Celebrities & Artist I Want To Thank for Their Inspiration This Season

Touched by Angels in the Arts

This holiday season I am reminded and grateful for the angels of art who have graced my life in painting, photography, storytelling, dance, songwriting, musicians, singers, promoters and producers who make it all possible for the world and whose work has deeply touched my life.  

I have to start with my father, who played and sang beautifully, accompanied by his soul, his heart and his guitar;  actress Dolores Hart who chose God over Hollywood, and depicted her story in a documentary titled "God Is The Bigger Elvis"; John Lennon's songwriting including IMAGINE,  The Flying Laser Guitarist Graham Gillot and  HyperHarp Jeff Grossberg who light up the world with music and light creations; Little Feat who rocked for PeaceJourney Hawaii on 4-islands in 5 days to help us bring computer labs to the islands and that included Ben Taylor (Peace Journey Trips documentary) and  son of James Taylor; Yuri Lane beatbox extraordinaire who recently performed on the Steve Harvey Show and who through his beats, connects our hearts; and Sandro Miller, photographer, who just won the Lucie Award for Best International Photographer of the Year; and Peter Exley and his wife Sharon with their amazing work to beautify the world through architecture and the arts. And Ben Mugisha, Rwandan Hip Hop sensation, Helene Henn, South African singer, Peyton Tochterman a rising star n the American Roots Music and traveler to Afghanistan in support of our troops through the State Departmen, Mimi Machado-Luces film and documentary producer, and Rocco Cataldo, who helps me make sense of the world of music and film through his own art!   Learn more about them here:  Bios at Peace Journey  And Richard Cahan, photographer, who bravely traveled and documented in the West Bank this year.  His photo display titled Night Raid can be seen now at  Art Works in River North-Chicago, Illinois thru December 15th 2014.

There are many people who have touched my life, who I know are there to step up to make this world better, but now in the latter part of 2014, finding out about so many local people and the beauty they bring to the earth has touched my heart, and reopened my creative senses,  which can only enhance our next Peace Journey adventures 2015, and the good we can all do for the world.  

Happy Holidays as you learn more about these amazing people. 

Movies & Arts Review: Wild, Starring Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern

WILD

This movie is a reminder of the bond between a mom and her daughter and in this case, the sad reality involved in not knowing what you have until it's lost.  I loved it, and recommend the great performances. Based on the true story of Cheryl Strayed.

This movie, Wild, did not affect me in the way I thought it might.  My perception after seeing the movie trailer, was I would relate more to Reese Witherspoon's character of Cheryl Strayed, but instead, I was drawn to the mother played by Laura Dern  who is the soul of the movie.  

I thought I would cry for Reese, since this true story was one of a mentally, self-tortured young woman who, after losing her mom, took on a 1,100 mile challenge to hike across the Pacific Crest Trail in a quest to answer burning self-depricating issues, including her obsession with drugs and sex.  In the end, she comes to true realizations about her life, but nothing phony or presumptuous.   

Through flashbacks in the movie, her mom, Bobbie Strayed,  who Cheryl says is 'the love of my life",  did everything she could with little to no money to keep joy, happiness, a roof overhead and hope in their lives.

Bobbi Strayed sang when they had little money or food to eat.  She worked and went back to high school in an attempt to gain knowledge of the world and a brighter future for her children.  She had breakfast and dinner on the table everyday and was present with hugs and a smile for Cheryl and younger son.  And, she dealt with the pervasive guilt of the physically abusive man she married and father of her children.  After one too many nights of being knocked around, she left and took the kids with her in the middle of the night.

Through it all, Cheryl Strayed never really saw her mother for the courageous, unselfish woman she was, who put her children before everything in life.  She didn't see the truth until it was too late.  

Being a single mother is a most difficult job, especially when money is at issue everyday. To have a mother who kept joy alive in the face of it all, to me, is the story of the strength of a truly ethereal, optimistic woman.  And now, her spirit and love of life lives on in the hearts of her children.

Jeannette Barcelos Kravitz

Sponsorship For Causes Makes Big Difference in Consumer Purchases

Isn't It Time to Step Up, Using Our Purchasing Power to Make the World Better?

1. "Social responsibility is a duty every individual has to perform so as to maintain a balance between the economy and the ecosystems. A trade-off may exist between economic development, in the material sense, and the welfare of the society and environment."

   Peace Journey Productions is now on our quest for the best and most socially responsible companies to work with.

   Let's face it, very, very few of any of us wake up in the morning thinking of ways to destroy the planet, our families, animals and neighbors.  In fact, for most thank goodness, it's exactly the opposite.  

   It is difficult to keep up with corporations and small businesses who stand out in the world for good, isn't it?  

   In my personal quest to find out the Who's Who -- Best Of  in the area of corporate social responsibility,  I am sharing this report from MacLeans Inc.  There may be many more lists that you find so please post your list below in the comments and we can share more of this good news with the world.  While this list is for larger companies, I would be remiss to not include the social responsibility by now of our key sponsors, PeaceSpaProducts.org

   All I know is 15 or 20 years ago,  one would be hard-pressed to find companies rated and reported on as the top companies in this category, and now through Google and other search engines, information is so readily available.

   This makes the process of choosing where to spend our dollars in our hands.  And there is no better time than the present, during the holiday season! 

   Choosing the top rated socially conscious companies to buy from means we still have to do our homework and be sure that the stories aren't just public relations stunts, but at least we have a guidepost for information gathering.

   
   

   Jeannette Barcelos Kravitz