She talks to wolves...

So, there's this writer you might have heard of on my friends page: Shira Lipkin, AKA shadesong. Not only are we fellow alums of Scheherezade's Bequest (the online magazine of Cabinet des Fées), not only is her story "Valentines" being published in the Interstitial Arts Foundation's forthcoming Interfictions 2, but she is also one seriously classy dame. She is a Survivor Speaker and a major fundraiser each year for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center.

Although she often works directly and extensively with BARCC, her main fundraising efforts for them each summer are expended in running one of the best Blogathons around.

For those who aren't sure what a Blogathon is, allow me to fill you in: each summer, many bloggers raise funds for their favorite charities by committing to update their blogs every half hour for a twenty-four hour period. They must blog every thirty minutes, no exceptions. As you can imagine, to make this more interesting, they generally develop themes for their bloganzas. For example, The Chef's Table will spend 24 hours cooking "a chef's tasting menu" and sharing recipes. In 2005, catvalente wrote "The Descent of Inanna," which was subsequently published as a limited edition by Papaveria Press. Last year, shadesong played the part of a psychometric xenoarchaelogist, writing pieces of flashfic to accompany creative items donated to her for the purpose. She later auctioned those items for further donations to BARCC.

This year, shadesong has solicited crafts and goods inspired by her works. If you were to scroll through blogforbarcc (the community set up for auctioning this year's donated items), you would find custom yarn (Phoenix-style!), lovely jewelry (Sihaya designs! Wyrding Studios originals!), autographed CDs (s00j's Sirens!), and even incredible edibles (Polidori chocolates! ginger syrup!) . You would also find a print that has struck my heart with primal desire:


"From the Ashes" by Aaron Aurelio Acevedo.
(Gorgeous work, aaronace.)

This coming weekend, shadesong will be posting pieces of her flashfic every half hour along with the creative items inspired by them. I hope you'll tune in to read them! And if you've a bit of change to spare for charity, please consider supporting her in her endeavors. They are incredibly worthy.

...besides, not only will you be helping charity - you'll be supporting the arts and possibly getting something shiny in the bargain as well!



Read shadesong's original post on Blogathon 2009 at this link.

Crossposted to my website's blog.

I missed posting about this back when they desperately needed immediate donations to launch the online hotline, but it's never too late to jump on the charity bandwagon.

RAINN (the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network) is an amazing organization that provides support to victims of sexual assault across the United States. They provide a variety of services and spearhead a number of programs to give that support, educate the public about sexual assault, and ensure justice whenever possible.

There are a few ways that you can help this organization:

1. Make a donation. It doesn't matter if it's only a dollar: every dollar helps.

2. Purchase RAINN gear in lieu of simply donating. Not only does your money go to the organization but you can even help advertise the organization to others! In the RAINN store, you can find a variety of t-shirts and accessories. Also, hey, a fan of Tori Amos? Buy her RAINN Benefit Calendar!

3. Volunteer your time. RAINN is responsible for several programs fighting to make America a safer place. You can help out with Get Carded, where wallet cards about the National Sexaul Assault Hotline are handed out on college campuses across the nation.

If, for some reason, you are unable to do any of the above at this time, just help spread the word. Tell your friends about RAINN: tell them that there's a service out there to help those who've been sexually assaulted and that they can get this help safely and anonymously. Post about it in your online blog, encouraging others to help in any way they can. Every positive action carries us forward.