Anne Choi: handmade beads and silver jewelry

I'm very sorry to be the bearer of bad news for my EU customers.

Beginning on the 12th of August, the European Union is enacting new packaging rules designed to reduce package waste. Every business, big or small, selling to a country in the EU must be responsible for recycling the packaging it sends into that country.

Here's what I know, based on numerous sources: To ship products to an EU country, for each country I am sending beads to, I must pay an annual fee to register (for smaller businesses, I think the cost is about 75 euros), hire a local authorized representative (the cost for this may be 100 to 200 euros a year), and file a report separately in each country that my packaging can be recycled. (I'm not sure, but I think maybe that report must be filed for every shipment.) The various parts of the rules have different start dates. Some countries may adopt less stringent rules. If I use the wrong packing materials and fail to register or hire a representative, the goods I'm sending will be seized at customs.

What this means is that for now, I will not be able to ship items to the EU.

If these rules are adjusted for small businesses like mine who only ship a few packages to the EU a year, and cannot afford the fees, then I will resume shipping to the EU.

In 2022 a stray dog with a heart shaped marking on his forehead began following a group of Buddhist monks who were making a walking pilgrimage for peace across India. Despite injury and illness, he continued to follow the monks, who named him Aloka, or "Light." When the monks returned to their home in Texas they brought Aloka with them.

In 2025 Aloka joined the monks in their 2,300 mile "Walk for Peace" from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington DC, advocating for peace, loving-kindness, and compassion. The public fell in love with Aloka and soon he had his own Instagram and Facebook pages. Now a charitable foundation has been started in his name, created to support vulnerable animals worldwide.

There are three parts to the Aloka Peace Foundation's mission:
Rescue & Care: Direct support for animals in crisis, providing medical care, shelter, and the love they deserve.
Community Outreach: Education and engagement programs that build compassionate communities for all beings.
Advocacy: Raising awareness and partnering with organizations to advance animal welfare Worldwide.

To learn more or to donate to the foundation: https://www.alokapeacefoundation.org

"The vote is a power, a weapon of offense and defense, a prayer"
Carrie Chapman Catt, 1859 -1947

This quotation is from a speech given by Chapman Catt on August 26, 1920 celebrating the passage of the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote.

Carrie Chapman Catt, called the "brains of the women's movement," was twice president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, founded the League of Women Voters in 1902, the International Women Suffrage Alliance in 1904, and the Women's Peace Party after World War I. Today, the League of Women Voters is a woman-led, nonpartisan, grassroots organization, working to protect and expand voting rights for everyone, and to defend democracy at local, state and national levels.

To join, donate, or find out how you can help, their website is www.lwv.org

When things fall apart, the last thing I need is someone to tell me where I went wrong or how to fix things. (I'm already mentally beating myself up and frantically searching for solutions.) A sympathetic friend who can listen and commiserate helps me sort out the overwhelming jumble of feelings that flare up with a setback.

With my equilibrium restored, I can pick myself up off the figurative floor and begin to set things to rights.

This quotation is taken from the poem "The Young Man's Song." The full stanza is

"O love is the crooked thing,
There is nobody wise enough
To find out all that is in it,
For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars have run away,
And the shadows eaten the moon."