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Home » Stories, True and Otherwise

Support Local Biz: July 12, 2011

Submitted by on July 12, 2011 – 5:27 PM5 Comments

Just a reminder that you can read about icky food on my Tumblr, Revolting Snacks of North America. Pictured above is today’s specimen, the Utz Cheeze Ball.

And on another note entirely, from reader Kristen F. comes a worthwhile appetite for destruction:

Hi Sars. I’m reaching out because I think you can help. I don’t need money or anything, just the reach of your audience.

My very best friends were in a horrible accident on July 1. They were on vacation with their 4 kids, and were hit from behind by a drunk driver — a 16-year-old. Their 6-year-old daughter, Hannah, died at the scene. Their youngest, Owen, has a severed spinal cord and will likely live as a quadriplegic. He’s 3. The older two girls, 8 and 10, have multiple broken bones. My very best friend, who is also pregnant, has a ton of broken ribs, but she, her husband and the baby have survived.

My friend has an incredible faith. She’s shown nothing but grace and strength since this happened, and I know she’ll be okay again some day. But her broken ribs keep her from doing physical things. She’d really like to hug her kids hard. She’d also really like to punch something — hard.

So what I’m asking is for kind folks who want to support her and her family to smash, punch, kick or destroy something in her honor. Break a dish, destroy a watermelon, throw a shoe — express the anger and frustration that she cannot. Capture it on video, and email it to me. We’re going to create a cathartic montage of destruction for her, show her our solidarity and help her feel the support of other outraged mothers.

Do you mind posting about this? I’m a thousand miles from home, with her and her family, trying to help them put the pieces together. If you can’t post about it, if you could just forward this to any one other person, that would help.

I know this sounds crazy, but I know my friend, and I know this is what she needs. We’re looking to receive the videos before the end of the week.

What say you, Nation? Can you take a snippet of footage of yourselves throwing shoes, setting off bottle rockets, hammering on a chicken breast with a rolling pin, or something of that nature? You can visit the family’s Caring Bridge site here, and if you’ve got a video of some hurled veggies to contribute (tomatoes are outstanding for this sort of project; I’m just saying), please email it to Kristen in care of her sister Lindsay at lindsaypavlas at gmail dot com.

While you’re up, find (or…found!) the Safe Rides program in your locality, and if you can’t squeeze a donation to let them keep doing their thing, let the teenage drivers in your lives know that these programs exist, and punch the number into their phones yourselves if you have to.

All y’all be careful out there.

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5 Comments »

  • Jen S 1.0 says:

    I have not the skills to create a video, but all the destruction in my heart goes out to your friend and her family (in a loving way, of course.)

  • meltina says:

    Man, that sucks, and I’m with Lindsay’s friend: I’d want to scream and break things too. :(

  • MP says:

    Well, I must be the biggest dummy around. I can’t find the Revolting Snacks website. Would you please post a link? Please and thank you!

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    Did I not link that? Der. Here’s a link, and I will update the entry.

    http://revoltingsnacks.tumblr.com/

  • Profreader says:

    This, from the Revolting Snacks tumblr:

    Imagine a first sexual experience — not yours, necessarily, but one that took place in a mildewy, embeanbaggened basement, accompanied by the staticky screeching and prancing of a Led Zeppelin concert video and steeped in Love’s Baby Soft and hot-dog breath.

    This is why I love your writing. That sentence took me right back to … well, never mind all that. “Embeanbaggened.” Oh, yes.

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