Menstrual Poetry

The Hopeful Haven Project

When you think of homeless shelters, most people’s first thoughts leap to movies and what they’ve seen showcased on their television screens–Bland, cold, run down. Sadly, what people have seen for so many years on movies and television shows aren’t far from the truth in the least.

Terry Grahl visited a homeless shelter for women dealing with drug addictions and domestic violence, Grace Centers of Hope in Pontiac, MI. The women who live at Grace Centers of Hope have already had some very traumatic and life-shattering experiences and this shelter provides these women with shelter for them and their children for up to one year. Because of the experiences these women have already had, shelters such as Grace Centers of Hope and so many others across the country are there to lend these women a hand, to assure these women that their lives are not over and to relieve these women of their pasts and teach them to look forward towards a hopeful and promising future. While the mission of these shelters is amazing, the interior most often resembles the emotional deterioration of the women themselves; which is exactly what Terry Grahl thought when she visited Grace Centers of Hope.

As soon as Terry had seen the prison-like beds that these women slept in, the walls and carpets that looked as if they were part of an abandoned building that fell prey to a handful of high school kids wanting a place to party, she knew she had found a project to dedicate her time and talent to. Terry believed that these women deserved so much more, especially considering that Grace Centers of Hope is the “in between” place for these women to start to get on their own two feet and start to make sense of their lives. How were they to make sense of their lives while living in a space that lacked to inspire.

Luckily, not only Terry felt this way, but so did the women who ran this shelter as well as the people who had donated money to be used to revamp the center as well as those who had donated various items such as ceiling fans, air conditioners, washers and dryers, baby cribs, curtains, beauty products, homemade art and so much more. The community surrounding Grace Centers of Hope came together with Terry, the women who run this shelter and the women who find themselves in a shelter that once reminded them of how lost they were, but can now remind them to always have hope, to not look upon themselves as victims and to provide the best life they possibly can to their own children. The women of Grace Centers of Hope can now feel inspired, motivated and hopeful and their surroundings can now uplift them and hopefully, they will never feel the sorrow, loneliness, or feel victimized in any way for the rest of their lives.

To see what Terry and the women of Grace Centers of Hope and the people of Pontiac, MI did to transform this space for the women who live there, click the images below and you can also visit Terry’s website, Terry’s Enchanted Cottage, where she has dedicated a page to The Hopeful Haven Project.

Before Pictures:

After Pictures:

Feminism at its Finest: May 2008

The Feminism at its Finest blog carnival is a day late, so we’re just going to pretend that it’s still May; just for today! Of course, thanks to everyone who submitted their posts and to submit your posts for the June edition, which will be up on June 30, just go here.

I would also like to clarify that in order to submit your blog posts, you do not need your own domain, a Blogspot, Wordpress or whatever else is out there; even if you just wrote something on your MySpace blog and it is feminism-related, please feel free to submit it as well; not enough people give the MySpace bloggers a chance to really take part in the blogosphere happenings, so here it is. And now, on with the carnival…

A. Lee presents American Conceptual Artist & Feminist Barbara Kruger Probes Your Views posted at eArtFair, saying:

“Barbara Kruger juxtaposes mass media photographs with biting slogans. Her art both questions and condemns mass media’s ways of control self-identity, desire, and public opinion. A key aspect of her work centers around the question of what it means to be feminine.”

Amanda Moore presents 106 Organizations That Are Changing the World - Are you helping? posted at VagabondetteVA.

Garry presents Whirled News - President, Candidates Address Gasoline, Climate Crisis posted at Chicks With Guns.

Ian Welsh presents Ok, Enough With the Stupidity About Clinton’s “Kennedy Statement” posted at The Agonist, saying:

“The level of near hysteria, of complete unwillingness to read Hillary Clinton’s words in any context with any good will that is sweeping large portions of the political blogosphere, reflects a deeper pathology.”

Lauren Martin presents Liberty Lowdown: Magic 8-ball, primaries, and you posted at Blog for Choice, the newly improved pro-choice blog from NARAL Pro-Choice America!

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Next, They’ll Claim Obama Inherited Clinton’s Reverend posted at Mad Kane’s Political Madness.

nandita presents Domestic Violence in the Press a Century Ago posted at law Matters.

Nine Deuce presents The First Amendment is only sort of cool. posted at Rage Against the Man-chine.

O. Daille Nation-Ashley presents David vs Female Lawyer (Goliath?) posted at Power Of Attorney: Not Happy Hour At The Bar.

Renee presents I Wish I Was In Dixie posted at Womanist Musings, saying:

“This post is about internalized racism and how it cause some to act in ways that are detrimental to POC. It stands as a legacy of slavery.”

Renee also presents MacFarlanes Babes posted at Womanist Musings, saying:

“I posted on the Family Guy spin off because I believe that people mindless consume pop culture without realizing how damaging the images are that they are consuming. When we internalize without thought we are accepting negative portrayals of others as normal.”

Shaheen Lakhan presents Domestic Violence and Executive Dysfunction posted at GNIF Brain Blogger, saying:

“Executive function has big implications for the design of domestic violence programs. It is important to know the subtypes of batterers because different subtypes have different needs for treatment, and different levels of intervention that are necessary to ensure safety.”

Shaheen Lakhan also presents Democracy vs. Domestic Violence posted at Brain Blogger, saying:

” People are looking at how we are affected by the groups we belong to that are treated unequally and subjected to various kinds of stress and discrimination — a field called intersectionality.

Tali presents 10 Strangest Pinup Artist Quirks | Artists, Cartoons, posted at The Pinup Blog, saying:

“Visual artists can’t hide behind their work, at some point, some one will notice, a fetish, a habit a quirk. Missing belly buttons, fake breasts, detached heads- This is a list of the 10 most fucked up pinups in classic cheesecake history.”

Tracee Sioux presents Empowering Girls - Hillary Clinton posted at Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me, saying:

“Don’t Quit. It’s a good message for all women and girls.”

Tracee Sioux also presents Hillary’s “Feminine Ideal” Sin posted at Blog Fabulous, saying:

“What was Hillary’s big crime in the face of women? She didn’t self-deprecate.”

Tracee Sioux also presents Real Breasts Gallery posted at Blog Fabulous, saying:

“We’re so inundated with images of “perfect” breasts in the media and marketing that most people’s idea of what real women look like has been distorted. Women stand in front of a mirror and compare themselves to the unreal and declare “I just wish mine were normal.” For a better perspective enter the Real Breasts Gallery.”

And that’s all for this month. Remember to submit your posts for next month’s carnival by going here

Finding Angela Shelton

I’ve written about Angela Shelton before , specifically about her activism efforts regarding the Report It campaign as well as the Report It rallies for victim’s rights, but there is some awesome news that I couldn’t let go by without mentioning and that is that Angela Shelton is now also a novelist, on top of being the superhero of victim rights activism.

Angela Shelton was sexually abused as a young child by her father, which is what she confessed to the world while making her documentary, Searching for Angela Shelton. Since then, she has become a motivating and inspiring woman to countless survivors. On a personal level, after watching her documentary and after some time reading up on her and getting involved myself with activism efforts to raise awareness about sexual abuse, she had given me the motivation to speak up about my own abuse in early 2007.

She has undoubtedly inspired the lives of many people to either confront their own abuse or get involved in raising awareness of just how widespread sexual abuse is. In fact, it is believed that each and every single person knows someone who has been sexually abused, yet the silence surrounding it is overwhelming.

On top of her activism efforts, Angela Shelton’s first book, an autobiography of her life and her abuse, as well as overcoming it and going on to help others, Finding Angela Shelton, is hitting bookstores April 1! You can pre-order the book today or head on down to your local bookstore and pick it up when it’s released!