ATB News Letter – A Girl In Need And Her Horse

Yesterday, I received this email and I must say, it almost brought me to tears. Over the last year, I’ve met thousands of girls and I continue to be amazed by their strength and resolve, especially considering the struggles that they face in this media driven society.

I was so moved by this letter that I scraped together $500 to send her so she could her horse.

She needs $1000, but I figure with a $500 start, it should be easier for her to raise the additional $500.

It would be devastating if she lost her horse after mustering up the strength to make it through residential treatment.

I’m going to send her a copy of “America the Beautiful,” with the $500 check. Maybe she’ll send a picture of the beautiful horse so we can all see it.

If 100 of you want to send her $5 each, I’m sure she’d appreciate it. If you can’t send her $5, would you do me a favor and say a prayer for her?

Thanks!

Her email:

Darryl,

I am so excited about the DVD release.  This has been a very difficult year for me.  I started the year out in residential treatment (and thank God that I did, or who knows where I would be right now).  The year continued to throw trials at me as each day passed, leading up to a few weeks ago.  That is when my boyfriend of 4 years, the man who has stuck by me through hospitalizations, treatment stays, and so many emotional breakdowns, told me that he couldn’t move in with me as we had planned.  Instead, he was going to prison.  He had known for 2 years that he was going to prison, but waited to tell me until 2 days before his sentencing date, also the day that he was supposed to sign a lease with me.  XXXX left me stranded, broke, and emotionally numb.

Things simply continue to get more difficult instead of easier.  My horses are my life, especially right now, and I was told yesterday that if I don’t come up with the $1,000 that I owe, I will lose my young horse.  Horses are a huge therapy to me and losing XXXXX would be just as devastating as losing XXXXX.  The DVD release is the day after my birthday.  This year, I’m not exactly in the mood for celebration.  I’ve been waiting for quite awhile to see this DVD, as I never could find a viewing that I could get to.  Please keep me on that email list.  My other email is XXXXXXX.  Thanks for all that you do.  You are doing so much so that other young women do not go through the same Hell that I have gone through for the past 11 years.  Thanks you and God Bless you.

XXXX  XXXXXXX

- DVD UPDATE

Today was supposed to be the DVD Buy Now date but I got a call from the payment processing company late Friday alerting me to 2 problems.

1. The way our website was set up, there’s no way that we’d be able to handle the traffic that we anticipated.

2. The site isn’t SSL secured, meaning hackers could swipe credit card numbers from the site. Of course that’s totally unacceptable, so I had my web developer build a brand new site and make it SSL Secured which stands for Secured Socket Layer Secured.

I’m not sure exactly what that is, but I’ve been assured that it protects you when you enter your credit card number on the site to buy the DVD.

The web developer said the site will be totally rebuilt and fully safe either tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest.

Sorry about this, but for all of our safety and peace of mind, I will send out the link to purchase the DVD tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest.

This has been quite an experience for me, imagine when I woke up this morning, I had 7217 messages in my inbox asking where was the DVD link to purchase the film.

I think the film is going to reach a very wide audience on DVD.

I know of 38 people planning “America the Beautiful,” house parties where they’ll show the film and serve pizza. I plan on crashing a couple of the parties.

The party may be delayed a couple of days, but it will go on!

The Good News – Our new website features different news stories covering the world of advertising and beauty. We also feature the Beautiful Person of the Week,” on the homepage of our new website.

- DVD Ratings News

I spoke to a gentleman from the ratings board on Friday. He called to tell me exactly what to put on our PG-13 rating block when we advertise the DVD. The descriptors should read:

Mature Thematic Material – Sexual Content – Disturbing Medical Images and Language.

I told him that sounded very alarming. I then asked him “what disturbing medical images were in the film?”

He replied, “The image in the plastic surgery section where they’re sucking fat out of someone’s body.”

I asked, “What sexual content?”

He replied, “The subject of the film. The 12 year old model. The fashion industry sexualized her by having her walk around the runway in skimpy clothes at 12 years old.”

I agreed with that! After listening to his rationale, I felt a lot better about the whole thing. I suppose the Ratings Board is there to protect young kids from seeing images that they shouldn’t see. Fine by me. I’m fighting to do the same thing.

His next remark shocked me – “Don’t worry about the rating. This film is going to change so many lives. I’m going to follow this film as it travels all over the world.”

“I see hundreds of films a year and this is one of the most important documentaries I’ve ever seen. Ever! I was vibrating after seeing the film. It was absolutely magnificent.”

And the kicker –

“I’m going to help promote the film myself. I’m telling every parent I know to have their sons and daughters watch the film. You’re changing lives with this film man.”

WOW!  These comments came from someone at the Motion Picture Association of America.

I think I’m going to call him and ask if I can use his quotes on the DVD box. That would impress parents and schools to hear him talk like that.

And I guess I have the best of both worlds – A PG-13 and a R rated version of the film. Something for everyone.

In other DVD news – Netflix doubled the number of copies of the film that they originally ordered. They said the film was tracking so well that they wanted to be ready. They also said that people have had the film in their que’s for a year now.

Hearing things like this still blows my mind. To see what all of you have turned this film into rocks! Remember, it’s not me. It’s all you!

Once again, I’m sorry and you will get the link to buy the film in a couple of days. I’ll only have 100,000 copies and that’s for the US and Canada.

- MORE TESTIMONIALS
- MIDWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY
- BEAUTIFUL PERSON OF THE WEEK
- UPCOMING SCREENING SCHEDULE
- JENNIFER NEWSOME’S VIP SCREENING
- THE ELISA PROJECT REPORT

- MIDWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY

I received an email one day from a man named Charles asking me to bring the film to Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls. Since the word Midwestern was in the title and it was in Wichita Falls, of course I assumed the university was in Kansas, but it wasn’t. It’s in Texas.

I’ve stopped doubting the power of these small towns. I’ve been shocked in too many places like Elmira, NY and Fargo, ND.

When I arrived, Charles and this wonderful woman, Claudia picked me up and took me to quote ” The Best Hamburger” place in Wichita Falls called Ronnie’s Burgers.

This is Charles. Every city that I go to, people always have major food outings on the agenda. It’s like a competition now. Everyone wants to show me their best restaurants. Alright by me!

Was it the best burger I’ve ever had? I plead the 5th. Claudia and Charles were too awesome to critique their hamburger place.

I got a chance to meet the owner Ronnie. He was cool.

The screening started at 7pm and people started coming at 6:15pm.

They told me the interview that I did for the daily paper ended up on the front page with a big picture me at the top of the article.

They also told me the local TV station mentioned the screening and that I was coming to town. I felt like a rock star on the one hand, but I told them they were going to get some big crowds.

They said they never get too many people to the speakers series and they’d be fine. After doing over 200 of these things, I can smell a packed house.

The crowd was getting heavy and it was only 6:30.

People came from everywhere!

It got so packed they told people they had to stand in the back. Everyone was a good sport about it.

They finally found more chairs, but the crowd was too much.

A local TV station was there to document the whole thing.

It got so bad that everyone couldn’t fit inside the room. People were looking from the hallway.

Look at this. Yowza! Hundreds strong. And people were still coming.

They said this was the largest crowd they’ve ever had for one of their speaker events. I like breaking records. 

After the screening I did a Q&A and met some more awesome people. The woman on the right is a designer in Wichita and the woman to the left is one of her models. I asked her if she was going to design clothes of all sizes and she promised that she would.

Here’s an awesome woman with a great smile.

This gentleman was awesome and so was the woman on my left. We talked and she shared some of her struggles with me. I told her she was beautiful and she cried. I love making women cry under that specific scenario.

Look at the character in her face. She could be a movie star. Advertising agencies are missing the boat by putting the same old monolithic images in magazines. Women like this on a cover would make me buy the latest issue.

After the screening the university had a special dinner for me at another famous Wichita Falls Restaurant called Salt & Pepper. They got them to stay open late to accomodate us.

This guy rocked! His smile. His personality. His aura. Everything about him was awesome.

He’s a filmmaker at Midwestern State University. He started making movies even though they don’t have a film program. What a go-getter.

I decided to take another picture with him and pose to see if I could look as cool as he does. He’s cooler than me with his eyes closed!

Now this couple ROCKED! He’s 76 and he still cooks dinner for his lovely wife. After listening to their story, I can’t wait to be married to the same woman for 30 years and have so much history.

They lectured me about my eating habits. I promised them I would do better. Maybe they will adopt me he can cook for me as well.

When I left the restaurant, Wichita Falls set off fireworks to celebrate the fact that I was there.

I’m kidding of course. It was also homecoming night.

- JENNIFER NEWSOME’S VIP SCREENING

Tomorrow October 27th, the Mayor of San Francisco’s wife, Jennifer Newsome (In the black dress with the illustrious mayor), is hosting a private VIP Screening of “America the Beautiful,” in San Francisco at a theater on the water.

Lauralee keep calling me to attend. I haven’t had a chance to call you back, but you can be my guest. We may have to sit on the floor, because they have a waiting list to get in, but you can go with me.

Here’s a kicker for you -

I had this bright idea to invite Filippa, the fired Ralph Lauren model to the screening. Remember Gerren, the model in the “America the Beautiful,” was told that she was too fat to model just like Filippa.

I figured Filippa could talk about her experience with Ralph Lauren after the film. I mentioned it to my publicist and she said if you get Filippa there, I’ll have 50 news outlets to cover it.

I called “a city department,” in San Francisco and told them my idea and asked if they could get her there as a guest of the city. They said it was a great idea and they should have something done the next day.

They called me the next day and said “there’s no way she could come.”

I said, “why not?”

They said, “Ralph Lauren has a big store here in San Francisco and we wouldn’t want him to think our politicians was taking that kind of stance against him.”

I asked, “What about the millions of girls that see his ads and start dieting and getting eating disorders? Who will protect them like everyone is protecting Ralph Lauren?”

Response – “No comment.”

It’s a tough fight, I’m telling you. I didn’t mention this to the Mayor or Jennifer Newsome. Jennifer rocks and I’m going to go to San Francisco and have a blast.

Of course I’ll have pictures for you to see.

- THE ELISA PROJECT REPORT

When the illustrious Anne Besser invited me to be her special guest and sit at the head table for the Annual Elisa Project Luncheon, I was thrilled.

I must say that Anne and Elizabeth Hughes are two of the most awesome people that I’ve met in the past year.

Anne got me a room at the hotel where the function was held. Very nice.

They had a reception before the luncheon.

There she is. Monica Seles, the former tennis pro.

Of course I had to have my own picture for the scrapbook.

Here is Anne with her lovely daughter. If you’re ever in Dallas, look Anne up. She rocks!

There were about 700 people at the luncheon.

Monica took the stage and talked about her little secret that went unknown until she went public with her recently-released book, Getting a Grip: On My Body, My Mind, My Self.

It seems that her sweetheart life had been vexed with loneliness, depression, and fear over the years. Finally, having survived the stabbing in 1993 by a crazed fan of Steffi Graf and losing her beloved father to cancer, Monica realized she was seeking solace in food to a point that it was controlling her life. Instead, she took control and made changes.

Her talk won the hearts of all in the room. She talked about “peanut butter becoming her best friend at the age of 13,” to the cruelty of the media focusing on her weight instead of her winning tournaments following the stabbing to her admission that she “developed self hatred” during her nine years of binge eating.

At the end of the luncheon, The Elisa Project had a raffle and Anne called me up on stage to help her. About 12 times during the raffle we kept pulling the name “Nancy Rogers.”

I wondered how in the world could her name keep coming up so often. Anne asked her how many tickets did she buy and she hollered out “One hundred.”

I noticed that the raffle tickets cost $25 and really wondered who was Nancy Rogers.

Well after the raffle I met Nancy Rogers. Her and her husband own Mary Kay Cosmetics.   Hmmm.

She told me that Mary Kay was the number 1 selling cosmetic brand in Mexico, Russia and China. They’re the number 2 selling cosmetics brand in the US.

They have a sales force of over 2,000,000 and they’ve created more millionaires in the US than any corporation ever.

Wow! I didn’t know any of that. She said she wanted to talk about how Mary Kay could help promote the “America the Beautiful” DVD.

Mary Kay is used by millions of women worldwide. I’m going to contact Nancy and talk to her about doing some things to make the world a better, safer place for women the world over.

Aweome! Awesome! Awesome! These girls rock! The 2 on the right are twins. They exude cool.

I decided to get on my knees to see if I could be as cool as them. Not a chance!

People lined up to buy Monica’s book and have her sign it.

I had Monica sign a book and dedicate it to “America the Beautiful,” fighting for the liberation of women and girls all over the world!

– BEAUTIFUL PERSON OF THE WEEK

This weeks “Beautiful Person of the Week,” is the Taryn. I met Taryn at Midwestern State University.

Like I said earlier, I was moved when she cried as she recounted her struggles to me. I saw her beauty through her tears.

When I told her that I wanted to make her “The Beautiful person of the Week,” she cried again and then quickly smiled.  I caught her off guard. She knew she was beautiful. She just needed what we all need sometimes and that’s someone to tell us in a sincere way.

In Taryn’s own words, this is what makes her “beautiful:”

I am beautiful because I -
have an indescribable relationship with God,
put others before myself,
am surrounded by loving friends and family,
and I will never judge you.

I am beautiful because I -
have experienced unforgettable and incredible things,
love whole-heartedly,
am 100% unique and special,
and I am eager to learn everything the world has to teach me.

As life moves on I continue to learn new things. One of the most important lessons I have learned from personal experience is that material things and materialistic opinions are entirely unrelated to what beauty truly is. I am beautiful because I love myself exactly the way I am.

Taryn
Wichita Falls, TX

- UPCOMING SCREENING SCHEDULE

We have a few screenings left between now and Eating Disorders Week of 2010. I’ll post additional dates as they become available:

October 17th – Chicago, IL – (DVD Release Party)
October 22nd – Witchita Falls, Texas
October 23rd – Dallas, Texas
October 28th – Portland, OR
December 2nd – Boca Raton, FL
December 3rd – Coral Gables, FL
December 5th thru 12th – Vienna, Austria
January 2010 – Peabody Museum – Salam, MA
February 18th, 2010 – Champaign-Urbana, IL
February 22nd, 2010 – Evanston, IL
February 24th, 2010 – Hoffman Estates, IL
February 25th, 2010 – New Paltz, NY
March 3rd, 2010 – Normal, IL

Darryl Roberts