Let the voices be heard: shattering silence of violence

April 1 marks the beginning of National Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). Having long dealt with and educated myself about the effects of sexual violence and assault I am asking each of you to please take a moment and consider supporting my endeavors in shattering the silence of sexual violence.

According to the CDC, 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused in the United States. These crimes are extremely prevalent, but shrouded in silence and shame. Every person knows someone who has been affected by sexual assault, but the majority of folks will never even know it! It is up to us to be the voice for everyone who has been silenced by violence!

I have taken it upon myself to organize Los Angeles' walk of solidarity with the nonprofit organization PAVE: Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment

Each city (there are currently 6 participating cities nationwide with more being being added) has a goal of $12,250.00 Please support me in speaking out about this epidemic that affects all of us and those that we know and love. Please Donate now anything is greatly appreciated.

If you are in the Los Angeles area and would like to participate and walk please contact me: hssheldon at gmail dot com

Some of my favorite places: Venice, Venice canals and Santa Monica, CA

Los Angeles Living in Photos (a quick snapshot)

Lots of fun things in the past few months. Playing, traveling, working and I got accepted into a graduate program in Vermont (TBD whether I will go or not)! Happy to be healthy, happy and focused on the present in 2011! Enjoy!







The kid in the photos is Milo, he is who I babysit in exchange for free room/board while living in Venice, CA. He is 9 years old and super fun to be around! We have a blast together. The group photo is at one of the schools that I run a literacy mentoring program at called Power Lunch.

And some more photos! The first one is my friend Dmitry and I at an event held by Yelp (peer review site) and the theme was "bad hair" thus my blue wig. The next picture of me after I finished my 5k awhile back (I am gearing up for another one this weekend!). Then Milo and I at the beach this weekend, the canoe outside of our house and finally the most recent picture of me!

a few more...

Never to old to learn something new

who knew that working as an unpaid volunteer at a literacy non-profit and moving across the country (again!) would inspire a new hobby! It's my way of maintaining sanity and provides my "unplugged" hours of the day.

Too easy

Too easy

20-something

An ocean breeze whirs through my open window. I can smell the damp salt sticking to my curtains. My back aches and my fingers don't move quite as nimbly as they used to; staring at a computer screen day in and day out, for pleasure and work has only meant a thicker prescription for my eye-wear. It's just about September 1st and another year has gone by, a year from last September when I was just about to embark on a new city, a new travel adventure. Here I sit, one year later and it's the same story, different setting. My friends and I seem to be caught in the trap of our 20s, not a bad trap mind you; a curious and illuminating culmination of our youthful "go with the flow" attitude and the demise of our economy. It's not what we expected our 20-something year to be. So many tears, so many nervous laughter moments at in-appropriate times, so many what if's and maybe I should have's...
Thanks to a brilliant woman whom I admire greatly I have just discovered Alan Watt's "The Nature of Consciousness" which I think we can all benefit from experiencing. Another delightful person in my life shared New York Times article on my generation's "growing up" crisis.
It's scary to have so much before you and so many questions that will only be answered with time. never directly, always in hindsight. It's the bittersweet reality of existence. We cannot know, we must experience and as 20-somethings, we have a lot more of that to do.