It's on her list

Black Friday is not for the faint of heart. Early morning, mad shoppers, crazy deals...mall cops...in-store infomercials. The fun never ends. According to the t shirts of 3 frenzied women, they averaged a total of 13 hours of shopping on black Fridays for the past six years. These people are crazy.

We chose to join in with our own form of crazy - you guessed it, social activism. My friend Nikki and I paired up with the God's Child project and Breaking the Chains and went to the Mall of America to tell shoppers about modern day slavery, which meant getting up at 3:30am and to the country's biggest mall by 4:30. Technically it wasn't a protest or a demonstration, but we did have a sign, some rope, and hundreds or thousands of fliers. Department stores opened at 5am so we worked our way through the mobs of people, telling them about slavery and asking them to check out our website. By the time we had made our way to the front of the line and the Macy's doors were opening, the mall cops were there. Apparently MOA is private property and they do not appreciate protests, demonstrations, or the solicitation of information. We fell into the last category, and were escorted off of mall property, with the promise to be arrested if we returned that same day. Fortunately the camera crew from TLC was also there, making a documentary on the mall cops at MOA. We gladly signed the release form with hopes of our cause being televised. Yeaaaah social activism.

It was then 5:30am and I was in the cities. My mom and sister were about to start shopping so I took a big breath and joined the madness. I got some sweet deals on Christmas gifts but lacked the enthusiasm of the most serious black Friday shoppers. And then we went to Slumberland Furniture. I am not, at this point in time, in the market for furniture. However, this place has amazing sales. As we walked in the door we were handed tickets for $25 of free merchandise, with no minimum purchase. All table-toppers were 75% off. Therefore one could find a candle, vase, or other sweet table topper normally priced at $100, take 75% off making the price $25, and then use the coupon. Three women walked out of the store with $300 worth of items without spending a cent. I had to check my reflection in the mirror to make sure I wasn’t wearing a ski mask, ‘cause I felt like I was robbing the place. I left with these sweet urns.

Take that, consumerism.

One way flights don't turn around

I have an obsession and fascination with traveling. I love to travel. Not only that but I check airline rates for trips I'm not planning on taking as a hobby. Today I found a flight to San Francisco for $198. It was a roundtrip ticket, but the flights coming back were sold out. Somehow this didn't bother me. I could leave tomorrow for Vienna for $725, but add on the fees and it's about $1100. Still not bad for showing up in Austria by 9am Wednesday morning. Trips to Spain are double what I paid in June, and as it is, my Spanish hostess is on a plane back to the states tomorrow morning. What starts as an afternoon with no homework can quickly progress into an itch to jet off to somewhere new. Now I'm dreamin' of dreamier places.

My Mom thinks I'm special

Life is ironic. I've always been one to take note of the inconsistencies that make you wonder what's really going on. I love the free dictionary's definition of ironic: Poignantly contrary to what was expected or intended. I couldn't describe this week any better. So even though putting together all the pieces makes it seem a little less coincidental, let me fill you in on the recent events that lead me to smile at today's ironies.

This summer I spent quite a bit of time learning that I am not supposed to have a plan for my life right now. I then began my senior year and struggled to not worry about my future and what I was going to do. I started a Bible study that focused on discerning the voice of God. Last week through this Bible study I realized that by not planning my future, I was still making plans for in between graduation and planning the rest of my life. I nearly audibly heard God laughing at my plans on Thursday. Then began the "life is meaningless and I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing" phase that brought us from Monday til this morning as I power walked five or six miles in frustration. Consider this the planning piece.

I attended class on Monday half asleep (10 hours of driving the day before will do that to you, I suppose) and we spent an hour and forty-five minutes talking about social work licensure. I'll spare you the infuriating details, but basically I have to get licensed, I have to start working on this ASAP, and I have to fork out quite a large amount of money to do so. Oh and I have to pick the state I'm going to live in for the rest of my life. This may not have been the exact lecture that was portrayed, but it's how my brain interpreted the message. I was not happy. I was also broke and refused to believe God would ever tell me I was going to live my life in Minnesota. Let's call this category social work and denial.

I started blogging this summer when I went to Spain. Blogging seemed like the thing to do when one travelled abroad, and I wanted to keep my friends and family updated with my trip while I was overseas. I liked it, and although I don't update this blog as much as I'd like, I have a few people tell me they enjoy reading it, too. This morning my mom sent me an email telling me how much she enjoys it. I realize she's my mom and it's part of her job to think I'm special, but it was encouraging. She said something about an alternative career in writing but hi, have you met my older sister? She's the writer. She's a really good writer. And I'm a social worker. I'm running out of names for these categories, so call this whatever you want.

I've had my internet home page MSN for years and I like it. It shows me my inbox, the forecast, major news headlines, recipes, and comics. I'm quite comfortable with it. Well MSN redesigned again in the last couple of weeks and I felt too lazy to apply all my settings again. So I changed my home page to change.org. I don't read change.org every day, but it has a wealth of articles, blogs and ideas for activists interested in social change. Today in little print under some recent headlines, there was a link proclaiming that change.org was hiring! I'm always looking at job openings just to see what's out there. To make a long story just as long short, change.org wants to hire more freelance writers to blog about social change. Topics including but not limited to human trafficking, women's issues, homelessness, immigration, and poverty.

I'm pretty sure your deductive skills have already begun to put these pieces together so I'm not going to spell it all out for you, but I got a little excited this afternoon. Even if change.org isn't interested in anything I have to say for now, it was a nice little reminder that there are more options out there than I had ever considered. I'm still pretty sure I'm not looking at a career in writing, but it's something I'm going to look into, especially just a few articles here and there for some extra gas money.

Right around this time itunes decides to serenade me with Augustana's Found My Place. Okaaay, I can take a hint. I might be a little slow and a little stubborn, but I get it.

My goals for tonight: send my resume to change.org and start the application process for my social work licensure in the state of Minnesota. Only because you're allowed to be licensed in more than one state at a time. Life may be ironic but there's a big difference between irony and cruelty. Right?

Ending Slavery

We're currently working on a couple campus events for the fall! I need to figure out how to create some sweet promo flyers, but we will be showing a video produced by the International Justice Mission called At the End of Slavery in a few weeks. IJM is sponsoring the Weekend to End Slavery November 14-15, but that snuck up on us a little too fast. We're holding our event the 19th now, with a freedom store coming the first week in December. I'm no good at planning committees but all my policy and non-profit propoganda from class is making me think about politics. I'll let you know how that develops.
Til then, check out http://www.slaverymap.org/ - just in case you didn't realize there are slaves in your own backyard. There's even a reported case in Renton where I grew up.