Making a Differnce

So yesterday, on my way home from work, I turned on NPR and heard the tail end of a discussion of the testing for lead in toys issue. It sounds like maybe my blog post and e-mails to representative and senators had an effect! The latest news is that mandatory testing will be delayed one year. You still can't sell toys with too much lead, but testing isn't mandatory, so safe, homemade toys won't be pushed off the market quite yet. And that give people time to get some changes put into effect to help make these laws less detrimental for individual craftspeople and small businesses. Yay!

(That's me on the left doing my "Happy Dance.")

OverTesting

So as nanny of an under-one I've heard a good bit about the lead-in-toys fiasco. Stopping it sounds like a good idea, but going to these lengths? There's this new act being proposed that will mandate testing for all toys and items that might ever be used by anyone under 12. Fine for Mattel, but what about the bath puppets I knit for my friends and relations? If I wanted to start selling them, I'd have to spend between a few hundred to several thousand dollars to comply with the testing regulations, and that's per toy. Even though the materials were certified lead-free in the store.

I'm writing my congress person.

More info at Mama-is and Handmade Toy Alliance

Or watch this:

Too Much

O.K., there is so much to say since I last posted.

First, my wonderful BF took me to the movies and when our first choice sold out before we could get to the ticket window, we took a chance on one we knew nothing about--The Secret Life of Bees. We both enjoyed it--although for different reasons. You can read his review here. I didn't take issue with the black nanny/white girl deal, but I did wonder how three black sisters could afford such a luxurious house and property back in the 60's. Never the less, I enjoyed the emotional drama, the cinematic effects, etc., and most of all, the chance for a good cry. :)

Next, our new president-elect. One of the really cool things about being on the west coast for this election was hearing the returns live, and not too late in the evening. I was listening to NPR when they called the election, and I got to hear both McCain's concession speech, and Obama's victory speech and still have my light out well before 10 pm.

Third, Prop 8 passed and I am really disappointed, but also glad that it was such a close race. It just saddens me that people would want to prevent people who love each other from getting married.

Fourth, Measure B, which would have brought BART to Santa Clara County, missed it's 2/3 majority approval by .26%! Ugh! It got 66.41% yes votes and still faild because it needed 66.67%. So close! I used to live in the East Bay, where we have BART, and it is so much better than the commuter train system (read CalTrain).

I'll sign off now. I'm working this evening and I want to meditate and still leave plenty of time to not fight traffic on the way there.

Gas Under Three

Today I actually saw a sign for gas that was under $3 per gallon! Stop the presses! This is a news worthy moment!

Well, not really, but nothing else that exciting has happened lately . . .

Life is still pretty good. I'm trying to figure out what measures and propositions to vote for. This state is either extremely political, or just has really bad laws, because the ballots are always flooded with local measures and statewide propositions. A few are clean cut, but most are really hard to decide on, because I either don't know enough about the issue to have an opinion, or the new law is vague and unclear enough that it's hard to know whether I actually support the proposed law or not. Ugh! Politics!

Country in Distress

There is this house near where I work that flies an American flag. Well, actually there are several houses that do that, but the one I'm talking about is unique. I first noticed it because the flag was not only faded and old, but also upside down. I had recently read a book in which the characters used an upside down flag as a universal distress signal. I thought the people must be thumbing their noses at our country. It seemed to me to be a mixture of rebellion and disrespect. But then, a couple weeks ago, I noticed that they had put up a new flag, but it was still upside down. That led me to change my opinion and think that the folks in that house must be patriotic about America, but very concerned about our current government. I guess that's pretty much how I feel, too.

Dar Williams said it best in her song, Anthem: "I am an American./From the fourth grade turkey pageant to the protest march I stand./I am an American./I know there's blood in the pavement and we've turned the fields to sand./Hey I know where I come from, but I have a question,/Shall we the people never come home?/For after all that we've been are the dreams to come after. "

For Folks in California

My BF sent me this pertinent article on the new California same-sex marriage laws. It's a personal issue for me, because two weeks ago, my aunts got married for the second time. They went up to SF in 04, then the laws changed and they got "un-married," So this summer they got married again, but if this measure that will be on the Nov. ballet passes, I'm guessing that history will repeat itself.

Just imagine getting married, and then being told that your marriage is no longer valid. Well, honestly I can't imagine it, but I hear that it's an awful experience to go through. So I'm getting political again, and planting the seed.

For those of you in California, please vote on the side of love.

Inspired to Clean

I always enjoy having people over to my house, especially because it usually inspires me to do some cleaning, or at least tidy up a bit. Like yesterday and today: my mom arrived this morning, and I put some time and energy into making the place nice for her--I was pretty surprised at how quickly it went, too. I guess I was just motivated by the "deadline."

In the birth picture, my favorite birth artist mentioned that this is National Unassisted Home Birth Week and posted a link to this supportive article on home birth. So there is something from the other side of the issue, and it is in the media. :) I'm happy.

The Curse of the Horrific Birth Story

As I was waiting for the library to open just now, I got to listen to several women compeating with each other for who had the most horrible birth story. It started because someone had a tiny, obviously new baby. Someone else was detailing the horrific birth of her 8lb 9oz baby, and how he had to be born by C-section due to a "fat" head and cord compression. I have to wonder how much of this was iatrogenic--cord prolaps is often due to AROM, the pelvic outlet is smallest in the lithotomy position prefered by docs, epidurals prevent the movement mothers and babies need to do togther in the dance of birth. And then the complaints about the length of labor started--7 hours, 9 hours--I'm sorry, but that doesn't sound long to me . . .

If these are the stories we tell each other, is it any surprise that most women in the US fear birth? Why aren't there more of the positive, empowering stories circultating? I know it's partly because not many women have those experiences, but I also think that there is a kind of one-upmanship in telling horrific birth stories, and the women who have good experiences get discounted. Eventually, even the women who want to share their positive stories can get shut down by the ones who blow them off, and so we only share our positive stories with folks who are supportive. But then what we know, that birth can be beautiful, empowering, even pleasurable, doen't get heard by the people who need to hear our voices. Like when the radio station talked about home birth, but only played a call from someone who had a home birth that included an emergency. And when I heard those women talking today, I didn't break in with other, positive stories of births I've attended--partly because I am bound by professional confidentiality, but partly because I knew that they wouldn't welcome the truth. I was afraid of being dismissed or attacked for telling the truth. I'm not Carla Hartley, but I admire her so much for her efforts to promote birth trust by telling the truth.

Lego Star Wars

Have spent the weekend hanging out with a friend's kids while she works. Am getting a good deal of internet time, and have done some interesting research, followed up on several e-mails, etc.

One of the kids found some funny Lego Star Wars videos on You Tube. Quite amusing and entertaining.

Am worried about the current ACOG and AMA backlash against home birth, in response to Ricky Lake's movie, The Business of Being Born. See Hathor for related comics, blog posts, etc.

From Hell to Highway

The past few weeks have been an emotional hell, but I've slowly gotten my perspective back. I'm also back to working (and commuting) regularly. One of the comic artists whose work I follow posted a comic on the Drive 55 campaign, and I've been trying it out. It forces me to slow down mentally as well as physically, and my commute feels much less hectic when I drive slower than the traffic flow, instead of trying to keep up. It isn't always practical, time-wise, but I do it when I can.

Orphan Works Addendum

One more site connected to the whole Orphan Works issue, The SAA Orphan Works Blog. Check it for updates on the issue.

Not much new with me. I got my bike trailer working again--now I have the means to do everything I do in my home area by bike, including shopping and getting water at the water store. Woohoo!

Everything else is holding pretty steady.

Orphan Works

O.k., so this is something I've been meaning to post about for a couple of weeks, but I wanted to say I'd written to my representatives about it before posting. So today, I wrote up my thoughts and sent them off to my Representative in the House and both my Senators.

The issue is the Orphan Works Act currently before congress (House and Senate). It's something that came up in 2006, expired, and got re-introduced. Basically what it means is that everyone except the corporations backing it will be screwed if it passes, because anyone who creates an image, sculpture, painting, photograph, ect. will have to register it in a whole bunch of private directories, with new directories being made all the time, or lose all their rights. ANY work of art not registered in ALL these directories will become an orphan, and will be "public domain." This really worries me. And since Mark Simon of Animation World Mag. wrote a really good article about it here, I'll let you read his article. Please do read about this, it is worth your time if don't want your digital photos turned into public domain, "orphan" works. Yes, it even applies to your personal digital photos!

Then, once you've read that article, there's another, more detailed one here. I must confess, I felt I got the point with the first article, and didn't read the second one. So I went ahead and contacted my representatives by e-mail. You can do that, too, and you can find out who they are by clicking here. As most of you know, I don't usually get vocal about political issues, but this is a big one, and I'm going to be sending out a group e-mail about it, too. (It will basically be a repeat of this blog post, so feel free to disregard the second one you get from me.)

O.k. I'm done on the soap box for a while now. I just hope that some of you get up and let our reps know that artist aren't always apathetic to the issues. :)