Kate T. Parker's "Strong is the New Pretty" Mesmerizes and Inspires

Photographer and author Kate T. 帕克本周对福克斯克罗夫特进行了一次旋风式的访问，其中包括向整个福克斯克罗夫特社区进行介绍, a book signing, 为所有从一级到高级的摄影学生开设的大师班, and lunch with yearbook staff and others. Her bestselling book, Strong Is the New Pretty, 以5到18岁的女孩和年轻女性为特征，她们很凶猛, gutsy, adventurous, loud, athletic, creative, and artsy. 她捕捉到了他们的欢笑、尖叫、学习、沉思、努力工作和快乐. 副标题真的说明了一切，“庆祝女孩做自己。.她传达的信息与今年“头脑特工队”的主题非常契合,，邀请学生们审视自己的内心世界，更加了解自己——他们的情绪, fears, strengths, abilities, 还有挑战——这样他们就可以自在地做自己，带着勇气和自信向世界展示真实的自己.

As Kate shared her photos and story, 很明显，这些简单而有力的图片与简单而有力的信息完美地结合在一起，即当你对自己真实时，真正的美丽就会闪耀. 她恳求观众接受自己身上那些“太多”的东西, or they're embarrassing. Those are the most powerful and wonderful things about you. Those are your superpowers. Please do not lose them. Please do not soften them. Do not change them to make somebody else happy. What are your superpowers? What makes you great? Because those things are gifts. 但我们经常失去这些天赋，尤其是作为女孩和妇女.”

The images in Strong Is the New Pretty 凯特是用这种方式来传达女孩们——尤其是她的女儿们——从印刷品中得到的微妙和不那么微妙的信息吗, broadcast, and social media to not be their authentic selves. 作为一名母亲，她说:“我不想让他们换衣服. 我不想让他们对我微笑，也不想让他们梳头或打扫卫生. 我想展示我每天看到的这些女孩的力量和力量. 因为当我和女儿们看电视、看杂志或上网的时候, we didn't see that. 我们没有看到这样的女孩代表，我们没有看到一个不败的足球赛季带来的骄傲自信. 我和我的女儿们并没有在媒体反映给我们的妇女和女孩身上看到很多自己的影子.”

Before it was a bestselling book and phenomenon, though, 这只是一个想法的萌芽，也是一个参加画廊展览的邀请. 凯特为她刚刚起步的摄影事业投资了这个绝佳的机会. 她为展览准备了照片，打印、装裱、挂起来. And, she confessed, “I sold zero images at the show. 这是一次彻底的失败，我觉得自己是个失败者.”

完全失败了，至少是暂时的，凯特回到家准备放弃. But after a few days, she says, “I got mad. There's something more here. 有比在画廊卖东西更有趣的事. There's a message here that I wanted to share. 所以我把这些照片和关于这个项目的几句话——女孩要坚强，要自信——发到我关注的三四个博客上, and the images and the message went viral. They were seen and shared millions of times on CNN, The Today Show, and a ton of other places.”

At that point, the sensation of Strong Is the New Pretty took over: interviews, social media, the book, projects with Disney and Athleta and Kellogg’s and Oxygen, the guided journal, a book about boys, The Heart of a Boy, and a TV show in the works. It was overwhelming and scary, especially in the beginning, as Kate says, “因为主要是我的孩子们，网上的任何东西都一直以一种非常负面的方式被扭曲, but the core message was a positive one. 我很高兴我不是唯一一个认为女孩们需要听到这些的人.”

Kate urged the students to follow their passion. “It's such an important message for us, especially as women, that if your gut is telling you something, listen to it. You can ignore the noise. 继续为你所相信的事情努力，继续为你所热爱的事情努力，因为如果你对它充满热情, I guarantee you somebody else is as well!”

After her presentation, Kate held a master class for the Photography I, Photography II, 以及高级摄影专业的学生，他们都在做一个以“头脑清醒”为主题的摄影项目. 凯特对他们每个人的想法都提供了反馈，并回答了从技术到哲学再到职业建议的各种问题. 与年鉴工作人员和其他不能参加大师班的人共进午餐, 问题和讨论一直持续到凯特不得不离开去机场，回到亚特兰大去买她的下一本书, Play Like a Girl, due out in May, to print.

Helen Cudahy Niblack ' 42艺术系列讲座由Austi Brown ' 73创立，以纪念她的母亲. Since it began in 2007, the series has brought a variety of literary, performing, and fine artists to Foxcroft to share their work, stories, 以及对学生和更大社区的创造性过程的本质的看法. Niblack系列的目标之一是为艺术家提供在舒适和熟悉的环境中分享他的艺术之旅的机会, 为思想交流创造了空间，这可能会激发一两个福克斯克罗夫特女孩追逐自己的艺术梦想.