What is National Day of Listening?

In 2008 StoryCorps (a nonprofit whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening) had the idea to encourage people across the country to take some time to sit down with a loved one and have a conversation. They decided to make the day after Thanksgiving, National Day of Listening, and we’d like you to participate!

Take a few minutes to sit down with that person and interview them. The purpose is to make this a yearly tradition, to make a point to be present, and to listen to the stories of the people that you care about. It’s a great way to get to know your parents, friend’s extended family and to really make sure that their story is told.

While you are talking to them, you can take notes; use a tape recorder or video camera. Whatever you feel works for you! Each year you can read the stories that you have collected, and if you continue to do this for years to come it will be great to look back on!

The website, www.nationaldayoflistening.org does a great job of explaining ways to get started. Here are a few questions that can help you begin initiating conversation:

1. What was the happiest moment of your life?

2. What are you most proud of?

3. What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in life?

4. What is your earliest memory?

5. How would you like to be remembered?

What a great way to spend the holiday weekend! Make sure to take part in this event and post the interesting and inspiring stories you dig up! Can’t wait to read them, listen to them, or watch the interviews you do! Upload them to you’re stuff!

Happy Thanksgiving! Have you ever wondered what Thanksgiving is about and how it started?

Back in 1621, the colonists shared a harvest feast with the Wampanoag Indians. That feast was one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies, and it because a symbol of cooperation between colonists and Native Americans.

Many people believe that this feast was the first Thanksgiving. However, there were many Native Americans who had harvest feasts in autumn. They would have these feasts to celebrate the harvest and give thanks for their crops. They had harvest festivals, ceremonial dances, and other celebrations of thanks for a very long time before the colonists arrived in North America.

There are lots of ways for you to give thanks! You can be thankful for your family, friends, food, house, or anything!

Try being really nice to your sibling, instead of fighting. Or, try giving your parent a few extra hugs. Remind your friends how much they mean to you.

A good way to give thanks for food is to give some away. If your family is able to, donate to your local food shelter. There are many people that give thanks for the food shelter every day. It’ll make you feel great to help out!

Give thanks for your house by cleaning your room, or helping your mom with some chores. There are some people that live without homes. Donating blankets and clothes is a good way to give to those who are less fortunate than you, and a good way to give thanks for having a place to live.

Do you have more ideas for giving thanks? How will you be giving thanks on Thanksgiving? Have you ever donated to a food shelter or helped the homeless? Share your stories, and tell other New Moon Girls how you will be giving thanks on Thanksgiving!

Love, Luna

Want to help find content for the magazine or website? Or maybe you’d like to just help out with editorial assignments! If you want to be a part of something special, then join my team: Luna’s Team!

Every week I will post something new to the Luna’s Team page, and will ask girls to help me with things. Some stuff is ongoing, like creating quizes, writing instructions for new girls on the site, or taking surveys for feedback! But there will always be something new that you can do!

It’s tons of fun, and a great way for you girls to feel more involved on what we have online and in the magazine! What are you waiting for?!? Join my team today by clicking here: http://www.newmoon.com/topic/?id=28

Love, Luna

It’s a great day to be a kid! Today (Friday, November 20^th) is Universal Children’s Day. In fact, it’s the day’s 20^th anniversary!

On this day in 1959, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. On the same day in 1989, they adopted the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC). Of all the human rights treaties, the CRC is the most widely recognized treaty in the world.

The day is observed as a day of understanding between children and of promoting the welfare of children all around the world. It is a day to celebrate victories for children’s rights. This includes the making of child labor laws, laws allowing all children to get a public education, and laws preventing child abuse. It is a day to show children that they are important members of society, and to remind adults that they need love and respect to grow as people.

There are still many things to do to continue helping children. Many children in some countries in Asia and Africa die each year from preventable causes. A child in Ethiopia is 30 times more likely to die before turning 5 than a child in Europe. There are also many children being made orphans by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Millions of children are forced to work in bad child labor conditions, and thousands are forced to be soldiers.

Universal Children’s Day is a day to raise awareness about these children. The United Nations and world leaders are working to improve the lives of children around the world.

Use Universal Children’s day to celebrate your childhood, and be thankful for all of the rights you have. It’s also a time to think about children who are still struggling to have the same rights and opportunities that you have.

What can you do to raise awareness about less-fortunate children? Do you know anyone who has done a fundraiser, a school supply collection, or anything else to benefit children? What will you do to celebrate Universal Children’s Day? Share your opinions and ideas on Shout Out! in the “I’m the Change!” message board. Look for the topic “Universal Children’s Day.”

Love, Luna

Psst… have you heard? Or better yet SEEN the meteor shower yet? Even though the ideal time to see the Leonid Meteor Shower was on Monday, have no fear… meteors will be flying through the North American sky all week until Saturday. It is an even better show if you are in Asia!

A meteor shower is a time of heightened meteor activity. This shower is going on because the Earth is colliding with fragments of the comet Tempel-Tuttle, which comes through the inner solar system every 33 years. The meteors that look similar to shooting stars are a result of the comet’s debris colliding with the Earth’s atmosphere at 160,000 miles per hour!

On Monday night (early Tuesday morning) some observers of the shower saw over 20 to 30 meteors an hour. If you want the best viewing quality of the shower it is best to get out of the city lights. Since this doesn’t happen all too often it is a great opportunity to watch astrology as it happens!

Wouldn’t it be cool to capture the meteor shower?!? Grab your family and friends; and a video camera and a blanket to keep warm. Then lay back, enjoy the show! After upload your fun pictures or video to the music and video hub!

I can’t wait to see the interesting videos and pictures you capture!

Love, Luna