Friday, December 28, 2007

I took a break...so shoot me :)

Finally I passed algebra! Now I can study for the licensure test and after 5 years of struggle and deprivation maybe I can go do what God put me on this earth to do...serve. I have to pass the test first :) I hope all of you had and continue to have a great holiday season and didn't let the commercialism get to you. :)

I've told you all about my friend Amerah before. She sends me stuff from time to time. Some of it makes me cry, some makes me laugh, some make me think and some of it is just plain worth sharing. This one is worth sharing. Click here.

Also my friend Alex over at A Copywriter's Blues has paid me the highest form of a compliment on his site and has given me one of the greatest Christmas presents I have ever received. If you are into the blues go check out his site. It is an awesome video collection of all the greats...even some international greats you might not know about :) While I was on his site I started wondering if there was a site that compared blues styles so you know me I started looking for links and found a great one, The Sutton Blues Collective. It has much information that I've never seen on a site before. The information is also written in a short and to the point manner. The link is for the homepage, just scroll down and click on Blues Styles to find out about all the different types and styles of the blues.

The next two (maybe more) posts will be me trying to make some money with this blog before I get evicted and don't have a place to write anymore...so please bear with me. I don't intend to get away from the original focus of this blog but...oh, well sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do :) Have a great day and as always Happy Searching!!

Saturday, December 1, 2007

It's Saturday Night and I Have the House to Myself!

The first thing I did was turn the blaring football game OFF! Next, I turned the finetune player up fullblast. The Yardbirds "Train Kept A Rollin" came on first, then George Thorogood "Bad To The Bone". WOO HOO I'm liking this!
The boy went to spend the night with a friend of his and from there will go to mass and then to youth group. This means I have the house to myself until three or four tomorrow afternoon. Whatever shall I do??? The hot water is already running...complete with bubbles and all the smell good stuff I can find :) Might even shave my legs :) Once I soak for an hour or so then I think I'll put on clean sweats and make my plan for tomorrow.
Because the economy is so bad and groceries and gas are so high I think I must revert back to doing the sale paper Wal-Mart thing. Usually it doesn't pay me to do that because we live a good way from Wal-Mart and I hate the crowds and the fact that it is merchandised to make me purchase things that I normally wouldn't. If I stick to my list and don't look up I think I'll be alright. It's like a test of wills when you go to that place. Besides my theory is if you just pick a store, any store and learn it really well (like when they have sales on what you use) you can do as well there as at Wal-Mart. Plus if you shop there all the time then at this time of year they send you little thank you incentives. Mostly, I shop at Kroger. It's the right size...I don't have to walk the equivalent of two football fields to get what I need, then another to get to my car pushing the loaded buggy. Last year, Kroger sent me several coupons for money off my entire grocery order. It seems like it was $16. It seems like the total for the entire holiday season was around $60. Now, to me, that's pretty good. This year it's not so much. I guess the economy has hit everywhere. But it is still substantial with the other coupons they send and the regular double coupons.
Some of my friends freaked when I told them I was moving to this part of town. I moved here because at the time I was on foot. In fact, I found this duplex complete with laundry room, two bedrooms, a yard for the boy and the cats and a covered carport when we were two days from the sheriff coming to throw our stuff out of where we were living. I thought God had directed me to this place. This apartment is a block from a bus line that is as frequent as any in town. There are two grocery stores, a drugstore, a convenience store, a Fred's, a Roses, a cleaners, a laundromat and many fast food places right within walking distance. I thought I had moved to heaven when we first moved in.
It was a real fluke finding this place. It was November and still hot. I had taken the bus over to check on a complex type apartment and the jerk that was the manager condescendingly told me that they would check my credit. A foreclosure, I assumed, would not allow me to get that slum apartment, so I just started walking back up to the bus stop when I noticed what seemed to be a neighborhood much like where were living and even had "circle" in it's address...it was too much of a coincidence so I decided to go see if there were any vacant houses that might be for rent. I walked around the entire circle and only saw one that looked like it was in the process of being renovated and not finished. So I kept walking. The circle has two cut through streets and I had already been through one of them and was starting to get really tired, not to mention really sweaty. The little voice said "go on and check out the other cut through street". I had to force myself to do it. I got to the end of the street and there it was. It looked like it might be a duplex and I've always liked duplexes...only one close neighbor :) It was a really pretty blue and it looked well-kept and best of all the carport looked empty. I remember thinking...now if someone lived there surely something would be in the carport, pack rat that I am. I went up to the front apartment and knocked on the door. A surprised black man came to the door...even more surprised when he saw me, a big 'ole red-faced sweaty white woman :) I asked him a bunch of questions and he stopped me and said if I could wait about 30 minutes or so that the landlord was on his way over and I could ask him all that.
Hughey, the landlord was sent to me directly from God and I know that to be fact :) He let me rent the apartment without a credit check, he let me have my cats "I'm not going to tell it and if you don't mention it, the owner will never know", wink, wink. Hughey did so much for me and I will be forever grateful to him for it. He let me slide on the rent until I got my first financial aid check from school. He gave me rides when I needed to go to DHS. He would even consider property in lieu of rent sometimes, if he could use it :) I could not have asked for a better apartment manager. Then he had a falling out with the owner over the owner not paying him for work he had done to the owner's other houses. The owner got another manager, Sandy... another Godsend. He was just the sweetest man, in fact his entire family was that way. They all took care of me with whatever this old house needed.
Now, I tell you all that to tell you this...about two years ago the owner decided to get out of the rental housing business and he sold all his properties. WOE IS ME :) It has been s**t ever since. But the last management company was pretty good. At least they understood that I was a single female with cats and a kid and they were careful who they rented the front apartment to. Now the new owner has changed management companies because he wanted to consolidate all his properties into a management company that could handle all his properties. To make a long story short, we might get evicted right here at Christmas. I could tell when I went to talk to the woman that she wasn't going to lift her hand to help me and she didn't. Even though the former management company told me that the owner was pretty easy to get along with and would probably cut me some slack since I had to put $1300 worth of new steel doors on this house so we would be safe in here. That's another story for another day though. When she called me back to tell me that he said to go on and start the eviction proceedings I could tell by her voice that she was taking some delight in telling me that. I doubt she even told him about the doors. I know it is time to move away from here but we can't do that until I get out of school and get a job. Hopefully this will happen soon :)
Anyway, I said all of that to tell you why you now see the Smorty widget on here. It was never my intent to make money from this blog. I just wanted to make a contribution to the field of social work and help my fellow students. From time to time I will be reviewing non-socialwork related sites to try to bring in some money from this site. I ask for your tolerance and your prayers :) We'll be alright...I know God did not bring us this far to let us fall now. :)
It is always very draining for me to write about my personal stuff so I think I will go enjoy my bubbles now :) Have a great weekend and as always Happy Searching!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Please take the poll on the left hand side of the blog

Some of you might be wondering why I never posted about the meeting I went to where I was invited to represent the underclass for the new website design of my university's social work website. Before I get to it...yes, I am the queen of the run-on sentence :) I went to the meeting the day after we got back from the blues trail excursion...which was great, by the way. So I was kind of dogged out and admittedly not very coherent. It seemed to me that they were not at all interested in or impressed with what I spent the entire summer working on. It seemed to me they were only interested in getting it done the easiest and quickest way possible, even though I offered to go sit with the IT people and learn how to do the coding. In all fairness I can understand the mindset...not having an on staff programmer would make you opt for the quick, easy and simple route. But the reason why I haven't posted about it until now is that in the course of the discussion one of the instructors from the PhD program said that my site promoted plagiarism. Ouch! Punch me in the gut why don't ya :) Now, I cannot for the life of me see how providing links to valuable resources promotes plagiarism so I have stewed on it and gone through all the grief stages about it and have finally decided to put up a poll to see what my readers think. According to sitemeter there are about a thousand or so of you out there. It would be great if I could get a few of you in here to respond to the poll before I lose my mind over this :) Thanks so much!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Yeah!! A Cold Snap! Finally We Can Move Again, Here in the Deep South!

Finally the first cold snap! I was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen. Here in the south one of the things we think about doing when the weather turns cold is cooking. We love to cook and we love to eat. I thought it would be interesting to find out what other people like to cook. I started a thread last year in a forum I visit regularly and got many great recipes from it for holiday dinners. So I will start it off on my blog this year. Anyone is welcome to post their recipes here in the comments. This recipe also makes great cupcakes, just put a hershey's caramel kiss on top while still warm for the topping. :)

Better Than Sex Cake

1 butter recipe yellow cake mix
4 large eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 1/3 cup water
1 small pkg instant vanilla pudding
1 8 oz container sour cream
1 bar german chocolate
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Topping

1 large bag Rolo's candy
1 - 2 tablespoons milk

preheat oven to 350. grease and flour large bundt pan. In large bowl combine cake mix, pudding mix, oil and water. mix until well blended. add eggs one at a time blending well after each. place german chocolate in small nonstick skillet and heat on low until in a soft melt state. mix into cake batter. fold in sour cream. fold in chips, coconut and pecans just until evenly distributed. pour evenly into bundt pan. bake for approximately 55 minutes. check at 45. may take longer. cake is done when inserted knife comes out clean. allow to cool in pan for 15 to 20 minutes. invert onto coverable cake plate and allow to cool completely. cover tightly and let sit for at least two days, if you can wait. if not, it's great warm. but the waiting allows the flavors to mellow some. in a large nonstick skillet unwrap rolos and place the candies big side down add 1 tablespoon milk. heat on very low heat stirring occasionally. add milk until just able to stir and no more. if it's too thin it will run right off the cake. allow to cool then pour evenly over cake. i usually use a 2 cup glass measuring cup to do this. makes it easier.

I was about 25 when I discovered this recipe and was experiencing a particularly long "dry spell" and at that time I had a really hard time trying to say that it was not better than sex

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Today I Want to Talk About---Billary....

You cannot imagine the weariness that overcomes me whenever I hear yet another person making my home state the butt-end of a point they are trying to make. It used to make me violently angry in my youth. Seems that it is so easy to just use Mississippi for any analogy from taking a dump over the state to proving your point about backwardness. I just wish people would realize that it was only a select few that sealed our fate many years ago. It was not me. I come from a long line of people on the other side. People that did not agree with the politics of the day and stood up against them. Newt Knight was my great grandfather on my mother's side. If you want to read a glorified, fictionalized account...the one I grew up believing, read Oh, Promised Land and then Tap Roots by James Street. There are three more in the set but these two give you the gist of it. Mr. Street died of a heart attack the year I was born. I wish I could have met him to thank him for giving a little girl something to be proud of in a world that hated her on many levels.
The first hatred I experienced was because my mother was a single parent in the fifties. I had to be a bastard and she had to be a whore. We were neither. My mother was a voracious reader, devouring everything she could get her hands on until the day she died after finishing the New York Times Sunday Crossword puzzle, an award winning critical care nurse and made more than most men of that time. My father was a bohemian artist too free to be held to the responsibilities of family life. Ventana Abierta gives a very good description of the bohemian artist on her blog. I understand my mother more than I ever did, now that I have raised my own child alone.
The second hatred of me was because I was an overweight child. People could be so cruel back then. It's funny now...you don't get that so much, now that everyone else seems to be catching up in the weight department. :)
The third hatred I experienced was because I was caucasion. Until I was seven or so I lived in ignorant bliss, happily playing with whomever I pleased. I was never told I could not socialize with people of different races. Maybe I should have been. I know it would have saved me quite a bit of heartache if I could have remained forever blissfully ignorant. That was not to be the case.
The Freedom Riders (the short version), for a more complete history (the legacy of the Freedom Riders) came to town when I was seven and for the first time in my young life I saw fear in my mother's eyes. Can you imagine being barely 30, a single parent, working nights so you can get your child to school and not knowing if the place you lived was going to go up in flames like what was happening in Alabama? If you've never lived under Marshall Law then how can you understand?
From that point on, how I approached my life changed. I sought out people of other races to talk to and learn from and learn I did. I've been very fortunate to have known and been understood by many people of other races. I've always thought that I was born with an old bluesman's soul because that is where I am most comfortable and people that really know me understand that and relate to it on that level.
Getting back to "Billary." Speaking of "backward" just the very idea that she would use Mississippi in the context that she did shows the world her very own backwardness. I think she should go here and answer the questions posted in the comments. When she can give reasonable and creditable answers to the questions posed in the comments of this article I might reconsider her as a candidate. Yes, I was considering her as a candidate, as I think a lot of women voters were here in Mississippi. More apparently than her numbers were telling her, but she probably cured us of that consideration by her comments.
I am so tired of being called "backward" I could just scream.... so for my readers that aren't from here and can only judge by what they've read I have found some links for you that will tell you some good stuff about Mississippi, if you're willin' :) They can be found on the left sidebar as always.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Trail of the Hellhound

Tomorrow my son and I will be heading up old Hwy 61 in search of The Hellhound and the Blues Trail
The plan is to leave Jackson about 10 am(snerk :)), drive over to Vicksburg and head north on Hwy 61 from there. We are going to stop at the Onward store about 30 miles north of Vicksburg, where Teddy Roosevelt did not kill the bear, for one of those awesome cheeseburgers and some conversation. Then we are heading on up to Clarksdale. We will wander around Clarksdale all day searching for the crossroads where Robert Johnson reportedly sold his soul to the devil for his dazzling guitar technique. Once we leave Onward we should be able to tune into 1450 AM WROX and rock on out to some blues on the way up. In Clarksdale we'll go to the Delta Blues Museum where we can see Muddy Water's cabin and interesting photo exhibits. Then we'll eat at Madidi, Morgan Freeman's restaurant that's supposed to be fancy smancy. Hope they'll let us in without a tie and dress up clothes :) (just called for a reservation, the lady that answered said "just wear some clothes...we'll be good" :)) After the meal, to wake me up enough to drive out to the woods I think we better go over to Ground Zero Blues Club for an hour or so. I want to try to find the authentic rural juke joint Po Monkey's Lounge *near* Merigold reportedly after turning left on the main road immediately there is a fork in the road take the left fork and then take the first gravel road on the left and it's on down in there somewhere. If I'm never heard from again just know that I died happy....wallowing in the blues. Hopefully we'll make it on into Memphis following old Hwy 61 so we can visit Sun Records, BBKing's Blues Club, the Orpheum and the Peabody to watch the march of the ducks on Saturday.
This is the first "vacation" my son and I have ever had and hopefully all of you will have as great a weekend as we are going to have! I still can't believe my 18 year old son suggested that we do this :) I guess raising him on gospel, spirituals and the blues from the cradle did some good. I always hoped it wouldn't warp him and of coarse it didn't. :)

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

The Busiest Time of the Year for a Student :)

Today I have added yet another blog linking to this main page. It is not complete so please bear with me. This one includes criminal justice, juvenile justice and child welfare links to resources. With the addition of this one there are now six separate blogs that link to this main page. Cool, huh?
Because of my work on this blog I have been nominated to be the undergrad representative to work on the committee that will re-invent my own university's School of Social Work page. More about that later, when I know more. I have also been asked to create one for the Criminal Justice Department. So much to do..so little time....I'm lovin' it :) Have a great day!! Happy Searching!!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Abortion

Tough subject to take on, right? Today I saw the man that spearheads the anti-abortion protests of the one abortion clinic we have left here in Hades where I live. He was overseeing the "worker" landscapers and from what I could hear, was being very respectful to them. I felt as if I was in a parallel universe...a place where everyone treated everyone else with respect and courtesy. This has not been my experience with this man and I do believe he recognized me but could not remember from where. While waiting on my son to get off from work I had about 15 minutes to observe him and observe him I did. You see, I truly despise this man and everything he stands for. As I watched him I could not believe what I was seeing....a seemingly gentle, caring human being. I almost felt as if I were being transported back to when I used to disassociate to block the sexual abuse I suffered most of my life. It felt as if I needed to leave reality to comprehend that this very same man that had harassed me and every other woman in this town who had made the excruciating decision to end their pregnancy, could possibly be a nice man. The lengths he would go to, the tactics, the language were some of the most horrible forms of abuse I have ever witnessed.
I have never understood how a man can justify taking up the fight against abortion. It is my belief that if 100% of men were to accept 100% of their responsibility for the children they father then there would be no need for abortion, except in cases of rape or for medical reasons. I would be willing to take a guess that 80% of abortions would be eliminated. Yet, you see them out there, protesting with such vehemence. They stand outside abortion clinics yelling terrible things to women who are about to go through one of the most traumatic events of their lives. What purpose does this serve? Don't they know that they cannot say anything to us that we have not already said to ourselves? Does showing us gruesome, blood and guts, pictures of partially birthed fetuses really serve a purpose? If so, I want to know what purpose that is. Is the purpose to make us never, ever have another good night's sleep? Is it to make sure that we carry guilt with us about the decision we had to make until the day we die? We already do that. Rest assured you can not punish us or make us feel any more guilty than we already do. Again I ask, what is the purpose? Who gives you the right to abuse us in that manner? Certainly not my God. My Father loves his children and when we are ready to be forgiven will open His arms and welcome us to be forgiven.

Friday, September 14, 2007

So I was Wrong :)

In the spirit of professionalism...the music player will not start automatically from now on. You can still play it by hitting the play button. I want my readers to come here to discover the wealth of information I have uncovered on the web. If the music offends them or scares them away before they have time to do this then I have not truly done my job. So, for those of us that can not live without music to work by, it is still there to enjoy. Now the reader has a choice as to whether or not they want to listen. :) Have a Great Day and Happy Searching!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

I'm Wondering....

The sitemeter widget at the bottom of this page tells me hourly who has been to my site, where they came from, how they came in and what they clicked to go out. The MyBlogLog one gives a different set of details but not until the next day. I don't know which one I like the best but the one thing that they both tell me is that most people are only visiting my first page.

If you come here for the links to the information that you need and don't see them, I'm sorry about that. There are five (soon to be six) other blogs attached to this first page. The links to them are done by category and are listed under the music player on the left-hand side. Click the link that says, for instance, University Archives...this will take you to the page of all the wonderful university sites I have found for my readers. Most of the time it will take you directly to the page you need for social work related material. My sole reason for doing this was to save future students of social work time. I have tried to keep this in mind with every link listed for you. Rest assured I have been all over every site I have listed for you. This is why you rarely have to go to a website's homepage and figure out how to navigate from there to get to what you need. I have also searched at least 10 search engine pages, sometimes 20 or more, so you won't have to waste your time searching. As always suggestions for improvement are always welcome!

The music can be turned off by clicking the green button on the bottom left corner of the player. I am leaving it at the top of the column so this will be easy for you to do. The main reason it is on the page is that there have been many requests for me to expand my profile. There are 120 songs on the player and I think it is a pretty accurate representation of who I am and where I've been. I could write you my story about every song in the player, but neither of us has the time. In case you haven't noticed I am not a blogger that likes to tell you all the gory personal details of my life. I guess I just think if you want to be a social worker or you already are then you know the understanding of human nature that it takes to be a social worker. You can not have understanding without experience. IMO "Nuff said. Thanks to years of therapy I got rid of the baggage years ago and don't intend to pick it up and start carrying it again. If I think it is relevant then I will bite the bullet and write it. Don't look for it very often though.

Have a Great Evening and Happy Searching!

Thursday, August 30, 2007

A Heartfelt Thank You!

This morning before I head off to be taught how to access the dreaded online algebra course I'm taking this semester, I want to take a little time to acknowledge the people who have helped me the most. I have gone from staring at a blank page and not having a clue as to how to put anything on it, to being able to enter information and widgets with ease. This was beyond the realm of my comprehension just two short months ago.
First, I must thank Optional and Cathangela over at the ACC forum for their invaluable and ongoing support. Were it not for these two I would have given up within the first week. It was their encouragement and expertise with coding and the like that kept me sane :) Thanks guys for letting me pick your brain! Thanks also to all my buddies over at ACC for the support and especially for not laughing at me when I began this endeavor :) I am also adding a link to one of Matt's sites here because I left him out when I did these thank you's...I'm so sorry Matt...If it were not for you working with me I would have thrown my computer through a window or something....thank you for all the countless hours you spent with me helping me keep this ole piece of junk working :) I hope you know I just plain forgot about you because you weren't involved in the set up of this blog...again I'm sorry...I should have thanked you first because if it were not for your expertise I wouldn't even have had a computer to blog with...sorry I was such an idiot...
Next, I must thank Tobi Shane webmistress of The Social Work Cafe for the ongoing, almost daily (sometimes two and three times daily) support. She has listened to me, provided me with exact, in real time, technical support for problems, made suggestions, provided uplifting conversations and provided my first place for outside exposure! For this I will be eternally grateful. I am truly proud to call Tobi my friend now and hopefully for many years to come!
Thank you also to Dr. Rob for letting me have the healthcare blogger widget, thereby validating my belief that social workers are indeed a viable resource in the healthcare field. Thank you also for having a blog that provides me countless hours of enlightened entertainment.
I believe that all my readers are well aware of my feelings about Andrew, webmaster of Mutual Aid Based Groupwork. He has changed my view of social work completely and made me finally understand the importance of all those dreaded "group assignments" in my courses at school.
Lastly, I would like to thank all the sites that have considered my little blog worthy enough to be added as a resource to their site. It makes me proud to be a part of the social work online community.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Andrew's on Wikipedia!

Andrew Cicchetti has a new entry on Wikipedia
Andrew has the site Mutual Aid Based Groupwork. You can find the link under social work on the left sidebar of this page.
I cannot begin to tell you here just how invaluable this information can be to the social worker. You must go read for yourself. Andrew's writings have given me an entirely different perspective of just what social work is and what it should be. His entry on Wikipedia is a smooth, easy to read, cohesive compilation of his site. The following is an excerpt from Wikipedia:
"Mutual aid as group work technology can be understood as an exchange of help wherein the group member is both the provider as well as the recipient of help in service of achieving common group and individual goals (Borkman, 1999; Gitterman, 2006; Lieberman, 1983; Northen & Kurland, 2001; Schwartz, 1961; Shulman, 2006, Steinberg, 2004; Toseland & Siporin, 1986). The rationale for cultivating mutual aid in the group encounter is premised on the following beliefs: 1) members have strengths, opinions, perspectives, information, and experiences that can be drawn upon to help others in the group; 2) helping others helps the helper, a concept known as the helper-therapy principle (Reissman, 1965) which has been empirically validated (Roberts et al, 1999); and 3) some types of help, such as confrontation, are better received when emanating from a peer rather than the worker (Shulman, 2006). The use of mutual aid based group work has resonance with the needs of a variety of populations. For example, in substance abuse treatment groups mutual aid has been observed to both strengthen self-esteem and affirm the value of a sober network of peers (Cicchetti, in press).
Please do go check it out when you have the time to read and absorb...it is so worth it! :)

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Finished!

The changes to the site are complete...for the moment anyway :) Now I can devote my time to searching for reputable, reliable and free links. I hope you find it is easier to navigate around in here. In the future I will probably add more blogs to the list. I still want to devote time and energy to several other subjects within the social work realm, youth-at-risk and critical thinking are two that come immediately to mind. There are many areas in social work I have not covered. As you are reading through the site, thinking of areas you wish I had covered, that I have not, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will do my best to see what I can find. I will tell you this though...except for what has already been included, criminal justice, as a stand alone subject will never be covered. I refuse to compromise my computer by clicking on criminal justice links. In case you haven't noticed every time you click a cj link you are bombarded with ads for online schools and all kinds of other c**p that you can never get off your computer. Good luck with it though! Have a Great Day and Happy Searching!

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Changes

Today I will be making changes to the blog. It will no longer be just one. It is no secret I have never been happy with the way this blog navigates and I don't have the time, nor the inclination, to learn html coding, so I have decided to use a simple layout and have separate blogs with two categories each. This will allow for ease of navigation on this site as well as allow extensive room on the other blogs as I find more and more interesting links for you. This will be a time-consuming transition and more than likely will not happen overnight so I hope you will bear with me. I think it will be worth it in the end. :) Have a Great Day and Happy Searching!

Friday, August 10, 2007

:)

Ok, I know I've been playing for a week or so. It's time to get back to business, school starts back in less than a week and I have to go face Algebra for the umpteenth time :(
I want to add links for the elderly and links for the homeless before school starts back. Then I think I will be finished with the different categories and I can just add to them as time goes along. I will try to add one or two to each, every week or so, but my main focus will be algebra and studying for the licensure exam. It is paramount that I finish in December...no more financial aid...kid's grouchy...etc. :-)
It has always been my goal to give my readers/fellow students a great stepping off point. If you've been reading since the beginning then you remember I only promised you great places to start searching. I have thrown in some obscure links that you might not think of, mainly because the very discovery of their existence excited me and I thought it might do the same for you.
I will be adding the links for the elderly today. So far I've not been happy with what I found. This is not a good thing. It tells me those working with the elderly are not publishing websites with their own resources listed. You can imagine how this irks me. I did find one that I personally plan to use...regularly :) The Elder Wisdom Circle. I've taken this excerpt from their "about us" page.
The EWC is a place for people in their teens, 20's and 30's to connect with a Cyber-Grandparent for anonymous personalized advice. Elder Wisdom Circle is organized as a IRS 501(c)3 non-profit association. Most advice-seekers are 14-35 but we reply to everyone. We are based in the San Francisco Bay Area with Elders all over North America. We are one of the largest providers of personal advice anywhere. The mission of our association is to promote and share elder know-how and accumulated wisdom. We also have a goal of elevating the perceived value and worth of our senior community. FREE Advice: Our Elders can help with most any problem providing a personalized reply to each and every request. Our service is totally confidential and easy to use. To seek advice, click [ here ].
Isn't that cool! I've been reading their advice for awhile now and feel truly blessed to have stumbled on this one!
The last category I will be adding will be links for homelessness. I add it last because I've been trying to avoid it altogether. I have so many mixed feelings about the subject, having been so very close to being homeless myself and having had a husband that preferred to live under a bridge with his alcohol over his precious and beautiful son...well, I think you understand. I understand that I would be falling short of my goal to help my fellow social work students were I not to include it. So I will.
As always Happy Searching and Have a Great Day!

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

LastFM

Hey, you can probably tell I added the LastFM widget today. :-) I have it set to start automatically. Most people would never guess this about me, but, I Love Me Some Blues!!! If by some weird chance, you don't and it's really getting on your nerves, you can click it off by clicking that square button in the top right corner of the widget. Happy listening to go along with your searching!!!

Monday, August 6, 2007

Affordabook.com

Today I want to tell you about a pretty cool place I found. At least it's a pretty cool place for struggling students. When I first heard of it I doubted anyone could beat Amazon for cheap, quality textbooks. I was wrong.
Affordabook.com is unique in that it gives you a comparison of up to 15 different booksellers and surprisingly Amazon was not the cheapest. I was really excited to find this site since it is my last semester and I need to re-purchase some textbooks to study for the licensure exam and don't want to spend much.
It also amazed me that Affordabooks.com had upwards of 300 entries when I typed "social work" into the search bar. I found the older version of Zastrow's Understanding Human Behavior and Social Development, which is the one I used for my class, for $7.83. Amazing! Oh and in Amazon's defense this one was at Amazon. The newer version could be found at AbeBooks for $56.17.
I mention that price at Abebooks because that was one thing I found wrong with Affordabook.com. It was not a bad thing and was probably just an Abebooks updating thing but when I got to Abebooks the price that had been listed as the lowest price was wrong. There were 2 cheaper than the listed price of $61.27 and there wasn't one for the listed price of $61.27. Like I said this was not necessarily a bad thing, just a bit surprising.
Overall I found Affordabook.com easily navigable and the only thing that bothered me other than the aforementioned price discrepancy was the way the books were listed. They were listed 10 to a page and in no particular order. If you had the ISBN number this would not be a problem. It's only a problem for those of us that like to browse and are pretty lazy about it. I would like to see an option for choosing how you want to view the list, either with all the pretty pictures or just by author/title. There are no book descriptions either. If you want a book description then you have to click the link to the site with the lowest price which is not good for a person pressed for time. I would also like to see in the future an "if you like this book then you might like these" or an "other people that purchased this book also purchased x-y-z books" section. I guess if you want that you can do it at the bookseller's site. I only mention it because my site is dedicated to saving social work students time. All-in-all it's a great time-saving site and I would recommend it to everyone out there trying to save a buck on textbooks.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Theories

OK, I know it's been nine days or so since I last posted. The last one and the birthing story were time consuming and yes, the former was traumatic. Reconstructing/reliving that time in my life just to write about it deserved some respite, so I gave it some. It's done and I'm glad it's over.
Hey, do you like my Healthcare Blogger Code of Ethics widget? I'm so proud of it. I don't want to get into the "is social work a healthcare profession" debate because this post could go on for days and possibly turn into a free-for-all, just let me say that Dr. Rob agreed with me and so I have my widget :-). Please check out Dr. Rob's site "Musings of a Distractible Mind" Since I haven't figured out how to put a link into a post yet, the link for it is in the sidebar under "Other Sites/Blogs of Interest". There are great links to other valuable medical blogs on his site.
Sometime today I will be adding the links for Psychological and Social Work theories. I am adding these links because good information on theories is hard to find, especially for the beginning student. I will start with what I have right now in the bookmarks and as I go through that eternally growing stack of papers beside my desk I will add more. Happy Searching!

Friday, July 27, 2007

Domestic Violence

This is my touchy subject. Feeling compelled to include the links here on this blog does not compare to my need for privacy or for my need to keep the memories buried, swallowed, hacked to pieces, regurgitated and re-swallowed. Now, that having been said, I will share some of my story. For instance, the reason for my inclusion of Al-Anon in the links. Al-Anon was my salvation. It was during my first meeting there that I first heard the words "Let go and let God." There are no words to describe the way I felt when I first heard those words. I had no other choice but to do just that very thing. Were it not for those words and the fact that not long after that, during a particularly violent episode, I looked over at my screaming 18 month old son and realized that if I did not get myself together and do something to get us out of that situation then that beautiful, innocent child I had prayed for since I was 10, would one day grow up to believe violence against women was acceptable behavior. I knew in my deepest soul that God had not forgiven me for all the abortions I had (another story) and given me his most precious gift to have it destroyed by a violent man with his own issues. With that realization I found new strength to do what I had to do. Until that point I fought back, I argued, I was just as angry as he was and while not an alcoholic I was still drinking. Al-Anon showed me the way to deal with the relationship until I could get out. I'm not sure if this would work for everyone but this is what I did. I quit drinking and I shut down every emotion I had for that man, by this time it was easy to do. Nothing he could say would provoke me. I was one cold, empty bitch. Believe me, he tried his very best to provoke me...I would just look at him or not and keep my mouth shut...no matter what he said or did, I did not say a word, fight back or even roll my eyes. I showed him no emotion of any kind. I knew that eventually he would screw up on his own and then I would have my out. I prepared myself for the wait. Luckily, I did not have to wait but a short two months. He came home one afternoon and proceeded to tear up everything in the house because I wouldn't go inside with him (so he could beat the crap out of me in private). The neighbors heard it and called the police. They put him in the van and loaded him off to jail. The story does not end there but this was the beginning of the end and soon I found another place to live and we moved. I went to our post office, took a picture of him and made them swear that they would not answer any questions he had about my new address. It must have worked because he never found us. That was 17 years ago and today I have my beautiful glorious son with his innocence still intact. There is another saying that I want to share with you today courtesy of my friend Amerah: "If He brings you to it, He will bring you through it" If you can just know this one thing, you will find the strength to do what you need to do. The past 17 years have not been easy but I like to think of it as the path I took in order to become a social worker. I believe by traveling this road I will be a much more empathetic soul than I would have been had I not. In providing these links for you I hope that I have provided you with a valuable place to start when dealing with your own issues or with someone else's.
One last thing. We would never have survived in those first days had it not been for Supportive Living Services. In my opinion this is the one most underrated, most useful programs out there today. Some states don't even utilize it, my own being one of them. Luckily, I was in one that did when I needed it. Please search for it if you have the need. It can be found through your local mental health office. I have included a link that will tell you all about what it does and who it serves. This program paid my rent for 3 years, provided transportation, assisted me with medications, applying for assistance, and sent me to school. Their only requirement was that I go to therapy and keep up with my treatment plan. With programs such as this utilized in a more overarching fashion, I believe that there would be many more "survivors."

Monday, July 23, 2007

Researching for the Disabled

Today I will be adding the links I found for researching for the disabled. These include job links, information sites, work from home employment opportunities, the Small Business Administration link for person's with disabilites, products to aid in employment, etc.
I also need to apologize for neglecting this site. I am trying to transfer everything over to a Bravenet site, with hosting, a subdomain name and the whole nine yards a website offers that a blog doesn't. It is going very slowly....looks good but it is very tedious work. I suppose the more I do the easier it will get. :-)

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Philosophy

Today I will be adding the links for the philosophy section. I have signed up for an aesthetics course for the fall. Philosophy scares me. Mainly because my brain is old and it makes me rack my old creaky brain and think. Not only do I have to think but I have to research and read up on how to think. Because I have AADD I have to go back and re-acquaint myself with the histories of philosophy. I guess that's a good thing. Maybe it will keep the alzheimer's at bay for a little while longer. There are thousands of pages listed for philosophy on the web and I have many of them in my bookmarks. The links that I put in the sidebar here are only intended to get you started on your own quest.....that's what it is all about...your own search for your own truth. The histories, the biographies, the dictionaries, the papers written by other thinkers, are all there to guide you in your search for your own truth. It is my hope that I can help you and that you will enjoy yourself along the way to your own enlightenment. :-)

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Social Work Archives

It's late and I feel as though I need a hot shower...maybe a "virtual" hot shower, as I have been digging through virtual cobwebs most of this evening for the blog. My friend and colleague Andrew Cicchetti, check the Mutual Aid Based Group Work link in the left column, peaked my interest in archives and I wondered just how many archives there could be for social work. I would suggest that you start with his site. It is primarily concerned with group work but there are some great oral history links dating back to the 1850's and maybe earlier and links directly to the University of Minnesota. I will be adding links to all that I found in a new section "Archival Resources" that will be on the left side of this blog along with all the others.
There are two other main links that I would suggest any student take a look at, not just social work students. The first I had to shut down quickly, had I not I would've been lost in there for days, even weeks. The University of Liverpool. Never in a million years would it have occurred to me to type those four words into a search box, but yet there I was about to fall into an abyss from which I would never return. While the social work collections are extensive, it was the links for their other collections that started my fall. Gypsey Lore Collections, Medieval & Later Manuscripts, Shipping & slave trade papers, Spanish Civil War Collections, Incunabula and Early books...OMG!
The Social Work Archives in the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College. Anyone interested in Southern History should not miss a pass through of this collection. The Black Women's Oral History Project, the oral histories of 66 black women, most born before 1910 and who have made significant impact on their communities through volunteerism or work. Correct me if I am wrong, I could not get the finding aid link to work, but this collection must be where Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" speech is housed.
Such reverence I felt being allowed to visit the site and peruse to my hearts content.
ok, that's it for this evening...will get started adding the links tomorrow after mass. Will also continue to dig. :-)

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Information for Practice

I found a great site today. It has quality up to date journal articles. I could not find out much about it's author, Gary Holden except he has a gary.holden@nyu.edu address that does not seem to work. The site is also in great need of an index. Right now it has sort of a "poke and hope" feel to it, but that said the articles are there and they are current, you just have to read the entire site to find what you might be interested in or need.

http://www.nyu.edu/socialwork/ip/

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

The National Guideline Clearinghouse

Today I want to talk about another awesome site I found in my travels that I believe to be an invaluable source for not only social work students but practitioners as well. It can be found at http://www.guideline.gov/

This site is an invaluable medical science based resource. Here is a short description taken from the NGC page:

"In 1997, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) launched its initiative to promote evidence-based practice in everyday care through establishment of 12 Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPCs). The EPCs develop evidence reports and technology assessments on clinical topics that are common, expensive, and/or are significant for the Medicare and Medicaid populations. With this program, AHRQ became a "science partner" with private and public organizations in their efforts to improve the quality, effectiveness, and appropriateness of clinical care by facilitating the translation of evidence-based research findings into clinical practice."

While as social workers we are not involved in the "clinical" care of patients I believe that this site offers us valuable assessment resources that we might use to recognize when a client needs to be referred to a physician or when a client has been referred to us for counseling. There are annotated bibliographies, bioterrorism links, discussion list links, EPC reports, guideline resources, hurricane resources and patient resources.
The one that I would like to talk about today is guideline resources. On this page you will find links to complimentary resources as well as sister sites. Halfway down on the left you will see a browse box complete with a search box where you can type in whatever disease, mental disorder or treatment you are looking for. I typed in social work just to see how it would narrow down my search. Out of over 4000 articles in the database it narrowed down to 449 so that might be a good way to start. Typing in social worker narrows it down to 93. There are articles on recommendations for chronic pain management, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health for homeless women, diabetes, chronic fatigue, protecting patients rights,spirituality and the older adult,asthma management, stress related conditions and other mental disorders just to name a few.
I have selected Adapting your practice: treatment and recommendations for homeless children with otitis media to break down for you today as an example of the offerings of the site.

The page first gives you the title then the bibliographic sources for the article which for this article are: Bonin E, Brammer S, Brehove T, Hale A, Hines L, Kline S, Kopydlowski MA, Misgen M, Obias ME, Olivet J, O'Sullivan A, Post P, Rabiner M, Reller C, Schulz B, Sherman P, Strehlow AJ, Yungman J. Adapting your practice: treatment and recommendations for homeless children with otitis media. Nashville (TN): Health Care for the Homeless Clinicians' Network, National Health Care for the Homeless Council, Inc.; 2003. 24 p. [27 references]

Then it gives you the status of the guideline. This is the current release of this guideline. Then you have the option of a brief summary of the contents which include: recommendations, evidence supporting the recommendations, identifying information and availability, disclaimer and the option to view the complete summary. Under recommendations you will find excellent questions to ask while doing your own assessment if needed. Questions about the child's housing and medical situation, exposures to smoke, viral illnesses, drugs while being brest fed, sleep disturbances, hearing difficulties, delayed speech, development, behavior, school attendance, prior infections and treatment and other history. The plan and management section gives good insight into suggestions for parental education ie signs and symptoms, prevention, risk of delayed or interrupted treatment, aids for adherance, emergency numbers, follow-up. there is also a list of associated problems/complications such as congregate living, parental smoking, lack of transportation, financial barriers, poor adherance and familial stress. Follow-up includes recheck, sharing information with patients primary care physician, referrals for further testing, specialists and case management.
The rest of the guideline centers around documentation of sources, release date, copyright information and the disclaimer.
I did check several other guidelines and found them to be as informative but much too long for my purpose here. There is also a box on the left side where you can have your own list of articles and also do comparisons of the articles you choose. I haven't tried that. I will let you know how it goes in this article when i do. :-) Have a Great Day and Happy Hunting!

Sunday, July 8, 2007

OOPS!!!!

It has come to my attention that the link to Cornell is not working and for the life of me i can not figure out why. I am typing in the exact link exactly as it shows in browser window. Maybe I didn't give the right credit or something and Cornell rigged it so I can't use it :-) So first I'll give the credit where I got the information then I will tell you how to get there on your own. Then I will remove the non-working link.

Research Department Collections, Reference, Instruction & Outreach
Cornell University Library
Ithaca, NY, USA

To get there:

type in www.cornell.edu
scroll down to "Inside Cornell" click that
click "Libraries"
scroll down click "Uris Library"
middle of the page about 4 or 5 lines down click "Library Tutorials & Skill Guides"
scroll down click "Research Strategy" and that should take you to the entire tutorial including the one from Berkeley.

Sorry for the trouble and hope this helps.

Friday, July 6, 2007

Cornell--Great Steps and Links for the Research Process

Today I am once again amazed. You probably would never guess this about me but I love the internet! I can find anything I want, need, or could only dream of finding and I do mean anything. Today is one of those days. I'm not really sure how I got to the Cornell page because I began by looking for a simple solution for adding widgets to this blog. I am still looking for that by the way, but I did find this absolutely wonderful page from Cornell's Olin & Uris Library and thought it would go great for this blog. The link is in the left sidebar of this page. If you are just beginning to do your research or if you are lost trying to research it is a great read.

Step One: Identify and Develop a Research Topic
This page has links for identifying your topic, suggestions for finding your topic, identifying keywords for your search and how to test your topic. Clicking on "suggestions for finding your topic" link will lead you to links for CQ Researcher online where you can find Issues and Controversies on file, Taking Sides, and Editorials on File within Cornell. there is also a link for Keesinger's Record of World Events Online but you have to have a Cornell id to use it. :-( There is also a link for "Subject Guides" which will lead you to internet links researched and accepted by Olin & Uris Reference Staff. Great Stuff! I could spend days telling you about that page alone, but, go on...check it out for yourself :-)

Step Two: Find Background Information
This page will link you to the university library page where you might check out the library to library loan program. It also has a link for the Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. There is also the suggestion that you take the bibliographies of what you have found and exploit...explore the writers found there. It took me a couple of years before i figured that out :-) I've always been one to want to do it the hard way :-).

Step Three: Use Catalogs to Find Books and Media
Step Four: Use Indexes to find Periodical Articles

Steps Three and Four are pretty much extensions of Step Two except Step Four has a page to help you distinguish between the four types of articles: Scholarly, Substantive News/General Interest, Popular and Sensational. If you need that then it's an informative read. there is also a link for a guide to newspaper indexes and full-text newspaper databases which i thought was really cool.

I will be back later to finish up with Steps Five, Six and Seven....
OK, I'm back with my favorite :-)

Step Five: Find Internet Resources
This section includes some of the most interesting links I have found to date. I wish I had found these before I started my second college career. The most thorough introduction to internet search is posted here via the UC @ Berkeley Library tutorial. This tutorial's table of contents is enlightenment in itself. The first being: Analyze your topic and search with peripheral vision. There are recommended search strategies which include search engines, "Googling to the Max", Boolean searching, Meta-search engines and invisible search. Invisible search is what you cannot retrieve "see" in search results, most of which is made up of thousands of specialized searchable databases. Again I could go on here for days but you can click for yourself so I won't insult your intelligence by doing so. Clicking the subject directories link will send you to the page with the top 6 searchable subject databases.
The second teaches you how to evaluate web pages skillfully. For instance: 1) What can the URL tell you? Is it someone's personal page? What type of domain does it come from? (educational, nonprofit, government, commercial, etc.) Is it published by an entity that makes sense? Have you heard of this entity before? Does it correspond with the name of the site? Should it? 2) Scan the perimeter of the page looking for answers to these questions. Who wrote the page? Is the page dated? Is it current? What are the author's credentials on this subject? 3) Look for indicators of quality information. Are the sources documented with footnotes or links? If reproduced information, is it complete, unaltered, fake of forged? Are there links to other resources on the topic? Are the links well chosen, well organized and/or evaluated, annotated? Do the links work? Do the links represent other viewpoints? do the links or absence of other viewpoints indicate bias? 4) What do others say? find out what other web pages link to the page by using alexa. there are instructions on how to do this on this page. Who links to the page? Is the link listed on one or more reputable directories or pages? What do others say about the author or authoring body? 5) Does it all add up? step back and think about all that you have learned from the page. Listen to your gut reaction. Be sensitive to the possibility that you are the victim of irony, spoof, fraud or other falsehood. Why was the page put on the web? Might it be ironic, satire or parody? Is this information as good as I could find if I used the library, web-based indexes available through the library or other print resources? There are also website evaluation checklist forms on this page.
The third link will take you to a page about citing your sources and will provide you with links to style guides in pdf form for APA, MLA, Chicago-Turibain and other official style manuals offered in UC Berkeley's library.
The fourth link is a list /glossery of internet terms and web jargon. The fifth links you to a list of handouts and power point presentations on searching...great stuff!

Step Six: Evaluate What You Find
This step provides you with an invaluable tool for evaluating "hard copy" sources.

Step Seven: Cite What You Find Using a Standard Format
This step provides a guide to citation tools and styles

Ok, that's it for today. Whew! :-)



Thursday, July 5, 2007

A Smile for Today!

Father O'Malley rose from his bed. It was a fine spring day in his new
Texas mission parish. He walked to the window of his bedroom to get a
deep breath of the beautiful day outside.

He then noticed there was a jackass lying dead in the middle of his
front lawn. He promptly called the local police station.

The conversation went like this:

"Good morning. This is Sergeant Jones. How might I help you?"

"And the best of the day te yerself. This is Father O'Malley at St.
Brigid's. There's a jackass lying dead in me front lawn. Would ye be so
kind as to send a couple o' yer lads to take care of the matter?"

Sergeant Jones, considering himself to be quite a wit, replied with a
smirk, "Well now father, it was always my impression that you people
took care of last rites!"

There was dead silence on the line for a long moment.

Father O'Malley then replied: "Aye, tis certainly true, but we are also
obliged to notify the next of kin."

Monday, July 2, 2007

Juvenile Justice Links

Please check out this page for Juvenile Justice links. This list is maintained by Florida State University's Criminology Department:

Juvenile Delinquency and Education

Youth Crime & Victimization

Juvenile Justice System

Overview and History of Juvenile Justice

State Departments of Juvenile Justice

Job Services

Prevention Programs

New Legislation

Interface with Police

Intake

Detention

Diversion

Juvenile Court System

Restitution and Community Service

Community-Based Programs

Residency Programs

Bootcamps

Aftercare

Copyright 1997 FSU School of Criminology

Six Steps to Improve Your Negotiation Skills

Do you struggle when presenting your needs to others? If so, you may need help with negotiation skills!

Getting your needs met in a positive manner requires skill and assertiveness. Here are six fundamental rules to follow so that you are prepared for the negotiation process.

1. Time your discussion

Most people think clearly during early morning periods. To be a successful negotiator you will need to accommodate the mood and mind of the other person who you are approaching. Find a time for negotiation that seems best for both yourself and the other party. It is better to move the meeting to a time that is available for the other party, if required, and this will increase your chances of negotiating with success.

2. Break the Ice

Use your initial contact time to create small talk prior to negotiating at a more serious level. The aim of this is to create a positive and friendly environment so that you can pitch your appeal for what you need in an atmosphere that is open. Only move into the negotiation process when you are sure that your request will be considered in a positive moment.

3. Use “I” Statements

Frame your statements in the first person, stating what you want directly. For example, if you feel that you are performing your work satisfactorily and would like to negotiate a raise with your employer, use the phrase, “I would like to bring up the subject of a pay rise.”

One mistake that people often make during negotiation is using “You” statements. These types of requests come across negatively because there is the underlying feeling that the other person has let you down. For example, if you stated, “You need to consider paying me more for the work I do around here”, this statement may be taken as a criticism.

4. Be honest and direct

Be honest about your situation. Explain what you need and don’t leave the other person guessing about why you’re approaching them.

5. Show appreciation

All successful negotiators understand that a win-win situation can be produced when both parties compromise on things of lesser importance. When the other party agrees to your request demonstrate your appreciation by thanking them verbally, and in any other way that you think appropriate.

6. Stick to the issue

Finally, the negotiation process can become quite complex. To avoid getting lost in the details, keep to the topic that you need them to agree to. Make sure you don’t confuse the items you are negotiating with items of personal interest.

By using these six rules in the negotiation process you will be able to produce win-win outcomes that are mutually acceptable.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

The Best Place to Start Looking

It should be widely known that the absolute best place to start looking for free research is within a university's school of social work website. Some are considerably better than others. I have copied and pasted this page from the University of Minnesota's School of Social Work resources page. Of all the universities I have visited looking for just such a page to post for you here, this is without a doubt the best one I have found so far! It made me wonder...if they treat the general public so well then what must they do for their own social work students. Or maybe they have it there for their own students and the rest of us can just tag along. :-) I was simply amazed at the navigational ease within the site...I hope you will be also. I believe that you can take this list, substitute your own state or region's information and have the perfect list to keep with you always. So here it is. Happy Hunting!

I am adding some links to other schools I remember as being worthy under the curriculum links on the side of this page. The first one is the University of South Carolina's SWAN (Social Work Access Network) page. It lists articles that you could find useful, some abstract, some full text.
So it goes...maybe later I will give them their own box...it's getting crowded over there and i've only just begun! :-)


NASW

World WideWeb Resources for Social Workers

Education Sites

General Sites

Practice Sites Employment Sites Government Agencies

- Federal
- State & Local Legislation, Law, Policy Information About the Twin CitiesListings by topic
(These lists are NOT comprehensive)

African American Resources
Asian American Resources Children & Family Issues Disability Domestic Violence and Abuse Elder Care/Aging Emergency FoodShelf Network


Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Resources

Homelessness Latino/Chicano Resources Mental Health and Health Native American Resources Poverty