Round Up: Women in Media, Trailblazer Steps Down and A Prescription for Happiness

Women’s Voices Needed: This in from Nancy McDonald: "The next round of presidential debates is being sponsored by YouTube and CNN. Until July 22, anyone can submit a video question via YouTube for the July 23rd Democratic debate and until mid September for the Republican debate on September 17. However, out of the first 200 submissions, only 34 were from women! This is an opportunity for your perspective to be heard in the presidential debates." Continue reading here.

Discussion on Women in Media: "Society isn’t sure of the place of women and is floundering around trying to find it. The media both reflects and reinforces this," says Maurine Beasley, the first woman tenured at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, where she’s taught for more than three decades, and author, most recently, of "First Ladies and the Press: The Unfinished Partnership of the Media Age." Read the full interview at Center for New Words.

New Study Explores the Aftermath for Women: Writing at the Women’s Media Center, Peggy Simpson covers
the Institute for Women’s Policy Research report that addresses how
women of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region are faring post-Katrina.
The report is available here (PDF).

TV Trailblazer Stepping Down: "When Natalie Jacobson wanted to be a TV reporter in 1972, she wasn’t what television bosses in Boston wanted: She was a woman," begins this ABC News story on the Boston anchorwoman, who is stepping down after 35 years. Stay tuned for her next move: Jacobson, 63, plans a multi-media business called, "My Next Big Thing."

Mother of Invention: Meet Stephanie Kwolek, the scientist behind the invention of Kevlar, which has saved 3,000 law enforcement officials from death or disabling injuries. Now 83, Kwolek was 42 and working as a chemist at DuPont when she formulated a super-strong polymer. She joined DuPont in 1946, just out of college. "I was determined," she tells USA Today.

What Makes People Happy? Try Aging: A study published in the Journal of Neuroscience last year suggests that "people become less neurotic, more able to
control fear and more emotionally stable as they age, an observation that fits with other data," reports the L.A. Times.

On TV, Actresses Over 40 Get a Sex Life: Holly Hunter describes her new series, "Saving Grace," to the Boston Globe. On the one hand, she’s an independent woman, not defined by her relationship with men or as a mother. On the other, an angel is trying to keep her from going to hell. The TNT series premieres July 23. See our earlier discussion about prime time women on television this summer here.

Plus: This summer marks Glamour magazine’s third series of Reel Moments: three short films directed by Hollywood insiders based on selected essays submitted by Glamour readers about "an event in their lives that made them feel strong, wise or happy." And Helen Hunt turns to directing: "Then She Found Me" will premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September.

-Christine