December Just Posts

This month we celebrate the first year of Just Posts. When Mad and I threw our social justice wedding last year I had no idea then how the relationship would unfold. Would we get along? Would it last? Not surprisingly, it's been a year of social justice bliss. As the year unfolded we went global and added some aunties to the mix, raised a bit of money and even had a house sitter once too. And all of you, many who've been here since the wedding who faithfully write and read and send the links. It's only a roundtable because of all of you and it's enriched my life in so many ways. And recently, after some prompting from our maid of honor we decided it was time to take it to the next level: we decided to have a baby. More of a birthing than a baby and we've called her Volunteerism. And in the spirit of the wedding that started it all we decided to throw a baby shower where gifts were commitments to volunteer. Birth to a cause, birth to a supportive community movement. For anyone who wanted to join us.

And so many of you did. So before I unwrap mine let's open yours. Gifts from the heart from many outstanding writers who decided they too felt ready to get it on and birth some change. So without further ado or even a party game:

The Beautiful Baby Shower Gifts:
Jenn with Let's change the world, shall we?
Omaha Mama with Giving more and Teaching to Give Back
Andrea with Enough, again.
CCE with A words: Altruism and Asceticism
De with Oh baby,I can help
Sage with Birthing in chains
Karen with Baby shower treats
Alejna with Gifts and thanks
Jennifer with New Year's resolving
Reality Testing with Project Snuggle and Flutter's original idea in 2006 there once was a girl
Aliki with Newton's third law
Painted Maypole with Unto us a child is born
Sin with Win-win

And De and Flutter set up a trust fund for the baby, a fabulous idea to inspire philanthropy (or penalize bad behavior) but either way, it's fantastic.

This was so humbling, witnessing us digging deeper and pushing ourselves a little more. To choose to volunteer and/or to support others who are. So many courageous calls to action, so many new ways to support our individual communities. The gifts of our time and conscious intent. It is truly an honor to be a part of this celebration of justice and action.

And now for my baby gift to all of you and in honor of our Mad Librarian: I pondered for a while as to the perfect gift for the occasion, one that would show my appreciation for the Just Post community while also supporting a worthwhile cause. And I think I've found something that fits both: I have signed up to volunteer at our local public library. They have a volunteer group who does a variety of things including fundraising, book sales, drives, and outreach as well activities to enhance learning and programming for kids. And I signed up to join them, to give my time each month to volunteer for a cause closest to Mad's heart in honor of her year long commitment to nurturing the Just Posts, to being willing to reach, and for teaching me things I'd not have learned otherwise. And I never would have done this had it not been for all of you. So this is my gift and my way of saying thanks. Thank you for opening my mind beyond poverty and beyond my work and allowing me to explore ways I can get differently involved.

So here, eat some cake. We've even got some champagne. The baby's out now so we can all drink and toast the goodness that this sphere can bring. Hearts and minds coming together earnestly, to make the world a better place, one cause at a time. Brava, friends. Brava.

Here's to another year of the Just Post Community. (Can you hear the glasses clinking?)

The Just Posts
Laura at Twenty Five Days to Make a Difference
Lawyer Mama with Christmas in Omaha
Magpie with 13 Ways to Help
Painted Maypole with God loves Fags
Reluctant Memsahib with it's the corruption that's the problem
Victoria with Give
The Chick with AIDS facts you should know
Jeff with Bless the invisible children
Mir on blogher with Dutch Diplomats, a Korean Adoptee, and the Unthinkable
Suzanne Reisman on Blogher with Dec. 17 is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers and When Will We See Some Female Geeks?
Chatoyance with Books will fly through the air for children
Jenn with full circle
Sin with 28
Frieda with What I would pray for, if I prayed
Hearts in SanFran with Only the good die young
HearthTalks with Putting it in perspective
Liz with AIDS: No longer your friendly neighborhood appetite suppressant
Chani with Sanuk is not a four letter word
Veronica with Give
Jen with it's coming on christmas, two little girls, two little girls, pt 2
Lost White Kenyan Chick with Electioneering and corruption
Laloca with Joseph Heller couldn't've come up with this
City Girl with thinking out loud
Ida with Gay and Homeless: The numbers to back it up
Quaker Dave with There are no words
Denguy with Everyone should eat
Jangari with Intervening into the intervention
Emily with Lazy mother's guide to saving the planet
The Individual Voice with Christmas in Iraq and Afganistan
Babylune with it's series of posts culminating with the generous december group writing project
MauiGirl with No more death penalty in New Jersey
Reya with What's important
Samsara with giving to organizations and if you can find money to kill people

Some of the many readers:
TIV: The Individual Voice
Crazymumma
LawyerMama
Painted Maypole
Chani
Jennifer
Mayberry Mom
Pundit Mom
JULIE!
Su
Hel
Mad
Jen

It goes without saying that you should check out the celebrations going on at Mad's, Hel's and Su's. Thank you again for joining us. If you are new to the party, we are here every month on the 10th, celebrating writings of social justice in all shapes and sizes. And sometimes more.

And as a perfect end to the party, I'll be hanging out with Bon, Mad and Andrea tonight at 6pm PST talking about Just Posts, social justice and probably little people too. Go here if you want to join in on the fun.

words, action, community (let's get this party started)

Words are power. They can cut and cleanse, strengthen and wound. Kind words can ease sorrow, intricate words spread joy just from their existence. Course words can smart, in good and bad ways. Vitriol can spoil but sometimes shows up, thankfully much less so in our village than other parts of the sphere. We writers of words understand these things, we wield them willfully and carefully, we drop them off or wrap them around each other. Sometimes we hold back or say too little. Or our lack of words might speak louder in their absence. Sometimes we let it roar.

The Just Posts try to gather a lot of these words; words of harmony and pleading, yearning for change and anger at the present. Frustration, sadness, joy, hope. Going back and reading so many submissions remind me of the intrinsic power in each and every one. We write because we hope. We hope for change. And often that is enough. Peace, like so many things, begins with one. One word, a thought, shared, assimilated, neurons kick and mull it over, tides pull. Change.

And so much of the past year of nurturing the Just Posts have been about this simple power. The power to share stories and have others respond. Sometimes with words, sometimes with action. But we respond. Our neurons rise up. They stretch. Change.

That's how the baby came into being. Reading so many of your words about what you feel, what you long for, what matters now and what should matter more. That's when it struck me that I can do more. That I want to do more. A birth, a call, and I hope an inspiration for you join us as the Just Posts come together to add another place at the table. A space to talk about volunteerism and if it matters, why it matters, and if there is something you are called to do. To commit. To support those commitments. Words, action, community.

It's coming on the anniversary celebration of the Just Posts so please send us writings about social justice big or small, yours or another to girlplustwoATyahooDOTcom before the 7th and you'll be included at our Roundtable on the 10th. And if you write a post for the Baby Shower, send us that link too because this month is special and we are celebrating it as such with a baby named Volunteerism. We are birthing a movement and all are welcome to join as fits for each of you, words or action, both, or simply in the cheering section. Change. Words. Action. Community.

If this is new to you click on the the link above or on one of the Just Post buttons to your right or feel free to email me. We want to celebrate this month, justice in words, justice in action. It all radiates. And all are welcome.

Just Posts: We're having a baby

It's been a year since the Social Justice Wedding that started the Just Posts, a year of much love, happiness and fulfillment. Yet like any couple we've taken some time recently to evaluate our relationship to make sure we are still giving it all we've got, making it the most it can be. We consulted our sister Just Post hosts Hel and Su, listened to friends and our Maid of Honor and it was there we realized what comes next for the Just Posts.

A Baby. Mad and I have decided to have a baby. But it's really a Just Post baby and it will belong to all of us. And we need your help.

Having a baby is often the next step in a relationship born of truth and love. Our wedding birthed a community, and now we are asking our community to birth a movement. A movement into action.

The Just Posts will continue and we'll continue to host all of the terrific writings for social justice in all shapes and sizes. But we are adding a baby and her name is Volunteerism. It's time to put all of our words into action. Collectively, separately. We are committing to writing and doing in whatever form that means for each of us.

And this is where all of you come in. A baby deserves a baby shower, and your gifts are your writings about what it will mean to give of your time, what extra steps you will take to give back to your community and to our world, and what commitments we can all hold each other accountable to and how we can cheer each other on as we go.

I'll go first. My baby gift to all of you is my pledge to volunteer 2 hours a month for a cause other than my work. By the time the Roundtable rolls around I'll have it sorted out and will give it to you proper. With bows. And earnest intent.

There were so many gifts at our wedding last year, and I realize we are asking you for more now, the precious gift of your time. But we can't have this baby without you. The baby needs her village, and our village is you. So share your gift with us before the 10th of January we'll add it to the registry at the Just Post Roundtable Anniversary Edition: The Baby Shower!

Let's put our time where our mouths are this year. Who's in? And who's going to plan the party games? And the food? And rub the belly? So much to do. So much to write. Join us.

In other news I tried my hand at a new printer recently - you can read the review here.

it's coming on christmas

Winters are hard when you have no place to live. It's colder and harder to sleep outside, you need to carry more belongings so you have more warmth available at night. And when you are sick it makes it so much worse. I've been noticing a lot of really sick people staggering in and lying down immediately. The fall asleep amidst the noise and the hustle, mouths open, arms clenched around a bag or two, so still in the middle of so much movement you stop and watch for a minute just to make sure they are actually still breathing.

But the Holidays bring out the community. Folks drop by with donations of blankets and old clothes, meals and good cheer. It's always an awkward balance, folks who come to visit are not always sure where to look because suffering is all around them when they walk in the door. They try not to notice the woman in the corner who is rocking and singing or the muttering guy huddled over his mashed potatoes. But someone is always there to welcome them and lend a hand to lift the parcels from their arms and hopefully thank them for their time.

A couple showed up the night before we knew the little girl's family had a place to go. They walked in laden with duffel bags filled with clothes and toys and towels and sheets. All new that they must have purchased that very same day. We brought you all of this they said to the mom so earnestly and kindly, if you don't mind we'd like to give it to you. The mom looks at me and pauses, she doesn't know what to say because it's so kind and yet she can't accept it, she's on foot with three kids and they can't carry another thing. Wow, I say that is so fantastic that you would do this. The problem is they can't carry it with them and have nowhere to go. But we are working on that so if you all agree I can hold onto it for them until it's sorted out.

The couple realizes their mistake in that instant, the thought of transporting the new stuff probably hadn't crossed their minds. Of course, the woman says, how silly of us. You need a home first. Yes, says the mother, but thank you so much.

No worries, I say and hand them my card. I promise I'll get it to them once they are settled. And we did just that, delivering these lovely new items along with the family when we dropped them off in their new temporary home. Items that will no doubt come in handy as the mom settles in and creates their new space.

As much as I fight it the holiday cheer seeps in, the goodness of strangers who make a point of reaching beyond themselves to help someone else, a feeling I want to bottle and then dole out all year long.