Posted in A Way With Words, Advocacy, Beyond Words Live, Creative Ideas, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, DV Warrior, Great Quotes, Healthy Living, Human Relations, humanity, Law & Legislation, Love, Relationships, Sexual Assault, Society, Spiritual, Spiritual Growth, Survivors, Victimology, Video Blogging, Video Documentary, Violence, Volunteering, Well said!, You Tube Videos, tagged Developing a Voice, Domestic Violence, dreams, future, Goals, inspiration, Kat, Kathryn, Kathy, Living, Making Changes, Moving Forward, Surviving, survivor stories, Thriving on April 19, 2012| 4 Comments »
Being a survivor from domestic violence can mean many things to many different people. Here is my story, and my journey after that in order to have a voice in helping others through a variety of advocacies that I do.
The story of my past experiences with domestic violence and how I have moved forward throughout the years to provide advocacy to others.
Posted in A Way With Words, Accountability, Creative Ideas, Creativity, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, DV Warrior, Health, Healthy Living, humanity, Law & Legislation, News, Our Heroes, Relationships, Society, Survivors, Victimology, Violence, tagged Glamour Magazine, National Domestic Violence Hotline, Tell Somebody Campaign on July 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Domestic Violence is no joke. Glamour and the National Domestic Violence Hotline are working on a campaign called, “Tell Somebody Campaign”. Click on the video below to learn more about what you can do to help stop domestic violence in your area.
#DVWarrior
Posted in A Way With Words, Accountability, Advocacy, Advocacy Reports, Childhood Trauma, Counseling, Creative Ideas, Creativity, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, Education, Health, Health Forums, Healthy Living, How to, Human Relations, humanity, Language Growth, Law & Legislation, Mental Illness, Parenting, Relationships, Society, Spiritual, Spiritual Growth, Survivors, Violence, Volunteering on June 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network provides a great fact sheet resource to Domestic Violence and Children: Questions and Answers for Domestic Violence Project Advocates, answering such questions as:
How do children react to domestic violence?
What are some typical short-term responses?
What about children’s responses in the long term?
What are the factors that help children recover?
What should parents tell their children about domestic violence?
How much information is enough but not too much?
What should a parent tell a child about the parent who was abusive?
How can advocates protect children from adult information?
How should parents respond to and cope with their children’s feelings about them?
What are some strategies for managing children’s behaviors that may occur in families with domestic violence?
How can advocates determine when a child needs more help?
and,
What is secondary trauma and how does it affect me?
Click on the link below to learn more:
http://www.nctsnet.org/sites/default/files/assets/pdfs/DomViolenceFactSheet_final.pdf
Posted in Accountability, Advocacy, Advocacy Reports, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, DV Warrior, Education, Fund Raising, Health, Health Forums, Healthy Living, Human Relations, humanity, Language Growth, Law & Legislation, Mental Illness, Parenting, Positivism, predator safety, Relationships, Research, Society, Spiritual, Spiritual Growth, Suicide, Survivors, Trainings & Conferences, Violence, Youth on June 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Domestic violence cases seem to prevail in spite of all the efforts of the advocates across the United States and throughout the world; however, that doesn’t stop the advocates from continuing to try. One focus has turned its head towards the affects upon childhood trauma. One such foundation taking this focus in their hands is the Makers of Memories with its public policy initiative:
The Makers of Memories Public Policy Initiative, launched earlier this month in Washington DC, has already begun to develop momentum towards our two key objectives of:
1) raising awareness about the problem of childhood exposure to domestic violence; and
2) developing a set of solutions to address this problem.
Participants from a wide range of national nonprofit organizations have agreed to collaborate on the educational content and distribution of our documentary film project, 43 Million Secrets, and have contacted us to explore ways that we can work together to motivate leaders and policy makers to take action to provide support and assistance to children who experience domestic violence. We also are exploring programmatic initiatives with these organizations. Some of the individuals and organizations we have engaged to collaborate on our work are featured below in the images from our meeting in Washington DC on June 14.
via Makers of Memories.
Posted in Accountability, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, DV Warrior, Human Relations, humanity, Law & Legislation, Security, Society, Survivors, Trainings & Conferences, Victimology, Violence on June 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Marsys’ Law created as a result, in California, when a woman was lured back to her ex-boyfriend who claimed wanted to get back with her and make up but in actuality had a shotgun ready to kill her when she entered his home. This event was a great opportunity to learn more.
PASADENA – The Pasadena Police Department will host a free Crime Victims’ Clinic from 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturday in the second floor assembly room at the department headquarters, 207 N. Garfield Ave.
The clinic will offer information on the Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights Act (Marsy’s Law) passed in 2008, giving victims of crimes and their families 17 constitutional rights.
Workshop participants will include the Pasadena Police Department, Justice for Homicide Victims, Pasadena Superior Court, L.A. District Attorney’s Office, Bailiff’s Office, Victim-Witness Assistance Program; Peace Over Violence and Crime Stoppers.
The clinic is being coordinated, organized and planned by Police Specialist III Patricia Magallanes.
via Crime victims’ rights to be discussed at police clinic – Pasadena Star-News.
Posted in Accountability, Advocacy, Childhood Trauma, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, DV Warrior, Education, Healthy Living, humanity, Law & Legislation, Parenting, Relationships, Society, Survivors, Victimology, Violence on June 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Recently attended a child custody inservice presented by Barry Goldstein and Dr. Mo Hanna (who, incidently co-authored the book called Domestic Violence Abuse and Child Custody). Dr. Hanna also speaks to childhood trauma in her part of the presentation. The statistics presented in this video by Makers of Memories foundation are, indeed pretty staggering and worth taking note. In a quest to end domestic violence, we must take a look from all perspectives to really figure out a solution to end it forever.
Please reveiw and let me know what you think.
YouTube – 10 Shocking domestic violence statistics for 2011.
See also for more information:
http://domesticviolenceabuseandchildcustody.com
Posted in Advocacy, Counseling, Creative Ideas, Creativity, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, DV Warrior, Healthy Living, Humor & Laughter, Internet Communities, Relationships, Self Help Sites, Society, Spiritual, Spiritual Growth, Survivors, Victimology, Violence, tagged Activisim, Advocacy, Community Support, Domestic Violence, Domestic Violence Voices, empowerment, Finding the Voice, support on June 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Everyone needs a place to go to where they can heal, be safe to talk, and empower others along their healing journey. For those traveling the healing journey due to domestic violence issues, Facebook’s page called, Domestic Violence Voices, offers just one such place.
It’s just a great feel good place with a great community spirit.
Posted in Advocacy, Creativity, Domestic Violence, Fund Raising, humanity, Love, Positivism, Society, Survivors, Victimology, Violence, tagged Dating Violence, Domestic Violence, Fund Raising, Glamour, NDVH, Survivor Support, Text to Tell Program, Victim Support on June 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Information to be passed around and acted upon:
Today is the one year anniversary of the death of UVA student Yeardley Love. (Note our blogpost about Yeardley Love’s death and what to say to someone you care about here.)
To honor the one-year anniversary of her death, Glamour is encouraging women to talk about relationship violence—both to ask for help and to offer it without judgment. Glamour‘s Tell Somebody campaignis aimed at raising awareness about the secret that kills four women a day in the United States—relationship abuse. Over the course of an average year in twenty-first-century America, more than 1,400 women will be murdered by someone they’ve loved. Glamour asks: Why are women more likely to be killed by their boyfriends now than they were 35 years ago? And what can we do to reverse the trend?
In an exclusive Glamour/Harris Interactive representative, online survey* of 2,542 women ages 18 to 35—single, living with a partner and married—a full 29 percent said they’d been in an abusive relationship. Another 30 percent said they’d never been abused but then went on to acknowledge that, at some point, a partner had viciously hurt them: from verbal degradation to being strangled or threatened with a knife. View the top findings from the survey athttp://glmr.me/jKUWxq.
The Tell Somebody campaign kicks off in Glamour‘s June issue with an exclusive interview with Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden. Also included in the feature are family photos of Yeardley Love that serve as a reminder that the women we hear about in the news are much more than just headlines. Many brave women came forward to tell their stories—and 62 percent said that having the support of a friend, family member or coworker helped them “get through the relationship safely.”
The message here? Tell Somebody. Ther feature includes exactly what to say to a friend or loved one who may be in an abusive relationship.(Note our blogpost about Yeardley Love’s death and what to say to someone you care about here.)
“The fact that abusive relationships have actually gotten more deadly for young women in the 21st century is not only confounding—it’s maddening,” says Cindi Leive, editor-in-chief of Glamour magazine. “Glamour wants to encourage all young women to start talking about this violence. Our message is simple: If you, or a friend, are in a dangerous relationship, Tell Somebody.”
Young celebrities like Emma Stone and Ashley Greene, are also joining the campaign, coming together to create an awareness video highlighting shocking statistics and underlining the message of the campaign: If you or a friend is suffering, Tell Somebody. To see the video, along with a moving series of exclusive videos of survivors, go to http://www.glamour.com/tell-somebody/video/2011/05/tell-somebody-help-put-an-end-to-relationship-violence.
There is an easy way everyone can help: In 2010the National Domestic Violence Hotline received 281,787 calls, but due to a lack of resources, 83,027 of those calls went unanswered—that’s more than 1,590 calls per week. We can change that. Glamour, the Avon Foundation for Women and the Avon Speak Out Against Domestic Violence program—an initiative that has donated more than $30 million globally to reduce domestic violence since 2004—are working to make sure that no call goes unanswered from now through October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. “Women need to have someone who will listen,” says Katie Ray-Jones, director of the National Domestic Violence Hotline. “We know that for about 85 percent of our callers, it’s their first time ever telling their story.”
Glamour is asking people to make a $10 donation by texting TELLNOW to 85944. The Avon Foundation will match every dollar donated, up to $200,000. “It takes so much courage for a woman to pick up the phone and make that call,” Vice President Joe Biden told Glamour. The least we can do is make sure someone is there for her.
Join Glamour‘s campaign to stop relationship violence by changing your Facebook status to—Relationship violence kills 4 women a DAY in the U.S. If you or someone you know is being abused, Tell Somebody. Make sure someone is always listening by texting TELLNOW to 85944. Your $10 donation will help keep the National Domestic Violence Hotline open.
To learn more about Tell Somebody, visit glamour.com/tell-somebody.
*Survey Methodology: This survey was conducted online within the United States between March 3 to 17, 2011 among 2,542 women (aged 18-35). Figures for age, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Go to http://www.Glamour.com/tell-somebody for the full methodology.
Posted in A Way With Words, Accountability, Advocacy, Cartoon, Creativity, Criminal Justice, Fund Raising, humanity, News, Positivism, Relationships, Society, Violence, Volunteering, tagged Court System, Domestic Violence, Fund Raising, Revictimization, Victim Support on June 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Just happened upon this today. You’ll just need to read the article to understand the full scope:
Reposted article for quick viewing here:
In case you hadn’t heard the latest news to make you doubt the basic humanity of the people around you, several years ago a 16-year-old cheerleader from Silsbee High School in Texas was assaulted at a party by Rakheem Bolton, a basketball player and football star whom she says held her down and raped her. Bolton later pleaded to a charge of misdemeanor assault, but here’s the part that’s going to make you want to set things on fire: Not only did the school allow him back on the basketball team, they told the girl it was her responsibility to lay low, stay away from the lunchroom and not go to Homecoming. And when the girl refused to cheer specifically for her attacker at games — while still cheering for the team at large — Silsbee High School officials did something so fundamentally awful that they might as well be twisting their mustaches: They threw her off the cheerleading squad.
She challenged the school in court and recently lost, so now in addition to suffering a horrendous assault, predictably being branded a “slut” in her community, and getting thrown off the cheerleading team for refusing to shout “put it in” at her attacker (seriously), her family has been ordered to pay $45,000 in legal fees to the school.
Jason Ho, an illustrator and Assistant Editor at Bongo Comics wants to help, so he is drawing custom sketches at $20 a pop and donating the proceeds to the girl’s legal costs. They are both very attractive sketches and a small way to help someone who has been failed disgracefully over and over by the indecency and institutional cowardice of seemingly everyone around her.
“The less I say about it, the better, cause if I start talking about it, I’m just gonna get mad,” Ho wrote on his blog. “Suffice it to say, this is utterly unacceptable, and if we can help, we should.”
You can read more of the profoundly depressing details here, but the courage of the young woman cannot be overstated for speaking out about an assault by a football star in a culture that disproportionately values sports prowess (you’ve seen Friday Night Lights, right?) and is quick to blame victims — even 11-year-old girls — for their own sexual assaults.
Thanks to Silsbee High School and Superintendent Richard Bain Jr., for rewarding the young woman’s bravery with the tacit message to shut up because winning sports games is more important than her assault, and for affirming yet again to girls and women around the world that seeking justice for a sexual assault is the fastest and easiest way to get victimized all over again, except in more public and expensive ways.
Sincere thanks to Ho — an artist we’ve featured on ComicsAlliance before — and Help the Cheerleader, which is working directly with the girl and her family to raise money for both the school’s court fees and their own. Donations are being accepted via Paypal here.
Read More: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/06/08/cheerleader-texas-rape-sketches/#ixzz1OuQWnMyG
Posted in A Way With Words, Advocacy, Domestic Violence, DV Warrior, Victimology, Violence, Volunteering, tagged advocate, Blogger, Domestic Violence on June 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »
The other day, I popped onto the site and realized just how long it has been since I have been on this site writing and sharing with you all various tidbits of interest that embarked upon various issues — especially domestic violence issues — mixed in with a variety of diverse things.
What have I been doing since then?
Well…
mostly being a domestic violence warrior — networking and sharing survivor stories in an effort to make a change — hopefully, for the better.
Please keep feeling free to offer feedback, ideas, comment, opinions and suggestions. I love reading through all of them. 🙂
Posted in A Way With Words, Accountability, Advocacy, Counseling, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, Healthy Living, Human Relations, humanity, News, Our Heroes, Relationships, Society, Victimology, Violence, Well said!, tagged dispelling, domestic, myth, Sunday, Superbowl, Violence on February 4, 2008| Leave a Comment »
OMG, just read a blog posting that an author stated that,
Of course, the author then adds,
The first sentence sent the hair up on the back of my neck — MYTH? a fallacy??? I don’t think so!! I have been working in the domestic violence field for more than 5 years now, not counting the 15 years that I have been a paralegal and the many years of physical and emotional domestic violence that I personally encountered for many years, and yesterday was probably the first experience I had had with working specifically on Superbowl Sunday in this industry and I wrote the following on another site…..
entitled, “Underdogs come up and win! Thank goodness someone did!!!”
Today has been a rough day for me. For many that know, I answer crisis calls for a living. That, in itself isn’t too bad because I generally can separate myself from their pain and move forward to the next caller.
Today, it has been different. Perhaps, it is because I have never worked in this field on Superbowl Sunday; I don’t know. It seems like I had before, but I don’t remember it being this rough.
Superbowl for most people can be all fun and games, but from the domestic violence perspective it can be quite the opposite. I have been receiving higher risk crisis calls today percentage wise than I ever have, I believe. I mean, usually, it is just calls wanting more information or how to plan to help from friends or family members OR understanding how they need to understand why they need to stay away from the abusive person OR some students wanting help on their projects.
Today, though….
* a woman’s face was bashed in by her ex and she just returned home from the hospital. Her ex was on the way to p/u the kids and she needed to ensure their safety until she could reach the attorney and the district attorney in the morning….
* callers calling from places they are hiding from their abusers….
* callers from the other room while there abusive partner was enjoying the superbowl game after having beaten them up. They were seeking shelter space….
* callers wanting us to call 911 for them…
* caller stating that her husband had just “disciplined” her daughter by yanking her hair and dragging her through the house and throwing her into the doorway. The daughter now has a concussion….
* other child abuse calls being called in….
and sooooo much more.
It is times like these when one gets these sort of calls you would like to be able to hang up the phone and call “The Equalizer” to take care of things. I guess I always loved that show because the actor would do so in a not necessarily violent way to get the point across to the aggressor — a sort of person who advocated for the underdog.
It is sort of the peace de la resistance (sp?) in the fact that, at least, one underdog has won today — even if it is from an event that seems to masks the pain of others in the same day.
Some day — I wish the pains of the victims away and the abusive/aggressive folks of this world find peace so that we can all live in the world as one happy family. Is it really too much to ask for???
Now, try to tell me, after my experience yesterday on a domestic violence hotline, that Superbowl Sunday isn’t one of the worst days ever for domestic violence.
In all fairness though, there are hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of calls received day in and day out throughout the entire year. Domestic violence isn’t just domestic violence on Superbowl Sunday; however, the intensity culminates to something that is both exasperating and emotional.
Some day…..
the violence in the home has to end!
Posted in A Way With Words, Advocacy, Cartoon, Creativity, Healthy Living, Human Relations, humanity, Humor & Laughter, Our Heroes, Positivism, Relationships, Society, Spiritual, Spiritual Growth, Victimology, Violence, Well said!, tagged Advocacy, against, focus, help, me, the, world, you on January 16, 2008| 2 Comments »
Posted in 911 Remembrance, Advocacy, Armed Forces, Being famous, Creative Ideas, Creativity, Criminal Justice, Human Relations, Iraq, Law & Legislation, Politics, President George Bush, Relationships, Religion, Security, Society, Spiritual, Spiritual Growth, US History, Victimology, Violence, Volunteering, War, Well said!, tagged Christmas, Different, Poem on December 22, 2007| Leave a Comment »
I, honestly, cannot remember if this was also circulated around last year or not in our emails as well; whatever the case though, it certainly would bear repeating….enjoy!!
A Different Christmas Poem
The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know,
then thesure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
‘What are you doing?’ I asked without fear,
‘Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!’
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light,
Then he sighed and he said ‘Its really all right,
I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night.’
‘It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ‘ Pearl on a day in December,’
He sighed, ‘That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.’
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘ Nam ‘,
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.< /S PAN>
I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue… an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who sta! nd at th e front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.’
‘So go back inside,’ he said, ‘harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.’
‘But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
‘Give you money,’ I asked, ‘or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son.’
In his eyes welled a tear that held no regret,
‘Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.’
——————————————————————-
PLEASE, Would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S. service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let’s try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.
LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30t h Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum , Iraq
Posted in A Way With Words, Art, Cartoon, Creative Ideas, Creativity, Humor & Laughter, Just for fun!, Relationships, Savage Chickens, Society, Violence, Well said! on December 5, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Accountability, Advocacy, Counseling, Domestic Violence, Healthy Living, Human Relations, Law & Legislation, News, Parenting, Petitions, Politics, Relationships, Research, Science, Scientific, Society, Victimology, Violence, Well said!, writing research, Youth, tagged alienation, parent, PAS, syndrome on December 4, 2007| 19 Comments »
those at the Justice for Children program.
“It is the position of Justice for Children that PAS is junk science.
“P.A.S. per se (not “parents lying about abuse allegations”) is not a syndrome. People lie on the witness stand every day but that does not make it a syndrome. Various credible studies have documented that the incidence of false allegations of abuse in custody proceedings make up significantly less than 5% of all abuse allegations in custody proceedings. When mental health experts or attorneys claim that P.A.S. is a “syndrome” — knowing full well that it lacks scientific validity, is the concoction of a disgraced psychologist, and has been soundly rejected by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges — that is disingenuous at best and unethical at worst. Moreover, when it is used as a vehicle to keep children in the custody of men who abuse them, it is also immoral. ” – Randy Burton, Founder, Chairman and President – Justice for Children
PAS is touted to be an accepted psychological “syndrome” when, in fact, it has no scientific foundation and has been routinely rejected by courts and mental health professionals as admissible in the courtroom. Nonetheless, PAS is still being used by unscrupulous attorneys and hired gun “experts” to attack the credibility of, parents, usually mothers, and undermine the testimony of little children who have accused their fathers of unspeakable acts of abuse. “
For more information see their posting on Justice for Children.
Posted in 911 Remembrance, A Way With Words, Armed Forces, Criminal Justice, Human Relations, Iraq, Our Heroes, Politics, Relationships, Society, Spiritual Growth, Texas, US History, Violence, War, Well said!, tagged Veteran's Memorial Day on November 12, 2007| Leave a Comment »
While I am presently at work this morning, I was up in the wee hours of the morning (besides increasing my inventories on eBay and Half) watching the news blurps about the Memorial Wall of the Vietnam soldiers who didn’t make it back to the States. It made me teary eyed to think that so many had died in service and how fortunate that I was to have my Dad return to our family when I was in second grade from Vietnam as a Captain in a MASH unit.
In my email this morning, I also received a wonderfully thoughtful message from the US Senator John Cornyn (from Texas):
Dear Fellow Texan:
Join me today in honoring and remembering the brave men and women who have answered the call to protect our freedom, defeat tyranny and advance democracy.
This year we honor an increasing number of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who have served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the greater Global War on Terror. They join the proud and honorable tradition of American Veterans in whose name we pay tribute.
From World War I to the current Global War on Terror, today America stands in collective awe of the heroism of American servicemen throughout our history. It is important that future generations know these stories of American courage, character and selfless sacrifice.
While Texans have many thoughts on the War, there is one thing we must agree on, supporting and thanking all those who fight, and have fought, for this great Nation.
Today is a day for us to honor the service and sacrifice of all of these great patriots.
Senator John Cornyn
I certainly do share Senator Cornyn’s sentiments for all of those who have and continue to serve our Country.
Posted in A Way With Words, Accountability, Advocacy, Being famous, Counseling, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, Great Quotes, Health, Health Forums, Healthy Living, How to, Human Relations, Law & Legislation, Love, News, Our Heroes, Politics, Relationships, Sexual Assault, Society, Spiritual, Spiritual Growth, Victimology, Violence, Well said!, You Tube Videos, tagged book, domestic, Givins, grace, home, lead, me, Mike, out, Robin, speaking, Tyson, Violence, will on November 4, 2007| Leave a Comment »
“Grace will lead me home” – the title of the book she is promoting and speaking out about domestic violence, bringing home to a lot of victims of domestic exactly the fears, trials and tribulations that they have faced and feared. Check out her story in these YouTube videos:
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcZg2_BDZKo]
– Robin Givins Story, Pt 1
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SkgsHX2g0w]
– Robin Givins Story, Pt 2
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVFaEJDO_zs%5D
– Robin Givins on ABC (NOTE: sad to see the hate comments left on this video)
“You have to talk about it to conquer it!” – Robin Givins
(what a great quote!!)
Posted in Accountability, Advocacy, Blogging, Censorship, Criminal Justice, Environmental Concerns, Health, Health Forums, Healthy Living, Human Relations, Law & Legislation, Mission Work, News, News Media Blog Sites, Politics, Prayer, Relationships, Religion, Society, Spiritual, Spiritual Growth, Victimology, Violence, Well said!, writer documentation, tagged animosity, beliefs, Christian, clashing, focus, human kindness, humanitarian, humanity, Muslim, people getting along, religions, sharing beliefs, unity, vegenance on October 28, 2007| 1 Comment »
“Asabe Ladagu, a Christian widow in this capital city of Borno state in northern Nigeria, has survived without income the past 16 months. It was that long ago, the former librarian told Compass, that Muslim administrators at Ramat Polytechnic forced her into early retirement – without pay – after she and others requested land to build a chapel.
The Christians viewed the denial as deliberate discrimination against Christians by Muslim administrators at a time when there were seven mosques on campus.”
~~Nigeria: Ramat Polytechnic Discriminates Against Christians
Can you believe that this is about a current day issue and not something that just happened during Biblical times? With all the advancement of technology and forward thinking, you would have thought that we would be much more above and beyond this — no matter what part of the world we all live in!
Posted in A Way With Words, Academia, Accountability, Advocacy, Art, Creative Ideas, Creativity, Education, Healthy Living, Higher Education, Human Relations, Keeping in Touch, Language Growth, Law & Legislation, Mental Illness, News, Parenting, Relationships, Society, Victimology, Violence, Youth, tagged artwork, boy, Education, expression, focus, help, meaning, outcry, overreacting, understanding on October 23, 2007| Leave a Comment »
So frustrating is the fear of the unknown. I remember when I was mentoring a after school program in an Community Program in a poorer segment of Austin (not East Austin) and a young boy had drawn a much worse picture than this child who had been suspended. While I was alarmed that a boy could have drawn such a picture, I was told that these children were allowed to have their creative expressions.
Somehow, the balance between creative expressions and the psychological aspects of whatever hidden meanings behind artwork done by our children must be met. Without the creative expression, one might not be able to understand what is going on in the minds of our children. I believe that children’s creative expression should not be suppressed or meant to be punished; after all, how are we going to be understand what is going on in the children’s minds if they feel threatened for punishment if they express themselves.
I am not saying that children’s expressions that seem to have hidden messages of psychological problems should necessarily be promoted and offered on a public display; however, admonishing them because they have expressed themselves through drawing (which may be a mode that that they are more comfortable with than writing or talking) seems wrong.
Perhaps, a better approach would be to have the parents and teachers more attuned with the meanings and offer the child guidance when the child “speaks out” through his artwork. Of course, caution should also be had to make sure that, also, too much is read into things as well. 🙂
What say you???
Boy suspended for stick-figure drawing – Education – MSNBC.com
Posted in 911 Remembrance, Accountability, Armed Forces, Art, Creativity, Criminal Justice, Human Relations, Internet Savvy, Iraq, Our Heroes, Relationships, Security, Society, US History, Video Documentary, Violence, War, Well said!, You Tube Videos on October 21, 2007| Leave a Comment »
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drG8_h9xpro]
Posted in A Way With Words, Accountability, Counseling, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, Healthy Living, Internet Savvy, Law & Legislation, Law Action Alerts, Relationships, So What Campaign, Society, Victimology, Violence, What's so funny about this? on October 20, 2007| Leave a Comment »
October is domestic violence month.
I have a dear friend in Pennsylvania who heard one of Congresswomen speak out with the declaration of Domestic Violence Month and everything uttered out of that woman’s mouth was as if the victim is always a woman. Here, in this video below, sent to me via a Canadian friend of mine (under the guise of a “joke” – “Never marry a woman larger than you”), demonstrates that the victim isn’t always a woman…and the police in the video took it ever so lightly that they just drove by the residence.
When is domestic violence going to be taken seriously — whether it is a man or woman being victimized and the perpetrator held accountable for his/her actions??? After all, isn’t violence just as much a violence no matter who is doing the assault?? As a domestic violence survivor, I couldn’t find myself laughing while watching this video?
What about you???
PS. While the “joke” opened up the can of worms with domestic violence battle, the slur made with the title implying that women that don’t fit the idealist image of the skinny minnie woman (oftentimes wayyy to skinny to fit the mold of the “dream woman”) would be a bully, is downright degrading and not respectful to a woman who is truly a woman without the skinny minnie or bullying imagery. Oh, don’t start me on this one…. What would Tyra say (do you think it might be “So what! if women aren’t skinnie minnies, it doesn’t mean that they are all bullies?” “Who says fat women aren’t better than skinny minnie women?” “Why do fat women have to be laughed at?” or, “What’s so good about this video, it certainly dehumanizes women and in no way represents women on the whole???”)????
I don’t think that there is a blog space that is large enough for my soap boxes!! That being said though, I believe that this video surely sparks something to think about for everyone.
Posted in Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, Human Relations, Law & Legislation, Law Action Alerts, News, Relationships, Society, Violence on October 2, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Just arrived about the woman being killed by her daughter’s boyfriend, Selwyn P. Davis, last year (he is on trial)
“Davis, the former boyfriend of Lara’s daughter, is accused of killing Lara on Aug. 22, 2006, during a two-day crime spree. He also is accused of breaking his ex-girlfriend’s jaw, slicing his uncle with a knife, sexually assaulting a teenager and trying to run over a police officer with a car, according to court documents.”
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/03/1003davis.html
Posted in Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, Health, Health Forums, Healthy Living, Human Relations, Law & Legislation, predator safety, Relationships, Self Help Sites, Society, Spiritual, Spiritual Growth, Suicide, Violence, You Tube Videos on October 2, 2007| Leave a Comment »
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZh5HN2q_qo]
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9m80kf8l7A]
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njx-n6SsdV8]
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZobGvCcitOQ]
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBpiKQBaTVY]
Posted in A Way With Words, Accountability, Advocacy, Counseling, Domestic Violence, Healthy Living, Human Relations, Law & Legislation, Love, Parenting, Relationships, Security, Sexual Assault, Society, Suicide, Violence, Youth on October 1, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Posted in 911 Remembrance, Accountability, Armed Forces, Blogging, Counseling, Criminal Justice, Great Email Sites, Love, Our Heroes, Photography, Prayer, Relationships, Security, Society, Violence, War, You Tube Videos on September 11, 2007| Leave a Comment »
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD2bxNPme7Y]
Posted in Accountability, Advocacy, Business Ethics, Creativity, Environmental Concerns, Green Earth Day, Health, Law & Legislation, Manufacturing Practices, Politics, predator safety, Scientific, Society, Technology, Violence, Viruses, War on August 24, 2007| 4 Comments »
Quite possibly! In response to another blogger’s blog posting, I responded:
“It is indeed something to think about… China, Mexico, and many other countries are mass producing things for us….
but, flags have to rise when are products are being imported tainted with things that could kill each and every one of us and the environment we know it to be.
As ecological conscience we Americans are purported to be, you would think that the ecological organizations would also rise to the occasion to speak out and alert American Businesses to quickly begin to rethink our mass productions to be done here in the States for the safety consideration of one and all here.
Can you tell? It most certainly has been on my mind lately……”
What was his blog posting…. See below:
What do you think? Have you been trying to sort out the madness lately in the news????
Posted in Accountability, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, Health, Law & Legislation, News, Relationships, Society, Violence on August 6, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Friend reported to me tonight that a friend was arrested in Travis County, Texas, recently on a Class B charge of being an unfit husband and asked me if I had ever heard of such of a thing. I told him that I have certainly heard of being an unfit parent, but insofar as being an unfit husband, I hadn’t necessarily heard of that but suspected that its intent might be to light a fire, so-to-speak under some derelict folks who sit and are waiting for things to happen to bring themselves out of a situation rather than to try to do something about it directly.
He went on further to explain that indeed that they had lost their home due to a storm and waiting on FEMA to help fix the situation; however, it is year later and they no longer have a home that they can live in and they have been living in and out of people’s homes and their own car.
Insofar as the actual law, after a bit of research tonight, I haven’t found it yet. Does anyone know anything about this law????
Posted in A Way With Words, Armed Forces, Blogging, Criminal Justice, Great Quotes, Our Heroes, Politics, President George Bush, Security, Society, Violence, War on August 5, 2007| 1 Comment »
In regards to the blog posting entitled, It has been a long night, I submitted the following response:
“I certainly do understand all that. The spoken words of “Make Love, Not War” is certainly oblivious to the fact that there are people in other countries ready, willing and able to shake up our lives. 911 is only one instance, which shook up many lives to the fact that the bombing and fighting elsewhere has finally hit our lands. One of the reasons we don’t have 911’s every day, or an everyday occurrence of fighting and bombing in our streets, is largely due to the security that we do have in this country, albeit not perfect by any means.
Kudos for everything that you are doing in your role of security, although it is a lot of sleepless nights lurking in the sites while keeping an eye out for intruders who may upset the very way of life we are used to having….”
Honestly, the thought of pulling some of our troops out from strategic places in the world (even Iraq) has me wondering what the shift will do to the protection of our civilians out in the countries, working for such American companies such as Halliburton and others to help build up other countries. There are too many ifs, ands, and buts left to the unknowns that no one can truly predict.
One of my exes’ favorite rebuttals in life’s disdains was, “If “ifs”, “ands”, and “buts” were but chocolate, candy and nuts, we would all have a very Merry Christmas.” How do you ever resolve all the unknowns? No telling! However, if we certainly could, we would certainly be able to have peace in the world by also being able to resolve all the problems of the world. 😀
Just a bit of food for thought…
Posted in A Way With Words, Accountability, Being famous, Business Ethics, Counseling, Creativity, Domestic Violence, Great Quotes, Love, Parenting, Politics, Relationships, Society, Spiritual, Violence, War on June 19, 2007| Leave a Comment »
“I wanted to change the world.
But I have found that
the only thing one can be sure of changing
is oneself.”
– Aldous Huxley
Posted in A Way With Words, Being famous, Creativity, Great Quotes, Politics, Relationships, Society, Violence, War on June 11, 2007| Leave a Comment »
“If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.”
– John F. Kennedy
Posted in Advocacy, Being famous, Law & Legislation, News, predator safety, Relationships, Society, Travels, Violence on May 14, 2007| Leave a Comment »
So Italian sounding is the name “paparazzi” that one presumes that it is all good, so associated with the good eats that the Italians have — ie, “Pizza, pizza!!” — however, a paparazzi can never really be good news. While keeping some celebrities in line with the social graces by exposing their bad behaviors to the public, the barrage of “in your face” photographers expose what is the otherwise surreal life that we see of the celebrities on the screen, plays, political stances, etc., with the realness of who and what they truly represent.
It is thought that Princess Di was victimized by the paparrazi who chased her in the car driven by her driver on that fateful evening. This shocked the world and the reality of the damages that the paparrazi could do suddenly became front and center.
I love to take photographs of people, but I respect their boundaries for privacy and the right to live a life without being felt like a fish in a fishbowl. Their job is for entertaining oftentimes, and yet their reward is constant view into their lives, such as in the movie “The Truman Show” where I am sure they often wonder where their job and personal lives are separated and how they can bring up their own children and have family lives of their own without the parrazi always breathing down their necks, although, I suppose they are getting a litte bit better about that at time until a greedy photographer gets obsessed in getting that one photograph that will make them boo-koos of money. At that point, what really truly separates them from being categorized as stalkers? Don’t the celebrities deserve to live lives stalker free too???
In a recent incident in Prague, it was said that:
It was not indicated what “violence” was almost had, however, the paparazzi should never get to the point of any degree of violence. If they do, they are truly no better than any stalker threatening their safety and right to some degree of privacy in their lives.
Definitions of Various Types of Stalkers
in re paparazzi’s —
Richards denies using paparazzi during divorce
Jolie – Pitt and the Paparazzi in Prague
Chasing Celebrities CBS 2 HD Follows Paparazzi: Our Cameras Gets Firsthand Look at How it Works
Posted in Advocacy, Counseling, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, Law & Legislation, Politics, predator safety, Relationships, Sexual Assault, Society, Violence on May 7, 2007| Leave a Comment »
When does a Protective Order become more than “Just a piece of paper”? When you advocate for programs like this come into place in your state!! See the following article…
Posted in Health, Mental Illness, News, Relationships, Society, Suicide, Violence, Youth on May 4, 2007| 1 Comment »
Sad. Very sad.
At the end of the article, they mentioned that they were uncertain how the gun had been brought into the school. Oh, my gosh!
It is reported that she had been recently depressed. It is too bad that she didn’t get the help that she needed in time and felt that she needed to resort to suicide. No reports yet on what set everything in the spiraling motion for her.
If you, or someone you know, is depressed, please know that there is help out there to help you.
High School on Lockdown After Student Suicide
Need Someone to Talk To? Samaritans are available 24hrs/day
Depression through NAMI.org (National Alliance for Mental Illness)
Posted in News, Politics, President George Bush, Violence, War on May 3, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Lol….Wasn’t I just saying yesterday in my post entitled “Do you think that GW might have some Missouri roots?” about the catching the bad guys??? Apparently, now, the latest in the news is that one of the leaders of the Al-Qaeda linked movement is now dead as a result of a military roundup:
“The head of al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, was killed in a military operation in western Baghdad, the al-Iraqiya news channel reported Thursday.
Al-Iraqiya quoted Abdul-Karim Khalaf, head of the operations’ centre of the Iraqi Interior Ministry, as saying ‘Abu Omar al- Baghdadi, leader of what is called the Islamic State in Iraq, was killed today in the Ghazalya district of western Baghdad.’
He was also reported as saying that the Interior Ministry had the body of the dead militant.
Al-Baghdadi is reportedly known on the internet as ‘the prince of the Islamic State of Iraq,’ an al-Qaeda-led militant group formed in October which comprises Sunni insurgent groups.
The reports also said al-Baghdadi was the leader of ‘Majlis Shora al-Mujahideen,’ which is comprised of several Iraqi militant groups connected to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.“
Hopefully, this isn’t just timely propaganda and is in fact very true. *Sigh!* Hopefully, too, this will be one of many captured as we well know that, similar to a bloom springing forward for every bloom that dies on a growing flowering plant, there can always be more leaders coming into force. All we can do is to continue to hope and pray that the bad guys who are like monsters in our dreams are removed from being able to continue their ill-ways towards any progress to peace being had in this world.
Posted in Advocacy, Law & Legislation, News, Our Heroes, Politics, President George Bush, Society, Violence, War on May 2, 2007| 1 Comment »
Just kidding a bit; however, everyone knows that the attitude that many Missourians have is “Show Me”, which has been the motto of their state as well.
News has flied all over that President George Bush has vetoed a bill — the second only during his terms of offices — yesterday that involved in funding of the armed forces; but, also included a drawback of the forces beginning in October. It really should be no real surprise; after all, President Bush has made no bones about what his stance has been about any stance — especially, this one!
I am certainly not for any war; however, on the other hand, I am torn and certainly for getting the bad guys that are a threat to our very existence. If we are not achieving that, then we certainly need our generals to go back to the drawing board and revise their strategies; after all, that is there job — right???
After 911, we haven’t had any terroristic threats on our lands; this may be largely due to our presence in Iraq, as well as some other middle eastern countries. If we withdraw our troops in total, I wonder if we also loose some ground on having presence strategically placed.
Some of the complaints that I have seen from families of the armed forces is that they have been extending their tour of duties rather than bringing in the freshness and energies of new troops. I remember when my father was in Viet Nam when I was little. If the news kept coming back that my father’s tour of duty had been extended, I am sure that I would have been exasperated as well. Although just in the second grade at that time and not understanding the whole concept of the necessity of the war, I would be staying up each night and watching the news with my Mom — hoping and praying for his safe return to our family.
That being said though, I am certain that President Bush has his reasons to continue his stance of maintaining the troops presence in Iraq and in other countries. The funding does need to go through to support our troops; and, hopefully, for a refreshment of troops so that our troops are not continually having their tours extended.
I do know too that there are many civilians over in the war zones attempting to rebuild what has been torn down and helping them to build up a government that is more resembling a democracy form of government. Without the presence of the troops, are we not also putting our civilians there in danger?
I don’t have all the answers and do not profess to know all the ins and outs of the wars at hand. I do want the bad guys to be dealt with so that our threat to our very existence, which is often the basis of the wars, is diminished. One thing with certainty is that President Bush seems to be stating clearly, “Show Me!” that the necessity of pulling the troops will be in the best interest and safety of all. It will be interesting to see what the US Legislators come up with to resolve things in the best interest and safety for all!
Posted in Advocacy, Cho Seung Hui, Creativity, News, Our Heroes, Society, Violence on April 30, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Counseling, Domestic Violence, Law & Legislation, News, Parenting, Relationships, Society, Violence on April 29, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Found this article on him and thought I would share it with you all, although, I am sure, that he would prefer all this media exposure to just go away and quiet down. The author certainly does make a good point in the end.
Published on April 29, 2007 by Ezine @rticles
Alex Baldwin Doesn’t Get It
by Douglas Bower
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Alex Baldwin’s tirade against his minor child needs to be seen for what it is—child abuse. Not only is it child abuse but is also so typical of the mindset and the philosophy that Americans so easily resort to when it comes to taking responsibility for their actions. “It’s not my fault.”
Here is what Baldwin said after calling his little girl a “thoughtless little pig” and threatening to come from New York to Los Angeles to “straighten her out”—a threat to the kid’s safety if ever there was one.
“Although I have been told by numerous people not to worry too much, as all parents lose their patience with their kids, I am most saddened that this was released to the media because of what it does to a child,” he wrote. “I’m sorry, as everyone who knows me is aware, for losing my temper with my child. I have been driven to the edge by parental alienation for many years now. You have to go through this to understand. (Although I hope you never do.) I am sorry for what happened. But I am equally sorry that a court order was violated, which had deliberately been put under seal in this case.”
1. “Although I have been told by numerous people not to worry too much, as all parents lose their patience with their kids, I am most saddened that this was released to the media because of what it does to a child.” – The man is not worried that what he said to his daughter would affect her adversely, only that what he said to her was released to the media. He is not concerned about how his abusiveness might affect the girl but how the release of the recording might affect her. Is this man in his right mind or is this indicative of just how much his character is flawed?
2. “I’m sorry, as everyone who knows me is aware, for losing my temper with my child. I have been driven to the edge by parental alienation for many years now. ”— The man is shifting blame and not taking personal responsibility for his words or actions. He is sorry for losing his temper but blames “parental alienation” as that which drove him to lose his temper. No, Mr. Baldwin, “parental alienation” is your perception of a stimulus provided to you through the circumstances in which you’ve found yourself. Parental alienation, whatever that is supposed to mean, is not some animated, sentient entity capable of doing anything. It hasn’t arms nor legs, a brain to think with, or anything else that would enable “it” to “drive” you to do anything. Your loss of temper is a behavior you chose to deal with a situation. (Since he is referring to someone committing the sin of “parental alienation,” he must certainly be blaming the child as the alienator—it’s the child’s fault for alienating him—“parental alienation” made him do it.)
3. “You have to go through this to understand.”— If ever there was an indication of the lack of critical thinking skills in the minds of Americans, this is it. This is something to which many resort in trying to justify their irrational and ill-chosen behaviors. Think a moment to what this man is actually saying: If you went through what I’ve been going through, then you would not condemn me. And, if you’ve never walked in my shoes, then you do not have the right to criticize me for calling my daughter a little pig.” This man is claiming that the only way we could “understand” why he did what he did is if we had undergone this spookily-termed, “parental alienation.” This man is not apologizing but trying to justify his bad behavior. And, he claims, you would understand why he abused his child if you had undergone his trials and tribulations. I don’t have to have murdered someone to understand why someone resorted to bad behavior by killing his neighbor. I don’t have to have sexually abused a child to know that it is ill-chosen behavior. I don’t have to have stolen something that didn’t belong to me to understand that stealing is wrong. How, I would love to ask Mr. Baldwin, would our understanding help us to “get it?” How would our undergoing “parental alienation” help us to understand that what Mr. Baldwin did to his daughter is somehow justified? After all, Mr. Baldwin seems to be saying if we had ever undergone “parental alienation,” we would understand—cut him some slack.
4. “I am sorry for what happened. But I am equally sorry that a court order was violated…”— See how the man is trying to shift blame? What the man is sorry for, I cannot fathom, but I most certainly see that he is blaming the one who violated a court order. Baldwin cannot, at least as yet, just say that no matter what the circumstances were, no matter what the situation dealt, no matter what information he was provided to which he had to respond, that he was wrong—period—for lashing out at that child.
The past decades, if not a century, of psychoanalytical psychobabble has taught Americans that they are victims. If they act out with bad behavior, it couldn’t possibly be the fault of the one who chose the bad behavior. It was “the circumstance’s fault.” If they get caught in some behavioral sin, then it wasn’t their fault but the fault of someone or something that provided them with something to which they had to respond and did so badly.
Every circumstance, situation, problem, child acting out, a spouse acting out, a boss firing you, is just information provided to you. You get to choose how you are going to react to what is before you. All we ever do is behave. From the time we are born to the time we die, all we do is choose behaviors in response to a stimulus. What marks us as mature, sane, and rational is how we’ve learned to think critically through a bad hand dealt us and choosing the correct, socially appropriate and morally correct behavior.
Was one of Alex Baldwin’s choices when his daughter didn’t pick up the phone when he called to lash out in an abusive tirade at her? Yes.
However, thinking, and I mean using critical thinking skills, is what would have directed him to consider better alternatives. He could have ranted at the girl or he could have made a better choice. A little bit of maturity would have gone a long way in preventing his childish behavior.
Oh, Mr. Baldwin, we understand perfectly and are wondering,
“Just who is the child here?”
Posted in Creativity, Health, Law & Legislation, Our Heroes, Parenting, Violence on April 23, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Who do you blame when your child pulls pranks and verges on the criminalistic side? Some will be quick to blame parents for allowing their children to listen to rap music, for instance. While some rap music can be alright, it is certainly not the norm of the rap culture who glorifies violence, drugs, rape, etc. I know. I was a parent of a teen going through the rap phase. I think sometimes they are so enthralled by the beat of the song and truly aren’t listening to the song they are singing. What parent isn’t a bit guilty of doing that themselves?
After all, I do remember my Mother taking me and my friends to school for an after school activity of some sort, probably practices for pep squad or drill team. As we were driving down the Dreamland Drive hill and crossing the railroad tracks, I remember we were turning up the music on the radio and singing to the tune of Elton John’s “Bitch is Back” at the top of our lungs, especially when it comes done to the words:
My Mother would just look at us like we were crazy, but I am sure that we probably did offend her in some way who enjoyed such songs as Roger’s Miller’s version of Counting Flowers on the Wall or King of the Road and other artists’ songs, such as, Mr. Sandman, Alley Oop, and so many others that we later had placed into our jukebox that we had in our den. Come to think of it, perhaps, that was her way to try to influence us in a good way. I don’t think that she counted on us enjoying to sing and dance to those songs too when my friends would come over to visit, practice routines, or spend the night. (For those who aren’t familiar with the “Bitch is Back” tune, see the below YouTube video.)
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5D1KOUjzf0]
When That 70’s Show comes on the television, I am reminded each time of this event as we see the introduction lead in for the show while folks are all singing away in the car. Although we shocked our parents at times, none of us became social deviants. Strange how some things we do/see today triggers memories from our pasts.
At any rate…
I was watching The Family Guy on tv Sunday night vying some time before I actually needed to go into work. Parts of it seemed in good humor excepting parts where Meg was praised for her road rage antics and Stewie and Brian at the end were performing a carjacking to get back home. If The Family Guy is not a show intended for 18 and below audiences, then why are they airing it on Sundays at a time when children are still up and not required to have their bedtimes just yet? Why air shows the seem to encourage violent behaviors before 8pm?
It seems that they wouldn’t air shows that were aimed at adult audiences until after 8pm; and, yet, that policy seems to be thrown out the window these days.
I know that we can’t protect our kids from absolutely everything; in fact, being exposed to some of it may be okay in healthy small doses as the child can tolerate in order for them to not go hog-wild when they are finally exposed to the adult audiences world. However, the children these days are seeming to get it from all directions these days.
I certainly don’t believe a single song, game, movie, television show, etc. is going to adversely affect our children, but certainly the culmination of all the medias converging on ideas of violence, criminalistic behaviors, etc, can’t help to influence them in a positive direction. I couldn’t prevent my daughter from buying rap music and other music that contained derogatory lyrics when she had money of her own since I certainly couldn’t walk behind her 24hrs/day; however, I refused to spend my money on the music that I didn’t feel was in good tastes. As a coworker had mentioned that they were, for example, a family that didn’t believe in a lot of television watching, their children still managed to watch the television when they visited their friends’ homes.
All one can do, as a parent, is to try to lead by example and hope that the morals and positive influences that they do instill upon the children are absorbed and practiced by the children when they are tempted by other bad choices and influences from others. Insofar as folks trying to set blame to being influenced by a song or some other form of media for their actions, I don’t believe it 100%; after all, each of us have brains in order to make right and wrong choices. The choices that we make are those which influence our lives, although without the adverse forms of medias being in existence may have an influence in a more positive environment, it is the fact that these do exist, at times, which gives cause for the exercise of our brains in making decisions between right and wrong, don’t you think???
Posted in Advocacy, Health, Mental Illness, Parenting, Society, Trainings & Conferences, Violence on April 22, 2007| Leave a Comment »
I have received in the mail today at home an invitation to attend a MH event with former Washington Post reporter, Pete Earley, speaking on CRAZY: A FATHER’S SEARCH THROUGH AMERICA’S MENTAL HEALTH MADNESS, presented by NAMI Austin, in cooperation with The University of Texas School of Social Work.
This former Washington Post reporter, Pete Earley, had written extensively about the criminal justice system. But it was only when his own son – in the throws of a manic episode – broke into a neighbor’s house and took a bath in her tub that he learned the truth about what is happening to mentally ill people who have the misfortune to break the law.
“I had no idea what it was like to be on the inside looking out…until my son, Mike, was declared mentally ill” said Earley.
Through his research Earley found that 300,000 persons with severe mental disorders are currently being held in jails and prisons, another 500,000 are on probation, and 700,000 go through the court system each year.
Sunday May 6, 2007, at 3pm Thompson
Conference
Center AuditoriumThe
University of Texas at AustinSW Corner of Dean Keeton &
Red River (free parking in Lot 40)
To reserve a seat, please call the NAMI office at 512-420-9810.
The announcement card mentions to go to www.namiaustin.org for additional information; however, their link wasn’t working tonight.
Immediately following from 5:30-7p, there will be a wine & cheese reception with Pete Earley at Follett’s Intellectual Property on the NW Corner of 24th and Guadalupe Street. A 20% discount will be given on the purchase of the book during this book signing event.
Posted in Advocacy, Domestic Violence, Society, Trainings & Conferences, Violence on April 22, 2007| 1 Comment »
For those going to
New Hampshire anytime soon, I have also received an announcement today for a conference about INTERNATIONAL FAMILY VIOLENCE AND CHILD VICTIMIZATION RESEARCH CONFERENCE presented byt the University of New Hampshire in conjunction with the Family Research Laboratory and Crimes Against Children Research Center.
July 8-10, 2007Sheraton Harborside Hotel
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Online registration begins in early April. Go to www.unh.edu/fri/conferences/2007/onlinereg.html. Registration should be done by May 11th to receive the early registration discount.
Posted in Advocacy, Creativity, Great Quotes, Health, News, Society, Spiritual, Violence on April 19, 2007| 2 Comments »
In reviewing some comments on a post on a God Bless Virginia Tech blog, I came across comment #299 wherein they posted a poem about grief that seems to be well on target for anyone that is going through the grief process and seems very appropriate to share with the direct and indirect victims of the tragedy at VTI.
See below:
My prayers are with those who lost family & friends during this horrible tragedy.
I found this poem on the internet awhile back. It has helped me; maybe it can help others.
I am not strong.I am just numb. When you tell me
I am strong, I feel that you don’t see me.
I will not recover. This is not a cold or the
flu. I’m not sick. I’m grieving and that’s different.
I will not always be grieving as intensely,
but I will never forget my loved one and rather
than recover, I want to incorporate his life and love
into the rest of my life. That person is part of me and
always will be, and sometimes I will remember him
with joy and other times with a tear. Both are okay.
I don’t have to accept the death. Yes, I have to
understand that it has happened and it is real,
but there are just some things in life that are not
acceptable.
Please don’t avoid me. You can’t catch my grief.
My world is painful, and when you are too afraid to
call me or visit or say anything, you isolate me at a
time when I most need to be cared about.
If you don’t know what to say, just come over,
give me a hug or touch my arm, and gently say, I’m sorry.
You can even say, “I just don’t know what to say,
but I care, and want you to know that.”
Please don’t say, “Call me if you need anything”
I’ll never call you because I have no idea what I
need. Trying to figure out what you could do for me takes
more energy than I have.
So in advance let me give you some ideas. Bring
food; offer to take my children to a movie or a game so
that I have some moments to myself.
Send me a card on special holidays, birthdays,
or the anniversary of the death,
and make sure to mention their name.
You can’t make me cry. The tears are here and I will love
you for giving me the opportunity to shed them
because someone cared enough about me to reach out on
this difficult day.
Ask me more than once to join you at a movie or lunch or dinner.
I may say no at first or even for a while, but please don’t give up on me
because somewhere down the line, I may be ready,
and if you’ve given up, then I really will be alone.
Virginia A. Simpson, Ph.D., CT (I think this is the correct author, if not, my apologies)
As posted as a comment #299
on God Bless Virginia Tech
Posted in Cho Seung Hui, Domestic Violence, Law & Legislation, Mental Illness, News, Society, Violence on April 19, 2007| 1 Comment »
Although people often use the terms mental illness and violence in the same sentence, especially when there was such a tragedy as was had at Virginia Tech Institute. People jump to the conclusion that, because, for instance, the violence that affected so many students and staff at the Institute was so maddening, they often presume that mental illness must have been at the core of the issue. While some of the investigation seems to have unveiled that he had been to a mental health facility for assessment, it doesn’t mean that he was actually treated for mental illness or that, if he was undergoing some form of treatment, the proper treatment was being presented or followed through.
The National Alliance for Mental Illness has immediately released a statement to this regard to be passed to others:
For Immediate Release
April 18, 2007
The VTI Tragedy: Distinguishing Mental Illness from Violence
Statement of Ken Duckworth, MD
NAMI Medical Director
Acts of violence are exceptional.
Treatment works, but only if a person gets it.
NAMI offers below the federal government’s authoritative language on perceptions of violence.
Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health (1999)
National Institute of Mental Health (2006)
By issuance of the above statement, NAMI hopes to be able to clarify some questions that many might have with any alleged mental illness(es) that the gunman, Cho Seung Hui, might have had.
I am sure that more information will be divulged as the security and authorities perform their thorough investigations on the matter. Some other theories being tossed around is that he was searching out his ex-girlfriend, and, by some sources, it seems that his ex-girlfriend may have been one of the first presumed to have been shot at in the dormitory. While this may not be the official worst blood bath at a college/university in American history, it will certainly be interesting as more information surfaces to see what actually that they can piece together, although the whole story may never be known, especially since not many people knew him well.
At this time, rumors of new gun laws needing to be made are re-surfacing as well as other legislations. The total ramification of the whole ordeal has affected the Nation’s society, especially the VTI staff and students, beyond comprehension and will probably be something to be dealt with in the future, as we have seen from many of our tragic events. Hopefully, something good will come out of the event; heroes will emerge; and a tragedy turned into a triumph. At this time, the “triumph” is still unknown, but one can always hope and dream — right??
April 20 – Virginia Tech Tragedy: Responses and Resources
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