Open Post - diversity, 2012 and the radio interview

This is the last time I get to write Open Post for a while as things slowly return to normal at Mamamia HQ (and I take that opportunity to go on holidays soon). I was going to use that excuse to fill this post with pictures of my son and my dog being generally awesome but then I remembered that there was an audience bigger than just my husband and so you can rest easy. No family photos. But lots of office ones

The Mamamia HQ

We’re almost all back on board, this is what’s been happening this week

The advertising campaign

With all  the talk we have had over the last few weeks about diversity on magazine covers how good is it to see these catalogue images from the States?

No point being made, no fancy gimmicks or sales tricks just a little boy in an ad – a little boy that happens to have Down Syndrome.

Ryan appears in both ads and his mother has written in reply to a blog celebrating Ryan’s appearance saying

The little “hipster” in the Nordstrom ad is our 6 year old son Ryan.

We are very pleased that Nordstrom placed Ryan in their catalog.
We are honored that Ryan is making the Down Syndrome community proud.
He is a beautiful boy inside and out. He makes us better parents, and a better family.
Our children with Down Syndrome are amazing! So many have had huge health obstacles to overcome from the very beginning of their lives. We, their families, know how far they have come, and how much more is ahead of them. Every day is a journey, and a celebration.

Talking of diversity…what an excellent segue to

The Wardrobe Week

Wardrobe Week is part of Mamamia’s new approach to showcasing diversity in 2012. We often struggle to find appropriate images for our street-style galleries, which is why we want our readers to star in our posts so we can ALL start contributing to a more realistic portrayal of women in the media.

This new post will feature everyone from readers to contributors to Mamamia staff – basically anyone who’s happy to send us a few photos of what they’re wearing that week and tell us where it all came from.

Are you interested?

Here’s how it works. You submit a week’s worth of photos of yourself and tell us what you’re wearing. Something like this:

“Top from Zara, jeans from K-Mart (only $15!), jacket from an ex-boyfriend whose name I can’t bear to repeat, Converse trainers (I own them in 4 colours, they’re my favourite sneaker), earrings from the chemist.”

The key is to make sure the images are full-length and shot in the same place each day, preferably against a white wall. Well lit.

5-10 images are perfect (if, for example, you have two in one day) and make sure to include details of what you’re wearing in each shot.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES do your clothes have to be expensive or designer (cheap is the new expensive). It’s all about just peeking into what other women wear in their everyday lives – whether they’re going to work, uni or at home with the kids.

We’ll load the images up in our weekly post with links back to your blog/website/Twitter/Tumblr/whatever else you please.

If you’d like to see an example, we put together a gallery of some of the Mamamia staff and what they wear around the office – check it out here.

If you’re interested, just send an email to wardrobeweek@mamamia.com.au

The video

Wow, I am hearing a lot of 2012 Mayan talk. Which may be why I absolutely loved this video. Watch it and pass it on to everyone who tells you “But the Mayans predicted it…”

The radio interview

This week I did a radio interview with ABC Local Radio in Tasmania about the fact that I err, cook better than my mum –  prompted by this post. I was really quite nervous partly because I thought my mum might hear it and phone in to complain and partly because the sound of my own voice on radio is nothing at all like the sound of my own voice in my head.  The voice I hear on the radio using my words makes me feel quite jittery. How on earth can there be such a disparate difference? I wonder how other people hear my voice?

So what’s on your mind? What have you been up to and what do you need to share?