And The Winner is Laurie Jean!

Several months ago, sickened by the wanton slaughter of elephants for their ivory, 25,000 alone in 2011, I lauunched a contest to create awareness of this practice. Part of this was to discourage buying products from China ( Thailand and Vietnam , sadly are also culprits). The prize was a portrait of oneself as Jem or a Jem character. 

She started a blog called:
http://60giftsin60daysmadeintheusa.blogspot.com/Not

Not only did Laurie Jean spend 4 months cataloging these businesses, she filmed them and made a zillion crafts and objets from their products.
Here is Laurie Jean receiving her prize. I cried because I was so happy for her. Not ALL my clients make me cry!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hww_ZOM0C8&list=UUT1YM3wP3OHyE8b10Izq3Yw&index=1

There are, I know, a lot of Chinese who follow this blog- I want to add that I have a tremendous respect for Asian culture- and the breathtaking beauty of its arts. Many mainland Chinese are not aware of what is happening in their country because of heavy censorship. If I were to put in certain words this blog would be blocked.

Ai Wei Wei is an artist and a genuine Chinese hero who risked his life protesting the poor response to the Sichuan earthquake, read more about him here: http://aiweiweineversorry.com/

Also, those who are concerned about the plight of the horror of the destruction of this magnificent animal would do well to contribute this this wonderful charity.
http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/asp/fostering.asp