"Loved to Death" Highlights the Tragedy of Teen Violence and Break Up Precipitating Murder- This is Not Love, People. This is Obsession & Violence.

Break the Silence! Stop Teen Dating Violence! Thank You, CDC Streaming Health!

As we kick off the summer, it's a great time to remember that preventing/reducing/stopping teen violence is a "learning thing."It's a shared responsibility and there is no such thing as "NONE OF MY BUSINESS." Smokey the Bear was right. "ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT FOREST FIRES." The "fires" of violence spark and burn and we all can work together to teach, model, defuse situations before they escalate, spark and burn out of control. These are our children, and they deserve the best guidance we can provide, right? This is a great video and tool to begin that discussion... grab a pizza and a teen (or two!) and watch it together. Ignore the eye roll :)) and carry on...

Senator Feinstein on the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, 2011

Back in the early 1980's, Senator (Mayor at the time) Feinstein helped open the first battered women's center in San Francisco. I remember when Harvey Milk was shot and she stepped up. She showed the courage to close the SF bath houses, which was extremely unpopular! HIV and AIDS were just starting to be discovered in the US. So, here she is again, speaking very eloquently on the reauthorization of VAWA and the protection of women (and men) who are victims of violence from intimate partners. In California, 30,000 people accessed crisis services from in 2010 and 2011. 24 people per minute are targets of rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner, according to the latest data from the Center for Disease Control. No Republican members of the Judiciary Committee voted to extend the funding legislation. The bill has created a very modest new grant program, it consolidates other grant programs and reduces costs by 17%. It encourages the enforcement of restraining orders and the purchase of rape kits. It also provides explicitly that these services must be provided to lesbians, gay men and immigrants (no matter what their legal status may be.) Senator Feinstein summed it up perfectly,"Is the violence any less real because the victim is lesbian or gay or an illegal immigrant? I don't think so. This bill is a no-brainer." I agree. Please contact your federal representatives now? Thanks!

Audio of the Minnesota NPR Program on How Vulnerable Our Children Are to Sexual Violence. It's Not Just About Gender, Folks!

Report on Violence Against Women | Minnesota NPR: CDC Says It's One in Five, Nationally, 2011

Report on violence against women | Minnesota Public Radio News