My big sister. My protector who powdered me when I was an infant, let me do her Civics homework when I was in 6th grade (which made me feel “big”), who taught me how to drive (it was a 1957 Chevy), with whom I compared mosquito bites after we played in eastern Kentucky creeks looking for crawdads. Oh, yes — she happened to sing some, too.
This past Friday, she sang in Knoxville, and it was glorious. My favorite songs are the ones our Mama wrote, so customized for her voice are they. Thank you to fans for loving my sister @wynonnajudd and helping to give her life purpose and meaning, and for recognizing that she’s indeed the G.O.A.T.
My big sister. My protector who powdered me when I was an infant, let me do her Civics homework when I was in 6th grade (which made me feel “big”), who taught me how to drive (it was a 1957 Chevy), with whom I compared mosquito bites after we played in eastern Kentucky creeks looking for crawdads. Oh, yes — she happened to sing some, too.
This past Friday, she sang in Knoxville, and it was glorious. My favorite songs are the ones our Mama wrote, so customized for her voice are they. Thank you to fans for loving my sister @wynonnajudd and helping to give her life purpose and meaning, and for recognizing that she’s indeed the G.O.A.T.
My big sister. My protector who powdered me when I was an infant, let me do her Civics homework when I was in 6th grade (which made me feel “big”), who taught me how to drive (it was a 1957 Chevy), with whom I compared mosquito bites after we played in eastern Kentucky creeks looking for crawdads. Oh, yes — she happened to sing some, too.
This past Friday, she sang in Knoxville, and it was glorious. My favorite songs are the ones our Mama wrote, so customized for her voice are they. Thank you to fans for loving my sister @wynonnajudd and helping to give her life purpose and meaning, and for recognizing that she’s indeed the G.O.A.T.
Today is the two year anniversary of my beloved mother’s death by suicide. The approach of 30 April has felt fast and reckless, (and highjacked by Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction being overturned, frankly). I have wanted to slow down time, to think through how I wanted to care for and support myself today. And then the good David Kessler, grief expert, reached out to me and validated that the the anniversary ” is often very difficult, especially the days that precede it. That helped me feel known and seen. ****I want to share something Mom did before she died that epitomizes her both her motherly love and imagination: many years ago, she wrote me a birthday card to open after her death. I found it in our barn. I opened it this year (last year was too soon for me). It is simply extraordinary. She reminisces about how dear I was as a child, reminds me of how proud of me she is, encourages me to be “spiritually strong.” She closes her precious card, “Always, Mommy.” Today, and all days, yes. Yes. Always, Mommy.
Today marks 56 years of being on this earth, and I am thankful to be here with y’all.
As a powerful woman in recovery, perhaps the best gift I’ve ever given to myself was entering treatment 18 years ago. Though life’s path is filled with challenges, it’s also a remarkable journey of self-discovery and healing that has helped shaped me into the woman I am today.
As I look to another year, I am grateful for the opportunity to continue learning, walking closer with my Higher Power (who is in me like butter is in milk), striving for equity and the end of all harm.
What was the best birthday gift you gave yourself? Let me know below! Thank you for your unwavering support and for being part of this beautiful journey with me.
Last week @andersoncooper and I visited, having a vulnerable and open conversation about trauma and grief, as we both have experienced the loss of a loved one by suicide. It is honest and real – and I trust real. I hope you listen and share what resonates with you.
You can listen to our conversation in Episode 5 of “All There Is with Anderson Cooper” wherever you get your podcasts.
We are frustrated, sad, and heartbroken that NY overturned Harvey Weinstein’s conviction.
We are devastated for the survivors of Harvey Weinstein and survivors everywhere who have ever bravely testified in pursuit of justice. Survivors deserve better.
Thank you @ashley_judd for your fight and @jodikantor for your tenacious reporting.
Sending love to all the survivors out there reading this news. We believe you, we are #HereForYou, and we will fight for you.
☎️💬 RAINN and the National Sexual Assault Hotline is here for survivors and their loved ones 24/7 at 800.656.HOPE (4673) or online.rainn.org in English and rainn.org/es in Spanish.
🎥 : @cbsmornings
#SAAPM #SAAM #HereForYou #SupportSurvivors #MeToo
This morning, I was excitedly preparing to reserve our Yellowstone National Park backcountry campsites. Jodi Kantor from the NYT called, and texted simultaneously, “pick up rn,” and I did. She shared the news that the New York Court of Appeals had overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on felony sex crime charges. Yet again, male sexual violence had intruded upon and disturbed a beautiful day, as it does every day in the lives of American women.
We live on a daily basis with male entitlement to our female bodies. The most dangerous place in the US for us is in our homes. The men who most commonly assault, rape, and kill us are men who know.
Each of us who survived Harvey Weinstein’s serial sexual predation knew him. He exploited, gleefully, the asymmetry of power in our relationship to him. He defamed me after I barely evaded his sexual assault in that hotel room in 1996. I did not evade his grotesque sexual harassment, wrath, and punishment. My art and my pocketbook are still different to this day because of him.
The misguided opinion of 4 judges today does not change what we survivors know, and we acknowledge the fierceness of the minority opinion. The truth is consistent.
There are multiple forces at work here. One is the power of those of us with lived experience as survivors of male sexual violence and our voices. When we share our stories, we exercise leadership by sparking others to join us in shared actions toward safety and freedom from sexual harm. We let other folks know we see them, we hear them, we believe them, we love them. We have community.
The other force is institutional betrayal. We must work within and from outside institutions to encourage them to adopt the research-based, concrete actions of Institutional Courage. So many survivors share that the “second rape” and moral injury of institutional betrayal is harder to live with than the original crime against their bodies.
Happy 90th birthday to an icon and forever inspiration. The world is better because you were born. Thank you for your walk, courage, facing the loneliness and adversity back in the day, concrete principles, enduring mirth, intersectionality, always having a room for me in your home, and trademark gentleness. What a “wow” you are.
*****
”We’ve begun to raise daughters more like sons … but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters”
*****
“Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.”
*****
“Empathy is the most radical of human emotions.”
Bonobos!! Our closest living relatives. In fact, when a bonobo sees me, she sees a closer cousin than if she saw a gorilla!
Endangered.
And when different parties meet in the rainforest, they love it. They cooperate, share fruit (a valuable resource), groom each other (bonding!), and play games like hide and seek. (Um, chimpanzees are aggressive, especially towards females, hurt and kill each other.)
Bonobos are one of a kind and so much fun, amongst other things.
This tiny, remote research camp did something super hard and welcomed an intrepid documentary crew to capture simply never before accessible images of these remarkable apes.
Discover bonobos and why I am committed to living in the second lung of the planet part of the year with them! Check out @natgeotv’s Queens, a limited series narrated by the amazing @im.angelabassett. 👑
Now streaming on @DisneyPlus and @Hulu.
While #WomensHistoryMonth may be over, it’s important we recognize the powerful stories and contributions of women each and every day, especially women of color and indigenous women. Why does this matter? Let me tell you the story of just a few women who have made an impact on me but who’s stories are not as recognized.
My 10x great grandmother, Mary Bruester — a religious refugee and spiritual leader in her community. While a lot is known about my grandfather, Mary’s name is never even mentioned precisely because she was a woman.
Pearl Moore, a Black woman who is the all-time leading scorer in women’s basketball. Pearl notched over 4,000 points during her collegiate career, a mark that still stands five decades later. With the historic point-scorers and wins from the recent NCAA women’s basketball, we can’t tell this story without talking about Pearl Moore.
Women are powerful and we’ve made mighty accomplishments to our society. We are all responsible for shining a light on each other. What powerful women have inspired you? Share their story with me in the comments.
There is a lot going on in the world. As I reflect on the multiple instances of institutional betrayal with which so many of us are grappling, I wanted to share some of my thoughts, in no particular order:
There are 3 Pillars of Protest: Protect Free Speech. Adhere to Principles of Civil Disobedience. Institutional Neutrality. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. described the principle perfectly: “When one breaks the law that conscience tells him is unjust, he must do it openly, he must do it cheerfully, he must do it lovingly, he must do it civilly — not uncivilly — and he must do it with a willingness to accept the penalty.”Destruction of property and violence do not aid any oppressed peoples. And doing so gives material to those who think poorly of protestors to scorn them further.
I was a campus protestor. I helped organize a campus-wide walk-out of classes in protest when the Governor of KY refused to remove a member of the Board of Trustees who called black South Africans the N-word when they were discussing divesting from racist minority rule Apartheid. I helped organize the protest on the steps of the state capital. Protest is righteous and necessary. It must also follow constructive norms.
Samantha Power — whom I hold in very high regard — is the Director of @usaid, and has had the moral courage to do the right thing and simply speak the truth: there is a full-blown famine in Gaza. She is not waiting for the bureaucracy to “approve” this language to declare it. (“Forced starvation:” thank you for this in the comments.
The important documentary, “Screams Before Silence,” details, excruciatingly, horrific male sexual violence by Hamas against Israelis on October 7. First-person accounts, survivors of the sexual violence, and bloody undergarments, it is so difficult to watch and it demonstrates yet again in yet another setting how especially girl’s and women’s bodies are degraded and dehumanized by men in war.
Today, we remember the unforgettable: The Holocaust. We breath for those whose breath was taken. Six million Jewish souls left their bodies, and millions of others were scarred and generations, up to those who are young today, were impacted.
There is a lot going on in the world. As I reflect on the multiple instances of institutional betrayal with which so many of us are grappling, I wanted to share some of my thoughts, in no particular order:
There are 3 Pillars of Protest: Protect Free Speech. Adhere to Principles of Civil Disobedience. Institutional Neutrality. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. described the principle perfectly: “When one breaks the law that conscience tells him is unjust, he must do it openly, he must do it cheerfully, he must do it lovingly, he must do it civilly — not uncivilly — and he must do it with a willingness to accept the penalty.”Destruction of property and violence do not aid any oppressed peoples. And doing so gives material to those who think poorly of protestors to scorn them further.
I was a campus protestor. I helped organize a campus-wide walk-out of classes in protest when the Governor of KY refused to remove a member of the Board of Trustees who called black South Africans the N-word when they were discussing divesting from racist minority rule Apartheid. I helped organize the protest on the steps of the state capital. Protest is righteous and necessary. It must also follow constructive norms.
Samantha Power — whom I hold in very high regard — is the Director of @usaid, and has had the moral courage to do the right thing and simply speak the truth: there is a full-blown famine in Gaza. She is not waiting for the bureaucracy to “approve” this language to declare it. (“Forced starvation:” thank you for this in the comments.
The important documentary, “Screams Before Silence,” details, excruciatingly, horrific male sexual violence by Hamas against Israelis on October 7. First-person accounts, survivors of the sexual violence, and bloody undergarments, it is so difficult to watch and it demonstrates yet again in yet another setting how especially girl’s and women’s bodies are degraded and dehumanized by men in war.
Today, we remember the unforgettable: The Holocaust. We breath for those whose breath was taken. Six million Jewish souls left their bodies, and millions of others were scarred and generations, up to those who are young today, were impacted.
C A T S CATS CATS CATS! 💙💙. **Congrats Oakland and especially Jack Gohkle. Stuff dreams are made of. Still love my ‘Cats. **.
I love coming here to connect with all of you. Your comments, thoughts, recommendations and words of love refresh me.
With my Kentucky Wildcats losing at the beginning of the month, I had to keep myself distracted from the tournament and my own disappointment.
Now, we have Coach MARK POPE to celebrate! To summarize Matt Jones and Jack Givens, we didn’t have to back a Brinks truck up to someone’s house to buy a coach. We have one of our own who is Kentucky. to the narrow of his bones! Wahoo!
Until this announcement, I filled my time with great books, podcasts and attended SXSW for enriching events. I hope to share more of these quick recommendations and thoughts on what I’m up to more often.
What books and podcasts have you enlivened into lately? Share with me in the comments.
Remembering the #MetGala with this throwback from 1997 with fellow ‘90’s icon Gwyneth Paltrow. Looking forward to seeing what @samanthamcmillen_stylist does with Elle Fanning and Brie Larson tonight!
Dress by @Valentino
Hair @mitchbarry
Makeup @moyramulholland
Two years ago, Ashley Judd’s mother, Naomi Judd, died by suicide.
This April, she joined leaders in our Administration as we released our National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and first-ever Federal Action Plan.
To her, this new plan represents hope for those struggling with mental illness and the people who love them.
March Madness, the most wonderful time of year! Our beloved Kentucky Wildcats tip off tonight, I am ready with my trusty t shirt, UK friends, and the radio with the Voices of the ‘Cats, Tom Leach and Jack “Goose” Givens. With what is on pace to the most powerful offense in UK history and the most fabulous backcourt, we can cut down the nets provided our defense stays sticky/pesky and consistent (um, not a given with this squad, much as a love ‘em!). Historically, defense wins championships, so let’s pour it on, go all the way and bring home #9 to the Commonwealth! And rooting for Kentucky schools in tournament, of course. Oh, I have my bracket and I am prepared to tear it up, who will be this year’s Cinderella(s)? GO ‘CATS! @kentuckymbb
March Madness, the most wonderful time of year! Our beloved Kentucky Wildcats tip off tonight, I am ready with my trusty t shirt, UK friends, and the radio with the Voices of the ‘Cats, Tom Leach and Jack “Goose” Givens. With what is on pace to the most powerful offense in UK history and the most fabulous backcourt, we can cut down the nets provided our defense stays sticky/pesky and consistent (um, not a given with this squad, much as a love ‘em!). Historically, defense wins championships, so let’s pour it on, go all the way and bring home #9 to the Commonwealth! And rooting for Kentucky schools in tournament, of course. Oh, I have my bracket and I am prepared to tear it up, who will be this year’s Cinderella(s)? GO ‘CATS! @kentuckymbb
March Madness, the most wonderful time of year! Our beloved Kentucky Wildcats tip off tonight, I am ready with my trusty t shirt, UK friends, and the radio with the Voices of the ‘Cats, Tom Leach and Jack “Goose” Givens. With what is on pace to the most powerful offense in UK history and the most fabulous backcourt, we can cut down the nets provided our defense stays sticky/pesky and consistent (um, not a given with this squad, much as a love ‘em!). Historically, defense wins championships, so let’s pour it on, go all the way and bring home #9 to the Commonwealth! And rooting for Kentucky schools in tournament, of course. Oh, I have my bracket and I am prepared to tear it up, who will be this year’s Cinderella(s)? GO ‘CATS! @kentuckymbb
Happy 🌎 Day!
Wadi Rum, Jordan
Today’s NY Court of Appeals decision is a poignant reminder of the work that still needs to be done. We stand with survivors of sexual violence and harassment, they deserve justice. We all deserve to live in a world where our community and institutions protect our rights and integrity. Let’s continue doing the work to end sexual and gender-based violence, let’s raise our voices to say #MeToo. We stand together to demand justice and accountability.
#C190 #ASaferWorldofWork #Live
YOU can make a difference in someone’s life and potentially prevent a trafficking situation from happening. Being aware of and addressing the factors that make people vulnerable to trafficking, like homelessness, abuse, and discrimination, can help to end human trafficking. 96 percent of survivors in the National Survivor Study reported facing family or household instability during their childhood and 96% experienced abuse during their childhood. We’re thankful to have the opportunity to have this important conversation with @ashley_judd and @wearemanenough. Watch the full conversation now at the link in our bio.
Join @ashley_judd and @activistmonicaramirez as they discuss the importance of re-shaping cultural narratives to effect change and eradicate gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work.
Let’s move forward together and continue to find ways to make the world of work a better and safer place for everyone.
#C190 #ASaferWorldofWork
