Dragon*Con 2012

Photo Credit: http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/dragon-con-2012-001.jpg

One of many conditions that all people probably share is the the cruel inner whispers of doubt about who we are, what we can do, and where we belong. I have always felt like an outsider. No matter which party I go to, what crowd I’m with, etc., there is almost always a hushed little mean girl in the back of my mind, reminding me in bored, condescending tones, “You don’t belong here.”

Saturday at Dragon*Con, this voice was sent to its room to think about its actions and not come out until it’s ready to behave.

What “War Horse” gets wrong (and right) about horses

War Horse, a movie based off a famous play that makes use of seriously epic puppetry, tells the story of a horse who’s swept up into World War I. As a film, it falls short in several places and does well in others, but I’m no movie critic and I won’t pretend to be. However, I am a horseperson, so it behooves me (haha. get it?) to point out the movie’s major incongruities with reality when it comes to horses. War Horse is certainly not the only movie guilty of misrepresentation, and horses are not the only misrepresented characters in film. Nevertheless, here are a few of the things that War Horse  gets wrong – and a few things it gets right – about horses.

How to (Not) Write like an Idiot.

Do you want to know the quickest way to make your reader roll their eyes in disgust? I’ll bet you do.

Here’s (one) secret to writing like an idiot:

Use really big words that you have a weak understanding of to make yourself sound smarter.

If you don’t want to write like an arrogant windbag, then for the love of Hemingway, don’t insert unwieldy words into perfectly acceptable sentences for the sake of being esoteric. A savvy reader will see right through your attempts at sounding highbrow. Write like you’ve got something to say, not like you’ve got something to prove about yourself.

“From Survivors to Thrivers”: Restoring the Identities of CSEC victims

Originally posted on Innocence Atlanta on September 8, 2011. 

“Survival is your strength, not your shame.”
T.S. Elliott

Recently I saw a TV episode during which a man seeking fame and fortune irreversibly transforms his young daughter into a monster as a scientific experiment. Two passersby in the lives of the man and his daughter are seized with guilt, anger, and depression at the realization that there is nothing they can do to change the girl back into what she once was.

It’s doesn’t take a creative leap to draw a comparison between the story of the fictional girl and the story of a real youth whose future, dignity and hope is snatched away and exchanged for a life of shame and abuse. The average age that a young girl is initially commercially and/or sexually exploited by a pimp or john is between 12 and 14 years old. For boys and transgender youth, that age drops to between 11 and 13.

However: there’s also a significant difference between the two narratives.

Nina.

Originally published on August 27, 2011 on bclymeratmeetjustice.wordpress.com

Image Credit: http://ippusuru.net/

Recently I’ve been thrust into the wonderful world of Netflix. One of the shows that I’ve been introduced to is a Japanese-Manga based anime called ‘Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood’. I’ve only just begun watching it, but already I’ve been reduced to lip quivering and tear hiding during one particular episode.

Children aren’t Cheap: The cost of CSEC

Originally posted on August 25, 2011.div>

Photo Credit: www.blogs.glnd.k12.va.us

Child Labor in the United States does not readily come to mind when one brings up human rights or social injustice issues. After the Fair Labor Standards Acts was passed in 1938, largely due to groups like The National Child Labor Committee, institutionally endorsed use of children for labor in the US was virtually wiped out. Globally, child labor is still an enormous issue. 8.4 million children are involved in work that the ILO Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention defines as unacceptable for children. This includes the trafficking of children for debt bondage, forced labor, armed conflict, and the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC). In the United States, roughly 199,000 incidents of CSEC take place each year according to a study released by Estes & Weiner in 2001. (CLEP)

Children have historically been used as laborers for a few reasons, including their increased accessibility into smaller spaces (like broken down machines) and the ease of which it is to abuse them without risking organized resistance. However, the number one reason for using children is that employers have routinely considered them to be cheaper labor than adults. Because of their age, they have been considered to be cost-effective.

This view is still prevalent among perpetrators of CSEC today, only on a more disturbing level.

All Dolled Up

Originally published on InnocenceAtlanta.org on August 18, 2011.
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As a toddler, I could play dress-up with the best of them. Almost as soon as I’d learned to walk I made it a practice of donning my grandmother’s high-heels and parading around the back patio, bottle-in-hand, likely with more grace and poise than I could muster now in such footwear. Like many other little girls, I’d watch my mother putting on her make-up and beg for her to share some lipstick or blush. Dressing up was a way to mirror the beauty of the women in my life, and the same is still true for many young girls.

Crib Safety Requirements- an Overview from Classroom Essentials Online

Press release originally published on ClassroomEssentialsOnline.com on August 8th, 2011.

Co-edited by Tamara Meier.

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By December 28, 2012, any businesses providing professional child care must replace all  cribs that do not comply with the new federal safety standards. In response to numerous injuries  and even deaths of infants and toddlers due to crib failures, all cribs available for sale, resale,  or lease after June 28, 2011 are required to meet new safety requirements issued by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC). According to a press release issued by the Office of Information and Public Affairs, the new standards: 16 CFR 1219 for full sized cribs and 16 CFR 1220 for non-full sized cribs, will improve the safety of cribs by “mak[ing] mattress  supports stronger; mak[ing] crib hardware more durable; and mak[ing] safety testing more rigorous”  as well as prohibiting the sale of non-compliant drop-side cribs.