Dexter is one of those shows that I never expected to like, or love, for that matter. I waited way into the third season, when a friend forced a DVD of season two on me, and finally I watched it -- and then I was hooked. So much so that this week, I gave that same DVD to my teenage nephew to watch. Listen, I love the twisted story lines that get better and better each season, and can't wait to see what drama unfolds this season. But the acting really makes the show a winner, and one of the standouts is Jennifer Carpenter, who kicks some major acting ass in the show -- and looks great doing it.
I have a pretty simple relationship with my TV, and a fairly complicated love/hate relationship with Twitter. That said, a while ago, I decided to check in on Jennifer's Twitter feed, and was really surprised about how damn real she is, tweeting bowling league stories and giving updates about the cat they found on set, along with whimsical T-shirt worthy quotes like "good girls listen to country music." I also found a really cool video Lab Magazine did featuring her.
But this week the big news on her Twitter feed is that she's running the NYC marathon in November and doing it for a cause -- Every Mother Counts, a really amazing -- and dare I say -- kick-ass charity.
Here's the story: Each year, hundreds of thousands of women die during pregnancy and childbirth due to the lack of pre and postnatal care -- effectively making having a child a death sentence for some women. Pre- and postnatal care is something many of us take for granted as we move through our lives, but in other countries, as well as some parts of the U.S., they are luxuries. When you do the math that works out to be just about 800 women a day dying -- and the thing is we have the "technology" to save 90% of them.
This is where Every Mother Counts, an advocacy and mobilization campaign founded by Christy Turlington Burns, steps in. Christy started Every Mother Counts after completing her first documentary film, No Woman, No Cry which debut at the 2010 Tribecca Film festival, a movie about the experiences of women in Tanzania, Bangladesh, Guatemala and the U.S. for whom dealing with these issues is all too real. Every Mother Counts was launched to raise awareness and encourage action, while also partnering with other organizations and corporate partners, like Hope Phones, Riders for Health, Doc to Dock and Save the Children to make change on a grassroots level.
Often the biggest barrier to getting help to these women is lack of awareness and distance in terms of miles, which is why fifty runners, including Jennifer Carpenter, are running for Every Mother Counts in the 2012 ING New York City Marathon. Anyone who's interested in helping out can check out Team Jennifer on Crowd Rise.
Running in the NYC Marathon is an amazing goal, and accomplishment, the only thing better is running for a cause!