Be Visible. Wear a White Knot to support marriage equality, and full equal rights under the law for everyone.
Gay, straight, or otherwise…help make full equality a reality by wearing a White Knot and telling people why you are wearing it. Wear it to work, to school, to your place of worship. Wear it every day to raise awareness and start conversations.
Written By Ruth Jacobs…..C&P By Jueseppi B. ( ° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Soul Destruction
I am writing a series of novels entitled Soul Destruction, which expose the dark world and the harsh reality of life as a call girl. The first novel in the series, Soul Destruction: Unforgivable, will be released on 29 April 2013 by Caffeine Nights. I studied prostitution in the late 1990′s, which sparked my interest in the subject. As well as drawing on my research and the women I interviewed for inspiration, I also have firsthand experience of many of the topics I write about such as post traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, abuse in childhood, rape, and drug and alcohol addiction. In addition to my fiction writing, I am also involved in non-fiction for charity and human rights campaigning in the areas of anti-sexual exploitation and anti-human trafficking.
In 1998, I was researching prostitution for a dissertation examining psychological and social issues and theories of crime. Spending time in London’s underworld, some of my friends were call girls, and three of them kindly agreed to participate in video interviews with me.
I had much in common with my friends and many other women in prostitution. 75% of women in prostitution have been sexually and physically abused as children, 70% have experienced multiple rapes, 67% meet the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder, and 95% have issues with problematic drug use.
I suffered sexual assaults as a child, I had been raped twice in my twenties, though only once at the time of this project, and I had post traumatic stress disorder, which I still suffer from today. And in those days, I was a drug addict, an intravenous user of heroin and crack.
As well as interviewing my friends, I also used accounts from other women in prostitution between the 1970′s to the 1990′s. This was because there was a lack of firsthand information at the time. The few books available on the subject were mostly written by people who neither had firsthand experience of prostitution nor used interviews or accounts from women in prostitution.
One of the video interviews I had conducted and fully transcribed back in 1998 was published on Amazon in 2012. The woman interviewed was a very dear friend of mine. She is referred to as Q. Because Q and I were so close, I am sure that is what enabled her to be so open in her interview with me. Her words show how prostitution affected her psychologically, emotionally and socially. As she is no longer alive, all the royalties from that short publication,In Her Own Words… Interview with a London Call Girl, are donated to Beyond the Streets, a charity working to end sexual exploitation.
The other women I interviewed, referred to as R and S, though also friends of mine, were guarded. There was much more I knew about their lives and their feelings about their work, shared when we were out at nightclubs and indoors smoking crack, than they disclosed in front of the camera.
I had and still have an understanding and compassion for the need to hold back. I was in my own denial back then. I presented as a happy junky to the outside world, and they too presented happy – ‘happy hooker’ being a popular term. But I have never known a happy hooker as I have never known a happy intravenous user of heroin and crack.
Having since been in contact with a number of exited women, I have become aware that the trauma from prostitution is usually not felt until after exiting. Before then, like XLondonCallGirl says, you live in denial, and like Q said in her interview, you live in a fantasy-land. I was with them in my own fantasy-land and in my own denial.
Denial and dissociation are part of a protection/coping mechanism that enables the women to carry on with a veneer of toughness, the appearance of being a ‘happy hooker’, and without falling apart. On the outside being a call girl may well appear to be glamorous, but on the inside, it is not. It can take years to recover from, and I am sure many never fully recover, certainly from the women I know.
As well as dispelling the ‘happy hooker’ myth, I hope with my novels and my non-fiction work to change the stigma much of society has against women who work in prostitution. They are often judged and looked down upon. These women have mainly had painful and tormented childhoods and traumatic present lives. For most, they do not choose prostitution, but prostitution chooses them. These women and equally women who say they choose prostitution deserve to be seen and respected as any other women.
Soul Destruction: Unforgivable is dedicated to Q.
Enter the bleak existence of a call girl haunted by the atrocities of her childhood. In the spring of 1997, Shelley Hansard is a drug addict with a heroin habit and crack psychosis. Her desirability as a top London call girl is waning.
When her client dies in a suite at The Lanesborough Hotel, Shelley’s complex double-life is blasted deeper into chaos. In her psychotic state, the skills required to keep up her multiple personas are weakening. Amidst her few friends, and what remains of her broken family, she struggles to maintain her wall of lies.
During this tumultuous time, she is presented with an opportunity to take revenge on a client who raped her and her friends. But in her unbalanced state of mind, can she stop a serial rapist?
Soul Destruction: Unforgivable is released 29 April 2013. Available worldwide from all major online retailers in paperback and e-book. Pre-orders are available direct from Caffeine Nights.
Enter the bleak existence of a call girl haunted by the atrocities of her childhood. In the spring of 1997, Shelley Hansard is a drug addict with a heroin habit and crack psychosis. Her desirability as a top London call girl is waning.
When her client dies in a suite at The Lanesborough Hotel, Shelley’s complex double-life is blasted deeper into chaos. In her psychotic state, the skills required to keep up her multiple personas are weakening. Amidst her few friends, and what remains of her broken family, she struggles to maintain her wall of lies.
During this tumultuous time, she is presented with an opportunity to take revenge on a client who raped her and her friends. But in her unbalanced state of mind, can she stop a serial rapist?
Ruth Jacobs studied prostitution in the late 1990′s, which sparked her interest in the subject. Her Soul Destruction series of novels expose the dark world and the harsh reality of life as a call girl. She draws on her research and the women she interviewed for inspiration. She also has firsthand experience of some of the topics she writes about such as post traumatic stress disorder, and drug and alcohol addiction.
Soul Destruction: Unforgivable, Ruth’s debut novel, follows Shelley Hansard, a heroin addicted, crack psychotic, London call girl who gets the opportunity to take revenge on a client who raped her. Soul Destruction: Unforgivable will be published in April 2013 by Caffeine Nights. Ruth’s second novel, Soul Destruction Diary: Inescapable, can be read on her website http://www.soul-destruction.com. The story follows Nicole O’Connell, Shelley Hansard’s closest friend in the first book, as she travels to Sydney, Australia, in the hope of breaking her heroin habit. The diary charts Nicole’s time there – the numerous people she meets and the situations, some dangerous and life threatening, in which she finds herself.
In 2012, Ruth published In Her Own Words… Interview with a London Call Girl, which is available to download from Amazon. All the royalties received from this publication are donated to Beyond the Streets, a charity working to end sexual exploitation.
On Monday, April 22, President Obama will host the 3rd Annual White House Science Fair and celebrate the student winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions from across the country.
This year’s Science Fair will showcase students projects such as economically-viable algae biofuel, a robot that paints with watercolor, a computer program that improves cancer detection and many more.
To learn more about the White House science fair, check out the video above, and be sure to tune in Monday, April 22 starting at 11:30 am EDT, right here at wh.gov/sciencefair, to watch the event live.
President Obama, first lady Michelle deliver remarks before kicking off White House festivities.
Today, the President and First Lady will host more than 30,000 people from all 50 states on the South Lawn of the White House for the 135th annual Easter Egg Roll.
Watch Live and Follow Online: The 2013 Easter Egg Roll
Today, the President and First Lady will host more than 30,000 people from all 50 states on the South Lawn of the White House for the 135th annual Easter Egg Roll. The curated live stream (above) is new this year, and features historic facts about egg rolls past and will highlight select events throughout the day.
Check out the complete Easter Egg Roll line-up, and go to WH.gov/live to watch additional live streams, including a feed from the Storytime Stage, where this year’s readers include NASCAR’s Danica Patrick, Minnesota Viking Adrian Peterson, Elmo, Abby, Gordon and Rosita from Sesame Street, the full cast of Super Sprowtz, The Wanted, and actress Quvenzhané Wallis, or you can tune in to the Rocking Egg Roll Stage to see performances from Jordin Sparks, Austin Mahone, Coco Jones, Sesame Street, and The Wanted. You can also watch cooking demonstrations of healthy family favorites from top chefs at the Play with Your Food station, and of course you can follow all the day’s action on social media using the hashtag #EasterEggRoll or on Storify.
In Case You Missed It
Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog:
Weekly Address: President Obama Offers Easter and Passover Greetings
President Obama uses his weekly address to mark a sacred time for the millions of Americans celebrating Easter and Passover, and he calls on everyone to use this time to reflect on the common values we share as a nation.
9:30 AM: The President and receives the Presidential Daily Briefing.
10:30 AM: The First Family attends the 2013 White House Easter Egg Roll.
A Special Message From the President
Published on Apr 1, 2013
April 1, 2013 – The White House releases a special video message from the President. Learn more at http://wh.gov
12:30 PM: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney.
Speeches and Remarks
April 01, 2013
Remarks by the President and First Lady at the 2013 White House Easter Egg Roll
South Lawn
10:48 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: This is Jessica Sanchez, everybody! Give her a big round of applause. (Applause.) Kid President — give Kid President a big round of applause. (Applause.) The Easter Bunny is here. Give the Easter Bunny a big round of applause. (Applause.)
It is wonderful to see all of you. And I just want to say welcome. You guys brought the great weather. It was a little shaky this morning, but all of you did a great job sending a message upstairs, and now we’ve got beautiful weather.
And I now want to introduce the star of the Obama family, my wife, the First Lady, Michelle Obama. (Applause.)
MRS. OBAMA: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Kid President, Robbie Novak. Isn’t he wonderful? (Applause.) Robbie, we’re so proud to have you here. You have been so inspiring. I can’t imagine that there’s anyone who hasn’t seen your video, right? You make us all want to work hard and be better. That’s right. So you’re going to spend a little time in the Oval Office just fixing things up for this President, aren’t you? All right, well, it’s good to have you here.
And it’s great to have everyone here this morning. We are so excited. The Easter Egg Roll is the biggest event that we have here on the South Lawn of the White House each year. Today we’re going to have more than 30,000 people who will pass through this yard in celebration of nutrition and health and activity. And we could not do this if it were not for all of our wonderful volunteers, our staff, all of the terrific performers and athletes who have taken time out of their lives and their busy days to make this important. So we need to give all of them a round of applause for all their hard work. (Applause.) Yes, indeed!
So today, we want you to have a great time. We want you to run around. We want you to go over and see the White House Garden. We want you to learn about making tasty, healthy food. We’re going to come down and do some Easter egg roll. We’re going to read some stories. But overall, we want you guys to have a good time and keep moving and be healthy. And, kids, eat your vegetables, okay?
All right, you all, take care. We’ll see you down there. Bye-bye. Thank you. (Applause.)
Investigators outside the home of Mike McLelland, the Kaufman Countydistrict attorney, and his wife Cynthia, who were both found shot dead on Saturday. It was the second fatal shooting of a prosecutor in Kaufman County in two months.
The fatal shootings of the district attorney, Mike McLelland, 63, of Kaufman County, and his wife, Cynthia, 65, stunned law enforcement officials and local residents, many of whom were still shaken by the killing of one of Mr. McLelland’s prosecutors, Mark E. Hasse, 57, who was killed on Jan. 31 in a parking lot near the courthouse.
The authorities said it was too early to say if the deaths of Mr. McLelland and his wife were connected to Mr. Hasse’s shooting. But the timing of the shootings — and the killings of two prosecutors in a county of 106,000 people in the span of eight weeks — appeared to many officials to be more than coincidence.
“I’m really trying to stress for people to remain calm,” said Mayor Darren Rozell of Forney. “This appeared to be a targeted attack and not a random attack.” Forney is about 15 miles northwest of the city of Kaufman, the county seat.
Officials from several local, state and federal agencies — including the F.B.I., the Texas Rangers and the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Department — were working on the case.
The Kaufman County sheriff, David A. Byrnes, told reporters at a news conference on Sunday that his officers had been called to Mr. McLelland’s house shortly after 6 p.m. on Saturday and that the bodies of Mr. McLelland and his wife were then discovered inside. He would not say if there were any signs of forced entry.
Sheriff Byrnes said he had increased protection for other local elected officials and would be tightening security at the courthouse, although he would not go into detail.
“It’s unnerving to the law enforcement community, to the community at large,” he said. “That’s why we’re striving to assure the community that we are protecting public safety and will continue to do that.”
In the shooting of Mr. Hasse, the authorities said one or two gunmen had gotten out of a gray or silver sedan, opened fire and fled. Witnesses told investigators that the suspect or suspects appeared to have had their faces covered and were wearing black clothing and tactical-style vests. No arrests have been made, and investigators from nine agencies have been searching for leads.
After Mr. Hasse’s killing, Mr. McLelland appeared alongside the county sheriff and the police chief from the city of Kaufman, vowing to find those responsible and referring to the suspect or suspects as “scum.”
“I hope that the people that did this are watching, because we’re very confident that we’re going to find you, we’re going to pull you out of whatever hole you’re in, we’re going to bring you back and let the people of Kaufman County prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,” he told reporters.
Doug Lowe, the district attorney in nearby Anderson County and a friend of Mr. McLelland’s, said the latest shootings “were a blow to all Texas prosecutors.”
“We’re a tight-knit group,” Mr. Lowe said. “I don’t think anyone in my group will be in fear. We’re not going to let this stand in the way of getting the bad guys.”
One of several angles that investigators have been exploring is whether Mr. Hasse’s killing involved members of the Aryan Brotherhood, the white supremacist gang that is active in prisons. Prosecutors in Mr. McLelland’s office had assisted in investigations of the gang, including a recent case that had targeted the Brotherhood’s leadership.
In that case, the federal authorities announced in November that a grand jury in Houston had indicted more than 30 senior Brotherhood leaders and other members of the gang on racketeering charges. Federal officials said the defendants had agreed to commit killings, robberies, arsons and kidnappings and to traffic narcotics on behalf of the gang. The indictments stemmed from an investigation led by a multi-agency task force that included prosecutors from Kaufman County and three other district attorney’s offices. A month later, the Texas Department of Public Safety issued a statewide bulletin warning officials that the Aryan Brotherhood was planning to retaliate against officials who had helped secure the indictments.
Mr. Hasse was shot the same day that two Aryan Brotherhood members — Ben Christian Dillon, also known as “Tuff,” of Houston, and James Marshall Meldrum, who nickname is “Dirty,” of Dallas — pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in Federal District Court in Houston.
A law enforcement official said there was no evidence so far in the investigation of Mr. Hasse’s killing that pointed to the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was still continuing, said that investigators believed the shootings of Mr. Hasse and Mr. McLelland were related but appeared to have been carried out by different people, perhaps from the same group or with the same affiliation.
But Sheriff Byrnes said he had no indication that the shootings of Mr. McLelland and his wife were the work of the Brotherhood.
Investigators have also been pursuing possible links between Mr. Hasse’s killing and the death of Tom Clements, the Colorado state prisons chief, who was shot and killed two weeks ago at his home in Monument, Colo., near Colorado Springs.
The suspect in Mr. Clements’s killing, Evan S. Ebel, 28, died after a shootout and high-speed chase with Texas law enforcement officers and sheriff’s deputies in Wise County, northwest of Dallas, on March 21. There were a number reports that Mr. Ebel had joined a white-supremacist gang known as the 211 Crew while he was in a Colorado prison, but the authorities said they were still investigating any possible links.
Officials in Colorado Springs who have been investigating Mr. Clements’s killing spoke on Sunday with investigators in Texas, but Paula Presley, the undersheriff in El Paso County, Colo., said it was still too early to say whether there were any connections between the killings. She said that Mr. McLelland’s killing was “very, very concerning” and that it had raised an already heightened sense of alert in Colorado.
Mr. McLelland was a 23-year veteran of the Army who served in the first Iraq war, according to a biography on the Web site of the Kaufman County district attorney’s office. He also worked as a diagnostic psychologist for Texas government agencies.
He served for 18 years as a criminal defense attorney and special prosecutor for the Department of Family and Protective Services. He and his wife had five children, including one son who is a Dallas police officer.
Guess what….law enforcement sources say the weapon used in this assassination of the District Attorney & his wife was an AR-15. An assault weapon. Assault weapons are useful for one thing only…..killing humans.
How Many People Have Been Killed by Guns Since Newtown?
Answer is: 3,164 humans have dies since Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14th, 2012.
That’s Three Thousand One Hundred & Sixth Four human lives erased in the 107 days since the Newtown, Connecticut massacre.
RT @RaniaKhalek: Another reminder that teachers are heroes -- PHOTO: Teachers carry children after OKC tornado destroyed school http://t.co…Still A MilitantNegro 3 hours ago