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Get you’re shirt on, fckh8.com.
I may not believe in the institution of marriage, but I do believe in fair is fair, everyone deserves the same legal rights. I’m sick of the church and state getting together and saying we can’t be married. I thought they were separate. I am also sick of adulterers saying I am attacking the institution of marriage.
Fuck that.
-Cara
Yes I Am Precious is a Livestrong campaign that bicyclist Janeen McCrae came up with to raise money to fight shitty cancer. The journey begins on the Atlantic side of this great country and three months later, she and her bike Precious, should arrive on the Pacific end. It is the 15th day of the ride as of this blog post, a rest day in Berea, Kentucky, the folk arts and crafts capital of Kentucky for those not in the know. :]
As the video below will show you, this isn’t just your regular ride, it makes raising money for a great cause a whole lot more cool and interesting. You can check out how many roadkills were seen along the way, how many time Janeen has been honked at, how many dogs have chased her on her long journey across America with Precious who is tweeting along the way what he is “feeling”.
Check out what they’ve done to Precious to gauge speed, incline, decline, temperature, etc, etc…
…and yes you can follow them on Twitter, Precious or Janeen, or go to Janeen’s blog about her ride, No Direction Known, and don’t forget Team Fatty, check out their About Page, good stuff.
Last but not least here is the donation page for this awesome ride.
I love biking and cool people.
-Cara
Let’s use this Democracy we are so blessed to have. It will work if you work! Sign this petition that Care2.com hosts, urging the U.S. Senate to pass strong legislation that will lift this $75 “chump change” million dollar cap, and make BP and other multi-billion dollar polluters responsible for the damages their disasters have on our communities, environment and shared resources. Stand up and be counted.
Target: U.S. Senate
Sponsored by: Food and Water Watch
Fishing boats are docked, seafood prices are skyrocketing and oil is still washing up on the shores throughout the Gulf of Mexico. We may not know the full impact of the BP oil rig explosion, yet one thing is clear: the oil spill is BP’s fault and they should pay for the harm they’re causing.
The current law puts a $75 million cap on how much an oil company has to pay in the event of a disaster. Unfortunately, the fishing communities, restaurant owners, tourism industry and other individuals affected by the oil spill have already lost more.
Urge the U.S. Senate to pass strong legislation that will lift this cap, and make BP and other multi-billion dollar polluters responsible for the damages their disasters have on our communities, environment and shared resources.
It’s time to bring electric cars to the forefront, solar panels, wind power, water power…
-Cara
My friend Amelia is doing a walk for a camp that helps children with terminal illnesses and their parents have a place to have some fun. I think that is super important.
Today is the last day to pledge!
If you would like to as well here is the information below…
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I need YOUR support. I am participating in a walk for Camp Sunshine. Here’s a little information on it:
1984 – 2009: Celebrating 25 Years!
Nestled alongside the shores of beautiful Sebago Lake, Camp Sunshine provides respite, support, joy and hope to children with life-threatening illnesses and their immediate families through various stages of a child’s illness. The year-round program is free of charge to all families, and includes 24-hour on-site medical and psychosocial support. Bereavement groups are also offered for families who have lost a child to an illness.
Please, please, please show your support by contributing or signing up as a walker. The whole family can participate (their goal is to have people in costume). Our goal is to raise what it would cost for one family to attend a one week session. Thanks
Here’s my link:
http://www.greatpumpkinwalk.org/members/member.php?mem_id=482
and here’s the link for the camp:
http://www.campsunshine.org/
-Amelia Adams
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Happy Friday!
-Cara
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an amazing organization. We need to get people to stop destroying these defenseless marine mammals.
Do this awesome (and simple) thing to help people to become more aware of what is going on.
See Below!
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Dear World,
We only have a few days left to demand better protections for whales and dolphins that will soon be facing Navy sonar in the Pacific Northwest.
The Navy is about to launch five years of sonar training in some of the nation’s richest marine habitat, including the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary — home to 29 different species of marine mammals.
Click here and tell the National Marine Fisheries Service to put protections in place that could save these animals from harassment, injury or even death.
Your official comment must be submitted by next Monday, August 10.
The Fisheries Service has proposed a rule that would allow the Navy “to take” — harass or injure — marine mammals 130,000 times during each year of the sonar training.
That is a total of 650,000 acoustic assaults on whales, dolphins, porpoises, sea lions and seals.
The Navy’s mid-frequency sonar systems are designed to detect enemy submarines. Its warships deploy underwater speakers that blast the ocean with noise in excess of 235 decibels — a sonic barrage thousands of times more powerful than a jet engine at takeoff.
That barrage of noise can disrupt biologically critical activities like feeding, navigating and breeding. And the Navy itself has admitted that sonar can even kill whales.
At risk in the Pacific Northwest: blue whales, gray whales, beaked whales, harbor porpoises and the very last endangered Southern Resident killer whales — only 83 of them left! — plus dozens of other marine mammal species.
These whales should not have to suffer needless injury or harassment for the sake of military practice.
The Fisheries Service must bar or limit the Navy from operating dangerous sonar in the most sensitive habitats, like the Olympic Marine Sanctuary.
Common-sense precautions like this will not compromise military training or readiness.
Click here now and tell the Fisheries Service to put safeguards in place that will reduce the harassment and injury of tens of thousands of marine mammals over the next five years.
Please make your voice heard by Monday. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Frances Beinecke
President
Natural Resources Defense Council
Here is some more on this…and yes there will be more to come!
We can do anything!!!
-Cara
My friend Jessika is participating on Sunday, September 13, 2009, in the 19th Annual Komen New York City Race for the Cure (5K run/walk), held by the Greater New York City Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. She herself lost her mother to cancer. If you would like to support her, her team and Susan G. Komen for the Cure, here is the link.
Race for the cure.
-Cara
It doesn’t so much matter what you feel about the war, America, corporate advertising, etc. The point of the matter is there are a lot of young men and women and a few adults far away from home, fighting this crazy war, that feel forgotten, homesick, crazy, sad, confused, whatever it may be and these boxes of products make them happy, they represent home, America. Who doesn’t love a bag of Skittles…come on, show your humanity and help out.
Here’s How You Do It!
Step 1: Write A Letter
Write a letter to the soldier that will receive your package. You may decorate your letter however you’d like. Do something artsy. You don’t need to put a stamp on your letter, as it will be included in your package.
Step 2: Make Your Care Package
Here are some of the things you can put in your care package:
- A Letter
- An awesome book
- AA Batteries
- Crossword, Puzzle or Sudoku Books
- Baby wipes or hand wipes
- Ziplock bags
- Playing cards, Cool games
- Writing notebooks
- Pens
- Stationary/note cards
- Beanie Babies
- Packs of Gum
- Organic Cookies
- Lip Balm
- Socks
- Tooth paste and toothbrush
Please do not include anything perishable or any home-made food. Sometimes, it takes a few weeks for packages to get to the troops. All goodies should be new and fully sealed.
Step 3: Send Your Care Package
Operation Gratitude is an organization that works with the military to find soldiers who need a care package. Please send your package to Operation Gratitude and they will get your package to a soldier.
Operation Gratitude
16444 Regugio Road
Encino, California 91436
USA
I believe in peace through knowledge.
-Cara
I live slightly under a rock not having a TV with satellite, cable or any local stations broadcasting from it. Imagine my surprise when I came across Bagley’s Best products, by Ed Begley Jr. of course. I loved “Living with Ed“, when I had a TV, so much so it was one of the first blog entries I wrote about back in the day.
Bagley’s Best was started when a man named John Watts bumped into Ed Begley Jr. in Real Food Daily. It was this occurrence that created an eco Paul Newman like business, where most of the company’s profits got to charities, environmental causes and non-profits.
Live the life.
-Cara
This is a plea I am passing on from Missy Sherburne, E.V.P. of DonorsChoose.org to help to win an AmEx contest. The award money goes to much needed classrooms and teachers. I am not a fan of credit cards or AmEx, but I am a great fan of teachers having the tools to do the best they can for their students! If you have a Amex card (I do not, so I can’t vote), log in and vote (it is the last day to vote)….see the details below.
We are currently in second place in the American Express Members Project contest. It ends tonight at midnight. At this moment, we there are only 350 votes separating us from third place. A second place finish will mean $500,000 for our students and teachers. With 14 hours remaining, literally every vote counts.
Please take a few minutes this morning to help – students and teachers in the high-need classrooms we serve are counting on us.
- If you have an AmEx card please vote for “Help 100,000 children thrive in the classroom.” A vote costs no money and personal and corporate cards can be used separately for one vote each.
- Please forward this email to friends, colleagues and family!
If each of you were to forward this message to ten people who vote for our project, we are certain that we can win the $500,000. But we cannot do it without you.
Thank you so much,
Missy
Quick Voting Instructions
1. Visit our project page: http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/V8EWJV
2. Click Vote for this Project.
3. If you already have an online account with AmEx, you’ll be prompted to log-in. If you haven’t logged in before, you can easily create a username and password.
4. You’ll be redirected back to “Help 100,000 children thrive in the classroom.”
5. Click Vote for this Project one last time. Be sure that a gold star that indicates “Your Vote.”
Vote and send it to everyone you know. My cousin is a teacher in San Francisco, trust me teachers need and deserve this money…as do their students.
!!!
-Cara
Update:
They ended up winning 2nd place and received $500,00 in funding. Awesome. :]
On Oct 4th after months of rehabilitation, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), along with members from Centro de Recuperação de Animais Marinhos (CRAM), Institute for Aquatic Mammals (IMA) and the environmental authority in Brazil, Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (IBAMA), 372 juvenile Magellanic Penguins, stranded because of inadequate food stocks, were loaded onto a military plane and airlifted to Southern Brazil for their release back to the wild.
According to Dr. Dee Boersma, a penguin researcher, the mass stranding of the penguins left them in extremely poor body condition. She states, there is a flow of warmer water (1° C higher than normal) which has caused the juvenile penguins to keep going north, past their usual range, where they are unable to find adequate food. There is always a high mortality rate for first year birds but this increased northerly range and lack of available food had increased the normal mortality rate for this group of penguins.
There is also the Penguin Network, which is works with The International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC), that put a lot of work into this and other bird rescue projects.
I don’t know what to say, but it seems like we might have broken something…
-Cara
According to the Rainforest Action Network’s (RAN) site, they established the Protect-an-Acre program in 1993 to protect the world’s forests and the rights of their inhabitants by providing financial aid to traditionally under-funded organizations and communities in forest regions. The PAA program supports projects that protect forests through grassroots efforts led by local forest communities, Indigenous federations and non-governmental organizations.
The PAA program is an integral part of RAN’s commitment to halting further destruction of the world’s forests while also supporting the livelihoods and right to self-determination of those living in forest communities. PAA projects complement RAN’s efforts to end agribusiness expansion, oil exploration and old-growth logging in critical forest areas.
Supporting Protect-an-Acre
When you donate to Protect-an-Acre, you receive a certificate of recognition acknowledging your contribution, which includes a description of the specific projects you helped fund. More importantly, you get the satisfaction of knowing that you support projects which contribute to saving the world’s endangered forests and protecting the rights of their inhabitants.
Support RAN’s
Protect-an-Acre Program.
I went to the Better Business Bureau to check out their charity report, which they pass with flying colors, so here seems a good cause to give to.
Do something.
-Cara
I’ve started to look for more of a full-time job and one of the many cool companies I came across during this search was the Coalition for the Homeless.
Their mission statement off www.coalitionforthehomeless.org reads, “Coalition for the Homeless is the nation’s oldest advocacy and direct service organization helping homeless men, women, and children. We are dedicated to the principle that decent shelter, sufficient food, affordable housing, and the chance to work for a living wage are fundamental rights in a civilized society. Since our inception in 1981, the Coalition has worked through litigation, public education, and direct services to ensure that these goals are realized.”
That seems like good work.
-Cara
With that said…
The Day After An Inconvenient Truth via e-mail, a gift from me to you.
You’re Welcome. :]
-Cara
I don’t know how these organizations get my name and address, but they do, and every few days I find what seems to be a good organization. This time it is Alley Cat Allies. Don’t get crazy, this is not turning into a pet blog, but I covered a lot of dog stuff yesterday, so I thought this would be fair… Plus, you all may not know that October 16th is National Feral Cat Day, nor did I till today. You’re welcome.
Their mission and vision are clear and concise.
Mission
To end the killing of cats and lead the movement for their humane care.
Vision
Society living non-violently with cats and all animals.
According to their site,
“Alley Cat Allies is the only national advocacy organization dedicated to the protection and humane treatment of cats. Alley Cat Allies has charted a course set on animal control and shelter industry reform and humane treatment through activities including:
- Advocating for pounds and shelters to keep public records of animal intake and kill rates, for public and mandatory government oversight, and for increased pound and shelter accountability;
- Mobilizing and educating the public and leading the national movement to end the killing of cats and to protect and improve their lives;
- Supporting the efforts of, and acting as the national voice for, thousands of individuals and groups across the U.S. who provide humane care for stray and feral cats.
Alley Cat Allies was founded in 1990 by two women who recognized that stray and feral cats’ needs were not being met by the animal control pound and shelter system. They realized that when well-meaning citizens called pounds and shelters about feral cats, their only response was to kill them. “
They are doing a really good thing I think. I am not sure about the catching, neutering, clipping their ear and releasing, but I am also ignorant to what happens if there are thousands of cats reproducing all over the world with no monitoring. I would think the same thing that has occurred with the humans on this earth. It would be crazy if someone just decided to euthanize or terminate people due to an overpopulation problem. Very THX 1138. It really does seem to always come back to THX 1138
One thing I might suggest to Alley Cat Allies, is with their mailings, instead of using shinny paper to print their brochures on, they use recycled, colored if they wanted, flat paper. That way it is easier to recycle, better for the planet, and for super nerds like me, I can use it to make my own paper (a little fact: you can’t use shiny, glossy paper in the paper making process). What used to make a company seem more legit, like nice glossy brochures, now shows an organization’s oversight on how they impact the planet as a whole, including cats. I think e-mails are also a good idea, but I understand first you need to get people’s e-mails through marketing practices like mailings. I might not have heard of them and written this entry without receiving said mailing. It is a catch-22 perhaps.
Nevertheless, they are doing something to end the destruction and inhumane treatment of cats, so they are heroes in my book. Here is where to go to become more involved with the organization’s plight.
:]
-Cara
Senator McCain announced his vice-president choice and I took action with ONE.org to make this national political moment a meaningful poverty-fighting moment by sending a digital postcard
Here’s what the postcard says,
Dear Governor Sarah Palin,
Congratulations on being picked to be #2 on the ticket.
We hope you’ll be 
in the fight to end global poverty.
Sincerely,
Cara Reynolds
and 37,587 other ONE Members
Click on this link to send Governor Sarah Palin a digital postcard letting her know that you want leadership as committed to ending extreme poverty and global disease as you are.
It’s important you contact her now, whether or not she becomes the Vice President, just to make her more aware.
Do what you can where you can.
-Cara
I’ve known about this site for awhile. I recently brought back to life a 300 gig hard drive. On this drive were old unsorted bookmarks, and here is where I rediscovered RightRides.
The RightRides program, they offer women, transpeople and gender queer individuals a free, late-night ride home to ensure a safe commute to or through high-risk areas in NYC. To call for a ride, the dispatch number is (718) 964-7781.
In their Safe Walk program, they offer walking escorts for any one who doesn’t want to walk alone.
Nothing wrong with that.
-Cara
In 1871, when she was twelve years old, Florence’s father, United States congressman, William Darrah “Pig Iron” Kelley, (a self-made man who renounced his business activities to become an abolitionist, a founder of the Republican party and a judge, and worked for numerous political and social reforms, including the NAACP), took her to a Pennsylvania glass factory on a tour. When she went inside she observed dirty, exhausted children laboring with pots full of acid and crouching over fires in sweltering heat. She discovered that there were over 1 million children working in these hot, crowded and unsafe conditions. Every year tens od thousands of children died or were seriously injured in work related accidents. Kelley knew something had to be done.
Kelley moved to New York City where she married a fellow member of the Socialist Labor Party, the Polish-Russian physician, Lazare Wischnewetzky in 1844. The marriage ended in divorce in December 1891, after many years of estrangement (it was said he was physically and verbally abusive). She changes her name back to ‘Kelley’, and assumes custody of the three children, who also adopt her maiden name. She left Lazare and moved to Chicago (where it was easier to attain a divorce) with her children. Soon after arriving in the city she joined Jane Addams, Ellen Gates Starr, Alzina Stevens, Mary McDowell, Edith Abbott, Grace Abbott, Julia Lathrop, Alice Hamilton, Sophonisba Breckinridge and other social reformers at Hull House, an amazing group of women, whose faith, strength and intelligence made a huge difference in how women, African Americans, and children were regarded and treated.
In 1899 Kelley helped establish the radical (for its time), watchdog group, the National Consumer’s League (NCL). The main objective of the organization was to achieve a fair minimum wage and a limitation on the working hours of women and children. Kelley, the first head of the NCL, traveled the country giving lectures on abhorrible working conditions in the United States; this helping to educate consumers, so they in turn put pressure on companies, who were prospering off their paychecks.
An example of this type of “pressure” was the NCL White Label, thought up by Kelley. The program offered the NCL’s White Label for display in advertising and businesses to employers whose labor practices met with the NCL’s approval for fairness and safety. The NCL then urged consumers to boycott all companies that failed to meet the NCL’s standards.
[Two girls wearing banners with slogan “ABOLISH CH[ILD] SLAVERY!!” in English and Yiddish, one carrying American flag; spectators stand nearby. Probably taken during May 1, 1909 labor parade in New York City.
George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).]
In September 1905, Kelley joined with Upton Sinclair and Jack London to form the Intercollegiate Socialist Society. Over the next few years she was a frequent speaker on American campuses. This led to meeting Frances Perkins, a students she recruited to the cause, who was eventually to become the country’s first woman cabinet minister and responsible for bringing an end to child labor in America.
[Mine Kids]
Some other groups Kelley was involved with dealt with women’s suffrage and African American civil rights issues. Kelley helped to establish the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909. A committed pacifist, Kelley opposed USA involvement in the First World War and was a member of the Woman’s Peace Party (WPP) and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).
Kelley wrote several books including, Some Ethical Gains Through Legislation (1905), Modern Industry in Relation to the Family (1914), The Supreme Court and Minimum Wage Legislation (1925) and Autobiography (1927).
Florence Kelley, 74, died in Germantown (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) on 17th February, 1932.
Florence Kelley is someone who inspires me.
-Cara
Victoria Woodhull, was born September 23, 1838, in Homer, Ohio. Her father was an itinerant con man and a thief; her mother was illegitimate, illiterate and a religious fanatic. Victoria was raised in filth and squalor, beaten and starved, given little education and exploited in her father’s traveling carnival show as a clairvoyant and fortune teller. She demonstrated psychic powers, located missing objects and people, cured ailments and was said to be a medium.
At 15, in order to escape her father’s brutality, Victoria eloped with an alcoholic doctor, 28-year old Canning Woodhull from a town outside of Rochester, New York. Dr. Woodhull was an Ohio medical doctor at a time when formal medical education and licensing were not required to practice medicine. He fathered a mentally retarded son, Byron and so botched the delivery of their daughter, Zulu (later Zula), that the baby nearly bled to death. After five grueling years, Victoria left him.
Victoria’s belief in the spirits enabled her to form alliances with such powerful men as Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, enabling her to become the first female Wall Street broker. She opened Woodhull, Claflin & Company in 1870 with the assistance of a wealthy benefactor, and her admirer, Cornelius Vanderbilt. She was also the first woman to found her own newspaper, Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly, which stayed in publication for six years, and was notorious for publishing controversial opinions on taboo topics. The paper advocated, among other things, women’s suffrage, short skirts, spiritualism, free love, vegetarianism, and licensed prostitution. The paper is now known primarily for printing the first English version of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto in its December 30, 1871 edition. She spoke before Congress demanding that women be given the right to vote and finally, ran for U.S. President in 1872 against the popular incumbent, Ulysses S. Grant, and powerful newspaperman, Horace Greeley.
Victoria’s era was a difficult one for women, who had almost no rights to property or person. If a married woman worked, her wages were given directly to her husband. She could not dispose of her property upon death. If she divorced, she automatically forfeited custody of her children. Women could not enter universities, law schools or medical schools. They could not serve on juries, and they could not vote.
There were no laws to protect women from physical abuse at the hands of their husbands or fathers, although some states stipulated the size of the objects that might be used to inflict discipline. They had no right to deny their husbands sex. The professions open to women were few, domestic housework, factory work, teaching, prostitution and, for the privileged, writing.
Only women who committed adultery were subject to a jail sentence, not men. In 1868, Victoria Woodhull bravely instructed women to demand a single sexual standard and not to accept the view that sexual desire in females was vulgar. “What! Vulgar!” she said. “The instinct that creates immortal souls vulgar…be honest…it is not the possession of strong powers that is to be deprecated. They are that necessary part of human character.”
Victoria was a pioneer in diet, exercise, and dress. She adhered to the diet prescribed by Sylvester Graham (known for inventing Graham Crackers!). Graham was a sickly child and cured himself through proper nutrition. He recommended no alcohol, caffeine, meat, lard or other types of shortening. Victoria was a vegetarian.
Women of the day were thought desirable if they were delicate, frail, but Victoria advocated vigorous exercise. She rode horseback and walked at least three miles a day. She advocated drinking at least two pints of water a day and eating fresh fruits for good health.
She often wore men’s clothing and urged other women to do the same.
Victoria, used alternative medicine. She practiced homeopathy, a treatment begun by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, who took a minuscule amount of a disease-causing agent and diluted it with liquid to create what he called a “spiritlike essence.” Dr. Hahnemann believed that when this substance was introduced into the body, the person would become immune to the disease. Victoria was also a well-known “magnetic healer.” The use of therapeutic magnets dates to the ancient Greeks, who used them to halt bleeding, soothe inflammation, purge infection and promote general healing.
Because Victoria Woodhull said what she thought and antagonized certain people, a campaign was organized against her. She was jailed repeatedly on charges of sending obscene material through the mail, and the press depicted her as “Mrs. Satan” and “The Prostitute Who Ran for President.”
She died on June 9, 1927 at Norton Park in Bredon’s Norton, Worcestershire, West Midlands, England, United Kingdom. She had moved there in October 1876. She met her third husband, banker John Biddulph Martin, and married him on October 31, 1883. From then on, she was known as Victoria Woodhull Martin. Under that name, she published a magazine called the Humanitarian from 1892 to 1901. As a widow, Woodhull gave up the publication of her magazine and retired to the country, establishing residence at Bredon’s Norton.
The End.
-Cara
Today’s super chic is, Charlotte Whitton, born March 8, 1896 in Renfrew, Ontario; died January 25, 1975, a Canadian feminist and mayor of Ottawa. She was the first female mayor of a major city in Canada, serving from 1951 to 1956 and again from 1960 to 1964. Whitton is sometimes mistakenly credited as the first woman ever to serve as a mayor in Canada, but this distinction is in fact held by Barbara Hanley, who became mayor of the small town of Webbwood in 1936. Whitton was Ottawa’s city controller in 1951. Upon the unexpected death of mayor Grenville Goodwin that August, Whitton was immediately appointed acting Mayor and on 30 September 1951 was confirmed by city council to remain Mayor until the end of the normal three-year term.
Whitton attended Queen’s University, where she was the star of the women’s hockey team. At Queen’s, she also served as editor of the Queen’s Journal newspaper in 1917. From Queen’s she became the founding director of the Canadian Council on Child Welfare from 1920-1941 (which became the Canadian Welfare Council, now the Canadian Council on Social Development) and helped bring about new legislation to aide children in need.
Whitton never married, but lived for years with her lover, Margaret Grier. Her relationship with Grier was not widespread public knowledge until 1999, 24 years after Whitton’s death, when the National Archives of Canada publicly released the last of her personal papers, including many intimate personal letters between Whitton and Grier.
The two women met in Toronto, where they were both residents at the Kappa Alpha Theta Society house on the campus of the University of Toronto. Whitton accepted a position in 1918 as assistant secretary with the Social Service Council Of Canada, and Grier worked with the juvenile court, the Big Sister’s Association and the Girl Guides.
In Grier, Whitton had found a soulmate, even though the two had very diverse natures. Grier was shy, fair and quiet, with delicate features and a calm spirit. Whitton, younger by four years, was considered intimidating, confrontational, ambitious and egotistical.
In 1922, they moved to Ottawa together in order to advance Whitton’s career. They set up house and lived in a “Bostonian Marriage” type of relationship.
Whitton often wrote poetry to Grier.
So softly your tired head would lie
With gentle heaviness upon my breast
And knowing but each others’ arms
Desiring nothing more we two would rest
They owned a cottage together on McGregor Lake and escaped many a humid Ottawa summer weekend there. One letter written by Grier to Whitton while she was away on business – which was often – seems to sum up the nature of their relationship: “Just two nights gone and I’m so lonesome I could cry whenever I stop to think for a minute – Oh Lawrie, dear, I’m just about crazy all the time you are away from me.” Grier, the love of Whitton’s life, died in 1947.
Despite her strong views on women’s equality, Whitton was a strong social conservative and did not support making divorce easier. She did believe in and fought for equal pay and equal opportunities for women in the public and private sector. However, she did not believe in married women working outside of the home and held very conservative views on abortion and divorce. Her views on sexuality have been described as “prudish.” I personally feel she over compensated for being a lesbian, but that is just based on my own personal thoughts.
I leave you with her most famous quote,
“Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.”
;)
-Cara
The Bipartisan Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act gets first Congressional hearing in 12 years on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held, for the first time ever, a hearing on the bipartisan Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act. Championed by Representative DeLauro (D-CT) and Senator Snowe (R-ME) and Senator Landrieu (D-LA), this bill would eliminate the practice of “drive-through” mastectomies, when women are forced to leave the hospital following their physically and emotionally difficult breast cancer surgeries before they and their doctors may feel they are ready to go home. For the nearly 200,000 women who will face breast cancer this year, they feel it is way past due.
Sign the petition today and urge Congress to continue to take steps to pass this bill.
Here is a video by hersfund.org about breast cancer that’s inspiring.
Be heard.
-Cara
I often wondered who inspired the Mia Farrows, Angelina Jolies, Madonnas and middle-class, white Americans to adopt internationally. After cruising the National Women’s Hall of Fame website, I found her. Bertha Holt was her name.
Bertha Holt and her husband Harry, already the parents of six children, adopted eight Korean children in 1955, after seeing a documentary film about the deplorable conditions of orphaned Amerasian children in Korea. This was a time when adoption in the United States was often a secretive process, and children were matched to parents by their physical appearance to conceal the fact of their adoption. The Holts openly adopting children from another country and race, lifted the shameful stigma of adoption and made it about the love and desire to help those too small to help themselves.
Here is a video of how Holt International was started.
People are interesting.
-Cara
I don’t know. I have no one in mind to write about today. I have done some research, but am still drained from writing and learning so much about Anne Sullivan last week that I think I am scared to start another heroine entry. lol.
OK, I could not find one woman that motivated me to write, but I did find a group of awesome women to talk about, SWOOP (Strong Women Organizing Outrageous Projects).
SWOOP, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which began in September 1996 in the aftermath of Hurricane Fran in Raleigh, North Carolina.
According to their web site,
“Several friends emerged from their debris-strewn houses and yards and banded together to help each other clean up the mess. This group of women quickly discovered that, though the work was tough, they were totally invigorated by the power that they all felt from totally cleaning up a place that, when they arrived, had looked devastated.
After a couple of very full weekends of hurricane work, they decided that they enjoyed working together so much that they started “swooping in” to do outrageous one-day clean-up projects about once a month, and formally named themselves “SWOOP.” Quickly becoming specialists in awesome hurricane clean-ups, their numbers grew as friends told friends, who told friends. From the original 16 women, SWOOP membership has grown to over 500 women from the Greater Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill) and beyond. Since 1996, SWOOPers have branched out from hurricane clean-ups to major yard clean-ups, fence-building, painting, refurbishing, construction, deconstruction, and renovation for those individuals or agencies that SWOOP serves. ”
These ladies are super fresh. They have done great things.
Here are two projects they have worked on,
“The Heads Up! Therapeutic Riding Program in Pittsboro, North Carolina, provides therapy to children and adults with special needs, using horses as dynamic interactive tools, to address impairments, functional limitations, and disabilities in people with neuromusculoskeletal dysfunction. The program had been given permission to ride on two adjoining tracts of land, but had no way to clear the trails that would make this possible. In February 2005, over 90 SWOOPers arrived at Heads Up! to clear the trails, and while there, also built a fence, made a playground, and refurbished the barn. This one-day project now allows Heads Up! riders and horses to get out of the riding ring and into terrain that provides greater stimulation, an important goal of the Heads Up! program.
Facing bankruptcy, Mary (not her real name) lacked the resources for necessary upkeep and repairs on her home. In April 2005, despite cold and rainy weather, nearly 70 SWOOPers descended on Mary’s home to make extensive carpentry repairs, completely repaint the interior of her six-room home, clean up the yard, haul off junk, and remove yard waste. Mary was not in a position to accomplish any of these tasks, and no other organization would or could devote the sheer numbers of workers and time necessary to do the job. SWOOP paid over $600 for all of the necessary construction materials.”
My mom and dad just moved to North Carolina. When I go see her next week I am going to tell her about it. She is about an hour from Raleigh I think…you never know!
Strong women rock!
-Cara
Some days I think I am so smart and know so much when suddenly I realize I truly know very little of the world outside of America or even New York City. I think it has a lot to do with being raised on American televised news and in American schools that didn’t teach me much about the world outside of these great states. Don’t get me wrong, I love America and am sure she was only trying to protect me from the big, bad, scary world out there…or was she? I digress, this is not the point of this entry.
The point is, until today I don’t think I ever heard of Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar (Burma). Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Burma’s liberation leader Aung San, who negotiated Burma’s independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, and was assassinated by his rivals in the same year. Aung San Suu Kyi showed an early interest in Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violent protest. After receiving her education in Rangoon, Delhi and at Oxford University, Aung San Suu Kyi then worked at the United Nations in New York and Bhutan. For most of the following twenty years she was occupied raising a family in England (her husband is British), before returning to Burma in 1988 to care for her dying mother.
After having long refrained from political activity, she got involved in the “second struggle for national independence” in Myanmar in 1988. She became the leader of the National League for Democracy on September 27th, 1988, and subsequently was put under house arrest on July 20, 1989. She also emphasizes the need for conciliation between the sharply divided regions and ethnic groups in her country. She was offered freedom if she left the country, but she refused. The election held in May 1990 resulted in a conclusive victory for the opposition. The regime ignored the election results. Suu Kyi refused to leave the country and since then, she has been kept under strict house arrest.
One of her most famous speeches is the “Freedom From Fear” speech, which begins:
“It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.”
The whole reason I found out about her is I think at times Sarah Silverman is hilarious and she participated in this website, www.fanista.com. It is a program where each day in May celebrities do a P.S.A. to spread awareness about Aung San Suu Kyi
Here is Sarah Silverman’s for your viewing pleasure.
Aung San Suu Kyi is super fresh!
-Cara
Federal Contracts Ban
President Bush must act immediately to implement the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007. The Act bans federal contracts with companies that help fund genocide in Darfur and can add much-needed economic pressure on the Sudanese regime to end the violence in Darfur.
The legislation is in place – we’re waiting for the President to act. The April 29 deadline to implement the legislation has passed, but we have still not seen any movement from the White House.
Fill out these forms to urge President Bush to implement the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act and make sure U.S. tax dollars do not reward foreign companies that help fund genocide.
We are are one people, we must stop hurting each other for something that will never give us happiness.
-Cara
Reason 96 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
A 25-percent decline in heart disease in Poland in the early 1990s coincided with the country’s transformation to a market economy, which ended government subsidies to meat. A switch primarily to vegetable fats and the increased importation of fruit were also seen as factors in the decline, according to a report made by a team of multinational researchers. The authors of the report noted that the decline was “apparently without precedent in peacetime.”
Ever since I was a kid I’ve had people I looked up too, had crushes on, believed in, and thought were super cool, but I evolved and grew out of them. There has only been one person throughout my life I have always looked up too; one woman that my belief in the beauty of her soul, strength of her spirit, and greatness of her mind has never faltered. This woman is Alice Walker
I believe peace is possible.
-Cara
Reason 95 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
Except for a single decade from time to time, the climate above America’s Ogalalla aquifer is bone-dry. Thanks to titanic amounts of water tapped from this ancient underground lake, however, for the last fifty years the land has been blanketed with thirsty feed grains. Farmers in some years have irrigated their land with more water than the annual flow of the Colorado River. Since this aquifer was originally the gift of a glacier in another age, today’s rainfall has essentially no recharging effect. Consequently, the experts give only fifty years before this phenomenal creation of the natural world is gone forever.
People might be getting annoyed with my solar power obsession, but I could not pass this one up when I found it earlier this week. It is the LightCap 200!!!
This small, lightweight (just 2.6oz) cap fits on any ‘standard’ water bottle (2” wide mouth) such as Nalgene®, Camelbak®, GSI® and most others, turning your bottle into a solar-powered lantern. With clean, green solar energy powering your lantern there are no more burned out batteries to worry about or replace (adding to our already toxic landfills).
I love it! You can put colored water in them as well….super fresh!
Next we have Wola Nani Papier Mache Bowls, which are made by women living with HIV/AIDS. In Xhosa, Wola Nani means ” we embrace and develop each other.” These eye-catching bowls are made of papier mache using over-prints from canning factories in Cape Town. You can use them to put your keys in, mail, etc and it supports a great cause. You will also have a story to tell people when they comment to you how beautiful and interesting it is. It is not meant for food storage or eating purposes, so don’t eat out of it.
Last but not least is the Aptera a high-efficiency vehicle currently in development by Aptera Motors, Inc. They claim fuel efficiency of 230 mpg at 55 mph, which would make it one of the most fuel-efficient cars in the world. Because the Type-1 has only three wheels two in front and a single drive wheel in the rear, most states in the United States would classify the vehicle as a motorcycle. Design elements such as recessed windshield wipers and rear-view cameras instead of mirrors contribute to the low aerodynamic drag. According to the pre-order page, Aptera Motors has set the price at $26,900 for a an electric version with a 120-mile range, and $29,900 for the diesel-electrical series hybrid. If you want to learn more check out their site.
Charge it!
-Cara
Reason 84 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
In America, essentially all farmed animals will be trucked around at least once in their lives. Filthy, crowded, cramped, noisy, and terrifying conditions over extended periods are the norm. Truckers may legally deny the animals food and water for up to 36 hours. And such “protections” do not apply to poultry. Many animals are traded internationally. About 4 million live sheep are transported from Australia to the Middle East every year where Islamic law dictates throats be slit without stunning. In one recent year, a ship full of 58,000 sheep was rejected because of widespread infection. Before finding an import destination, nearly a tenth died.
Since Friday was my 100th post, we missed the weekly shopping entry, so thank you Monday, for picking up Friday’s slack.
Sometimes I commit sins against green. It is true I still sin. One example of said sinning is my desire to dry the counters with clean, pristine, white, recycled [:)] paper towels. I have a sponge for the counters, but it always seems to get dirty so fast, that I can’t bear to “clean” anything with it. Thus, the paper towel dilemma.
I decided to research this issue of mine and find a solution. Here is what I will try, the European Sponge Cloth. I think it might be a winner. I will let you know, and if anyone reading this has tried it, please review as I am curious.
Second sin…composting. I’ve done tons of research on composting…for whatever reasons, I will not get into now. Nevertheless, with all I know of what makes what type of compost, and what to do to keep out the bugs, how to make it not smell, plenty of room on my fire escape, food byproducts everyday, plants that need to be re-potted and fed…I still don’t compost. What I will do is buy these BioBags [100% biodegradable and 100% compostable bags and films made from the material, Mater-Bi. All of our products contain GMO free starch, biodegradable polymer and other renewable resources. No polyethylene is used in the production process. BioBag products meet ASTM D6400 specifications and California SB 1749 requirements.] and line this old wooden wine box
and compost away. Again, I’ll let you know…
And last but not least, to begin to make up for all the paper and whatever else I have done, I will give to The Arbor Day Foundation’s, Rain Forest Rescue Program.
I like having “to-do” lists.
-Cara
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Reason 66 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
The meat industry doesn’t treat the causes of its problems, only the symptoms. When it imprisons massive numbers of animals in cramped stress-inducing cages, it provides the perfect breeding ground for deadly bacteria, which later infect the meat. Technologies to kill meat pathogens are now very big business. We have acidic-solution carcass misting, alkaline-solution sprays, steam/vacuum technology, high-temperature carcass washes, steam pasteurization, and chlorine applications, etc., ad nauseam. Some bug-fighting methods, such as food irradiation and sprays of antidotal viruses and probiotic bacteria, pose risks in themselves. And in the end, the meat still isn’t safe
What is Kiva? According to their web site,
Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world. By choosing a loan on Kiva, you can “sponsor a business” and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the entrepreneur you’ve sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.
They seem to be a broker of microloans for small businesses in up-and-coming lands all over the world. You pick a person/business, pick an amount to loan them, then Kiva supplies you with all sorts of graphs and charts to show you how your money is being used. You can also request emails from the companies you have given a loan to.
For myself it would be a good way to not have money in my pocket to burn while doing something good for the world.
Good idea it seems…let’s see how this effects the global economy in the next few years.
I’m out.
-Cara
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Bestiality is integral to pork, turkey, and dairy operations. Numerous Web sites instruct in the craft of artificial insemination. Sample excerpts follow: click here to read more.
In New York City something we have a lot of is homeless. You see them everywhere, on the stairs of churches, in the subways, reading the paper in the park, having lengthy discourse with each other about current events I know nothing of… I was reading an article about ways to help out homeless people on Charity.org yesterday and one idea was simple, give them restaurant gift certificates so they have a meal in their pocket whenever they want it.
I don’t really agree with the places they suggested you buy the gift certificates from, as all of them were fast, junk food spots. I am a real believer that garbage in, equals garbage out. If you give people food that makes them more tired and depressed, how is that really helpful? I decided to see if I could find national chain restaurants you can buy gift cards from that have higher nutritional value food. It would be a way for the homeless to get food that not only feeds their body, but uplifts their mind and spirit as well. It is important for us to help others to achieve true happiness, as all energy is infinitely connected.
A site I found to purchase restaurant gift certificates at is Restaurant.com. The service they offer is to purchase restaurant gift cards online, using a local restaurant search engine [via zip codes]. They are BBBOnLine members which means they will always resolve any complaints by consumers. They offer a $10 gift card for $3 or a $25 gift card for $10. That’s cool.
I also discovered that at most grocery stores you can buy gift cards at the store [or order them online]. I did some research and created a list of gift card links to grocery stores around the country. I like this idea as it gives someone back the freedom to choose what they want.
Here’s the list:
- Publix [This store is mostly in the Southeast I think. It was my store growing up in Miami.]
- Winn-Dixie [Which used to only be in the Southeast when I was growing up too, but now they are everywhere…I think.]
- Food Lion [I know nothing about these guys! :) ]
- Jewel-Osco [My old grocery store in Chicago. I think I still have a Jewel-Osco shirt. :P]
- Shaws [This store has everything!!!]
- Stop & Shop [This guys are all over the Northeast.]
That’s all I have for now. If you know other grocery stores that offer gift cards let me know and I’ll add them.
Food For Free!!!
-Cara
So you want to get rid of the couch, some appliance you are replacing, all your furniture :), but you think the stuff is still in good enough shape not to trash out on the curb, or you just love recycling!!! What can you do???
I found a few things. One, this website 
, is a free appliance classified ads site. The website has used appliance ads from appliance dealers and individuals.
Her are some of the faqs…
Registration
Q: How much does it cost to register?
A: Nothing. Registration is FREE.
Q: Do I have to register to use the site?
A: No. You can browse and search ads without registering. You should still register, to save time, as the site will remember various preferences for you. If you want to create ads, you will need to register. Registration and placing ads are FREE.
Pricing and Payment
Q: How can it be free–what’s the catch?
A: Our goal is to make ApplianceXchange.com the leading side for appliance classifieds. To do that, we are making all ads free as we bring together appliance dealers and individual buyers and sellers.
Q: How Much Do Ads Cost?
A: All ads are FREE–any category–any amount!
Q: How Long Does an Ad Run?
A: Each ad runs for 360 days or until marked as sold by the seller.
Next, if you live in the NYC area we have, Furnish A Future: Enhancing the Lives of Newly Housed Families and Individuals
Furnish a Future is New York City’s only free furniture bank. Since 1992, Furnish a Future has helped more than 22,000 formerly homeless families turn bare rooms into comfortable, functional homes.
The furniture you donate today will help transform an empty apartment into a warm, welcoming home for a formerly homeless family or individual.
They are located in my old neighborhood of Bushwick, actually right down the street on Jefferson. You can bring your stuff there to donate or for a small donation fee, they will come pick up some of your stuff, but check this link first to see what they will pick up and they recommend you call first as well. I wish I would have known when I lived there, but I left my furniture and appliances in a huge commercial loft and know that Curly, my super super took some of the stuff down to the front yard [a.k.a.- The Garage] and added to his already eclectic collection of furnishings, as did others, I’m sure.
I’m out.
-Cara
Being a girl with a drawer full of old glasses and having a family that all wears glasses [the one thing I remember distinctly about our family reunion is that EVERYONE in my family had four eyes. this is of course was before laser eye surgery, we have since lost a few to this modern marvel.], I wondered, what could I do to recycle all the ones I don’t need?
I found the answer, but let me build up to it…
According to Unite For Sight,
- Over 1 billion people in developing countries need eyeglasses but cannot afford them.
- Over 4 million pairs of eyeglasses are thrown away each year in North America.
- 25% of the global population needs eyeglasses.
- 50% of children in institutions for the blind in Africa would be able to read normal or large print if they had eyeglasses
- The price for glasses in Benin and other African countries can exceed three months’ average salary
If you go to their site, and complete a quick little form, Unite For Sight will send you an automatic reply with additional information about where to donate your glasses.
I also found needed information on where to drop off old glasses and some awesome ways to go even a step further on Charityguide.org.
Donate your old eyeglasses and sunglasses to help people with eyesight difficulties worldwide. (Sunglasses can be non-prescription. They are needed in countries near the equator to help protect people’s eyes from sun damage.) Collection facilities include Goodwill Industries stores, LensCrafters stores, and Lions Club drop boxes. Items also can be sent in padded envelopes or boxes to:
New Eyes for the Needy
549 Millburn Avenue
P.O. Box 332
Short Hills, NJ 07078
E-mail ten friends who wear glasses to see if they have old pairs that could be recycled for people with eyesight problems. Collect them for donation.
Check with lost and found departments in hotels, stores, police stations, and mortuaries for unclaimed glasses that could be donated.
Easy enough.
-Cara
I always have clothes to donate. Stuff I’ve kept for sentimental value or I’m moving yet again and don’t want to have drag all these textiles with me, or after 10 years I finally decided to give up that shirt I never really wore anyway. Point is, I have a lot to give away, shoes I no longer love as much as I thought I did, purses good hearted people thought I might use, curtains, sheets, blankets, comforters, and towels that don’t match anything. In fact in our closet right now is a bag full of stuff that needs to be donated, but for one, if you check online for donation dumpsters you won’t find any such directory. The only way to find one is by chance, then once you do, you have to walk your stuff all the way there. That takes a special mood, that I am rarely in.
I would love to have a collection bin in my building…Here enters Wearable Collections, a clothing recycling company…
THE PROBLEM. According to a recent study, 386 million pounds of textiles enter the NYC waste stream annually, representing close to 6% of total waste.
THE SOLUTION. Wearable Collections provides a no cost, turn-key solution to recycling clothing within residential buildings in NYC. We handle all the logistics from placement of bins and promotion within the buildings to scheduling weekly pick-ups.
THE BENEFIT. Through our established network we distribute your discarded clothing around the world to people who need it, enabling us to raise money for charitable organizations.
Rather than having your residents haul their clothing to a collection site, or worse, dump them in the trash, we would like to place a receptacle in your building for their recycling convenience. Our aim is to reduce clothing in landfills while helping raise funds for non-profits. Here’s how to get started:
1.PLACEMENT OF BINS
We will provide you with a poly cart, 28.5” deep x 48” wide x 66.5” high, or a similar variation to suit your specific requirements. The cart should be placed in a location that is easily accessible to residents. (i.e., laundry room or basement storage area).
2.AWARENESS
We will notify residents about the program and the location of the bin with flyers placed on the community board or sent to their e-mail addresses. You can download the flyers needed below.
3.PICK-UP
While the amount of the clothing donated will vary from building to building, you can expect that we will pick up, one per week. We will schedule a weekly pick-up with you and adjust accordingly, as volume may fluctuate.
4.EASE AND CONVENIENCE.
Our goal is to maximize clothing recycled while minimizing inconvenience to you. If you are interested in participating in our clothing recycling program we will find a way to work within your building’s constraints.
I am going to request a bin for our building. Ah, I would love it. That’s right I said love. :P
I’m out.
-Cara
The Day After An Inconvenient Truth 
What Did You Say?