The Lucky Abes

Sometimes kids collect things. Beany babies, buttons, shoe strings. I must say I collected a lot of things when I was young. In fact, I still own my rock collection (it is one of the few things I have to display on the shelves of my basically bare apartment). My favorite collection, however, has always been my lucky penny collection. Or, as I like to call it, my Lucky Abes.It's called the "Lucky Abes" because Abraham Lincoln's face is on the American penny (I'm hoping that was obvious but I spelled it out if anyone was day dreaming).

A lucky penny is something I’m quite obsessed with.

I have a lucky penny collection that ranges from 1945-2007. I like to clean this collection biannually with Tabasco sauce. In fact, when organizing the kitchen pantry this summer I found five bottles of Tabasco sauce, all which are only used to beautify my precious pennies. I stumbled upon my most prized lucky penny (from 1945) while skydiving from Mt. Kilimanjaro one day. Just kidding, ignore the slight addendum, I actually found the penny in my wallet, which is kind of lame.

There have been moments where my lucky pennies were at risk (like the time my parents tried to add it to their Coinstar trip to Kroger). Now, to keep them safe, I have them in my bedside drawer...not my desk at home. There aren't many symbols of luck that aren't Irish. This is what makes the penny so unique and cool! I wonder if the coins for 1 cent in other countries are considered lucky when found on the ground. If I was a symbol of luck (like Lincoln is) I would make sure people knew that by spending me they were living life on luck. I wonder how he would feel if he knew he symbolized luck to children throughout the US (or at least lucky pennies are big in Ohio!)

Too often pennies are not considered important! For example, many stores price items at $5.99 or $9.99 (this is a type of heuristic) and customers end up with a penny as their change. Often these customers just ask the sales clerk to keep the change! I, however, love to keep my pennies. Sometimes I drop them by parks where I imagine other collecting-kids find them (and it's the highlight of their day!).

Well I started blogging about this because I realized the Lucky Abes are probably in need of a good clean. Now where's that Tabasco sauce...

Acts of Violence in Fashion

The same writer who designed the highly controversial "I had an abortion" t-shirt has a new line. It reads "I was raped."

Jennifer Baumgardner says she created the shirt last April to bring rape into everyday conversation as a way of easing feelings of shame or fear that are common among victims. I know I personally would not feel empowered if I was a rape victim wearing the shirt. I think such a statement would not be worn by victims in the first place if many can barely speak about the incident to begin with.

I am interested to know how a rape victim feels about this shirt. I happen to know four women in my life who are close to me and have dealt with rape. Most of these beautiful ladies expressed their feelings that fashion was not the arena where the conversation needed started. They did, however, like the fact that the money went to support for rape victims, to include counseling services which many do not get.

Traumatic experiences such as "abortion" or "rape" are often personal, between that person and God. Speaking about the experience, however, is important. I am not sure how I feel about the t-shirt.