PARALLEL UNIVERSE: Spanish Moms Shed Clothes for Calendar to Raise Money for School Bus Service

http://www.npr.org/2013/01/26/170296705/pinup-moms-reveal-how-far-theyll...

From the story:

"Spain's economic woes have forced municipalities across the nation to cut back on all kinds of basic services. In the small town of Montserrat, 20 miles inland from the Mediterranean, not even the school bus was spared.

"To restore service, neighborhood mothers came up with a rather racy idea to raise money: They transformed themselves into calendar girls.

"Nestled among orange groves, Montserrat lies just down a busy highway from Valencia, the regional capital. It's the same highway where Eva Maria Casas Sancho's children walked almost three miles to and from elementary school each day when the bus service was cut.

"'There's no sidewalk and there are lots of trucks going fast,' Sancho says. 'It's one of the main roads. The truth is, it's pretty dangerous for kids to be walking there.'"

 
But it worked. The pinup moms have raised $12,000 selling the calendars — enough to rehire the school bus through spring. They even sold copies to regional politicians who decided to cut the school bus service in the first place.

I think this is a great idea -- even if it's not particularly original, with beefcake calendars of firefighthers and cops -- doing similar service for the male gender. I recall seeing a pictorial on a military site of "hot women" of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) where women serve in combat zones. Speaking of which, on the same NPR website as the Spanish Calendar Moms, there's a Greg Myre  pictorial feature of women in combat, noting that Canada and Israel are among countries where women have long served in combat zones on a par with their male counterparts.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2013/01/25/170177873/a-brief-histor...

Kudos for NPR for producing a great website, making up for radio's inherent shortcomings when it comes to pictures. But then again, I recall Edgar Bergen's ventriloquist show featuring wisecracking Charlie McCarthy and his pals was broadcast on radio from 1937 to 1956, so anything is possible if it works. Here in Coastal Bend Texas, we get our NPR from South Texas Public radio in Corpus Christi and Victoria.   //