New Year's Goals

I would have liked to compare my New Year's goals to the ones I set out last year, and see which ones were accomplished. But it looks like I didn't make any resolutions last year.

For many years I didn't make New Year's resolutions at all. It's true that most people give up on them pretty quickly and return to life as usual. But then I read that people who succeed have written down their goals. That's a pretty good incentive to write them down.

So here's my list:

1. I've been published a number of times in small publications. This year it's time to break into the better-known and better-paid markets.

2. Today I've taken down one of the barriers that stopped me from selling items on Ebay. Now I'm going to learn how to do that and put up some things we just don't need anymore.

3. I bought a Dana NEO today, a word processor that weighs under 2 pounds and can be toted around anywhere I feel like writing. That's going to be my incentive to write more.

4. I'm going to learn to use the digital camera better and take photos to accompany my articles.

5. I'll take a writing class either online or in person. Maybe more than one, but let's say at least one.

6. I write articles about frugal living but then I'm not so sure I'm as frugal as I'd like to be. I'm going to try to save more money but still have an interesting and varied life.

Let's see which of these I'll have accomplished by this time next year.

Fashion Fantasies

On December 26th, my birthday, we went to the museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. You can't take photos inside the museum, but we wandered into the entrance to the college itself and found an exhibit of fantasy clothing designed by students. There was no restriction on photography there so I snapped a number of photos of humanoid models in clothing that has never been worn on Earth. Some of it couldn't, like the pinata-style garb for a female centaur.

Inside the museum, we viewed the exhibit on "Seduction," a retrospective of erotic male and female garb from the 18th century to today. Jason especially liked a dark green velvet ball gown. It reminded me a bit of the gown Scarlett O'Hara fashioned out of velvet curtains, on her way to seduce Rhett into giving her the tax money (what a coincidence).

I found the Goth exhibit downstairs more interesting. I've always had a fascination for costumes, and these fashions were more like costumes than everyday wear. Black predominated, of course, and the connection to Victorian mourning attire was obvious. Many of the clothes were quite impractical, such as a jacket that came up over the head, and a gown that appeared to have elongated sequins. Upon closer examination, they turned out to be microscope slides, shining against the blood-red gown.

Behind a mirror, there were humanoid models wearing modern street Goth attire. Black leather jackets painted with skulls, and so on. This was more like outfits I'd seen in real life -- only far more artistic.

After this we travelled uptown to try and get into the Museum of Modern Art, but gave up the project when we saw that there were people lined up all around the block. MOMA is free on Friday nights, and this combined with the holiday season drew out a huge crowd. Instead, we headed down to the Village and ate out at the Washington Square Diner.

A Fishy Christmas

We were supposed to have friends over to discuss the future of healthcare in America this afternoon, but everyone seemed to have something else to do. Fortunately it was a sunny and warmish day (around 50 degrees for a while) and we needed to renew Jason's membership anyway, so it was the perfect way to spend a day that would have otherwise been a downer.

I took 185 photos but deleted a lot of them. Fish and other aquatic animals are always on the move, so it was very hard to get sharp photos of them. The most cooperative critters were the anemones and sea stars that clung to rocks and didn't travel.

This was Bruce's first time seeing not-so-little Akitusaaq, the baby walrus. He's gotten a lot bigger but is still a baby, and he seems to love playing with a white plastic shovel.

It was even warm enough to go to the outdoor show and see Osborn the sea lion do his tricks. Osborn dances and gives sea lion kisses to the kids in the front row.

We had a great time admiring the animals on a day when only a handful of people came to the Aquarium. There were no crowds and it was easy to see anything we chose. It was a fun and relaxing afternoon, just what we needed.

Grand Central Christmas

On Tuesday we stopped off at Grand Central Station to see the holiday train exhibit at the Transit Museum shop. I always enjoy toy train exhibits but this one had a distinctive New York City flavor and that made it more fun. There was even a stuffed King Kong climbing the model Empire State building.

The buildings, tiny people, checkered cabs and buses on the streets added extra detail and charm. Little children were ringed around the enclosure, their eyes wide. I was one of many adults snapping photos right and left.

After we finished with the train exhibit we walked around Grand Central some more and I took photos of the holiday-themed desserts in Zaro's window. They looked delicious but almost too beautiful to consider eating.

For the finale, we watched the holiday laser show on the station's ceiling. I didn't attempt to photograph this, because it was all moving too fast. After it was over we headed home, having feasted our eyes on this most colorful season.

Sex Trafficking and the New Abolitionists

Yesterday Bruce and I attended a panel discussion on Sex Trafficking and the New Abolitionists at the Brooklyn Museum. The panelists were Taina Bien-Aime, Executive Director of Equality Now and Rachel Lloyd, Executive Director of GEMS (Girls Education and Mentoring Services), and the panel was moderated by the acclaimed activist, Gloria Steinem.

While it was exciting to see Gloria Steinem in person, we were really there to learn more about the topic and to bring that information back to the Brooklyn Humanist Community in order to figure out what our group can do to help stop sex trafficking and possibly help survivors. We learned that GEMS is the one group in New York State that serves domestically trafficked girls and women.

I learned quite a lot about the sex trafficking problem. The average age of entry into sex trafficking in the U.S. is 13. It is so frequent that there has been a name given to the "Minnesota pipeline" through which young girls and women from Minnesota are brought into the sex trade in NYC through offers of bogus jobs. All around us, this exploitation and enslavement is happening, and yet we often don't even recognize it.

There are actually more people enslaved today than were enslaved during the 19th century, before the Emancipation Proclamation. We're led to believe it is a thing of the past, but it is not.

While the problem is enormous, the panelists and Ms. Steinem reminded us not to sink into hopelessness. It is not inevitable: many societies, especially some of the oldest (hunter/gatherer) societies do not have prostitution or rape. Not only that, but Ms. Steinem pointed out that while one of 3 women will be raped or sexually molested in her lifetime, that does not mean that one of three men is a rapist. The average rapist has attacked 14 women, so clearly it is not typical of men. I'm glad this fact was brought out because in some of the earlier feminist writings I recall the "every man is a potential rapist" argument, and I hardly think it is fair to men.

However, rape and prostitution are the products of a power imbalance. The panelists also scrutinized the idea of consent. 89-94% of prostitutes were sexually abused, often as children. So can they be said to have "consented" to become prostitutes?

Ms. Bien-Aime of Equality Now spoke of the struggle to shut down some of the sex tourism travel agencies in New York City. At first the authorities weren't interested but ironically, Elliott Spitzer was a big help in getting the first one, Big Apple Oriental Tours, shut down. She spoke also of what a betrayal it felt like when former Governor Spitzer was caught up in his involvement with prostitutes.

Ms. Bien-Aime also talked about the efforts to get legislation passed that would decriminalize the women and children who have been forced into prostitution, and punish the traffickers and the customers ("johns") instead. Apparently Sweden passed a model law in 1999 that does just this. Sex trafficking into Sweden has been reduced as a result but, sadly, has increased in neighboring countries.

For many years I thought that legalizing prostitution was a good idea because then the prostitutes would be medically checked and there would be less chance of spreading disease. But the panelists pointed out that in places where prostitution is legal, the exploitation continues. We heard that in Nevada, legal prostitutes are kept in isolated buildings in the desert, behind barbed wire, and the women are not free to leave. They are in debt to the people who own the business, and are overcharged for everything ($5 for a bowl of ramen soup) so that they aren't able to leave.

Furthermore, in Germany, where prostitution is legal, there was a situation where a woman who lost her job was offered a position as a prostitute and told by government officials that if she didn't accept the job she would lose her unemployment benefits! They backtracked after there was a public outcry but it's outrageous that she was given such a "choice" in the first place.

In New York a law has been passed creating a safe harbor for youth who were forced into prostitution, treating them as clients for child welfare rather than slapping them into the juvenile justice system. But there needs to be more awareness, especially now when the precarious economy makes those who are vulnerable to exploitation even more vulnerable.

There are groups springing up, calling themselves new abolitionists and working to stop sex trafficking, but resistance at the top (government officials) has been strong. In India, abolitionists have taken to staging raids on brothels and rescuing women and children out of them.

Ms. Lloyd told us about her own life experience as a survivor of sex trafficking. Her organization, GEMS, educates young survivors to be able to take up other professions, and she stressed that they receive training in lucrative, non-traditional professions, not sewing and waiting on tables.

The GEMS film, "Very Young Girls" was on Showtime last Thursday, and we could probably rent it in order to have a screening and discussion on the issue. We also heard about a movie called "Trade" on the same issue.

It was fascinating to see Gloria Steinem in person after all these years. She was informed and sharp but soft-spoken, simply getting the information out there to us.

This was an excellent learning experience and I hope we will be able to do some work on this issue in the BHC. I didn't get a chance to ask what a small organization like ours can do, but I will look into it.

Whodunit?

Years ago, I took a class in genre writing with Marvin Kaye. He taught us the formulas for several genres of writing: Science Fiction, Suspense, and Mystery. At that time mysteries seemed more clear cut. There was one body (a character we barely knew and didn't particularly sympathize with), several suspects, and one master detective to put all the clues together.

Today, mysteries have become far more complex. There may be more than one detective at work, and their characters are far better drawn than the detectives of the past (other than Sherlock Holmes that is). Not only that, but there may be more than one criminal at work, and there are almost always multiple bodies.

It makes for more interesting reading than the more straightforward mysteries of the past. I just finished Dr. Death by Jonathan Kellerman. I've been a fan of his Alex Delaware series for quite some time now. This was a convoluted tale, all right. I figured out one of the murderers before he was revealed in the book, and another was obvious, but the third seemed to come completely from left field. I suppose the clues were there, but maybe I missed them.

So is it better for the reader to be able to guess "whodunit" partway through the book, or should we be in suspense until the bad guy/gal is finally revealed? Is it good to feel cleverer than the clever detective, or more satisfying to watch a brilliant mind at work?

I'm glad I figured out the identity of the worst of the killers, but it's also fascinating to be surprised and then groan when the "obvious" clues are recounted. I'm also glad that mysteries are more complex and psychologically engaging than they used to be. They're also more gruesome, but I'll have to take the bad with the good.

Another Publication

Yesterday I received notification that another of my articles, "Finding a Frugal Mate," will be published in an upcoming issue of "The Dollar Stretcher." When it comes out I will attach the link here.

This is great news because it's my third publication with "The Dollar Stretcher." Now I feel ready to approach some of the better known magazines that pay a higher rate. I have been searching on Writers' Market online for magazines and their guidelines.

With the economy tanking, and several million jobs likely to disappear in the next couple of years, saving money will probably be foremost on a lot of people's minds for some time to come. So I will keep on looking into articles I can write about frugal living.