Make It Happen

Yesterday my car was a frozen over sheet of ice and I had to slip and slide my way to the store to get something to eat for breakfast. As I walked the slippery sidewalks, in the aftermath of a Texas ice storm, I noticed more of the world and its bright details around me: orange leaves on the ground with their sharp icy tips, the very visible, smoke-like, exhaled breaths of young women – who were once even younger girls -- waiting at bus stops for a ride to work or to wherever each of them happened to be going.

These days it seems like we are actually standing at the cusp of just about everything. There are real truths in every single story in the streets where we walk and talk…in each and every adventure…and in every opportunity that starts (very OriGiNalLy) at the very beginning (simply and AmAziNgLy) as one girl’s own dreamed up dream.

We’ve got places to go and people to be.
We’ve got some things to say.

Like the winter trees’ fallen down or blown-away leaves, everyone we know has lost something. (but not HeArt). And during these changing of days -- while many are trying to hold on to what they’ve got, there’s something to be said for just branching out, throwing things out there, forgetting perfectionism and trying out just about anything. There’s a lot to be learned and gained from our own and from other people’s mistakes. And maybe, just may-be: there’s great art waiting to be created out of where we came from and where we are going -- at the next bus stop, or just around the next corner.

Our lives are a work, like-a-book-or-film (many books many films) yet to be completed. We are constantly in `progress.’
Today we are shaking things up. Today, we are work-ing.

So..when your bus arrives, will you just step aside, or will you stand up for something?
Will you accept everything that comes your way, or will you choose to make a difference?
When your turn comes, will you be silent…or will you find your voice,
and let it ring out??
Here it is:____________________ ! : )
There are chances everywhere. : D
So...when you see the future in front of you…
Will you walk…
or run?

It’s your turn to shine, significantly.
Shine on.
May you always dance, find life’s tiny miracles
and stand tall in the very bright-lit sunshine
of your very own.
Whatever you dream can actually be. If you just do it…
Make it happen.

Girls (Always) Aloud...

The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle.
-- Anais Nin


Dear You,

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. It’s a time to dream and a time to hope. It’s a time to act on your own very best intentions. It’s a time to try. Any thing in the world you choose to do takes some thinking and believing and often a bit of time.
But if you think with your heart and your mind about everything you aspire to achieve in your own life – no matter how long it takes you to get “there” – the fire will never ever burn out.

The best is, always, yet to come.

Dear You: always believe in yourself and your own dreams.


Best wishes (always), Ashley





Answer these questions!


What personal legacy do you wish to leave behind?



What “story” do you most need to be told?



What does your life, your own work or today mean just to you?



What would you do if you had nothing to lose?



Top four moments in my life that mean the most to me:



What would you like to see happen “tomorrow”??



What is your biggest dream?



Go for it.

The Kindness Reminder

Earlier this month, Elizabeth Alexander, an awesome poet sometimes called “the inaugural poet for a new generation of twenty-first century voices,” read her following poem, “Praise Song for the Day,” for Obama and for everyone:

Praise Song for the Day

by Elizabeth Alexander



Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other,
catching each other’s
eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise. All about us is
noise and bramble, thorn
and din, each
one of our ancestors on our tongues.
Someone is stitching up a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform,
patching a tire,
 repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere, 
with a pair of
wooden spoons on an oil drum, 
with cello, boom box,
harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus. 
A farmer considers the
changing sky .
A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.

We encounter each other in words, words 
spiny or smooth,
whispered or declaimed,
 words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark 
the will of some one
and then others, who said
I need to see what’s on the other side.

I know there’s something better down the road.
We need to find
a place where we are safe. 
We walk into that which we cannot yet
see.

Say it plain: that many have died for this day. 
Sing the names of
the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks, raised
the bridges,

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built 
brick by brick the
glittering edifices 
they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.
Praise song for
every hand-lettered sign, 
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
 others by first do no
harm or take no more
 than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national, 
love that casts a widening
pool of light,
 love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air, 
any thing can be made,
any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.


…While browsing through the internet the other day, I came across something else. It’s called the “String-Ring,*” The Kindness Reminder (*tm). The String-Ring is a very special kind of ring which reminds yourself and those who notice it to be kind to each other. Each colored string represents a kind of kindness, from love to empathy, optimism and introspection and enthusiasm to giving. I think this ring might just have something to do with what Elizabeth Alexander was talking about in her awesome Inaugural Poem. It's something you can wear to remind yourself (and pass on to others who see it) ideas like “love thy neighbor as thyself” – and to remember to remain empathetic, to help each other out through hard times, to be brave and bright and bold as girls of a new and continuing generation…as we “walk…forward in that light” -- to find and express our own voices as girls and as people of this world, with our very own “songs”: aloud.

Here’s a link to The String Ring! -- created by Tina&Jeff

www.string-ring.com/

Pass It On.

Dear World (Girls Incorporated)

Last summer I happened to teach a girl power art class at the Girls Inc. near where I live. Girls Inc. is a national organization that helps girls believe in their dreams: to be bright, bold and strong and not to be afraid to let their own voices be heard and put into action. It was one of the greatest places in the world!
Recently, Youtube started an event called "Project 4 Awesome" in which people shared their own voices and own stories via youtube for a cause of their choice. In the post below is an awesome video in support of Girls Inc. Check it out! It is pretty incredible.

P.S. If you are interested in participating in "Dear World, It's me, a girl" and in viewing the inspiring "Dear World" Girls Inc PSA, follow this link:

www.girlsinc.org/dearworld/index.php


(The "Dear World" PSA is pretty incredible too.)

Welcome to girls rule!

Hi to readers familiar and new : ). My name is Ashley Rice and I'm the author and illustrator of girls rule & many similar books and products created especially for girls like you. My new, updated and interactive website will be up and running soon at the same old address: www.ashleyrice.com. Lately I've been busy creating new and exciting stuff which will be available for viewing on the new site soon! Penelope, the original narrator of girls rule, will narrate the website and is looking forward to saying hi and meeting more amazing readers too.

In the mean time, we hope you have a great day in every way and may all your dreams come true! 

-- Penelope (and Ashley)