Why You Should Support The Writers Strike

Bottom line .... because many of those writers are parents of autistic children, and the residuals that they are fighting for will go to support their autistic children for years and years to come.

My dear husband's first writing job was on a WGA show for Discovery Kids in 1998. About 5 years ago he was flipping through the channels and randomly saw it running. He thought, "Great! I will be getting a little money." But no money ever came.

Then a year later he saw it again. So he put the show on the Tivo and found that it was running constantly. So he called the Writers Guild and they did some research and found that the show had been running non stop all over the world and his episode had aired around 400 times.

When it was all said and done, the WGA had to go after the production company, and of the $40,000 that was owed to my dear husband, he received $2,000. Just this spring.

I try not to think about all the good we could have done for Chandler with that $38,000. It hurts. We had to discontinue most of Chandler's biomed for much of 2006 because we just didn't have the resources.

So if you are thinking about getting annoyed with the writers for holding up your favorite shows, and are tempted to believe the media corporations claims that the writers are being unreasonable, keep in mind that those companies like reselling their shows over and over again, and don't like to pay writers their fair share when they can get away with it. Even when they DO have a contract they still don't always pay.

And to put a human face on this strike, remember my dear husband Scott... Autism Super Dad... who is working his butt off to provide for his autistic son.

(And yes he made those costumes for his boys.)

Send a note to who ever makes your favorite show and ask them to pay the writers that create the characters and stories you love.

For info on how to support the writers visit www.UnitedHollywood.com.

UPDATE:

Thanks for all the kind words from our United Hollywood friends! Welcome writers, feel free to browse and educate yourself about the current state of Autism in America in between picketing gigs, then go back and write about our kids when ConHugeCo Inc. comes to their senses and makes a fair deal.

For my regular autism visitors, please take a moment to view some videos about what this strike about:





Now watch The Daily Show's writers explain in their own way:

Something Not Autism

...And now for something completely different.

5 Things Meme

I've been tagged. Apparently Ms. Pickel wants to know more about me. Hmmm... who am I again?

My friend Tammy emailed me the other day and said, "How are you other than that stuff? How are YOU? Not the mother, not the wife, the GINGER..." I have not written her back because I could not think of anything.

So I am gonna pretend that there is no such thing as Autism for the rest of the day.

The instructions:

Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog at the bottom of the list:

DaisyBones
sleepless in cologne
Spaghetti Harvest
The Mommy's Getaway Blog
Adopt Two Boys
Adventures In Autism



Here are the questions:


What were you doing 10 years ago?

I was a happy girl, planning my wedding.



I had just finished grad school and was two weeks away from my marrying my sweet Scott.



Oh look at us.... We were just babies. If we only knew then....

My only cares in the world were ordering an additional wedding cake for the extra, last minute guests...



which worked out nicely.

And camouflaging my sisters tattoos and her hot, hot punkness so she did not take the spotlight from Moi at my own wedding.

Before:



After:



Everything worked out beautifully.


What were you doing 1 year ago?

Crying.

That was the best of times, this was the worst of times.

To say that things were bad one year ago would be a bit of an understatement. Two years into Chandler's diagnosis, we finally got his diet under control, his IEP and interventions in place and I thought things were settling down. Not so. I put together that the school he was attending was mishandling the disabled and at-risk kids in Chandler's class.

Because it was our church's school, we naively believed that the administration would want to know what was going on so they could fix it. Because churches are honest, right? Not so much. Instead of addressing the problem, they harassed us, threw our kids out of school breaking half a dozen laws, threw us out of our leadership positions in the church, slandered us to our friends and family and told them that they were not allowed to talk to us about what happened. So many of them just stopped talking to us and we became estranged from most of our family that are under the influence of said "church". That is what Jesus would do, right?

(apparently I can only go about 15 minutes pretending that autism does not exist.)

So falling deeper and deeper in debt, we sold our house and decided to get away from the pollution (both relational and environmental), put our house in LA on the market and made an offer on a house in Maine.

(shhh... can you hear that sound? Is that the highway? An airplaine? No. It is the breeze moving through the tress. Ahhh....)


Five Snacks You Enjoy:

Chocolate with almonds
Brie and crackers
Chocolate with strawberries
Orange Juice
Chocolate with anything or nothing


Five Songs That You Know All The Lyrics To:

Jesus Loves Me
It's the End of the World as Know it (And I Feel Fine)
Chasing Cars
Everything by They Might Be Giants
Everything by The Police


Five Things You Would Do If You Were a Millionaire:

Build a big, safe house for Chandler
HBOT
Start a foundation to pay for DAN treatment for ASD families
Hire a trainer
Have a trust fund to care for Chan after we pass on


Five Bad Habits:

Addiction to Complex Carbohydrates
Addiction to screens (computer, tv, ipod, any screen will do. Information is my brain crack.)
Staying up too late
Worrying about tomorrow
Stupid crap like this


Five Things You Like To Do:

Write
Read the Bible
Talk
Tickle my sons
Pick apart TV shows with Scott


Five Things You Would Never Wear Again:

My heart on my sleeve


Five favorite toys:

My computer
My Tivo
My Ipod
My cell
My steam carpet cleaner


Now, 5 people to tag….
Hollywood Farm Girl
GerAmyUm
Ruth
Injecting Sense
Kim Stagliano