It was great to have my first visit to London fall on November 5th.

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

A very happy Bonfire/Guy Fawkes Night to all! Ah, to be able to visit London again on this night would be great. I was there during my honeymoon 7 years ago, watching the bonfires and hearing fireworks go off in the neighborhoods near our hotel.

In honor of the holiday, read or watch V for Vendetta. Me, I think I’m eyeing a Remember, Remember shirt.

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

October means fall, Halloween, and the emergence of pink items in every store. Before you buy an item thinking you’re supporting the cause, read this and do some research first

Another October is almost upon us, which means it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Thousands across the country will participate in local Race For The Cure events and the very recognizable Pink Ribbons will be seen on merchandise ranging from a pin to shirts to shoes to makeup to iPod Shuffles.

But before you buy that stuffed animal with a pink ribbon attached, stop to think. How much money is actually going to be donated from each sale? It could be that the company reached their maximum pledged donation, thus only making a profit from each unit sold. No matter how philanthropic a company claims to be, they are still a company in business to make money.

Let’s look at an example. The pink iPod Shuffle offered by Target sells for $79, yet they will only donate “up to $25,000 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation”. That equates to 314 units, if they gave all of the $79. Anything over that amount sold, they keep. As much as they give to charities, why cap the amount? They could give $5 of each unit sold instead, and still make a profit.

It’s all marketing. Even if they say “a portion of the proceeds” will go to the stated charity, it makes the company look like they care, and gives the consumer something to feel good about.

Just like buying something with a pink ribbon, participating in the Race For The Cure isn’t as good as donating to Komen directly. Not much of the entry fee will end up going toward the actual fight against cancer after you factor in marketing and administrative costs.

There are many things to consider when you’re going to do something pink in October. Before you plop down your money, Think Before You Pink and ask critical questions. Make sure the money you spend will be doing some good, instead of just making a company more money.

I was reminded that Banned Books Week is coming up by reading of an unfortunate event that happened in my own state. Dustbury writes

In honor of Banned Books Week, here is a repost from last year’s event, with updated links for books and events for this year.

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted.

BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.

We often hear about someone not being happy that their precious child might happen to see something that the parent doesn’t want them to see when they go to the library. PROTECT TEH CHILDREN!!! is very often the reason given for a book being challenged or taken off the shelves. (Sally Kern is noted for wanting to decide what we can and can’t read, for instance. Those evil gays…) Thankfully though, we have some kick ass librarians who don’t like being told what people can and can’t read.

So in honor of BBW, check out the list of 2008-2009’s most challenged books, and read one you haven’t read yet. Or at least help spread the word, and if possible check out some of the BBW events! Unfortunately there are no events listed for Oklahoma, but there’s gotta be something going on somewhere. Any Okies with more info, please let me know and/or spread the word!

UPDATE! The ACLU of Oklahoma and Full Circle Bookstore are celebrating on Oct 1st at 6:30pm!

Technorati tags: banned books week, censorship, american library association, freedom to read

Sep 6 - 12 is Suicide Prevention Week, and at work they are showing excerpts from the documentary The Bridge. I first learned about this movie a couple of years ago. Here are my thoughts from February 2007 on the movie.

Suicide is a very touchy subject, but one that is close to me.

My father committed suicide 5 days before my 12th birthday by intentionally crashing his car. (My family told me he died in a car accident, not completely the truth, to protect me. I found out it was suicide when I was 18.) He had bi-polar disorder, also known as being manic-depressive, and I remember visiting him a couple of times before he died at Griffen, the mental hospital down in Norman. Because of this history, I volunteered at a suicide hotline during college. I wanted to help people try to avoid the same fate my dad had, by being someone neutral they could talk to. Someone they could be anonymous with, and tell what was bothering them without fear of judgment or reprisal. Only if I determined they were in immediate danger of hurting themselves or someone else would I have had police or our crisis team intervene. Those times were very few, as most people just needed someone to talk to.

A documentary about people who commit suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate bridge has peeked my curiosity, despite the grim subject. Called The Bridge, filmmaker Eric Steele captured jumpers on film, and interviewed their friends and family to try and understand what brought them to the Golden Gate Bridge to end their life.

There has been controversy surrounding this film, however. When Steele put in for the permit to film at the bridge, he did not disclose his intent to film people committing suicide. He did not want people to use the cameras as an opportunity to get their suicides onto film, therefore he saw it as saving lives. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention was invited to a screening, and they do not endorse the film. They worry that it could encourage vulnerable individuals to imitate what they see and cause more suicides. But other mental health organizations in San Francisco welcomed the film, and are glad it has brought the morbid subject about the bridge to light. There is an excellent article showing both sides here.

Despite the controversy, I feel it is a good thing to bring suicide, and what people who are going through thoughts of death are thinking, into light. Too often in our society we tell people to just toughen up, or don’t think about it, or more commonly, pop meds and you’ll feel better. But what happens when the meds don’t work? Or what happens when people take the pills, but do not address issues or circumstances that are making them depressed to begin with? We’ve come a long way from when my dad was seeking treatment, but there is still a stigma attached to mental illness.

Oh, and for those of you who think the title is crass…it’s a nod to the cult black comedy Heathers. Check it out if you haven’t seen it!

I’ve taken over some new responsibilities at work, which has left me super busy. I barely get to skim read my RSS feeds during a rushed lunch, much less get to expand or rant on something I’ve read. So because of that, I’ll be bringing out some old posts that some people may not have read the first time around, or ones that I’m rather proud of and want to share again. The first one comes from April of 2007.

If you looked at the music on my iPod, you’d see some music that doesn’t quite fit in with the punk & alternative. At least at first glance. Two that jump out are by Public Enemy: It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back and Fear Of A Black Planet For those familiar with PE, you should realize that even though they are rap, they are very political/fuck the system and fit right in with my other music. Plus, PE are very damn talented.

Anyway, now that I’ve justified my music taste to a bunch of people, we now join the post…

On It Takes A Nation… there is a song called ‘She Watch Channel Zero?!’ where PE talks about a woman who is obsessed with trash TV. (Lyrics are at the link.) The ironic thing to me is that Flavor Flav is one of the kings of trash TV on VH1. He has been on “The Surreal Life”, where he met Brigitte Nielsen. With her, they went on to follow their relationship on “Strange Love”. Once they broke up, he has had two seasons of “Flavor of Love”, where he had women compete against each other for his affection. Not like I really blame him for milking everything he can out of his career. Just makes me shake my head every time that song starts playing.

The other song that makes me shake my head is on Fear Of A Black Planet, called ‘Burn Hollywood Burn’. This is a scathing attack against Hollywood for placing African-Americans in stereotypical roles. The two guests on this song are Big Daddy Kane and Ice Cube. What is the ironic part here? Well, Ice Cube is an actor now, getting some big roles. He had his break through roll in Boyz n the Hood, but now he takes roles that seem to be very formulaic at best. I don’t see his role in Are We There Yet? as being a strong, positive role model. He has had some good roles recently, like in Barbershop, but for the most part, all his other movies seem very typical of Hollywood. Definitely not like the movies encouraged in the song.

But then, take all this with a grain of salt. I am only a white girl from Oklahoma, after all.