Archive for June, 2010

This week I learned that there is a website called PostSecret.com which publishes anonymous postcards sent in from people. (As you might imagine, some are not family-friendly rated). I find the concept a little bit random, but I’m sure sociologist and psychologist have a field day with this kind of thing.

Last Sunday this postcard was posted on the website. Within hours of that postcard showing up on the website someone created a facebook group to try to persuade the writer not to commit suicide.

Here is the story as it continues to unfold…

This postcard was sent into PostSecret. It reads:

I have lived in San Francisco since I was young. I am illegal. I am not wanted here. I don’t belong anywhere. This summer I plan to jump off the Golden Gate.

A group has been created to support the person who wrote this card and help him/her realize that his/her life is still worth living. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=119460778095373

A loving member of the PostSecret community wrote an email saying “On Sunday the 13th at noon I plan on printing up all the caring comments from facebook, taking them to the Golden Gate Bridge and taping them up all along the walkway.” I feel that this is a wonderful idea and decided to try and get others to join in bringing in both comments printed out from the Facebook group and their own original comments to tape up on the Golden Gate Bridge. Also, it would be great if any photographers out there could bring cameras to take photos and upload them to the site. I am hoping that this will help the writer of the postcard understand that it doesn’t matter who you are or what others say, but where you feel at home that determines where you belong.

Please feel free to invite as many people as you want/can. The more support the better. Remember: there is always hope!

**UPDATE** Hey everybody! So, Shuai Chen (who has been MORE than helpful in organizing this event) has created a “Please Don’t Jump” page on CafePress.com. All of the proceeds will go to Hopeline. If you would like to order anything for Sunday, please visit http://shops.cafepress.com/Pleasedontjump

*** Press Release ***

San Francisco, CA (June 12, 2010)

48,000 Members of the PostSecret and Facebook communities will join together on at noon on Sunday, June 13 at the Golden Gate Bridge in reaction to an anonymous postcard secret regarding suicide.

Last Sunday, a postcard was published on the PostSecret website from an illegal immigrant in San Francisco contemplating suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Within four days, more than 48,000 people joined a Facebook group created in hopes of reaching out to the sender of the card, as well as others contemplating suicide.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=119460778095373&v=wall

One member of the group wrote, On Sunday the 13th at noon I plan on printing up all the caring comments from Facebook, taking them to the Golden Gate Bridge and taping them up all along the walkway. In response, California resident Lindsey Salazar (schnazzleberry@yahoo.com) invited the public to assemble this Sunday in support of the postcard sender.

The event has already received responses from over 900 people who plan to attend. Guests are requested to help post comments, bring chalk, signs, cameras and their stories.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=134344396576414#wall_posts

“Last week the postcard grabbed my heart”, said Frank Warren, (frank@postsecret.com) creator of PostSecret, while reflecting on the public reactions to the postcard. “I have been very inspired by how it’s resonated with tens of thousands of other people rallying to keep one person from jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. In two days, this secret generated the most e-mails in my inbox. In addition, over 48,000 people on Facebook have expressed their hopes and concerns. What an amazing combination of technology and compassion! It gives me great hope for the future of the web and the world.”

About PostSecret:

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project, created by Frank Warren of Germantown, MD, where people mail in secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. The blog updates weekly with new submissions from all over the world.

Contact: Lindsey Salazar (schnazzleberry@yahoo.com)

It’s inspiring to see total strangers rally to show one person that his or her life has value and they can find a place to belong.

It is all very… human.

The American people can’t say that they weren’t warned about the misinformation that Obama and the Democrats continued to push during the debate over their health care bill.

One warning was that the bill would essentially lead  to a government take-over of health care because the government would force employers to change coverage plans they currently provide to their employees.

Obama and the Democrats knew that if the American people thought the government could force coverage changes, they would oppose the bill even more.  That is why one of the most repeated claims by Obama was the line, “if you like your current coverage, you can keep it.”

Well, now Obama’s own administration is projecting that a majority of workers will have a change in coverage within the next three years.

This is just one of the big lies about the health care bill that will be exposed in the months and years to come.

It would be useful for us to remember this pattern in future debates – if something is being repeated so often, it must be a lie.