Why doesn't he just stop?

From a survivor of child sexual exploitation:

For example, I have experienced a few organizations who directly work with CSEC [commercial sexual exploitation of children]survivors who have the attitude: "these are helpless girls, they must be rescued and they must be grateful they are being rescued, and if we work with them, and aren't we fabulous for rescuing them." This "rescue" mentality perpetuates the myth that one person or event can "save" a child from exploitation and completely discounts the very determination and skills that have kept her alive. In fact, on average, seven attempts must be made before a survivor fully exits sexual exploitation (the same as domestic violence). CSEC survivors have been betrayed, let down, and lied to most of their lives--often for the material and physical gains of others. Let's ask "Why doesn't he just stop?" instead of "Why doesn't she just leave?"

Read more here.

Only 10 Companies Own the Majority of Food Brands

Crazy, right? Like most things, the food industry is messy. You can buy fair trade, environmentally sound, and/or healthy products from a particular brand whose parent company is propagating pain and pollution. It makes me want to run out and buy some Divine chocolate...or maybe even local vegetables.

Source

Modern Day Abolitionists

What is with this "modern day abolitionist" jargon? Isn't slavery illegal? Didn't you learn about the Emancipation Proclamation in school? Isn't this just the new, cool cause? First orphans, then AIDS, now slaves?

Well, the good news is that slavery is indeed illegal in every country in the world--but only as recently as 1981. Mauritania was the last country to outlaw slavery, but didn't actually make it a crime to own slaves until 2007. Don't ask me how that works; the point is that it doesn't work. Every country has an antislavery law on the books, but many do not enforce them. Human trafficking, or modern day slavery, is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world. It is estimated to currently be third in terms of profit, trailing only slightly behind drugs and arms.

Modern day abolitionists cry that it is not enough to admit that slavery is wrong. Despite laws screening child-care workers and penalizing drunk driving, we still work to ensure the safety of our children and keep drunk drivers off the street. Even more so, we must relentlessly push for the enforcement of relatively new laws that free slaves, punish traffickers, and provide for survivors. Yes, the laws are on the books. Modern day abolitionists demand that those representing justice use them.

At Bat

Cuba (copyright National Geographic)

Rarely can we accurately anticipate what life will throw,
but sometimes we have the opportunity to at least pose in readiness.



Take a nap.
Call your best friends.
Pray.
Drink water until you're about to slosh.
Ask "what if?"
Join AAA.
Go to coffee for an hour instead of Facebook stalking.
Read nonfiction.
Say "thank you".

Ethical isn't icky.

Mom after consuming a Green and Black milk chocolate bar: "That chocolate bar you gave me was really good!"
Me with amusement: "Actually, that was Pop. He found it at Fresh and Easy. But yes, I don't eat fair trade just because it's ethical. They usually taste better."

Brief, shameless marketing coupled with further discredit of my candidacy for sainthood--my blog posts are finally conforming to popular culture!

One of my many "favorites"

Zoe Rescue Walk 2013

Hi Friends, I'm still looking for walkers and donors for the Rescue Walk in Santa Clarita on November 9, three weeks from today! Here is the link to my page. Also, below is an update on three more organizations that are joining the walk. Remember iSanctuary? I've been supporting them for four years and am pretty happy that abolitionism can look so stylish. Katie

Dear Rescue Walk Participants - As it takes numerous snowflakes to unleash a mighty power.....so it takes numerous voices to combat human trafficking. This is why we are excited to have three great organizations joining us this year at the Walk. Besides a ZOE table, there will be three other groups setting up a table and selling items that directly impact the issue of human trafficking.  Check out their websites and come prepared to shop! iSanctuary | International Sanctuary - Purchase with Purpose iSanctuary products provide rehabilitation options for survivors of human trafficking, both domestic and abroad. Survivors handmade, package and inventory all products. Share & Do Good - Share the Stories of Good Being Done Around the World! Share & Do Good is a giving boutique located in Downtown Fullerton. Their goal is to bring amazing designs made by great causes that tell amazing stories of hope from around the world. Forever Found Forever Found exists to support the prevention, rescue and restoration of child trafficking victims.

Poor Bird!

A young boy spied a small bird sitting aloft on a telephone wire.

"Poor bird! Look Daddy, look at the poor bird!"
"What's wrong? Why is that a 'poor bird', son?"
"The poor bird doesn't have a cage to live in!"



Today, as you think about your circumstances, are you the boy or the bird? Perhaps both? I feel like the boy when I see sleep-deprived new moms or roving missionaries or People Without Plans. Then sometimes I feel like the perched bird when people react to my spiritual convictions, career nonprofit work, and even decision to consume only "ethical" chocolate. Freedom, it turns out, is subjective.

As an abolitionist, sometimes it is easy to forget that freedom can be scary. It's big and uncharted--unconstrained and unconfined by definition. You don't know what you might run into or what might come to get you. You don't know your personal limits or the limits of your circumstances until you explore them. Freedom requires initiative. It requires courage. It requires tenacity. All of us claim to want freedom, but I am concerned that we primarily want the diluted freedom to choose comfort over all else--even if that comfort looks like confinement.

Which are you today?

Justice Summit San Luis Obispo

A justice conference in my favorite city? I'm there!

http://mbabolitionists.org/

Birthday Weekend

Festivities to commence shortly

Friends

A multitude of friends!

Mom getting her fix

Eager to feed the fish!

Consumption!

Pre-prandial pose

Austin

Texas State Capitol

Once upon a time the Texas State Capitol building burnt, and the Texans erected their new dome six feet higher than the country's Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

"Passage" at the Blanton Art Muesuem

Butterflies, made from recycled aluminum cans, are transporting and escorting a plane skeleton.

Blanton Art Museum Piece

"Seepage" by El Anatsui at Blanton Art Museum

"Anatsui celebrates the beauty and possibility found in every day materials. After flattening the aluminum wrappers from local Nigerian-brand liquor bottles and folding their edges, the artist and his team of assistants use copper wire to tie the small strips of metal together. ... The work references the historical importance of alcohol in Africa, where it was an imported product exchanged by colonial traders for ivory, gold, and slaves."

Oak Trees at University of Texas

N. G. interrupted from his fried chicken and mashed potatoes sausage. (Yes, really.)

H.G. and me at Bangers (sausage and beer)

George Washington Carver Museum

Lonnie Johnson was a space engineer and all-around brain who became most famous for inventimg the Super Soak water gun.

Art-o-Mat at the Whole Foods Headquarters

A vintage cigarette vending machine has been re-purposed to dispense local art pieces.

H.G. looking chic at Anthropologie

My fabulous, amazing, spectacular find at Buffalo Exchange

Trader Joe's opened in Austin!

H.G. and I overlooking the Colorado River from Mt. Bonnell

Dusk in Austin

The blur over the trees on the right is a swarm the famed bats which emerge nightly from under the Congress Avenue Bridge.