Guns & Other Stuff

After two shootings in the past two weeks I am forced to comment on the topic. I have heard multiple times, “Don’t politicize this right now. It’s inappropriate.” If we’re honest with ourselves we would recognize that the issue and incidents are already political. A number of politicians were elected to create policies and laws that influence every aspect of our daily lives; in other  cases policies were not enacted or bills drafted thanks to people saying “Don’t politicize this.” Voters and constituents may or may not have been paying attention in order to hold said policy makers accountable. Policies allowed the perpetrator in Aurora, CO to obtain 6,000 rounds of ammo in just a few months, and policies (or lack thereof, thanks in large part to the NRA) made it so that not even an eyebrow was raised over the fact that a 24 year old student who was unexplainably withdrawing from a doctoral program while simultaneously seeking psychiatric treatment was obtaining such weaponry.

When I even begin to breach the topic with people I’ve heard two other objections. Objection 1: People who want to commit violence will do so with or without guns. Objection 2: If our lawmakers outlaw the sale of semi-automatic ‘assault’ weapons, what’s next?

My response to Objection 1: 12 people wouldn’t be dead if the perpetrator had used a baseball bat or his fist. Period. That being said I am not advocating for removal of what we like to believe are our Second Amendment rights or overlooking the fact the Aurora, CO perpetrator also had homemade explosives. The fact that the Second Amendment was intended for something else entirely is for another argument. However, I recognize that as Americans, and more specifically as Montanans, we value our “right” to possess arms. I also recognize that the “bad guys” will get guns even if they’re ‘illegal.’ 

My response to Objection 2: I initially thought “Why do we need assault rifles in the first place?” And questions as to where we draw the line has made me consider the flaws in my own question. Sort of. I, personally, do not own a single gun, and I doubt I will ever own a semi-automatic ‘assault’ weapon. I can’t imagine ever having the need or desire to fire hundreds of rounds of ammunition in just a few moments. I, however, use many of the same “Where do we draw the line?” arguments when fighting for reproductive choice for women. So, basically, I get where this going. 

My thoughts for everyone everywhere: Saying that we can do nothing more to prevent massacres like those in Aurora, CO, Oak Creek, WI, and countless other incidents around the nation is defeatist and heartbreaking. Changing one policy isn’t the answer. It isn’t going to be easy. But I can’t believe we’ve done all we can do when the frequency of incidents such as these is increasing at alarming rate. I challenge you, myself, all of us to have open, honest discussions about possible solutions. I challenge us to hear people out, to open our hearts and minds to prevent things like this from happening. I challenge each of us to challenge ourselves.

Just as we should respect those who are mourning the loss of their loved ones and friends, and the loss of a sense of security in a movie theater or a place of worship, we should also use this time to unite to develop effective policy solutions to real world issues and to help all of us regain trust in our neighbors and work toward a true sense of community.

Faith vs. Grace

I recently attended a service at Faith Chapel with a friend who is new to Billings. Why, you ask? For starters, I talk a lot of crap about things I hear about Faith, but I had never actually been. Second, Jenn mentioned that she knows many seemingly progressive folks who attend there as do I. Jenn is kind of church shopping in Billings, so I told her I’d check it out with her. Also, mega churches scare me. Something about a 10,000 member congregation makes it seem impossible to have a sense of true community. Right or wrong, my church life (at Grace United Methodist, in case you’re curious) is way more about community than probably anything else.

When we arrived (of course I was late) there was a video being projected onto two huge screens on either side of the stage, and we had to wait to be seated until the lights came up. The video primarily flashed a bunch of random images. Images of minority-owned businesses that had been vandalized, images of half-naked young (I believe they were mostly young) people in a forrest apparently with a web of white string/rope that became blood stained near the end of the video, and very graphic images of “Jesus,” looking as Norwegian as ever, hanging on the cross. There was no discussion or analysis of the video throughout the entire service, though. Bizarre.

Then the stage lit up and a rock band started singing hymns (I’m assuming they were Four Square hymns anyway), and eventually the congregation was asked to stand and join in the singing while the words were projected on the big ass screens where we had just watched the bizarre video footage.

And then there was the sermon, from a visiting pastor. I don’t remember his name, but I believe he was from Spokane. The entire sermon was about how Jesus calls us to “bear our cross and die.” There was a lot of talk about how Jesus said being Christian means you will have to suffer and will be persecuted. The message that I heard was, “If you’re not suffering, you’re not doing it right.” But then the pastor kept saying that this wasn’t about guilt. There was no discussion about the historical context in which the Bible was written, or the fact that Christianity may have changed over the past two thousand years. Furthermore, to use Jenn’s idea, I really felt like a message was sent to congregation that if Kayla and Jenn tell you you’re wrong for hating homosexuals it’s only because they’re persecuting you for being Christian, even though I somewhat identify as Christian. At the end of the sermon the pastor asked people to join in song and to move toward to the front of the room as a symbol of accepting Jesus. Jenn and I escaped before we could see anymore.

I’m tempted to check it out again to learn more about the gay hating and the fact that there are no women in leadership. But I don’t want to get sucked in, and I feel kind of skeezy if I go just to “spy.” By the way, nice multimillion dollar building, Faith. Do you see how many homeless people are the Hub every day while you’re busy buying new electric guitars?

I will share some more thoughts on this adventure later. I just thought I’d get an entry up because it’s been a while. I’m hoping to get my schedule together to blog more regularly.

Full Transparency

Have you heard of Norwex? Just in case you haven’t here’s a little info. The company claims that it desires to “improve quality of life by radically reducing the use of chemicals in personal care and cleaning.” It sells said products through independent sales consultants. I was formerly an Independent Consultant with The Body Shop, and I was excited to learn about a company like Norwex not only for the income potential but also a product line I could get excited about!

I started exploring the possibility of becoming a sales consultant with Norwex, and one of those steps, for me, was to confirm the validity of their claims. I searched high and low for a list of ingredients used in their products and found no such list. I contacted Women's Voices for the Earth (WVE) after finding nothing on Norwex’s or WVE’s websites. WVE confirmed the lack of transparency on Norwex’s part, making it impossible for WVE, or anyone for that matter, to determine if Norwex’s products are truly as safe as they claim.

I then contacted Norwex via email to see if maybe, just maybe, there was a list of ingredients available somewhere beyond the grasp of the interwebs and its mighty search engines. This is the response I received:

Hi Kayla,

 Thank you for the email.

 Cleaning product manufacturers are not required to list ingredients except for the ones that are hazardous and those will be on the MSDS. If customers are allergic to certain ingredients you can email those to us and we will check with the manufacturer if they are in the product.

The ingredients for the skin care products are listed on the box of the product and also in the Product Manual.

Thank you,

 R---

**I removed the individual's name to be respectful as no title was included in the signature.

This frustrates me so, and so I started a petition on Change.org and decided to write this entry. I recognize that the law does not force full disclosure, but I truly believe that a company that claims to radically reduce the use of chemicals in personal care and cleaning products should go above the expectations of regulation to provide peace of mind to its customers. I cannot be confident that the company is truly reducing chemicals in our lives if it is not fully transparent, and I can only assume that others feel the same way. There are too many cleaning product manufacturers that claim to have safe products that aren’t actually safe. Additionally, I am fearful that Norwex’s independent sales consultants are selling a product to customers that may not actually be as safe as they, consultants and customers alike, think. This is a terrible position to be in as an independent consultant. 

For these reasons I ask that you sign the petition to encourage Norwex to work toward a more transparent future. I hope to get at least 1,000 signatures, so please share far and wide.

Better Than This

This postcard from PostSecret made me reflect upon many of the organizations I have worked in or worked closely with, and sadly it can be so true.

Let’s develop a working definition of social justice before moving forward. The best I can do is to describe what a socially just society (or organization) looks like. It is one based on the principles of equality and solidarity. It understands and values human rights, and recognizes and protects the dignity of every human being.

Having become involved in many organizations that work toward social justice in recent years I’ve seen how messed up they can be. Or else perhaps I like to think that some organizations are more committed to social justice than they actually are, so I pass a harsher judgement? I’m not certain any more.

Anyway, after I shared the postcard on my Facebook page someone asked me to explain, so I will attempt to do that. One way to work toward social justice is to build power. Power, as defined by Social Justice Fund NW, is the capacity of a group of people to decide what they want and to act in an organized way to get it. Once that power is built it can be used to create systemic change, which can (and arguably should) include changing the unjust power relations that currently exist.

So, yucky organizations that claim to be “social justice” organizations but don’t practice what they preach. An example of one such organization, which will not be named, does not make decisions based on equality and does not protect the dignity of its employees. The leadership in said organization works to prevent employees from building power, which in turn prevents unjust power relations from being changed. When these things are happening internally it is difficult to believe that the organization is truly committed to creating change externally.

Social justice is a heavy subject, and certainly no organization or individual can flawlessly execute “social justice.” However, it does, as the postcard says, pain me to see how epically some organizations fail at having socially just internal policies.

You Shall Not be Forgotten

Today is a day we are called to remember those who have sacrificed for our country. What’s the saying? “All gave some; some gave all.” On this day I am grateful beyond words for the sacrifices of all of those who have served in our armed forces. However, the way we treat these heroes in this country, a country that has long claimed to be the greatest country on Earth, saddens me nearly every day. 

According to this about one-third of the adult homeless population are veterans. Another 1.5 million other veterans are considered at risk of homelessness. Regardless of my personal feelings about the conflicts in which our nation is currently engaged, the men and women of the armed forces deserve better treatment than this. In addition to homelessness, many veterans suffer from PTSD, lack of family and social support networks, substance abuse, etc., and, from my experience with vets, many (if not most) are unable to access services they need.

I’m not sure how to solve the complex problem of veterans’ issues, but I do know we can do better than we are doing now. On this day I only write to share my heartbreak over how the heroes in our society are treated and to express my desire to see change there. We must do better by those who sacrifice so much so that we may enjoy the freedoms we do.

It's racism and classism, stupid!

I have recently had conversations with people in my life about what money and class mean to them, and what an individual’s relationship to and perception of money and class means for an individual’s spending habits, philanthropic giving, etc.. To say the responses have been varied would be a understatement. These conversations have me thinking about a very complex topic: economics. 

Disclaimer: Although I did achieve an “A” in both micro- and macroeconomics, I am fully aware that I have a limited understanding of the things I will discuss next and am no way an expert on the topic. Bear with me.

Back to economics. We all know that unemployment is “high” in comparison to, say, 15 years ago. I hope we all know that unemployment is always higher for minority groups. If you didn’t know that check this link. It turns out society and mainstream media don't really give a shit until the unemployment affects the “average white male.” Anyway, I digress. 

Econ. Lately we’ve been fed this fallacy that the rich are job creators, and if we tax them they will stop creating jobs. As it turns out our economic system is designed so that the only thing to create jobs is demand, and the rich don’t consume 60% more just because their incomes are 60% higher. Don't believe that? Ask Stephen King. If I were a business owner (rich or not) I wouldn’t hire because my taxes were cut; I would hire when demand reached a point that made an additional employee necessary to maintain a level of customer satisfaction that would ensure continued consumption of my good or service. The way to increase demand is to empower the middle class to consume, but consumption requires money. When wages are stagnant and inflation is anything but the middle class consumes at a slower rate. All of that to make a few points: 1) The rich are not job creators just because they have more money or pay a lower tax rate and 2) We as a society teach and are taught that we will be happy when we consume. This desire to consume (and be “happy”) is what keeps our economic system alive, creates jobs, creates an upper class and middle class, and so much more. 

We as humans are happy when we consume. The more that we consume the more jobs there are for the ‘middle class.’ When there are more jobs for the ‘middle class’ said class has more money. When the ‘middle class' has more money it desires to consume more.

Does consumption really make us happy? If not, how do we go about creating sustainable jobs? Hoarding money isn’t the answer, but buying a bunch of shit has never made me truly happy either. Philanthropic giving can only create so many jobs. We must be more than mice in a wheel, right?