*TwoOfUs.org Demonstrates "Blatant Descrimination"

Thanks to the research of Jane Minogue of the Huffington Post,



We have discovered that a site search of "marriage" in twoofus.org provides 142 entries.

Try searching for "gay" and the site suggests to check the spelling of the word, because it is just not recognizable.

Same happens for "lesbian", "same sex", "homosexual"... and the list goes on.



TwoOfUs.org does not recognize you, Uncle Fernando.

The National Marriage Research company thinks you're relationship is misspelled Xander and Robbie.

The United States American Government collects your money Erik, every April, yet denies the existence of what you define as being in love.



That disgusts me. Beyond words.

ON ANOTHER NOTE:

I recently subscribed to the Twoofus.org newsletter. They offer monthly dating advice, right to my inbox... HOW USEFUL!!!

I have yet to receive any form of publication from Mary Myrick, the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center, or twoofus.org... 

Then, on April 28th, 2009, much to my surprise... I RECEIVED AN EMAIL FROM TWOOFUS.ORG!!! I was so excited that I rushed to open the note. And what did I find?

Spam. I can zoom in more if you like:

Mary you failed to welcome me to your website. You never emailed me saying, "Thank you for joining our newsletter!" and I never once received a note giving me dating advice. 

But you did give my email to Vera Love, the twenty three year old that has never been marriage, who read my profile on twoofus.org and became interested in me....

Not only is that a violation of privacy, but it shows what kind of people are actually using this site.

MARY!!!!!! Are you a dating service now!? Are you setting me up with Vera? Because that is a violation of your code of ethics considering Vera and I are the same sex.. but that's besides the point. The point is that your site is bullshit. It is good for nothing. I show the slightest interest in it and you spam my inbox. I go to inquire about homosexuality and you deny its existence. Mary pull the site. Shut it down. Go talk to carol Phillips and ask her how to redesign your site so that it actually appeals to eighteen to thirty year olds seeking relationship advice, not twenty-three year olds seeking me. Find a way to make your site an actual social networking site where it's easy to interact with people and not just a bogus place where overpaid government workers post recycled relationship nonsense and cheesy photographs.

*MarryingMillennial Featured on FutureMajority.com

Sarah Burris blogs on multiple topics related to political strategy. She was a reporter for the 2008 "Rock the Trail" elections and she loves what Marrying Millennial has to say about Mary Myrick, the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center, twoofus.org, and its pro-marriage campaign. Sarah featured MarryingMillennial on FutureMajority.com, a site that encourages and empowers young people to be involved in the political process. 

Ultimately, being featured on Future Majority means that MarryingMillennial is serving moving forward in the quest to shut down Mary Myrick's Pro Marriage campaign by informing mass amounts of people of what the federal government is doing with our tax dollars to help close the gap between "us and them". 

So readers, don't stop! Spread the word that $5 million dollars is being invested in a sad excuse of a website, and cheesy advertisements, and even more unbelievable radio spots.  Gays and lesbians across America are paying to be told that they will never be as healthy and wealthy as others, because they will never marry... and they will never marry because the federal government will not allow them to. Every single day millions upon billions of dollars are set aside for poorly planned social reform programs such as that of twoofus.org that discriminate against others, calling them drains on taxpayers,  "distracting people from the benefits of opening our minds to fresh ways of structuring our society so that both singles and marrieds receive equivalent support from society" (onely.org), manipulating the reality of commitment, and continuing to divide our country and turn people against each other. 

This marriage campaign is a front. It is making some one lots of money; whether its Mary Myrick and her damn monkey, FOX News and NEWCORP, conservative lobbyists, or marriage advocates... some one is charging the federal government massive amounts of money to run an empty campaign that is simply meant to push a political agenda and put profit in the pockets of others; unfortunately profit all at the expense of homosexuals that are not allowed to get married and at the expense of singles that are simply not interested in getting married. It's sad really.

Eric Falquero of Rantin Ravin leaves us with a final statement that I hold near and dear to my heart in regards to the campaign: 

"Why reach for the past when we'll never stop building a new future? Choice in how to handle a committed relationship between two people, or lack-there-of, is nothing more than another form of diversity". 

Eric you are so right! Why spend so much money to shove traditional marriage down the throats of a generation that is so willing to embrace change? Mary: Diversity is inevitable, in my opinion its beautiful, and should be embraced by politicians, millennials, conservatives, and all human beings alike. 

Mary Myrick teaches: Happiness Is Marrying Within The Same Race

White on white.

Black on black.

Light brown on light brown. 

I guess showing mixed race couples on TwoOfUs.org is a little too progressive for Mary Myrick and the  National Healthy Marriage Resource Center. Encouraging races to get mixed up might encourage genders to get mixed up. And that would let to same sex marriage, which from what we discovered when we searched for "same sex marriage" on twoofus.org, is not recognizable.

*Mary Myrick Teaches: Men Must Be Tolerated. And Cooked For

The National Healthy Marriage Resource Center finally released a series of print ads in an attempt to "start a conversation about marriage" among young Americans. The ads feature very young people (all the couples look twenty-three and under), in happy-go lucky situations.

I'm not sure who is composing the ads for our campaign, but one thing is for sure:

some one made a conscious decision to target women as a superior role in a marriage when they created the ads. 

The men in the ads are portrayed as obnoxious, incapable. 

They are cut out from a majority of the ad,

They are not looking at the camera, they are snoring, and turned away... strategically placed behind his "wife"

 Men are clearly not the focus of the campaign. 

Why Mrs. Myrick? Why target women? Is it because almost 80% of marriages begin because the woman will push the idea onto the man? Is it women that can help spearhead your campaign by pressuring men to get married. It's what we women have been doing for centuries, and now your campaign is proudly displaying these tendencies with corny tag lines and overly acted expressions. 

Mary, your campaign is no where near believable. Your images are pathetic. They are cheesy. Your underlying push for obeying conservative gender roles is outdated. Do you know who you are talking to? Do you know what target audience you are dealing with? If I were you I would pull the campaign dead in its tracks, find another organization other than TRU Research to teach you about your demographic, include homosexual relationships, as well as more edge and "millennial appeal", and re-run your campaign next fall. Either that or how about you just drop the campaign all together and donate your $5 million dollars to the United States' failing economy?

THEY'RE HERE!!! NHMRC Releases Marriage Campaign Print Ads and Radio Spots

It was as if the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center answered my prayers. I blogged a demand to see some material just last week, and vulah!!! They are here!

I'm not sure who is creating the ads for the campaign, but I posted them below for your viewing pleasure. Check em out: Completely focused at the woman, typical gender roles rightfully assigned,  perfectly matched same race couples, all under the age of twenty-five, in happy suburban settings, directing audiences to the useless site, TwoOfUs.org. (Who by the way has added a ton of advice on how to have a relationship and manage money, at the same time!)

Prince!? Sure. - Over paid

Cheesy Journey - Mary and Her Monkey Crew

"Hire Better Actors" - Mary and Her Monkey Crew

Growing Suspicious of the Fed's Expensive, Uneventful Marriage Campaign

On March 18th I posted that I would search for the financial breakdown on the Pro-Marriage Campaign funded by the federal government. 

5 days later my little baby girl was born, and I have spent the last two weeks getting to know every ounce of her and her precious body, and personality, and more importantly her feeding schedule! I made the decision to lock my computer away for two weeks as well, that way I wouldn't tap into the blogesphere when I was supposed to be sleeping...

But now I am back!!!!! Upon my return to the Internet and to blogging, I eagerly searched twoofus.org and the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center's website for some progress. Maybe a new press release, an ad, commercial... Something that shows our government is actually doing something other than creating bogus websites with out tax dollars. I wanted to find something tangible. I mean COME ON!!!! I've been AWOL for two weeks- give me something to get excited about. 

Still!?!?!? Where are the campaign ads?

I am beginning to wonder what all the commotion is about. The millions of dollars a year. 

Where is it going? 

Is this money going into the pockets of Mary Myrick to feed her monkey? 

Is it funding the projects of TRU Research, close friend of Public Strategies, company owned by Mary Myrick?

Maybe the money is being directed into the accounts of NEWSCORP and Fox News, who offer the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center such embracive coverage of their sorry excuse of a campaign. 

Is the marriage campaign a front? When will it begin to take effect? When will it influence the youth? Is twoofus.org the extent of the campaign? Because if twoofus.org is all that Mary Myrick has to offer for $5 million dollars then that's absurd. It doesn't cost $5 million dollars to make a lame fifteen page website. Mary Myrick, please. You are an advocate for marriage, yet you are shoveling cash into your pockets. That's not only hypocritical, but its unethical- and plain out wrong. Stop this madness. Stop it now.

*Hunting for the Financial Breakdown of Marriage Campaign. Please HELP!

I am beginning my quest for Lisa and Christina's vital sought out statistics at Recovery.gov, where Americans are supposed to be able to research how, when, and where federal tax dollars are being spent.

On the site it states that on March 3rd, 2009 Federal Agencies, (such as the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center) are to begin posting use of funds.






That was almost two weeks ago, so I emailed Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board and apparently they are gathering my emails to present at their first meeting... I think it will be a long time before I hear back from the government. President Bush never wrote back when my high school english class wrote to him in 2005.

Next I browsed my friend Mary Myrick's Public Strategies Inc. website for some info. Public Strategies Inc. is Mary's public relations firm that manages the accounts for pro-marriage campaigns. Mary is very involved in making money off of selling marriage.





Not only does she own her own firm, but she is the founder and president of Oklahoma Marriage Initiative.





A few names repeat themselves over and over again such as Mary, Ellen, Paul, and TRU Research's work for Public Strategies.





Every one is connected some how but nobody can provide any answers. The sites are vague, out dated, and under construction. Maybe because every one is working on TwoOfUs.org. Or playing with monkeys...





Next I emailed Ellen Holman of Public Strategies. She is also the main contact on the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center's page for "partners".



Ellen responded within the next week. Ellen told me she understands my frustration and that her goal is "not to define marriage politicly or legally, but to provide people with well-grounded information to improve their relationships at all stages". Ellen thanked me for bearing with the National Healthy Marriage resource center while they learned and improved.

I also learned that TRU Research company was picked to do the research for this campaign through a competitive bid process. If you look at the clients that TRU has done social media research for, there are only three. And Mary Myrick's company is one of them. Some one is making money... 

So I am sorry Lisa and Christina, I have no data, facts, or figures for you yet. But not to worry because I am going to keep looking and we'll get down to the bottom of this. Promise.

Marrying Millennial Featured in Onely.Org's "Some Like It Single" Series

The intelligently well composed thoughts of Onely.org question and highlight the negative connotation that mainstream, society affiliates with being single. Lisa and Christina write to stand up against a community of people that value traditional marriage/relationships at the expense of those that choose other wise.

Marrying Millennial was recently featured in Onely.org's "Some Like It Single" series.






In their post, Christina and Lisa ask their readers for the breakdown of government expenditures toward the National Healthy Marriage Research Center's campaign. As a reader of onely.org, I feel it my responsibility to investigate the monetary distribution of our favorite campaign.




I will find this data. We will stop Mary Myrick. 

*Mary Myrick Ashamed of Her Monkey?

We absolutely loved the image of you and your little-boy-biting-monkey


But much to my despair, Mary no longer wants her pet monkey, "Winston" in the public eye. She changed her Facebook default picture earlier this past week.

Mary. Why are you ashamed of Winston? Why do you want to hide him from us?


I do not bring up your monkey because I have a personal grudge against monkeys or their owners. I bring up Winston because he is a simple example of how you manage money. Monkeys aren't cheap. They cost $5,000 to own, $60,000 to maintain, on top of time lost to extreme cleaning time, exotic animal insurance, etc...

Or should I say mismanage money.

The case of your Oklahoma State Senate flagging you for overspending and threatening to suspend your contract is simply another example of your inability to handle large amounts of money.

And this ridiculous $5 million marriage ad campaign is just that: a simple example of Mary Myrick wasting every dollar she touches.

*Overly Expensive Marriage Campaign By Monkey Crazed Woman + Fair & Balanced Fox News = <3

We all know how "fair and balanced" Fox News is when it comes to politics and spreading government propaganda. If you don't know what I'm talking about then simply watch a few seconds of the clip below.



It came as no surprise to discover that Fox's coverage of TwoOfUs.org is the media clip that the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center proudly showcases on its website.



Feel Free to watch the magical marriage of TwoOfUs.org and Fox News below:



In the clip Paul Amato is quoted saying, “Marriage and relationships are very personal decisions. We just want to provide information for people who choose to seek it out.”



But Paul.
You are friends with Fox News.
You are under the guidance of a monkey obsessed over spender.
The only people that participate in your website are your own administrators.
And more importantly: you are leaving the entire gay community out of your initiative.

How can any information you provide for me work to my benefit? It seems to me like you are a mess. Your team is a mess... more importantly MARY is a mess. 

The National Healthy Marriage Resource Center has lost yet another point of credibility by marrying itself to Fox News. Surprise surprise.

*American Politicians: Great Relationship Role Models. Yea Right.

Mary I have a question. When you began your quest to utilize government money to spread marriage across the country, did you consider the fact that government officials offer the worst examples of healthy relationships and strong marriages?

That's right fellow Millennials. We are supposed to restructure our relationships based upon the sound advice provided to us by the federal government.



Oh wait- the federal government is filled with lying, cheating, bribing, self centered, fools who for some reason can't seem to stay true to the people they marry.



How dare they take our money and try to teach us how to have better relationships that lead to strong long lasting marriages when they have no control of their own?

As Donna of LawyerAhead.com points out in her article "Move over eharmony", yes “they’re human…but they’re held far more accountable since they’re the ones breaking the very laws they’ve written”.



Mary, I'm sure you and your husband have a wonderful marriage. But in your position, your ARE the federal government. And the feds have no business judging the way we conduct our relationships and attempting to correct them with a poorly researched and even more poorly implemented $5 million dollar advertising campaign.

*Will Some One Please Print And Deliver This Post To The Desk Of Ms. Mary Myrick. Yours Truly, Janelle Maluenda.

I am Janelle Iwalani Maluenda. I am studying Public Relations and Advertising at Chapman University. I am twenty-one years old. I am going to be a first time mom on March 25th, 2009. I am unmarried. This is the second time I am directly addressing you, formally. Please respond. I have a simple request:

• Please stop this campaign in its entirety. You know what campaign I'm talking about. The campaign that is encouraging my generation to consider marriage. The campaign affiliated with the empty words of TwoOfUs.org. The campaign that is wasting Americans' tax dollars to encourage a lifestyle that 92% of American state governments won't even fully recognize as legal for the entire population regardless of sexual orientation.

• If you strongly believe that Gen Y needs relationship counseling, take the focus of your campaign off of marriage and into providing actual beneficiary and realistic resources to build strong relationship skills. Marriage is not the only solution to fighting what you and TRU Research view as a drain on tax payers. Institutionalizing love through the state policy is not the only way two people can raise a fully functioning, communally contributing family.

• Redesign your campaign to actually cater to the millenial generation and do not just post a cliche website with cliche colors, and nonsense advice that lacks the personality and spunk that Gen Y demands in order to buy into anything. Please take the time to learn about who you are advertising to and do not barf "How-To-Have-A-Healthy-Marriage" checklists down our throats. Be innovative. That what's millennials demand.

Ms. Myrick, if these changes do not occur, you will be spearheading an unethical, poorly developed, waste of money campaign. Your campaign will do nothing but outcast those that choose to refrain from marrying because they are not allowed to, or because they do not believe that institutionalizing their love is a factor in their ability to have a healthy relationship and "properly contribute to society". Your campaign will add to the never ending battle between conservatives and liberals taking a stand as to what direction our country needs to head in, and it will ultimately turn young people away from marriage, away from their government, and away from whatever the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center stands for.

Thank you for your time, I look forward to hearing from you in the near future. Feel free to email me with any comments, questions, concerns, or proposals.


Janelle Maluenda.
http://marryingmillennial.blogspot.com/

*Mr. Peter Picard of TRU Research Explains Why Millenials Won't Get Married When They're Supposed To

Betsy Hart is a nationally syndicated columnist for the Scripps Howard News Service in Chicago. Her radio show "It Takes A Parent" interviewed Peter Picard, of TRU youth research firm. TRU provided the core research that is backing the National Healthy Marriage Research Center's marriage campaign. You can listen to the entire interview here, but let me warn you that Betsy is slightly obnoxious, the station it airs on is definately faith based and unfortunately also very narrow minded.

I'll focus more on what Mr. Picard has to say about his knowledge of his audience (young people 18-30), why he thinks we're holding off on geting hitched, and what his solution to our problem is. None of the audio clips below are more than 1:30, so feel free to listen then read my response. I'd love to hear yours as well...

Young people delay marriage because they have more options

• Duh. There are more options. There is more to do. For example, a bachelor’s degree is bare minimum today to establish a decent career. Grad school takes longer than the trade school that our parents had to attend to earn a decent living. Social circumstances have forced our lives to venture into more time consuming paths than any other generation before us. Allow us to take our time. Allow us to be cautious. You said it yourself: a majority of us want to be married for life; we’re just delaying marriage. Let us delay it. Let us explore our options!

To open a dialogue you have to understand where they are coming from

• You understand where we’re coming from? Really? When looking at the layout. language, administrators, and even advice panel of TwoOfUs.org, it is quite clear that the backbone to this campaign has no idea who they are trying to open a dialogue with. The National Healthy Marriage Resource Center does not understand the millennial generation and does not know how to communicate lifestyle advice to us.

They have a fear of failure and we would like to offer some help

• Are your links and self-help guides going to give us the confidence to make commitments in a timely fashion more convenient to how you want our lives to pan out? Why is waiting until twenty-six years old suddenly too long to wait to get married. We are graduating from school at twenty-five. Advanced technology has allowed us the ability to travel, and discover, stay in Africa to research AIDS and meet people in Europe and live two years in Brazil. Why do you want us to settle down so much sooner than we want? What’s your motive? People live longer today than they did two decades ago, why can’t people stay single longer today than they did two decades ago?

The power behind this initiative is twoofus.org

The power behind your initiative is in this site? Peter have you visited this site? The site that teaches me at what stage in my life relationship I am ready to be a couple? 

The one with the podcasts that ask me if me and my boyfriend are compatible in the same fashion Teen Vogue asks thirteen year old girls if they're wearing the right backpack this fall?
 

What will engage me?  The videos of cliche experts poking fun at one anothers' marriages 

Or the discussion boards full of comments from one site admin to another? I'm not sure when the site will actually be ready, or when you think it will act as a platform for me to exchange my ideas... but it needs something more than what you're offering right now.

Mary!!!!! I can't believe you trusted THIS MAN, Peter Picard, to provide you with the core research that acted as the foundation for your campaign. No wonder the campaign is going nowhere. You should end it. End it now.

"I Don't Know Shit"

That's what my highly educated, delightfully tacky, witty professor told me Tuesday. Then he followed with,

"And you paid $42,000 for me to stand here and tell you that". He is a great man. I truly respect every word that escapes his mouth and this is why, though I bite my tongue as I type this, I understand what he is saying. I don't know shit.

I am 21 years old. I have lived in Covina and Orange, California. I have lived away from home a mere two years. I have traveled to only two countries outside of the US and endured life's simplest complications such as house fires, alcohol poisonings, drug lords, theft, domestic violence, unplanned pregnancy, and God knows what else. But that all boils down to a very short lived twenty one years of life, 183,960 measly hours, here on Earth- which is only the beginning.

You are right Norma, "honey"- I have a lot to learn. But don't you worry!!! I am looking around... all the time! And my eyes are always open. I will never stop learning. Ever. I will try to look not at what's right in front of me, but at what's right beyond my scope.

I am open to what you have to say because I recognize that you have been here longer than I have. You have seen more events, survived more trying times, and met far more interesting people than I. You also have a much higher net worth than I do. ;) Your life experience will always top mine and I acknowledge that.

Thank you for your words. I will always take them into consideration, and I will always look at the situation from your shoes.

It Will Come Down To Politics

The root of any issue regarding marriage and tax dollars will boil down to a single "battle-royal": Those that tightly follow the Bible VS those that are more open to change.

I believe in God.

But as a "Millennial" I am more tolerant toward change and diversity than my fellow God fearing superiors.

In Kindergarten my picture books were filled with people of all races.

In Middle school we recognized multiple Winter Holidays and celebrations.

In High School we dressed up in honor of Cesar Chavez Day, Halloween, as well as on typical Christian holidays.

In the work place, it is standard to read over a "diversity" policy, a sexual harassment policy, and a standard of ethics and fair practice.

I know nothing but tolerance and acceptance of others. Which is why, though I believe in God, I am more open to accept "Gay Marriage", "Alternative to Marriage", "Living Together" "Families Out of Wed Lock".

I recognize that the typical Christian lifestyle just may not work for every one because every single individual is different, from a different part of the world, with a different cultural background, and living under different circumstances.

I have been raised to abandon the stubborn, narrow minded "my-way-of-the-highway" attitude. I have been taught to give others a chance. Not to judge and to tolerate...

Why can't conservative/christian/republican individuals practice this form of acceptance. If they would accept others, then the federal government wouldn't fund the National Healthy Marriage resource Center to tell Generation Y to rethink marriage. And then I would be satisfied.

*Mary Myrick's Blast From The Past: Today's Ad Campaign Isn't The First Time Mary Has Spearheaded An Overly Expensive Campaign For Marriage.

Quoted from Oklahoma State Senate Press Release 2001

"Senator Kevin Easley, a state lawmaker who has criticized the contract and called for its suspension, said the bills submitted by Mary Myrick's firm are outrageous.

"It looks like they've just given Ms. Myrick a blank check and agreed to pay her for anything and everything she does, no matter how ludicrous it is. Every time she or one of her staff members takes a breath, the taxpayers have to shell out some cash," said Sen. Easley.

Some of Myrick's billing items include:

• Viewed a video tape of a potential speaker for a marriage conference (3.5 hrs.) -- $437.50
• Read or reviewed the book "A Case for Marriage." (10.25 hrs.) -- $732.50
• Wrote a book report on "A Case for Marriage." (2.5 hrs.) -- $137.50
• Read the book "Busy Moms." (1.75 hrs.) -- $96.25
• "Crowd building" for a media event in Oklahoma City (0.75 hrs.) -- $93.75
• Media calls to encourage coverage of OKC event (1.17 hrs.) -- $146.20

• Wrote a reply to a high school student who had e-mailed Jerry Regier (1.0 hr.) -- $55.00
• Attended marriage conference in Minneapolis, MN -- $1,989.71
• Called Kinko's to inquire about posters for a news conference (0.33 hrs.) -- $18.15
• Purchased posters from Kinkos -- $37.42
• Met with Jerry Regier to discuss billing procedures (1.5 hrs.) -- $120.00
• Helped plan a dinner meeting for Regier, marriage professors and others (.75 hrs.) -- $41.25
• Assisted with Discovery Channel documentary; arranged interview with Regier (7.7 hrs.) -- $875
• Revised Gov. and Cathy Keating's bios for inclusion in Oklahoma marriage book (1.0 hrs.) -- $55
• Reviewed photos of Keatings for inclusion in marriage book (.25 hrs.) -- $31.25
• Reviewed quotes from Congressman Steve Largent for marriage book (.50 hrs.) -- $27.50
• Telephone conference with Cong. Largent's office regarding quotes (1.25 hrs) -- $156.25

"I don't see how we're going to keep families together by paying a political consultant to read books, watch a little TV and plan a few dinner meetings. To say that's she's wasting taxpayers' money would be an understatement," said Sen. Easley.

Myrick billed the state approximately $3,800 to arrange a media photo opportunity featuring several Oklahoma City pastors signing a "marriage covenant" pledging to work harder to stop divorce.

"Despite all their protests to the contrary, this is just a high-priced public relations campaign that is operating as if it has money to burn. As long as taxpayers are picking up the tab, their attitude seems to be that no item is too insignificant, too expensive or too silly to bill to the
state," said Sen. Easley.

*Mary Myrick is a longtime political consultant. Most recently, Myrick made headlines when she and a firm employee attempted to prevent Oklahoma City animal control officers from removing Myrick's pet monkey from her office after a biting incident (Source: Daily Oklahoman)."

• I cannot even begin to comment on the article I just read. I will let you guys sit on it for a while and we will touch base later.
  

Low Blow From NHMRC Towards "Young People"

Quoted from National Healthy Marriage Resource Center

Can I just add, that the title of the article is...

Young People Want 'Happily Ever After,' but Lack Skills to Make Marriage Work

how degrading is that????


"NHMRC is launching a public education campaign on marriage and created TwoOfUs.org, an interactive website, that provides people with direct access to relationship resources."

• Public education campaign?!? They call that poor excuse of a website as public education. It's geared toward the public. TwoOfUs.org is just about as usable as a relationship advice column from Teen Vogue. It is filled with fluffy bull shit and empty words. If you are going to attempt to educate your public, why not make an attempt to target exactly who your public is? What about the young, unmarried, low income family. With the child born out of wedlock, with the parents that work two jobs just to get by, and that relationship problems simply because they have ten times the amount of issues than the average family? Does the NHMRC expect those people to sit down together and spend time reading TwoOfUs.org to improve their relationship skills.
  
• Interactive website?!?! Because they stuck a "Community" link on the homepage, suddenly their website is interactive? The only interaction I see is from one site administrator to another.
  
• Relationship resources?!?! A video about how to argue. Maybe you are referencing the relationship newsletter aimed at a "newlywed, a busy parent, an empty nester, or someone in an exclusive relationship". Maybe the spam in the discussion boards advertising the conference on public speaking in Irvine, Ca is a relationship resource. Mary I am looking, I am looking really hard to find actual helpful resources on your website that will legitimitly improve my relationship to the point that I will be healthier, happier, and wealthier. I just cannot find anything.

Mary Myrick Targets Young Adults Because We Use The Internet

A fabulous quote from the Mary Myrick, taken from PRNewsWire

"There is often a disconnect between attitudes about marriage and the reality of getting or being married," says Mary Myrick, NHMRC Project Director. "Once married, conflicts may arise over money, parenting, and other important issues. [...] We want to get people talking about the complexity of healthy marriages and provide tools and tips for making relationships work during challenging times," says Myrick. "We are targeting young adults because they are the group most likely to be considering marriage for the first time and are most likely to access an online resource like TwoOfUs.org."

• If you are targeting young adults then why don't you advertise like it. You should know that today's young adults don't buy into being talked at. Young adults want to take ownership of the standards they live their lives by. The tools we use are tools we think we found, and that reflect who we are... not tools barfed back to us from a Barnes and Noble Self Help Book you picked up on your way to the office the day you wanted TwoOfUs.org to go live. We have spent at least tweleve years memorizing bullshit for school. We learn it to pass the exam, then shoot it out of our asses the next day. Yes Mary we are at an age when we will consider marriage for the first time. But we are not the generation that will take advice from a cheesy online resource. You telling us how we should manage our relationships will do nothing but turn us away from you cause. If your ideas and philosophy are legitimate, we will catch on, and we will claim your ideas as our own and we will say wonderful things about you and share you with our friends. Your initiative has the potential to become apart of our identity... but you have gone about it in the wrong fashion, and you have the wrong motives, and you are doing it with the wrong money at the wrong time.
  

*Take A Tour of TwoOfUs.org

Mary Myrick of Public Strategies is assisting the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center to "begin a conversation" amongst young people, ages 18-30, about marriage because married people are healthier and wealthier and have smart kids and better sex. 

Mary, keeping up with today's trends in social networks, has decided that this conversation between young people will happen at a single destination: twoofus.org

Welcome to twoofus.org, or what I like to call a poor excuse of tool being used to mend a situation that does not need fixing. Complete with five easy steps to a successful marriage: 

Carol Phillips of Millennial Marketing, President and Owner of Brand Amplitude, LLC, Instructor of Marketing at the University of Notre Dame, and mother of two Millennials calls twoofus.org "a serious handicap to starting a social media conversation" because of its lack of quality content, its inability to speak the language of the generation, as wells as its obvious stance of being strictly heterosexual. 

TwoOfUs.org is Mary's pride and joy. While navigating the site, I discovered highly useful articles such as how to change a person. There was a write up explaining why I shouldn't be afraid to commit, as well as a section for singles... horray! I couldn't help but laugh when I discovered that conversations taking place on twoofus.org were all exchanges from one siteadmin to another... great web traffic Mary. 

Congratulations Mary, your site is booming. Do us all a favor and re-evaluate your research. Consider the demographic you are "conversing" with, and recreate twoofus.org in a fashion that will appeal to young adults. And don't leave out the gay community Mary. Millennials thrive on diversity and acceptance of all cultures and social practices... a marriage campaign aimed at them should do so as well.

*I will start my blog as raw and straight forward as possible.

You are Mary Myrick, "Project Director" of the National Marriage Resource Center, Spearheader of this waste-of-effort, poorly-thought-out, pro-marriage advertising campaign.

What campaign Mary, our readers would like to know.

The campaign that is being funded by the federal government, (TAX PAYERS MONEY), to encourage young people, from the ages of 18-30 to get married. 

That's right... 18-30 year olds. 18 year olds... Do you know any 18 year olds Mary? Do you know what types of decisions 18 year olds make? 

The campaign that will rely on social networks to "begin a conversation" about marriage amongst young people. 

The campaign that depends on a cheesy good-for-nothing poorly researched website known as twoofus.org. Visit it. I got bored in 8 seconds... the site is nothing but fluffy words with no depth.

Hold on though. There's more!!!!

$5 million dollars. That's how much of our money will be spent on this pro-marriage campaign aimed at very young people. 

But there's more. 

Mary Myrick. 

Mary, you are a PR practitioner, "political consultant" of Oklahoma. You specialize in pro-marriage campaigns, heads the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative with your husband, you have your own PR firm called, Public Strategies; she owns a monkey that was nearly taken from her for biting little boy in Home Depot...

OH WAIT! YOU HAVE ALSO BEEN ACCUSED OF OVERSPENDING GOVERNMENT MONEY!!!

Mary, you're in charge of $5 million dollars?

And you want me to get married.


My name is Janelle Iwalani Maluenda. I am a twenty one year old student of public relations and advertising. I am also a mother. I am a girlfriend, not wife, to my wonderful supportive boyfriend. We have fought desperately to find health care and straighten out taxes and financial aid for the benefit of our daughter, yet our "unmarried status" and differing last names have turned the search into a nightmare. I am Janelle Iwalani Maluenda and I do not think the United States government has any business instructing me to get married.

And Mary, one more thing:

I am Millennial.
I am an emerging, American adult in the 21st century.
I am an individual.
I make my own decisions.
I am concerned with my personal issues, my environment, and my future career.
I do not want to be told what to do.
I do not trust my government.
I do not believe in self-help books.





We Millennials will marry if and when we want to. 





Your generation has given me no reason to subject myself to marriage. Your generation has increased to divorce rate to higher than 50%. I have watched your rushed/forced marriages fail over and over again. You have told me to educate myself and establish myself, and I am doing so. Therefore marriage will have to wait until its most convenient for me and my life plans. Your marriages are taxed. They are formalized. They require red tape, and signatures, and penalties.


I have learned from your mistakes. And when given the opportunity to make my own path, I have chosen to skip your road of traditional family structure; because marriage has not worked for you and I'd like to try something different. So let me.

Your campaign is bullshit. You are misconstruing the idea that children are at risk because of a decrease in marriage rates and creating a false sense of urgency to rush down the aisle. You are barfing facts and numbers, statistics, and "Ten-Easy-Steps-To-A-Happy Marriage" down my throat and telling me I'll be better off if I follow your lead and say "I-Do". Your campaign discriminates against the gays and lesbians in our country that are not even allowed to get married. Your campaign is poorly researched. It is not in any way targeted toward the generation you claim to be reaching out to. Your campaign is an embarrassment to the advertising industry... it is the noise and the crap that audiences everywhere have trained themselves to tune out. 



I see the rational.
I see your motive.


Marriage keeps people grounded. They pour their income into the economy at a very consistent rate purchasing cars, homes, and health insurance. Selling marriage is your business isn't it Mary? You have been making a profit off of selling marriage for quite some time now, and when Uncle Sam offered the $5 million to get marriage in millennials faces... you jumped at the opportunity. How else would you be able to renew your exotic animal license?

Married couples put money into your pockets don't they Mary?