Happy Earth Day!

Thoughts and prayers for Boston

Special Post: People helping people – August 19th – World Humanitarian Day

World Humanitarian Day is a global celebration of people helping people.

United Nations’ World Humanitarian Day website

Visit the United Nations website to find out more information. It’s an inspiring day which, like many other days of observation, acts as a catalyst for change and the coming together of people, globally, not only on the day being observed, but every day of the year.

How will you get involved?

“I was here…”

(Source: BeyoncéVEVO official YouTube channel)

###

Special Post: Celebrity Optimist TV is born!

Celebrity Optimist is proud to announce the launch of Celebrity Optimist TV! There are several projects in development so stay tuned for on-site coverage, interviews, reviews, collaborations and so much more! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us HERE!

Please subscribe to our channel and share the news! We are also currently accepting video submissions of Celebrity Optimist subscribers and readers reciting, on camera, “I’m (insert name) and you’re watching Celebrity Optimist TV!”

Sneak peek to our recent visit to Closets for Causes’ photo shoot set! We had a chance to speak to the Founder, Talia Bella, so stay tuned!

###

Earth Day 2012

It’s Earth Day 2012! What do YOU pledge to do in order to save our planet, on Earth Day and every day?

www.earthday.org

The EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, is a government effort to see a positive change in the way we treat our environment. Karyn Parsons speaks out for them in this PSA:

(Source: USEPAgov YouTube Channel)

###

Special Post: Rest in peace Whitney Houston

At Celebrity Optimist, we shift the focus from the negative to the positive things celebrities do with their platforms.

Whitney Houston gave the world a gift, and that gift, was her. She was a true talent with a voice that was so powerful. Her singing inspired through the infectious words she belted out, the melodies that could evoke goosebumps in the coldest of hearts and the perpetual innovation and progression of her art. She was a favorite of mine when I was just a child, and her messages have always been timeless.

We keep her family, friends and fans in our deepest thoughts and prayers…

R.I.P. Whitney…

http://www.whitneyhouston.com

###

Special Post & Featured Optimist: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today, we remember one of the ultimate Optimists who paved the way for us all with his sacrifice, leadership, words and visions…and that is the least of what he did. Today, we remember Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on his day…

Address to civil rights marchers by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 28, 1963:

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men — yes, black men as well as white men — would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check that has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice. We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end but a beginning. Those who hoped that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “for whites only.” We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today my friends — so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning “My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father’s died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!”

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi — from every mountainside.

Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring — when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children — black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics — will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

###

Special Post: Oprah Winfrey’s South African school celebrates first graduating class

Oprah Winfrey is the epitome of philanthropy and someone who uses their platform to make positive changes in the world. I know I don’t have to explain it to you. We have seen it time and time again, and each time it happens, it warms the heart and spirit. Countless lives have been touched and transformed, for the better, by Oprah and her missions in life. When she created the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa, it was a dream realized. Well, now, the students who started at the school in 2007, are the first class to graduate! 72 students will reportedly go on to study at universities in both South Africa and the United States.

Her feelings on this defining moment for these young girls who otherwise would not have had these opportunities and choices? “We’re taking a victory lap here, for transformation,” she said. “Every single girl is going to leave here with something greater to offer the world than her body.”

(Source: New Tang Dynasty Television’s YouTube page)

To learn more about the school and what else they are doing to help these young girls, please visit their website.

owla.co.za

Please join us in congratulating the new graduates!

Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa's first graduating class

(Source: Oprah Winfrey’s Twitter)

- Kendra Kabasele

###

Happy New Year, 2012!!!!

Happy New Year everyone! It’s 2012 and we all seem to be on the same page when it comes to making things happen in the new year! Last year was one of ups and downs, globally and personally, and I am among those who are happy to welcome all that’s positive in 2012!

While I don’t tend to make New Year’s resolutions (or at least I don’t call them that), I do always have goals. One of those goals is to bring you more Celebrity Optimists as well as our everyday Featured Optimists. The goal is to continue to share with you the positive things celebrities are doing with their platforms, steering away from the negative attention they already have too much of.

Another goal is to become more interactive, so please feel free to comment, send me emails, suggestions, and submit if you would like to see specific celebrities and/or everyday people who are giving back!

In the spirit of the blog and the New Year, I have decided to share one of the celebrity New Year’s resolutions I came across. E! News host Giuliana Rancic has been the symbol of strength in the past few years, as she has gone through some trying health issues, and publicly. She most recently underwent a double mastectomy, and while referring to the recovery as “hell”, credits husband Bill Rancic with being the rock she needed to lean on throughout the entire experience. He definitely is a solid man and extraordinary husband. Giuliana said, during an interview, “So much of these past few months has been worrying about the future, the future, the future. Am I going to live? Am I going to have to do chemo? And it’s just so much worrying about the future.” Bill said, “Our goal is to really live in the present – to enjoy life.”

Giuliana Rancic's Happy New Year tweet (Source: Twitter)

(Source: Twitter)

I chose Giuliana and Bill’s  resolution/goal as the one to share, as I believe it to be something inspiring and words we all could benefit from in the new year. When you see someone go through such trials, ones that make everything else seem so trivial, you know that when they draw certain conclusions, it’s because everything has been put in greater perspective. And so, as we wish them the best in a happy, healthy and stress-free 2012, we wish you all the same!

Happy New Year to everyone and may all of your goals in 2012 come to fruition!

- Kendra Kabasele

PS – Please feel free to share this post, comment below and/or email me your favorite celebrity’s New Year’s Resolutions for 2012 at celebrityoptimist@gmail.com .

###

Special Post: The Giving Back Fund announces Top 30 Celeb donations for last year

The Giving Back Fund is a nonprofit organization that provides philanthropic management and consulting to the sports and entertainment industries. The organization is in the news with the release of their yearly list of celebrities who made the largest donations to charity in the previous year. It is the 5th year they have come up with the list.

 

Giving Back Fund Top 30

 The list is on The Giving Back Fund website and the leading celebs include Actress Jami Gertz, Musician Herb Alpert, Actor Mel Gibson, Producer George Lucas, and Writer Nora Roberts. Some of the celebrities included in the tally are  actors, writers, producers, musicians, comedians, and athletes, among others.

The goals for this Top 30?

• To honor the most charitable of individuals in the sports and entertainment communities
• To encourage increased giving within the sports and entertainment communities
• To encourage increased transparency in sports and entertainment philanthropy

For the complete list, and for lists past, please visit their website.

###