Category Archives: Activism

Last Minute Women’s March Sign Ideas

If you are anything like us, we can get real close to the time of whatever-it-may-be and then get what needs to be done, last minute style, done. Don’t get us wrong, we do it well under pressure. The Women’s March tomorrow is no different. We are going to wake up around 7AM to get our signs done. I did some image research and quote digging and came up with 10 good sign suggestions off the World Wide Web.

  1. We go high.
  2. Your silence will not protect you.
  3. Nasty Woman
  4. “Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities, Can Make You Commit Atrocities” Voltaire
  5. Hate Kills
  6. “I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.” Audre Lorde
  7. Woman’s place is in the resistance. (in reference to Carrie Fisher…Princess Leigh….Star Wars. You get it.)
  8. I am stronger than fear.
  9. Truth matters.
  10. “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”  Alice Walker

Get your recycled pieces of boxes, cardboard, old sheets and get to creating. We will collectively be with every human at every women’s march tomorrow. We love you.

Love trumps hate. Be brave.

Cara and Maria Emilia

Freeheld – Love is Love

 

Here’s the skinny on Laurel Hester. She was a 23-year veteran of the Ocean County prosecutor’s office, where she worked on a variety of cases, when she was discovered she had stage 4 lung cancer (Stage four (IV) means the lung cancer has spread to more than one area in the other lung, the fluid surrounding the lung or the heart, or distant parts of the body through the bloodstream. Once released in the blood, cancer can spread anywhere in the body, but it is more likely to spread to the brain, bones, liver, and adrenal glands.). She was one of the first women to achieve rank of Lieutenant in her department and was greatly respected by her fellow officers.

While in Ocean County, where she earned the rank of lieutenant, she
worked behind the scenes on a number of high-profile cases, devoting
most of her career to organized-crime intelligence. She helped develop
information that investigators in New York would later use for
successful prosecutions of mob figures there.

She met her girlfriend in the early 2000s, Stacie Leigh Andree (born 1975) who was 19 years younger than Hester and worked as a car mechanic.

The cancer then metastasized and spread to her brain, leaving her with little time to live. Laurel lived with and jointly owned a house with her registered domestic partner, Stacie Andree, who would not be able to afford mortgage payments upon Laurel’s death. A married heterosexual with Hester’s years of police service would be able to pass on pension benefits to a spouse, but this privilege was not accorded to same-sex domestic partners in Ocean County, NJ.

Hester and Garden State Equality Founder and Chair Emeritus, Steven Goldstein appealed to local authorities to change this policy, and was supported by the local Policemen’s Benefit Association. Instead, in a private meeting on November 9, 2005, the five Republican county freeholders voted against the proposal, with freeholder John P. Kelly arguing that it threatened “the sanctity of marriage.” On November 23, a rally of supporters rallied by Steven Goldstein gathered to protest the county’s inaction.

On January 18, 2006, an impassioned videotaped appeal by a weakening Hester from her hospital bed was shown at a meeting of the freeholders, who then met with county Republican leaders in a teleconference on January 20. The next day, the freeholders announced that they were reversing their stance, and would meet on January 25 to extend pension benefits to registered domestic partners.

She died exactly a month later after sending the committee the video plea on February 18, 2006, in her home in Point Pleasant, New Jersey.

There is a new movie about Hester’s fight for equality coming out October 2nd starring Julianne Moore and Ellen Page, also titled Freeheld.

Love is love.

– Mushpa

Happy Labor Day

Women Labor DayHappy Labor Day to all! For those who don’t know what Labor Day is all about, here is the skinny. Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement (mostly promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor in NYC). Groover Cleaveland made it official in 1887. Labor Day is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Women Trade UnionNow on to some interesting Labor Day trivia!

  • To take advantage of large numbers of potential customers free to shop, Labor Day has become an important sale weekend for many retailers in the United States. Some buyers retailers claim it is one of the largest sale dates of the year, second only to the Christmas season’s Black Friday. Ironically, because of the importance of the sale weekend, some of those who are employed in the retail sector not only work on Labor Day, but work longer hours. More Americans work in the retail industry than any other, with retail employment making up 24% of all jobs in the United States. As of 2012, only 3% of those employed in the retail sector were members of a labor union.
  • Women were among the earliest factory workers in the mill and textile industries and also among the earliest to organize.
  • 21.3% of women work in service occupations, some of which (domestic work, for example) are not covered by many of the employee protections we celebrate on Labor Day.  This lack of coverage dates back to 1938 when Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act based on a political compromise by which it excluded domestic and agricultural workers, who were primarily African-American. Today, high rates of Hispanic women work in the service sector (33.2%).
  • In high society, Labor Day is (or was) considered the last day of the year when it is fashionable to wear white or seersucker.

We here at Mushpa y Mensa strive to contribute to the strength, prosperity and well being of our country, world and universe in everything we do. From the meaning we put into our art, to all the people we come in contact with at amazing events where we end up and through our online presence. We are blessed to have this job that pushes us to learn so many things from others and hopefully we give back as much to them.

Here is something tangible we can give back today, on the 2nd largest sale date of the year! ;] A free shipping promotion code MAYA007!!! This will get you out of shipping charges on any item(s) at our Etsy Shop. Exciting!!! 😀 Click below to get to our shop and check out our original designs on organic cotton tees, tanks and tops, plush pets with felt made from recycling plastic bottles and stuffed with real lavender, eco-jewelry, coffee and tea cozies made from unique, refurbished fabric amongst tons of other cool stuff. Spread the word!

free shipping codeWe hope everyone has a chill Labor Day and you are doing whatever it is you want to do today and everyday.

– Mushpa y Mensa

Just Something To Look At

I was power surfing and promoting Mushpa y Mensa last night and came across these photos on the World Wide Web I thought were worth sharing with you all.

Enjoy.

Naked

Fast

witches

:]

– Mushpa

Freedom of Net

Net Neutrality

I just took action to protect net neutrality. The FCC votes soon! Take action here: http://mzl.la/1K55aRm

In case you are unaware of what Net neutrality is all about read below.

Net neutrality (also network neutrality, Internet neutrality or net equality) is the principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging deferentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication. The term was coined by Columbia University media law professor Tim Wu in 2003 as an extension of the longstanding concept of a common carrier.

There has been extensive debate about whether net neutrality should be required by law, particularly in the United States. Debate over the issue of net neutrality predates the coining of the term. Advocates of net neutrality such as Lawrence Lessig have raised concerns about the ability of broadband providers to use their last mile infrastructure to block Internet applications and content (e.g. websites, services, and protocols), and even to block out competitors.

Neutrality proponents claim that telecom companies seek to impose a tiered service model in order to control the pipeline and thereby remove competition, create artificial scarcity, and oblige subscribers to buy their otherwise noncompetitive services. Many believe net neutrality to be primarily important as a preservation of current freedoms. Prominent supporters of net neutrality include Vinton Cerf, co-inventor of the Internet Protocol, and Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the Web.

Examples of net neutrality violations include when the internet service provider Comcast, intentionally slowed peer-to-peer communications. In 2007, one other company was using deep packet inspection to discriminate against peer-to-peer, file transfer protocol, and online games, instituting a cell-phone style billing system of overages, free-to-telecom value added services, and bundling. Critics of net neutrality argue that data discrimination is desirable for reasons like guaranteeing quality of service. Bob Kahn, co-inventor of the Internet Protocol, called the term net neutrality a slogan and opposes establishing it, but he admits that he is against the fragmentation of the net whenever this becomes excluding to other participants. On 31 January 2015, AP News reported the FCC will present the notion of applying (“with some caveats”) Title II (common carrier) of the Communications Act of 1934 to the internet in a vote expected on 26 February 2015. Adoption of this notion would reclassify internet service from one of information to one of telecommunications and, according to Tom Wheeler, chairman of the FCC, ensure net neutrality.

[Source]

We have few freedoms left and people seem to be unaware of what is happening in the background most of the time. Don’t be distracted by static while our puppet government works for large corporations instead of their constituents. They are here to listen to the majority, so say no and push for the little people of the world. We only have the power together as cheesy as it sounds it is the truth.

Much love!

– Mushpa

Maya’s Magical Zine

Mushpa y Mensa
Hello Super Mushpa y Mensa Fans! We know it has been killing you waiting for our next post. Well here it is Maya’s Makeover Zine!!! We will not go on and on about our amazing zine as it is pretty self explanatory, but here is what Maya’s zine includes:

 

  • Our truck’s full makeover archive with before & after pictures of the project.
  • Mushpa y Mensa DIY tips a.k.a. our gained knowledge we give unto you!
  • How-to everyday eco-tips
  • Delicious food recipes
  • Plus Mushpa y Mensa’s greatest hits and inspirational thoughts from our blog, “La Casa“!

All this in a fantastical and printable PDF.

Want some more Mushpa y Mensa?  Check out www.mushpamensa.com

With much love,

Mushpa y Mensa
(a.k.a. Cara Elaine and Maria Emilia)

Becoming Friends

One of my friends asked to chat me up on g-chat, so I logged on and added her today. It’s been a couple years since I’ve logged onto g-mail. I decided to check out my emails and saw an email from 2011 asking me to add BAIKAMARAJR as a friend. Obviously by now the request had expired, but I went to check it out the YouTube channel and this is what I found….greatness and beauty. This reminded me that life, God, the Universe always has my back, blessing me with what I need when I need it. Everything is bigger than what I think I see in front of me.

Life is a miracle everyday in darkness and light.

Peace,

Cara

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl5eRrV8HIw