spark

cupcakes & kindness

Ok, so I lied.  I didn't update you on the shoes on Thursday.  Will you ever forgive me?  I'm not sure my readership can stand a hit. 

The reason for all the lack of time for posting yesterday, besides the whole cleaning-smashed-raspberries-off-everything bit, was that a decent-sized chunk of the day was consumed by the ultra-fabulous and super-fantastic first birthday party for GayRVA.  w00t!  And the reason I was there, besides just that its founder, Kevin Clay, throws a hell of a shindig, was that me & my girls Sarah, Sara, and Patience, were being named the first annual Out.Spoken. Richmonders of the Year, for our organization of Pennies in Protest last March.  This was an overwhelming and humbling honor, and really says something about how a spur-of-the-moment decision to do an act of kindness can have major repercussions.  As recipients of this award, we were really not representing just ourselves, but also the thousands of people in Richmond and around the country who participated in this effort.  Every person who forwarded a link, gave a dollar, told a friend, made a poster, came to a counterprotest, discussed the protests over dinner with their kids, ALL of those people made a difference, all of those people were necessary to bring our community together in supporting each other. We're still hearing from people who felt touched by what happened here, and also people who want to know how to organize a PiP effort in their own city. 

We were absolutely honored to join the celebration on Thursday, and also excited to get the chance to dress up and have a great night out!  It was a close race but Kevin was the deciding vote.  His party, after all.  

That's Kevin on the left, in a rather natty tie.  On the right is Miss Magnolia Jackson Pickett Burnside, hostess extraordinaire of Richmond Varietease, who gave us a short show (a teaser, nyuck nyuck) at the party.

I somehow missed getting a photo of Sarah, but did catch Patience and Sara before putting away my camera.  Sometimes you just need to be a part of something instead of documenting it! For more peeks at the festivities, take a gander at the party photos from Jennie Araujo and Tim Wood of Pink Photography. (And it's lovely to read that my acceptance speech was "rousing"! ♥)

There were scrumptious mini cakes with the best icing ever from Two Sweet Cupcakes, and beautiful boys in Skiviez serving them.  Yum. Additional pairs of Skiviez were tucked into swag bags that also contained gifts from Mongrel, Bygones, Secco Wine Bar, and Nicola Flora, who I suspect also made the beautiful corsages which we wore.  Many many thanks to all!

By the way, I picked the polka dots. They were absolutely adorable, so much so that I don't care that I ended up with blisters on my littlest toes. A girl's gotta have cute feet, even, sometimes, a liberal progressive feminist kind of girl.

word of the day 62/365: trickle

I have no photographic image for today.  Near the end of the day, I tried to bully myself into composing something, anything, just for the sake of not missing a day (isn't that part of the whole point of a 365?), but I'm still physically and emotionally wiped-out from yesterday, and could not stand the thought of even touching my camera.

But here's a mental image, instead: think of snow in the mountains, just starting to melt now that spring is coming.  Imagine the drops of melted snow coming together in depressions, forming trickles that collect into streams.  The streams join other streams, then creeks, then small rivers.  More and more drops and trickles and streams and rivers come together into a wider river, until it is something enormous and almost unimaginably powerful. 

I live in a city on a river, halfway between the snowmelt of the Blue Ridge and the wide mouth where the "Mighty James" meets the ocean in Hampton Roads.  Richmond is halfway there, and maybe we swelled the river a little more with our trickles, streams, small rivers of kindness yesterday.  I'm really looking forward to meeting more and more drops of water and seeing the ocean someday soon, how about you?

word of the day 61/365: objective

invitation, originally uploaded by theloushe.

There was absolutely nothing objective about today. There's also nothing objective about this: I have never been more proud to be part of the Richmond, Virginia community than I am right now.  Good night, Virginia, and all my thoughts will be with those of you facing this evil in Tidewater tomorrow.

word of the day 60/365: big

Y'all...I HAD FRICKIN' CHANNEL 12 NEWS IN MY HOUSE TODAY.

That's my friend Sarah in the photo above, giving an interview to the reporter who came to talk to us and film some picket sign-making.  The media is all over this - I went to Channel 8 earlier this afternoon, Sarah and Patience have given other interviews.  It's crazy.  Amid all this we were scrabbling to meet work demands and figure out child care for each other and trying to get our heads around what we need to do tomorrow while WBC is here in town and still find time for a last-minute social media blitz for Pennies in Protest.  Which, by the way, has an official domain now. For real. www.penniesinprotest.com.   The better to link you, my dear.

This thing - the small way of helping out that we dreamed up last Thursday - is exploding. It is SO amazing. Tonight we have topped $7K, which may not sound like much to some big-time fundraisers, but we're talking about four moms who just wanted to show our support for organizations being targeted by a bully. We didn't think that anybody should stand by while one group of people is being horrid and disrespectful to another group, we wanted to stand by the Holocaust Museum, the Jerusalem Connection, the JCC and Hillel, and Hermitage High and their Gay/Straight Alliance. We wanted to let those groups know that the vast, vast majority of people in the world respect them, support them, and want good things for them.  We wanted to show the rest of the world, in our own small way, that compassion and nonviolence (in word and in deed) are desirable, viable things.

While the WBC visits tomorrow are nothing to look forward to, what I DO look forward to is meeting some of the many, many people who have been working hard this past few days to find their own ways of fighting ignorance and hatred and bringing more light into this world.  The empowerment I have seen and heard people express, the sense of ownership people have for standing up for what they believe in, is incredible.  These are humans at their finest.  RVA and all of our friends everywhere, you are powerful! You are loving, you are strong, and you will change the world.

Griff has decided to join me at the VCU rally tomorrow - I will pick him up early from school so that he can participate (exercising freedoms and standing up for what's right is much more important than the 2nd half of the school day, with all due respect to his fabulous 1st-grade teacher).  He helped me decorate the Pennies in Protest jar we're bringing to the Holocaust Museum tomorrow, and he thought that it was both literally and figuratively BIG.  I agree, kiddo.

word of the day 58/365: peace

I'm learning a lot about the process of transforming malignance into benevolence.  Sometimes the peace process looks anything but peaceful.  6 parents, 8 children age 5 and under, 5 pizzas, 2 laptops, and a whole lotta dumped toys and capless Mr. Sketch markers.  Some of us ended up with headaches, but we knew it was very worth it. 

We are feeling enthusiastic about how our kindness mission is catching fire among friends.  While supporting our community, we're creating new bonds among our husbands and strengthening our own tribe of women.  There is really, really, really great energy around this. You know there has to be because I don't normally talk about "energy" around things. ;o)

Griff is interested in picketing and is brushing up on his protest symbols. I have so much to share about talking to children about social activism, responding to negativity, and creating positive change, but will leave you with his simple symbol for now:

kindness changes everything

Pennies of love - a blog entry from KindnessGirl

love in action

This project was born last night in a conversation among four friends.  It went live this morning.  Less than twelve hours later, Pennies in Protest has earned over $1,000 in donations from people who want to show their support for organizations targeted by Westboro Baptist Church and its message of hatred and intolerance.

I am so, so humbled by what kindness can do...and this is only the beginning.

 

If you are one of the kind and generous people who has been a part of this - donating your money, sharing our link, telling your friends, planning your protests - THANK YOU. You are awesome. You are standing up to bullies and telling them that they may not treat their fellow human beings with disrespect. YOU are making a difference in the world, YOU are making it a better place to be. Keep being your wonderful, loving selves! (And keep forwarding our link, let's make our kindness grow!)

what the world needs now is YOU

Anti-gay, anti-semitic Westboro Baptist Church is planning to picket locations in Richmond, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, and Porstmouth, VA this week.  There is much debate between friends and in the Twittersphere over how to respond.  Ignore them? Rick-roll or stage other such jokey comebacks? Shout back? Kill 'em with kindness? Join hands in song and show the world that love will prevail over hatred?

I am joining three other Richmond mothers in taking a page from Manhattan's Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, who took pledges from supporters for every minute that WBC picketed their synagogue.  The 50-minute picket resulted in $10,000 in donations.  We have established Pennies in Protest RVA in emulation of their efforts.  We hope that those of you who share our disgust with WBC's message of hatred (and we believe that most of the loving, good-hearted world does!), that you will consider pledging pennies - or more - in support of the very organizations that WBC is targeting. 

Stay tuned for more ways to spread love to the world and counteract the haters.  It may be too early to plant your gardens, but it is never the wrong season to sow a little kindness.

Please visit us and spread the word!

Pennies in Protest RVA information and donations

Pennies in Protest Facebook page