Just my little corner of the Interweb
As I mentioned earlier, I grew up in MN, so the 35W bridge crash hit close to home for me. My friend, Sweetie, is helping to organize a craft sale to benefit the families of the victims of the crash. If you are in the Minneapolis area, please consider going to the sale next week, September 6, at Grumpy’s downtown.
For more info, check out the announcement at Crafty Planet.
I sent off a few contributions to the sale last Friday:
I’m happier today with my haircut than I was on Monday. The difference? For one, all of the “product” is now out of my hair, and I’m no longer dizzy from the fumes. Also, I can actually run my fingers through my hair without catching it on some crusty goop. The other difference is that I have my hair pulled back. I never wear my hair down completely – there’s always a barrette or two, a clip, a headband or a wrap holding it out of my face. Frankly, I think I look much cuter with it pulled back. (And, it doesn’t annoy me as much.)
My hair feels funny on my head, though. I suspect this won’t last much longer, as I’ll get used to it fairly quickly. The difference is that it swings more than it did when it was another 12″ longer. I find myself swinging my head from side to side just to feel it move.
Oh, one other thing. Someone left a comment on a couple of my Flickr pics of my hair and haircut. The comment said something like, “Too bad Locks of Love will probably just sell your hair. They only make 20-30 wigs a year, and sell the other donations.” I deleted the comments and banned the user from commenting on my pictures. According to the Locks of Love website, they use donated hair to manufacture hair pieces for children who have been nominated by a parent, nurse, or doctor.
But, I would be fine if they did sell my hair and use the proceeds for synthetic wigs. Human-hair wigs are expensive, and according to the Locks of Love website, it takes 6-10 ponytails to make one wig. And, they still have to pay the manufacturing cost, which I imagine is expensive (they only list the retail price of the wig, which is $3500 – 6000). Synthetic wigs are much less expensive, and, according to a wig FAQ are much easier to care for.
The commenter sounds like a bitter person who can’t see past their own selfishness.
…maybe it’s the foot of hair that’s missing.
Yup. You heard me right. A foot of hair.
Here’s my before and after:
  
And the leftover ponytail of hair:
That ponytail is going to be sent off to Locks of Love, a charity that makes wigs from hair donations to give to kids losing their hair due to chemotherapy.
Normally, I wouldn’t cut my hair this short, but I wanted to donate at least a foot. I can’t say I really like the results of the cut, but I don’t hate it, either. I’m also a bit dizzy from the “product” stench emanating from my hair right now. The main problem is that it’s too short to make a ponytail. But, you know what, that’s not so bad when you think about the good that my donation will do for some kid who is bald or has patchy hair due to medical problems. My hair will grow back, and I should be able to do a ponytail in another couple months, so I’m going to stop complaining now.
I was recently involved in a discussion (or, rather, a heated comment exchange) on another blog relating to animal shelters. This is one of those topics where its hard to get any real information out of people because they have such strong feelings about shelters. Buried in the comments on the blog post, there were a few useful nuggets of information, but there were so many hate messages that any opportunity for education was lost in the noise. To prevent that the discussion from going to waste, I’m going to summarize some of the useful bits here.
I’ve been fortunate enough to never have had a pet that I felt I couldn’t control or needed to give away. I have one cat who is quite trying at times, but it’s never entered my mind to give him up or have him put down for his behavior. I do realize, though, that there are pets out there who have emotional problems, and there are times when current owners feel that they just cannot cope any more.
There are a lot of bad reasons to get rid of a pet, and only a few good reasons. If you feel that your family is in danger from your pet, either because he or she has gotten very aggressive, has started growling at family members, or has even bitten a family member, that might be a good reason (though, if you can, you might want to consult a professional animal trainer while keeping the pet separated from the family).
For other problems, your first resource should be your veterinarian — they have a lot of experience with animals, and may have some very specific advice for how to handle behavioral problems. There are also a lot of on-line resources, such as Can We Help You Keep Your Pet?, NOVA Animal Hospital, and Humane Society of Missouri Helpline. Don’t give up quickly on your furry friend – you chose to have them in your life, and made a commitment to their well-being when you took them into your home.
There are alternatives to the municiple or humane-society shelters. One of the best resources you might have are animal rescues. These are oraganizations who take in dogs and/or cats, often of a specific breed, and place them in foster homes until permanent housing can be found. By contacting a rescue organization, you know that your pet will not be put-down, and will find a loving home, as most of them (all of them?) require potential new pet-owners to go through an interview and home-visit before placing a pet in their home. They strive to match households with to the animals’ personalities, such as those who would do well with children or those who need to be the only pet in the house.
Animal rescue resources:
In addition to rescue organizations, there are a few no-kill shelters around. These are places that will not put down any animals left in their care. However, since there are more stray animals and unwanted pets than these no-kill shelters can house, many of them are full to capacity.
Some no-kill shelter resources:
There are some cases where you need to get the pet out of the house and other resources have failed or are too slow. If you must use a shelter (and please, please, please explore the other alternatives first), keep in mind a few things.
This advice goes for everyone, not just those thinking about leaving their pet at a shelter. Rescue organizations and no-kill shelters usually run on donations, so every few dollars you donate will buy another bag of food or perhaps another place for an animal to live.
I’d like to invite anyone to share either a success story about a shelter animal you’ve taken in or to advertise your favorite rescue organization in the comments.
I know that this topic elicits strong emotions – I don’t like shelters, either. However, I will be monitoring the comments closely, and any abusive or hate-filled posts will be deleted and the IPs from which those comments originated will be banned from leaving any future comments on this site. This is my playground, and I get to set the rules.
Fla. Agency Gets Teen’s Abortion Blocked
The state’s social services agency was granted a court order to block an abortion for a pregnant 13-year-old girl living in a state shelter, prompting an emergency appeal Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union.
So, a 13-year-old isn’t old enough to make a decision about legally ending a pregnancy, but she’s old enough to go through pregnancy and childbirth?
This case reminds me of a play called Keely and Du by Jane Martin. The premise of the play was that a young woman, Keely, is kidnapped on her way to an abortion clinic. Her kidnappers are members of a fundamentalist group who plan to hold her handcuffed to a bed until she cannot legally get an abortion. The play centers around the relationship between the Keely and her caregiver, Du. It was a very powerful play, to say the least.
Of course, in the case of the 13-year-old, the fundamentalist group is DCF, and they aren’t handcuffing her to a bed. No, they’re using the legal system. DCF should be ashamed.
[Via Bitch. Ph.D.]
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