PROTEST FOR SEX TRAFFICKING REPORTS

This is being sent to all of the AAJA (Asian American Journalists Association) members:

Korean Americans' Protest of SF Chronicle Sex Trafficking Series Yields Results

AAJA acknowledges the impact community initiatives have on media coverage.
A four-part series, "Diary of a Sex Slave," recently published in the San Francisco Chronicle has caught the ire of members, friends and supporters of the Bay Area's Korean American community. The article by Meredith May, chronicles the life and experiences of a South Korean woman who was lured and forced into prostitution in San Francisco by sex traffickers.
Community members said that the article about one individual "gave disproportionate emphasis to a small immigrant segment of the overall Korean American population in San Francisco and California, the vast majority of whom are well-educated professionals and hardworking families." They also said that the series includes many cultural inaccuracies and paints a distorted picture of Busan, South Korea - the hometown of the article's main subject.
More than 40 Korean American organizations and individuals signed on to a letter-response to the series, demanding a public apology from the Chronicle. The open letter, published in Asian Week, (see link below), was also printed by the San Francisco Chronicle in its editorial and opinion page. Community representatives also met with the paper's management and editorial staff to present a list of demands. AAJA asked San Francisco Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein to comment on the meeting with the community representatives, and he had this to say.
Links
Asian Week: An Open Letter to San Franciscans
Coalition statement and demands
Asian Week: Emil Guillermo: Sex Not Necessary to Be Slave to Immigration

To read the whole series, go to: http://www.sfgate.com/sextrafficking/

ADOPTION FAIR THIS WEEKEND

If you or someone you know is interested in adopting a child, there's an adoption fair on Saturday in Springfield.

Here are the details:
Cox Health Center South
October 28th
Foster Auditorium and meeting rooms 1-3
9am to 1pm

About 15 adoption agencies will be on hand.

SKATELAND WAS KIND OF SKANKY

Me, rolling with the small fries

So I went roller skating on my birthday...and now I know why my friend says she won't drop off her kids at the skating rink on a Friday night. First of all, I love skating. I haven't done it since the sixth grade, when I lived for the snowball and the limbo. Two of my coolest moments were winning the limbo and skating the snowball with Jeremy Hamilton (an 8th grader.) Awesome.

Anyway, skating is hard these days. I thought I was going to fall. I was afraid to skate backwards. The kids whizzed by me, and I thought they were going to blow me over. Yet the hardest thing to endure at the rink was...watching the kids. I was shocked by their appearance and their skanky behavior.

First of all, I was surprised by the music choice. "London Bridge" by Fergie, "Sexyback" by Justin Timberlake, and "Money Maker" by Ludacris are all great songs, but I would expect to hear them at Icon rather than a rink filled with middle schoolers. I mean, c'mon, don't you think Jessica Simpson or JoJo is a little more age appropriate?! Anyone ever heard of Hilary Duff?! Girls were wearing short shirts, tight pants, and dancing in the corner like strippers (no offense to those who work as strippers.) Even one of the workers told us that Friday nights are kind of rough, and that we should come back for Family Night.

I'm not knocking Skateland. I think it is a great place for fun. But seriously, how do we influence our kids so they don't feel like they need to act this way? And how do we teach young women that it's not okay to degrade themselves? I don't mean to sound old, conservative, or uncool, but when did kids stop going to the skating rink to skate?

Jim and Michelle, looking old and out of touch

I SPY PINK EYE

I've been absent for a few days because I've been beat down with a number of things: pink eye, an upper respiratory virus, and windburn (no kidding). Apparently, pink eye is going around. It has caused havoc in the newsroom since we all share computers, edit bays, equipment, etc. One of my co-workers had pink eye a couple of weeks ago, and I blame him for my absense. Anyway, I've never had pink eye before. It hurts. I have it in both eyes, but my left eye is much worse. At least today I can open them; yesterday I was flat on my back.

FRIDAY THE 13TH

Ahhhh, Friday the 13th is coming up. It is supposed to be an unlucky day, the kind Michael Myers comes to get you, kind of day.

I think it is more spectacular and creepy because Friday the 13th happens to be in October, therefore making it the scariest day of the scariest month of the year.

Good news, though. Nasa says that on Friday the 13th in April 2029, millions of people will see a point of light that will glide across the sky faster than many satellites and will be brighter than most stars.

The reason I like the 13th of October? It is my birthday. This year, though, it feels more like an annoyance...I guess that's another sign of becoming an old bitty. People stop feeling so happy on their birthdays because they realize they're getting older, and things stop working like they used to. My brain, my body, it's all going downhill.

BLOGGER QUESTION

Does anyone know how accurate stat counters are? I check my recent visitor activity occasionally, but some of the entries don't seem right. For instance, there are some people who are supposedly logged on to my blog for 23 hours at a time. Does that sound right? And it seems like one minute I'll have just a few page loads and then the next, like 50. Can someone help me out?

NORTH KOREA AND NUCLEAR DEVICES

As of 11:40 pm, October 8th:

South Korea's official news agencies are reporting that North Korea has performed a successful nuclear test.

A South Korean seismic monitoring center also confirms tremors felt at the time of North Koreas alleged nuclear test. They say they were not natural occurrences. This would be North Koreas first ever nuclear weapons test.

North Korea said last week it would conduct a nuclear test as part of its deterrent against a possible United States invasion.

Last Friday the United Nations Security Council issued a statement warning North Korea not to do the test. Also, a UN statement says if nuclear tests were conducted it would jeapordize peace, stability, and security in the asia region and beyond.

***The closest experience I had with North Korea was going to the DMZ, or the demilitarized zone. It is basically the place where North and South Korea meet. I remember walking through the area feeling scared. (We had to sign waivers basically relinquishing the US of any liability in the event of being maimed, shot or killed. Afterwards, we went to a massacre site where North Korean soldiers had once ambushed American troops.) Soldiers from both the North and South were standing silent and tall with their guns. I stood at the top of a hill where I heard eery propoganda-opera-type music and saw these white, Hollywood-type signs in the distance--both used to apparently entice South Koreans to cross the border. I saw the propoganda village North Korea built to give the appearance of being a rich country, when actually no one lived there at all. But something I will never forget was walking to the bottom of an infiltration tunnel and seeing a young (18 or so) South Korean soldier standing on guard with his gun at a metal door with a small glass window...then seeing an equally young North Korean solider on the other side. At that moment, I remember feeling sorry for the boys because they had to stare at each other all day as enemies, even though they were cut from the same cloth.***

THE BACHELORETTE AND THE BULL

Larissa

My good friend Larissa is getting married in two weeks, and she had her last hoorah Saturday night. It was a doozy.

We started downtown and ended up on the south side. But somewhere in between here and there, we went to Midnight Rodeo.

Huh? What?!

First of all, I am no stranger to cowboys. I grew up in Cass County Missouri. My high school mascot was a freakin' rooster. I even wore Wrangler jeans and Justin boots--ONCE. But I had wiped all of that from my memory...until last night.

Now, I'm not making fun of cowboys or country music. It's just that sometimes I question men who wear tighter jeans than me. What's up with the super tight black jeans anyway?

And what's up with that bull at Midnight Rodeo? I have to admit, it looked kind of fun, but there was no way I was going to ride it. At least Stephanie had the bullballs to try.

A GOOD READ

You may recognize the name Gregory Holman because he is the editor of 417 magazine. If you read the magazine, you know he has a lot to say...

Well, now you can read more of what's on his mind: http://gregoryholman.blogspot.com However, please note, his blog is a personal one, just like mine.

Greg is such a fun and insightful person...I think you'll enjoy his blog! I've also posted a link down at the bottom left corner of the page...

ONE QUICK QUESTION

Is there a bloggers meeting this Tuesday?

OMG, I AM AN OLD BITTY

My best friend Lucy

My best friend's little sister started classes at our old alma mater, the University of Kansas. This is huge.

Lucy, Franny, Michelle

So, I decided to take a vacation day and head to Lawrence, Kansas. Honestly, Lucy and I were ready to party like we did before we legally could. However, there was a problem. This weekend we discovered that we are old bitties.

I can't believe it.

After two cocktails (with cheap alcohol in plastic cups), we pootered out.

I woke up the next morning with a hangover-feeling because I had been up for 22 hours the night before (thanks to the ungodly hours I work at KY3.) Lucy woke up equally crappy because she didn't get her normal 8-hours-of-sleep.

Old bitties.

It is rather fun getting older and wiser, but it was such a comical and yet, enlightening weekend.

When Lucy's younger sister Franny was 10, she used to put on my shoes and tromp around my dorm room...now she's schooling us on what goes in college! I hope she enjoys these next few years at KU because one day she'll realize she's too old to go back---