Tuesday, February 28, 2017

An Unexpected Surprise, and more Lobbying for Senate Bill 269



 Veterans gathered with Senator Menendez before we take the petition to the Governor and spread out to lobby for the day.







February 22, 2017  was Veterans Lobby Day at the Texas State Capitol. It started out with a huge surprise to me, followed by a press conference and the culmination of the first trip to the Govenors office with the 1,314 signatures from Texas veterans supporting a whole plant medical bill here in TX, SB269.  



I was given this award, much to my incredible surprise.  Here are some pics, and what they wrote.






And I got to be a team leader, so here are pics of my list and the offices we went to. We had excellent response from all the offices we went to.




Some pics from the press conference, going into the Governors office and pics from lobbying.



 Fellow veteran Jav carrying our petition


The Governors clerk receives our petition.

 Proud to be in the company of these amazing fellow
canna warriors.

Cliff Duvall... ground zero for Texas Veterans. 
The First of us to get involved publicly in the cannabis movement here in Texas.










That moment you walk out of the Govenors office and are surrounded by amazing fellow veterans! 

A video of the day
https://www.facebook.com/eric.espinoza.589/videos/10211926270694532/





Until next time....

Friday, February 17, 2017

Manya's triggering letter

Greeting Friends and Readers,

At the end of my last post I had planned to come back then and write about her. But it was more then I could handle at the time, so I have delayed it to now. Sick in bed with a nasty cold, and having had a good session with Crystal, it is time to move this out of me to share with ya'll.

Manya and I have been friends since we were 19 and based on NTTC Corry Station in Pensacola Fl. We were 'suite' mates. We shared a living room with 3 rooms with 3 ladies off of it in the enlisted barracks.  We saved each others lives several times over the decades.

As this blog has related, I finally came forward and have been getting treatment for the things that happened, but Manya hasn't.  She has only gotten more isolated from any sort of relationship,  I have been talking to her about stepping forward and getting treatment for her PTSD. She has lost all trust in humanity.  I can certainly understand why. After you read this letter, you will see into the pain of an untreated MST survivor.  Her own words can say more then I can.  She has been dealing with this alone (except for myself and 2 other friends). Now, she is finally contemplating coming forward and getting the help that she so desperately needs.

She has finally told her mother what happened. But she is still afraid of treatment. I continue to pray for her and talk with her weekly.  She writes me a couple of times a week and I generally call her back.  This letter triggered me terribly.  I needed a session with Crystal to deal with it, and to continue to help my friend. I asked her if I could post this letter here and she said yes as no one would ever know that it was her.  So, here it is..

WARNING, EXPLICIT, UNCENSORED, UNTREATED MST RAGE AHEAD
TRIGGER, EXPLICIT RAPE, BEATINGS






















Heartbreaking. Her rage is deafening.
I love my friend, and I ask for prayers for her...

Over and out,
Myst

Friday, February 10, 2017

Texas Legislature back in Session



Hello Friends and Readers,

It has been a busy time since I last wrote. I went to the Veteran's March in Austin. We had a even bigger crowd then the year before!

The new year is over a month in, and we now have less then 4 months to try and change the laws here in Texas.  I have been busy in the off season though!  In December I was elected to be Deputy Director of Houston NORML, and I joined Montgomery Country NORML, and became the Veteran's Outreach Director there. It has keeps me busy going to meetings and preparing fellow citizens for this 
session,

The above graphic is from a article that came out in the Dallas Observer. It was on the cover!  The article was called "Onward Cannabis Soldiers" and interviews some of my veteran friends.

During the fall, Madesyn Mueller tracked me around to several events I was at, and also spoke with other members of the Texas cannabis moment. Her documentary about Operation Trapped is called The Texas Fight. Please take a few minutes to watch it. She did a super job!

Earlier this week I went to Austin for the Constituent Advocacy Day. Numbers of attendees is between 350-375. Last year was 300.  There are some excellent bills that have been introduced as well. Especially SB369, a full medical cannabis bill, that has PTSD and chronic pain as two of the qualifiers.

Here is some helpful info and links to news reports:


Thursday, September 29, 2016

Marching onwards... Lots of events coming up!

Greetings Friends and Readers,

It's been a few busy months. K and I finally go married on July 30th, after some 9 years together.  And building has finally started on our new home up in the Sam Houston forest.. yup, 8.36 acres. Will be perfect for growing once we get the laws changed!

I have really been enjoying my volunteer job as Houston NORML's Veteran Outreach Director. It's given me such a wonderful opportunity to meet and help and educate others, and be educated myself.  

We have a huge event called the Lone Star Rally that we will be at from Wed Nov2 thru Sun Nov 6th, with bug out the next day on the 7th.  I am making some shirts to wear at it.. this is my first ones:





I wrote about Ann Lee  a few months back, and now there is going to be a documentary about RAMP and there is a party about it next Thur I am going to:



Thursday, October 6 at 6:30 PM
John Baucum shared this public event with you
Details
Join us to the preimer of the RAMP documentary that tells the story of our organization and our founders Ann and Bob Lee. After the screening we will visit about RAMP's goals for the 2017 Texas legislative session. The event is free, but a $10 donation if welcomed to help continue our mission to reform marijuana laws in Texas.
link to the event; https://www.facebook.com/events/1088254897888522/






Then there is an MPP event here in Houston next Sat which myself and my friend Jeffery are going to. 





Details
Professional or “business casual” attire only please.
Registration is FREE!

Constituent advocacy is one of the most critical tools we have as a grassroots movement. Legislators and other community members need to hear from Texans like you who want to see sensible marijuana policies instituted.

This training event is designed to help you become an effective advocate for marijuana law reform in Texas. This training event will offer you the tools you need to make effective arguments, dispel common myths, confidently communicate with your legislators, and positively affect policy during the upcoming legislative session.

Saturday, October 8, 2016
9:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Trini Mendenhall Community Center
1414 Wirt Road
Houston, Texas 77055

FREE Registration: http://www.texasmarijuanapolicy.org/houston-training-registration/
Here is the facebook link https://www.facebook.com/events/1644170719231187/

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And then on my birthday, Oct 15th there is the Texas Veteran's Conference in Austin we are going to. K has not been to Austin yet, and this will be his chance to see where I go and meet my canna activist friends. And be in the State Capitol as that is where the conference is.. and then there is a after party at a local cantina. 




Public · Workshop · Hosted by Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy and...



And here is the info for the Lone Star Rally. We are looking for volunteers to come out and help us man the Houston NORML booth, and I the Operation Trapped table we'll have there... I hope to get 1000 bottles just at this event. I want to have a countdown board and get lots of buzz going about it. Some 300,000 people come to this event.. so I think getting 1000 veterans out of that with the help of volunteers should be easy! After all, how many bikers are veterans.. I just read an article that said 76% of bikers are veterans. Wow. Brotherhood. Houston NORML has gotten a beach house nearby for us to stay at for the duration.  I know I'll have to take some breaks from the sheer amount of people that show up. Our Executive Director told me to bring ear plugs.  Normally I'd stay far away from this many people.. for for The Cause.. I can do this. 0.o


Public · Meetup · Hosted by Southern Soul Rydahs RC






As for my MST situation... this activism has been of huge help in regards to it. I have to talk about it.. and people listen.  That's really important. New people hear about it.. many have never heard of military sexual trauma.  

Just yesterday, I was at a lunch with an adult social group with friends and a new person joined us.  He asked about the brace I have to wear on my left hand now. 








He asked if it was from stopping a fall as he teaches classes on 'how to fall right'. " No".. I had to say, " It's from my Navy supervisors grabbing my thumb and using it to twist my arm behind my back and force me into submission and to control me. And the fucks on both bases did it the same. That essentially went on for four years. Lots of damage done. So now, as I have gotten older, all those twisted bones have developed sharp edges that saw on the tendons. The VA wants to cut them out and use tendons from my arm to build a 'new' sort of joint there. But I am not up to that at this point, I'd rather wear the brace which helps keep my thumb immobile. "

He stared at me, obviously aghast. I am sure he'd never had that answer before in the years he's been asking that question of people. I don't enjoy shocking people that way. Thank goodness the friends there with me mostly know my story and were nodding sportively. I told him about The Invisible War

http://invisiblewarmovie.com

 Four years ago I would have lied.. would not have been able to say the truth without hyperventilating and going into a withdrawal trance.  The VA had offered me 'immersion' therapy..where you talk about what happened for months till supposedly it doesn't affect you anymore.  Thank goodness Crystal didn't recommend it for me and suggested I be a cannabis activist instead!  Boy howdy has this been useful to me. And so much more effective then telling the same person the same story. Especially in our case, we MST survivors. I think a big part of our healing is MAKING OUR STORY COUNT!  And doing this, changing the law for other veterans, children, autistic and Asburgers folks, cancer patients , TBI, other PTSD folks.. the list goes on and on... is the best therapy for me for sure.  Today, I got to talk to another lady veteran ( Hi D!) 
about how much being a cannabis activist has helped me.  

While I have made lots of progress... I still have lots of issues that I have to work on. I hate that I have such up and  down days.. that K has to be watchful of my moods. I want him to have a smooth and peaceful life.  But he knew me before my breakdown.. how successful I was professionally.. that I was able to take him on trips.  Now.. I can't imagine how dealing with me feels to him. But he has married me, knowing how crazy and emotional I can be. And I am blessed beyond beyond to have this amazing life with him. The dream home we are building that has keep me super busy on top of being so supportive of my activism.  Tomorrow they are supposed to be pouring the foundation and I hope to be up there watching it.

So, that's an update on things... as usual.. I'll try to do this more frequently.

Over and Out,
Myst