After a rousing night of karaoke, where surely I have found my calling to becoming the next star, Andy and I spent much of the afternoon catching up on the latest news at the local coffeeshop, Diamonds. In particular, I found an informative news journal detailing woman's stories in Minneapolis. They covered articles about death and dignity, woman leaders making an impact in the community, health options, and a section that provides latest news that we all should ponder. http://www.womenspress.com/

The one that made my jaw drop, and swear out loud was my first reading of Purity Balls. This is where young girls, of all ages attend a decadent ball with their fathers to affirm their abstinence before marriage. In one of the rituals that the NY times covered, the graying fathers holding their daughters hand pledged “before God to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the area of purity.” After prayers, dance, food, and bonding, the basic message was that girls' need to stay pure before getting married.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/us/19purity.html http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/05/19/us/0519-PURITY_index.html

I'm all for promoting the option of abstinence for females if that is what they choose, and I'm all for dad/daughter bonding, but I'm even more in favor of empowering females to have respect, courage, understanding about themselves and their bodies and mind that when faced with inevitable situations that they are confident in their choices and have all the information in their heads to make an emotional, intelligent decision. Thinking that a dance and some verbal rituals/affirmations, as well as only promoting abstinence-only programs, will curb sex until marriage is overall unhealthy and irresponsible as stds continue to rise, and as unwanted pregnancies and abortion still exist at a young age, and as stats suggest that people are marrying much later, and people are having sex much earlier. As other methods of sex education, such as protection, choices, self-respect, are being lost or not talked about, and studies are showing that the abstinence programs aren't working, though they are still getting huge amounts of funding, what effect does this have this have on our society?

As Andy and I travel across country, I'm strangely coming across more and more readings about these asinine programs, bills, and actions in place, and am outraged. I'm indignant as there are many people who though, I want to believe, mean well, yet are debilitating our females and males from making thoughtful and reflective choices. When talking about sustainability, we think of environment, what we eat, our urban design, but our health is right up there, and when there are programs in place limiting choices and putting value on mainly purity and the constant need for approval, through fear based teaching, frankly I find it determental at advancing a sustainable world.

I understand that the topic, or conversation, of sex is still very taboo, even if ironically it's marketed to us everywhere, however, we need to openly talk about it more, especially when it's uncomfortable. We need to figure out ways to provide open space and respect for honest conversation on what is on going, and we need to provide them with the intellectual/emotional tools that empower them.

Really, no more virginity balls, please.

After I get through with this trip, I may have to research further our current state of sex education, however, in the meantime check out some sites that provide reports on the effectiveness(lack of)of some of the programs. http://www.legalmomentum.org/site/DocServer/SexLies_Stereotypes2008.pdf?docID=1001
http://www.nomoremoney.org/reality.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-04-15-sex-education-grants_n.htm




So I ranted and raved for awhile at the coffeeshop with Andy and then have been trying to figure out my involvement in all this nonsense. I'm still formulating, as I love all the different aspects of what one could do, does do at working toward a more sustainable environment for the family, community, nation, and world. What I am realizing, is that it doesn't really make a difference what path you choose, as it is the individual who utilizes their strengths and preferences that achieves their goals. So if the goal is to create a more sustainable world, yes, that's a broad one, then we need to align our goals with action, not just words. The twenty, or so, people we have already interviewed have proved that action produces some very positive results. Though they have different professions, from urban designer and small-large business owner to farmer and city planner with different passions, ideas, and thoughts, they are working on sustainable methods just in a different way through their committed and long term actions.




Shifting topics: other then drinking lots of coffee in this town, Andy and I also have had time riding the paths, and I must say, the signage is easy to follow. It's actually fun riding through congested downtown during rush hour, and I have been able to see more at the slower pace we are going, then had we been traveling in a car. It's helped that our interviews with Peace Coffee and Minneapolis Project have been in different areas.

Getting to Peace Coffee a couple days ago, we road the path most of the way there, and ended up having a great time learning about coffee, their vision, and how they make their choices to be as sustainable as possible, as they could easily expand to other markets, however, for sake of freshness and footprint, they stay committed at serving their region.
http://www.peacecoffee.com/home.htm
Or another example is they distribute their coffee by bike and biodiesel van, even through the cold mn winters.

Also, for this year alone they have collaborated with over 100different events that match their interests, many times with a social change and empowerment message. And probably the most effective/sustainable decision they made right from the beginning, was that they were going to provide a fair wage to their southern partners, and actually were one of the firsts to promote and produce fair trade coffee.

After getting the scoop on Peace Coffee, and feeling caffeinated with their Twin Cities blend, Andy and I biked up north, passing the beautiful buildings, that clearly indicated some sort of past milling industry, as the river was lined with these sort of silos below.



After passing the silos, new buildings, and strange looking power lines, we headed back to the Hennapin bridge, and got a better view of the Grain Belt Beer sign. Our first taste was back in Prairie du Chien, so it was a warm welcome when we first arrived in to Minneapolis.





We ended the evening, with yet again vibrant conversation with Jeremy and Jenna our lovely hosts and tried to catch up on some of our webstuff. The next morning, we secured a meeting with the Minnasota Project. They are working on Agriculture, energy, and Food issues, with some great programs such as CERTS(Clean Energy Resource Teams) and the Heartland Food Network, building stronger local economies and connecting people with resources.
http://www.mnproject.org/
As we found out from Dan Theide, Energy Project Coordinator, they even provided a small grant for our friends down in Northfield, the ARTech solar project we wrote about a week ago. Small little world indeed.
We also talked with Rebecca Baumann, new Executive Director about the overall mission, challenges, partnerships, and had a great insight as she reaffirmed at this point in time, that agriculture, energy, and food issues are now strongly effecting each other. It's interesting, because in the past we could or have been focusing on them as separate entities, however, it's clear with peak oil that we now need to work together on all the issues as they are intricately linked. In addition, she also talked about food policy and how they are trying to figure ways to get resources to each other, such as food from farmers to chefs and distributors.

As we said our goodbyes, our final stop for the day was at Cupcake. We had passed the 3-dimensional sign on our way to the Minnesota Project, and I was intrigued. So when we were approaching it on our way back up, it seemed inevitable to stop. They had dozens of delectable cupcakes to choose from and I decided for the Boston Cream cupcake and ice coffee. Even when I look at the picture now, I salivate over some sugary goodness. Folks, my diet since being on this trip consists of sugar, and more sugar, and though one would think I've lost weight, I make it up in eating junk, delicious food!

We read some more, and headed back north.