Unknowingly Supporting Trafficking

(I posted this little post on my other blog, dedicated to ending slavery, 27 Million Revolutions for 27 Million Slaves: 27 Million.  I'm still struggling how to manage having a website dedicated to my authorship and writing, but then have a blog about human trafficking.  I should probably reference the other blog more often, eh?  Which is why I'm copying this post to this page.  It's a quick summary of my approach to ending trafficking and it's a quick read.)

One of my major arguments in my book is that we all unknowingly support human trafficking in some way.  The uniqueness of my argument is that I say it is not only the things that we do that support human trafficking, but the way that we think and talk, too; our very attitudes contribute to slavery, whether we like it or not.

There are more tangible ways that we contribute to slavery, too, of course.  I don't focus on the tangible so much as I should, though that's partly because I truly believe that if we can change our very beings to be aware and compassionate of the humanness of others then tangible acts would become unnecessary.  In helping think about the tangible, my fiancee pointed out this article to me: Unknowingly Supporting Trafficking. 

If you have been concerned about slavery for awhile now, you may have thought about how buying clothes, chocolate (or coffee and other goods) that's not fair trade, and fruit can contribute to trafficking.  You've probably also given thought to the massage parlor industry, especially considering that this blog and my book have talked a good deal about some of those.  Still, it's worth the reminder that slaves are working in various industries that produce what we consume.  The article is a quick read so I hope you'll read it.  I don't have anything in particular to add to it except that I hope you will think long and hard about how you consume products: just because consuming products does not bring us face-to-face with another human being does not mean that we can stop being aware and compassionate of the humanness of others.

A Celebration of Breaking Even

After the event at Faith United Methodist Church on January 31st, I am now nearly breaking even financially with the self-publication of my first work, 27 Million Revolutions for 27 Million Slaves.  One of the things that I have talked to my fiancee about is how hard it can be for a writer/artist, or anyone really, to continue doing what they love for the sake of doing what they love when financial considerations come into play.  Are we good enough people to not care about money, to do what it is we love without any seeking after money?  As a Christian, and as a Christian writer, I have to say that any seeking after money lessens our potential, even if the money seeking is secondary.  To be the best that we can be, as a person and as a professional in a vocation, we should only do what it is we want to do and then let the money come to us.  In real life this is a hard principle to follow, since we're often in need of money any way we can get it.  But still, I have written a book: do I sell that book because I want people to read it and possibly gain something from it, or do I sell the book because I want to make some money?  Does it matter?

Well, first of all, I think that breaking even is an event to be celebrated. Whether I am writing for my own financial well-being, my own satisfaction, or for the betterment of the world, breaking even means something: I've sold about 150 copies.  Stop the trains! 150 copies!  No way!  That must have killed at least 10 million trees!  Okay, so 150 copies is not 1,000 copies, nor is it 10,000 copies.  I'm not setting any records.  And let's say only half the people who have bought the book have actually read it.  That means a mere 75 people have read the book.  Though that number is much smaller than a writer with big dreams may like, it's still something to be celebrated.

In the case of 27 Million Revolutions, I know that many of those 75 people have found the book helpful in some way.  A student in Florida asked me to record a little talk for her, one of my brother's friends was strongly moved by the book and started up a conversation with me about the book, and residents of my former hometown have said that they are starting to be more aware of slavery in the news and in their daily lives.  Those are just a few examples.  As a writer, what else could you ask for?  As a Christian, what else could you ask for?  People's lives are being changed for the better.  Yes, the numbers are small, but if the impact is large, how can I or anyone else complain?

Self-publishing has had the unintended consequence of forcing me to think about finances a little too much.  For any budding writers out there, self-publishing will have the same negative consequence on you as well, unless a financial boom is why you are writing.  But I suppose I am choosing to ignore all the more serious questions and just remember that breaking even with 27 Million Revolutions for 27 Million Slaves means that a good number of people have been positively impacted and influenced by reading the book.

Here's to hoping that celebrating this milestone will lead to more lives changed, bringing us closer to the end of slavery.  If you want to help change lives and make the world a better place--aka, a world without slavery--recommend 27 Million Revolutions for 27 Million Slaves.  It's already worked wonders in a number of lives.

Finally

About eight months after I had originally hoped to publish (that's what we call naivete), I am finally getting 27 Million Revolutions for 27 Million Slaves onto the presses.  It has unexpectedly been a very emotional ride, which you won't hear about for months and months, but suffice it to say that my first ever serious publication is not quite as exciting as one would hope.  At the end of the day, though, I feel successful.  Now, selfishly, I'm most worried about selling the friggin book; of course, I'm also worried that, once having sold the book, that readers will find it somehow useful, helpful, meaningful, or whatever positive 'ful' word you can insert.

Of my trusted readers of this blog, if you want to buy a copy (it won't be available on Amazon for about ten days, and when it is it might be a couple of dollars more expensive) e-mail me at jlucy.wilde@gmail.com and then we'll go from there.  Happy reading!

Muahaha

Well, folks, I don't have much to say today, mostly because I'm just basking in celebration. 

A week or so ago I shared with y'all that I had finished the first draft of my book, 27 Million Revolutions, detailing the story and reflections of my bike trip fighting slavery.  At the time I estimated that the finished product would contain about 60,000 words--the other day Danielle asked me to calculate how many pages that would be, so I picked up a book that seemed to have average-sized paper and average font/line spacing, literally counted all the words on a page in that book, then did some math: turns out 60,000 words equals approximately 180 pages, a lot more than I thought.  Anyway, I have now basically completed adding all that I want to include from my blog that I kept during the trip and have been less-than-regularly updating since the trip and from the Polaris Project website and other materials that I used during the trip.  The total is now a little more than 80,000 words. 

Now the editing begins.  I'll be printing out the manuscript and doing the editing the old-fashioned way, which is the only way I know how.  The word count will go up a bit at first, and then fall a bit more after.  80,000 might be the final count.  Then I'll have a real book that won't just be some small little crap thing. 

Originally I had thought that I'd be done by the end of October.  But even a thorough editing will only take approximately four or five days; then a perhaps a little more time to let my friends and first-readers to offer feedback and such and edit a bit more if that feedback is not entirely to my liking. 

Want to be a first-reader?  Just let me know by e-mailing me or something and I'll e-mail you a copy after the editing is finished.  Go me!  And go fighting slavery!

Slavery: Trust and Distrust

Last night MSNBC aired two hour-long documentaries on slavery/human trafficking here in the United States.  I watched the first one, "Slavery in the Suburbs," and wish that I didn't have a 10 p.m.ish bedtime so that I could have watched the second one, an in-depth look at modern-day slavery in Texas.  Among other things, the documentary reminded me of another aspect of my mission as a writer: to make us aware of the world around us and how the way we live our lives impacts others in that world, and simultaneously restore trust and love to our hearts and minds.

If I haven't said so before, one of the greatest triumphs in my life is that I biked across the country to fight human trafficking last summer.  That should be clear, since my major writing project right now is the book on the trip, 27 Million Revolutions for 27 Million Slaves.  You can check out my on-going blog with the same name.  My main focus during the trip and now in writing the book was and is raising awareness.  Too many millions of people here in the United States think that slavery is a thing of the past, something that we have conquered thoroughly, especially now after the Civil Rights Movement.  Slavery happens elsewhere, we think, without stopping to realize that slavery of all forms most likely is happening right down the street from us at any given moment.  Hundreds and thousands of young American girls, born and raised, are in danger of sex slavery every year--as it is, Polaris Project estimates that 100,000 Americans are forced into slavery each year (I direct you to the Polaris Project website, Polaris, for more information).  That is a huge effin number for a country filled with citizens who simply can't believe such a thing possible.  Indeed, the first presentation that I gave after my bike trip at a church brought forward a mother who argued with me, "There's no way there are 27 million slaves in the world.  Don't you think we'd hear about it?" 

Here is not the place where I will talk about slavery in our world today, I'm writing everyday in my book about it, but suffice it to say that human trafficking (an interchangeable phrase with slavery) is the fastest growing industry right now partly because of how secret it is.  People who own or use slaves aren't going to come out into the open about it.  But that doesn't mean that humans aren't the best drug, the best product, for one's personal pleasure imaginable: a pimp, or slave-owner of any kind, does not need to grow humans, does not need to buy humans, they just need to not get arrested.  And the United States has been terminally slow in passing better and more strict laws to fight against human trafficking (the laws and response of the police make fighting human trafficking nearly impossible at times).  Because of the nature of the crime, the laws in our country, and the attitudes that we wrongly hold about slavery which enable human trafficking, slavery will remain covert.  Thus, awareness is the key.

Awareness is key.  Believe me, some form of slavery is almost certainly occurring in your county, if not in your hometown, if not in your neighborhood.  First things first, then, we need to acknowledge that fact.  Essentially this means being extremely distrustful of all things and all people.  I think that is a great shame, but there is no helping the inevitable.  Once we know the realities of the world we live in--that our daughter could become a sex slave simply by going over to a friend's house or going out to watch a movie--we will feel the need to keep an eye out, preemptively for the sake of those we love and in order to perhaps catch human trafficking in process.

To me, though, awareness involves so much more than knowing facts and keeping an eye out for suspicious behavior.  As I'll post tomorrow in my essay response to the shootings in Wisconsin and Colorado, we need to reflect on the attitudes we harbor in our society that could lead to someone's wanting to own or use a slave; we need to reflect on the attitudes that we harbor within ourselves that might lead or contribute to slavery.  We cannot simply point blaming fingers every which way and refuse to acknowledge that in some way we might be part of the problem.  Pornography, for instance, is not innocent at all, nor is watching pornography.  The way we live our lives can also contribute to oppressive slavery without our knowing.  All of this, I hope, can lead to more inward reflection.  For me, awareness is essentially an act of confession.  A small act of confession but an act of confession nonetheless.  Becoming aware must help us grow as individuals and as a people if we ever hope to live in a better world.

Inward reflection might enable us to think less harshly and distrustfully of others, aware that the flaws and issues that other persons might exhibit can be found in our own character as well.  If it doesn't, or even if it does, I cannot stand raising awareness of certain corrupt and loathsome undersides of the world around us and our own thinking and attitudes that undergird those undersides without also restoring the trust lost in the process of becoming aware.  Too often I hear people use "naive" as a synonym for "trusting."  I can't tell you how much that bothers me.  I've told the story of the Jewish father protecting his daughter from me on a train and what that means to me, insert that story here.

Human trafficking/slavery is arguably the worst evil ever to exist, and it is unfortunately also one of the least known.  So obviously I view it as my mission to make it known.  But my mission of awareness extends beyond human trafficking into simply inviting deep reflection by all of us.  And then, once we develop distrust of ourselves and everyone, I hope to show that the world isn't such a bad place after all.  A hopeless mission, but part of my mission as a writer nonetheless.

Who I'm Writing For

Although my moleskin notebook is full of advice from a random person I met at a wedding who also recently graduated from graduate school and is trying to break into the writing field, and a friend's father in the publishing business, I am not writing for anything or anyone. 

Does that sound strange?  Usually people say that one should write for oneself, and not compromise in some way by writing for someone or something else.  Write what you want, what you feel, blah blah blah.  All of that is true.  Compromise when writing, when plumbing the depths of truth or reality or life's deepest memories and rolling it up into digestible, fun, inspirational, exciting bits of words and phrases, is entirely unacceptable.  Honest intellectual endeavor and true passionate vomit onto paper is essential for developing an interested audience and, indeed, feeling good about oneself.  Yet still, writing for magazines, events, people, newspapers, journals, etc., is the key to starting out in this career path.

Regardless, I am taking an entire year to not publish anything.  Granted, if a friend or something takes something I've written and suggests that I publish it, then I might do so.  At the end of the year of time off, so to speak, then I will look earnestly for a job at a magazine or journal to get paid for my essay-writing and do all other writing on the side.  In the meantime, I am resting, consuming, and writing for myself, exactly what I should not be doing.

Most of why I'm doing what I am, however, goes back to my poetry professor, John Engels.  Before he passed away unexpectedly, the last thing he said to me will stay with me forever.  But that's too personal to share.  One of the other last things that he ever said to me was that I should not work too hard (check) but that I should get a small job to pay for the writing lifestyle that I want to live (that will be a check), and in the meantime just write and wait until there's plenty of things that I want to publish (check, sort of).  I can't possibly disregard his advice entirely.  This year, then, is intended to write as much as possible so that I can not only get a job at the end of the year but also to publish as much as possible when I start wholly jumping in.

And that's why I'm wasting most of my time on this blog... and writing about my bike trip last year when I cycled across the country to raise awareness and funds for the fight against human trafficking.  Be impressed.  And since I want to make the book as interesting as possible for the ordinary person, let me know if you want input as I'm writing.  After all, the millions of slaves in the world need our help!