Happy very early Thanksgiving!
We’re already thankful, and here’s why—a summary of some good news for you:
Everyone is celebrating Kenneth Bae’s return. Bae was finally released from North Korean imprisonment after two years. There’s not much we can say that hasn’t been said in other media, but it doesn’t hurt to repeat the good news.
He was returned home, to his country and his city.
He got to hug his mom. (That might be number one on his list.)
He got to eat pizza (number one on his food request list).
America and Seattle celebrated. (And probably more than just America and Seattle.)
It was a lovely, heartbreaking reunion for the family, city, and country.
For details, see page 1. Or turn on your computer and google it.
The other good news is that pick-up artist Julien Blanc is banned from Australia and is supposedly banned from Seattle. The creep (a fair description), was proponing and selling workshops that encouraged men to use offensive behavior toward Japanese women in order to get dates. There is not a lot more we can add to the conversation except to encourage all other venues that supported or booked his workshops to ban him as well. (For more information refer to the commentary on page 11.) You can also read Jenn Fang’s full commentary /blog on Reappropriate.co. (Yes, that is .co, not .com.) We would have loved to published the whole piece, but we were limited due to space restrictions. But there is enough to know that taking action can make a difference which is why you should too. Yay for Australia for banning him! (And Seattle too, but we didn’t know if this is verified at time of printing.)
And speaking of taking action, The Girls Project (see front page) is doing so in the most intense, beautiful way. By providing rural girls with plots of land to cultivate vegetables, grains, and such, they are also provided with more options than just being married off or being a victim of trafficking. These young women now can be instilled with a sense of purpose and pride. Yay for excellent programs!
We are crossing our fingers that we will have more happy editorials in the future. That is on our-pre-pre-Christmas wish list. (end)