Sexual slavery, porno, brothels, human trafficking- let’s talk about real issues not a few crass comments by Trump

Wrists Tied in Chains --- Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis
Deal with the real issues:  brothels, sexual slavery, no fathers in home,  migrant children  abused, prostitution .  In the Spirit  by Alliee Dearmond published in Santa Cruz Sentinel

 

Sexual slavery, porno, no fathers in home, human trafficking, drugs, addictions:  lets talk about  the real issues says Alliee DeArmond, Santa Cruz Sentinel,  In the Spirit:

“Amazing how a half-dozen words uttered over a decade ago suddenly fill my news feeds.

Trump apologizes for 11 year old comments
Set aside the  few crass comments Trump made 11 years ago.  Focus on how to honor women.

The Scripture comes to mind that says, what you whisper in private will be shouted from the housetops.

Nonetheless, I am more astonished at the Puritan response, the stances of outraged respectability, than I am about a few lines from a mouthy male.

I can deal with a mouthy male. The world is full of them.

I am occasionally capable of being mouthy myself. (This is not an invitation for friends to send me confirmation emails.)

I’ve been married for 40-some years, raised three sons,

raised three sons

bumped around in the theater world — ladies, if you can’t play ball with a couple of crass comments, you’ve got a lot to learn.

If you really want to honor women, let’s talk about the multi-billion dollar pornography business — the sleazy ads that line the sidebar or the bottom of a heartwarming puppy video. ‘Click here.’ Let’s look at how the business of sex supports the internet, is fed and sponsored by our great corporations, pours into living rooms through multiple screens and emerges between the covers of shady books.

Let’s talk about human trafficking,

www.setmefreeproject.net
www.setmefreeproject.net

about sexual slavery that exists not only far away, but here at home. How about the drug sales and addiction that monetize our gangs, fill our prisons, and entrap young girls into prostitution?

Let’s talk about cat-houses, about the brothels that were once a major part of our local tourist economy, about how migrating client contacts from the streets to the back page doesn’t change the horrific story.

Shall we discuss the difference between being wanted and being wanton, the 75 percent of black families and 30 percent of white families where children are growing up without a father, the exponential rise of those figures, the few jobs available to young women who are left to support themselves and their children? Let’s talk about crisis pregnancies: unplanned, untimely, unwanted. She didn’t get in that position all by herself, you know. Let’s talk about the nearly 4,000 abortions a day: baby carcasses stacked in garbage heaps.

Honoring women? Are we reacting in lily-white handkerchief swooning shock to a couple of words because it’s easier to point fingers and gasp in genteel horror, than to dig down and face up to our own part in the disintegration of what matters most?

Young men and women still hope for life-partners, still want to love, honor and support each other, to build a life together. How can we help them?

For the complete article go to web address listed below:

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http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/lifestyle/20161014/in-the-spirit-set-the-puritan-outrage-aside-here-are-ways-you-can-actually-help-women

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Aptos Psychologist Cameron Jackson:  Yes let’s talk about the real issues and how to honor women   — and assist young couples to succeed in marriage.

A lousy role model?  Michelle Obama willingly allowed her daughters to watch  lewd and crude rap music performed in the White House.

 

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How Erin Grunwell’s unteachable students became the Freedom Writers …

This following is based  on an Evening Prayer service lead by Alliee DeArmond,  Friday, September 16,  2016 at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in Aptos, CA.  Alliee leads the Friday Evening Prayer services which start  promptly at 5:30 pm and end around 6:00 pm. Come to 125 Canterbury, Aptos, CA.

As part of the service,  Alliee discussed a book about the Freedom Writers and Erin Grunwell.

For information about  Evening Prayer  and other services:       http://www.st-john-aptos.org/

For information about Alliee DeArmond’s The Word Shop.  visit website.   

Erin
Erin and  her students, the  Freedom Writers

Included is how  another woman helped:  Miep Gies a Dutch woman …   miep gries ccc

MiepvGries
MiepvGries

 

As an idealistic twenty-three-year-old English teacher at Wilson High School in Long beach, California, Erin Gruwell confronted a room of “unteachable, at-risk” students.

One day Erin  intercepted a note with an ugly racial caricature, and angrily declared that this was precisely the sort of thing that led to the Holocaust—only to be met by uncomprehending looks.

So Erin ….  and her students, using the treasured books Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl  and Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevos their guides, undertook a life-changing, eye-opening, spirit-raising odyssey against intolerance and misunderstanding.

Erin and her students …   learned to see the parallels in these books to their own lives, recording their thoughts and feelings in diaries and dubbing themselves the “Freedom Writers” in homage to the civil rights activists “The Freedom Riders.”

With funds raised by a “Read-a-thon for Tolerance,” they arranged for Miep Gies, the courageous Dutch woman who sheltered the Frank family, to visit them in California, where she declared that Erin Gruwell’s students were “the real heroes.” Their efforts have paid off spectacularly, both in terms of recognition—appearances on “Prime Time Live” and “All Things Considered,” coverage in Peoplemagazine, a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley—and educationally. All 150 Freedom Writers have graduated from high school and are now attending college.

With powerful entries from the students’ own diaries and a narrative text by Erin Gruwell, The Freedom Writers Diary is an uplifting, unforgettable example of how hard work, courage, and the spirit of determination changed the lives of a teacher and her students.

The authors’ proceeds from this book will be donated to The Tolerance Education Foundation, an organization set up to pay for the Freedom Writers’ college tuition. Erin Gruwell is now a visiting professor at California State University, Long Beach, where some of her students are Freedom Writers.

 

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The Word Shop: Come for books, discuss books & share cup of tea

 

The Word Shop and Alliee DeArmond
The Word Shop and Alliee DeArmond

Alliee DeArmond, with the help of many volunteers, operates  The Word Shop in Aptos, CA.  As of 2016, this book shop has been operating for 21 years.   831 688-6607   Monday – Fridays  10-6 most days.

Alliee recently applied to be on the Board of Directors for St. John the Baptist  Episcopal Church in Aptos, CA. Alliee write regularly for a newspaper.  Her column In the Spirit publishes in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.  Various activities related to books occur routinely at The Word Shop.

Quite an accomplishment for all the women and men who have been  involved.

Back in 2009  — when this post was first  written -there were Literary Parties.  What’s going on is always changing — but always about books.

“These Literary Parties are a real blast! We choose a genre–mystery this month–everyone brings a book or two in that genre and we take turns waving the books around and saying why we like them. Then people usually have comments and conversation ensues until I bellow, “next.” We’ve done one every month since January–usually somewhere between a half-dozen and a dozen folk crammed into our back room. Quite fun.”

The Word Shop is located at 246 Center St. # A. This is a small book store located near entrance to Seacliff Beach. For more info contact Alliee DeArmond at adbooks@aol.com    831-688-6607

The Word Shop
The Word Shop with Alliee DeArmond

Use the SEARCH function (top right) to find more information about The Word Shop.  Live near or around Aptos?    Join  #aptosia

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