Not only that, its doing something good for those who need it :) that is the best thing in the world to me. The working Mom who doesn't have the time to invest in the simple luxury to think about it... the artist at home who is so busy listing that they can't spend the time to make their own. The person starting their business for the first time and is stuck as to what aspects they want to continue.

So, its $300 worth of Business Branding design at your disposal, all free.

You get a choice of 3 of the following:

• A logo
  
• Business Cards
• Facebook Cover
• 
  
• Linked In Cover for your company
  

Do something free for people. You won't regret it.

Check it out: All you have to do like our facebook page here- or ask a friend to :) https://www.facebook.com/HillArtistry

If you don't have a facebook account, you can also like our Linked In Hill Artistry Company page.

How do we learn to fear being vulnerable? When do we learn to hide our feelings? One of the first times I remember something like that happening, I was playing with little neighbor kids. They were a little snooty, I was 5 or 6. I think I had mosquito bites and bruises all over my legs (being a tomboy) and they picked on me about it. Unrelenting in the torment, I went home crying.

That didn't change me, it didn't bother me that much: what stuck with me the longest was when I wrote them a note telling them how it effected me, my Mom telling me to stop crying and to tear up the note. It was the look on her face and the message "don't give them the satisfaction" and then something deeper... "how can she be so weak?"

My Mom is a strong woman who had a hard life. She cries for no one while they are alive and the only times I've seen her cry was for a pet, her brother and my Dad when they died. She has the hardest time crying (when she does) and her whole body shakes as if in a panic attack. So this is evident in her fear response towards anyone else's vulnerability. Cry if you fall down, sure, but the rest? Suck it up.

I'm not alone and neither are parents in these messages, given or received. So, that is how life went for me for 30 years. I never could understand why someone just couldn't be honest with their perspectives and perceptions and so I was completely conscious of keeping "it" all in. My art was the only release for the real me underneath so much so that I forgot how to talk about it. I had a realization something about me felt different from how everyone else appeared... and I wanted something unintelligible. Life felt like it had been inhabited by hard-shelled hostile entities, but I didn't know why. I felt de-skinned, ultra sensitive and exposed. 

Fast forward. Not only had I been dealing with invisible constraints and saw them in other people, I had also been dealing with a mild to moderate depression since graduation in '03, in '05 Katrina hit. The depression until then had taken the form of anxiety and agitated depression also known as mixed state or mixed episode (a very dangerous kind that infiltrates your thoughts, behaviors but with an anger and anxiety that makes one very scared of one's own capabilities. Most depressed people would kill themselves if they had the motivation, with mixed episodes, you have the energy, PLUS rage.)

Anyway, after Katrina, the need struck everyone everywhere and I couldn't help. People died, families were without anything, children didn't have homes, food, toys, anything. (I cannot stand suffering and have to do something.) At the time, I had JUST gotten into therapy. My father had just had a quintuple bypass (yes, quintuple. 5 arteries!!) and had lost everything in his home that had gotten 4-5 feet of storm surge.

The stress was too much to bear. One day, my Dad walked up to me in the kitchen while I was cooking chili for my whole family and instantly a tape played in front of my eyes in my mind of a scene of him with that expression, and I, when I was 3 years old. Front to back in complete clarity of me trying to talk him out of killing himself and trying to talk him into living. The "movie" included the sights, smells, sounds and emotions of that time. I was three, helpless, had no idea that the world existed outside my front door and that my dad's life--- and mine- were about to crumble.

That, my dear, is a flashback. And not the post-acid induced kind (which I never took, btw) or the fluffy, fuzzy flashbacks of romance movies. Its also symptom of PTSD.

For the first time since my teen years, I had been put in the position to care for my father. The first time was an unhealthy, parasitic version of exploitation in which I cared for his emotional health when I was only 3... the second was a natural progression of his own age and mortality, but the similarity was there enough to trigger the flashback.

I caught my breath, said nothing and finished dinner. It wasn't easy, but i did it. Throughout life in other areas, things had gotten progressively worse. People don't know that depression filters EVERYTHING that comes through your senses into your thoughts and heart and then filters everything that comes out of you into the world. It is like a black filter.

Something as simple as walking down a dock can be turned into an Alfred Hitchcock scene. As I was walking down a dock (we were looking at hurricane devastation), we encountered some fishermen on what was left of the dock. (what the hell???)

Instantly, I had the painting of Edvard Munch's The Scream flash before my eyes-- and I understood what he felt like. The people looked hostile (probably dealing with depression on their own, too, from Katrina) and had no friendly expression whatsoever. I got home and painted "Velveteen Scream". It was the pictoral expression of what vulnerability, and the lack of, feels like. Disconnection. Click the picture for more information on the painting and its symbolism.    

First let me tell you that...

Dear readers, if you have suggestions of what to do about this (who to send it to, make a petition, etc) please leave a comment. I will read them all and take them very seriously. 
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
TO:         Whom It May Concern
FROM:    Linda Hill, et al
RE:         Invention Proposal to Stop Mass Spree Killings
DATE:   December 18, 2012

Problem: We won’t ever control people's sanity. Solution: We can control the guns they steal from us.

The design: a removable steel or heavy plastic fingerprint-reading lock placed over guns’ & rifles’ safety so the can't get to it to turn it off.

The logic: If a gun’s safety can’t be turned off, it can’t be used. The inspiration came from my laptop's fingerprint reader that takes ONE second to scan & “unlock”. Other locks won't work because combinations can be figured out (its usually a number the family member knows anyway) & keys get stolen, but a fingerprint belongs to just ONE person.

If no one besides the registered firearm user can unlock the safety:

• ·       Gun is safe from use by the mentally unstable
• ·       Gun is safe from use by children & other family
• ·       Family is safe from it being found & used against them first in home invasions
  
• ·       Registered user is safe from accidental firing during transport, storage, rest
• ·       Recreational activities won’t be limited since the authorized print has to be used to         unlock the device. Unlock it and go.
  
•     Other benefit is that firearm’s use will then be  restricted to approved users & settings by the person who has to unlock it.
• ·       Invention discourages thieves. If they can’t break it off & use it or resell it, stealing it is pointless.
• ·       Invention won’t hinder emergency use as it takes one second to swipe the print & unlock
• ·       It allows police & military the peace of mind when they are off duty (officer’s child here in WA shot & killed his other child with the officer's own gun)

Other ideas for print safety lock:

• fingerprint locks can be placed on guns, gun cases, cabinets or any other gun storage container so collectors & enthusiasts can still collect
• fingerprint recognition can be for the registered gun owner & qualified additional users. All other users of that gun can go through the same registration procedures as the gun purchaser
• registered fingerprints could be put into other data bases (some folks will not like that, but so what)
  

This doesn't affect our Second Amendment rights, rather, the safety feature will emphasize a willingness to be responsible firearm owners. We, as a nation, have to take whatever action necessary to keep our guns out of the hands of those that intend to do us harm. A fingerprint is the only thing we have distinctly our own. The drawbacks: It won’t save the lives of those registered gun owners who snap or forget to lock the guns back up. It won’t stop someone willing to kill the owner to get their fingerprint; However, dismembering another person might be discouraging. This invention will cost owners, but we can keep cost down if we can find distributors willing to make it for the security of our children’s lives rather than their wallets’. For the price of a good helmet or car safety features, we should welcome this new addition.

What is asked of you is to either forward this email to people or get me a list of people you think would go forward with this project:

• ·       inventors
• ·       potential contributors
• ·       potential supporters

I don’t care to be rich; I want my little boy safe. My dream for this proposal is to make this thing & put it on mass killing weapons (maybe all legal handguns, it depends) within a reasonable amount of time. If we can make helmet laws & seatbelt laws to save lives, we can apply this device to solve this issue.  I am a parent who will not take no for an answer & neither should you. I am just an artist with little resources & a proposal that desperately needs your help.

With sincerest hopes of hearing from you,

The Hill Family
Stephen & Linda Hill

Dear leaders, innovators, educators and politicians,

I am an artist with little resources and a proposal that desperately needs your help. I have an idea for an object that could very well stop firearms from being used by unstable or unauthorized people because we can't make everyone mentally healthy and we can't be on the lookout all the time. 

The design: a steel or heavy, nearly unbreakable plastic fingerprint-reading lock that can be placed over the safety switch of guns and rifles. The logic: If a firearm’s safety cannot be turned off, the firearm cannot be used. The inspiration came from my laptop that has a fingerprint reader that takes approximately one second to scan and “unlock” itself.

Because no one besides the registered firearm user’s fingerprint can unlock the safety, the positives are:

·       The firearm is safe from use by the mentally unstable

·       The firearm is safe from use by children and other family members

·       The family is safe from the gun being found and used against them during a break-in

·       The registered user is safe from accidental firing during transport, storage or rest

·       Recreational firearm activities will not be limited because the authorized fingerprint has to be used to unlock the mechanism. (Additional benefit is that use of the firearm will then be restricted to approved users in approved settings.)

·       The safety feature discourages thieves. If they can’t use it, stealing it is pointless.

·       The safety feature will not hinder emergency uses because it takes one second to swipe the fingerprint

·       The feature will allow police and military the peace of mind when they are off duty

Other ideas for the fingerprint safety lock include:

·       fingerprint locks should be placed on gun cases, gun cabinets or any other firearm storage container so collectors and enthusiasts can still collect

·       fingerprint recognition should be for the registered gun owner and qualified additional users. All additional users of that particular firearm should go through the same registration procedures as the gun purchaser

More positives include that the invention will not affect our Second Amendment rights, rather, the safety feature will emphasize our willingness to be responsible firearm owners. We, as a nation, have to take whatever action necessary to keep our guns out of the hands of those that intend to do us harm. Combination locks can be easily figured out and keys can be stolen. A fingerprint is the only thing we have distinctly our own.

This idea has a few drawbacks: This safety invention will not save the lives of those registered gun owners who snap at the expense of our innocent public. It will not work if people forget to lock the guns back up. It will also not stop someone willing to kill the gun owner to acquire the fingerprint; However, hopefully dismembering another person will discourage mass killers. This safety invention will cost responsible gun owners, but I believe we can keep the cost down if we can find distributors willing to make this object for the security of our children’s lives rather than the security of their bottom line. For the price of a good helmet or optional car safety features, we should welcome this new addition. The price of doing nothing is too high. 

What I am asking from you:

• a list of inventors who can turn this idea into a solid object
• a list of potential contributors to this project
• a list of potential supporters

My dream for this proposal is to have this instrument made and in place on mass killing weapons, even perhaps all legally acquired handguns within a reasonable amount of time. If we can implement helmet laws and seatbelt laws to protect the public, we can apply this device to solve OUR public safety firearm issue.  I am a parent who will not take no for an answer and neither should you.

With sincerest hopes of hearing from you,



YOU CAN PUT YOUR NAME HERE
The Hill Family
Stephen, Linda and Devyn Hill
1096 Ellie Lane
Camano Island, WA
98282
360.926.8426
Linda@HillArtistry.com