I Speak of Dreams

Heather the Brave

Heather asks for, and gets, help:

[snip]
My anxiety has only gotten worse since I started psychiatric and medical treatment over two months ago. It’s so bad that it chokes me every day, and sometimes I can’t even walk I’m so anxious. I’ve tried over 10 different medications and each one has made my anxiety worse. The depression comes and goes, but the anxiety is constant. I can barely eat anything and I still can’t sleep, even though I’ve tried every sleeping pill available at the pharmacy. It’s seriously out of control.

Over the weekend I started a new round of medication for a new diagnosis, one that I don’t want to talk about yet because it will be such a loaded discussion, and that medication has caused all sorts of problems. I have to get all this shit figured out or I really think I’ll hurt myself. I can’t believe that I don’t feel better. I can’t believe that it’s been two months and I DON‘T FEEL ANY BETTER.

[snip]

Friday morning I finally saw my official doctor, a kick-ass psychiatrist who has been treating people like me for longer than I have been alive. He had read my chart — imagine that! He had done some research! on me! his patient! and within the first five minutes of talking to me he determined why and how the meds I’m taking aren’t working. He had such a direct approach, almost like a bulldozer with a Ph.D. and I wanted to smother him with Internet love. I could tell that he wanted to see me get better and knowing that he cared, even just a little bit, made me feel SO MUCH BETTER.

When people say that they can’t believe I’m being so open about this I want to ask them WHY NOT? Why should there be any shame in getting help for a disease?

[snip]

If there is a stigma to this, let there be one. At least I am alive. At least my baby still has her mother. At least I have a chance at a better life.
[snip]

Dooce is famous for her openness. Now she is showing us openness about hospitalization for mental illness. The Cool Kids are showing us that openness about alcohol abuse, and our efforts to put down that bottle, is a good thing. I think this is the new openness, and I hope it helps lots of people.

Transformative Use of Blogging

How We Can Strengthen The Good--The Idea & Call To Action

Create a network of bloggers who raise awareness of “micro charities”—charitable opportunities that are simple, personal, non-bureaucratic, and inspiring. Charitable opportunities where someone can feel great about giving $1, or even just from reading the story of the charity, it’s sponsors, and it’s beneficiaries.

The Testimony of Mohammed Sarsour

I heard about the case of Maha Askar from Dave Farber's e-list, Interesting People. A little while ago, Ms. Askar's cousin Mr. Sarsour e-mailed me and asked me to post his story. (Oh, remember, this was all over...tickets to get into a high school graduation ceremony.)

Prison Performing Arts

They're in prison. Now what? How do you change lives? Agnes Wilcox had an idea.

Prison Performing Arts--St. Louis, Missouri serves the adults and children incarcerated in St. Louis area jails, prisons and detention centers. We provide them opportunities to participate in the performing arts as audience members and as artists. We promote learning through the arts, channeling creative energies in constructive ways and using the arts to provide an environment for self-discipline, commitment and teamwork.

Proliteracy says that Almost three-fourths of those incarcerated have not graduated from high school and a staggering 70 percent are functionally illiterate and read below a fourth grade level. Inmates in American prisons have a four times greater percentage of learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, than the general public.

So is all this bleeding-heart-liberal stuff? Well, if a person is functionally illiterate, he or she isn't going to be particularly employable. At least getting reading levels up, and engaging the inmate in a vision bigger than crime, is a start. It doesn't have to work 100% of the time, it just has to work better than the prison's going recidivism rate.

(Ennis sent me the link.)

Small Village Foundation

Americans reach out overseas.

The Small Village Foundation links the people of Boise, Idaho, with Bamboi, a small village in Ghana, West Africa. Jeannine and Mark Smith of Boise founded the organzation. They have made a number of trips to Ghana, and enlisted Waj Nasser, the Smith family physician, and Dr. Frank Batcha, MD, who is Nasser's longtime friend.

Frank Batcha, MD, visited Bamboi in April. The Boise-based nonprofit organization, The Small Village Foundation, recently sent two Boise doctors to Ghana, West Africa, to provide medical assistance to a secluded village. Dr. Waj Nasser and Dr. Frank Batcha spent 12 days in Africa treating patients who had never before been seen by a physician. The doctors treated a variety of medical conditions using donated supplies. Other Small Village Foundation projects include a primary school scholarship fund, economic development programs for women, wells for drinking water, serum for snakes bites and biannual expeditions to Africa with Idaho high school students.

Money Where Their Mouths Are

Without reading at grade level or above, kids fall behind.  Poor school districts are overwhelmed with all the mandates and problems that the kids bring to school.   Here's one program in San Mateo County that is moving in the right direction. 

YES Reading currently operates its first Reading Center on the Belle Haven School campus in east Menlo Park, California.

YES Reading's tutors are volunteers from the community who are passionate about helping children and want to contribute to the fight against illiteracy. We work in partnership with the Ravenswood City School District to help teachers and parents with the children who are having difficulty learning to read in the classroom and are at least one grade level behind in reading. We provide one-on-one tutoring to bring these children up to grade level.

A Manly Man

Here's Stan, over at Duck off and Fly

Well... I stood up to the plate and said, "Sure, I can get it done." And you know why? Because even though I bitch and moan and groan and whine, you can still count on me when the going gets tough.

We spend a lot of time looking, and talking about, heroes. What about the folks who show up and do the job? Go Stan!