The horror of human trafficking: Emma Thompson's Journey

Folks, I try to keep informed about the world around me. But, like most relatively comfortable Americans, I really don't have a clue about the things that go on every day in many less fortunate parts of the world. One example of this is the plight of human trafficking.

I recently came upon an article discussing this topic - specifically, the trafficking of women into a forced life in the sex trade. The article was an interview with English actress Emma Thompson, who works with a British organization called the Helen Bamber Foundation to publicise and drum up public support on this issue. Last year, Emma Thompson put together a project which drew upon the experiences of one of the many women forced into this hellish situation, and illuminated the experience from start to finish.

The result was an interactive installation called Journey, which was a collaborative effort with several acclaimed artists. It was presented in London's Trafalgar Square a year ago, and has since been exhibited elsewhere around the world. It will be coming to the US sometime in 2009; Thompson says she is attempting to get clearance to set the installation up in New York in the spring.

I cannot put into words how brutally moving this installation is. It forces the viewer to see this life for what it is, and to see how cruelly and mercilessly these women are treated. With the promise of a good job in another country, impoverished women are lured from their families and homes to become pawns in the sex trade, existing in relative slavery and forced to endure physical, mental, and emotional horors which no human being should ever have to live through.

I wanted to share the information here, in the hopes that more of us might become educated and aware of this issue. I do realize that it's easier not to look, and I will warn you that the links below will take you to material which you may find very difficult to watch or read. But if you want to make a difference, please check these out and spread the word. The more people know about this situation, the more we can use our energies to try and fight it. Donate to the cause, write to a governmental official, join the Facebook group for the Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking ( affiliated with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), and keep your eyes open. Most importantly, don't look away.

Emma Thompson narrates a short overview of the Journey installation:



A public service announcement on behalf of the UNGIFT:



Information about human trafficking from the UNODC:

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/index.html

The horror of human trafficking: Emma Thompson's Journey

Hear that sound?

That's the dull thump of the other shoe dropping.

Those of us who supported and voted for Barack Obama have been riding pretty high lately. It's tough not to be happy - giddy, even - when you've worked or hoped for his victory and seen it come to pass. And to observe the groundswell of approval he has received from the American public during this transition, it has truly felt as if we, as a nation, had made a major shift into a more positive zone after 8 long, horrible years.

Of course, the cynic in me has had to take a back seat to my optimistic side for several weeks now. But my cynicism wasn't dead, only dormant. This week, it was roused back into life by the senational, sad and utterly shocking stories regarding Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.

Of course, the first thing we Obama-heads wanted to know was, "Did Obama have anything to do with this?" So far, the prosecutor involved in this case, U.S.  attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, has stressed that the president-elect is not under investigation, nor is he accused or suspected of any wrongdoing at this time. If anything, much of the information that has appeared in the media indicates that Blagojevich actively dislikes Obama, and has been especially blunt in his criticism and complaints regarding Obama and his transition team. All of this ought to comfort the faithful, and assure us that our next president hasn't let us down by rooting around in the mud with this guy.

And yet...I am getting a bad feeling about this. I know it may be bad form on my part, but I can't help thinking that there may be more to this than Obama's letting on. I don't necessarily believe that there will be any solid links to the pay-for-play political maneuvering that Blagojevich was practicing. But there have just been a few things that smell kinda funny in the wake of these revelations.

First of these has been the statement made by David Axelrod, last month, indicating that the president-elect had spoken to Blagojevich about possible candidates to fill his Senate seat. This statement was reported in the press when it was made in November, yet after the charges against Blagojevich were made public this week, Axelrod retracted it. He said he had been "mistaken" in saying that the men had discussed the Senate seat. Now, Obama is supposedly running a pretty tight ship, and any off-message comments made by his aides and advisers are dealt with swiftly and surely. Yet Axelrod's comment had stood, uncorrected, until this scandal reared its head. It begs the question: Why would this piece of misinformation be allowed to remain floating around for a month?

Another worrying item is the fact that Obama did not immediately respond in a clear, strong way to the news of Blagojevich's transgressions. Condemnation of the highest order was called for, but all Obama told the press was that he was "saddened" and "sobered" by the news. While others were already calling for Blagojevich to resign, Obama failed to do so until today.

Finally, there's just the simple issue of proximity. Obama has served the state of Illinois for years, and has never had a clue of this governor's behavior or temperament? It sounds as though Blagojevich has been quite vocal and not even slightly concerned about hiding his agenda from the crowd around him. Maybe I don't understand the nature of that state's political structure, but it just seems as if people throughout the state knew that this man was up to something, and I am hard pressed to believe that neither Obama nor the main players on his team knew anything about it before this week.

Well, I know this will be on the front pages for a while yet, and there will be much more information to follow. I will not pass judgement now, but I will wait with a guarded optimism to find out what exactly happened, and who played a part in allowing this despicable man to do what he was doing. Obama has a press conference tomorrow, and I hope some solid answers will be forthcoming. He is being tested before he even takes office, and for all our sakes, I hope he passes.

Hear that sound?

Charlie White: freaky good

OK, so I was goofing off a bit today, and taking a break from my daily drudgery, when I got an email from a friend of mine. She forwarded me a few links which she wanted me to check out, for an artist and photographer named Charlie White. He's been on the scene for a while, but I hadn't heard of him until today.

Boy oh boy, is this guy somethin'. His gig is setting up secenarios which incorporate real people, puppets, sets and special effects, so his photos have the feel of a still shot from a film. But the common link seems to be weirdness. He has created some fairly odd and disturbing stuff, and I'm not sure what the hell is going on in some of it, but I really like it (not sure what that says about me, exactly, but you can be the judge of that).

Here are a few of the works I found to be most interesting. If you're keen to find out more about him or his art, you can check out his website here.

The Persuaders (2003)



Jonestown (2006)




Cocktail Party (2001 - from the series Understanding Joshua, which is definitely worth checking out in further detail here)



Bizarro, no? But so cool, too. Although that opinion is coming from someone who thinks the same thing about David Lynch and David Cronenberg films, so take that for what it's worth. :) And speaking of films, Charlie White has also directed a couple of short ones.

One is the video for the Interpol song Evil - which is an effing good tune anyway -and it features a really eerie lookin' puppet dude who has survived a horrific car crash:



You can use this link to check out the full video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_OcR0fbf6g

Also, White created one in a series of viral promotional videos for Adidas, and his was called Pink.



I love this piece...it gets stuck in your head, for real, and it manages to make a pink stuffed bear seem reeeally creepy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dKcrCkbcDQ

As the mom of a young girl, I really feel this one and I have my own theory about what White is trying to say in this, but I'm probably wrong. If you wanna add your two cents, feel free. :)

'Kay, now that I'm done creeping y'all out for the day, I need to go back to work. No time for art when there's floors to mop, am I right? Have a good one, peeps...

Charlie White: freaky good

Aw, c'mon, Jeb...give us a break!

Alrighty then...I have been way too busy to sit and blog for the past several weeks. Now that the election's over and I'm no longer spending hours on following politics, I have gotten back to my normal routine and am running around like a crazy person, dealing with my kid's school and social schedules, getting ready for Christmas, and all that good stuff.

I had to stop in and mention something though. As I was surfing the net this evening, I came across this article from Marc Ambinder's blog on The Atlantic website. It says that Jeb Bush, the brother of George W. and the former governor of my home state of Florida, is thinking of running for Senate, following the announcement that incumbent Mel Martinez will retire.

Folks, do I even have to tell you that this disturbs me, on many levels? I swear, if he does run, I will lose a good percentage of the happy mojo I've had goin' for me since Obama won the general election. Seriously, what a buzzkill - here I was, all excited that the days of Dubya were numbered, and then this news rears its ugly head. We just can't seem to get rid of these Bush wingnuts!

Florida loved this guy when he was governor, for the most part, though I don't really understand why. As you may have guessed, I was never a member of his fan club, but I was in the minority at the time. However, I do wonder if the place has shifted a bit since then. We were the only state in the Southeast to go blue for Obama. Maybe the grip of the conservative voter has loosened just a bit, and maybe we're entering the 21st century at last. But I wouldn't bet on it, and I can just see Jeb riding a wave of GOP love right into the Senate. All those white men who freaked out when McCain lost are frantically looking for a way to edge the Republican party back into the sphere of governmental influence, and they would weep tears of joy if they had a chance to restore Jeb to an elected office.

And so, with a sense of deja vu mixed with creeping dread, I wait to hear the pronouncement from on high, when and if it comes. I'm sure it will, because Jeb always wanted to get back into the fray and this opportunity is one he just wouldn't pass up. I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed that something comes up and prevents him from going through with it. Who knows? Maybe now that he's gonna have all kinds of time on his hands, Dubya will call him up, and offer to take his bro on an extended fishing trip. For 5 or 6 years. Off the Somali coast, where the pirates will hijack their vessel and we won't have to hear from either one of 'em ever again. *sigh* A girl can dream, can't she?

Aw, c'mon, Jeb...give us a break!