S.T/A.R Project

Warning: This blog is about to become offensive to the ideologically sensitive.

Anyone who read the last post probably got the inkling that there's a change coming around here. After a bit of soul searching the past few days, I just came to the realization that I can't do it anymore. I can't just sit by and say "Boo hoo, how sad. What a shame," when I know that there are people out there who are being trampled on.

In the past few years, our country has been taking as many quick steps backward as it can, and no one seems to be doing anything about it. State after state is banning collective bargaining rights. "Personhood" amendments are attempting to reverse the Roe V. Wade decision, even in cases of rape, incest, or pregnancies that endanger the mother's life. Here in Ohio, groups are moving to prevent a woman's right to choose and all adult's ability to choose when and how to have their children with the loss of the Susan G. Koman grants for planned parenthood. Less than a month ago, right here in the town where I live, the home of a Muslim family was vandalized and then set on fire with two residents still inside.

And that's even before we get into the economy, foreign policy, the current presidential candidates, and the gay rights issue. And all of that is just what's going on in America.

How far are we going to backslide? Where does it stop? When are we as a nation going to draw the line and say, "This is enough."

Well, let me tell you, I can't do it anymore. I can't just sit here knowing that this nation is allowing human rights to be trampled on within our own borders. I can't fight for everything, much as I would like to.

I'm just a girl. I'm just one person. But I have a voice, a blog, and an idea.

You saw the image I posted yesterday. This image is now available through Society6.com on everything from tee shirts to iPhone cases. One half of all proceeds from the sale will go to the It Gets Better Project, a charity dedicated to providing hope and support to LGBT youth.

This project is about unity. It's about bringing people together, getting to know one another, and learning to respect each other even when we disagree. America has been called a melting pot, but as one of my college professors put it, it's more like a salad bowl. We still have a lot of separation, and many of the pieces don't like to mix.

The rainbow has long been a symbol of diversity and inclusion. Though I want all of us to retain our individuality, when there is a true blending of ideas and beliefs those seven colors don't remain separate, they join together in pure, white light--the light of a star, shining the way, much brighter than any of us could be on our own.

In addition to the Society6 sales, I also would like to create a public art project, a la the 198 Countries Peace Project. I don't have a venue yet or even what I'd need to get started setting this up, so I just want to send out feelers first: I want to collect letters. Letters written on different colored stationary, so that when they are displayed, they form a rainbow. These letters can be on a variety of subjects, but the topics I've thought up are: Respect, what it means to you; The turning point, when you came out of your darkest hour knowing that there was hope for the future. Where did that hope come from, who gave it to you? Also open letters to the public, political leaders, and of course, the youth and others who don't have anyone to stand up for them. Poetry and artwork are also welcome.

I think a minimum of 100 letters would be good, but I also think we can go bigger.

I'm creating a page on the S.T/A.R Project, and there will be a link in the sidebar with additional information. If you are interested in participating, please leave a comment below; please tell your friends and encourage them to participate.

If there's interest, I have some people that I can contact about finding a venue. I also think it would be neat to do something for Valentines Day, since it's the day of Love, but it's probably too short of notice for that.

So, leave a comment. Let me know what you think.

Change 2012

I don't consider myself to be a very political person. I generally avoid the news, except for the odd or interesting headline that pops up on Yahoo when I go to check my email. Even then, I tend to read mostly the funny or educational pieces, and avoid the depressing-sounding ones.

I believe that there is no problem in this universe that the correct application of hot water or chocolate can't fix, and if we could just all the world leaders together over tea and cake and just listen to one another and their people instead of the people funding their campaigns, then we could achieve world peace. Maybe I'm naive. Maybe as a planet we just need to learn to bend a little and focus more on how we can help those around us instead of our own physical comforts.

Despite this childish, head-in-the-sand attitude I tend to have, there are some things in the news that haven't escaped even my notice. Particular quotes from certain presidential candidates, for example. A string of offensive, anti-gay facebook posts by conservatives. Bills nation wide that have passed, been revoked, and voted on again. Families denied benefits. And then there was this article in Rolling Stone. If you choose to click the link, I will warn you, it is a rather long article, but well worth reading through. In summary, it details the events of the past few years in a particular school district in Minnesota. A certain school district that denied it's gay students basic human rights--the right to receive an education unmolested by their peers or teachers.

It began with a policy that condemned gay, lesbian, and transgender lifestyles as "unnatural". When parents protested, it was revoked and replaced with one of "neutrality." Together, these policies allowed dozens--maybe hundreds--of students in the state's largest district to be bullied while the adults stood idly by, more afraid of loosing their jobs than of saving their student's lives. After two years, nine students had committed suicide.

While this is certainly the largest, highest profile case I've seen in the past few years, it is not the only one. These children are not the only ones to be bullied for who they are, and they are not the only ones who have taken their own lives because of it.

I have been bullied. I have been lonely, and I've had times where I didn't know where else to go. These kids were begging for help, and the message they received was that because of who they chose to love, they are not worth protecting. Their lives were not worth living.

I don't care what religion you are. I don't care what your opinion about the whole gay rights issue is. I don't care if you support things like California's Issue 8, or if you just married your partner of twenty years in Vermont. What I am talking about here is Basic. Human. Rights.

The right to employment. The right to an education. The right to be with the people you love. The right to be protected and safe, and to live in an environment free from turmoil.

This isn't about who is right and who is wrong. It's not about allowing gay marriage or determining if it's a choice or a disease. It's about treating people as human beings.

Right here, right now, I say this: all people should be treated with respect, regardless.

To the oppressed: I know. I've been there. Hang tight. There are people out there who will help you, and we are trying to change things.

To the oppressors: I don't care who you think you are, or what right you think you have to treat others like they are less than you, but stop. Just stop. Quit hiding behind your religion and your politics. There is no "but" in the Bible. God loves everyone, full stop.

We need to show the world that the way things are is not okay. I'm not talking about being politically correct, squashing freedom of speech because it might offend someone--I'm talking about respect. That's all it really boils down to. Respect your fellow man/woman/whatever, even if you disagree with them. Even if you don't like them all that much.

I think it's time for another Peace Project. Who's with me?

Media Monday

So yesterday Mom and Dad got me watching a marathon of Auction Hunters, and I think I'm in love. I enjoy watching shows like Pawn Stars and American Pickers, but AH is now far and away my favorite treasure-in-trash/antiques/restoration show. It was just way more excititing for me to watch than the others (I keep waititng for one of them to find a fabulous old typewriter, but nothing yet. Though the Thomas Edison phonograph on one episode of AH had me totally stoked). Every time I watch one of those shows I have daydreams of working for one of them as a restorer. Sadly, I think the nearest one is 1500 miles away. I've found nothing in the state of Ohio.

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If you've been on the internet at all today, you have probably heard about Osama Bin Laden. Considering some of the political content of this blog, you might be expecting me to say something pertinent. I'm not going to. Just because he's dead doesn't mean an end to terrorism. It doesn't mean people are going to stop dying, or we're going to pull out of the middle east. He's just another casualty--granted, he's one that we've been hunting down for almost ten years, and a rather famous casualty with a lot of blood on his hands, but he's not the end-all, be-all of the war.

NO MORE CHOCOLATE.

Now that I have your attention:

For the last several years, it's been a tradition for my dad to go to Hershey, Pennsylvania in October and bring back CASES of chocolate. At this very moment, I have a box of Special Dark hoarded away in my bedroom, a remnant of his last trip.

Well, no more. Hershey's has announced that they are closing their American and Canadian plants and are moving to Mexico. At a time when America needs all of the jobs it can get, Hershey had decided to abandon ship and go south of the border where costs are lower and regulations less stringent. To add insult to injury, they have raised the prices of all of their products.

This move has already cost over 3,000 people their jobs, and will decimate the town of Hershey, PA, between the factory, the museum, and the resort, not to mention the loss of tourism. The fall car show and swap meet, the attraction for my dad, is one of the largest in the nation and draws several thousand people from all over the country every year.

I think this is an irresponsible move on the part of Hershey's, and I urge chocolate lovers nation wide to boycott their products. If they want to take away our jobs and our pride, then I will do my best to take away their profit. No company should treat their customers or their employees in this way after 110+ years of loyal service.

Chocolate is serious business. Do you want yours made by the people down the street, or in a sweat shop in Mexico?

Can I breathe yet?

Things around here continue to spiral out of my hands. I was productive this morning, accomplishing many things that needed done, but none of them were actually on my to-do list. I'm tempted to write them in just so I can cross them off and feel like less of a lazy bum.

My Etsy shop has been updated with new items and a new section.

Perhaps the biggest news is that I now know the dates of my show! It will run from March 2-6, 2009, and I'm planning a reception for 6th, though that is still up in the air and I need to peg down the exact time.

I finished spinning/plying some of the silk I purchased, oh, what? Two months ago? Finally. I had an awful time splicing the silk, and in the end had to settle with knots, which I can cover up later when I'm knitting.

I went to bed in a bad mood last night, and woke up surprisingly cheerful this morning. I couldn't figure out why, and then I got on Yahoo and found the election results (more like, they jumped at me screaming and I couldn't find my celebrity gossip or weird news). I still think that Darth Vader should have won, but really, it can't get much worse than Bush/McCain. If one of the candidates had to win (and I suppose they did) then I'm glad it's Obama.

(In an ironic twist, I've received about 70 flags for the Peace Project, but thus far, while claimed, the American flag has not been among them.

Ignorance is Bliss

I would like to take a moment to address a PM I received on Ravelry this morning. I will refrain from saying the woman's name, but she wrote me a rather long message telling me off for this post:

Of course, I also saw the Dumbest American Ever, walking around in an “Operation Iraqi Freedom” tee shirt. Great way to make friends with the Europeans, that.

She accused me of being ignorant and a few other things for my "lack of support for our troops." Doubling the offense, her daughter served in Iraq. She said that this statement contradicted the purpose of the Peace Project.

Let me clarify something. I support our troops. I can't tell you how many friends I have serving in the Middle East right now, friends that I don't know if I'll ever see again. I back them 100%, but I CANNOT support the government that sent them there, and seeing that map of Iraq emblazoned upon that man's back, striped in red, white and blue is highly offensive to me.

I believe in a nation's right to self defense. I believe in supporting the men and women who fight and die every day for our freedom. I do NOT believe in attacking other countries, taking them over, and trying to turn them into little miniature versions of the US.

This is not a political blog, and so I will try not to talk too much about my personal views on this subject. It is a complicated and touchy matter, so I will just say this:

While America is not the only country fighting in the middle east, the only reason that most of our allies are there is because of various treaties. Canada, England, France--all of these nations have shown an abhorrence for the methods used in Iraq, Afghanistan, and surrounding countries.

Italy in particular has been opposed to the fighting. They reluctantly sent one hundred troops, which have since all been recalled. It seems that every street in Florence displays at least one "Peace" flag, hanging from a window.

Italy is in the middle of it's own political problems. I have mentioned the dissolving the parliament, and the subsequent protest. At present, a new government has yet to be established, and us Americans studying abroad wait anxiously for that day to come, biting our nails and wondering if we will be sent home, or how safe we will be if there is further breakdown between now and then. Will our rights be recognized, or our citizenship?

I don't have to tell you how many Americans are opposed to the war. I believe the President's approval rating speaks for itself. Showing support of that invasion can earn enough negative attention in the US. It leaves me wondering why anyone would be so stupid as to bring that opinion overseas, and publicly broadcast it in a country that has shown such opposition to it in the past. That's almost like wearing a "Free Tibet" teeshirt in Beijing. Okay, maybe the Italian police won't haul you off to prison for it, but it certainly won't earn you any friends, either with foreigners abroad or with the locals. Italians are very...fiery when it comes to politics, and I don't think that "Operation Iraqi Freedom" is something that you want to be associated with any more than you have to be.

I apologize if my comment offended anyone, or if it was taken the wrong way. I will admit that was probably not the best forum to be airing my personal views in, and will do my best to keep it from happening again in the future. But I will not retract that statement, say that I was mistaken, or otherwise change my mind. All I will say is that I'm sorry it was so easily misconstrued. From now on, I'll try to be a little clearer.

How did I miss this?

There have been many adventures happening the last few days, not all of them good. If you've been on yahoo recently, you probably heard about the Italian Parliment desolving. What we didn't know going in to this whole study abroad thing is that there is a parliment building less than a block from one of our school buildings. As Alice was leaving class this morning, she got caught up in what she described as a "very polite protest"--lots of well dressed Italians in leather and heels and fur shouting and holding signs, but no pushing or shoving or violence of any kind. Still when I had to go down that way this afternoon, I was a little anxious, especially when I stepped into a cafe for a croisant and there were three police officers having cappuchino.

The other day I got a bill from the school here in Italy stating that I owe them $4600 by tomorrow. What? Where did this come from? We cleared all of this up before I left, or so I thought. So now I am trying to coordinate between two bursars in two states and three offices on two continents, trying to figure out what the hell happened to this $4600.

There have been a few good things...I'm almost done with the embroidery for my first silk painting, and by this time next week I should have photos for you. Also by then, I should have the charger for my laptop, so not only will there be more pictures in these posts, but they might even become more regular. Though I have been posting more often since the Peace Project started.

Speaking of the Peace Project, over fifty flags have now been promised--we're 1/4 of the way there! But there is still a long way to go. Please share the link to the information with anyone you think might be interested. I would be thrilled if we could get 198 different people to sign up! Show the love!

Well, I am off. I need to figure out what happened to my missing money...