Treading on Trafficking - Week 1

It was my first week to complete Tread on Trafficking. I pledged 12 miles of running, three 45-minute sessions of weight lifting, and 1 hour of biking per week for eight weeks to raise awareness and money for Love146's fight against child sex slavery and exploitation.

This week I was sponsored for $218.00. Thank you so much to Rachel and Dave for their contributions! I have a goal of $500.00. If you'd like to help prevent human trafficking, please visit my page and donate!

So, let's see how I did for Week 1 of 8.

• Sunday - Nothing
• Monday - 3 mile run on treadmill
•                 45-minute session weight lifting
•                 (added bonus - 30 minute walk after dinner)
• Tuesday - Nothing, due to a long meeting.
• Wednesday - 3 mile run on treadmill
•                      45-minute session weight lifting
• Thursday - Zumba! 45 minutes
•                   3 mile run on treadmill
• Friday - 3 mile run on treadmill
•              45-minute session weight lifting
• Saturday - My plan was to bike. But my bike was not up to par. :(   So instead I did 2 hours of yardwork in my yard and in a friend's. 

So, that was it! 12 miles and three 45-minute workout sessions. I also went for walks, and joined Zumba just for fun!

You can join and be Treader, too! Just check out the link above!

Bridgeport Beautifies

Our team service project (TSP) was in full gear in April! There were mural workshops and workshops for seed starting and stone sculptures. To find out more, check out this blog.

TSP is certainly a challenge. You're thrown into a room with nine strangers and expected to invent a service project that has everyone's buy-in. Just add cameras and you've got the Real World of service-learning.

Yet, we successfully completed the big day for our TSP: the Park City Sweep. The Saturday involved city clean-up in 20 neighborhoods, with over 200 volunteers also engaging in new plantings, and repainting benches and picnic tables. Come June 4th, we'll have our Ribbon-Cutting ceremony at the downtown Bridgeport Public Library, to celebrate our installation of a community garden and new public mural.

My current responsibility is in the compilation and writing of a book documenting our project, "Bridgeport Beautifies." I am so excited to be doing this. I am writing about the importance of urban beautification as remediation for urban decay and unimaginative or problematic city planning. I get to talk about murals, gardens, guerilla seed bombing, and the vital importance of city cleanliness. We''re ordering a few copies, so if you're interested in seeing it, you'll have to check it out at the Bridgeport Library!

Tread on Trafficking

Today, I want to tell you about an organization called Love146. Love146 is intent on ending child sex slavery and exploitation. Heavy topic, right? Right. But there's something you can do to help.

First, let me tell you more about Love146. Their services not only include methods in preventing human trafficking, but also providing aftercare for child sex slave survivors. One of my fellow Public Allies is placed there and cares deeply about his work. I have taken one of their trainings in identifying victims of human trafficking, and though the content can be upsetting, the upside is that I learned ways of how I can do my part here in Connecticut. Yes, sex slavery with children does happen here.

And this is where you come in.

Love146 is currently holding "Tread on Trafficking." From their website:

Tread on Trafficking is a virtual event that happens across the globe beginning May 1st, 2011. Those who tread on trafficking put their foot down to raise awareness about child sex slavery and funds to care for survivors and those vulnerable to exploitation. Treaders ask sponsors to support them for the number of miles or hours they spend running, swimming, biking, or working out in some form over the eight week period of May & June. Becoming a treader is really simple, anyone, anywhere can sign up. All proceeds raised by those treading benefit the work of Love146.

I have signed up to be a Treader. I will run 12 miles per week, lift weights 3 times per week, and cycle for 1 hour per week for the eight weeks. I am asking, to anyone who is able, that you sponsor me in Tread on Trafficking (or become a Treader yourself!). My target goal is $500.00, but it would be awesome to go even further. You can check out my fundraising page here. (Your donation is tax-deductible and you will receive a tax receipt automatically if you use my page.)

I greatly and deeply appreciate anything you can do. Together, we can put an end to child slavery and exploitation.

Park City Sweep

Public Allies Bridgeport had an awesome weekend! We had our big Park City Sweep*, where we had over 200 volunteers out at 21 sites on Saturday for street clean up, plantings, and painting. Participating groups included United Way of Coastal Fairfield County's Wi-Mentor Program, high school teams from buildOn, and groups from Alpha Community Services, Sacred Heart University, and Fairfield Prep's Fathers & Sons Program.

 
 Even Mayor Finch decided to get in on the action and plant a tree at Washington Park!

There was a lot of fun to be had as we did our part in caring for Bridgeport.

We planted seedlings in the Library's new "Michelle Obama Garden."

The results of our Stone Sculpture workshop were laid out in the Library Garden.

These pickle barrels were repurposed into planters.

We send out a heartfelt thanks to all the volunteers and organizations that made this day possible!

For the big celebration, we will be having a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at the downtown Bridgeport Public Library on June 4th, from 12pm-3pm. Come out and have a good time!

*Even though the Sweep is over, you can still do your part! If you would like to continue participating in Groundwork Bridgeport's biannual Park City Sweep, please contact Jack Dillon at director@groundworkbridgeport.org or 203-335-6126. I've already signed up!

Earthplace in Westport

Lover and I visited the Westport Nature Center and cruised its trails. I've decided to start learning the manual settings on my camera, and Lover is helping me out. First practice shots:

Don't these fiddleheads look gigantic? They're actually the size of a half-dollar. Does anyone under twenty know what a half-dollar looks like?

Also, we came across this guy:

And, then, this guy:

He was alone, but he was a sight to behold. I walked one way, and Lover went looking around in another. I don't think he realized he became part of the photo shoot.

Oh! Now he's looking! Unfortunately, the only pic I got of this male in full-feathered array was blurry:

But he was quite the model, anyway.

So then we continued, and came upon a bog. 

I love turtles! Lover then pointed out this:

Can you guess what all those little black dots are?

If you said tadpoles, you are correct!

These guys were newly emerged. There were hundreds!

Next up, we saw another turkey:

This one didn't stick around for pictures, though. So, onward we walked, until we came upon Lover's favorite tree.

Big tree. While we stood, we were interrupted by noises in the brush.

There are two in the photo above, but in all there were five deer watching us.

 

Can you see three deer in the pic below?

 Ah, I love spring days in the forest. The green is well on its way.

Post-Holiday Week

I hope everyone enjoyed their past week, whether you celebrated a holiday, or two, or none. My week started with a Passover dinner with Lover's extended family. I heart: potato kugel, that apple-walnut spread, and matzoh balls! My goal is to learn how to make all those things and make them well. There were irreverent readings from the Haggadah (I always think Haagen-Dazs - delicious!), and much mingling.

(Do you notice something similar between the two? I'll give you a hint: Look at the small print.)

On Friday night we visited friends who were busy decorating eggs for Easter. I love decorating eggs, but I don't personally celebrate Easter (or Passover, for that matter), and Lover doesn't like hard-boiled eggs. It was nice to get to my egg-decoration fix at the house of someone who will enjoy them!

(I know I look stoned, I was super tired, okay?!?!)

On Sunday we had dinner with Lover's family and our old roommate (who recently moved out of our house). Lover's mother gave each of us a bagful of candy, cookies, colored eggs, and socks. Not only do socks break up the lovely ending alliteration in that last sentence, but they seem like a strange gift for Easter, right? I'm down with it, though. Socks are useful, and these were athletic "no-show" types that are perfect for the gym and running. So, they're a win!

What do you think of changing Easter traditions of sugary gift-giving to healthier, more practical endowments? I mean, my taste buds are all for the chocolate, but my waistline isn't! For the essential candy part, I think of special chocolate candies with real dark chocolate (more antioxidants) that is fair trade (no Ivory Coast child labor), complemented by gourmet jelly beans. Depending on the person's preferences, you could add heirloom vegetable seeds, homemade sugar scrubs, a jar of local honey (I'm on a big beekeeping bend right now!), a lovingly crocheted spring scarf, or some other simple gift. Even more practical would be socks, or a toothbrush and dental floss. What do you think? Got any ideas?

April Aprons

The sparrows have finally discovered the bird feeder in the kitchen window. In these months our only visitor has been Charlie. He likes to shovel fistfuls of birdseed down his squirrel-y gullet.

The sparrows aren't the only competition in town. I noticed another squirrel, this one scrappy looking and skinny, has been making a mess at the feeder recently. I've named her Ratface.

In the rush of spring fever, I have been pulling out unfinished projects and deciding which to trash and which to complete. I have begun knitting a pair of purple, finger-less gloves that I had started years ago. I also found this fabulous fabric I had purchased for an apron I never made.

I got out a pattern and the scissors last night and cut the pattern pieces out. I ironed out the fabric, and now I am prepared for tonight's step: cutting the fabric according to the pattern and pinning pieces together.

Two months ago, I had sewn a garden apron. I promised pics, and now here they be!

Perfect for carrying tools when I am out planting, weeding, and harvesting all summer long!

Have you made anything? Got an old project that you're beginning anew? Don't mind squirrels at the bird feeder? Leave a comment!