The Quest for "It": Desert Flower Premieres – Sunday, March 20, 2011

On a recent Thursday night, InStyle magazine, National Geographic and The Common Good hosted the New York City premiere screening of “Desert Flower” at The Paley Center for Media. The Co-hosts for the evening included the film’s leading lady, Liya Kebede, UN Goodwill Ambassador, Ross Bleckner, and former First Lady of New York, Michele Paige Paterson. After walking the red carpet, guests were offered wine or Veet vodka, and were then escorted to the theater.

The film is a moving biopic of the life of Supermodel Waris Dirie. The
former Bond girl, who is also featured in the current H&M campaign with Liya Kebede, fled a life of poverty and arranged marriages in Somali. She then ends up being discovered in London by a photographer while working in a fast food restaurant. At this moment, the Cinderella story unfolds. She starts landing major campaigns including Oil of Olay, Benetton, Levi’s and Revlon. She also finds a love interest, played by indie film star Anthony Mackie. The BBC then approaches her to be featured in a documentary titled “The Day that Changed my Life” where she discusses the prevalence of the 3,000 year old practice of female genital mutilation (FMG), not only in her country of origin but worldwide. She later becomes a UN Special Ambassador to help end the practice. She also opens a foundation, the Desert Flower Foundation to become a full-time advocate for victims of FMG.

The film releases in US theaters on March 18th. To view the trailer, visit Desert Flower.

- Christian McKenzie for The Quest for “It”, READ MORE

Congressional Record: Hon. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York in Recognition of the Many Accomplishments of Ruth Gruber, an American Journalist, Photographer, Writer and Humanitarian

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Ruth Gruber, an extraordinary woman whose life’s work has made her an icon and a role model. Over the course of her long and active life, she has been a ground-breaking journalist and photographer, a brilliant scholar, an exceptional writer and a compassionate government official. Most of all, she is a humanitarian whose leadership and intellect helped save thousands of lives.

Ms. Gruber received the American Spirit Award from The Common Good (TCG) on February 3, 2011. In addition, TCG will be screening Ahead of Time, a 2009 documentary about Ms. Gruber’s life. Under the leadership of the dynamic Patricia Duff, TCG is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that strives to inspire broad participation in our democracy through the free exchange of ideas and civil dialogue […]

- Congresswoman Maloney speaking to the House, READ MORE

Forward: Ruth Gruber, Star of Documentary ‘Ahead of Time,’ Honored by The Common Good

“I was born in a shtetl called Brooklyn… I thought everyone was Jewish,” journalist Ruth Gruber said. Author of 19 books, Gruber was presented with The Common Good’s American Spirit Award on February 3 by Ann Curry, news anchor of the NBC-TV show “Today,” at a screening of the Gruber documentary “Ahead of Time,” held at The Paley Center for Media. As a 20-year old exchange student at the University of Cologne in 1931, she earned her doctorate. In September 2011, Gruber will celebrate her 100th birthday. She recalled her father saying, “What kind of a career is that for a Jewish girl?” about her decision to become a journalist. “My parents were apoplectic about my going to hear Hitler speak…. I will never forget his voice, calling for death to the Jews, death to America.” Recalling her life as a foreign correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune, she described flying to Israel “for my last interview with Ben-Gurion…. I asked him, ‘Will there be peace?’ He said: ‘Yes, there will be peace. It will come from Egypt…. A whole generation will grow up to live side by side…. They will help us. Not in my time, maybe in yours and maybe in your children’s.’” Among the evening’s guests and participants were Patricia Duff, founder of the not-for-profit, nonpartisan legal reform coalition The Common Good; Patti Kenner, executive producer of “Ahead of Time”; New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney, and former first lady of New York State Michelle Paige Paterson […]

- Masha Leon for Forward (fka Jewish Forward), READ MORE

Elle: How to Be Awesome at 100

A group of fierce women gathered at the Paley Center for Media last week to celebrate pioneering journalist Ruth Gruber, who turns 100-years-old in September.

Two-time Academy Award nominee Catherine Keener, journalist Ann Curry and author Naomi Wolf—all trailblazers in their own right—joined Patricia Duff, the founder of The Common Good, in honoring Gruber with the American Spirit Award.

Gruber, who was born in Brooklyn and attended NYU, earned a fellowship to study in Cologne, Germany and at age 20 became the world's youngest Ph.D (in German Philosophy, English Literature and Art History). Gruber wrote her dissertation on Virginia Woolf, with whom she corresponded extensively. Woolf's essay, "A Room of One's Own," inspired Gruber to challenge societal expectations of women's roles, and to become a writer […]

- Lorraine Cwelich for Elle, READ MORE