Microaffections as revolution: one response to mass shootings and lock-down drills
Then my daughter tells me that tomorrow in school, there will be a lockdown drill and asks me if the alarm will be loud. I freeze.
We need softness in the face of terror, we need kindness in response to hate, and we need love as revolution. We need these tiny drop of some magic healing warmth. We need the opposite of the microaggressions that so many of us deal with daily… and I realize that what we need are microaffections.
I have Katniss scratch fever: How do I learn to shoot stuff?
Homies, I’d like to learn to shoot stuff. Targets, mostly. Maybe with guns, maybe with arrows — honestly, I’m flexible, and I don’t have any solid goals for these skills — it just looks like fun and seems like a good thing to know how to do (in case, you know, zombies). But I have no idea where to start.
Books, timers, and mallets: Home security measures to keep you safe in your temporary space
We have a whole tag full of safety tips that you might want to peruse. But perhaps the best advice on this subject came from a comment left on this post by Offbeat Homie Stilleto. She had a fabulous breakdown on temporary home security measures…
Collectively grieving Newtown, CT
Stephanie and I are both completely devastated by the situation in Newtown, with Stephanie being especially freaked out since she already survived one shooting last week (she and her son were at the mall in Oregon last Tuesday when three people were shot and killed). The two of us have been talking all weekend, and we just don’t have much to contribute to the discussions about Newtown. That said, I do want to provide a place for Offbeat Families to support each other through the grief we’re all experiencing as we emerge from the terrible events of last week…
How do we bring up gun safety with our kid — and the parents of our child’s friends?
We don’t own guns, but we live in an area where many people do. I thought I had more time to consider this issue, but one of my child’s preschool friends recently “shot” at me with a finger gun — “I am shooting you” — and I realized that the gun issue is coming sooner than I realized. My son so far seems pretty oblivious, but not for long.
Gifts for only the most black-hearted bad asses
Welcome to the forth edition of the Offbeat Home gift guides. This gift roundup was pretty fun to put together, because while I may be a total nerd, I definitely have a dark soul. So welcome to my roundup of gifts to get your black-hearted, bad-ass, totally-fucked-up-in-a-good way loved ones.
Shotgun shell Christmas lights
We got this idea from Moore N Moore sporting clays shooting range. It’s a great way to repurpose plastic shells you aren’t going to or are unable to reload. Here’s how to make them yourself.
Use slatboard to store your Nerf guns
It wasn’t until I saw this father and son-designed Nerf gun display using the Jifram Easy Living slatwall kit that I REALLY realized how cool this shit is AND finally came up with the solution to my Nerf-guns-and-ammo-scattered-about-the-apartment problem.