Posts
Monday, September 14, 2015
I Have a Thing about Trains
I love the sound of the train it makes me feel like I am living in a DeChirico painting. I heard the train whistle at 4 AM this morning when I was at my desk with the door open.
Providence and Worcester RR
Johnny Cash: I've got a thing about Trains
Locomotive Man
Providence and Worcester RR
Johnny Cash: I've got a thing about Trains
Locomotive Man
Carrie Fisher: Leading Lady
“Having waited my entire life to get an award for something, I now get awards all the time for being mentally ill,” she wrote in Wishful Drinking, an autobiographical collage that originated as a one-woman performance, became an HBO special, and was published in book form in 2008. “I’m apparently very good at it.”
On Growing Up : “Sure, from the outside, [my childhood] looked too good to be real—but, if you think about it very briefly, I think you’ll come to the conclusion that PERHAPS IT WAS TOO UNREAL TO BE GOOD.”
—from Shockaholic
Article
I Did What? by Melody Moezzi
Article
Bipolar Disorder & Missing memories: I did what?!?
By Melody Moezzi
Once, outside of a Taco Bell, I offered a homeless man my bank account information when all he wanted was a burrito. I only know this because my mother was a witness and happened to mention it to me months later. She assumed I would remember it. I didn’t. In fact, there’s a lot I don’t remember from the land of mania, on account of mania.
When I returned home from the hospital after my first manic episode, I found a whole host of my favorite belongings missing. Jewelry, an adorable Hello Kitty alarm clock, paintings, and more—all gone. Turns out, I had given them away. Apparently, I was determined to live a Gandhi-esque life, free from “stuff.” While I recognize the wisdom there, I also miss my earrings and alarm clock. With all due respect to the Mahatma, I’m not cut out to live like him. I enjoy hot showers, spa treatments, and nice hotels far too much for that.
Of course, it’s common to engage in out-of-character behaviors while manic. I accept that. However, it’s much more difficult for me to accept the fact that I have absolutely no recollection of performing so many of these actions. I suspect there’s a lot more I don’t remember from that time period, as even five years later, I keep learning new things. I can’t tell you how many times my husband has said to me: “Do you remember when …” and I don’t.
It’s as though someone has stolen my memories, and I don’t like the idea that such a thing is even possible. Memories aren’t like alarm clocks or artwork—you can’t just replace them.
Coping with the reality of losing so much time and having done so many things (often highly embarrassing things) of which I have zero recall hasn’t been easy for me. I recognize that my amnesia may well be my mind’s way of protecting me from myself, from reliving painful events, but that doesn’t make it any easier to accept. Getting robbed will make anyone feel violated. It doesn’t matter if the thief is doing it for the victim’s own good. It’s still a violation.
In my case, and in the case of many others who experience similar amnesia as a result of mania and psychosis—where perpetrator and victim are one and the same— coping can seem downright impossible. It’s as if every time I feel like I have the whole story down, I learn something new.
There’s a lot I don’t remember from the land of mania, on account of mania.
It took me years to even begin to cope with this loss, and I still can’t say I’ve gotten over it. I’m not sure I ever will. But I am beginning to accept it. Gandhi said, “Nobody can hurt me unless I give them permission.” I’m not sure I fully believe him here, but once again, I do appreciate the wisdom. Likewise I appreciate the beauty behind such an idea, as well as the value in striving to realize it.
So I’ve tried to give my mind less permission to hurt me, and in doing so, more permission to heal. In effect, I’ve tried to be gentle with my mind, to treat it not as a cold hard criminal, but rather as a contrite, small-time offender with good (albeit misguided) intentions who is capable of rehabilitation.
Furthermore, I’ve reassessed the role and value of memory. Is it disconcerting to forget some of my most unusual and ill-advised actions to date? Of course. Is my life significantly less fulfilling or less meaningful as a result of having forgotten so many of the strange things I did while in the grips of mania and psychosis? No.
My parents haven’t disowned me. My husband hasn’t left me. In fact, despite remembering what they do and what I don’t about the most traumatizing and humiliating era of my life, they still love me.
Conscious of it or not, I never did anything unforgivable in their eyes.
Bipolar-ForgivenessSo taking a cue from my family, I’m attempting to forgive my mind for stealing my memories and to show it some compassion and gratitude for trying to spare me the pain that comes with remembering. It hasn’t been easy by any stretch, but it has drastically restricted my mind’s ability to hurt me, and thereby helped me cope with—and at times even appreciate— forgetting.
Beth Brownsberger Mader: Why I Still Exercise
Article
Some readers may remember that over a year ago I was hit by a car; my collarbone was pulverized, surgically repaired, and, other than physical therapy, I was unable to do much of anything for six months. Others of you may recall that I have a heart/fainting disorder that over the last five years has worsened to the point where I can fall over without warning.
I’d always been athletic. Not a huge jock or anything, but an avid runner, hiker, and as I’ve written about quite a lot, I am still big into the outdoors. And quite often I spent time engaging in my athletic activities alone. For me, there was nothing like a long, solo run through the mountains, or a 3-hour hike in the desert with the dog, or even a power swim a hundred yards offshore in the lake. Before I was diagnosed with bipolar & PTSD, I figured out that exercise helps me keep my head a little bit straighter, clearer, steady. Post-diagnosis, I am even more aware of the good regular exercise does for me.
But now I’ve had to adjust. And fortunately, one thing I’ve learned from having bipolar is how to do that.
I’ve never really been a gym rat. I always preferred to watch the landscape go by as my body moved through it, and as I listened to my own breath. I also rarely had a designated “workout” save for training for road races. However, now, because safety requires me to stay within reach of immediate help, and only just recently will my arm allow me to do any weight resistance, I have been going to the small gym at my apartment complex. I am surprised that I am beginning to enjoy it, and to see the benefits of maintaining an exercise program no matter what:
It’s been a very stressful summer at my house. Spending an hour in the gym helps me blow off steam.
This past week, I had a “blip” in moods: one day of depression, then 3 days of mild hypomania. I was able to help calm the hypomania by working out. It was a challenge to not over-do it, of course. I feel proud of myself that I “got the wiggles out”, and still kept it under control.
Developing a designated workout (a plan) helps me set goals, and achieve them. I learn what’s reasonable to do and stick to that. I also know what needs to be done, and then I get out of there.
Going to the gym 3 times/week gives me a routine, a place to be, a knowledge that I am doing this specific thing, at this specific time, at this specific place for the benefit of my body and my mind.
I like feeling stronger, more flexible, better balanced, and I know I’m sleeping better.
I’m listening to music again. I learned how to do the headphone-streaming-free-music-like-a-millennial-thing while working out. It’s a whole new world of discovery, and it pumps up my workouts.
I can still go for my walks with the dog, locally. Longer stuff, more remote stuff, I go with my husband or a friend. The point is that being physical, despite my disabilities, remains critical to my wellness in body and mind.
And that I am forever adaptable when it comes to taking care of me and my mental health management needs.
About the author: Beth Brownsberger Mader
Has 191 Articles
Beth Brownsberger Mader
Beth Brownsberger Mader was diagnosed with bipolar type II disorder and C-PTSD in 2004 at age 38 after decades of confusion and pain. In the past decade, she has studied the two disorders, worked in peer support, and sought a path to her own wellness. Today Beth works as a freelance writer and artist. She became a contributing editor/featured columnist for BP Magazine in 2007 and blogger for bpHope in 2011. Beth holds a B.A. from Colorado College and M.F.A. from University of Denver. Beth’s primary area of interest is the relationship between bipolar and PTSD. She is currently working on a memoir and building a body of artwork focusing on her recovery. Check out Beth's blog at: http://www.bessiebandaidrinkiewater.wordpress.com
Melody Moezzi: Sleep Article
Bipolar & Sleep Disturbance: We can’t all be Prince
Sleep disturbance and bipolar disorder are definitely related. Sleeping less is a prominent signal of elevated mood states and sometimes of depression as well—though sleeping the day away can also be typical of the low pole of bipolar.
By Melody Moezzi
Several months before my first psychotic break, I made a decision. At the time, I thought it was a bright idea, which wasn’t surprising given the fact that, at the time, I also thought I was incapable of anything but bright ideas.
The plan was simple: live like Prince. No, not a prince, but Prince—the phenom, the god, the ultimate rockstar. I had no intention of adopting the full lifestyle, by any means. That would be crazy. Plus, I had neither the money to build a hair salon in my home nor the desire to become The Artist Formerly Known as Melody.
bipolar-help-partner-help-youEver the reasonable one, I chose to adopt only one Princian habit: I would sleep only when I was tired. I would no longer attempt to conform to the oppressive demands of the sun and the moon. I would accept my natural sleep-wake cycle. But by choosing to sleep every other night, I unwittingly set myself up for a barrage of delusions, hallucinations, and wicked spending sprees. In my defense, I had yet to be diagnosed. I wasn’t medicated, and I didn’t know what a manic episode was, let alone that I was in the midst of one.
Today, things are different. Today, I not only know what a manic episode looks like, but also what actions and events are most likely to induce one. Today, if I were to follow my “natural” circadian rhythms, I know I’d be a hot mess within less than a week. My sleep cycle varies drastically with my moods—so much so that I now recognize that bipolar disorder, for me at least, is not only a mood disorder, but also a sleep disorder.
I have to work incredibly hard to stick to a steady sleep schedule, and I admit, I don’t always succeed. In the midst of a depressive episode, I can easily sleep more than half the day away, and in the midst of a manic one, I can just as easily stay awake for days on end. In a lot of ways it’s a chicken-and-egg scenario: When I’m manic, I sleep less, and when I sleep less, I grow manic. Likewise, when I’m depressed, I sleep more, and when I sleep more, I grow depressed. It’s a vicious cycle.
Nevertheless, over the years, as I’ve learned more about my illness and have become more cognizant of my triggers, I’ve gotten better at recognizing—and breaking—that cycle. I’m not going to say it’s easy, and I’m certainly not going to say I’ve mastered it. Still, my sleep disorder has loosened its grip on me—or more precisely, I’ve gained the strength, balance, and flexibility to slip out from under it a bit. Granted, it’s a constant battle.
I’ve learned to respect and appreciate my sleep-related troubles. I now see them as what they are: warning signs.
Sure there are times when I find myself sleeping too much or too little, but these days, I immediately take notice. I don’t let more than 48 hours go by without sleeping, nor do I brush it off when I find myself sleeping 18 hours a day. In both cases, I call my doctor and book the next available appointment.
Bipolar-SleepThe sooner I make that call, the more likely I am to avoid a full-blown episode. So as annoying as they can be, I’ve learned to respect and appreciate my sleep related troubles. I now see them as what they are: warning signs. Like the check engine light on your dashboard. It’s a pain to take my car to the repair shop, but I know that waiting too long could mean hundreds or even thousands of dollars in repair fees that I’d never have incurred had I just taken the car to the shop right away.
Waiting too long to address sleep disturbances is no different. The longer you wait, the more likely you are to rack up more and higher fees—but in this case, the fees aren’t just financial. In fact, the monetary costs are no match for the potential personal and professional ones.
I know a lot of people who can get away with pulling all-nighters. I also know that I’m not one of them. As painful as it is to admit, I can’t live like Prince any more than I can sing or dance like him. I can, however, enjoy his performances with some peace of mind.
Tagged with: sleep
About the author: Melody Moezzi
Has 165 Articles
Melody Moezzi
Melody Moezzi is a writer, attorney, speaker, activist, a United Nations Global Expert and award-winning author. Her latest book, Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life, was released in August 2013 by Avery. Her first book, War on Error: Real Stories of American Muslims, earned her a Georgia Author of the Year Award. Moezzi writes and speaks on a variety of issues, particularly those relating to Islam, Iran and mental health. She is a blogger for bp Magazine, the Huffington Post and Ms. Magazine, as well as a regular columnist for bp Magazine. Her writing has appeared in many outlets, including The New York Times, theWashington Post, The Guardian, and The Christian Science Monitor. She has also appeared on many radio and television programs, including NPR, CNN and BBC. Moezzi is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the Emory University School of Law, as well as the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. She lives in Raleigh, NC. For more information and links to more of her work, please visit melodymoezzi.com. You can also follow her on Twitter: @MelodyMoezzi
Melody Moezzi: A Genius
Keeping Track
For about a year now, I’ve been using a bound paper planner. I still do most of my scheduling online, but my paper “planner” is special. I don’t actually use it to plan anything. Rather, I use it to keep track of things that significantly affect my life.
It all started with a neurologist who suggested I keep a migraine diary to keep track of events (eating cheese or smelling coffee, for example) that preceded a migraine. The diary helped and got me thinking that if such documentation could identify migraine triggers, maybe it could do the same for mood. Keeping track of my sleep and excercise–as well as positive experiences, blessings and accomplishments has helped me enormously with mood regulation. So today I thought I’d share some of the things I track every day in my “planner” in the hopes that some of you might find this practice as useful as I have.
Sleep: When did you fall asleep last night? When did you wake up this morning? Any naps?
Mood: How would you rank your mood today? [Create your own scale.]
Exercise: Did you exercise today? If so, what did you do and for how long?
Pain: Were you in pain today? What kind and for how long?
Medication: What medications (including dosages) did you take today, especially new or as-needed (PRN) medications?
Spiritual Practice: Did you pray or meditate or engage in any other centering activity today?
Gratitude: What are at least five things for which you are grateful today?
Accomplishments: What did you accomplish today? Nothing is too small.
It’s entirely possible to keep track of all of this in a regular weekly planner. It takes only a few minutes a day and can truly improve your life. And if that’s not enough incentive to at least try it, most 2014 planners ought to be on sale by now.
Tagged with: Bipolar Disorder, mania, manic depression, mental health, mental illness, psychiatry, psychology
About the author: Melody Moezzi
Has 165 Articles
Melody Moezzi
Melody Moezzi is a writer, attorney, speaker, activist, a United Nations Global Expert and award-winning author. Her latest book, Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life, was released in August 2013 by Avery. Her first book, War on Error: Real Stories of American Muslims, earned her a Georgia Author of the Year Award. Moezzi writes and speaks on a variety of issues, particularly those relating to Islam, Iran and mental health. She is a blogger for bp Magazine, the Huffington Post and Ms. Magazine, as well as a regular columnist for bp Magazine. Her writing has appeared in many outlets, including The New York Times, theWashington Post, The Guardian, and The Christian Science Monitor. She has also appeared on many radio and television programs, including NPR, CNN and BBC. Moezzi is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the Emory University School of Law, as well as the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. She lives in Raleigh, NC. For more information and links to more of her work, please visit melodymoezzi.com. You can also follow her on Twitter: @MelodyMoezzi
Article on DEPRESSION
http://www.bphope.com/flight-of-ideas-steering-clear-of-depression/
Melody Moezzi is an writer, attorney, activist and award-winning author. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian and many other publications. Her latest book is Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life. [Photo credit: Mario Mathis]
(Q1) In "Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life," you decide to make your illness public. What were your concerns about doing so, and what made you decide to go forward?
I was mildly terrified that I would lose every ounce of credibility I ever had. I also feared that, given my first book was about young Muslim Americans and that I'd worked so hard to fight Islamophobia as an activist before publishing this book, that certain people might draw some horrible conclusions -- namely, that I was crazy because I was Muslim or vice versa. So yeah, I had tons of different fears when it came to going public about having bipolar disorder. But over the years I've learned that if I'm afraid of something, that's often where I need to go -- as a writer, as an activist and just as a human being. That's where the gold is.
Couch
A Persian in Therapy
By
Melody Moezzi NYT
My people don’t do psychotherapy. We have friends. We have families. We have pharmacies. Paying strangers to listen to our problems isn’t our style.
Fresh News
Melody Moezzi Hoops Strong at Democratic National Convention
by Philo Hagen • August 25, 2008 • 0 Comments
Rocky Mountain News reports, “Protesters at the Democratic National Convention were no match for Melody Moezzi, the Iranian-American activist with a preternatural proficiency with the hula hoop. She had been gyrating and keeping the hoop in play for over an hour when the anti-war throng moved past her. But she never missed a beat, keeping in play both the hoop and her one-woman hyping of her ‘Hooping for Peace’ events at the University of Denver this week. ‘If you don’t have a hoop, come anyway. I have about 100,’ said Moezzi, not even breathing hard, unfazed by heat or marchers. And proving that, in The Park at least, she was a peace proponent who was totally hip.” Rocky Mountain News
Mobile Markets to Food Deserts
Mobile Markets Bring Affordable Produce To Low-Income Neighborhoods
By Kristin Gourlay • Sep 11, 2015
A new initiative of the Rhode Island Public Health Institute at Brown University aims to bring more fresh fruits and vegetables into low income neighborhoods.
Food on the Move markets will make stops throughout September in Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Wakefield, Westerly, and Peacedale.
Credit Rhode Island Public Health Institute
The initiative, called "Food on the Move," will create a mobile farmer’s market, sending trucks full of fresh produce into low income, urban neighborhoods and housing complexes throughout Rhode Island. There, shoppers who receive food stamps, or SNAP benefits, can buy two dollars’ worth of produce for every one SNAP dollar. That’s thanks to a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The program builds on the “Fresh to You” mobile market program launched by Brown University researchers in 2009 to address the lack of access to healthy, affordable food in low income areas.
Now the markets will include more local and more culturally relevant produce, like yucca and plantains.
Jhumpa Lahiri: Author With RI Roots Receives National Humanities Award
Author With RI Roots Receives National Humanities Award
By Elisabeth Harrison • Sep 11, 2015
Jhumpa Lahiri, the London-born author who grew up in Kingston, Rhode Island has been given the National Humanities Medal. President Barack Obama presented the award Thursday in a ceremony at the White House, honoring Lahiri and 20 other individuals and organizations with national arts and humanities awards.
Lahiri is the author of several novels including The Namesake, and her debut story collection, The Interpreter of Maladies, which was awarded a Pulitzer Prize.
As the daughter of Indian-born parents, Lahiri told NPR's Steve Inskeep in 2008 that the family struggled to fit in after settling in Rhode Island.
"The accent, the fact that my mother wore traditional clothing — that marked them immediately as soon as we went out in the public sphere," Lahiri said.
Lahiri's father worked at the University of Rhode Island library. In a 2009 interview published in URI's alumni magazine, Quadrangles, Lahiri spoke of a deep connection to the ocean, which she traces to her childhood in Rhode Island.
Of her father's work in the library she commented, "On a very basic level it was nice to know that there were other people from other countries there. … It just seemed like, OK, well, here is this pocket of Rhode Island that has welcomed our parents and valued them, valued the contributions that they’re making. That was very important to me."
Woonsocket's Police Chief Thomas Carey
PROVIDENCE, RI – By CATHERINE WELCH
The Woonsocket Police department has a tarnished history. In 1982 and for the rest of the decade, the big story was Raymond "Beaver" Tempest Jr. who was convicted a decade later for beating a young woman to death with a metal pipe. His brother was a detective on the force and the public believed Woonsocket Police mishandled the investigation. A few years after Tempest was convicted, Susan Menard became the mayor of Woonsocket.
Russ Olivo is assistant editor of the Woonsocket Call, he's worked at the paper for 20 years and has followed the police department. "Under Mayor Menard, who was mayor for 15 years, there was probably a new police chief every two years," says Olivo.
He remembers in 2007 when complaints started to swirl around former police Chief Michael Houle. The chief eventually resigned along with the deputy chief in 2008 after his ex-wife claimed they fudged her scores on the police entrance exam.
There were also problems with the improper destruction of evidence, a gun was smuggled into a holding cell, and Mayor Menard dusted up controversy when the police department leased four motorcycles from her son-in-law's business. Olivo says the department was a mess.
"They were seen as being basically the mayor's proxies at the police station. And there was a lot of internal turmoil," he says.
Reverend Sammy Vaughn is the Woonsocket Police Department's Chaplin. "You know law enforcement is here to protect you, but in the past we didn't know if people were protecting us or beating us up," says Vaughn.
He says before Chief Thomas Carey arrived in September of 2008, most in the black community didn't trust the police so they didn't turn to them for help. But that's all changed.
"Under Chief Carey we know at the leadership, if you've got leadership at the top that you can talk to it's easier for you to reach out to the policemen on the police force," says Vaughn.
A national search brought Carey to Woonsocket. He had already served 25 years on the police department in St. Petersburg, Florida. There have been some incidents on Carey's watch - an officer was sentenced for assaulting a teen prisoner in a stairwell. But it's a lot quieter than it used to be. The Woonsocket Call's Russ Olivo says he gets far fewer leaks about problems inside the department.
"I wrote millions of stories about cops being suspended and disciplined," says Olivo." They're airing a lot less of their dirty laundry as they used to, maybe there's not as much dirty laundry to air, I don't know."
Chief Carey says one of his responsibilities is to build trust with the community," I want the community to trust their police department," he says.
On a recent afternoon, Carey strolls down a street in the Constitution Hill neighborhood. He started taking these kinds of walks last spring. There's no entourage. It's just him in his uniform.
"Well, I can be a talker a little bit, and I'm very easy to get along with," he says.
Carey says people have stopped mowing their lawns and come off their porches to tell him what's going on in their neighborhood. Twenty years ago this was a much different place. Police Captain Edward Lee used to patrol the Constitution Hill area in the late 80's. He remembers not going into that area unless she had a backup. And Lee remembers a bar, called Corey's Caf where people hung out and sold drugs and it was ground zero in the department's war on drugs.
"The police were in there constantly either, pulling over cars, chasing people through the neighborhood, arresting them for drug use, prostitution," Lee says.
He can't imagine that 20 years later his chief would be walking the streets, talking with residents. "I really wish he could grasp the change and how much it has changed there," he says, "now it's one of the better neighborhoods."
On these walks Chief Carey has discovered missing street signs and taken note of trashed property. It's cheap policing for a department that due to the city's financial problems has ten positions going unfilled.
Just in front of the Veterans Memorial Housing Development, Carey stops a shy, elementary-school aged boy pushing one of those pedal scooters. "That's a good scooter you've got there too, how are you doing today? Okay?"
He makes his pitch for the boy to help paint a mural that's going up on a wall often covered in graffiti in near-by Dunn Park. A big stretch of that wall has white paint brushed over it. It's primer covering up the latest blast of graffiti.
Woonsocket Police, with the community group Neighborworks and the Riverzedge youth development program will paint a mural over primer. Their fingers are crossed that it will stop the graffiti.
"That's what we're hoping for, that it will cut down on the responses and police reports, they'll have a beautiful mural here for everyone to enjoy," says Carey.
The mural will also stand as a reminder for both the community and the police department that things can change for the better in Woonsocket when people decide to work together.
SOURCE
Listen to more stories and interviews in our series, One Square Mile: Woonsocket.
Do you have insight or expertise on this topic? Please email us, we'd like to hear from you. news@wrni.org.
Article
Unlearn the Social Tolerance for Abuse
New trails blazed into 'epidemic' of domestic violence
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Every time a domestic murder occurs, and there have been six in Rhode Island so far in 2015, authorities decry domestic violence and say it must be stopped.
The most recent murder victim was Yolanda McArdle, 42, who was stabbed to death Tuesday in Portsmouth. In response, the directors of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Women's Resource Center said domestic violence was "a widespread epidemic" that is preventable.
Although on Wednesday they called on the criminal justice system to better protect victims, the two organizations are blazing a trail in prevention, and the route leads in some surprising directions.
Among them are finding ways to mix people from different groups into a single community project and building men who are strong in ways other than force and control.
Also, said Deborah DeBare, executive director of RICADV, on Wednesday, "As a society, everyone needs to unlearn the social tolerance for abuse."
The answer is not as simple as "going into a school and having an auditorium presentation," she said.
Similarly, said Lucy Rios, the coalition's director of prevention and communications, "If information could change behavior, no one would smoke, everyone would work out every day."
So prevention efforts follow the research. "Research tells us that communities that are more connected experience less domestic violence," Rios said in explaining why the Women's Resource Center rallied young people and diverse groups to paint a 200-foot wall in Hunter Park with a mural of “What We Love About Newport.”
Although the mural was seen as a way to stop graffiti on a wall that had to be repainted often, Rios said the project was a community-building initiative.
"It took a lot of players to make this happen," she said. "All these people that would never get together before" were getting to know each other, as well as taking pride in their community.
"What tends to happen, if people don't know each other" when an argument is heard next door, they "just turn up the volume on the TV," she said.
But if neighbors are connected with their community, "maybe people are more apt to call the police, or more apt to go and talk to that victim," Rios said. In a connected community, she said, "We're not just going to ignore it, we're going to get involved in some way."
And, according to the research, children whose photographs of Newport were depicted on the mural also got a dose of inoculation against violence. A report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called "Connecting the Dots: An Overview of the Links Among Multiple Forms of Violence," said that connections with caring adults or access to mental health services are protective factors that make it less likely that people will experience violence and can increase their resilience when faced with violence.
-Providence Journal
September Hypomania
At times like this I have danced nonstop in my living room for DAYS. Reminds me of my friend who created hula hooping marathon for a fundraiser She danced for weeks!
Brilliant Idea Flourishes
“I’ve never seen anyone make something so creative, and that’s why she is successful,” Ms. Martin said. “I don’t want to do 10,000-piece garment runs. I want to do something with more value.”
Ms. Goodall’s store, Little Goodall, now exports to about 30 countries, she said. Her menagerie of children’s animal coats now includes puppies, bunnies, fawns, dinosaurs and teddy bears.
“We ship everywhere. We even ship to China, and that cracks me up,” she said. “We’re sewing coats and shipping them to China. They love the bunny coats.”
Article
Community in California
Many of the workers who help keep Napa Valley’s famous wineries running live in the section of Lake County that was hit by the wildfire, said Michael Dunsford, the vice mayor of Calistoga, who owns a restaurant in town. The chef at his restaurant believed his house was gone, as did the manager of a restaurant down the street. With the road back to Middletown closed, neither of them had been able to check.
“Lake County is the more affordable place to live,” Mr. Dunsford said, “so that’s where a lot of the employees for the wineries and the restaurants and hotels go. They’re the ones who are now being hit hardest and losing their homes.”
Article
Maria Trozzi: Dealing with Grief
9/9/2015 VALLEY BREEZE
Speaker Trozzi to offer parents help on children dealing with grief
WOONSOCKET - Author and grief expert Maria Trozzi will visit Woonsocket on Thursday, Sept. 24 for an interactive presentation on helping children deal with disappointment. The event, which is sponsored by Holt Funeral Home, will take place at 6:30 p.m. at Mount St. Charles Academy Chapel Hall. The event is open to the public. To inquire about reserved seating, visit www.holtfuneralhome.com .
Trozzi is an assistant professor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine; director of the nationally renowned Good Grief Program at Boston Medical Center, and a consultant to the Child Development Unit at Children's Hospital. She is considered one of the foremost experts in the country on resilience as families, schools and communities face crises.
For the past three years, Trozzi has provided individual and group consultation and training workshops to Naval Special Warfare operators and their families' pre- and post- deployment. After Boston's Marathon bombing, she provided crisis debriefing to the health care first responders as well as nearby affected schools and community organizations.
The Holiday Retirement Residence
In the wake of the recent tragedy in Newtown, she continues to provide consultation, lectures and training to schools affected. She has provided crisis consultation after Columbine at Littleton, Colorado, Hurricane Katrina, at Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9/11 and in Grenada following Hurricane Ivan.
Her first book, Talking With Children About Loss, was published by Putnam-Penguin and continues to be an essential reference for parents and professionals.
During her visit to Woonsocket, the author will discuss "Helping Our Children Develop Resilience as They Face Life's Stressful Events," exploring the typical and not-so-typical speed bumps that children and adolescents encounter growing up in 2015. Topics will include:
• Dealing with life's disappointments: when our children hurt, what to say and what not to say
• Grampy no longer remembers my name: when illness strikes a family member.
• The world news events: navigating them for any aged child.
• When Rover is old and tired: talking about death with any aged child.
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