The Day of Silence: Silencing their Daughters

As many of you may be aware, Friday April 16 was the Day of Silence. The Day of Silence is an event to raise awareness of how difficult and trapping it can feel to be a gay, lesbian, bi, transgendered or questioning person. I, for one, took a vow of silence from 8 am to 3 pm. This vow symbolized my support of those students at my school who currently feel silenced out of fear of rejection, hatred or for any other reason. All participants were given a ‘speaking card’ to explain to others why they are not talking. People who were unable to take the vow but would like to show their support could wear rainbow ribbons.

This year, to preface the event, there was an exhibit put up at my school done by a photographer who identifies as gay. He has taken pictures of high school and college athletes who are out to their teams. Before the assembly introducing this exhibit, letters went home to parents explaining the exhibit. Any parent wishing to have their child opt out of the assembly was welcome to contact the school. I go to a very liberal public high school in New England. However, two of my close friends’ parents contacted the school.

Emily and Kelsey* are best friends. They have been for quite some time. Emily’s parents called the school and said that homosexuality was against their religion and that Emily was not to attend this assembly. Kelsey’s father took it a little further. He, and his lawyer, attempted to sue the school. The exhibit went along as planned, with only 2 censorships as a result of the lawsuit. During the assembly the dean of students was placed at the door making sure that Emily and Sarah and the few other kids who were not allowed to go did not enter. Kelsey told me that if she was found in the auditorium, her father would be notified and she would be in big trouble at home.

The thing that neither Emily nor Kelsey’s parents know, is that, while they are best friends, they are also girlfriends. Emily and Kelsey came out to a group of people last year and by now most of the school knows. At this point, their parents know nothing of it. I asked Kelsey, “What would you dad do if he knew?” “Take me out of school and send me to therapy. That would be him being reasonable. Or he’d send me away to a program that ‘teaches you to overcome your homosexual tendencies’.” As a straight girl in a very open and accepting family this seems foreign and unreal. However, to many kids and teenagers the reality of how parents, friends and loved ones will take their coming out is something they must think of everyday. So on Friday, I was silent. I challenge you to take a vow next year, wear a ribbon, open a conversation.

*Names have been changed for the anonymity and protection of these girls.

Things You Must Respect

Recently I was visiting with my family. My older cousin and I we talking and we made a list for out siblings of things that all kids should know and respect. My sister didn't know one of them and my older cousin is like "How can you not know that? It's like looking before you cross the street, something that you just know." But it's sort of a fun like so I'll share.

1. Shot Gun This is not to be argued with. If someone calls Shot Gun the front seat is theirs. There's not Pistol or fancy rules to get around this.

2. Nose Goes For those of you who don't know, you call Nose Goes to mean not it. The last person to touch their nose is the one doing the unwanted chore or task. We use this very much especially with family get togethers. There's no arguing the Nose Goes. If you look around to see that your the only one not touching your nose start moving cause there's no getting out of it.

3. Fives If you say Fives when you leave your chair it will be safe so 5 minutes. People can sit in it while your gone, but when you come back everything will return to as it was, no ifs, ands or buts. However, if you forget to say Fives or overstay your time up, good luck getting that chair back.

Do you have any other important must be obeyed, unarguable no matter what side of the stick you end up with rules? Have you heard of all the ones I brought up?

Dream Vacation

On Saturday, I saw a bunch of my friends for the first time all summer, and it was pretty great hearing about all of the awesome places that they went. From as far away as Taiwan, to as close as the snowball stand, they all had stories to tell. Thinking about this, I started to wonder about all of the places in our world and how amazing it would be to go. So here is your challenge. Describe your dream trip, where, how you get there, and with who. I can't wait to hear all about them!

Wow I've Been Gone A While...

I haven't posted in a forever long time. I guess I sort of got caught in the flow of summer. But let me tell you about my past week. I'm really big on making films and movies. In the past I've made a few of them with my little sister and her friends. This summer I decided to make it into a camp. For a week we spent time casting, costuming, playing theater games and filming. In a week we filmed the whole entire Wizard of Oz and for anyone who knows anything about filming, that's no small feat. But what was even harder was being the main person in charge on 9 children for around 7 hours a day. My friend came and helped out but keeping 4th through 7th graders in check is not as simple as it sounds. It was an experience and I'm so glad I ran camp. I've learned things for next year, I gave kids an fun inexpensive way to spend the week and I even made a great movie out of it.

If you have something you want to share with kids, I think making it into a camp is a great way!! But here's some advice.

1. Get forms back early. I sent out forms for parents to sign with things like allergies on it and asking for their money. This is the only way to confirm someone will come. Even if they tell you 10 million times that they'll be there, until you get their money there's no way to know for sure.

2. Have a schedule. Every night before camp, I'd make up a time plot of exactly what I wanted to happen when. Instead of just writing "10-10:30 Games" I'd write "10-10:15 Dinner Party, 10:15-10:30 Half Life". That way I never blanked on ideas.

3. Be flexible. What you wrote in your plan will almost never go the way you wrote it. The things you though would take an hour take 15 minutes. The things you thought you could do in 10 minutes take a half hour.

4. Food is a savior. When ever people were getting tired or cooperation was low, a mere mention of food brought people back to where you needed to be. I always had snacks and lollipops and treats around.

5. Be consistent. You don't want to let people climb the trees half the time but not the other half the time. You might seem mean for always reminding people that they are not allowed to swear but in the end, they will appreciate that they know what to expect from you.

6. Never question yourself. You are the one in charge and even if you have no clue what's going on, you ALWAYS know what's going on. Instead of phasing things as "We're going to pick up now, alright?" say "Everybody clean up! The faster we do this the sooner we get games." This leaves not way for them to say it's not alright and offers an incentive.

I loved running a camp, but that doesn't mean it was easy. I spent about 30 hours prepping, 35 hours in camp and I will spend around 70 hours editing the movie. If you want an easy job running a camp might not be for you, but it is oh so rewarding.

If you were to run a camp, what would you run it on? How many kids do you think you could handle having? What ages would you work with?

(The picture is of my sister Rebecca, as a Munchkin.)

My Quebecois Twins

I know that and_then_hannah_was_all_like recently posted about how she is having an exchange student come for a whole year. My exchange girls are only here for a week but already we've had tons of fun. I live in New England and they live in Quebec but it seems like 2 different worlds. I really speak english and they really speak french. I've only lived in the country, they've only lived in the city. Despite this, we instantly clicked. A simple thing like making dinner turns into a language experience. Trying to explain what things are causes fits of laughter. (It's not that they don't know what things are, it's just trying to find the equivalent word in french.) Saying "trrram-poo-leen" took like 20 minutes. Yesterday, I read their french fashion magazines, and *gasp* discovered that even with a language difference the trashy things from here are the same as the trashy things there.

How many languages can we speak total on this blog? Have you ever tried to use the languages you learned at school in a real setting? How'd that work for you?

Bike and Walk for Life

Every year the children's hospital near me has a bike and walk for life. It's huge, thousands of people show up raising millions of dollars for cancer research. The bike routes are a 200 mile, 100, 50, 35 and 20. If you walk you can choose to walk 5K, 10 or 25. On site there's a tent stocked with free food, free massages, and music playing constantly. There are also tents getting people to sign up to be bone marrow donors and to raise awareness of different research projects.

I volunteered at what I think the best part of the event is. I gave out yellow ribbons. These ribbons are just a long piece of yellow surveyors tape but they stand for the reason many people ride the race. On this ribbon people write the names or messages to the people they want to honor or remember. Then at the end of the course, there is a memorial garden in which people tie their ribbon.

Sitting at the table where people get these ribbons was pretty amazing. Lots of people would write things like "Ride on" and "We miss you" with the person's name. Other people just didn't know what to say. Some ribbons had some many names written on them there was no space for a message, others simply had one name. Most people left the table happy that they had honored their friend or relative. Some walked past the table saying they'd cry if they made a ribbon.

The two dearest things that happen yesterday were:

1) A little boy maybe 7 or 8 walked up all by himself. I asked him if he'd like to make a ribbon. He said that he would so I gave him the ribbon and a sharpie to write with. He writes 'Mom' nothing more, and then leaves.

2) The second is that a women and her very young child came to make a ribbon. She wrote a name on it and her kid asked where that person was. The mother said, "They're in heaven, you can't see them anymore."

I don't know if how meaningful these ribbons are conveys over into writing, but I wouldn't have rather spent my day any other way. Cancer sucks, and I'm so glad to feel like we might be making a dent in it.

*If you look really closely in the back of the photo you can see the memorial garden.

Weekly Weird- Nail Polish

Honestly, what girl hasn't worn nail polish? I even know some guys who have worn it! I actually really like the idea, it can just be for fun, or it can express your mood. I painted mine red and blue for independence day! But really, when was this weird fashion started? Actually, it originated 3000 BC in China! Of course, then it was used to represent social class, and I doubt it came in a little bottle with a mini paint brush to help you apply it. Modern nail polish, actually is a variation of car paint. I like nail polish, but it is such a bizarre idea! What's really the purpose of it?