The boys of October have once again captivated the national consciousness. This is the time of year during which legends are born, dynasties are made or broken, and the fate of your hometown team can come down to one last pitch.

Today, however, I’m asking you to take a moment (perhaps during the 7th-inning stretch?) to consider a girl.

Hundreds of bloggers are writing today to raise awareness about a campaign called the Girl Effect. This campaign, organized by blogger Tara Sophia Mohr, represents the potential of 600 million adolescent girls to end the cycle of poverty — for themselves, their families, their nations and the world.

It’s a well-documented finding that better-educated women make more beneficial decisions regarding their own health and the health of their families. Researchers from a 2009 study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found that for every additional year of education women received, the death rate for children younger than 5 years old decreased by almost 10 percent. It is clear that the education of women is the key to improving living situations around the world.

Obviously, however, there is much improvement to be had in educating women, especially regarding maternal health, UNICEF’s 5th Millennium Development Goal. Example? Watch “A Walk to Beautiful.”

So, what am I asking of you? Of course, you can donate if you are so inclined, but word of mouth is also powerful. The world needs a kick in the pants. We’re the ones to give it. You can help administer said kick by joining in the conversation.

For my post, I wrote about my views on leadership training in academia.

If you’d like to learn more about Ryan, be sure to check out his blog and follow him on Twitter. He’s a classy fellow and will really make you think. (Also, ask him for music recommendations … or just hear what he’s listening to on your own.)

The lovely Molly Hoyne Mahar proposed a drawing as part of Q-and-A week over at Stratejoy last week. Because I love Q-and-As more than is warranted, I cannot resist.

(Want to throw your name in too? Details are here. The deadline is today.)

So here is my entry:

1. What do you miss most about being a child?

I miss not being aware of the harsh realities of life. That sounds quite jaded, but it’s honest.

2.  What’s on your bedside table?

I don’t have a bedside table … (I’m going to go with the poor college student excuse). I have my sleep mask and my eyeglass case on my windowsill above my head, though.

3. When was the last time you were giddy with happiness, lost in one of those can’t-hold-back-a-smile kinda moments?

I was pretty giddy when I went rock-climbing for work training a week ago. It was the best surprise ever!

4. What are you most looking forward to in the next six months?

I’ll be an optimist on this one and say so much excitement surrounds graduating in May and starting to figure out the future.

5. What’s your Hell like?

There’s loud, obnoxious, degrading rap music blaring at all hours. All food and drink taste like cough medicine. I am forced to live in close quarters with people who kick puppies and starve horses. I’m not allowed to brush my teeth. Hugging is a crime that warrants the death penalty. Football doesn’t exist. I have to solve physics problems all day using only mental math. I have to shovel the driveway every morning, except it’s also 110 degrees every day. The only media I can consume involves public service announcements about suffering people and animals that make me cry. I cannot escape huge crowds and have no “me” time.

6. What’s your Heaven like?

I have a humongous, fully stocked and tricked-out kitchen. I have at least two dogs. I live in a cabin in the woods in the Pocono Mountains and have an Airstream in the driveway. I can teleport internationally at will. Multiple Sclerosis does not exist. Soda is a nutritious beverage option. My only responsibility on Sundays is to watch football. Everything I read and listen to follows AP Style. No one balks when I say I want to leave my Christmas decorations up all year long. It’s always a comfortable temperature. I get a full night’s sleep every night. Money doesn’t exist.

7. What’s the biggest lesson you’ve taking away from the past 6 months with Stratejoy?

I’ve learned I’m not alone in trying to figure out life as a 20-something. While that realization doesn’t make the struggle any less confusing, it’s comforting to have supportive network of like-minded ladies to fall back on.

8. What song lyrics fit your life, right now, at the beginning of this brand new year?

– Eli Young Band’s “Guinevere”

9. If you had a time machine, what place and time would you travel to and why?

I’d be in the audience when Johnny Cash proposed to June Carter Cash onstage in 1968. Or when Tug McGraw threw the strikeout to win the World Series for the Phillies in 1980. Why? I’m a sucker for those “happy ending” moments.

10. What is something that not a lot of people know about you that you wish more people could know?

There’s a difference between being shy and quiet, and even when I get over the shyness and trust you, I’m still going to be quiet. Sometimes I just don’t have a lot to say — it’s not a reflection of my feelings toward you.

11. What surprised you the most about 2010?

I was most surprised by my ability to open my heart to someone and by the rate at which one’s life can “fall apart.” (Those are two unrelated incidents, for the record.)

12. What’s the best present you’ve ever received?

My parents got me a GPS two years ago for my birthday. You can’t imagine the number of hours that has saved me.

13. Imagine your life was being made into a movie. What would the title be? Who would you pick to play you? What would the theme song be? How about the little trailer blurb for the advertisement?

Title: Confessions of a Freed, Drunken Marionette?

Starring: I was told once that I looked like Michelle Monaghan. I don’t know if that’s true, but I was flattered by it. So, she’d play me.

Theme song: Ryan Bingham’s “Country Roads”

Trailer blurb: Watch her cut those strings.

14. Dream Job? Dream Home? Dream Vacation?

Dream Job: It would involve Twitter in some capacity. I’m not looking for location independence by any means, but the job wouldn’t require living in a big city. It would energize me and fill me with passion.

Dream Home: I touched on this in No. 6, but it would be a cabin in the woods. It would have a covered porch or deck with a comfy glider. It would have a pimped-out kitchen. It would be home to at least two dogs, as already expressed.

Dream Vacation: My dream vacation would be backpacking in the Scottish Highlands, hiking the Appalachian Trail or rafting the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.

[photo credit: Mish Lenhart]

Procrastination and I go way back. We’re best buds, in fact. Or … maybe procrastination is more of a “frenemy” or a jerk of a boyfriend I’m still debating on dumping.

Yet, maybe I just keep procrastination around as an excuse. We all have our reasons for keeping the bugger around. I blame it on having worked for years in a newspaper office and needing the pressure of an imminent deadline. I blame it on being a perfectionist. I blame it on the fear of reaching my full potential. I blame it on being super busy and over-involved.

I push things off until tomorrow so often Little Orphan Annie would be impressed. Eventually, you reach the moment where know you’re screwed, but, by that point, it’s too late. Then, there’s also procrastination’s evil stepmother, the all-nighter. I’m very familiar with her as well, and she’s a “female dog,” for sure.

So … can we change? Am I forever destined to partake in the cycle of procrastination, stress, no sleep and dissatisfaction with my work?

Have you found any tricks for beating procrastination back with a stick?

(Yes, I am writing this blog post the night it is due to participate in the blogger roundtable. Thanks for asking.)

[photo credit: Arthur Chapman]

Hey, y’all! I just switched up my WP theme, so please be patient while I work out the new design! If you need to get in contact with me, message me on Twitter @mmbizon or e-mail me at mbizon1 [at] ithaca [dot] edu. Thanks so much!

[Photo credit: Roberto Verzo]

What central story is at the core of you, and how do you share it with the world? (Bonus: Consider your reflections from this month. Look through them to discover a thread you may not have noticed until today.) (from: @molly_oneill)

What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your soul? (from @mysticflavor)

Last spring, I didn’t have an ideal living situation. It wears on you when the one place that is supposed to be your retreat becomes a constant burden. Fortunately, the tensions were voiced mainly passive-aggressively, so outside of icy, awkward encounters, things were pretty non-eventful. I was largely left to my own devices and sought alternative sources of companionship (aka I turned my social life on its head).

My friend Jackie and I decided to have margarita nights on weekends. Margaritas and pigs in a blanket … perfect combination. We’d sit in my dining room and chat over drinks about boys, friends, enemies, class, work, family, life, the future, etc. Nothing is off-limits with Jack. Of all my friends, she’d be the first to call you out on bullshit and the first to laugh in your face when you screw up. Her honesty is refreshing. I’m sure she learned more about me than she ever wanted to know, but there’s significance in that sharing … in that I don’t normally do it. I’ve got some pretty sturdy, substantial walls, you see. I needed to vent, though, and through all the ranting, she was the perfect listener. She was my rock last semester. And she makes a damn good margarita.

[photo credit: House of Sims]

What was the best moment that could serve as proof that everything is going to be all right? And how will you incorporate that discovery into the year ahead? (from: @sweetsalty)

I love hugs.

“A hug overcomes all boundaries. It speaks words within the mind that cannot be spoken.” – Source unknown

Sometimes you don’t need to talk. Sometimes words will just mess things up. Sometimes you just need a little dose of love, strength and support. Hugs do that for me.

It seems as though everyone had a rough semester these past few months. No matter whom I speak to, regardless of school, job, expertise, age, etc., I get the same response that they’re downtrodden and tired. It’s difficult to bounce back from that when it seems like everyone else is down there with you — there’s no one to bring you back up. So what do you do when there’s nothing to be said to help? Hug it out. No, a hug might not actually fix a problem, but it does tell you that you have someone who cares about you and that everything will be OK in the end.

Hugs have gotten me though my bad days.

Who have you hugged recently?

P.S. Did I mention Abby Sciuto loves to hug? Because she does.

[photo credit: Jesslee Cuizon]

Let’s meet again, for the first time. If you could introduce yourself to strangers by another name for just one day, what would it be and why? (from: @BeccaWilcott)

Cue Halloween 2010.

Abby Sciuto … forensic specialist extraordinaire, Caf-Pow addict and NCIS‘ resident goth. She’s Gibbs’ favorite, and she knows ASL.

Badass.

I’m going to draw my tattoos back on now, OK?

[photo credit: tixgirl]

How did you travel in 2010? How and/or where would you like to travel next year? (from: @missrogue)

In 2010, I traveled in style = I rocked a college minivan all the way to Montreal and back.

That’s a long drive, especially considering we were part of a three-van caravan following a professor who doesn’t believe in the benefits of GPS technology. In the process, I spent a ridiculously long time confined to that tiny van with six of my classmates. Luckily, we all got along fairly well and, considering our tendency to squabble like siblings, even fostered a loving-family bond only possible after excessive hours in close quarters. Perhaps it’s a case of Stockholm syndrome. I kid.

I can’t count how many times we heard Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite,” Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” and strange versions of ’90s songs remixed by Canadian singers. Jordan (the birthday boy pumping gas in the above, right photo) serenaded us almost incessantly.

Oh, and Canadian rap. It exists.

Also, we were detained at the border heading back into the States, after being “randomly selected” by the customs officer’s “computer.” My declared goods consisted solely of a $0.65 postcard. They jokingly stamped our passports for us, though. Heh.

Travel in 2011? I should probably check my bank account and get back to you.

Any suggestions?

[photo credits: Julianna]