends, watching every year's Fourth of July fireworks shoot up over the marina, jumping with my cousins off my Uncle Tom's boat in our favorite spot (on the west side of the lake to the left of the main beach). When I was a kid, Treasure Lake meant pure fun, the perfect place and way to grow up.

Since I returned home a year ago, my life has taken on many moving parts. As career and family and friends hustle along (and, sometimes, past me), the lake sometimes seems the only thing that has remained the same about my life since I left home at 18. From my window on summer weekends I still see boats zipping around; toddlers with beach toys bigger than they are building sandcastles to eventually dance on them.

But on days when the lake is quiet, I walk down to the beach. I bring my journal, or my Shelties, or a book, or nothing at all, and I sit. Sometimes work and romance and my to-do list stress me out, and the lake is the one calm center that never fails to pacify me. I wrote in my journal one Sunday a few weeks ago, "Why does this lake always calm me? Why do I always find God here? Why is my stomach more soothed, why do I not feel so alone, how does God do it? Can I believe that love is always?" This lake, the only thing in my life that is always the same.

Meanwhile, the fact is, we're nearing September's end. The dark moves in before dinner and the wind shakes through the leaves. Summer accepts its inevitable exit as fall's complex blend of colors and emotions sweeps in.

This past was a cold weekend, Saturday especially gray, and I shivered as I walked my dogs to dip their feet in the water. I couldn't touch the water on Saturday. I feared it would feel too cold. In my mind I submitted: the full-blown life of summer is gone. Impossible as it is to understand, winter is approaching, with its end to life and brightness.

Maybe this lake does change.

Today though, the sun was back shining. At lunchtime the dogs stretched for a stroll and while Rocky waddled hesitantly along the water's edge, I crouched down and dangled my fingers into the lake. Amazingly it was warm as bath water; tepid, soothing like a spa. I scanned out across the lake's circumference -- no boats since Saturday. Nighttime in the day. Peaceful. Floating. And contrary to my thinking, still surging with life.

God is here. This lake is God's presence. We kiss goodbye one season of life and brace ourselves for what is almost certain to be a long cold.

I remember the fun, beautiful and sacred moments on that lake; the family and friends who've experienced something there worth keeping. I rarely write poetry anymore, but Treasure Lake inspired this piece in August:
 

The trees here attach the water to sky
So heaven and earth commit or collide.
Blue grand and yielding where green curves and pines -
The color of your eyes, and the color of mine.


God bless all who have known Treasure Lake.


June 2, 2009

Today I met my favorite meteorologist. 

Of all the anchors and reporters I might’ve run into at WTAJ-TV in Altoona, who was sitting right in the studio but, oh yes, Regina Miller.  When I sat down at the anchor desk and folded my hands to practice using the teleprompter, her back was to me – but I’d have known that shiny hair anywhere.  She spun around from the storm tracker on her computer.  “Are you applying?”

“Oh no, I have an audition in Philadelphia on Thursday.  It’s just been a few years since I’ve seen a teleprompter, they can be tricky.”  I paused.  Should I say it?  “You’re Regina Miller, right?”

She nodded.  “Yes.”

“Oh, I love watching you on TV, you’re so beautiful.”

“Oh how sweet, thank you!”

The sincerity in her response reminded me of the time I met Giada de Laurentiis, and then Elizabeth Gilbert.  I had always told myself, If I ever get to meet her, this is exactly what I’ll say.  To Giada it was, “You make young Italian-American women feel so beautiful.”  She grabbed my hand across the cookbook-signing table and looked me square in the eye.  “We are beautiful.”  I went woozy in the knees.  To Liz Gilbert it was, “Um, I know I’m incredibly bold to ask this, but could we have lunch sometime?”  She asked me to email her through her agent.  The following Monday when I did, she had to reject the invitation as there were “many moving parts” in her life (yeah, such as Julia Roberts playing her in a movie, which certainly warranted her gentle raincheck), but, with kindness, she praised my bravery in asking.

During a moment when my life is in a holding pattern – when I’m living back in my rural hometown, while I'm waiting patiently for a book deal, when for the first time in my adulthood my next step is up to the fates – meeting a woman like Regina Miller (or Giada de Laurentiis, or Liz Gilbert) reminds me why I chose the media for my career.  Yes, these are personalities who are glamorous and lovable and even though you’ve hardly met them you feel like they’re your friend; but also, they radiate a certain charisma.  My life that used to be sort of superlative and epic is somewhat average right now, but driving home today I blasted the music through the car and put down the window to let the sun in.  It was a day for being in direct contact with things that shine.

My alarm went off this morning, and I didn’t know I was going to meet my favorite weathergirl -- same as she didn’t know that she’d inspire a young woman’s dreams.  Today I had a brush with greatness, and it made me feel motivated again.  Not even Regina Miller could’ve forecast that.

April 6, 2009

I always look forward to a story deadline because for all intents and purposes, it means the bulk of my work is complete. 

Although this week, the assignment I'm wrapping up feels even heavier than it did when I pitched it.  As I put the finishing touches on my Busted Halo series on contemporary slavery (Part 2 of three went live tonight), I am sadder than I am relieved.  For the last three weeks (and on and off for the last year and a half) I have dwelt in research about human trafficking and slavery, which I feel are the worst human rights violations of our time.  According to experts like my colleague Ben Skinner, with an estimated 27 million people working under the threat of violence for no pay beyond subsistence -- many of them women and children -- there are more slaves today than at any other point in human history.

We must take action.

Over the next two weeks, please stay tuned for the rest of my series.  Because there is really good news here -- the final segment will list a lot of really do-able ways you and I can make a difference.

 I welcome your comments at krissy@kristinegasbarre.com.

March 30, 2009

Because I've published food stories with national publications and lived in Italy among the world's culinary masters, the owner of my all-time favorite restaurant in my hometown invited me this afternoon to brainstorm an upscale menu.

Both the Ski Lodge and I have grown and groomed considerably since the afternoons I tromped in from the sled riding slope out front to blast Bon Jovi in their downstairs jukebox and spend my paper route paycheck on Pac-Man.  Today when the chef saw me hustling past the elegant dining room that used to be my old arcade, he yelled, "Go ahead upstairs, we're waiting for you!"  Right then I think the kick in my step must've looked pretty much like a little kid's. 

I realized that my feet still dangled off the leather stool as I sat at the cozy cabin-inspired bar to prepare my notes -- Would a rustic chicken roast look okay on the same menu as the nachos I've ordered since I was 7?  The bartender asked me what I wanted to drink, and she clouded a glass of Coke with cherry juice for the little girl sitting with her dad next to the crackling fireplace.  "You know what?" I said.  "I haven't had one of those in ages, will you make me the same thing?"

So she filled a pint glass with fizzy pop, speared three Maraschino cherries onto a red plastic sword, and slid my glass to me.  The only thing that could make a menu-planning meeting any more of a thrill than it already was, would be drinking a Shirley Temple during it.  

The sun beamed late-afternoon orange over the ski slopes out back, and I had to smile to myself.  On days like today, a girl remembers who she is.  Sometimes life just comes full circle.

March 26, 2009

If you've looked around here, you'll see I've been promoting my contemporary slavery series on BustedHalo.com.  I credit my esteemed colleague Ben Skinner with waking me up to today's problem of slavery and human trafficking, which I feel are the greatest human rights violations of our time.  The paperback for Ben's Book A Crime So Monstrous went on sale this week, and he shared his excitement over the latest news in slavery with friends: 

Friends,

On Tuesday, Simon & Schuster released A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face With Modern-Day Slavery in paperback. To celebrate, President Obama tapped Lou de Baca, an outstanding human being and one of the nation’s most decorated federal prosecutors, to be his antislavery czar.

OK, so it’s just a coincidence that the two things happened on the same day. But to me it still feels like providence, which is why I’m writing you to ask for your help to seize the moment. There are more slaves in the world today than at any point in human history, but with a strong, widespread abolitionist movement, we can eradicate the crime in a generation.

Towards that end, here are three simple things you can do this evening:

Buy The Book

A Crime So Monstrous is my record of five years travel in order to capture the voices of slaves, survivors, traffickers and abolitionists. It’s intended for the uninitiated who, like me, are not particularly excited to read human rights reports. As such, I’ve tried to give it a narrative spine, capturing the human stories in all their complexity. If you already have a copy, at $10 the paperback is not a bad gift. As always, a quarter of my royalties go to Free The Slaves.

Support Lou

I’ve watched Lou de Baca’s work since I began to research slavery in 2000, and his credentials to lead Obama’s global abolitionist effort are sterling. Using a rare combination of fire and compassion, he has put away more than 100 human traffickers, and freed more than 600 victims—a record unmatched by anyone. Please contact Senators Kerry, Lugar and the other members of the Foreign Relations Committee and urge Lou’s swift confirmation. If real abolition is to be a part of Obama’s legacy, Lou needs to get started as soon as possible.

Support The Cause

On www.acrimesomonstrous.com, I list a couple of the best organizations doing work worldwide to not only free slaves, but to eradicate bondage. Please consider making a donation.

Moreover, for those of you lucky enough to be in NYC, tonight Peter Buffett and I will be speaking at fundraiser for the Somaly Mom Foundation, held at 9PM at the Chelsea Art Museum. Following us, there’ll be a dance party featuring djs, drummers, Cuban and Haitian beats. Details at www.janera.com

Modern rules of etiquette dictate that I’m only allowed to spam my friends once a year. As such, this’ll be the last group email that you get from me until 2010. Please make it count by forwarding to friends, posting to blogs, shouting from on high.

Thank you all again, so much, for the support.

--
E. Benjamin Skinner
Fellow
Harvard Kennedy School
Carr Center for Human Rights Policy


March 24, 2009

For the first time since I started freelancing two years ago, I'm so busy I can barely keep up!

(This is good.)

Please visit my blog for updates on my work and my comments on what's happening in the news.  If you care to share comments at krissy@kristinegasbarre.com, I'll love posting some of them here.