(no subject)

This is a long and kind of unpleasant post, but please read through it -- it's pretty important, and it's about a cause I've spent the last year helping to support.

Almost a year ago, one of my good 'net friends began speaking out about her frankly horrific experiences with Attachment Therapy, also known as Holding Therapy or Rage Reduction. I did a writeup at the time, and since then waywardradish has been working to raise awareness about this vicious form of child abuse, made all the more awful by the fact that so-called professionals approve it, parents believe in it, and insurance companies agree to fund it. I've been working to help her when I can, mainly behind the scenes -- providing research material from scholarly journals she doesn't have access to, but mainly just moral support. In reading the research material I've passed on, I've seen descriptions of some pretty terrible things.

Today is Day 333 of her search for survivors of Attachment Therapy and her continued efforts to warn parents about the dangers of it. She's had some success; she's found six other survivors, been harassed by proponents of Attachment Therapy, and helped several parents make the decision not to use this "treatment". This morning she posted a new survivor's account (please be aware this includes graphic descriptions of child abuse), as well as an account of how a group of Attachment Therapists attempted to abuse the DMCA to get an activist group's website taken down. Which worries me on more than one level, because aside from being child abusers this group of people are attempting to assert that they cannot be legally quoted by someone who does not share their views.

Think AT is being blown out of proportion? Check out the video footage of Attachment Therapy in action. Or if that doesn't convince you, how about the list of child fatalities linked to it? They're not pleasant -- starvation, suffocation on vomit or smothering blankets, hypothermia, and water intoxication are among the causes of death. For preadolescent children.

So what can you do?

Radish runs her own (ad-free, non-sponsored) site, and would like people to promote it on their journals, even if it's just a quick link. Frankly, if you wanna googlebomb childtorture.wordpress.com, you are welcome to have at it. She also hoping that people will use and support Project DoD, the non-profit member-supported webhost that currently hosts Advocates for Children in Therapy, Radish's biggest ally. There are other suggestions for action at the website, and DoD looks interesting -- you should check it out regardless of your feelings on AT.

I don't often rattle the sabres for a political cause, but I don't think this is political, really; I think it's a matter of abuse of power by a couple of fast-talking scumbags who get off on hurting little kids.

Locking comments to this post only because this isn't really the place to comment -- if you'd like to ask questions, raise concerns, or offer support, waywardradish (the LJ analogue to the wordpress site) is the place to go. Permalink to this post is here.

(no subject)

This morning I calmly and methodically took apart my entire flat in the search for my passport.

I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, really, but I don't like not knowing where it is. If I didn't find it today I was going to report it lost and get a new one, but that takes time and not having one at ALL makes me even more nervous than having one and not knowing where it is.

I looked everywhere and at anything that could be opened, disassembled, or unfolded. My closet is now much cleaner than it was, and my shelves are tidier. My messenger bags now are all on hangers in my kitchen closet. Incidentally, I have seven messenger bags, six pairs of gloves, ELEVEN MUFFLERS, and nine winter hats. WTF.

My desk is an absolute mess, but that's just because I dumped everything I didn't know what to do with there. I saved it for last, and the bookshelf for second last, because those are the most disorganised parts (although also the parts that the passport was most likely to be in).

I finally found it, after briefly removing every book on my bookshelf. It was sandwiched between Steinbeck's Journal Of A Novel and a book on Erte's graphic design. Go figure. I have no idea how it got there.

But hey, at least the flat is super-clean now.

Except the desk.

*resolute look* I'm goin' in.

(no subject)

Desk is clean! Everything is clean. Well, the floors need a good Roomba'ing, but they'll survive for now.

NEED MOAR SHELVES.

Actually this weekend pointed up a lot of stuff I need. I need a low shelf for the kitchen closet (I'm going with a Lerberg from Ikea -- I have one already and it works perfectly in the bathroom) and a bookshelf for the living room. The bookshelf will be much more difficult since I will never find one that matches the thrift-store special I have now, plus I can't find hollow-side, hollow-back bookshelves anywhere. I'd buy some ordinary shelving and use that, but most ordinary shelving has a much wider gap than bookshelves, and I'd be wasting space. Plus they look ugly.

I also need a bread knife. And a floor lamp. And some picture frames.

Don't worry, I'm not building a robot. YET.

Vrrt, vrrt, vrrt...