Dressember

      One thing always leads to another. The commercials on commercial television annoy me to the point that I almost never watch it. I watch the local and national news, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy! on weekdays. I seldom ever turn on the TV on weekends.

      A kid at heart, I have always been interested if fairytales. Sometime in 2016 I was browsing through Amazon and ran across a television drama called Once Upon A Time (OUAT). I added the Season 1 DVD to my wishlist, and then promptly forgot about it.

      Sometime in late February of 2017 I decided to order OUAT Season 1 to see if was any good. I was blown away by the theatrical quality of the production, the interwoven stories of fairytales and 'the real world', and the costumes. Over the next few months I ordered the rest of the DVDs through Season 6. I also bought Seasons 6 and 7 on Amazon video so that I could see those while waiting for the DVDs to come out.

      Naturally, my interest in the show lead me to several fan websites, one of which is OUAT-ES. That blog ("web log") links much of its content from Twitter, Instagram, and other "social media" websites. A lot of what is there has to do with things that happen off-camera and in the lives of the actresses and actors on the show.

      I discovered that actress Jennifer Morrison supports the Dressember Foundation, which advocates for human rights by fighting slavery and sex trafficking. A couple of the links on OUAT-ES led me to Jennifer Morrison's Dressember Team.

      In 2005 Blythe Hill became aware of the global problem of human slavery, forced labor (especially in the garment industry), and sex trafficking. She adopted the idea of wearing a dress every day throughout December. Some of her friends started doing the same, and they gave it the name "Dressember". A few of Blythe's male friends got wind of the idea and wanted to help. She suggested that they wear a bow tie, since regular neckties are more common and do not attract that much attention. By 2009 she formed the Dressember Foundation with the goal of raising funds to combat this problem and give aid to those affected by it.

     Dressember Foundation
     PO Box 1092
     Ashland, OR 97520
     dressember@gmail.com
     www.dressember.org
     TAX ID #46-4704743

      I already support the the Susan G. Komen® organization and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, so it was natural for me to be drawn to this effort. I built a page at Terry's 2018 Dressember Page, where I will begin donating on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2017. I set my goal a bit high, but over the course of the coming year, I hope to meet or exceed that goal.

      One of my favorite Christmas songs is "O Holy Night". Two lines of that carol are:

          Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother
          And in his name all oppression shall cease.

      Together we can break those chains and free people from oppression. You don't need to be religious or spiritual to help others. All you need is a loving heart.

Below is a picture that I made for my online Christmas Card for 2017. I got used to wearing that tie, even on days when I do not expect to see another human.

Feodora Verochka Tychovich is a life-sized platinum-cured silicone rubber doll. She was produced by Oleg Bratkov (a gifted sculptor) and his beautiful wife Irina (excellent makeup artist), at their workshop, Anatomical Doll in Vladivostok, Russia. Feodora has Face 3 and Body 3 of their product line. She has a fully articulated skeleton and can pose in most natural ways that a human can pose. There are 'stops' on the skeleton that prevent her from posing in unnatural ways. This also helps to prevent damage to the silicone.

Feodora is wearing the Red Ruffle dress, the Shades of Brights necklace and earring gift set, the Heart of the Crusade Pin, the Scroll Cuff Watch, and the Goldtone Marquise Ring, all from Avon. Her White Stag ballet flats are from Wal Mart. Her Forever Young wig was given to her by Irina at Anatomical Doll.

Unfortunately, Oleg passed away in February 2017. It does appear that Irina is either unable or unwilling to continue the business. As of this writing, no one knows what has become of the molds and materials used in the construction of these dolls.

For more information, e-mail:
noquiexis@toast.net
Edmund Sonador's Home Page