【推荐3】Beauty From Their Ashes is a group of mothers and daughters who have dealt with the impact that trauma (挫折) brings. With this experience, their goal is to help others by coming to each person from a place of compassion and empathy (共情).

“We have walked this walk,” said Synethia Bland, Marketing Director. “We have already learned how to manage the challenges that a trauma-impacted mother faces each day. Our goal is to communicate that you’re never on this journey alone.”

Everyone goes through adversity. This group hopes to communicate to mothers and daughters that they can rise from these trials to reach places of beauty. Bland says that by providing guidance, hope, and love, women can hold their faith because empathy and compassion are restored in their lives.

“Broken women help other hurting women in realizing their dream and potential,” said Liliana, a certified life coach. Liliana is praised for being a defender of the truth. “The best teachers come from life,” she said.

Liliana ran through her social media, and she saw others in pain: homeless, abused, facing chronic illness. No one gave an encouraging word. No one paid attention, like illness and poverty were a choice. Liliana was overcome with such heart-broken stories. When Liliana found her faith, she said her journey became more difficult. Turning away women in need was not something she was willing to do, so she poured all her resources into this organization.

“You know that in your secret closet, you still have ashes. Just because the world can’t see them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Some of us just choose not to sit on our hands.”

By showing women how they can rise like a phoenix, the ashes don’t need to be the end of their stories. It can be the beginning of something new.

【推荐2】After Walter Elias Disney finished his volunteer service at the Red Cross, his brother, Roy, got him a job at the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio, where he met his lifelong friend Ub Iwerks. Disney and Ub Iwerks soon set up their own company, but hardly made enough money to get by. The business went into failure in just one month. Then due to a variety of reasons, Disney’s second business failed again. He had nowhere to live, a little money for food.

These didn’t discourage Disney. At 22, he went to Hollywood. There he started Disney Brothers Studio with his brother Roy and came up with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit which was well received. However, the copyright to his own characters was stolen. Disney knew he extremely needed a new idea. Then the idea of a mouse called Mortimer came to his mind. The name eventually changed to Mickey Mouse thanks to the insistence of his wife.

However, the first two Mickey Mouse Series-Plane Crazy and Gallopin Gaucho-didn’t attract lots of audiences. But Disney never gave up. He added synchronized (同步的) sound and created a third short film Steamboat Willie, which became an instant hit.

In 1934, Disney started to work on another new idea: a cartoon that ran the length of a long film. Everyone said it was a bad idea. The banker told him he would be risking everything he had on this one film but Disney believed in his vision. The film took 3 long years to make and cost around $25 million.

His effort paid off. Once Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was released, it was viewed as a masterpiece. The film became the most successful one of that year. He earned $134 million.

【推荐3】If you wanted to make a Disney-style animation (动画) of, say, Reggie, a spirited rabbit, planning to save his forest, you’d have a lead animator draw the extremes of the action: Reggie looking intensely focused, and then proudly announcing, “There’s a new hero in the forest!” Then you’d bring in an in-betweener that is, the animator who draws all the comprehensive frames that bridge the major actions.

In-betweeners don’t get the glory, but without them cartoons would hop from one emotional peak to another, missing connective grace. Burny Mattinson (1935-2023) started his career at the Walt Disney Company in the mailroom, and, even though he had no formal training in animation, he was given a swing at in-betweening just six months later.

His first big assignment was to in-between the wagging of a dog’s tail. Disney animation was famous for its silky elegance, owing in no small part to the skill of its in-betweeners, and, thanks to Mattinson, the tail practically glided from side to side.

Mattinson had wanted to be an animator ever since his mother had taken him to see “Pinocchio” at a theatre when he was six. In a bold move, Mattinson showed up at the Disney Studios gate with his portfolio (作品) as soon as he finished high school. The magical part of this story is that, instead of shooing him away, the security guard liked his drawings and called the head of personnel to take a look.

Thus, Mattinson became a messenger at Disney, beginning a career that would eventually make him the employee with the longest service at the company. He had joined the company at a golden moment. Listing the films that he worked on is a little like listing the entire output of the Walt Disney Company over the past six decades: “Sleeping Beauty,” “The Lion King”, and on and on.

Mattinson was, perhaps, one of the last of an almost extinct genotype-the happy company man, the lifer. He never had an employer besides Disney. When asked what Mattinson enjoyed doing outside of his life at Disney, his son said, “He just loved his work.”