viivanova-blog

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The Coolest Cubicles in the World (link)

My favorite has got to be the Ponce et Huot, how about yourself? 

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2013 in Shoes, according to Vogue [link]

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The 12 Stages of a PR Professional’s Day [link]

Spot on, especially my caffeine intake ;) 

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Sneaking a kiss through the Berlin Wall. pic.twitter.com/i4lvqqwZnO

via (@HistoricalPics)

December 30, 2013

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Happy New Year!

Happy new 2014 my friends and followers. Thank you for all the support in 2013 which started off really difficult for me. The tables turned for the better in the latter part of the year and I particularly appreciate everyone's help in the new endeavour.  

Hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday time. :) 

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The lust of the mind is curiosity.

Guillermo del Toro

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Take Care of Yourself Before You Take Care of Business 

Jennifer Walzer, founder of Backup My Info!

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The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people

Karl Marx 

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Classic Missoni, with a very modern look - great styling!

Italian fashion house Missoni chose supermodel Christy Turlington to star in its Spring/Summer 2014 advertising campaign, posing for Viviane Sassen's lens. The campaign, shot in Tenerife in the Canary Islands, features the Californian fashion legend in an arid desert, where dark colors contrast with the deep blue sky, and shadows are cast with large plexiglass letters, spelling out Missoni.

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I’ve heard that men are like fine wine. They begin as grapes, and it’s up to women to stomp the shit out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with.

Jill Shalvis, Get A Clue (via quotes-shape-us)

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Found Under "The Rights and Wrongs of Slum Tourism" in the WSJ

I found this detailed comment in the comments of the WSJ feature on slum tourism, and I thought it was spot on, so I leave it here without my personal commentary: 

"I certainly understand the controversy about slum tours. I am both FOR and AGAINST them. Let me explain this.

I was born, grew up and still live in Brazil’s largest slum or favela. Life is dificult yes, but not impossible. I am proud to live here in Rocinha. I will never leave here, but I do not want to leave here. This is my home. This is my feelings about this issue of slum/favela tourism.

What I like about the tours is the contact I get from foreigners who come here. This interaction helps me to educate people about my life here in the favela. When foreigners come here I feel like my home/favela has value and are worth to be seen. The Brazilian goverment mostly ignores us and helps us very little. We want our voice to be heard. I want to feel that somebody on the outside cares about us and recognizes that we exist. Up until about 5 years ago favelas did not exist on maps. Why was this? Many foreigners come to learn how we create and live in our comunity with little or no goverment involvement. Others come because of the art and culture that exists here. I do not judge why people come, they confirm that we exist.

I started in tourism becase I saw the oportunity to show my favela and help create jobs for others here. We live here, and should be making the tours here. I have heard outsider tour companies exaggerate things or tell outright lies about my favela. They do this becase they do not know and do not live here. I am here to show a social experience not some adrenaline tour. With my work, about 20% returns to volunteers in social projects or start their own programs in the favela. Recently people have contacted me wanting to make projects like a rooftop garden class and another person wants to help bring solar energy here.

My friend Jim Shattuck and I, ran a fundraiser which earned about R$800 Reais ($400 USD), which will go to Tio Lino’s Art School in the Rocinha. Visitors to my favela helped with this project by taking tours! With this we will be able to give 40 children back packs filled with school supplies and provide much needed art materials needed for the art studio.

I was able to help a student, Leandro Lima, realize his dream of being a photographer. After learning that he had his camera stolen (outside the favela), I set aside money from my tours from August to October 2010 and during his birthday party on the 16th, he was suprised to receive this, but he is deserving!

These are people who came on visits here in the favela and in some way help contribute. Is this bad?

What I do NOT like about the tours…the tours made in jeeps or trucks is the worst becase it presents us like a zoo. The tourists have no contact with the locals and this reinforces a sense of possible danger. Tours or visits where the guests walk in the favela are more welcome. There is one company that tells their guests not to interact with the locals if they are approached. This is wrong. The glamorization of violence is another thing that we do not like here. It is as if these companies are trying to capitalize on some kind of excitement. Favelas are not war zones and people need understand that real, honest hardworking people live there, we just make less money.

There are tour companies here who use the comunity to make money but they give very little or nothing back to the community. This is not right. They should contribute something for the betterment of the favela. There are plenty of social projects here who could use help.

I am not ashamed to live in the favela and people should not feel shame to come and visit. All we ask is please do not take photos of us like we are animals and do not have fear if we say hello to you on the street.

If we want to stop or reduce poverty, we need to stop pretending it does not exist. I call it socially responsible tourism. If you chose to tour this type of comunity, try to give something back however big or small. Becase of Tourism we have a Dj School called Spin Rocinha. The dj classes are FREE to all residents of the favela. You can find us on facebook under “Spin Rocinha“…

Slums, favelas and shanties are where 1/3 of the population live in all major cities, serving the needs of mostly the rich. Visiting these places may increase your knowledge and awareness at a much deeper level than visiting a museum or art exhibition. Ignoring poverty is not going to make it go away and those who have more, should not feel guilt. Unfortunately, this world will always have this unbalance of wealth. Sad but true.

Thank you,

Zezinho da Rocinha"

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Vassie TumBlog turned 3 today!

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The Winner of The Voice: Bulgaria Performs a Final Duet With Coach 

Someone who really embodies this show's platform - a magnetic voice that just sucks you into a different universe!

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The better part of valour is discretion, in the which better part I have saved my life.

Shakespeare, Henry The Fourth, Part 1 Act 5, scene 4, 115–121

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"Travelling is a fool’s paradise. Our first journeys discover to us the indifference of places. At home I dream that at Naples, at Rome, I can be intoxicated with beauty, and lose my sadness. I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea, and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside me is the stern fact, the sad self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from. I seek the Vatican, and the palaces. I affect to be intoxicated with sights and suggestions, but I am not intoxicated. My giant goes with me wherever I go. ”

Emerson, Self Reliance.

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No, I'm not going to the world cup

by @Carla Dauden

Bravo, Carla. Football should help sustainable development above all.

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Once you make the client think he or she is the most important part of the universe, much more so than other clients, once you master the art of writing the perfect press release, once you learn to juggle all the clients, keep in constant touch with them, feed them information, ideas and encouragement, you have found a formula for success.

Letitia Baldrige, “A Lady First”, 2001