Rachel Moss and WisCon.

I don't even have to type anything. Just go read this. And then check this out.

On blogs gone private.

Can I just say that it is enormously annoying to go to a blog that I've been reading for months or years and find that it suddenly has gone private, without a by-your-leave or anything? And that it would be nice if people who wanted to do this would instead put up a page on the blog that says "Gone private. If you want an invitation, contact me at blahblahblah@email.com." And then take down the other stuff and start up a new site for your private blog. Because seeing "It doesn't look like you have been invited to read this blog" just hurts my feelings.

Skippy, I'm lookin' at you.

In search of Skinny Chips.

I was looking forward to finding a few of these for the weekend, and now I cannot find them. Anywhere. I have been calling grocery and natural foods stores all morning.

Have you seen these chips?

Another way to help women in the Congo.

To donate money directly to Panzi Hospital in the DRC, go here. Be sure to select "Panzi Hospital" under "purpose." The Panzi Hospital is the ONLY working hospital in the area. See also this piece by Eve Ensler on the work of Dr. Denis Mukwege at the Panzi Hospital.

How to Help.

I'm coming out of seclusion long enought to say that, if you are horror-stricken by the events of the past weeks and months and years and would like to help:

1) you can send a donation to the American Jewish World Service. The AJWS is working in Darfur and Burma.

To urge Congress to increase economic pressure on the Burmese military regime - which is preventing desperately-needed aid from reaching the people - go here.

To urge Congress to provide funding for peacekeeping in Darfur - in the SIXTH YEAR of the genocide - go here.

2) you can make a donation to the Red Cross to aid survivors of the Chinese earthquake.

3) you can organize to help women of the Congo. Anxious Black Woman has posted a list of businesses profiting off of the rape and abuse of women there, as well as of companies that do business with those who profit off the rape and abuse of Congolese women. The second list has some very familiar names on it, including Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and several computer manufacturers. As she says, "So, basically, as you can see, we're all implicated in this DRC conflict...Somehow, as democratic citizens, we must yield our power through our dollars and our votes."

In case you're missing that - when we purchase computers and cell phones and televisions and cameras, we are directly supporting rape and torture of Congolese women.

What are we going to do about that?

ABW also links to a petition put together by Tasha at Sowing Circle - please take a look.

Finally, you can donate to CARE, which has staff in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is working to help survivors.

MIA

That would be me. I still have a pile of clippings and books to write about, but first I need to finish revising the dear-god-I-hope-this-is-the-final-draft manuscript to get it to the publisher by June 1. I feel completely out of the loop of bloglandia, and maybe that is a good thing.