Podcast Update

Posted on November 13, 2019 by T A Munroe

A post or two ago, I told you I had interviewed for Word, a podcast on KJZZ, an NPR affiliate in Phoenix.

The link is just below. I come in at about 17:30. (Does anyone else dislike the sound of their own voice?) But the segment before it is great, too, an interview with the woman who is Municipal Liaison for the Phoenix AZ NaNoWriMo region. Following, the host talks with people at the Local Author’s Fair.

Word Podcast from KJZZ featuring me.

Thanks for tuning in!

Tim Agne/KJZZ
Theresa Munroe is participating in NaNoWriMo for the 12th year in a row.

It’s a Dry Heat.

Posted on June 22, 2015 by T A Munroe

This is my tenth summer in Phoenix, Arizona. I traded the moderate (mostly) summer temps of Southeastern Pennsylvania for the front porch of Hell itself.

But yes, it is a dry heat. Today’s humidity is 13%. On Thursday, it’s expected to be cloudy with humidity of 26%. That’s getting up there and it’s noticeable. And then you really start to sweat.

Summer is our winter. We avoid going out in the afternoon if at all possible. Even though the kids are out of school, you won’t see many in the parks before sundown. I can’t imagine not being able to send my kids out to play. People with pools wait until the evening to use them. Sometimes the water is even too hot to get in.

But, at least we don’t have to shovel sunshine.

A friend born and raised in AZ posted something this on Facebook recently: “Turn your hair dryer on high and point it at your face. That’s what it’s like outside.” It was a breezy day.

I’m a white girl of Northern European descent. I don’t have the genes to enjoy the sun. It’s like little needles being shot at my skin. I pity people I see working on roofs and on roads this time of year. And police officers in their body armor. Of course, not everyone is as sensitive to the sun or physical discomfort as I am.

Besides extreme sunburn and heat stroke, there are lesser dangers from living in extreme sun and heat. A car can be as dangerous as open flame. Opening a car door can hurt! So can touching the steering wheel and gear shift knob. The metal of seat belts are hidden dangers that you learn how to avoid. Some folks drape a towel over the steering wheel and know, especially if you don’t have one of those window shade arrangements.

Or we just do this. Seriously. We do. Or use those gloves we wear twice in the winter.

So while the rest of the country is enjoying their beaches and lakes and barbecues in the parks, we here in the Valley of the Sun entertain each other with memes posted on the internet.

And patiently wait for winter, which is our reward for enduring summer.

Play Ball With Your Enemies or Baseball Rivalries I Have Known

Posted on June 6, 2015 by T A Munroe

A Facebook writer friend who lives in Israel posted that someone gave her an MLB something for her birthday and now she can watch the Dodgers. She used to live in Los Angeles.

That reminded me of the baseball rivalries of my life. I touch upon this topic in Another Place on the Planet.

“I wonder,” I (Lily) said absently as we walked past Chase Field on Jefferson Street, “if the Diamondbacks open the season at home this year.”

“You like baseball?” he (Charlie) asked with the first smile I’d seen in a while.

“I do. I’ve been hoping to meet someone to go to games with.”

“If I go to some games here with you, you’ll have to go to Dodgers games with me in L.A.,” he said.

“Yikes!” I cried with mock—mostly—fear. “Going to L.A. to see the Dodgers? That might be a little more trauma than you’re worth.”

“What do you have against the Dodgers?” he asked, his step lightening a little.

“Everything. It’s a Phoenix thing. Like hating the Yankees is a Boston thing.”

“A beautiful woman who loves baseball and understands its rivalries. I’m in heaven.” He kissed my cheek as we waited for the light to change. His mood seemed to lift a bit. Mine did.

Dbacks General Manager Kevin Towers. He probably never said this, but probably wanted too. I know I’ve wanted to hit Puig in the face. At least.

I grew up in eastern Pennsylvania watching baseball with my Dad. The Phillies. Occasionally the Mets. I tried football but didn’t understand it very well. Baseball I could keep track of. A few season, I sent away for theyear book. Once when the star pitcher at the time, Steve Carlton, was having a bad season, I sent him a letter of encouragement and was awarded an autographed photo for my effort. I think I still have it. I also drew a poster of various players copied from photos in the yearbook. Guys in white and red uniforms on a blue background. Guess I was a baseball geek at the time.

This is the photo I received that was autographed by Carlton. It would take all day to find the actual photo. longer if I don’t have it any more

When we moved to Maine in 1975 for my dad’s midlife crisis (there really is something to be said about getting a sports car your family won’t fit in as opposed to forcing them all to move to another state and subculture, dads) we became Red Sox fans and I learned about rivalries in baseball. That the Red Sox Nation (although it wasn’t called that at the time because TV was harder back then) detested anything to do with the New York Yankees. That’s just how it is. If you’re a Yankees fan in New England you had better be tough. We all know how much fun it is to hate a rival, even though we know if our location was New York, we’d hate the Boston Red Sox.

In Maine and I met and fell in love with my native New England husband and appreciated the Red Sox even more. (He was actually scouted by several major league teams in high school, but a book-adapted-into-a-movie worthy car accident ended his baseball career when he was a senior.) We even got to a few games at venerated Fenway in Boston.(I saw the Yaz hit one of his last homeruns.)

He quickly adopted the Phillies when we move to Pennsylvania. The Phillies rivalry with the Braves was in full swing, made worse by the fact the Braves almost always tromped the Phightin’ Phils.

After 20 years, we ended up in the Phoenix area with the Diamondbacks and marveled at how easy it is to get to games in downtown Phoenix at Chase Field as opposed to the nightmare of Philadelphia.

The Dbacks have only been around since the late 1990s and the state of Arizona still has Dodger holdover fans from when there wasn’t a major league team here. Plus the thug element sides with the Dodgers because they’re a bunch of thugs anyway. This was perfectly illustrated when, after winning pennant in a postseason game, the LA thugs desecrated the pool at Chase Field by jumping the outfield fence and rollicking in it, cleats and all. Every Dback fan there ever was was supremely insulted by that deliberate action of disrespect, as was the intention.

Lord, help me forgive.

But sometimes, you have to put the rivalries aside. Our lovely daughter fell in love with a Yankees fan (and a New York Giants fan which is hard to ignore when you grew up in Eagles territory.) This was something we had to work through. She was with us (albeit in my belly) when we witnessed Yaz and his homerun at Fenway. But we decided to love him anyway, for the sake of our daughter. As far as we can tell, being a New York fan is his only fault. But he grew up there, so you can’t blame him too much. If he grew up in New England and was a Yankees fan, that would be a completely different story. We might have had to disown our daughter.

Not really. We’re not hardcore. It’s just fun. When you finally realize it’s only a game and your life won’t change one iota if your team wins or loses, even the World Series. (I’m talking about you, 1986 Red Sox) you can let go of the red-hot-gut-churning-soul-consuming anger of being defeated by the entity you hate more than ever hated anything in the history of your existence (and oh, how we know that agony, given the histories of these teams) and move on and live a normal life.

Human Trafficking, continued.

Posted on February 4, 2015 by T A Munroe

Good grief, January totally got away from me!

We had the Super Bowl here in Phoenix this year. The highlight of that for me was I got to see The Thunderbirds fly directly over my backyard on their way to fly over the University of Phoenix Stadium which is like 4 miles from my house! Now, I’m glad the whole thing is over and the news can return to the usual shootings, traffic accidents, and other stupid human behavior.

Not my photo, but the Tunderbirds looked just like this, blue seky included, flying over my back yard.

However, as volunteer Twitter account manager for a residential center for teen victims of sex trafficking, StreetLight USA, my month was filled with promoting their activities. Rallies, plays, prayer meetings, art display.

And all month, I wondered how many girls and boys were imported into the Valley of the Sun by their pimps, their sellers. Not only did we host the Super Bowl, but also the Waste Management Phoenix Open, a stop on the PGA tour AND the Pro Bowl AND the annual Jackson Barrett Auto Auction which auctions off expensive cars. So the valley was rife with affluent men spending money on leisure activities.

For some of them, their activity of choice is raping young girls.

One lie these men tell themselves is that the girls they rape want to be there, that it’s their choice.

Um, NO! You, sir, are a child molester.

The typical female victim of sex trafficking is 13 years old. That means some are older. That means some are younger.

She might be a runaway, and most likely was sexually abused by someone in her past. Often, her home life was unstable. Probably, even if she didn’t run away from home, she was vulnerable (what teenage girl isn’t?) and fell prey to some male older than her who “groomed” her by being kind to her, giving her things, affection, a place to stay, nice clothes, meals…drugs.

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The Scarlet Cord, an art installation was on display in Phoenix in January. Read about it here: https://www.artprize.org/pamela-alderman/2014/the-scarlet-cord

Some of these males then might sell her to someone else to sell to johns, or they might pimp her themselves. They tell the girls they have to pay them back for what the girls believed was offered out of love for them. These girls endure multiple beatings, verbal and emotional abuse, even drug addiction. Many are branded with tattoos that mark them as property. They become psychologically and physically dependent on the brutes who hold them hostage. Many trafficked kids are able to walk away, but they don’t see that. They believe they are helpless apart from the people that sell them.

Some kids, even very very young kids, are pimped by their parents. Some by friends of the family. For me, as a daughter from a loving home, and as a mother, I can’t imagine even thinking that thought–trade my child’s innocence, their mental and physical health for money.

Kids in the life are sold an average of 10 to 20 times a day. An estimate of 100,000 kids IN THE USA ALONE are believed to be living this life. Another 100,000-200,000 kids are at risk. Mostly girls, but boys, too. When a kid enters this life, their future extends, on average, only a mere 7 years unless they are rescued or somehow manage to leave. Drugs, beatings, and disease are the most common causes of death.

One result of hosting the Super Bowl for the good was that the City of Phoenix enacted tougher penalties for buyers of children for sex.. Mandatory arrest and jail time, cars impounded, fines, mandatory education. Before, jail time and education was optional at the discretion of authorities.

Personally, I think these men should be treated as sex offenders with all the social stigma that goes with that label.

Maybe it’s a good thing the month flew and I didn’t get any other posts up. The spotlight may be off Phoenix, but kids are still being sold for sex.

Here.

And where you live.

January and Human Trafficking Awareness Month may be over for 2015, but the problem didn’t go away at midnight on February 1.

What can you do? Probably not go out and rescue a girl, bring her home and restore her. You can educate yourself on the issue and figure out where you fit in. Maybe it will be as complicated as a career, or as simple as donating money or spreading awareness by following organizations and sharing on social media. The more we do, the louder we say this has got to stop.

Follow these two organizations on social media:

http://www.polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/sex-trafficking-in-the-us

http://sharedhope.org/

A couple articles about trafficking.

http://www.womensfundingnetwork.org/enslaved-in-america-sex-trafficking-in-the-united-states/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/15/human-trafficking-month_n_4590587.html

The Scarlet Cord

https://www.artprize.org/pamela-alderman/2014/the-scarlet-cord

You can help the girls at StreetLightUSA by going to their wish list on Amazon and purchasing items that will be shipped directly to the facility. Check the left side for several lists to choose from.