Costumes, Candy and Pumpkins, OH MY!

Got this message on Facebook from RAINN today and thought it was great advice and of course whenever good stuff comes our way we try to pass it on.

Subject: HALLOWEEN IS THIS WEEKEND!!!

While Halloween is an exciting time of year, sometimes taking days or weeks toprepare for, there are nonetheless risks involved when going out at night. Beingaware of possible risks is often the first step in staying safe, especially when ina new environment.

- Trust your instincts. If you feel unsafe at any point during "All Hallow’s Eve,"go with your gut.

- Avoid being alone or isolated with a "zombie" you don’t know well. Let a trustedfriend know where you are and whom you are with.

- Don't accept “apple cider” from people you don't know or trust and never leaveyour “apple cider” unattended. If you lose sight of your “apple cider,” get a newone.

Wishing for K.J. fairy dust to hit the market soon!

Arkansas State University Posse

Our work gives us the opportunity to meet some superbly fabulous folks which is one of the many reasons we love what we do and appreciate what we have every single day. (Thank you Universe!) Kimberly Johnson, pictured above in red, made our visit to ASU possible and she is quite possibly one of the most adorably sweet and insanely precious people we have ever met. This woman is pink cotton candy pure! Just being around her made us smile til our cheeks hurt. I love it when that happens! Kim has a sweet innocence about her that pairs remarkably well with her soulful wisdom. If we could package her spirit up and sprinkle it around this sometimes bitter world we live in it would be ten-gillion times brighter!

We had such an amazing time while we were on campus and got the chance to have several personal and extremely meaningful conversations with a few students after the program. What a night. We love you ASU!

Here we are with the brothers of Omega Psi Phi who proudly parked in the front row to show their support.

Feel lucky?

Do you ever wake up and just feel incredibly lucky? Today I woke up, exhausted but with an overwhelming feeling of how lucky I am and the life I have been given and work so hard to nurture.

I hope each of you is having a wonderful Saturday morning.

xo

B

Male Survivor resource and support.

We recently had a student ask us for some male survivor and gay friendly support services, information and statistics. Below is a link to a page at Brown University . It has both good information and a variety of links for support and education.

xo

K & B

Male Survivors of Sexual Assault

Are your elected officials crime fighters?

Crime Fighter Awards (www.RAINN.com)

RAINN honors state and federal lawmakers whose efforts have helped reduce sexual violence or improved the lives of sexual assault victims. The Crime Fighter Award program recognizes congressional support of sexual assault issues, bipartisan efforts, and leadership in pursuing legislation.

In 2008, RAINN honored federal lawmakers who have been leaders in the national effort to end sexual violence, based on their sponsorship of legislation to bring the nation's sex offenders to justice, enhance services for victims, and reduce the incidence of rape.

“These federal legislators are RAINN's indispensable partners on Capitol Hill...Their leadership and hard work...have led to a significant reduction in sexual violence and the expansion of victims' services over the last decade.
— Scott Berkowitz”

RAINN president and founder Scott Berkowitz presented the 2008 awards in Washington, DC. "These federal legislators are RAINN's indispensable partners on Capitol Hill in working toward sexual assault prevention and prosecution," Berkowitz said. "Their leadership and hard work on crime victims' services, DNA issues, and countless other federal crime prevention measures have led to a significant reduction in sexual violence and the expansion of victims' services over the last decade."

For their extraordinary efforts leading to the enactment of laws that help victims of sexual assault and protect potential victims from predators, RAINN presented the 2008 Crime Fighter Award to:

U.S. Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA)
U.S. Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA)
U.S. Rep. Ros Lehtinen (R-FL)
U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA)
U.S. Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX)
U.S. Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT)
U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-CT)
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Shultz (D-FL)
U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY)

U.S. Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE)
U.S. Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO)
U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN)
U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID)
U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL)
U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL)

*article is available online at RAINN.com

GOAL TO RECRUIT ONE MILLION WOMEN

Today I learned about an amazing organization -LOVE/AVON ARMY OF WOMEN- and their incredible goal to prevent breast cancer, and so now I feel it’s my personal duty to spread the good word. Check out the web-site and pass it on my friends. I signed up for the “Army” and I hope you will too! This is our chance to be part of the research that will end breast cancer.
Word,
Kelly

http://www.armyofwomen.org/
The Love/Avon Army of Women is a revolutionary initiative that will change the face of breast cancer research. Our revolutionary initiative has two key goals:
-To recruit one million healthy women of every age and ethnicity, including breast cancer survivors and women at high-risk for the disease, to partner with breast cancer researchers and directly participate in the research that will eradicate breast cancer once and for all.
-To challenge the scientific community to expand its current focus to include breast cancer prevention research conducted on healthy women.

Join us in this movement that will take us beyond a cure by creating new opportunities to study what causes breast cancer—and how to prevent it.
The Army of Women is dedicated to representing all women in research so that the research results will apply to all women. This means we need you to help us recruit women of all ages, ethnicities, sizes, and shapes. We need women who have had breast cancer and women who have not. We need African American women, Asian women, Caucasian women, and Latinas of every age and lifestyle to be involved.
You can do your part to help us spread the word about the Army of Women and reach our goal of one million women.