Stephanie

October 16, 2013October 17, 2013

When tourism brings exploitation

It’s easier to think about only the positive aspects of travel and ignore the negative impact tourism can sometimes bring. But ignoring it doesn’t make it go away.

Tourists tend to have money to spend, maybe even more than the local population. It’s not just restaurants and souvenir shops that look to profit from the influx of cash, people who exploit children also follow the tourism money. A larger event brings in more cash-flush visitors looking for a good time and more potential for human trafficking into the area.

Brazil is second only to Thailand in the number of underage prostitutes, an estimated 500,000. Tourism fuels this industry, and Brazil is a popular destination for many reasons, including Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. With the addition of two global-scale events – World Cup Soccer in 2014 and the Rio Olympics in 2016 – the problem could increase exponentially.

While the Brazilian government has been working to reduce underage prostitution in recent years, there is also a grassroots, primarily volunteer-run network of Brazilian non-governmental agencies, RENAS, which is working to fight sexual violence against minors. Their Bola Na Rede campaign is focused specifically on the World Cup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsCGmkSs8vs

I heard about this from my friend Michel Duarte, who is moving his family back to his home country of Brazil to join this effort. He showed this video about RENAS and the Bola Na Rede campaign at my church. My heart broke when I learned how widespread the problem was and how such beautiful events, like the Olympics, can also bring opportunity for something as horrible as exploiting young girls and boys.

Since then, I’ve been thinking about what we can do, even if we’re not going to Brazil. Financial support is a good start.

Maybe it’s just my overdeveloped sense of responsibility, but I feel maybe there is more.

Cover of a guide to protecting children from sexual violence from the Bola Na Rede’s resources section.

We can stop ignoring the problem and raise awareness. If you know someone going to Brazil, you can let them know they can report human rights abuses, including suspected incidences of underage prostitution, by dialing 100 for a government hotline.

We can also resist the xenophobia that says people of other cultures are less smart, less important, more flawed than we are. When people make comments that stereotype or imply others are lesser beings, it’s easier to ignore the comment and move on. I’ve been guilty of this. Maybe that’s part of the problem, part of the thinking that allows us to believe that children and teens who live faraway are different than our neighbors, that they deserve less dignity than our sisters, daughters, nieces.

Maybe fighting for human rights abroad starts at home.

Visit the Duartes’ page to subscribe to their newsletter and learn more ways to get involved.

I’m participating in Blog Action Day ’13. Read more articles on Human Rights from bloggers around the world at blogactionday.org.

October 13, 2013October 13, 2013

Can you be too focused?

This past week I was swamped with putting out fires for Ignite. (Okay, yes, I hear the irony in that sentence now.) Just when I thought the hard stuff was done, several tasks that seemed straightforward ended up getting complicated to the point they seemed to take up most of my week.

The thing is I can get so locked into a project that I let almost everything else fall by the wayside. Instead of making progress on other projects or creative work, I want to wait until I can switch to that “mode” before I even think about them.

If (for example) I have 4 posts that are almost finished, I can get so focused on The Big Thing I am working on that I don’t just take a few minutes to get one posted (which may have something to do with my radio silence last week). This goes for other creative endeavors, as well. Instead of working on part of a craft project, it may just sit on the shelf until I feel like I have enough time (whatever that means) to work on it.

There are definitely times when I’m easily distracted and just flit from one thing to another. I counteract this tendency by going into tunnel vision mode when I’m really ready to get to work on something. The bigger/more urgent the project the more I am laser-focused on it – to the detriment of other things I need to do.

Finding some kind of balance would be good.

How do you focus without going into complete tunnel vision mode? Have you found a way to get things done in smaller increments without getting totally distracted from the major project(s) you’re working on?

October 3, 2013January 4, 2018

Speaking at BlogHer Pro!

The Golden Gate Bridge over the San Francisco Bay

I am very excited to be speaking at BlogHer Pro in Silicon Valley this month!

If you’re thinking “Wait, didn’t you just get back from BlogHer?!” Yes, I did go to BlogHer ’13, which is for anyone who blogs. BlogHer Pro is focused on people who use their blogs for business.

Myriam Joire and I will be discussing DIY mobile strategy tips like how to make sure your site’s design and content work well across a variety of platforms and how to prepare for whatever comes next in tech and for your site.

When they were planning this session, someone at BlogHer must have said, “Stephanie knows design, but she doesn’t know so much about the actual devices and techy whatnot. I bet she hasn’t updated her phone since iOS 5.* Get on the red phone and call Myriam! She’s like the encyclopedia of mobile gadgetry. She’s probably wearing at least 3 mobile devices right now.”**

Okay, they may not have used those exact words (especially not “techy whatnot”), but I’m very glad they made that call. That is a knowledge base I do not have, and I’m honored to share the stage with Myriam.

So, in just a few weeks, I’m headed out to the Bay Area! I’ll be staying with my sweet friend Sangeeta, who has been trying to get me to come visit for years. (When I was in her area last year, she was in Phoenix. Oh, the irony!) Before and after the conference, I’ll spend a little time catching up with people and visiting San Francisco.

The trickiest thing about it all is the timing.

I’m currently very involved with Ignite Phoenix, and our next event is October 18, which is less than a week before I’m speaking at BlogHer Pro. So this month ~~is going to be~~ is already hectic.

Ignite Phoenix 14 — Photo by Patrick McLeod

But it’s an amazing opportunity, and I know it will be worth it.

Are you thinking about going to BlogHer Pro ’13? Discount code PRO13FF will get you 30% off the conference registration. I’d love to see you there!

—

*Not true. I’m on 5.1.1. Yeah, I should probably upgrade before the conference.

**Hey, it’s happened before.

September 30, 2013October 2, 2013

Rebooting

Part of the reason I’ve never finished a scrapbook is that I stopped crafting altogether for a few years. In fact, I stopped doing a lot of things I enjoy during that time. Parts of me had gradually shut down.

There were lots of reasons for this. It’s kind of a whole tangled mess I’ve been trying to unravel since last year.

In January, I announced to a friend that this was going to be “MY year!” and then laughed because I wasn’t even sure what that meant. I just knew that it was the beginning of 2013 and 13 is my lucky number. Okay, I don’t really believe in lucky numbers, but I was born on Friday the 13th. I like the idea of turning the “unlucky” around, and it always makes me smile when a 13 shows up in my life.

As it turns out, this year has been about powering back on, opening up, jumping into new things, saying yes – even when I’m not sure why. It’s been about doing things I love. And not feeling I have to justify every single thing as being part of some Greater Purpose.

I still haven’t finished a scrapbook, but I’ve been crafting more. And taking last-minute trips (camping + conference). And sitting outside drinking tea in the mornings. And launching Travelcraft Journal. And picking out plants for our garden. And basically just doing things that sound awesome and not worrying so much about fitting my life into some constricting mold.

It’s a little weird out here outside the boundaries.

But I kinda like weird. I was born on Friday the 13th.

Photo of me by Phillip Liebold, while I was heading out the door to BlogHer.

September 21, 2013September 20, 2013

Paper bag journal: part 1(ish)

The idea of collecting trip mementos in paper bags has stuck with me since I saw it in Anna Corba’s Vintage Paper Crafts awhile ago, and I wanted to give it a try during our Colorado trip this summer.

Last year when we went on our Epic California Road Trip, we picked up a postcard for each day and wrote what we did on it. However, this time, I knew we couldn’t rely on always being somewhere with postcards for sale. Instead, I jotted down my notes about each day on brown paper sacks and tucked the day’s mementos (maps, cards, travel information, etc.) inside. I also collected a flower for (almost) every day to press during the trip and clip onto the pages later.

As we were getting ready to leave, I threw a stack of paper bags, pens, scissors and glue sticks into another paper bag. While Phillip drove, I numbered the bags 1-7 with the day of the week and wrote the date on each. Before I went to bed, the next day on the road, or whenever I found a moment, I would write about the day and doodle around the number with something related to what we did.

My notes got shorter toward the end of the trip, but the point was to write something – not to write a novel. I brought scrapbooking supplies, but I didn’t end up using them. The days were so packed it was all I could do to keep up with my basic journalling. I decided I could put things together when I got home and just kept the items I collected (except the flowers I was pressing) in each day’s bag.

If you wanted to give this a try, here’s what you need to create your own paper bag scrapbook:

A paper lunch bag for each day of your trip, plus one to store them all in. (Okay, maybe a few extra, just in case.)
Nice, archival-safe pens for journalling, doodling, or simply making a list of interesting things you saw that day.

Optional:

Clothespins or clips to keep bags together and/or clip things on outside of bags
Additional scrapbooking supplies (scissors, glue stick or double stick tape, etc.).
If you plan to collect a leaf or flower for each day, check out How to press flowers while traveling.

Now we’re back, and I have a record of what we did each day, a book full of flowers being pressed, and the other odds and ends I picked up along the way sorted by day.

Phillip says that if I never got the rest done, we’d still have a nice record of our trip. Me being me, I want it all finished and awesome. I’m still want to print more photos, weed out the bag contents, put the pressed flowers in clear plastic bags and attach them to each page. I don’t have a great track record with finishing scrapbook projects. But I’m crossing my fingers this post will have a Part 2!