I am a little more chill than the other day. I wonder if they’ll actually answer something this time. But they will be getting a book package from me soon enough.
And because apparently I have to clarify because i am supposedly a threat here, not the violent rapist who threatened to kill me in a murder-suicide, by “book package” I mean my actual written work and the strategic little extras that go with it. It is just a book. It is not illegal to send books through the United States Postal Service unsolicited to elected prosecutors. That is, in fact, pretty close to the whole point of the First Amendment. Please and thank you for not accusing me of terrorism for writing about trauma.
Okay. Legal disclaimer for the big guy complete.
The packages are actually taking form. I have been building them out all weekend, and I’m proud of what they’re becoming. The whole point is psychological. Every piece is there for a reason. I want them to think. I want them to keep thinking. And I want the message to stay in their hands long enough to do its job.
Here is the package as it stands, in the order it should be opened.
CARD
Emblazoned with 1-in-10 in huge letters. Inside, it explains what I am doing, why I am doing it, why I wrote the book, and what the book is for.
COIN
One side says PROSECUTE. The other says DECLINED. It comes in a little velvet bag. The tag says some version of: it has never been a coin toss, it has always been informed. Be trauma informed. Then I define trauma informed. There is also a Shakespeare quote because yes, it is a little gimmicky, but it is also the kind of thing people keep, turn over in their hands, and think about. Around the coin, in Latin: counsel, by duty of office, is trauma informed. I have {Z} double-checking my Latin because ChatGPT keeps changing its mind every five minutes.
BAG
We are going full PBS tote-bag energy. The book goes inside a bag that says "cases can't try themselves" and has the website on it. And yes, i assure you a lawyer would carry that bag. I've fucked enough lawyers to get both their sense of humor and sense of self importance. The statement is pointed, but generic enough. Which means they advertise the website for me.
BOOK
With bookmark. Fairly self-explanatory. I hand-number the books and ask recipients to register their copy on the website. That landing page will direct them to free classes and other materials. It will also acknowledge that the package cost money to produce, that donations are appreciated, and it will include a comment box so they can tell me what they think. The point is to get them to the website.
LENS CLOTH
It says: see clearly when you’re trauma informed. Nobody throws those away. They get shoved in a pocket, a desk, a briefcase, a car console, and they stay there forever. Exactly the kind of object you keep without meaning to, which is precisely why I want the message on it.
MIRROR
On the outside: this is where decisions begin.
On the mirror itself: am I trauma informed?
That one is probably the most psychological of all of them. I want them to have to look at that sentence while looking at themselves. What do you see when you look in the mirror right before you decide what happens to somebody else?
PERMANENT MATCH
This one is admittedly gimmicky, but it fits the branding too well to ignore. The overarching initiative is SPARK — Sexual Partner Assault Reform and Knowledge. So: a little fire, a little ignition, a little call to action. It is a tiny camping-style permanent match, safe to mail, and absurdly cheap. I got twenty of them for about nine dollars. Slap a logo sticker on it, put it in a little box, and add a line like: We handed you a match. It’s time to ignite. Maybe that copy changes. The object probably stays.
This is what I have spent all weekend doing: coming up with ideas, building the graphics, and trying to shape the whole thing into something people will actually remember.
And honestly, I am proud of it.
So below is my gallery of the weekend.
It has been a long day. Fuck, I hope this works. I am still scared it is all going to turn out horribly. I told my mom about it today and sent it to her, so if I want criticism, I should be getting it shortly. Hopefully LawyerBoy gets cracking too. I have been hiding in the pretty part of the process a little bit, waiting for human thoughts and opinions before I go back to the real work.
Because the real work is still there. I need to get back to the book, finish the citations properly, and format the whole thing for print and EPUB instead of just playing with the visuals.
And one never commits to formatting one's footnotes until one is certain.
Add comment
Comments