*baby-snakes

---------------<<---<--<-------==<<{{@















-------<<---=={{@
-------------<<----<---=={{@

'I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind'
~ Antoine de St. Exupéry

----------<<-<{@







~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





ok this tag isn't too bad and since it was from *SeveruSeprentine I gonna do it. it didn't ask me for my credit card number anywhere. ((I could add on the list I am scared of tags that ask for my bra size and home address..........)) and there were some things I am scared of that are not on the list to be fair... (such as anything happening to my babbeh!!.. plus predators, bullies, some attorneys, and other non-considerate types.. people with too much ego and too little empathy...... >> plus I am deathly afraid of carnival rides. but as far as the given list - here goes:


These are the 72 most common fears:
Sign what do you are afraid of:


>>>>> EDIT: HOLD EVERYTHING HERE. after thinking about this for a moment I wondered how come so few of my fears were on this list. I was thinking.. hold on. how about drunk drivers? nuclear holocaust? terrorism? biological warfare? our current administration? global warming? mass extinction of all species? this list is faulty!!!!! how can "silk" and "even or odd numbers" be more scary than those things??????? FAULTY!!! THIS LIST IS FAULTY!!! ok. well, on with it anyhow... >>>>>



[X] the dark
[ ] staying single forever
[ ] being a parent
[ ] giving birth
[ ] being myself in front of others
[ ] open spaces
[ ] closed spaces
[X] heights
[ ] dogs
[ ] birds
[ ] fish
[ ] spiders
[ ] flowers or other plants
[ ] being touched
[X] deep water
[ ] snakes
[ ] silk
[ ] the ocean
[ ] failure
[ ] success
[ ] thunder/lightning
[ ] frogs/toads
[ ] my boyfriends/girlfriends dad
[ ] boyfriends/girlfriends mom
[ ] rats
[X] jumping from high places
[ ] snow
[ ] rain
[ ] wind
[ ] crossing hanging bridges
[ ] death
[ ] heaven
[ ] being robbed
[X] falling
[ ] clowns
[ ] dolls
[ ] large crowds of people
[ ] men
[ ] women
[ ] having great responsibilities
[ ] doctors, including dentists
[ ] tornadoes
[ ] hurricanes
[ ] incurable diseases
[X] sharks
[ ] Friday the 13th
[ ] ghosts
[ ] poverty
[ ] Halloween
[ ] school
[ ] trains
[ ] odd numbers
[ ] even numbers
[ ] being alone
[ ] becoming blind
[ ] becoming deaf
[ ] growing up
[ ] creepy noises in the night
[ ] bee stings
[ ] not accomplishing my dreams/goals
[ ] needles
[ ] blood
[ ] dinosaurs
[ ] the welcome mat
[X] high speed
[ ] throwing up
[ ] falling in love
[ ] super secrets

Final Total: 7 from the list ^^ I fearless!

- If you get more than 30, I strongly recommend some counseling O_O
- If you get more than 20, you’re paranoid.
- If you get 10-20, you are normal.
- If you get 10 or less, you’re fearless.
- People who don’t have any are liars


**back to features soonish!!**

---------------<<---<--<-------==<<{{@















-------<<---=={{@
-------------<<----<---=={{@

'I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind'i
~ Antoine de St. Exupéry

----------<<-<{@







~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I can has gleeeeeeee !!


1) Well wonderfully I guess all that time spent on my knees chanting "i believe in fairies, I believe in fairies" with my fingers crossed over a roll of duct tape did the trick.. apparently my car seems to be alive..... YAYYYYYYY

2) and also in much more wonderful news for the next month I may not be here too much --- my much adored offspring ~SeveruSeprentine is home from school - back from France - ((she saw the Louvre!)) and here for a whole precious month....... during which we plan to LIVE IT UP in a massive way, eating good food, taking walks, photographing stuff, watching silly movies, going to the spaaaaaaaa, and in general squeezing as much enjoyment as possible out of life. AHHHHHH, FUN! also she uses the computer a lot so my participation here may be sporadic, please forgive!! I am still here. and hopefully we'll have tons of crazy pictures in a few weeks. YAYYYYY



~~~~~~~~~~

in the meantime I'm going to do something from a very long time ago, ~hpfanatic17 asked me for eight interesting facts ~~ so for fun I will do that now! here they is ^^


1) I HAVE A BIG PET PEEVE WITH TAGS THAT ASK TOO SPECIFIC QUESTIONS! (ironic, huh?) giving facts about yourself or answering something silly is a fun way to get to know people -- BUT it just seems wrong to see people giving out specific info like their middle name, pets name, screen names, parents name! never ever do that people. those things can be used to guess passwords, hack your accounts, and even stalk you online. Just think about it! thank you!

2) hmmmm. other than that, I don't have a lot of peeves. I'm an extremely mellow person in general. except sarah jessica parker. she really bothers me. cause she looks like a HORSE! @@@@ (sorry horse fans)

3) my parents refused to send me to art school, so I left home and went myself. out of over 200 people who applied, only twenty were accepted, by a blind jury who judged us on grades and portfolio. although I was a single mom with a lot of health problems, I got my degree *and* graduated second from top of the class. ha ha, in your face, family!

4) my uncle was a photographer and painter. he was the only member of my family I ever felt close to in any way. he served in Korea and Viet Nam and died by suicide about 4 years ago. I wish he were here so I could talk to him.

5) I can talk to ants, seriously. If ants come in my house, I just ask them to leave and they do. ask anyone who knows me. I've never had an ant problem in my house. there's a big jar of honey on my counter right now and they don't go anywhere near it. I NEVER use poison. ick!

6) frogs and spiders are my oldest totem animals. I think this is because they are very zen-like, they are patient and sit quietly and wait for things to come to them. they seem centered and content.

7) the first time I saw fractals was in the parking lot of grateful dead shows, in the early eighties ^^ whenever we would go to shows where the deadheads had computers, like silicon valley or davis or palo alto, all the dead-nerds would bring their computers and set them up in the parking lot, and run continuous loops of fractals all day and night...... it was AWESOME...... then I started reading books on chaos theory. ever since then I have wanted to make my own, and I finally can! and, I can see all the amazing fractals being made on this site!!!!! ahh, fractals, lolcats, and youtube.... let's hear it for technology

8) I really love each and every one of you that I have met here, being on this site really feeds my soul. there is so much inspiring beautiful creativity, kindness, humanity, education, even the drama.. (sometimes ^^) its got a charm to it that makes this a wonderful, inspiring, extremely educational place to hang out.

thank you all for being you and being my friends and doing the beautiful stuff you do. keep it up...... and I hope you all have a wonderful, beautiful, peaceful, relaxing, amazing summer......



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




so I'm going back to my feature journal and adding something: which is that from now on - if ANYONE does ANY piece of art with one of my calendars ever, any style, they automatically get a feature. it's not a contest, its just an open ended thing. so if you want a feature, color one of my posters, any way, any style, any part, and you get a feature. here are the two sweet people that have done it so far.




'calendar spirit' by ~SeveruSeprentine


'calendar' and 'bob dylan poster' by ~hpfanatic17


I am now featuring some lovely artwork from the galleries of the two participants. please enjoy and go give them lots and lots of luvvins




~hpfanatic17




~SeveruSeprentine






i'm going to leave the faith in humanity journal here a bit because I am having fun with it. but I had to get these features up before we all expired of old age. I also entered the random deviant project, and have a feature to do of my lovely random deviant, which will probably come in another five billion years. but, slow and steady, that's my motto ^^






~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...... FAITH IN HUMANITY JOURNAL .....

this is my part of the faith in humanity experiment. I'm having fun with it from a philosophical and sociological standpoint.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


FIRST POINTS:

1) this first one is the kind of thing that makes me suicidal at three in the morning. in this case, animal activists sneaked into a meat processing plant and took video of workers there "torturing" cattle who were too sick to stand up, known as 'downers', with electric shock and high pressure hoses in order to force them in to be slaughtered. but as if that wasn't lovely enough, this illegal meat was then supplied to SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAMS right here in my state, where some of it was apparently consumed by children, before this was all found out....

THAT IS FAIL AT LIFE, FOLKS. on SO many levels. so as the soup nazi says on seinfeld..... NO POINTS FOR YOU!!!!!!!! MINUS TWO!!!!!

2) the next was a positive. this may seem selfish because it was something I witnessed. but, eh. I saw it in an extremely fun class I just took and the reason this qualifies as "win at life" behavior is because both women who taught the class were 100% blind. they had NO vision.. each had completely prosthetic eyes. some of the students were completely blind, and many were completely deaf. so I give those women TWO POINTS because of how wonderful it was to see them teach this class, and what a great job they did, with no sight between them, and a number of completely deaf students. this class was a miracle of cooperative humanity, and I give it TWO POINTS!!!!!

sooooo so far, we are even..... two and two. we will see what happens next. good luck humanity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



3/8/08:
(-1) mother videotaped punishing her 2 year old by taking her into car wash and spraying her with the high pressure hose. in her defense, the mother claimed "it wasn't on full pressure" MINUS ONE!
(+1) on the other hand, the woman was arrested, so PLUS ONE.
(+1) deviant saves a really fat toad from their pool. [link]
(+1) local resident first legally blind woman to cross finish line in the Iditarod
(+1) deviant generously gifts another deviant a surprise $200! [link]

3/17/08:
sixteen year old boy dies trying to save 11 year old stranger being dragged out to sea by riptide. neither survive. (+3)

"Oprah's big Give" - I have to give this 2 positive points because at least someone is modeling generosity. HOWEVER I am taking off 6 points because it is so utterly whored out to commercialism. net gain, (-4)
(-5) the idiotic corn oil debacle that is causing prices for everything to rise.
(-5) MY GOVERNMENT!!! (sorry bush fans)
vanishing bees and frogs (-3)
David Paterson to replace "sex scandal Spitzer" as nation's first legally blind governor!! (+1)

march 22 is world pillowfight day!!!! now that's a holiday I can get behind. plus 1!

4/19/08
this is really sad, two teenagers were arrested yesterday for attacking a mother canada goose who was defending her nest. they destroyed her eggs and kicked her and hit her with rocks. fortunately the goose was saved and is being cared for but will lose one of her eyes. nasty brats they just lost the human race five points. >
on the good side, a petstore owner was stupid enough to handle a hungry 12 foot python with mouse-smell on her hands, and it ate her arm up to the elbow before she got free. the reason this is positive points is because she did not allow the police to kill the snake. instead they simply pried her loose and saved the snake's life. this was more likely because the snake is very expensive, but I'm giving the benefit of the doubt. so, plus 3.

5/4/08
PREPARE TO BE ASHAMED RIGHT NOW, HUMANS. I urge all of you right now to boycott HORSE RACING as you would boycott any other form of ANIMAL ABUSE. yet another horse went down in the kentucky derby (a filly named Eight Belles) and they are saying its the track and blah blah, but its not, its overtraining by greedy humans. Im restraining myself *mightily* to only take minus 6! you should be ashamed!!!!!

people people people.... are you aware that millions of sharks each year are deliberately caught, have their fins sliced off for 'shark fin soup', and their entire bodies thrown back in the water alive as WASTE?? PEOPLE! get it together!! good god. minus 2.

finally a good thing!! Oregon has decided NOT to murder innocent sea lions who are snacking on salmon by the dam here. Fishermen lobbied hard to be allowed to shoot the seals, but people protested and the court agreed to protect the sea lions and merely relocate them! alright plus 2!..


ahhh now. some may be aware I just returned from a memorial for a fifteen year old girl who was kidnapped and killed and left in a field, blocks away from her church. You may be wondering what this has done to my faith in humanity. I will tell you it has done nothing. there will be no points taken away for that. why? because whoever did that, as the father of the murdered child pointed out, does not qualify as human. additionally, the fact that REAL humans did come together in a remarkable display of caring and support far negates anything such a low scum would try to do. therefore my faith if anything has been raised by this event. rest in peace Kaelin Rose. nothing but love will be your memory.



oh lord.. this is low.. humans, you are losing ten for this one. regarding previously mentioned sea lions: some dastardly coward actually approached six sea lions as they rested inside a trap awaiting relocation. these federally protected animals were SHOT AS THEY LAY UNABLE TO ESCAPE IN THIS CAGE. humans, how can you sink so low. MINUS TEN. karma's a hellatious bitch, baby. she's comin for YOU!


5/16/08 - ok this is strictly personal but this experience was (for many private reasons) one of the most sublime moments of my entire life so far..... having my 15 yr old spontaneously and totally by her own choice surprise me with an incredibly lovely and thoughtful note and incredibly lovely roses (with vase!) on this mother's day. very few people will know why this would not just be personally pleasant but actually raise my faith in humanity. but there it is. plus ten.

not just one but TWO different people have posted news articles regarding the difficulties faced by vanishing bees and beekeepers in the last week good for them! plus 2.

alright, humanity! don't let me down! I'm pulling for you still!



total: 344 out of 355

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-------<<---=={{@
-------------<<----<---=={{@

'I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind'
~ Antoine de St. Exupéry

----------<<-<{@










so today was a fun adventure.. I had to take my car to the car doctor..... it started and it died, and died, and died... there's something wrong with the gas system.. I finally eked it out of the driveway with the gas pedal totally floored and only going about fifteen miles an hour..... I was sweating the whole way, almost ten miles, but it made it... my faithful car.... dropped it off at the car place and walked to the bus stop to take the bus home.

I didn't have a schedule on me so I stood there..... and stood there..... and stood there... its been a long time since I took the bus and didn't know the schedule.... so I saw this guy walking past and then about a half hour later he came walking back. Turned out he had a bus schedule and we looked it up and the next bus was hours away.

I had been just about to give up and get something to eat anyway, so we walked together the couple miles down to the next bus stop.

He was telling me all these crazy stories about how he could do a handstand for ten minutes and sing and play drums at the same time....... (not sure how that would work) and how he invented this crazy thing that levitated him above a stage while he was doing all this, and he was going to be on Jay Leno and all of this. I kept daring him to do a handstand, but he always got saved, like the bus would come or something would happen so he didn't have to.

When we got into town I could have just walked home, I really didn't need to eat anything, but there were a lot of restaurants there so the guy ended up taking me out to lunch in a really cool place with a lot of really neat photographs and art on the walls, which is always a treat.

Then I needed to get home so we walked across the street to the library to get a pencil. I didn't really want to give him my number but I thought it would be polite to get his so I did. It was funny though because it was a new phone and he didn't know his number so he kept having to call people and ask them what his number was. But finally he got it.

But coolest of all, on the way out of the library, I saw a copy of the Deathly Hallows in the bookstore window for three dollars!!!! It was a beautiful new copy in totally perfect shape, one that had been used in the library, there was nothing at all wrong with it - so I got it.

And -- just before I took off the guy finally did a handstand for me, right in front of the library. ^^ he only held it for about twenty seconds but to be fair we had just eaten a big lunch. So by running into that guy I saved two hours of waiting at a bus stop, had a nice lunch, saw a public handstand, and got a really nice copy of DH for $3..... Can't complain about that.

The only problem is I'm afraid to read it. I know just enough about what happens that I really really really don't want to read it. But I have it. But - so there ~SeveruSeprentine I'm ready for ya!!!!!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


so I'm going back to my feature journal and adding something: which is that from now on - if ANYONE does ANY piece of art with one of my calendars ever, any style, they automatically get a feature. it's not a contest, its just an open ended thing. so if you want a feature, color one of my posters, any way, any style, any part, and you get a feature. here are the two sweet people that have done it so far.




'calendar spirit' by ~SeveruSeprentine


'calendar' and 'bob dylan poster' by ~hpfanatic17


I am now featuring some lovely artwork from the galleries of the two participants. please enjoy and go give them lots and lots of luvvins




~hpfanatic17




~SeveruSeprentine






i'm going to leave the faith in humanity journal here a bit because I am having fun with it. but I had to get these features up before we all expired of old age. I also entered the random deviant project, and have a feature to do of my lovely random deviant, which will probably come in another five billion years. but, slow and steady, that's my motto ^^






~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...... FAITH IN HUMANITY JOURNAL .....

this is my part of the faith in humanity experiment. I'm having fun with it from a philosophical and sociological standpoint.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


FIRST POINTS:

1) this first one is the kind of thing that makes me suicidal at three in the morning. in this case, animal activists sneaked into a meat processing plant and took video of workers there "torturing" cattle who were too sick to stand up, known as 'downers', with electric shock and high pressure hoses in order to force them in to be slaughtered. but as if that wasn't lovely enough, this illegal meat was then supplied to SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAMS right here in my state, where some of it was apparently consumed by children, before this was all found out....

THAT IS FAIL AT LIFE, FOLKS. on SO many levels. so as the soup nazi says on seinfeld..... NO POINTS FOR YOU!!!!!!!! MINUS TWO!!!!!

2) the next was a positive. this may seem selfish because it was something I witnessed. but, eh. I saw it in an extremely fun class I just took and the reason this qualifies as "win at life" behavior is because both women who taught the class were 100% blind. they had NO vision.. each had completely prosthetic eyes. some of the students were completely blind, and many were completely deaf. so I give those women TWO POINTS because of how wonderful it was to see them teach this class, and what a great job they did, with no sight between them, and a number of completely deaf students. this class was a miracle of cooperative humanity, and I give it TWO POINTS!!!!!

sooooo so far, we are even..... two and two. we will see what happens next. good luck humanity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



3/8/08:
(-1) mother videotaped punishing her 2 year old by taking her into car wash and spraying her with the high pressure hose. in her defense, the mother claimed "it wasn't on full pressure" MINUS ONE!
(+1) on the other hand, the woman was arrested, so PLUS ONE.
(+1) deviant saves a really fat toad from their pool. [link]
(+1) local resident first legally blind woman to cross finish line in the Iditarod
(+1) deviant generously gifts another deviant a surprise $200! [link]

3/17/08:
sixteen year old boy dies trying to save 11 year old stranger being dragged out to sea by riptide. neither survive. (+3)

"Oprah's big Give" - I have to give this 2 positive points because at least someone is modeling generosity. HOWEVER I am taking off 6 points because it is so utterly whored out to commercialism. net gain, (-4)
(-5) the idiotic corn oil debacle that is causing prices for everything to rise.
(-5) MY GOVERNMENT!!! (sorry bush fans)
vanishing bees and frogs (-3)
David Paterson to replace "sex scandal Spitzer" as nation's first legally blind governor!! (+1)

march 22 is world pillowfight day!!!! now that's a holiday I can get behind. plus 1!

4/19/08
this is really sad, two teenagers were arrested yesterday for attacking a mother canada goose who was defending her nest. they destroyed her eggs and kicked her and hit her with rocks. fortunately the goose was saved and is being cared for but will lose one of her eyes. nasty brats they just lost the human race five points. >
on the good side, a petstore owner was stupid enough to handle a hungry 12 foot python with mouse-smell on her hands, and it ate her arm up to the elbow before she got free. the reason this is positive points is because she did not allow the police to kill the snake. instead they simply pried her loose and saved the snake's life. this was more likely because the snake is very expensive, but I'm giving the benefit of the doubt. so, plus 3.

5/4/08
PREPARE TO BE ASHAMED RIGHT NOW, HUMANS. I urge all of you right now to boycott HORSE RACING as you would boycott any other form of ANIMAL ABUSE. yet another horse went down in the kentucky derby (a filly named Eight Belles) and they are saying its the track and blah blah, but its not, its overtraining by greedy humans. Im restraining myself *mightily* to only take minus 6! you should be ashamed!!!!!

people people people.... are you aware that millions of sharks each year are deliberately caught, have their fins sliced off for 'shark fin soup', and their entire bodies thrown back in the water alive as WASTE?? PEOPLE! get it together!! good god. minus 2.

finally a good thing!! Oregon has decided NOT to murder innocent sea lions who are snacking on salmon by the dam here. Fishermen lobbied hard to be allowed to shoot the seals, but people protested and the court agreed to protect the sea lions and merely relocate them! alright plus 2!..


ahhh now. some may be aware I just returned from a memorial for a fifteen year old girl who was kidnapped and killed and left in a field, blocks away from her church. You may be wondering what this has done to my faith in humanity. I will tell you it has done nothing. there will be no points taken away for that. why? because whoever did that, as the father of the murdered child pointed out, does not qualify as human. additionally, the fact that REAL humans did come together in a remarkable display of caring and support far negates anything such a low scum would try to do. therefore my faith if anything has been raised by this event. rest in peace Kaelin Rose. nothing but love will be your memory.



oh lord.. this is low.. humans, you are losing ten for this one. regarding previously mentioned sea lions: some dastardly coward actually approached six sea lions as they rested inside a trap awaiting relocation. these federally protected animals were SHOT AS THEY LAY UNABLE TO ESCAPE IN THIS CAGE. humans, how can you sink so low. MINUS TEN. karma's a hellatious bitch, baby. she's comin for YOU!


5/16/08 - ok this is strictly personal but this experience was (for many private reasons) one of the most sublime moments of my entire life so far..... having my 15 yr old spontaneously and totally by her own choice surprise me with an incredibly lovely and thoughtful note and incredibly lovely roses (with vase!) on this mother's day. very few people will know why this would not just be personally pleasant but actually raise my faith in humanity. but there it is. plus ten.

not just one but TWO different people have posted news articles regarding the difficulties faced by vanishing bees and beekeepers in the last week good for them! plus 2.

alright, humanity! don't let me down! I'm pulling for you still!



total: 344 out of 355

Lord this is just too funny. I realize I may lose friends over this.. I hope not. this is just the funniest thing I have received in awhile and also I want to promote it because I think its hilarious. yes I am a 'mental health consumer' and/or survivor among many many other things! I have experience with this that is both good and bad. ultimately, I promote freedom of mind and thought. and i always promote having fun ^^ PLEASE, THIS IS NOT INTENDED TO BE HURTFUL OR OFFENSIVE TO ANYONE! If it is, please feel free to let me know.

this just made me laugh so I wanted to share it. ^^ I do currently take meds for various things mostly related to a really bad car crash and other issues, so please don't think I'm AT ALL prejudiced against meds. Im just pro choice and anti-stigma.

if you manage to read to the bottom to where you see the 'normality screenings' (performed with genuine rubber chickens) I helped invent those a few years ago at the local fair! glad to see they are still being used

apparently this will show up on youtube at some point so if you are creatively maladjusted, show MindFreedom some support! they are a good group. I am so tired from last week but hmmmm.... I might even go if I am not really tired tomorrow.... mmmm@@@@



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



NEWS REMINDER - immediate release
[link]

FREE ACTIVIST EVENT IN EUGENE OREGON:

"Mad Pride" group plans public street theater for YouTube
broadcast.

Worship of "Big Giant Pill" during skit called "The Norm-a-Thon"
to poke fun at power of psychiatric drug industry.

Feeling a little crazy? What with war, climate crisis and economic
chaos, who isn't.

No worries! You are invited to bring all of your problems to an
enormous replica of a psychiatric pill in a free public skit to be
held in Eugene, Oregon, USA, TOMORROW, Saturday, 17 May 2008, at 4 pm.

The street theater -- called "The Norm-a-thon" -- is organized by the
nonprofit coalition MindFreedom International as part of an
international "Mad Pride" movement that encourages everyone to exlore
their "creative maladjustment." It's a unique way to celebrate May,
which is considered "Mental Health Month."

Update: An out-of-state participant will be part of The Normathon:
Long-time activist Ted Chabasinski from Berkeley, California will be
one of the players. Ted has been a psychiatric survivor activist for
35 years after experiencing ten years of abuse by the psychiatric
system as a youth. Now an attorney, Ted is a legend in our mad movement!


The Norm-a-thon: A peaceful protest prank we will broadcast globally on web via
YouTube!

Bring your problems to our Big Giant Pill while a mental health
worker chants.

Speak, sing, scream or act your real true feelings in a videoed
Mad Minute.

Oppression Olympic Trials! Win valuable prizes, like a nonviolent
revolution.

Cheer for a performance by Youth Committee of Psychiatric Survivors.

Free "Normality Screenings" using authentic rubber chickens.
After 1,000 screenings, none has been found.

Join a Bed Push so a mannequin named Norm tied in restraints can
escape.



WE NEED YOU -- YOU CAN BE PART OF THIS HISTORIC SKIT!

Just show up!

The skit will include a "Bed Push," in which a manequin named "Norm"
strapped onto a bed with wheels will be chased through Eugene by
mental health workers in white coats, along with their Big Giant Pill
of course. Mad Pride Bed Pushes have been held in UK, Canada and USA
to challenge human rights violations in the mental health system.

The organizers intend to upload a video of The Norm-a-thon onto
YouTube, as part of an international Mad Pride movement that now
stretches from Canada to Australia, from Africa to Europe. The Mad
Pride events are promoted by the International Association for the
Advancement of Creative Maladjustment (IAACM), chaired by
International physician, clown and celebrity Patch Adams, MD.

Mental health worker Ron Unger, a moderator at the event, will chant
psychiatric labels as participants worship the Big Giant Pill. One
of The Norm-a-thon organizers, David Oaks, director of MindFreedom
and psychiatric survivor, said, "We promise to question reality,
normality, media and psychiatric drug industry bullying... and have
fun at the same time. We are pro-choice about personal health care
decisions. A number of our members take prescribed psychiatric drugs.
But we all agree it's time to call for more choices in mental health
care besides drug, drug, drug, drug, drug or drug."

When not using humor, MindFreedom is also involved in serious
campaigns this month, including the launch of an international United
Nations treaty on disability and human rights. MindFreedom is the
only group of its kind that is accredited by the UN as a Non
Governmental Organization.

[[[god I love my town ]]]


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More info on web about The Norm-a-thon including poster you may
download:

[link]

More info about Mad Pride:

[link]

More info about Patch Adams and IAACM (which was first named by
Martin Luther King, Jr.):

[link]

More info about MindFreedom and United Nations disability treaty:

[link]


NEW YORK TIMES covers Mad Pride!
Read the article on MindFreedom's web site at [link]

---------------<<---<--<-------==<<{{@















-------<<---=={{@
-------------<<----<---=={{@

'I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind'
~ Antoine de St. Exupéry

----------<<-<{@







well ok, it only took five billion years but here are the entries and winners in my contest!!!! (bet you thought I'd forget huh? NEVAHHHHH ! how silly of you ^^ )

so, there were three entries by two brave entrants: and here they are!


'calendar spirit' by ~