Guerrilla Artists Take Over Billboards to Defeat SFs Sit-Lie Ordinance

Posted on October 29, 2010 by elizabethlombino

Post originally published on Change.org

Guerrilla Artists Take Over Billboards to Defeat San Francisco’s Sit-Lie Ordinance

On Tuesday, residents of San Francisco will go to the polls to vote on the Sit-Lie Ordinance (Proposition L). If passed, it will be illegal to sit or lie on a city sidewalk between the hours of 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.

We argue that, if passed, this ordinance could potentially criminalize a person just for being homeless as the unhoused often become the target of such laws. Taxpayer dollars could be better spent creating and providing more affordable housing, supportive housing and services to assist these vulnerable individuals. With very few options, homeless people often have no other choice than to be on the streets and sidewalks. Outlawing them will only move them, not make them any less homeless. Stop the Sit-Lie Ordinance in San Francisco!

Meet some allies fighting for the fall of Prop L: the Sit/Lie Posse, a group of artists who have done some guerrilla activism and taken over billboard and bus stop ads with their own artwork to urge voters to say no to Prop L. The ads can be found throughout the city, including where there is strong backing of the proposition, around City Hall, the Haight-Ashbury district and others.

Officials in San Francisco are looking into the ads since they were put up illegally. The anonymous ads weren’t paid for and they cover up other paid ads. The Sit/Lie Posse asserts they are artists who have liberated the ad spaces. Their spokesperson, Jim Rawley, said in a press release that “Prop. L ignores due process and criminalizes people based on appearance. If you look like you’re homeless, you can be arrested while tourists and the wealthy get a free pass with first class treatment.”

(In an interesting side note, San Francisco Chronicle writer Heather Knight points out that Jim Rawley is also the name of a Grapes of Wrath character who ran the Weedpatch camp and embraced the migrant Joad family. Coincidence?)

The voters of San Francisco will make their final decision regarding Proposition L this Tuesday. This is clearly a controversial piece of legislation with very strong opinions on both sides. We continue to argue the point that Proposition L is potentially dangerous to the already vulnerable homeless population within San Francisco. Homeless individuals do not need more ambiguous laws that are often unfairly leveled against them; they need more supportive services and housing options to assist them in moving from the sidewalk to a home.

To read the post on Change.org, click here.

Filed under: Change.org, Homelessness, Social Media | Leave a Comment »

Making a Difference, One Starfish at a Time

Posted on October 28, 2010 by elizabethlombino
Let’s be real, there is a ton of negativity in the world today. Almost all facets of our lives can be challenging and demanding. From work to family to finances…. it can be overwhelming and exhausting. It can be difficult to push through the clouds and allow some sunlight to shine through. Yet this is what we must do. We need to push through and search for every glimmer of hope. If you look closely for something positive among the negativity, you will find it. Hold onto the hope and small successes. It may sound cliche, but having a positive attitude can truly make a difference in how we feel about the world around us. The details may stay the same, yet we feel more in control and at peace. We can have more energy and desire to continue to push through and live an even better life.
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The following is one of my favorite inspirational stories. At times when I feel helpless or I’m struggling to find the positive, I remember this story. It helps me stop thinking about what I’m not doing and refocus on what I am doing. This simple shift helps me keep going.
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The Starfish Story
adapted from The Star Thrower
by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)
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Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.”

“I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, “But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, “It made a difference for that one.”

Photo Credit: Jaro Nemčok

Filed under: Hope Notes, Self-Care, Strengths Perspective, Stress Reduction | 1 Comment »

The New Mom Definition

Posted on October 24, 2010 by elizabethlombino

Many of us use the term “Mom” pretty loosely. Whenever there is discussion that involves a child and an adult, “Mom” is often the term of choice. We’ve started to take the term and it’s meaning for granted. Parenting has evolved so much in the past several decades that the traditional Mom definition is becoming more obsolete. A ”Mom” is not just a woman who carries a child to term and continues to raise the child. This is certainly the case for many women, yet it is also a limited view of what it truly means to care for a child.

I include myself in the category of using “Mom” as the go-to term when I write about parenting.  Usually I don’t clarify exactly what I mean. Sometimes it’s easier or more user-friendly to just use Mom without much explanation. Yet I realize that doing so is essentially excluding many wonderful parents and caregivers out there who don’t quite relate to the term Mom. I certainly want to celebrate and include all parenting roles and acknowledge that no matter who we are and no matter the context of our relationship to our children, we are all “Moms”. Even the guys!

So here’s a brief (well maybe not too brief) and (not fully) comprehensive list of who can (and should) be recognized under the umbrella term of “Mom”:

Mom, Dad, Mother, Father, Caregiver, Parent, Guardian, Step-Mom, Step-Dad, Mommy, Mama, Auntie, Grandma, Granny, Daddy, Papa, Uncle, Pops, Grandpa, Cousin, Older Sister, Older Brother, Step-Sister, Step-Brother, Fourth Cousin (twice removed).

Woman who carries baby to term, woman who adopts, woman who is foster mother, woman who is the Mom of the Mom, man who is the biological father, man who is adoptive father, man who is primary caregiver, stay at home dad, stay at home mom, single mother, single father, one half of a two Mom relationship, one half of a two Dad relationship, man who is the Dad of the Dad, man who is the foster father.

Surrogate parent, divorced parent, separated parent, woman who is caring for her sister’s child while she is working, man who cares for child at night while his partner works the graveyard shift, woman who cares for child of her teen daughter, man who cares for child of his teen son, man who cares for his child on weekends, woman who cares for her child on weekends, Great Aunt who cares for her niece’s child while she is trying to get her life together.

There are a million more scenarios, all of which fall under the category of “Mom”. If you fit another definition that was left off of this list, please add it to the comments. Parents are as diverse as the children we care for. We are all in this together, no matter how we define ourselves. We all share the same mission of caring for all of these wonderful children. We are all “Moms”.

Filed under: Hope Notes, Just for Laughs, Motherhood, One and Done, Parenting, Strengths Perspective, Stress Reduction | Leave a Comment »

Thoughts on Tea Baggers…. in a Political Sense

Posted on October 24, 2010 by elizabethlombino

This is a post Rich and I wrote back in November of 2009. We published it on the New York NonProfit Press at that time. I feel it is still an important issue today – and will be important until we pass Universal HealthCare in this nation.

Tea Baggers Bag Health Care for Homeless

“I’m having a problem with tea bags.” – Charlotte
“Oh honey, I understand completely. Breathe through your nose.” – Samantha
Sex and the City

Tea bags. Tea baggers. That’s all we hear in the news these days. We never thought we’d ever hear major news anchors discussing tea bags on the nightly news. Unfortunately, they are not talking about the sexual kind. They’re talking about the extreme right wing of the Republican Party. That same group that forced a moderate Republican candidate for a House seat in upstate New York to drop out of the race in favor of a radical conservative. Thankfully he lost.

Now they are organizing protests of the health care reform bill. “Kill the bill! Kill the bill!” they’re chanting. We’ll give them this – they know how to organize and come up with a catchy, concise and easy to understand message to their base. Even if it’s a lie. Death panels? Ridiculous of course. But there were thousands of Americans who actually believed there was a provision in the health care reform bill that said that we’ll pull the plug on Granny.

Health care is a major issue for the homeless. As Shannon Moriarty noted in her recent blog post on change.org Tackle Homelessness, Lower Health Care Costs, “[h]omelessness and health care are inextricably linked; the conversation about one simply cannot happen without addressing the other.” Medical bills are a major cause of homelessness. Visits to the ER to see a doctor is not health care. We can do better than this, can’t we? 47 million Americans without health care. In New York City alone, there are nearly 40,000 homeless people, including over 16,500 children. These are the City’s own statistics of their shelter population. This doesn’t include the thousands of additional street homeless, those in private shelters, and those doubled and tripled up with friends and relatives.

Hey radical conservatives! Universal health care is more cost effective than the current system. What do you think costs more: going to the ER when you’re sick, or going to your primary care doctor in a government run health plan? Preventative measures can save tons of money. If people only go to the ER in extreme situations because they don’t have the money to pay their medical bills, they are not going to see a doctor when they have the flu. Maybe seeing the doctor sooner could prevent their flu from turning into pneumonia, and then they’re in the hospital for a month. (Note to liberals: Rather than focusing on the humanity of universal health care, we thought we’d speak to conservatives’ pocket books and wallets as that seems to be a major concern).

The bill passed in the House and is off to the Senate. The bill is flawed (i.e., restrictions on coverage for abortions, 96% of Americans covered and not 100%, etc.), but it’s a start. And further than we’ve ever gotten to universal health care. Let’s continue the push to ensure that everyone can receive the medical care they need without fearing mounting debt, foreclosure, eviction and/or homelessness.

Filed under: Homelessness, Just for Laughs, Social Media, Social Work | Leave a Comment »

Mom Opinions – Enough Already!

Posted on October 18, 2010 by elizabethlombino

Everyone has an opinion about being a Mom. Those who have been a Mom for 5 minutes, those who have been a Mom for 5 years, those who are going to be a Mom, and those who are not Moms. I could be wrong, but it seems like the moment I got pregnant, the statement “Give me your opinion, no matter how bizarre, please” was stamped on my forehead. Of course it is only visible to the shameless narcissists out there who actually think I want to hear what they have to say.  If any of us Moms were to listen to all of these opinions, we would go crazy. Each statement contradicts the last and the same person who said the sky is blue today will insist that it’s purple tomorrow.

There is too much judgment out there. Too many people imposing their views upon us. Being a Mom means navigating through a whirlwind of judgments, opinions, unwanted advice and meaningless statements from strangers. I swear one day I’m going to invent a shield to ward off all those who attempt to approach me with yet another piece of verbal vomit.

There’s almost an unwritten code that being a Mom means you have to portray some level of perfection and superficial joy at all times. It’s unnecessary and nauseating. And fortunately, this view is slowly coming to an end. I’ve been so overjoyed and inspired to see more and more Moms coming forward to tell the truth about parenthood and to put a stop to the overly perfect, overly opinionated nonsense. One example is a recent Time magazine article entitled, “Mompetition”: Why You Just Can’t Make Mom Friends.

Our kids tell us what they want and what they need. They will have an opinion, and unless they want to eat candy all day, we need to listen to them as well. Before Mia was born, we knew she was a girl. We decided to decorate her room in an ocean theme, with aqua paint, fish and octopus themed bedding and all things water-related. We wanted to avoid the Pepto-Bismol effect by having her room all pink. Plus the feminist in me did not want her and her room to look like a Barbie threw up pink sparkle all over the place. Well, now that she’s 4, she’s obsessed with pink. If she doesn’t have at least one piece of pink clothing on, she has an existential crisis. Her big girl bed is covered in pink flowers (with touches of aqua to match the walls). And it all looks beautiful and I love that she has her own style and opinion. So much for our theory of minimizing pink. Damn you, unintentional reverse psychology!

We moms need to relax and enjoy being a mom. We need to listen to our own instincts and do what we feel is best for our children and ourselves. We need to laugh at ourselves and with each other. We need to exchange stories and learn from each other, not compete with each other and judge every decision. I know I’m not alone in feeling this way. So who are those Moms who are so uptight and quick to judge? I have met a few and let’s just say I spend as little time with them as possible. I prefer to spend my time with other Moms and parents who are fun, funny, light and inspirational, even when we have differing views on things. With these Moms, we can have a lively discussion full of curious exploration, not defensive judgment. It’s healthy and fun and adds to the enjoyment and journey of being a Mom.

So enough with the opinions.  If a Mom tells you she is even remotely perfect, she’s exaggerating. If she dismisses all of your Mom ideas, she’s narrow-minded. For those older opinionated folks, if they tell you they “just don’t remember” their own children acting out or anything but the positive stuff, don’t believe them. But hey, these are only my opinions, so please feel free to ignore me and just listen to yourself.

Filed under: Hope Notes, Just for Laughs, Motherhood, One and Done, Parenting, PerinatalMoodDisorders, Self-Care, Stress Reduction | 2 Comments »

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