The Teddy Tour

Some of you fabulous readers may remember from this post, that I am a survivor of childhood sexual assault. It is something that has shaped my life in many ways, and thankfully, it has turned into an experience that I was able to take something positive from in the form of educating my children and empowering them with self protection knowledge and skills.
Even though it is an experience that I have come to terms with and no longer feel uncomfortable about discussing, the topic of childhood sexual assault in the wider community is still one of those things in the "don't go there" basket. It seems that for a lot of people, the thought of children being sexually assaulted is far to awful to even contemplate, let alone actually speaking about it... And I agree that childhood sexual assault is an awful, gut wrenching, unthinkable crime against children... But NOT speaking about it only gives power to the perpetrators and adds to the feelings of shame and guilt that so many survivors experience, even though it is not their fault, and they have nothing to be ashamed of.

A very good friend of mine, Megan from Imaginif, used to run a website called the Teddy Tour, where survivors could submit a tag anonymously that would be given to a Teddy who would wear it for the whole world to see. This website harnessed the voice of many, many survivors from all over the world and was as confronting as it was inspiring. Unfortunately, due to Megan's real world commitment to protecting children, she was unable to keep up with the online Teddy Tour and the website was closed down.

Last week, I received an email from a friend, who is just as crazy and just as passionate about ending the silence surrounding childhood sexual assault as I am... And I was thrilled to see that she has taken over the Teddy Tour!!! She has built a new website which looks absolutely fantastic, and started a new Tour as the previous content was lost when the old site was closed.

If you haven't already, please head on over to the Teddy Tour .com and support this fantastic project. Like Ali says,

"Yes, childhood sexual assault is an awful crime against children, but these stories are important and they deserve to be heard."

Getting Dirty

When you're a kid on the road with a whole bunch of Freaks, sometimes, things can get a little dirty.

Like when one of the boy freaks listens to his wife freak giving him directions and they get really really lost and end up on a dirt road and arrive 3 hours late... So he writes this on the back of their car...


And especially when you are busting for a pee but there are no toilets for ages and you have to go on the side of the road and it's all dirty and yuck... But you do get pretty good at peeing away from your undies, knowing where to stand so you're up stream, and the view from the loo is pretty awesome...


Posted by Miss J, Miss F, Miss V and TJ!

"Mummy, I'm pregnant......."

"April fools!!!!!"

And now that I have your attention...

My name is Alison, and I am a bad blogger.

I used to love this blog so much and felt like I was missing out on something really important if I did not get to sit down with it almost daily. The online community I felt part of was like a second family that I'd come to rely on. I've shared so much of my self, of this family and of our journey here - and gained so much support from so many wonderful people I have the privilege to call friends.
These last few months, "real" life has picked us up and swept us away like a big, exciting tidal wave, and I feel guilty for leaving the blog behind.
But I'm also excited - SO very excited - about the wave of change and new adventures we are riding...

The Kewl Krew are running away to join the circus!

Actually, we are running away to run the circus.... Kind of...

It's a long story, but here it is in a nutshell:

When Daddy Kewl and I were in the circus, the Head Honcho dude was a guy known as everyone's "Favourite Uncle". He ran the circus then, and when it eventually disbanded, he kept the hundreds upon hundreds of circus freaks and carni folk connected by what we called "Cirque" (pretty original name we came up with for a bunch of so called "creative" people, huh?).
Cirque Head Quarters (HQ) were based in Sydney, with connections to people all over Australia and eventually branching out into the world. The HQ itself grew in size and capacity, and the Cirque network gradually expanded to include all kinds of people working in the creative industries.

In 2008, a whole bunch of Cirque people came to our home for the Freak Fest. While they were here, I was pregnant with Zy, he was diagnosed with Cri-du-chat syndrome, he was born very prematurely, and he died. It was a massive time for our family, and I am so very thankful that our Freak Family were here to help us through it.

Not long after Zy died, there was a big falling out between some of the Freaks. Quite honestly, myself, Sammi and "Favourite Uncle" were at the centre of it. "Favourite Uncle" did something unforgivable and showed himself as an incestuous, controlling, manipulative man, and in standing up to him I caused a massive rift between a handful of people who were aware of the full details, and the rest of the Cirque community.

In response, "Favourite Uncle" did what any incestuous, controlling, manipulative, slime ball of a man with no spine would do when confronted with his dishonesty - He slandered me to absolutely everyone who would listen, and he drank himself to death.

It was only then that the full story began to come out, and the Cirque community came together once more to grieve the loss of the Favourite Uncle we thought we knew, and to heal the wounds he had caused.

Er... Believe it or not, this really is the condensed version...! Bare with me, I'm almost there!

A few weeks ago, a mob of Cirque freaks showed up at our place for a spontaneous get together. We decided to go to the Fringe Festival in Adelaide to support another freak, and while we were there, the Freaks became aware of some interesting information.

When "Favourite Uncle" died, he left me Cirque.

Everything is now in my name.

And it seems that many people are keen for me to take over.

So may people, in fact, that I have decided to accept.

Yep.... The Kewl Krew are running away to Sydney, to run Cirque.

In the end, it was Miss V who talked me into it when she said,

"We are the weirdest people at home without even trying. I want to go be around people who are MORE weird than me. Then I could be even weirder!"