RedHead Confetti

Trigger warning: This one's about Steubenville. If you haven't heard about it by now, you're living under a rock, and need to Google it. You also need to be better informed, how else can you join in the fight against rape culture? Anyway, this will probably be triggering to rape survivors. Skip it with my love, if you have to. I understand, really I do. Don't forget, the Hotline is there to help, as is RAINN . Get help! We support you, and I love you, even if I don't know your name. If you can handle it, sob your way through this with me, OK? But Football! That's been the refrain since that poor girl, was raped in Steubenville, Ohio. I hear this town is a piece-of-shit town, now that industry moved to Mexico, or China, or the Philippines, or wherever it went (hell, it might have gone to Michigan, or Tennessee, for all I know). This left only football to rally the town, to pull them together. I guess their football team is their church, and although that...

Trigger Warning: This blog deals with rape, a politicians attempt at rape apology as a reason to outlaw abortion and the idea that only good girls get raped by strangers jumping out at them. Of course it's bullshit, and I treat it as such; however, it might be triggering for some people who have been through a sexual assault. I don't want to cause your healing to stop, or regress, so you might want to skip this one. It meanders a bit, too. Topics like this are hard for me to deal with in a linear way, as they touch on the very core of who and what being female, a woman and human means. I am almost 35 and still trying to figure that out for myself, so I can't expect to be able to explain it properly for anyone else. As always, you can get help from RAINN , SNAP , or the Hotline . You can also Google "rape survivor resources" and find myriad links to people who have been through it, and who want you to come out the other side, too.  I spent the weekend doing ...

Friday night, about ten pm for you on the East Coast, the jury came back with a verdict in the trial of The People versus Jerry Sandusky [I'm not sure if Pennsylvania lists their cases as The People of <insert county here>, so bear with me.] You can see a breakdown of the charges and verdicts, here . CNN did an excellent job of covering the story. I followed that trial so closely, that I dreamed about it! I know I'm not the only person so involved in it; I'd venture to say the world was riveted at times. Such is the nature of sexual assault cases involving children-- look at the fall out from the repeated, institutionalised rape and abuse of children by the Roman Catholic clergy-- we want to protect children from such evils, and when they're abused anyway, we all feel like we're watching a train crash... we just can't look away, no matter how revolted, angered and sick we feel. This might have been different than the “usual” sensational tri...

Trigger Warning: This blog will touch on the Penn State child rape, again, as Jerry Sandusky is getting ready to get into court. Again, I'm sarcastic, and angry; again, I'm pissed off. Not so much profanity, though. These three numbers and URLs I'm including, again. I think it's important to keep these not just for ourselves, but for people we know who might need them. Someone always knows if abuse is going on, and it's up to us, to be that someone who helps.  If you've been hurt, are being abused, or know someone who is being abused, please, call SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) or 1.877.SNAPHEALS , or RAINN(Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network)   or 1.800.656.HOPE; The Trevor Project is also a beautiful resource for LGBTQI teens, 1.866.488.7386 Finally, here is a list of state, toll-free numbers (some have web pages, too) where you can call and report suspected child abuse. I got it from the national child protective service...

Trigger Warning: This post is about my ex husband. He and I do not speak more than a handful of times each year, and I do not consider him a friend in any way, shape or form. He has no input in the schooling, clothing, raising or religions [philosophical] education of my children. He has opt-ed out. This post may be extremely hard for anyone who had a part-time, or not ever there, parent, or who parents a kid going through this. I'm so very sorry, and I wish I had resources to help. But I don't. I'm right there, with you, in the trenches with our hurt kids. I guess we have to figure it out, together. I wear a lot of hats. I'm a chef, a beginner composter and gardener, a modern day hippie, a Socialist, a landscaper, a decent handy-man, an excellent tool-hander [you know the person who you send to go-fer when you're working on a car? Yeah, I'm your man!]. I can help you work on your car, wash clothes, mend and tailor a suit jacket and even groom a dog or cat ...

It's hard to describe a cult to someone who hasn't been in one. But at it's most basic, a cult is a group, led by an often charismatic leader that cuts itself off from everything “outside”. Inside, insularity rules; it's us versus them, and we're most holy. Everything that makes you question, everything that makes you doubt, it's evil, the Devil, Satan deceiving you! It must be cut off, removed, cut out. Otherwise, you're going to hell. Scientology is a cult, as are several splintered off Jewish, Christian and Muslim sects. So, is the Protestant sect most often known as the Independent Fundamental Baptist Church. I'm sure not all IFBC's are cult-like. But I've been churched in four of them over almost twenty years, and they all taught the exact same, evil, insular, we're better than everyone else, because we're more holy gospel. If you find one that isn't, you've found your unicorn. Good luck with that. When I turn...