NMG’s Mar-Apr 2018 cover is our Girls of the Year. This issue mailed on Feb 22 from Minnesota and you should get it soon if you’re a member! You can also buy it here.
Sisters Isabel and Melati have led a campaign to ban plastic bags in their native Bali since 2013. They’re making real progress and together you can read more about it. Maybe they’ll inspire the girls you love to be activists on something they’re passionate about.
It’s not often mentioned, but social justice activism can provide girls a balancing focus that’s larger than themselves while they navigate the personal and social challenges of their tweens and early teens. It gives them experience coping with problems and unexpected challenges in working with others toward a common goal. They can learn to appreciate the individual strengths of each person in the group and see how the different strengths are all needed to achieve the goal.
Plus, it’s just plain fun and affirming to be around people you share a passion with! And it’s awesome to learn how to accept credit earned by changing the world for the better. Activism is also similar to team sports, another growth activity for these ages, in offering girls opportunities to strive for their personal best and to keep trying even when the result isn’t exactly what they wanted.
This issue also begins celebration of the 25th year of NMG magazine. Our first magazine rolled off the press at Service Printers in Duluth, MN on March 21, 1993, only 9 months after Nancy had the idea for a “junior Ms. magazine,” edited and run by girls. Check newmoongirls.com on March 21 to find special features and ways for you to celebrate with us throughout 2018, no matter where you are.
Other features and departments this issue include: Voice Box: How Smart Can Pets Be? * Tell Us: What’s the Best Dress Code? * Body & Mind: Private Odor Worries? * Just For Fun: Ha! Goofy Games * Weird and Wonderful theme: How Are You One of a Kind? Hair Your Way; Wear What You Like * Women’s Work: bell hooks Rocks! * For the Curious: Be a Bee Friend * Fiction: Lone Wolf, by Daryl, 11, California * Check It Out: Our Hit Parade * Last Word: Ann Bancroft, Polar Explorer.
The gorgeous cover photo is by Paola Gianturco, co-author with her 11 year-old granddaughter, Alex Sangster from their book, Wonder Girls. One hundred percent of the author royalties from the book go to the Global Fund for Women to support girls worldwide. You can buy the book by clicking on this photo of the cover: