Hasta La Gadget!

Stella Young wasn’t here to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. She made that perfectly clear.

And by flat-out rejecting “inspiration porn,” the woman with a bone disease who died suddenly on Saturday effectively subverted the conversation surrounding disabilities.

Born in Victoria, Australia, Young lived with osteogenesis imperfecta, a genetic disorder that caused her bones to break easily, and led her to use a wheelchair, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She was 32 when she died.

While the comedian accepted her condition, she couldn’t welcome the inane way people talked about her disability.

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When Young was 15, for example, her community wanted to honor her with an achievement award. The issue, however, was that the Dawson’s Creek-watching teen hadn’t accomplished anything at that point in her life other than get to where she was expected to be and complete the tasks she was expected to do, Young said during a TEDx talk in June.

This idea became her crusade.

During her TED talk, Young pointed to a number of oft-shared uplifting images, including one of a boy playing wheelchair basketball that was paired with the saying, “Your excuse is invalid.”

She explained why such popular pictures can be so damaging.

“These images … they are what we call inspiration porn,” she said. “The purpose of these images is to inspire you, to motivate you, so that we can look at them and think, ‘Well, however bad my life is, it could be worse. I could be that person.'”

The most challenging issue for people with disabilities, Young often reminded, has nothing to do with physical limitations. Rather, it’s the barriers brought on by society.

As an outspoken public figure, Young built a persona around rejecting what was expected of her.

In addition to supporting a number of advocacy organizations, Young edited ABC’s Ramp Up, a disability news and opinion website, which eventually closed after it was defunded by the government, according to the Guardian.

Young refused to filter her speech, going so far as to describe herself as a “crip,” even though it offended members of the disability community, according to ABC.

“She took great delight in challenging conventional wisdom and lazy thinking,” Mark Scott, ABC managing director, said in a statement.

Young died unexpectedly, but was in no pain, according to her family.

Her relatives have asked supporters to donate to Domestic Violence Victoria in her name, since it was a cause she “felt intensely passionate about.”

Find out more about Domestic Violence Victoria and how you can get involved here.

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New York state parents and students rejoice: A new study says the academic ability of new teachers in the state has risen substantially in recent years.

The study, published last week in the journal Educational Researcher, looks at the average SAT scores of newly certified and hired teachers in New York state over the past 25 years. In analyzing the data, researchers found that average SAT scores for teachers began rising around 1999 relative to the rest of the population. The researchers caution that SAT scores are an imperfect measure of intelligence, though they contain useful insight.

Around 1999, New York state began to implement a set of policies that made it more difficult for teachers to gain certification. Researchers suggest the rise in teachers’ academic ability in the state may be a result of these new accountability policies, which were designed to “recruit, train, and retain the high quality teachers.” They also note that the increase in teachers’ test scores may signal a concurrent rise in prestige for the teaching profession.

Further, researchers suggest that even though the study’s findings are limited to one state, a similar phenomenon may be present around the country. Indeed, a study released in 2013 found that the average SAT scores of teachers around the country were also on the rise.

“What stands out to me, when you look and see that the average SAT score of newly hired teachers has been increasing since about 1999, I interpret that as a signal that the status of teaching is increasing and I see that as a positive trend,” study co-author Luke C. Miller told The Huffington Post.

Miller, a research professor at the University of Virginia, rejects the idea that the rise in SAT scores for new teachers may have to do with the rise of alternative teacher certification programs in New York, such as Teach For America. TFA is a prestigious program that targets high-achieving college students and pays them to teach in lower-income schools for two years after graduation.

“Some people have asked, ‘Is this just your TFA effect, are they just sticking around for a couple years and then going off?'” said Miller. “It’s not just the TFA effect if you look at the scores of individuals from a completely traditional teacher prep program.”

Researchers also say these teachers are choosing to teach not only in affluent schools. Lower-income schools are also benefiting from the rise in high-achieving teachers, albeit slightly less than advantaged communities, as shown in the figure below:

This Sunday marks the two-year anniversary of the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and community organizers and gun control groups have planned a number of vigils and memorials across the country to mark the occasion.

Members of the Newtown community are still deliberating the best way to permanently honor the victims, which included 20 children and 6 teachers. In the mean time, check the map below (zoom in to see multiple events in one area, and click to see location and time information) to see if there’s an event near you.

Source: Newtown Action Alliance

Know of an event we missed? Let us know on Twitter.

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In advertising (as with many professional industries), certain characteristics make a good employee. Dedication and the willingness to put work first are a given. The hours are long, often excruciatingly so. As a result, plans get cancelled. People are left in the lurch at the last minute. It’s often impossible to plan anything more than a few days in advance, because you never know when a pitch will present itself, a client will demand a tighter deadline or extra hands will be needed on a last-minute project. Careful planning is a luxury we just don’t have.

Being a skilled actor is also helpful. I’ve sat through countless meetings during which I’ve wanted to rip my hair out. But the ability to sit, smile and laugh it off is vital. To convince people to believe the emotions portrayed on my face though they often belie my real feelings.

Next comes confidence and a very thick skin. Writing is as objective a craft as it comes. Ten people can read this very post and have varying opinions on my word choice, paragraph length, tone, voice — even my grammar comes under scrutiny at the hands of each member of my audience. And, because it’s always easier to find fault than to give praise, often, the first words out of my critiquer’s mouth are negative. It doesn’t mean they don’t like what I’ve written. It just means they have suggestions on how to tweak, improve or modify it. At work, my bosses just need something to react to, so they do. That’s their job.

That doesn’t mean that when I first started in the biz, it didn’t hurt like hell each time someone made a change to my work, sometimes politely, many times far less so. It also doesn’t mean that there aren’t still days that a harsh criticism doesn’t make me question my abilities as a writer (I think that’s pretty par for the course.) But as a result of this less-than-gentle environment, I’ve been forced to develop a very thick skin and with that, the ability to defend my work against all odds. Confidence sometimes to the point of arrogance is a benefit, if not a necessity, to succeed.

Finally, as a woman in the business, there’s the ever-present matter of sexism. Proof of point is the fact that only 3% of creative directors in advertising are women. This vast discrepancy means that I have to work twice as hard to keep up with the boys, much less sit at the table. Charm helps overcome certain obstacles. Other times, I need to be a ball buster and do as the boys do. Either way, it often requires a less than subtle, feminine touch.

The combination of these qualities makes me fairly competent when it comes to being a writer. Unfortunately, they seem to have precisely the opposite effect when it comes to dating. Here’s why:

1. Dedication to my job
Last time I checked, people in relationships, whether new or established, want to see their partners. This phenomenon can be nearly impossible while juggling work deadlines. During busy season (or any season, really), finding a free night can be nearly impossible. A last-minute deadline means dates get cancelled… at the last minute. And on the rare occasion when I do anticipate a free night coming up, I want to plan ahead, sometimes as much as a week in advance. In the world of online dating, where people yearn for spontaneity, requiring making plans so far in advance comes off as pushy — not a great quality in the “getting to know you” phase of a relationship.

2. Not being honest about how I feel
It’s probably true for most people that when you step out of the office, there is a shift in your personality. There’s work Jamie and then there’s non-work Jamie. There are of course many overlapping elements between these two halves of my whole, but the need to maintain an overall happy demeanor throughout the day can sometimes be exhausting. Which means that when I step out of the office, I sometimes inadvertently turn off the charm. So whoever happens to cross my path at the wrong time, be it family, friends or dates, may get to experience less than savory parts of my personality. On the flip side of this, I sometimes keep the “charade” going into my evening and the person I’m spending time with doesn’t get to see the truest version of myself.

3. Thick skin
The final two points mentioned above sort of converge. Part of the beauty of being in a relationship is letting your guard down. Being a bit vulnerable. Letting someone take care of you. In a competitive field like advertising, there’s not much room for coddling. You show anyone weakness and it may be exploited. Having a thick skin is great for work. But not great when someone is trying to penetrate that tough exterior to see the soft person waiting beneath the surface.

Don’t get me wrong; most days, I like being the ball-busting, thick-skinned champion of my own work. But it sure can make it challenging to turn it off when the occasion calls for it. And as work Jamie merges each day with non-work Jamie, I wonder when they’ll learn to work in tandem to create the best possible version of myself

NOTE: I don’t for a second think that the challenges I’ve described are unique to advertising — they’re likely applicable to many professional roles (read: most desk jobs). But since the only biz I really know is advertising, for the sake of this post, I’ve focused on that. I venture to guess that many of you can relate to what I’ve described and would love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading!

Avid photographers know lighting is important. Often times, those dedicated to getting the perfect picture have expensive meters meant to allow them insight on which is the best exposure and filter (among other camera controls) to use. Lumu, a new plug-in for your iPhone, wants to help lighten your camera bag by getting you to leave the meter at home. … Continue reading