Last year in December, I hosted a #humantraffickingawareness event at my school. It was an art exhibit, with artwork inspired by the stories of human trafficking victims. Students trickled in throughout the day (the free pizza and cupcakes as much an incentive to attend as the opportunity to learn something new), drifting around the room and staring at the often disturbing paintings: a woman in underwear staring out a barred window, the bed made of actual  $20 dollar bills with a wall made of a map of the world, an eery child's face, eyes bloody, gouged out and soulless, a hole ripped in his chest while his heart was handed off to disembodied hands in the background. I was happy for their attendance, thanked them as they walked in, explained to them what the exhibit was about.

Me: "Welcome! This is an art exhibit to tell the stories of human trafficking victims..."

Random student: (munching on a slice of pizza)"Human trafficking? Oh, like in that movie Taken!"  Nearly every student who walked said that. 

I appreciate Luc Besson's Taken for portraying the issue in a way that kept typical American movie audiences interested: with intense hand-to-hand fight scenes, things blowing up, a ruthlessly skilled fighter with a tortured past who stops at nothing.

 HOWEVER.

The movie bolsters the misconception that #sextrafficking is an overseas problem, with weird foreign guys as the buyers, the perpetrators of this crime.

The #sex trafficking of domestic minors exists in the United States. Trafficking in this instance can be a runaway 14-year-old girl, lost on the streets and needing someone to help her....and then here comes this sweet older guy, offering to buy her food and treat her like "his girl". Before she knows it, she's locked in a hotel room and forced to have sex with dozens of men per day. Variations of this story are told in the documentary

And guess what, America? Here's a basic lesson in economics: there is no supply without demand. Pimps wouldn't be selling girls if there was no demand for them. Which means, America, we have a serious problem here. We have men, thousands, who are willing to pay good coin - or cheap - to have sex with little girls and young teenagers. Men who are are so craven, so driven by carnal lusts that they look the other way and take no notice of these girls tears, men who pretend not to see the bruises from her pimp's beatings.

CIA estimates that 45,00-55,000 persons are trafficked into the US for sex trafficking, and according to the Department of State, 300,000 American children and youth are at risk for being coerced into sex slavery.

Global human trafficking is a billion dollar industry, with some estimates around $32 billion annually. It is fast overtaking arms trafficking as a more lucrative market, for the simple reason that a gun illegally can only be sold once, while a person can be sold over and over again. American dollars contribute to these profits made from slavery.

Whats the cause? Prominent feminists scholars such as Andrew Dworkin and Katharin McKinnon would argue that its the culture we have, that persists in objectifying women into nothing by sexual objects. They blame pornography, they blame the advertising industry, they blame films. Where ever the blame lies, the fact remains that sex trafficking has a booming market here in America. Los Angelas and Houston are the No. 1 and 3 cities for trafficking, primarily because of their proximity to the border and the interstate highways.

Americans don't like to believe that this can happen down the street from them. A good example of this hubris is the fact that for the first time, the Department of State listed America as a ranking country in the 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report  that is published annually. That it happens in their own back yard. But the fact is that is does happen. In your city, in your neighborhood, Such as this horrible story, where a mother sold her own 14 year old daughter to men, acting as a pimp and forcing her child into slavery. International rings aren't the only

You can learn to recognize the signs, when a person (girl or young boy)

• Is not free to leave or come and go as he/she wishes
• Is under 18 and is providing commercial sex acts
• Is in the commercial sex industry and has a pimp / manager
• Is unpaid, paid very little, or paid only through tips
• Works excessively long and/or unusual hours
• Is not allowed breaks or suffers under unusual restrictions at work
• Owes a large debt and is unable to pay it off
• Was recruited through false promises concerning the nature and conditions of his/her work
• High security measures exist in the work and/or living locations (e.g. opaque windows, boarded up windows, bars on windows, barbed wire, security cameras, etc.

If you recognize these signs, you can call the Polaris Project at 1-888-3737-888

 Check out  Polaris Project for more information.

1. Regrets are weights that prevent progress. Keep the lessons, but don't let them hold you back

2. Those crosses one must carry? The strength is now there to make the cross bearable, almost light, even.....the time will come when it can be cast off completely.

3. I've met or got to know better friends that I realize I want to keep for my whole life. Awwwww, biffles. Now I need to excuse myself to vomit from the sheer amount of insipid sentiment expressed.....

4. There are people that you meet randomly, and who meant nothing at the time of meeting them- not even enough to remember their name-but whom a year later, you can't imagine life without them.

5. Coming  to terms with the fact that I have an appalling lack of self discipline concerning things that should be most important. Harsh remedies will be taken for the coming year.

6. Not hiding in the library, gym or coffee house has resulted in amazing memories with even more amazing people. Writing is an art that I can get lost in, but experiencing life has carved out its importance in my existence.

7. Being too busy to remember or care about a virtual existence has been liberating. Hence the sporadic blogging.

8. Knowing which paths I must take in life, knowing those paths I want to take in life, and knowing what I need to do in order to have the liberty to choose between "must" and "want". Equal amounts of hard work, and created or lucky opportunity will be needed, and now I'm figuring out the things necessary to get there.

9. Comfort with one's life situation results in a lack of drive, of desire necessary to get one "there"; knowing the future struggles ahead, and dealing with the present struggles, has created that drive to succeed, and to never be content with mere mediocrity and having the necessities for survival.

10. Knowing that there is all kinds of befuckery going on in the world, past, present and future, and coming to terms with the fact that being negative and depressed about it all the time will solve nothing and result in the unfortunate nickname of "Debbie Downer." Instead of focusing on the befuckery, focusing on what can be done is the better option.


So if the world still exists in 2012, here's to you, and the things that must be accomplished.