Yum & Yuk

Absolutely heartbreaking: In Oakland, Redefining Sex Trade Workers as Abuse Victims: "Once viewed as criminals and dispatched to juvenile centers, where treatment was rare, sexually exploited youths are increasingly seen as victims of child abuse, with a new focus on early intervention and counseling...An estimated 100,000 to 300,000 American-born children are sold for sex each year."

Image: source.

The whole premise of "What Would You Do?" makes me pretty uncomfortable - staging awkward or hostile encounters between people, in order to see how bystanders react - however, I will admit to being somewhat moved and heartened by this recent clip about a waitress who harasses a lesbian couple and their kids. The man who says, " You're a horrible waitress and a horrible person" clearly won me over, as did the guy who wrote the note (watch and tear up, if you're a softy like me). I also appreciated that the show took the opportunity to remind people that discrimination against gay individuals and families is still legal in many states (even if they didn't get all their facts quite right).

I read a Eudora Welty novel in college, and remember not enjoying it. But this makes me want to give her another go.

Training: I'm slowly trying to get back into daily excercize, but this time as a way to preserve and improve my mental and physical health, not necessarily with the idea of training. Thus far that has looked like morning walks (for an hour or so), or on a rainy day like today, 20 min of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. I'm also trying to get little spurts in, like 30 min of walking around downtown before meeting a friend for dinner yesterday. Anything to get me out from behind my desk, and moving. Once I reached the elusive goal of marathon, doing anything but a 20 or something mile run started to feel wimpy. And boy, was that a mental hurdle. So I'm trying to reset my mind, and remember my motivations - and that every day doesn't need to be a marathon day.