Blog #14 - Eve Ensler

After watching the video clip from our supplemental readings, I am a true fan. Eve Ensler not only brings acknowledgement, support and prayers to women who are suffering, but she brings about change. After all the well wishes and good intentions, change is the one thing that truly makes a difference in this world. She has brought the sad truths for women who have been beaten, burned, mutilated, raped and even murdered to the attention of people who care and who are able to create change for these circumstances. The story of her own sad truth and how helping others allowed her to heal was a true testament to where humanity stems from.

 Her story of  "Mr. Alligator" was touching and inspiring, and the true meaning of the difference it made in her life really hit home for me. I did not suffer to the extent that many girls and women have growing up, but childhood was a very unhappy time for me. All my life and well into my adulthood, I would ask God why he made me the way he did and why I wanted the things I wanted if they were never to be mine. I felt as if my questions and prayers went unanswered until one day, I had children of my own. I knew when they came into the world, being a mother would be the most important job of my life...the one thing I would have to excel at and sacrifice for without resentment. I wanted to be a good parent above all else. As with most children and their parents, both of my kids have recognizable traits of mine, my daughter in particular is so much like me it is sometimes scary. Then one day I realized that I had to go through all of the things that I experienced to understand what my children needed; what would make them happy, successful and kind people. Ever since that day, with each opportunity and joyful experience I can provide for them, I am able to overcome a little more of that sadness and instead appreciate that I am able to recognize the little things I can do that make all the difference in my quest to be a great parent. While I still feel I fall far short of being the "perfect mom", I know I am creating a happier life for my children, and that makes me feel great!

TED Ideas worth spreading. (2004). Talks Eve Ensler: finding happiness body and soul. Retrieved on May 8, 2009 from, http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=e_ensler 

Blog #13 / Is it better to put drug addicts in jail or to send them to mandatory drug treatment programs?

Substance abuse and addiction are complex problems. Many people who find themselves with an addiction are abusing the drug because of a traumatic emotional experience or a physical ailment that caused the initial introduction to the substance. Once an addict reaches a point where they are unable to function properly in society or they are caught with an illegal substance or by committing a misdemeanor, they should receive mandatory treatment from a substance abuse treatment facility.

            However, if the addict chooses not to stay as required or commits a crime that physically or emotionally harms or takes the life of another person, he or she should be incarcerated. While an addiction may impair the judgment of an addict, it does not excuse them from responsibility to society. Drinking and driving for example, an alcoholic may not be able to control him or herself when it comes to drinking, but a person does not have to drive to satisfy the addiction. Unfortunately, there are said to be a number of drugs available within prison walls and the experience of incarceration may cause recovering addicts to relapse when released back into society, so drug treatment should be offered to all inmates upon release for optimal results for ex-convicts and the public that they are released into.

There is an interesting PBS documentary on the Narcotic Farm. This was actually a prison facility and a drug treatment center that was opened in 1935 Lexington, Kentucky. If the prison's scientist had not practiced experimental treatments on inmates and past inmates, we might actually have similar drug treatment prisons today. The experimentation did lead to helpful treatments such as the discovery of how methadone can assist recovering addicts. The facility eventually closed in 1975. (Article Archives, 2009) It is a shame, we were so close to creating a productive solution, but as often happens, corruption set us back.

Supporting drug treatment for prison inmates is the humane thing to do. There are people who have committed unspeakable crimes, but there are also people who just lost their way when trying to deal with the hardships life can present. Remembering that most prisoners are not serving life sentences may remind opposers that someday these people will be among the rest of us and our families. Treating anyone without compassion and understanding will likely result in those people reflecting the same attitudes toward society.

Article Archives. (2008). The narcotic farm: the rise and fall of America's first prison for drug addicts. Retrieved on May 1, 2009 from, http://www.articlearchives.com/crime-law/criminal-offenses-controlled/2298398-1.html

Blog #12 What can be done to reduce the stigma and shame that still surround mental illness?

Mental illness is just that... an illness. As with any stigma or stereo-type, the only way to get people to see past it is to educate them. Unfortunately with negative stigma, there is usually a great deal of shame and denial, which prevents people from coming forward with their conditions. This chain reaction prevents people who support the stigma from understanding that they interact with people suffering from mental illness every day. People who incorporate treatment into their everyday routine to function normally in society. People who have hopes and dreams and families just like the rest of us. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has a wonderful public education program "in which two trained consumer speakers share compelling personal stories about living with mental illness and achieving recovery." (NAMI, 2009) During the presentation, audience members are encouraged to interact with questions and personal experiences to get a better understanding of what living with mental illness is like. 

Another effect of the negative stigma is that people are less likely to seek help and those that do may suffer more intense feeling of depression or social rejection because of the way they associate themselves with the stigma. According to our text, more than 50% of those suffering from a mental disorder fail to seek professional help. (Alexander, L.L., LaRosa, J.H., Bader, H. & Garfield, S., 2007) It makes you wonder how the criminal, homeless and suicide rates would be affected if we could eliminate the shame associated with this illness. 

Change always starts with one. Do not use negative or derogatory names for those suffering from mental illness. If you know someone with a condition, read up on the symptoms and treatments to better understand that this is a normal person affected by an illness. And always treat them with dignity; remember, that man on the corner who begs and talks out loud to himself may be the same person who marched the Dr Martin Luther King Jr., or taught science to a chemist who invented a vaccine that saved thousands, or protected you from harm during wartime. Even if he is not any of those things, he is a person who once held as much potential as the rest of us until one day he became ill. It can happen to any of us, so please make an effort to treat him with respect.

Alexander, L.L., LaRosa, J.H.,Bader, H. & Garfield, S. (2007). New dimensions in women's health 4th ed. Sudbury, Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). (2009). In our own voice. Retrieved April 24, 2009 from, http://www.nami.org/template.cfm?section=In_Our_Own_Voice

Blog #11 If everyone lived "with our future in mind", do you think that we would live differently?

I actually think most people do live with their future in mind, too much future to be exact. We start our days off hurrying through breakfast (donuts today/we'll do better tomorrow), we shuffle the kids off to school (we hug them, but don't have time to tell them how much we love them/we'll do better tomorrow). We then go about our day in a hurried fashion counting down the hours until our work or tasks are done; swiping our credit cards (we'll pay them off 'soon') and we try to figure out what dinner we can grab for our family in between the PTA meeting and soccer practice (fast food tonight/we'll do better tomorrow). Then we hurry the kids into bath, teeth brushing and bed (no time for stories tonight/we'll do better tomorrow). Now it is finally time to hit the sack, we lay down and remember we never got that workout in and forgot to call our grandmother to wish her "Happy Birthday" (we'll remember next year). Then for a moment, we think about the kind of person we want to be, the kind of people we were meant to be, and wonder how we got so far off course... so we console ourselves by remembering, there's always tomorrow.  It may not always be a day full of shortcomings, but over scheduling and not planning for real priorities are things we all struggle with. If we could all remember that there are no guarantees, that no one lives forever, and that every moment does count, but only if you are in it, less progress may be made, but more potential would be met!

Blog 10 What factors can influence women to adopt healthier lifestyles and engage in preventative behaviors so as to reduce their risks of CVD

One of the most difficult obstacles US women face is society's all or nothing attitude. "If you do not come out of the gym looking like a super model, why bother? If you have donuts for breakfast you might as well have fast food for lunch since the whole day was blown from the start. If you don't put your child's every need ahead of your exercise routine, you're not a very good mother." Do any of these thoughts sound familiar? Maintaining your health is not an all or nothing task. Even small changes, such as eating a salad with every dinner (even a fast food salad), can contribute positive results to your health status. Women need to give themselves a break. Sure Martha Stewart is great, but even she ended up in prison! There is no way to meet the expectations that the media creates. Even movie stars try to sell themselves off as "perfect". Pitt and Jolie have given interviews where they talk about always having their children with them, but what they fail to mention is that they have a different idea of being "with" them. Think about it, have you ever seen even one of their children on their hip during a film? And I doubt the children are present during their two hour daily workouts.  When an average American mother refers to this, it means her child is screaming at her through the bathroom door! Women need to recognize that taking their children for a walk around the block may not give body sculpting results, but it can contribute to their heart health. If you can't even manage that with your kids, get down in the floor and wrestle with them. The American Heart Association (2009) recommends 30 minutes a day of moderate exercise (breaking a sweat that has nothing to do with the temperature) for heart health and one hour on most days for optimal health. It does not have to be continuous. You can wrestle the kids for 15 minutes in the afternoon and turn up your favorite CD to dance around the kitchen while you make dinner. There are easy steps anyone can take to increase heart health and reduce their risk of cancers, you just have to find the ones that work for you. The most important thing to remember is that if you don't make time for yourself, you increase the chances that you will not have any more time for anyone else!

American Heart Association. (2009). Exercise and fitness. Retrieved April 11, 2009 from: http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1200013

Blog #9 - The Biggest Challenges to a Healthy Lifestyle

The biggest challenges I face regarding a healthy diet and ideal exercise are family, family and family. I love my children dearly, but since becoming a mother, my time for self care has all but disappeared. When my husband and I decided to start a family, we agreed that I would stay home with the kids. I remember thinking that I was going to have so much time I wouldn't know what to do when everything was done. What a joke! My advice to anyone who is planning to stay home, is to lie about it if possible. Suddenly my husband forgot how to cook and clean, and because he worked, it was very important that he get enough rest. I don't have to tell anyone who has children how having a baby affected my time, and for those of you who don't have kids yet, its best that you don't know. What surprised me most was the extended family that assumed I didn't have anything to do, so I could easily feed their pets, run small errands and take grandma to the doctor. For a while, I struggled with everyone else's feelings, but when I started getting ill more often than not (with no one to help with my responsibilities), I started learning to say "no". It wasn't easy, and I still struggle at times, but I am getting better at it. 

Now I take action help myself. I have a membership to a gym with dependable childcare and a treadmill at home. I plan my meals in advance and try to incorporate a salad with every dinner. And when a family member asks me to commit to something that simply overwhelms me, I tell them I don't know how I would fit it into my busy schedule and then I precede to describe my responsibilities in detail until they get tired of listening and hang up.

Blog #8 - What can be done to change societal images of menopause, aging and older women?

The answer is so simple it almost seems silly. If women want to change the way we view ourselves as we get older, we simply have to voice our support of it. Think about it, women were told they weren't meant to work outside of the home, but one day women decided they wanted to and proved opposers wrong by fighting for equal rights in the workplace. Now, women run multi-million dollar companies, many of which were started by women. There was a time, not so long ago, when women were told their vote shouldn't count. Then one day, they got tired of that and decided to fight for that right. Now, women are running for president, and will probably soon exceed that milestone. If a woman wants to succeed in creating a new image for herself, she must first imagine herself in that image. By deciding that birthdays are just an excuse to dress up and feel great, that menopause is just another of many changes to come and embrace, and by creating, promoting, and supporting images of older women in a competent seductive light. There is no rule that says grandmothers have to be described, written and portrayed by women who don't promote sex appeal. So one day, hopefully soon, we will get tired of being told that is what getting older means, and we'll change it.  We will create social circles that include older women. We will continue supporting actresses we love by going to see their films and it will become socially unacceptable to use the term "old hag". Women will create beautiful clothing lines  that don't include elastic and flatter an older woman's figure. And we will tell our daughters that living a full life means living it up your whole life!