Repeat After Me: When I Learn of Sexual Assault I Will Call the Cops

This should be a no-brainer. One of those things you don't ever think about. An automatic response. Engraved in your soul for all time. As natural as breathing.

When you learn of or witness sexual assault (aka rape), especially against a child, call the police.

Period. Conversation over.

The excuse of "I told my boss" is not good enough. Nor is the excuse, "it's not my job."

It sure as hell is your job. In fact, it's everyone job to protect children.

Do you hear me Mike McQueary and ESPN?

Earlier this week a number of my friends posted a story from The Onion about a group of 10-year-old boys holding a press conference begging the world to call the cops if anyone sees them being raped. Is it funny? Well, I guess so, but more than that, I think it's horribly sad. As I said when my friend Ellen posted the video, "It saddens me that The Onion has to write this story because so many people seem to be unclear on the concept. What makes me sadder is that in all the media coverage of the Penn State (and now allegedly Syracuse) child rape scandal, I have yet to see anyone simply look into the camera and say 'The bottom line is this: When you see a child being sexually abused, do whatever it takes to remove the child from the situation and call the f*#)^%@ police. To do anything else makes you as bad as the rapist.'"

So with that, I bring you this video of ESPN explaining why they held onto a tape recording of a conversation between Syracuse University's former coach Bernie Fine's wife, Laurie Fine, and Bobby Davis, one of his alleged victims, for eight years. Yes, you read that right. They had the audio tape for eight years and did nothing.


To say that ESPN's actions disgust me is a gross understatement. They clearly put their business needs ahead of protecting children and that is vile. I just hope that Bernie Fine didn't abuse any other children during those 8 years while ESPN sat on its collective hands.

Protecting those who sexually assault anyone, especially children, makes you as bad as the rapists, in my opinion.

I hope this is the final time I have to say this: If you learn of or witness sexual assault, especially against children, CALL THE COPS.

If we all did that one thing, children would be protected, victims could begin to heal, pedophiles would be in prison, and the world would be better.

Where's Little Merry Sunshine These Days?

Dear Readers,

I feel I've let you down of late.

You've been quite faithful to me and visited Little Merry Sunshine on a daily basis, but since January, I've only written 74 (now 75) posts for you. When you consider that in 2010, I gave you 210 posts, I'm really slipping. One might think that I don't love you anymore or that I don't enjoy writing Little Merry Sunshine as much as I did in 2008 when I wrote 412 posts. One would be wrong.

I do love you. And I do love writing Little Merry Sunshine.

In fact, that's exactly where my dilemma lies. I love you and love writing Little Merry Sunshine so much that I would rather give you fewer high quality posts than give you daily posts that suck.

So why aren't I writing as much anymore? I'm so glad you asked.

You'll recall that in February I started a new job as the Alumni Relations & Events Manager at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. Simply getting acclimated to that has taken some time. I've now been at my awesome job 5 1/2 months and I think I'm finally feeling like I know where we keep the good office supplies. I jest. What I'm really finally feeling is that I own my job. That I know what I'm doing and I feel confident in it. But getting to that point has taken a lot of hard work. More nights than I care to admit, I've crawled into bed at 8pm.

Additionally, I've been working out. You may have heard a rumor that I've dropped 40 pounds. That rumor is true thanks to exercise and eating better. It turns out that working out takes time and is sort of tiring. If only I could write while I swim, you'd have more to read.

Then we get to health issues. Thankfully, not mine. My mom and both cats, Betsey and Ross, have had major health issues since April, which have all consumed a great deal of my energy. For the record, I never thought I'd be a pet owner who scheduled her life around insulin shots for her cat. But I am now.

And finally, I'm in the process of buying my very first home (item #67 on my Bucket List). Frankly, this is my friend Derek's fault. And by fault, I mean that he put this idea into my brain last month when I mentioned that I was looking to rent an apartment. I've found a place I love and we're in the final stages of negotiations. I can't guess how this is going to end, but given that it's coinciding with the debt ceiling debate, I'm a little sick to my stomach until it's all signed, sealed and delivered. Once it's all over, I'll share the fun stories about my adventures in home buying.

All of this is happening, as I also try to have something that resembles a social life.

I promise to get back to LMS soon. I really do miss you all. Plus, as you can imagine, I've had a whole lot to say about Sarah Palin, Michele Bachman, the debt ceiling crisis, and now Congressman Joe Walsh that I've been itching to write about.