Barbie is an iconic doll, who has been around since the 1950s. I had numerous Barbies (most of who were decapitated by my younger brother). I had Baywatch Barbie, Texas Longhorn cheerleader Barbie, teacher Barbie, wedding Barbie (with Ken) and all the Barbie books to match. I can thank my aunt for signing me up for the Barbie book club, in which Barbie, and her siblings/friends, went on all kinds of adventures. Barbie had numerous jobs in these books, to match her doll personalities. She was a vet, a doctor, nurse, pre-school teacher and a fashion designer.

Although it is encouraging to show girls that Barbie can have a variety of careers, there was never a real-world Barbie. Barbie is distorting the way girls think about themselves because Barbie is not representing issues that girls are going through. Barbie never shows real world problems--she's never been abused, drank too much, or been sexually assaulted. Barbie never ages, doesn't gain weight, doesn't commit crime and doesn't fall into depression. Barbie has never had an eating disorder, depression, or anxiety. She's perfect--and not realistic. Recently, a woman spent $80,000 on plastic surgery to look like Barbie and she's absolutely terrifying. Isn't it time that Barbie begins to look more like the rest of the world's female population?

Have you ever wondered what you would do in a zombie apocalypse? If you have, you are not alone. It seems like zombies are kind of the "in" thing right now; The Walking Dead is a wildly popular show on AMC and zombie themed shows are all over a number of other networks. At this point you may be asking yourself, "Why are we talking about zombie hordes right now, wasn't the Republican National Convention in August?" Well, it was. But seeing as how it is Halloween, I thought it would be interesting to look at this phenomenon through a critical lens.

There is no doubt that there is a psychological basis to this phenomenon. Being overrun by a horde plays on a fundamental fear that humans have. Combine that with the age-old fear of unknown repercussions of scientific discovery, which dates back to the myth of Icarus at the earliest, and you have an instant classic.

While there is certainly a gross-out horror factor that tends to bring in viewers, the questions that follow from a hypothetical zombie apocalypse are more interesting, and in my opinion, the main reason why zombies are so popular.

The violent protests against a U.S.-based film that started in Egypt last Tuesday continue to spread throughout the Arab world.  The most notable of these occurred outside the U.S. embassy in Libya, where four American diplomats lost their lives.   Anti-American demonstrations have also been reported in Yemen, Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan, and Gaza City.  

Among the four Americans lost, was the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.  Ambassador Stevens was a career diplomat who was committed to working with the Libyan people.  He was the American envoy to the revolutionaries during the uprising in Libya, and helped bring down Moammar Gadhafi.  Ambassador Stevens embodied what it truly means to be a diplomat.  He was passionate about building a relationship between the United States and Libya, and cared about the people, not just the politics. He helped free the Libyan people, and his death is a tragedy for American diplomacy. 

Among those killed, was also U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith.  Smith was assigned to Libya on a temporary mission.  Our diplomats overseas are more than just our representatives or negotiators; they are our peacemakers, our community builders, our innovators, and our trailblazers.  They commit their lives to serving the greater good. 

It all started with a bar of soap in a Pennsylvania hotel room.  Derreck Kayongo was spending his first night in an American hotel room when he became aware of the careless custom of replenishing bars of soap every day.  Derreck is a native of Uganda and has seen hardship and illness.  He thought of the millions of people that all these barely used bars of soap could help, and had the idea to recycle the discarded bars.  Thus, in 2009, the Global Soap Project was born.