We All Should Care

Accept the call for a deeper purpose.

I’ve made a pledge. A Pledge to get people to care. I intend on keeping my word, and yet I know it won’t be easy.
I’ve been writing on another site about Spencer Bell, and when I got this site up and running, I knew he had to be my first actual post. He is a young man that was taken well before his time due to Adrenal Cancer. Talented, an artisan, a beautiful soul. He deserves to have his legacy live on.
Before his passing in December of 2006, he made arrangements with his mother to have his works, his art, displayed to the world.
They are all very moving, and were, for me, life altering.
You can learn more about him HERE.
If you’ll notice the picture at the top of the page, that is my wrist, and on it, is a bracelet that says ‘The Music Lives On’ on one side, and on the other, is Spencer’s Memorial Site address.
If you haven’t heard of Spencer, you truly are missing out on beautiful masterpieces, touching stories, some that will make you laugh, others that will touch your heart and make you cry.
He may not be with us in his physical body, but he lives on, through his family, his friends, his fans, and last but certainly not least, his art.
So, I thought, “Hey! I have a great idea!” And thus, my outreach was born.
I have forty bracelets, just like the one that I have on my wrist, to pass out, to the first forty people who go to Spencer’s site, and fill out a profile, listen to his music, read his lyrics,journal entries, and look at his art. Get to know him. Report back to me with your link, your favorite piece, or story that you read about him,and I’ll send you a bracelet. (Not to mention that your soul was fed as well. It’s a win/win).
Then I’m going to forward each of your heart felt messages on, to his family. I know that your words, your feelings, and thoughts would touch them, help them to know that Spencer’s story is being shared around the world. That through him, through them, people will learn about Adrenal Cancer, and we WILL make a difference.

Update: Yes you have seen this post before, but it bears repeating since some people won’t scroll back through all of the awesome articles. Go, get to know Spencer and then report back to me on what you love, like, are impassioned by in his works. Go ahead, I’ll wait

I do not understand how a speech aimed at students encouraging them to stay in school and reminding them of the importance of an education can be construed as an attempt to brainwash them or glorify President Obama. It is not as though they do not hear this countless times throughout their lives and I doubt they will listen any more to the president (no offense) than they do to their parents and teachers that cram it down their throats on a regular basis. Furthermore, Reagan gave a commencement speech and Bush, Sr. an anti-drug speech both targeted at students that was televised in classrooms across the country. Viewing President Obama’s speech is NOT required and many schools are not equipped to view the broadcast (WOW, the lack of funding for schools SHOULD be the controversy). Besides, how many times while you were in school did educators attempt to force you to watch an inaugural, state of the union, or other speech given by a president and you spend that time napping or writing letters (I am not delusional enough to hope you were interested or used to the time to work on homework)?

Jim Greer, the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida states:

“The address scheduled for September 8, 2009, does not allow for healthy debate on the President’s agenda, but rather obligates the youngest children in our public school system to agree with our President’s initiatives or be ostracized by their teachers and classmates.”

My question to him is, “How is that any different than anything taught in public schools. In most schools, there is no room for discussion or questioning and students are taught to blindly follow and accept, but I digress… Why aren’t our educators (or any of the people bitching about this) intelligent enough to think of having the students discuss the speech afterwards and write letters to the president voicing their opinions on his speech? The SAMPLE lesson plans are SUGGESTIONS nothing more. If you do not like the way something is worded, stop bitching and moaning and write your own lesson plan.

Why Bush Sr.’s and Reagan’s speeches were not tinder for controversy (Although, in all probability, there should have been but my rants and opinions of them and the injudicious war on drugs are best saved for another post.) some speculate is as simple as their being conservative, republicans, and white.

Read the article.

If only dancing around your living room and singing loudly into a broom handle could be a competitive sport, I’d be in the Olympics!
Earlier today, I was cleaning house, I popped in my, Spencer Bell Live & Wasted Album, and I sang and danced my heart out.
No kidding. I know all the words, and I may not sing them on key, I may even change a word or two on occasion but I don’t think Spencer minds, because I enjoy myself.
I enjoy his music.
I celebrate his life every single day,and listening to his music just brings a smile to my face.
Since I’ve “met” him, my life has started changing so much, in so many ways, and I keep saying it, but one day, Spencer, you’re stuck drinking with me, so prepare yourself!
There is a lot of new stuff happening on the Legacy site, you should go check it out, they’ve even added new works of Spencer’s.
Hurry and go now, LEGACY SITE or you’ll be sorry that you didn’t! If you haven’t been before,consider this, he has me bopping around the house singing his music, imagine what he could do for you!
He’s better than Tony Robbins ever had time to be, and he tells it real, like it is, no sugar coating! If you want to donate for research to help find a cure for the POS cancer that yanked this beautiful young man away from this world far too damn soon, go here –>CANCER BLOWS.
Every bit makes a difference!

[[Image courtesy of google images]]

When I was asked to write for this self-proclaimed “soap box” site, I wondered if I would be able to keep up and be up to par with Willow Raine, one of the best writers I have ever had the honor of knowing personally. I wondered if I would be able to even come up with topics. Willow is a plethora of topics to “soap box” about. I thought that I would mostly complain about tap water, glitter on strippers, the music industry… but today a topic I love to “soap box” about struck me.

It’s not so much that I “love” to “soap box” about this topic, it’s just that it’s very important to me.

My entire life I sat back and watched people get hurt and I didn’t do a damn thing about it. I would be ashamed to admit that now if I didn’t do everything in my power to right the wronged ways of my past. When I was a child I watched as my friends told me of their abusive parents and I felt trapped and unable to help them. I watched as my best friends brother was cruel to an animal…

Now? Now I do not stand for that. Now I will not allow it.

I have child protective services and animal shelters on my speed dial and if someone so much as raises a hand at a child or animal I am already dialing. Admittedly, I am more trigger happy with animal shelters and abuse towards dogs than I am with children. It’s mostly because animals don’t have a voice of their own, and if I don’t speak up for the, let’s say, dog, then who will? No one. People will watch a dog get smacked around by it’s owner and not think anything of it. Think, “it’s their dog, they can do with it what they want to.” Except that they CAN’T. Animals have rights, needs and feelings too.

My Grandmother tried to tell me that dogs don’t have a soul. So doesn’t that mean that when my 3-year-old teacup Chihuahua, Bella, dies that she’ll not go onto a better life? Tell me how in the world I could think that of her when she cries because I travel, she gets excited and loves me when I come home and she was the one who sat there worrying about me, trying to lick away my tears when DJ AM passed away? Does that sound like something with no soul?

I fight for animal rights and I call animal shelters and protective services because of Bella. Because I am lucky that I got her and she’s lucky that she got me. She could have gone to a home where she wouldn’t be fawned over and completely pampered, she could have gone to a bad home. To a home that wouldn’t love her and worship her tiny little paws.

Now children? They have no choice over the home that they go to.

I have a very low tolerance for child abuse. It makes me absolutely sick. Twice I have called child protective services and twice children have been removed from abusive homes because of it. I feel both proud and guilty for that statement.

Making a call to DCFS is easy but it’s painful. You know that neither the child, nor the parents life will ever be the same again. Animals are easier; they get removed and they go to a [no kill] shelter where someone new adopts them and they have a happy life. Children get removed and put into foster homes, therapy… Parents can get arrested. Lives can be torn apart.

But what is worse? Knowing that you did everything in your power and someday that kid will grow up and think, “wow, someone actually cared enough about me to take me away from that.” Or sitting there and doing nothing, knowing that someone – a CHILD – is being abused?

I think that if you sit there and do nothing to help the child then you are just as bad as the one doing the abusing. You aren’t doing anything to stop it, you know it’s going on… it’s wrong. You have the power to do something and you don’t? Why? You’re a coward? You’re scared of what will happen to the family? But what happens to that child if you don’t? Mommy comes home from work extra mad and hits her baby extra hard and then what? Then you feel guilty for the rest of your life knowing that you could have done something to help… but you didn’t.

Do something. Help.

Call this number if you know of a child being abused: 1-800-4-A-CHILD
Domestic violence hotline: 1−800−799−SAFE
And check out http://www.pet-abuse.com/ to see how you can help stop cruelty towards animals.

[[photo copyright property of Jen Platz]]

It is hard to find any unbiased information on the West Memphis 3 and most people have strong opinions but it is easy to become passionate about the travesty of our so-called justice system, especially in relation to this case.

Damien Echols, Jesse Misskelley Jr., and Jason Baldwin –known as the West Memphis 3– were arrested in West Memphis, Arkansas June 3, 1993 for the assault, mutilation, and brutal murders of 3 children. The evidence that connected Damien Echols, Jesse Misskelley Jr., and Jason Baldwin to the murders was a love of Metallica, Stephen King, and black t-shirts. Oh and the worst part of it all *rolls eyes* Damien dyed his hair and was interested in Wicca. The case was actually a witch-hunt! They were no more than scapegoats for a small town community plagued by police corruption and Satanic panic. Seriously, there were no murder weapons, no evidence whatsoever linking them to the crime. Only small town mentality and that they were different, they stuck out like sore-thumbs in a town of good ol’ boys. They were arrested and convicted based on Jesse Misskelley Jr.’s (who is considered mentally handicapped and has an IQ of 72) confession during a 12 hour police interview, without counsel and without parental consent. Only 45 minutes of the police interrogation in which Jessie “confesses” (which he later unsuccessfully tried to recant) to being involved, alongside Damien and Jason, in the murders to West Memphis police was recorded.

There are many discrepancies in this case including much of Jesse’s confession. Wounds on the children thought to be bite marks did not match molds of the three’s teeth so they were assumed to be made with a serrated knife now have been decided to be caused by animals.

Damien, whom I have had the incredible fortune of receiving a letter from, sits in solitary confinement on death row waiting for lethal injection. Jason Baldwin was sentenced to life without parole. Jessie Misskelley got life plus 40 years.

Arkansas Circuit Court has turned down countless appeals, change of venue requests, etc. Thanks to technology and DNA testing that was not available 16 years ago, on August 10th Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin began a hearing on their motion for a new trial based on ineffective counsel. Damien Echols is seeking a new trial in Arkansas Supreme Court based on new DNA and forensic evidence and juror misconduct. DNA tests found that no DNA taken from the crime scene matches Damien, Jason, or Jessie.

Enraged? Want to help? Sign the petition here, write letters, and visit wm3.org
(which redirects you here while the site is down for maintenance)
www.freewestmemphis3.org
Also you can get live updates at Twitter

[Image courtesy of WM3.org]

I know that I do an incredible amount of talking about Spencer Bell, and that by doing so, you may think that I have him on a pedestal.
Please, allow me to put that to rest, right now.
I would NEVER place him, or anyone else on one, because we are all human, we are all flawed, and humans aren’t meant to sit still for that long, we’d fall. The last thing I would ever want, is for Spencer to fall.
I may think his soul is a light that can illuminate even the darkest corner, but I do not think that he is without flaws. I think that it is the fact that he was so perfectly imperfect, that draws me to him.
His ability to put his passion, his rights, his wrongs, his thoughts, his feelings, so much of him into his art amazes me, and it gives me hope. Hope that I can and possibly am doing the same thing with my own writing.
The Legacy he has left behind, is awe inspiring, and I want to help share it with as many people as possible.
I want people to know Spencer, his work, his Legacy.
I want them to know that even though we are all merely human, and only ONE person, that we CAN make a difference.
I want them to know that his family and friends are among some of the most amazingly kind, and wonderful people I have ever been privileged to meet, and we should thank them for sharing Spencer with us.
I want them to know the meaning of LIVING.
If you want to know more about Spencer, please click his name above and it will direct you to his Legacy site, and if you’d like to give to Adrenal Cancer Research (the horrible disease that stole him away) then please go HERE.. know that every bit makes a difference.

[[Image courtesy of spencerbellmemorial.ning]]

Spencer Bell has left behind so many profound words. His lyrics are powerful, and the song “Dandelions” is no exception. In fact, it’s one of my favorites.
Don’t let life pass you by, enjoy it, take it with a grain of salt, none of us get out alive anyway, sit back, enjoy the ride. I’m sure we could all take away something different, and that is what I take away from it.
Spencer had a way of putting things, so that all of us could get it.
I love that. Blunt, straight forward and to the point.
“To all our friends who will meet us at the end.”
I don’t know what supremely awaits me after this life, we can’t know with certainty. Whatever it is, I hope Spencer is there on the other side with a cold beer and is ready to do some talking.
If you’d like to know more about Spencer, please visit his Legacy site by clicking on his name at the top of this post.
And if you’d like to donate to help fund adrenal cancer research, please click HERE. We can make a difference!

[[Image provided by and property of spencerbellmemorial.ning.com]]

I have just returned from the most awe inspiring, amazing weekend ever. It was definitely life altering, on a few levels, in fact.
I trekked from Charlotte, North Carolina to Auburn Hills, Michigan, for the Spencer Bell Legacy show, and it was so much more than I ever could have imagined.
It was very last minute when I found out I could go, I had to rearrange my entire life in a matter of 8 days, and had a death in the family to deal with on top of that, but somehow I managed. I have never been happier to say that. Nothing would have kept me away though.
I was blessed to have been able to converse with Spencer’s mom, she is the sweetest woman that I have ever had the fortune of meeting, I believe. I’m thrilled beyond words that I get to help keep Spencer’s memory alive, that I get to introduce him to people, and help show the world, how beautiful his soul was and is.
No, Spencer was not perfect, he was human, flawed, I’m sure he was extremely frustrating at times, irritating at others, but he was beautiful, and beyond any doubt, loved in his entirety. Yes, even when they wished to pinch his head off. *laugh*
I can’t say that I knew Spencer when he was alive, I got to know him through his art, his music, his words, so my connection to him is from one writer, to another, from one human being to another.
Myself, and two of my very best friends, Kasey and Jodie, shared the weekend experience together, and we all took away something different.
My intention was to go and honor Spencer, to enjoy some music, to just have a great time, in his honor. I did all of those things, and more. I reconnected with a part of ME that I had forgotten, I saw an outpouring of love, and support for Spencer and the Bell family, that was astounding and beautiful beyond compare. I got to hear Spencer stories, and connect with people that I never would have, had I not found him, courtesy of Jackson Rathbone.
Though Spencer wasn’t with us in his physical form, I know that he was with us in spirit, in soul, and he was partying his A** off, believe that! The bands that performed were AMAZING, and he had a hand or influence in each of them, at some point,in some way.*Smile*
The Stevedores, Tin Tin Can,Drew and the Medicinal Pen,100 Monkeys and we even got to hear first hand, roommate stories about Spencer, from Orson Brawl, it was an experience I’ll never forget. I’ll be talking about it for years to come.
Old friends reconnecting, music that made me dance non stop for two days, the musicians were incredible to hang out with,just talk to, making new friends that I know will last a lifetime, and most importantly, showing Spencer, and the world, that he hasn’t been forgotten, that he still matters, that he always will.
In my favorite words describing Spencer, courtesy of Jay “What a beautiful soul, that Spencer Bell”.
Spencer, wherever you are, we love you, and your legacy will live on, in the hearts, minds, and souls of everyone you have touched.

If you’d like to get to know more about Spencer, then please visit Legacy, if you’d like to donate to Research for Adrenal Cancer then please, go HERE.

I’d like to give a special shout out and thank you to my personal (and professional) photographer for the weekend Jodie Platz without her, I would have been forced to take the pictures, but she took on that job, allowing me to dance all weekend, so THANK YOU, Jo Jo. The photos are incredible, as your work always is. You should click on her name and check out her other work.

I chose Spencer’s “It Wouldn’t Be So Bad”, poem for the inspiration for this post today,for several reasons.
You can see it in it’s entirety here: It Wouldn’t Be So Bad
A huge part of it, is that it touched someone very close to me, and I absolutely love that I was able to introduce her to Spencer.
Jode Platz ia a musician herself, and she loves music to the point of distraction, so she really relates to this piece in a personal way.
I think another part of it, is that I adore music myself, there have been times, when I wasn’t hiding in a book, I was hiding in music. (Strictly on a listening level, unless you’re referring to my ability to dance around the house, singing into my hairbrush, or singing loudly along with the radio).
So, I too, can relate on a smaller scale. I tend to also apply the mentality to my passions, if I were to slip away while writing or reading, perhaps that would be a smooth transition for me, because it is such a big part of who I am.
If you’d like to know more about Spencer, please visit here: Spencer Bell Memorial, and/or, if you’d like to make a donation to the Adrenal Cancer Research fund, please go here: DONATE! Every contribution is deeply appreciated.

[[image courtesy of google.com/images]]

I was reading quotes today, admittedly one of my favorite things to do, because I’m a cool dork like that, and I happened upon a quote that my best friend, and I thought would fit Spencer Bell perfectly:

In art as in love, instinct is enough.~Anatole France

He had an artists instinct,and by some token, you also have to be an attentive lover of sorts, to your works of art for them to become masterpieces. To breathe life into anything, there has to be time, affection, and heart.
Each piece of art, is a product of something that has been etched on one’s soul. You have but to read Spencer’s words to know that to be true of him as well.
If you’d like to experience his works for yourself, then please visit his Legacy site here: The Music Lives On and just as importantly, if you’d like to make a contribution for research of Adrenal Cancer, please go here: DONATE. Every little bit helps, and is sincerely appreciated.

[[Art courtesy of ]]