Archive for November, 2008

The AWEARNESS book consists of 86 essays and conversations by individuals who have been inspired to do their part to effect meaningful social change. We will be releasing excerpts from the book throughout the week. The second is Rosario Dawson, below is a short excerpt from her contribution:

Ever since I participated in a save-the-trees march when I was ten, I’ve worked with many groups to support numerous causes, from women’s issues and workers’ rights, to HIV/AIDS awareness and poverty. But I spend most of my time working with Voto Latino, a nonpartisan organization I co-founded a few years ago, because it covers all the issues.

Source: Awearness Blog

At the book launch of Kenneth Cole’s Awearness, the retail store located in Grand Central was abuzz in the idea change, inspiration, and color. Decked out in red and black, the store celebrated the launch of the designer’s book, a collection of 86 inspiring stories on how to make a difference. Glam had a chance to chat with one of the contributors, Rosario Dawson, whose new movie Seven Pounds with Will Smith comes out near Christmas. Clad in Kenneth Cole, the actress spoke about how she really does her shopping and why this project was so important to her.

What’s your shopping strategy?

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When celebrities rally to support important causes like curing world hunger, funding AIDS research, or in Rosario Dawson’s case, fighting for the Latino vote, it’s logical to assume that questions in the realm of, “So, what’s your favorite Christmas present ever?” are probably off-limits. But then again, no one said it was logical to assume that logic is popular these days. At Kenneth Cole’s launch party for his new book, Awearness — a compilation of 86 stories and essays by prominent media figures like Bill Clinton and Jon Bon Jovi — a crowd almost uniformly clad in head-to-toe black (Kelly Cutrone would’ve been proud) lounged as journalists pressed belle of the ball and book contributor Rosario Dawson about what she likes to unwrap under the Christmas tree.Dawson, not to be sidetracked by thoughts of holiday cheer, remained focused and shared her advice for all the dreamers out there who think that saving the world is for superheroes. “The first thing is to really see what it is in your community you want to change,” she said. “Is it the road services, the schools in the neighborhood, a bunch of elderly that are not being treated well, a lot of crime in the neighborhood, teen pregnancy, the dropout rates? What is it that’s actually happening there that you want to target? Figure that out, then inform yourself as much as you can about it. Figure out locally what other people are trying to do, because you know they definitely are. There are 1.4 million nonprofits that are running in this country right now.”

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