In the Name of a Woman

Wed, 03 Dec 2003 19:56:07 GMT

Contemplating justice does not justify lack of action. Try saying that ten times fast... What I am trying to say is that I sit around all day on my lazy (eh... really busy) butt, contemplating ways I can help those suffering. In this blog, I feel that I have done little to accomplish any new ways of accomodating those without a voice... or those with no information on how to get help. So I decided that even if I did something small, like... construct a page which would provide links to domestic abuse contacts in every state (which is what I did), that at least I would have made some effort in actually providing assistance, rather than simply information.

click here for the list of organizations

Also, I organized the links page. Alot of the sites are quite interesting. So you should check them out.

Wed, 03 Dec 2003 04:22:57 GMT

It's my birthday today!! And I have the flu... blah. I have no new information for you, this is just a personal blurb. My boyfriend sent me on a birthday scavenger hunt. I ended up with a dozen white roses, a beautiful blown-up picture of me and him, and a new burnt cd. It was the greatest birthday : )

And to top it off, I got a bunch of e-mails, my mom called and sang happy birthday in my voicemail, and I got a bunch of messages on instant message. My friends left me gifts on my chair in my room while I was in class, so I came back to a great surprise! And then Aaron took me out for sushi and it was incredible. When I got back, my secret sister had left me a present too!

Thankyou everyone for making my 22nd birthday incredible. I really thought this birthday was gonna be crappy, but it was one of the greatest ever! (My 18th birthday was really cool too cause my mom made me this basket with a present for every day of my birthday month! That was amazing.)

Well, I'm going to bed. I'm sick and very tired.

Mon, 01 Dec 2003 18:52:15 GMT

Ok. So when I first started this blog, I was pretty sure that one of my main themes was going to be on women in the church. After furthering my research and pursuit, I changed my mind because I felt that my topic on abuse would be best well-rounded, yet still within some boundary, if I left the topic of women in the church out. That was, of course, until I bumped into this article in newsweek...

The Bible's Lost Stories

Mon, 01 Dec 2003 02:31:06 GMT

www.preventchildabuse.org

www.childabuse.org

www.jimhopper.com/abstats

www.child-abuse.com

Mon, 01 Dec 2003 02:21:19 GMT

I Thessalonians 5:16

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances..."

Mon, 01 Dec 2003 00:55:45 GMT

Thanksgiving was so wonderful this year. I felt so blessed to be with a loving family, eat some great food, and relax before finals. I know there has been a large time gap since my last post, but I will be working on it all week long, as the end of the semester is coming up really soon.

Tue, 18 Nov 2003 05:37:40 GMT

I was sent an article earlier today in light of a recent slip of the "f-word" on public television. "The Federal Communications Commission ruled this month that Irish rocker Bono did not violate federal indecency rules when he used the f-word during an acceptance speech at the Golden Globe Awards, which NBC broadcast in January." According to this article, the context of the f-word was not that of explicit use, as it did not reference anything sexual. Well, one can only imagine my rage... I wrote a letter to the editor:

To Whom It May Concern:

RECYCLING EXCREMENT

I am appalled to live within a society that continually strips children of their chance to acquire decency and propriety. Our media-perverted nation has been bringing morality to a rapid halt for far too long. Why must the entire nation suffer as a result of a few who desire to hear five, four-letter words which are currently, socially recognized as indecent and explicit.

Maybe we have the right to be angry because we didn’t originally choose for those words to be offensive, but must society be thrown into a demoralizing loop simply because a few people want to hear some “cool because they’re bad” words on a favorite episode of the Simpsons? I am twenty-one and desire to have children
one day, but I am skeptical as to whether or not I wish to bring more young minds into the perverted society in which I presently a part of. We already drown children with over stimulation in this media-fanatic culture, why must we subject them to the few words that are culturally known and understood to be rude
and inappropriate?

It frustrates me to see a people who are desperately, argumentatively, and purposefully anxious to provide easy-access to the viewing of filth and verbal defecation, as well as perverted stereotypes and warped
role models. Maybe it is silly that these so-called “expletives” have evolved into, well, expletives, but is it utterly necessary to promote anti-establishment on every channel? Instead of teaching our children how to
use the f-word as an adjective as well as a noun, maybe we should pressure them to recognize the need for and pursuit of justice, speak for those who have no
voice, or even, and dare I say this, maybe try to make a difference in this world, and not the kind of difference that my peers make me ashamed of.

We are the United States. We set a precedent for the rest of the world. Let’s not trash our standards by spitting foul verbiage.

Fri, 14 Nov 2003 17:20:27 GMT

i know i haven't posted in almost a week and a half, but you must realize that i am spacey and fickle... even in my pursuit of justice (which is probably why i am an art major and not in law school).

Today I attended the windows on the world seminar here at Eastern. Bryan Stevenson, an Eastern's graduates and now Harvard Law graduate lawyer (who actively works on behalf of death row inmates), came to Eastern to speak today in light of the severe problem of injustice in the United States.

i will be writing a brief synopsis and response to his message as soon as possible...

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 21:36:49 GMT

Today another woman died
and not on a foreign field
and not with a rifle strapped to her back,
and not with a large defense of tanks
rumbling and rolling behind her.

She died without CNN covering her war.
She died without talk of intelligent bombs
and strategic targets
The target was simply her face, her back
her pregnant belly.

The target was her precious flesh
that was once composed like music
in her mother’s body and sung
in the anthem of birth.

The target was this life
that had lived its own dear wildness,
had been loved and not loved,
had danced and not danced.

A life like yours or mine
that had stumbled up
from a beginning
and had learned to walk
and had learned to read.
and had learned to sing.

Another woman died today.
not far from where you live;
Just there, next door where the tall light
falls across the pavement.

Just there, a few steps away
where you’ve often heard shouting,
Another woman died today.

She was the same girl
her mother used to kiss;
the same child you dreamed
beside in school.
The same baby her parents
walked in the night with
and listened and listened and listened
For her cries even while they slept.

And someone has confused his rage
with this woman’s only life.
-Carol Geneya Kaplan

www.domesticviolence.org

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 21:34:47 GMT

"Domestic violence and emotional abuse are behaviors used by one person in a relationship to control the other. Partners may be married or not married; heterosexual, gay, or lesbian; living together, separated or dating."

http://www.domesticviolence.org/define.html

So who are the sufferers of this dirty laundrey? Anyone! Women, men, children, gays, lesbians, married or just dating. It is not limited by age, sex, race, culture, religion, education, employment or marital status.

For more online information, check out these websites:

www.ncadv.org/

www.ndvh.org/

www.controllingviolence.com

www.domesticviolence.org

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 21:21:35 GMT

image from http://www.home-abuse.com/

She melts into the place inside where fear and pain are numbed

And then he comes and snaps

And she’s trapped…

The rage has come

“Beautiful, I only hurt you cause I’m afraid you’ll leave.”

Love is lust is thrust into a world of desperate anxiety

So lost, so left alone in the dark

So scared

The children’s eyes are red

Hope has closed its doors on her

She’s left to drowned

In a pool of scarlet abuse

-poem written by me

Mon, 03 Nov 2003 19:40:22 GMT

Aha! It's that time readers (oh it's that time) to celebrate some noble men and women who have stood for gender equality, justice, and women! To start the celebration, I have included some quotes that I found to be quite awesome. Some are seriuos, some are funny, all are well said.

I always feel the movement is a sort of mosaic. Each of us puts in one little stone, and then you get a great mosaic at the end.

--Alice Paul, pioneer suffragist

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world: indeed it's the only thing that ever has!

--Margaret Mead, anthropologist

A girl should not expect special privileges because of her sex but neither should she adjust to prejudice and discrimination.

--Betty Friedan, feminist

Remember our heritage is our power; we can know ourselves and our capacities by seeing that other women have been strong.

--Judy Chicago, artist

You don't just luck into things as much as you'd like to think you do. You build step by step, whether it's friendships or opportunities.

--U.S. First Lady Barbara Bush

When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country.

--Elayne Boosler

Women were brought up to believe that men were the answer. They weren't. They weren't even one of the questions.

--Julian Barnes, English, novelist

Reconciliation should be accompanied by justice, otherwise it will not last. While we all hope for peace it shouldn't be peace at any cost but peace based on principle, on justice.

--Corazon Aquino

The young women of today, free to study, to speak, to write, to choose their occupation, should remember that every inch of this freedom was bought for them at a great price. It is for them to show their gratitude by helping onward the reforms of their own times, by spreading the light of freedom and of truth still wider. The debt that each generation owes to the past it must pay to the future.

--Abigail Scott Duniway, suffrage organizer in the Pacific Northwest

Mon, 03 Nov 2003 04:45:35 GMT

I have been thinking alot about where I would like this blog to travel from here on out. I am in need of some time in which I can dedicate some serious research to the depth of the problem of domestic abuse. I've found that when you pick a topic, any topic of vast occurance, you begin to find that topic everywhere you go. Maybe it's because you talk more about it, or maybe it's just because you're more aware... none the less, it becomes an occurance until it has become a past interest.

For example, this weekend I travelled up to Connecticut this weekend for a halloween party. I met a bunch of really cool people, but for some reason, this one girl at the party really caught my attention. She wasn't dressed in any flashy sort of way. Her hair was normal, long, pulled back in a simple pony tail. Her features weren't outrageous, but there was just something about. I decided to approach her.

My friend was engaging in conversation with her so I decided to join them. She appeared very distant, disengaged, maybe even a little lost. We would ask her questions, and she would look around a few times before answering, and then she would answer again if what she had said before was not completely accurate. I was so intruiged by her, and I wanted to get to know her immediately. I asked her to come for a walk with me.

We started talking and any question that I asked she would give me a vague answer. She was sincere and sweet, yet distracted and anxious. I could tell just from her eyes that there was much pain... I felt that God was telling me to give her my testimony, so I did, and I included every excrutiating or embarrassing detail. The most important thing that God gave me to tell her (and I say this must have been God who gave me the words, because I was speaking in a voice that was very foreign to my own) was that God heals on his own timing, and he keeps us dependant upon him through the trials in life that take the longest to heal. Why did I tell her all of this? I have no idea. But apparently, she benefitted from it highly as she gave me hugs continuously throughout the night.

I found out later that this girl was a victim of domestic violence, rape, and other horrific pains. The worst part about her story is that her experiences may have been the causes of her development of schizophrenia. As I was informed, her healing has been slow but continual. A Schizophrenic is often never fully healed and has a high chance of living with the mental disease for the rest of his/her life.

Abuse = more than just a broken nose

Wed, 29 Oct 2003 21:11:16 GMT

Shirts are being hung all throughout the annex... people are expressing their pain... and the ClothesLine Project is going on this week. Prayer Vigil is Thursday night.