Dancing the Night

Dancing the Night

I have a dance troupe of dolls to portray in dance and music my favorite time, the night.  That time when the phone Doesn't ring, you don't have to spend hours on hold,  and no one you don't  want to speak to knocks on the door.  The time when a mind can walk free, if the body housing it is physically safe, wherever it wishes and artistic endeavors, whether in cooking or doll play or  hand work can proceed uninterrupted.

First there is Moroccan Barbie to dance the Sun down with lively Arabic music, beginning loud when the sun is just beginning to set, ending sweet and soft when it has.

Then a Barbie in an ombred dress of silver and blue, a ballerina, dances the sky dark.  Her skirt is fairly light at the bottom but graduates to darkness around her African American face.

Then a Winter Barbie in a dress of black and glitter dances the night sky filled with stars, only stars. She dances a sacred time of change over from one day cycle to the next.  Of course her face is dark, as night is dark.

Then another Barbie with the silver and blue dress dances in the beginning of sky lightening.  Her skirt is ombred from darkness to a light blue around the same face as her twin whose dress is the opposite.

Last comes the old Brazillian Barbie, a DOW. To dance in the dawn with her pinks and other morning colors.  Samba music beginning softly and increasing in volume, goes with , her  Samba outfit.

 

I have always referred to these five dolls as "my dance troupe" and kept them together in the same box. 

Unfortunately the dresses in ombred blue never got dyed by Ann, who Did dye the hair of Forest Jem.

Doll Story

Forest Jem

Hi, my name is Gem.  My mom spelled it Jem, but I like my name with a G.  That way it is the same as the beautiful stones which come out of the Earth, like a green emerald, or black onyx.

I work for a group which tries to tell the world when ordinary people, called civilians, are being harmed.  Sometimes these people are hurt by their own governments, or the army which  the government commands.  But other times they are kidnapped and injured by criminals or groups which want a country to do some particular thing.  So I have to sneak around a lot.

I dress this way because right now I mostly work in countries with a lot of forests.  I Love having green ombred hair, starting at the ends with a light green and graduating to  black on my head.  My friend Ann dyed my hair.   I'm the only person like me I've ever seen!  But my hair, brown shirt, and  black jacket, pants, and shoes also help me blend in quietly to the forest, when I'm waiting to meet someone who is scared to come forward and tell me what happened to them.  Sometimes I have to watch out for the bad guys too, and try to warn people to run away when they come around.  Then my dark colors of hair and clothing  help.

I believe that people are mostly trying to have good hearts and to care what happens to others.  You can be a person like this without doing the kind of work I do.  It's as simple as talking to a lonely neighbor when you don't really feel like it.  Just calming down and deciding to listen to someone can save a life, I know, I've done it.

Or maybe you will share food or money for food and medicine with hungry people in your city or even in another country.,

I hope we can be friends.  All it takes is that you care about somebody and do something to help.  Well, you kind of have to enjoy funny colors of hair too, and beads. 

Once a lady told me that I was like those birds who love to collect shiny things.  You know, like crows, ravens, magpies, birds like that.  She was right about me!  Every country I go to if anyone asks how they can thank me or wants to give me a gift I just say, "Do you know where I can find a nice bead or two?"

The beads aren't too expensive for people to give or make.  Each bead or group of beads reminds me of the country where I got it and the brave daring people I met there who had the courage to come forward and tell their stories.  So I wear this shiny necklace of mismatched beads.  Each is a different color.  Sometimes I even Find one dropped in the forest, either by a bird or by people who had to run away.

My necklace can be hidden by my jacket and shirt.  I also carry feathers or leaves I find or am given to hide my pale face and bright makeup.  My funny makeup is how people recognize me, that and my necklace.  So far, no creep has seen me long enough to copy either one.

Would you like to be my friend?

I'd like to be yours.

Personal Changes and Their Relationship to Dolls

First, I want to thank a kind Phily Collector for doing some research on my behalf!

Personal Changes and Their Relationship to Dolls

My entire family except for a niece, are all on antidepressants of some kind.  When my shoulder was injured last month I was given the pain reliever tramadol.  I slowly realized that even the next day, when the six hour effects had worn off, I was feeling more energetic and could concentrate, working through emotional crap better.  I also felt more optimistic.

So I researched this drug online and found it was related to a kind of antidepressant I have never taken. 

After a talk with my Dr. I'm gradually withdrawing from the meds. I was taking.  If I feel I need it, I'll try an SNRI antidepressant called Cymbalta.  Has anyone had experience with this medication?

I am trying to just take it slow, one day at a time, as I withdraw from my former medications.  Some days are rough, some have rough spots, and some are hopeful. 

In the meantime, during a panic attack I bought three dolls, haven't done that in a Long time!  They are all old ones.  One is a G.I. Joe who isn't as articulated as I'd hoped but I like his face, one is X-Man? Rogue, (to go with the Storm doll with a Mohawk which I already have) and one is an African American Avon doll because sometimes the Avon dolls are a bit more classy than Barbie.

I imagined setting up a Guard beside my bed.  I think you would call it a diorama.  It would be all the GS.5 women, Shadow, Kat, and Nikki of Cygirls, Storm, Rogue, and maybe a bionic woman by Hasbro.  I have an extra Vanessa dressed in black leather and you Don't want to mess with her!  But then I decided the Buddha statues on the shelf above my bed were enough, and so they have proved to be.  But I still think the picture of all those competent women would be cool!  Oh, I was going to add Electra, too.  She has black hair and two knife-like things.  Maybe A. J. McLeod from Cygirls and a spy called Gold Bird.  She is a light skinned AA ballerina now wearing a gold bodysuit and multi-colored skirt, courtesy of Britany Spears.  I never liked her music, but she had some killer clothes, the gold outfit, a red leather bodysuit, so when they were on sale I bought two or three of those dolls years ago for the clothes.  I could add Mulan in another Britany Spears outfit which looks like it came from a James Bond movie, but since I didn't set them up at all, I didn't.  Just the GS.5, Storm, the extra Vanessa, Electra, Rogue, and Shadow (why did she have to be a stereotype?) Kat, and Gold Bird,  that should have been enough to scare away the bad nightmares and past.

But as I said, the Buddhas have done fine.

I thought about Mr. G.I. Joe, but decided that unless he was the leader he might be overwhelmed by all those women and no other man to even Talk to.  So I took pity on him.

I could sell him in the box and Maybe make more money, but isn't anyone interested in what the poor guy looks like Out of uniform and who he might be friends with or date?  I always want to give military figures the respect they (male and female) earn in uniform, And a civilian life.  Nobody is Completely one dimensional.

In the meantime the woman making earrings had to drop off of my website due to disability reasons.  So I decided 1.  To sell some of my personal jewelry and possessions, things I had made for Ann, etc. and 2. I have started creating necklaces of all differing kinds of beads myself.  It's hard not to get afraid about money and think I have a right to nothing but work.  But I have to be a bit careful in handling my mind right now.  So maybe I'll tell some "Doll Stories" instead.  I've had stories for some dolls forever, like most of you collectors probably have.  As a multiple, there are some disturbing stories I won't tell, but some I can.

To begin with, that second Vanessa with shoulder length hair, dressed in black is Brilliant and scary, if she Wants to be.

Multi-Nationals Sue E.U. to Allow Bee Killing Pesticides Already Banned

*****************************

Friends,

Wow.

Bayer has just sued the European Commission to overturn a ban on the pesticides that

are killing millions of bees around the world.

 A huge public push won this landmark ban only months ago -- and we can't sit back

and let Big Pesticide overturn it while the bees vanish.

Just last month, 37 million bees were discovered dead on a single Canadian farm.

And

unless we act now, the bees will keep dying by the millions.

 We have to show Bayer now that we won't tolerate it putting its profits ahead of

our planet's health. If this giant corporation manages to bully Europe into submission,

it would spell disaster for the bees.

Please join me in signing the petition to tell Bayer and Syngenta to drop their bee-killing

lawsuits now.

http://action.sumofus.org/a/bayer-bees-lawsuit/?sub=taf

Thank you

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The Seeds I Plant

It's been a Great year for gardens this year.  Especially good after last Summer's drought!

The Seeds I Plant.

This year I chose to grow all heirloom seeds in my garden.  Of course, some did well and others didn't.

I planted "Cherokee Trail of Tears Beans."  They have this name because they were physically carried from the Cherokee homeland in the Southeastern United States on the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma.

Vietnamese Buddhists and many Buddhists believe in a strong connection with ancestors.  They believe that if they make a positive change in a harmful family pattern it will not only benefit the change maker, but his or her ancestors as well.  I can't say if this is true.  I would like to think that my better choices somehow benefit those who have gone before me. 

On the other hand there was so much family violence going back generations that connection to my ancestors gives me the creeps.  Also, I have no wish for them to inherit my mistakes.

But when I work in the garden, picking beans and corn,  I have to say Thank You to the ones who kept these strains alive for me to grow, enjoy, and share.

I can't really imagine how those Cherokees, rounded up at gun point managed to grab their seed crops.  A people's traditional food is as much a part of their culture as their language.  Can you imagine the Pueblo tribes without blue corn or the Germans without sauerkraut or sausage?  How about Italians with no pasta or the French with no wine and African Americans who grew up on it without sole, Soul food?

Those Cherokees were held in stockades where they slept, ate, and deficated, some for months before the Trail even began.  That is when the dying began.  How did they manage to keep their seeds dry and not Eat them when the U.S. Army handed out bad rations?  What did mothers tell their children who wanted "normal" food, while they sat on the ground nursing their  babies?

They crossed rivers on overcrowded boats and some drowned in freezing water.  They walked their feet bloody, leaving the wagons for the sick and injured or disabled.  And when they got to Oklahoma there was a Cherokee Civil War between those who had signed the treaty of New Echota, giving the United States their Entire Homeland and agreeing to go West, and the majority who Refused.

The word corn in Cherokee means "Our Life".  It was the name of the woman who knew her children would kill her but still determined to benefit the people.  From her body came corn, beans, and other healthy and good food.  Her husband was the hunter who kept all game  animals inside a mountain.  Whenever food was needed he would go their, taking only enough life to support the people's health.

So the corn I grow (also a Cherokee variety of field corn) is "Our Life." And "Our Life" supports the most prolific bean plants I've ever grown.  Once they reached the top of the corn they produced enough food each week for me to have a nice meal with them and to share.

A gardener's joy is having a circle of food traders around.  My sister has cucumbers but no green beans and those are her favorites from the garden.  The man who volunteered to work with me to move the entire garden to a better place had no early squash.  I introduced another woman to Cherokee Purple Tomatoes, my personal favorites.  We have all traded food, money, or work around this Summer.

A gardener's joy is also giving food to someone with diabetes and knowing that if they eat it this food will help them to stay as healthy as possible, maybe prolonging the quality and length of their life.

So when I have these pleasures, and the joy of picking healthy, organic food with no or little insect damage, I must whisper a prayer of thankfulness to those who preserved the seeds and flavors of what I love.  There is beauty in the ripe, fresh food they saved for us.  So many colors and shapes:  purple tomatoes, red tomatoes, orange tomatoes, white corn, green beans, dried purple to almost black beans,  tobasco peppers, banana peppers, jalepeno peppers, buttercup squash, ruffled kale, and long leafed collards.   How many different groups of ancestors saved so much?  I owe a debt of gratitude to Each! A garden gives the benefit of exercise and  the joy of seeing what Earth and Sky and Seeds can make, and the health which comes from good food, this Is Our Life.  Farmer's markets and community gardens are a Must for cities.  I learned to eat beet greens and amaranth greens from the Asian American people at out farmer's market.  Amaranth is a crop of the Incas and I'm not sure where beets originated.  There is much to learn and taste at a Farmer's market or Community garden.   We must guard the food heritage given us by ancestors who weren't forced to exist on over processed convenience foods or only the left over scraps of a master.  We must guard the honey bees which make plants fertile.

The stories around a people's food are interwoven, in a tapestry of history and language and travel.  I speak to the garden beings which are infused with so much history and struggle in thankfulness, knowing that they contain so much more than the word "plant" could Ever Convey.    

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I could not Endure a job which forced me to keep reporting to the public on cases like This!

Trigger Warning!  Those who have survived sexual abuse may be very distressed by this next message.  But it Is something on which we need to take action.

Judge G. Todd Baugh sentenced a man to 30 days in jail for raping a 14-year-old girl

and then blamed the girl for her own rape.

Can you sign the petition demanding that Montana's Judicial Standards Commission

and Supreme Court remove him from the bench?

click here

Click Here

Cherice Moralez was just 14 when her 49-year old teacher repeatedly raped her. Two

years later, Cherice committed suicide--and according to her mother, the trauma of

rape was a major factor in her death.

1

But on Monday, 5 years after the rape,

Billings, Montana Judge G.

Todd Baugh sent her rapist to prison for just 30 days

. In his ruling, he justified the light sentence because he said the victim was “as

much in control of the situation” as her rapist and that she was “older than her

chronological age.”

2

THIS is rape culture at its worst: when our courts can let a man who raped a child

go free after just days in jail and then blame the child for her own rape.

Judge Baugh’s statement has made national news, and outrage in Montana is growing.

Under Montana law, the Judicial Standards Commission and Supreme Court can suspend

judges.

3

 And the pressure is mounting on authorities to act--this morning, hundreds of Montanans

are expected to protest in downtown Billings.

4

If tens of thousands of us from all over the country join with local protesters and

speak out, we can make sure that the Montana courts disrobe Judge Baugh so he can

never let a rapist off the hook again.

 Can you sign the petition?

Sign the petition demanding that Judge Baugh be removed from the bench.

Cherice Moralez’s mother was in the courtroom when the Judge blamed her daughter

for her own rape. “I guess somehow it makes a rape more acceptable if you blame the

victim, even if she was only 14,” she said in a written statement after the sentencing.

5

Originally, Judge Baugh gave the rapist, Stacey Rombard, no jail time at all, sending

him to a sex offender rehabilitation program instead. Rombard was back in court after

violating the rules of the program--including the provision that bans him from having

contact with children.

6

 But Judge Baugh thought he still shouldn't serve his full sentence, suspending all

but 31 days and giving him a credit for one day he had already served.

Rape is an epidemic in this country--1 in 5 women has been the victim of an attempted

or completed rape.

7

 But less than half of all rape cases are reported, and only 3% of rapists spend

a single day in jail.

8

No wonder so many survivors don’t come forward when the justice system seems stacked

against them and a judge can blame a survivor for the attacks against them instead

of the actual rapist.

A judge who thinks a 14-year-old girl is to blame for her own rape should not be

on the bench

. Pressure is mounting in Montana for the court system to do something about this

quickly. If we all speak out, we can make sure Judge Baugh is suspended and can never

rule on a case like this again. Will you sign the petition?

Add your name.

Thanks for speaking out.

--Nita, Shaunna, Kat, Malinda and Karin, the UltraViolet team

Sources:

1.

Montana judge criticized for 31-day sentence for ex-teacher who raped teen

, Reuters, August 28, 2013

2. Ibid.

3.

Methods of Judicial Selection: Removal of Judges

, American Judicature Society

4.

Montana judge criticized for 31-day sentence for ex-teacher who raped teen

, Reuters, August 28, 2013

5.

Mont. Judge Apologizes for Comments in Teen's Rape

, Associated Press, August 28, 2013

6. Ibid.

7.

Nearly 1 in 5 Women in U.S. Survey Say They Have Been Sexually Assaulted

, New York Times, December 14, 2011

8.

Reporting Rates

, Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network

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Chip in here.

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It's About Safeguarding Our Food Supply, GO BEEKS!

Good News  of the fight against  one multi-national at a garden show selling pesticides which kill honey bees.  

Dear friends,

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Chicago, where beekeepers from across the

US were speaking out about the danger of bee-killing pesticides

 on behalf of thousands of SumOfUs supporters. And here’s what I learned: the pesticide

industry really, really doesn’t want people to hear our message.

I went to Chicago to attend a massive commercial gardening convention, where the

beekeepers (who call themselves ‘beeks’) and I were delivering the voices of over

140,000 SumOfUs supporters.

Our message: stop selling the pesticides that are killing the bees!

 It wasn’t a message that Bayer and the pesticide giants wanted the world to hear.

I was barely off the plane in Chicago when I learned that the industry-sponsored

convention organizers had threatened SumOfUs with a lawsuit if we took our message

inside the convention grounds!

But we had come prepared (thanks to thousands of donations from SumOfUs supporters!)

-- and we didn’t leave until the beekeepers had reached out to thousands of commercial

garden center owners and the national media about the dangers of these bee-killing

pesticides. Here’s the most remarkable thing:

many of the garden center owners signed on in support as soon as they heard our message

-- exactly why Big Pesticide is scared of our campaign to save the bees.

Big Pesticide is determined to silence us, but we’re not going to let them

 -- and we won’t back down to legal intimidation. Our colorful bus ads blanketed

Chicago during the conference, and were featured on morning TV news across the US

-- and

now, thanks to you, we’re taking the message straight to garden center owners themselves

with ads in the biggest commercial garden publications.

 With your support, we’re going to keep fighting until these pesticides are banned

around the world and the bees -- and our food supply -- are safe.

Click here to see more photos of the beekeepers delivering our message in Chicago, and to share the campaign with your friends to keep building the opposition to bee-killing pesticides.

The threat of a lawsuit wasn’t the only tactic they used to silence us in Chicago.

They rolled out a full campaign of intimidation, including:

telling hotels across the city not to book rooms to our beekeepers, and not to allow

us to screen a documentary about bees;

ordering security guards to prevent our accredited beekeepers and two human-size

bees (okay, our friendly volunteers in bee costumes!) from entering the conference;

and even stopping an 85 year-old local beekeeper from delivering 140,000 signatures

from SumOfUs members to Bayer, one of the largest manufacturers of bee-killing pesticides!

Meanwhile, Bayer spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on huge ads all over the

convention center and a booth advocating their “bee care” program, all the while

selling the pesticides that are killing them at the convention!

But

despite these dirty tactics, we got our message out loud and clear. Our beekeeper

friends had hundreds of one-on-one conversations with convention attendees

, handed out thousands of flyers about the deadly effects of ‘neonics’, the pesticides

that are killing the bees, plastered the city’s buses with our ads, and took the

city by swarm.

Bayer’s reaction shows one thing -- it’s scared.

 Europe has already banned these killer chemicals, so now the industry is fighting

with all they’ve got to dump the neonics on North America. Just last week, Time Magazine

wrote about the global bee die-off and neonic bee killers in its cover story, and

this week, the American Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordering an immediate

reduction in the use of these pesticides, and admitted that the chemical is partly

responsible for the disappearance of honey bees. Big Pesticide is terrified that

its profits will take a hit if we win in the US as well.

Thanks to your support,

we’re going to keep up the fight. First up, we’re planning hard-hitting ads in gardening

industry publications next month

, to make sure the garden center owners get this vital information. And we’ve got

more ideas in the works -- but after the legal threats in Chicago, we’re keeping

them under wraps to stop the industry from trying to block us again.

Together, we can save the bees. We hope you’ll stay with us until we win this fight.

On behalf of all of us,

Angus and the beekeepers (Terry, Reba, Sam, Amy, and Edie)

PS: we don’t take any corporate funding, so all of this and more is made possible

through your support.

If you want to donate to make sure that we can keep campaigning to save the bees

in the months ahead, you can do that

here

.

 SumOfUs is a world-wide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations

accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.

You can follow us on

Twitter

, and like us on

Facebook

.

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