RAINN - connect the drops

I'm giving a little shout out to Director of all things important and relevant *here* (yes on our watch, Mr. Clooney) Miss Kate Hull from RAINN who in just a few days covered more ground hitting up every media outlet in LA than an A-lister promoting their "Oscar written all over it" performance of the year. In a good way.
I had never met Kate, and finding out that she would be in town just a day before I returned from CT made me rethink my departure date. But then I wouldn't have been in the room for the sonogram and would have missed all that amazingness. In the end, Kate stayed on through the weekend so I got the chance to meet the woman who sends all good speaking things my way and who knew she would be so darn adorable? She's the kind of friend you give a spare set of keys to (eek, no pun intended), who gets lots of flowers on their birthday, and who shares my love of Mark Ruffalo, Scott Speedman, Netflix obssessions and black labs.
I know- is there a point to this post other than loving Kate and RAINN? Well to tie it in a bow, I was just thinking about this little community we have here that's always better than I ever expected. It makes my job that much easier, that much more dire, that much more sane. Oh yeah - and just another reminder that we are fun people. We tend to love life, and that's what makes it so very necessary to protect it. On our soil.
Have you read about RAINN's online hotline ? Did you know that you can literally go to the site and chat with a trained professional online? These things are not easy, and RAINN just made it that much more accessible and easier for a survivor to get the help and information they need. I certainly didn't know. Rape doesn't come with a handbook but these programs that we so desperately need to support help millions of people a year. Please read up, volunteer, donate money - it's happened to someone you love. This much we know is true for everyone.

The Latest Craze From Cruise

Photo courtesy of the fabulous GalleryoftheAbsurd.com

I'm sure thousands of bloggers are weighing in on Tom Cruise's interview discussing his er, relationship with Scientology. I've heard enough first hand stories of friends being lured into the house of Scientology under the guise of "acting classes" to make me shudder every time I pass the "Celebrity" Scientology Centre. Any religion that forces you to stay in a "class" or "get tested" against your will ain't good. As an Angeleno who doesn't even drive that much, I still see accidents happen every day. When was the last time you heard of Tommy, or any celebrity Scientologist for that matter, helping a victim of a car accident, or even a kitten from a palm tree? According to TC, they are the only ones who "truly can help and have the knowledge, because in an instant, they know what to do" (I'm paraphrasing here--I can't bare to go back and watch it again).
I could go on with all the inconsistencies in that interview, but what irked me is that celebrities know that they are emulated by adults and children alike, and despite the cameras (oh spare me), they lead a very charmed life. For many, and I speak from extremely personal experience, it wasn't easy to "arrive". When I worked in the music industry, we used to laugh when our artists were proclaimed "The Best New Musician" in Rolling Stone or the like. There was nothing new about them except that people other than their 500+ fans, including friends and family, were listening to them now. Money talks, and people drink the Kool-Aid.

Until Scientologists show some substantial proof that they can heal the world, celeb scientologists have a social responsibility to tame the crazy. We get it: people are listening to you. Do you get it? It's part of your job, as is dressing in designer clothing, going to premiere parties and telling us what brand of toothpaste we should buy. Jessica Alba just got paid a whole lotta dough to tell me that if I like her shade of Revlon foundation, not to ask for it, because it's hers. Okaaay.
To say that one can't "pretend to know Scientology; you better know it!" from a group that is a closed religion that largely hides their secret sauce is elitist and just, well, wrong. As a survivor, I am sensitive to the fact that non-survivors may not understand how it really feels to be a survivor. Hence why I am here and I do what I do. I don't hold people up to the same ethics that I have for myself as that would be to say that mine are the best, the only way one should live their life. Wow.
As a public survivor, it is my responsibility to give accurate information, to provide help and guidance. Oh, and to bring attention to fact that we've got a much bigger problem going on here in the US of A that we should be healing and paying attention to before we give aid to all the countries that are not like us. Because we are so progressive? I know I have more rights than most women in the world, but that doesn't mean that the scales are balanced. Read a few posts and let me know if you think we're really all that savvy. Or let me remind you that 1 in 4 college students will be assaulted by the time they graduate. That, and a diploma is what your parents paid for, or you are still paying students debts off for. There's a lot that can be done, without having to bow down to my "stringent code of ethics" or wear Nike track pants in eight different colors the way I do.
I'm sorry but social responsibility is no laughing matter. Let me edit that: I am not sorry at all.