Holiday Revelry

You can say a lot of things about me, but one thing for sure is that I keep my word.  I've put together about a dozen bags full of jewelry and am bringing them to the women's shelter on Friday.  (See my May post "Pay It Forward" for the story behind it.)  I can't wait to bring a holiday surprise for some unsuspecting clients!  They're getting natural shell pendants, glass and/or plastic bracelets, and colorful earrings.

I like to give during the holidays, and I think I feel a lot more in the holiday spirit now that I'm doing something for others.  All my Christmas and Hanukkah shopping was finished by November, so now all I've been doing is decorating and helping others get ready.  But it's nice to know I'm doing something for people who wouldn't normally have all that happy of a holiday.

 Here are a few of my pretty creations!
   

This picture is sort of bag fraud, as they're made by me and not Horsefeathers, but I liked the effect:

Here are a few bracelets that are for the young girls at the shelter:

I feel sort of like Santa Claus.  This year's been a little quieter for me, despite the fact that I've been going to parties and doing more entertaining.  It's been a little harder to get in the Christmas spirit for some reason, but this actually made it happen.  Maybe this can be my new personal tradition!

Fanm yo di se twòp atò!

Robin Morgan had it right when she declared that "Sisterhood is global!"  I just noticed this article on RH Reality Check, http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/11/21/young-women-are-haitis-future.

Read it before reading on.  The article details a feminist group in Haiti named KOFAVIV.  The group is primarily comprised of women who were sexually assaulted during the military dictatorship, and that is why the acronym stands for Commission of Women Victims for Victims (in Haitian Creole).  Their work is radical, grassroots, and really attuned to the needs of the women in their communities.  Spurred to action by both their own experiences and by the increase in sexual assaults against Haitian women, the founders began KOFAFIV to provide medical and psychological care to their fellow survivors.  They’ve been active for seven years now.  Because sexual abuse is really stigmatized down in Haiti, the women use one-on-one discussions with women in their communities to find those who need rape treatment services and help them to get medical or psychological attention.  They're similar to the second wave feminists who began the first rape crisis centers here in the US! 

Now you might be wondering, why the attention to KOFAVIV?  Aren't I specializing in American feminism?  I am.  However, I had the pleasure of meeting two members of KOFAVIV last year, a nurse and a translator.  They came to my workplace and talked to the advocates about all that they do.  The nurse didn't speak English, so the translator spoke for both of them.  I was really impressed to hear all about their work.  I was, though, taken aback by a particularly provocative question, “Do you ever find it difficult to get clients to come to the center?”  At an agency that serves thousands of women, men, and children every year through all of our programs and that is constantly in demand for the specialized counseling and advocacy we provide, I was surprised to hear this question.  However, I soon learned that their group has had the opposite experience of us.  Because rape survivors are heavily stigmatized, women had originally been hesitant to come to KOFAFIV and to disclose that they had been sexually abused.  The members of KOFAFIV, therefore, employ community outreach workers (termed “Community Human Rights Defenders”) who work within the different communities in Haiti to locate survivors and to tell them about how they can get help for the violence they suffered.  Through one-on-one work with survivors, the outreach workers are able to help the women take the first step of coming forward for help.

It's incredible to see the strength and commitment of these women all around the world.  I was absolutely overwhelmed to think about them, but they remind me that we cannot stop our work now.  We're all working for a fairer world.  And to which I say along with them, my international sisters, "Fanm yo di se twòp atò!"  Women say enough is enough!

Morning Train

There's a morning train
That's headed for New Orleans
Carrying business men and week day shoppers
I have sixteen bucks and a dollar in change
And that's not a bad price for a one way ride
On a morning train

I give you my devotion
You left me heartsick
Oh, you couldn't have hurt me more
Not working with a night stick
Now I'm tired of sharin' this bed of nails
So come first light I'm gonna be right
With the morning train

So goodbye lover, I'm goin' undercover
Crescent City's gonna swallow me
I'll skip my ring 'cross the Mississippi River
When it sinks I won't feel a thing
When it sinks I won't feel a thing

I'm gonna be stayin'
With a short time acquaintance
And when I met him he was playin'
On the Gulf Breeze circuit
He didn't play no hit songs or TV themes
He's a guitar man just a hired hand
From a local band

So goodbye lover, I'm goin' undercover
Crescent City's gonna swallow me
Gonna skip my ring 'cross the Mississippi River
When it sinks I won't feel a thing
When it sinks I won't feel a thing

Hear the whistles blowing LOUD!

When I hit the station
I'll take a taxi to the corner
I'm gonna meet him by a street car
Name of what-cha-ma-call-it
My imagination
Won't let us miss a thing
Life's gonna be fine when I leave him behind
On a mornin' train

So goodbye lover, I'm goin' undercover
Crescent City's gonna swallow me
Gonna skip my ring 'cross the Mississippi River
When it sinks I won't feel a thing
When it sinks I won't feel a thing
When it sinks, well, I won't feel a thing.

Performed by Nanci Griffith

The shortest "She's A Revel" blog post ever!

FOUR MORE YEARS!

FOUR MORE YEARS!

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

(*drinking a toast to President Obama, Tammy Duckworth, Brad Schneider, Elizabeth Warren, and my Dems with a glass of bokbunjajoo cause the taste of victory is sweet!)

A Very Special She's A Revel Announcement

Hey revels and readers, guess what??

Tomorrow's THE BIG DAY...i.e. ELECTION DAY!

So, unless you have either voted early or are under 18...GET THE HELL OUT AND VOTE!

You know, in January of 2005, the voters in Iraq braved tremendous hostility and violence to get to the polling places and make their voices heard.  Seeing these individuals with their fingers marked with ink to show that they'd voted was really inspiring.  Here, 7 years later in the states, I just know that the voters in the states affected by super storm Sandy will be trying their best to get to the polls.

I know that you all can do that too.  So please get out there and rock that vote!

How can you document real life when real life's getting more like fiction each day?

I talk a lot about being a crisis worker.  Why shouldn't I?  It's a core part of who I am.  So I am going to include that in this blog post because, well, that's who I am.  I don't know anything different.  I am really creeped out, y'all.  I really am.  Since when did being an advocate's worst nightmare become a key platform of one of our two political parties?  I'm pretty sure you can guess which one!

So in a recent twist of events, Mr. Mourdock, who is the Indiana GOP candidate for the Senate, said, "even when life begins with that horrible situation of rape, that's something that G-d intended to happen."  Honestly, just when I thought the bar for being a Republican candidate for anything was set pretty low, this dude comes along and makes it subterranean!  Does he really believe that G-d wants rape to happen?  I really wonder if he knows anyone who has ever faced the reality of sexual assault or abuse.  Considering that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men have been victimized by sexual abuse according to the FBI uniform crime reports, he probably does.  We all do.  I wonder, if he knew anyone who had been pregnant because of rape, what would he say to them?

On second thought, maybe I don't want to know.  I do wish I could say that this man is an aberration, but sadly, he's just the tip of a big, ugly, right-wing iceberg.  You've got former GOP Presidential candidate Ron Paul prefacing a comment with something like, "Well, if it's the victim of an honest rape..." (as though most women would lie about it, which they do NOT).  You've got our current veep nominee, Paul Ryan, as not only one of the representatives who voted for the gutted House version of VAWA but also one of the co-sponsors who sought to redefine rape!  You heard me right.  In HR 3, or the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," they actually wanted to redefine rape to "forcible rape."  In the same year that the FBI finally updated its definitions of the crime, no less!  Then, you've got Representative Todd Akin in Missouri, blathering about "legitimate rape."  Hell, here in my home state of Illinois, marital rape was not even considered a crime until 1996.  Now, dear readers, how many of you were born before 1996?  I'm willing to bet that the majority of you were born during a time when it was legal for a man to rape his wife!  The only reason why that changed was because, after the Violence Against Women Act got passed in 1994, marital rape was criminalized, and the states all had to amend their laws to treat it as such.  Oh, and did I mention that the Violence Against Women Act has still not been re-authorized?  It's normally been a bipartisan bill, but some congress members seem to think that denying LGBT and immigrant women protections is more important than preventing rape and domestic violence.  Can you guess which party most of them belong to?  

I am really horrified by this, as both a crisis advocate and a pro-choice activist.  Who do these men think they are?  Don't they know that women can take care of themselves, including their own reproductive health decisions?  And don't they know that those women's decisions have no bearing on their lives?  Why can't they leave us alone?  And do they know just how damaging their statements are to those who have, in fact, been raped?  Like I mentioned, it's a very common crime.  As a woman whose life has been impacted by sexual assault, I know that rape takes all the power and control and choices away from its victims.  Now, by restricting women's choices, these men are also taking women's power and control of their own lives away from women.  How stupid do these men think we are?  If they really want us to vote for them, why do they say things and wish to enact policies that are just so damaging to us?  (And by the way, do they know that men also can be the victims of rape or supporting those who have been victimized?  How do they think a male survivor of child abuse would interpret a line about "forcible rape"?  Their statements are damaging to everyone.)

The election is less than two weeks away.  No matter what state we are in or what party we espouse, we really can't afford to have politicians like that, who think that our own lives and rights are up for debate.  Because in the end, these are not just abstract issues like "when life begins" or something like that.  These are health issues that affect living, breathing, sentient women.  We don't need our reproductive rights to be debated--we just need those rights, period!   I really, really wonder, though, what these men would say if someone they know disclosed they'd been sexually assaulted.  Would they tell them "it's just what God intended"?  (And re-traumatize them more?  Yikes.)  I hope not.

My title for this blog post is from one of my favorite musicals, "Rent."  Mark the filmmaker sings it.  Though "Rent" was written before this time, I'm really starting to feel like the current political climate is feeling more and more like a certain work of fiction.  Namely, Margaret Atwood's dystopia, The Handmaid's Tale.  If that makes me an unwoman, hell, sign me up.  I'm sure I'll make some like-minded friends in the colonies. 

Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis, pumped a lot of pane down in New Orleans...

I can't believe it.  As of yesterday, I've booked a cross-country train trip.  Once I take that trip, I can cross that off my bucket list.  If there was an "Amtrak Passenger of the Year" award, I would totally be battling our Vice President for it!  (Sorry Mr. Biden, I am very grateful the fact that you are a good VP and totally whomped Paul Ryan in last week's debate and wrote one of the single greatest pieces of legislation in really modern history, the Violence Against Women Act.  But how about letting someone new be Amtrak's best passenger?  And by the way, Alex the Advocate's says Reauthorize VAWA now!)  I've been planning this trip to New Orleans and Memphis since the summer, and now it is coming to fruition.  It's going to be centered around music and history--I'm planning to visit Sun Studio, Stax Records, Graceland, all the New Orleans landmarks, Mardi Gras World, and the Civil Rights Museum.  Then I plan on doing some ultra-regional things: trying Memphis barbeque, dancing till dawn at a juke joint (discovered a few with acoustic blues), enjoying a jazz brunch, partying on Bourbon street fueled by Cafe Du Monde coffee, and going to a cooking class.  (Maybe my next dinner party will include some of those recipes?) 

I really hope that it's as exciting as I am anticipating.  And that I am capable of going a week without sleep!  Cafe du Monde had better be all stocked up and ready for my arrival.  Oh well, sleeping is what my room on the overnight train trip is for!