The Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse March 2011 Edition

Welcome to the March edition of the blog carnival.

The theme for this month was “springtime” -cliché I know. Nevertheless, I wanted to focus on the word “spring” itself as an adjective.

Themed Posts

Astrid from “Astrid’s Journal” submitted a post entitled Coming Out Multiple. She writes about how dissociation was her “normal” however, in-order for her to “spring” forward she needed to learn about trust in both herself and others around her. I could really relate to this post because I too struggle with using the word “normal” nonetheless, I perfer the word typical :)

Bee from “Between the Minds: The Beehive” presents Even If I’m Stuggling Across the Finish Line. This post explains how she “springs” back even when it feels impossible. Bee finds strength in her career and she has a passion to give back. She remarks: I’m not a morning person but I find myself wanting to get up in the morning before the sun even comes up because I love my job.

Kate from “Kate 1975” presents a post entitled Springtime. She talks about a book about a tree surviving the winter helped her and caused her to reflect on her own journey to survive her own “winter”. This post made me think this quote “In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer” Albert Camus. Happy Spring Kate.

Michelle from “Life, Multiplied” wrote a post called Spring = Truth & New Life. She reflects her journey and realizes how much she has truly grown. This post is inspirational because it shows how other peoples words can be so healing when we least expect it.

Advocacy & Awareness

Lothlórien from “Lothlórien Healing Dissociative Identity Disorder” presents the post entitled Dissociation Explained. This post gives the reader two different views inside the world of DID. Initially Lothlórien educates the reader that everyone dissociates to an extent i.e. highway hypnosis. She also represents the clinical aspect of DID from her own perspective.

Lothlórien also wrote a post educating What Causes Dissociative Identity Disorder? explaining the minds logical way to cope with illogical experiences that many people have experienced. Quoted from her post Lothlórien explains ” Children developmentally don’t know what to do with this event. It’s like someone is dumping objects in your hands faster than you can “put them away”, and you run out of options, so what do you do? “

Puzzled Hat from “All The King’s Horses” wrote a post entitled The Courage to Use Words... She remarks about many people use the word “rape” as something funny especially the youth. I think that this only exacerbates the stigma and silences survivors.

In the News

Tracie from her blog “From Tracie” presents Rape is Not Funny. In her blog post she said: Rape is not about sex or what someone is wearing. It is an act of violence. It is an act of power. Power is a common theme in many survivors childhoods.

Patricia Singleton from “Spiritual Journey of a Lightworker” presents her two part post Roxane Gay On The Rumpus.net Writes “The Careless Language of Sexual Violence” Patricia remarks, “This is my first of two posts that are a mad rant because of a New York Times Article that blames an 11-year-old child for being gang raped.”

Patricia Singleton from “Spiritual Journey of a Lightworker” presents her second post entitled NY Times Article – James C. McKinley, Jr. Writes “Vicious Assault Shakes Texas Town” she remarks: The New York Times post which blames the victim, an 11-year-old little girl, for her own gang rape at the hands of 18 teenage boys and men. This is so wrong. I agree with Patricia innocents was stolen and the blame is solely for the perpetrators.

Healing & Therapy

Leslie from “Leslie’s Illusions” contributed a post called The “S-Word”: the 6-letter one. Leslie talks about her journey to safety which was something foreign during her childhood. When her and her son talk about safe places she then redefines her 6 letter word. Leslie remarks: I find Spring to be a hopeful time, renewal after a long winter…I hope this post will be hopeful for someone.

Leah from “Leah’s Life” wrote a post entitled Mom – A Complicated Word…Complicated Relationship…A Request for Advice. She wrote: My complicated relationship with my mother and a request for how others have handled it. Within this post Leah asks many question about why her mother did not protect her from her father who abused her.

Ivory from “Shades of Ivory” wrote a post entitled Better Therapy, Better Living. Ivory expresses: Sometimes, you have to stop the merry-go-round and get off to find what works for you. Healing differs for everyone- I think the part that makes it so challenging is that there is no cookie cutter way to achieve wellness. Healing happens for some when they customize their own path.

Splinteredones from “Splinteredones’s Blog” presents I HAVE no past safety. Splint expresses: Nobody has ever told me the impact of trauma on very young brains in terms of brain development other than creating hordes. Can you? She writes about the many things that she lacked during her childhood. Many things that you my dear Splinty deserved.

Lothlórien from “Lothlórien Healing Dissociative Identity Disorder” presents the post entitled Bloom Where You’re Planted. This post is “inspirational” as Lothlórien states on so many levels. It is the story about a flower but symbolizes a journey that so many of us partake. This post reminded me of one of my favorite quotes “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Anais Nin

Lyn harris from “Lyn’s Circle: Chronicles of a Married Feminist” presents her post Quivering Daughters. Her post makes us aware of the Quiverfull Movement, which is happening mostly in the southern states in the US. Women are spiritually abused and forced to live in a patriarchial society. This post is eye opening because a family in the media

Patricia Singleton from “Spiritual Journey of a Lightworker” presents Why You Shouldn’t Forget After Forgiving. She remarks Forgiveness is something that each survivor has to decide for themselves whether to do it or not. If you do forgive, you shouldn’t forget the abuse. Patricia made me realize that just because you forgive something doesn’t mean you should forget it- thanks for that.

Survivor Stories

Lothlórien from “Lothlórien Healing Dissociative Identity Disorder” presents the post entitled Fortune Cookie which is a story about a cookie that symbolizes life for her family. She tells us even though life did not deal her the greatest cards she is working with she has. Breaking the cycle is hard and everyday one must play the game with the same cards.

Lothlórien from “Lothlórien Healing Dissociative Identity Disorder” presents the post entitled Powerful Thoughts . I really enjoyed this post because I learned about the bodies natural painkillers endorphines. And I actually stopped while reading this post to try out some of the things she wrote about. It was a very interactive post :)

Poetry

Poetry is about personal reflection so I neglect to write my reflection for this section…Enjoy

Rick Belden from “Poetry, Dreams, and the Body” presents a video of a poem entitled Use Everything.

Hope from “The Hope for Trauma” presents Symphony…(Possible Triggers).

I was so honored to be able to host such an awesome monthly event so enjoy all these wonderful posts! Thanks to everyone who contributed to the carnival this month you are all truly inspirational! And a special thanks to Tracie for all that she does in the survivor community.