The Elder Wisdom Circle

The Elder Wisdom Circle is a weekly column I subscribe to. I never had grandparents. My maternal grandfather died the year I was born, maternal grandmother died when I was seven, but I never knew her. My parents were divorced so I never knew my paternal grandparents. I get my grandparent advice from the Elder Wisdom Circle and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when I read their advice. I thought I would share one today that about sums it all up :)

Words of Wisdom
Q. I have always wanted to sit my Grandpa down and glean every ounce of advice he deemed important for me to know. Unfortunately, he passed away 3 days ago. I was hoping someone would share their words of wisdom on life.

A. I am so sorry for your loss. First of all think about the things you admired about him the most; his integrity, honesty, caring, sharing and loving. Emulate those things. I would like to share just a few words of wisdom: 1) Pick your friends and associates carefully. 2) Ensure your moral foundation is strong and don't give up your deep rooted values. 3) Don't give up, and write your goals down. 4) Never stop learning. 5) Don't be afraid to be alone and be your own best friend. 6) Seek truth in all situations and be honest with others and yourself. 7) Remember at all times that you are special, rare and original - there is no one on this earth that is like you. 8) Life is a journey - a lifetime of ups and downs, good and bad, success and failure. 9) Laugh, smile and be cheerful. 10) Develop faith. 11) Share your gifts with others. 12) Dream…
Best Regards,
Cheche

Elder Wisdom Circle is a nationwide network of seniors aged 60-105 offering their experience and advice to anyone with a question. Visit www.ElderWisdomCircle.org to seek advice. Look for their new book The Elder Wisdom Circle guide for a Meaningful Life.

Postcards from Amerah...

I met this most awesome woman when I went back to school. We could see the "survivor" in each other's eyes and just hit it off. We've been friends ever since the first day. As time wore on though our friendship deepened as friendships will. She has since married and moved to Memphis. We did get to spend time with her on our "Trail of the Hellhound"(look on the blues page) weekend when we followed the blues trail from Vicksburg all the way up to Beale Street. Anyway from time to time she sends me emails that are hilarious and I've decided I would like to share them with you. Sometimes they crack me up, sometimes they make me cry but they are always beautiful to me because my friend remembered me enough to add a little sunshine to my day. I hope my sharing adds some to yours...

A Man and His Wife

A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each
Other the silent treatment. Suddenly, the man realized that the next day,
He would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight.
Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper,
'Please wake me at 5:00 AM ' He left it where he knew she would find it.
The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM
And he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and
See why his wife hadn't wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by
The bed. The paper said, 'It is 5:00 AM. Wake up.'
Men are not equipped for these kinds of contests.


WIFE VS. HUSBAND

A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word.
An earlier discussion had led to an argument and
Neither of them wanted to concede their position.
As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs,
The husband asked sarcastically, 'Relatives of yours?'
'Yep,' the wife replied , 'in-laws


WOMEN'S REVENGE
'Cash, check or charge?' I asked, after folding items the woman wished to purchase.
As she fumbled for her wallet I noticed a re mote control for a television set in her purse.
'So, do you always carry your TV remote?' I asked.
'No,' she replied, ' but my husband refused to come shopping with me,
And I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally.'


UNDERSTANDING WOMEN
(A MAN'S PERSPECTIVE)
I know I'm not going to understand women.
I'll never understand how you can take boiling hot wax,
Pour it onto your upper thigh, rip the hair out by the root,
And still be afraid of a spider.


W O R D S

A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day...
30,000 to a man's 15,000.
The wife replied, 'The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men...
The husband then turned to his wife and asked, 'What?'

CREATION
A man said t o his wife one day, 'I don't know how you can be
So stupid and so beautiful all at the same time.
' The wife responded, 'Allow me to explain.
God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me;
God made me stupid so I would be attracted to you!

WHO DOES WHAT
A man and his wife were having an argument about who
Should brew the coffee each morning.
The wife said, 'You should do it, because you get up first,
And then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee.'
The husband said, ' You are in charge of cooking around here and
You should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee.'
Wife replies, 'No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible
That the man should do the coffee.'
Husband replies, 'I can't believe that, show me.'
So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament
And showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says..........'HEBREWS'

God may have created man before woman,
But there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece.

Fried Cornbread :)

I'll let y'all in on a little secret...usually when I post about food it's because I have just pigged out on something wonderful, the guilt sets in, so I write about it to alleviate some of the guilt :) For almost a year now, we have been living on friggin' hamburger helper or the generic version thereof. Three-cheese pasta is the one the boy likes the best. I can not begin to explain how I feel when I look down at my plate and there it is, yet again... I've started just putting a single spoonful on my plate and gagging it down. Anyway this week I decided we needed some greens. Cabbage is our favorite (doesn't require as much prep work as other greens), stir-fried with salt and pepper in about a teaspoon of margarine. We like it just plain steamed too, but tonight it was with a teaspoon of margarine. K, that's where the semi-healthy meal ended....

I remember years ago when I was about 12 or so my mother was reading in the Betty Crocker cookbook or some such yankee publication that a one inch square piece of cornbread had 200 calories! She was quite shocked and had a grand old time calling all her cronies telling them about it. I'm quite sure Betty Crocker was talking about just plain cornbread and not the Martha White (I bow to the god Martha White every time I get praise for my cornbread) self-rising buttermilk cornbread. It is the closest mix there is to real grist mill-down-home southern cornbread...just ask any good southern cook :) Normally I follow the recipe on the back and then add 1/4 to 1/3 cup of sugar...I know my ancestors are rolling around in their graves when I write those words, because all my life I heard "only Yankees put sugar in their cornbread" Blasphemy, I know...and I blame our favorite little old greek grandmother landlord we had in Atlanta for it. She was all about "lotsa, lotsa, eggs, lotsa, lotsa, butter, lotsa, lotsa, cream and sugar" It seems she didn't think very much of my cooking :) She did teach me how to make a mean spanakopita though. K, back to the cornbread...

Last night I decided we needed something to go with the cabbage and everyone knows that the perfect compliment to greens is cornbread. The last time I made cornbread in my iron skillet I didn't get it hot enough before pouring the batter in and it stuck to the bottom. I haven't gotten around to re-seasoning it yet so you see I had to fry the cornbread...I just had to :) I know I could have made cornbread muffins in the muffin pan but they wouldn't have come out with a crust and you just can't eat cornbread if it doesn't have crust so I had to fry it. So since I'm all about not wasting anything anymore, I put the remaining batter from last night in the fridge. Last night we had plain burgers w/worchestishire sauce (yum) because I didn't have to think about lunch the next day, but tonight it was HH, greens and fried cornbread again. You see we had to have it two nights in a row because I wasn't sure how long the batter would last. Well, tonight it was so much better than last night! I don't know why it was, but the buttermilk flavor was much more pronounced tonight. For someone who would never drink buttermilk in a glass, I truly adore the flavor of it in cornbread, cakes and such.

So I do feel somewhat righteous tonight...Last night I ate it grease and all. Believe me, it doesn't matter how much oil you put in the skillet to fry it, it will soak it all up during the frying process. Tonight, I decided to blot it as well as I could on a paper towel...see...righteous :) So I think I'll go roll my big ole pig belly into the bedroom and watch some tv. Can't be expending any of those calories now can we? :)

*Edit--02/26/09*

It seems that out of my 400 posts, this one is my best...or at least the most clicked on. It has occurred to me that even though it has survived in it's own glory I have not included a recipe for "fried cornbread" in the post. Chalk it up to a "senior moment" or a "brain fart" or whatever... Here is the recipe taken straight from the back of Martha White's Self-Rising Buttermilk Corn Meal Mix. The only thing I do different is add sugar.

"Southern Country Cornbread"

1 egg, beaten (I use a medium egg, a large seems to make it dry)
1 1/3 cups milk
1/4 cup oil or melted shortening (I have used real butter but that's just way to decadent)Mostly I use vegetable oil in the batter because it makes it lighter and use bacon fat to grease the skillet because it adds flavor and makes a better crust.
2 cups Martha White Self-rising Buttermilk Corn Meal Mix

Pre-heat oven to 450. Grease 8 or 9 inch oven proof skillet (that's funny isn't it? for the yankees, I suppose) or square pan*, place in oven. Bake at 450 for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 6 to 8 servings
*Recipe will make 12 muffins or 16 cornsticks. Preheat muffin cups or cornstick pans in oven. Fill cups 2/3 full. Bake at 450 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

If you are going to fry it, start with about a quarter to a half inch of vegetable oil in the skillet and get it *frying hot* I'm not sure just how hot that is. On my stove it's just a fraction hotter than "medium-high" :)

The Dream Part II

Well, I'm doing my morning stuff, searching for things to share with you and lo and behold SAMHSA has provided me a complete blueprint for how to go about realizing my dream. Never mind that my brain might explode trying to do it, it is there for me to try to implement. I guess now, I will find out just how good my networking skills are because I will need brains far more educated than mine to carry it out...but I already knew that :) I have provided the link for Sustaining Grassroots Community-Based Programs: A Toolkit for Community and Faith-Based Service Providers here, with the title of this post and in the sidebar. I must warn you though, it is 156 pages and does take a few minutes to completely download.

Woman being beaten by police in Shreveport

This is wrong on oh-so-many-levels but here's a thought...when arrested for DUI, hit and run, reckless driving and in police custody, ask nicely for your phone call and then sit down, shut the f*** up and understand that you really lost all your rights when you decided to get behind the wheel of a car...sh*tfaced...



Maybe it was growing up in Mississippi in the 60's, being white and having black friends but I was taught proper ettiquette for dealing with police at a very early age. It did provide an excellent time for a lesson to the kid on what to do in such situations....

Michael Moore.com!: Must Read :)

Mostly I stay away from Michael Moore. I would like to say this is because he is way too far to the left for me. The truth is, he makes me uncomfortable in my own skin. Whenever I force myself to read his writings or see his movies, I am forced to re-evaluate everything and re-adjust my value system and yes, I am forced to think. I may not always agree with what he says and I may think that sometimes he is just waaay-out-there, the fact is, I am proud of the fact he is out there doing what he does, slapping us in the face and saying...think about it! Today on his website there is a piece on "Six Ways the Democrats Can Lose the Election."

You might have noticed I have been off the political bandwagon for some time now. There were several reasons for my doing this. It wasn't that I no longer believed Obama was the right man for the job. It was simply Obama's cavings on several important issues that led to my partial disillusion. Mr. Moore's article covers them quite nicely. I truly hope these can be rectified before the election because I am truly afraid of what will happen to those of us who are not wealthy in this country, given four more years of republican control.

The Twin Cities Radical Social Work Group

This was taken from their homepage:

"We are a group of social workers in the Twin Cities who met monthly to study and discuss Radical Social Work. Although we are not currently meeting, our e-mail list is still active.

We believe that as social workers we have a responsibility to work towards social structural change to resolve the fundamental issues our clients face, not simply resolving individual crises as they arise.

Our Mission Statement:

The Radical Social Work Study Group exists both to radicalize the profession from within, and to develop alliances with those who may not identify with the profession of social work at all. We aim to:

1. Read and study, to promote an "informed radicalism"
2. Discuss current events, solidifying viewpoints and building awareness of social issues
3. Support the personal struggles of members to maintain a radical perspective in everyday life
4. Make public statements of the group's position on local issues of concern
5. Become a resource for social work education"

They have 52 suggestions for simple radical actions one can take:

52 Simple Radical actions:

1. Carve out a few hours in your work schedule every week to be radical. Justify it to your supervisor. Encourage the people you supervise to do the same.
2. Find out who your local and national government representatives are, and write their addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, and e-mail addresses in your Rolodex.
3. Model taking good care of yourself.
4. Find ways to ally yourself with (instead of only advocating for) your client.
5. Include clients in organizational decision-making.
6. Research your own effectiveness as a practitioner, and share the results with your colleagues.
7. Read at least one relevant journal article per month.
8. Go to a block club meeting in the neighborhood where you work or live, and encourage your clients to do the same.
9. Always speak respectfully of clients. Don't give in to "client-bashing."
10. Participate in Social Work Day at the Capitol.
11. Keep clients informed of pending legislation that affects the services that they receive. Provide phone numbers of their legislators and encourage them to call and share their experiences.
12. Inform clients about what avenues they can take if they are dissatisfied or especially pleased with your work.
13. Don't ever apologize for being "just" a social worker.
14. Evaluate your agency's intake forms and brochures to make sure they are friendly to diverse populations (i.e. appropriate demographic questions, non-parental caregivers, gay and lesbian families) and that they are easily understood. Do you really need all the information you ask for?
15. Sign up for the SWAA and RSWSG e-mail listservs (see resource list).
16. Be visible and vocal in your support for others who are trying to practice radical social work.
17. Ask your clients for feedback on your job performance.
18. Write a letter to your congressperson about a social justice issue that affects your clients.
19. Meet with your congressperson to tell them about the type of work you do and the issues facing your clients.
20. Pick up voter registration cards and put them in your agency’s lobby with a sign encouraging your clients to register.
21. Ask your clients and co-workers if they’re registered to vote.
22. Talk to your clients about political candidates and issues that could effect them in upcoming elections.
23. Volunteer for a political campaign.
24. Join the Radical Social Work Study Group, or start your own study group.
25. Read David Gil’s Confronting Injustice and Oppression (1998, New York: Columbia University Press) and discuss it with someone (see resource list).
26. Reject political neutrality and let other people know how you think.
27. Start a self-help group for clients.
28. Ally yourself with a service consumer organization such as the Alliance for the Mentally Ill or the Welfare Rights Committee.
29. Subscribe to Session Weekly and Briefly, the publications of the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate, to keep updated on what bills the legislature is considering. They’re free!
30. Learn the rules so you can break them properly.
31. Have a presentation and discussion about Radical social work at your staff meeting.
32. Read Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky (see resource list).
33. The next time a co-worker requests advice on how to address a client’s issue, recommend one thing they can do on the macro level to attempt to impact the social cause, i.e., call their legislator and ask what is being done about the housing crisis.
34. Vote.
35. Encourage others to vote.
36. Keep informed about issues being decided in the legislature by signing up for an Action Alert list through organizations like Affirmative Options, The Children’s Defense Fund, Family and Children’s Services etc.
37. Increase your own critical consciousness by serving meals at a soup kitchen on your lunch hour once a month.
38. Talk politics in the lunchroom.
39. Read one article in a journal or newspaper that relates to Radical social work and share your thoughts with a co-worker or family member.
40. Read an article about cross-cultural practice and integrate a technique or tool into your everyday practice.
41. Study global affairs and think about interdependence of all people in the world.
42. Go to city hall or county offices and gather demographic information. Find out the economic level of the population in the area you serve and how many people live in poverty.
43. Contact your local housing authority and find out what housing is available for the disadvantaged in your community.
44. Join a local zoning and planning commission to make your voice heard about housing for the disadvantaged.
45. Attend a county board meeting.
46. Attend a city council meeting.
47. Attend a meeting of your neighborhood organization.
48. Form a Social Justice group in your church, synagogue or mosque.
49. Meditate once a week on peace.
50. Visit your children's schools and look at curriculum materials for social justice content.
51. Find out what social action groups are operating in your work or home communities.
52. Find an opportunity to collaborate with someone in your professional or home communities on social justice concerns.

If you have more suggestions for actions that you or others might take to be a little more radical, e-mail them to me and I'll add them to the list. My e-mail address is: nilsdybvig@yahoo.com

National District Attorney's Association Update

The title link will take you to an eight page pdf file titled "Practitioner's Guide to the Adam Walsh Act"

From the SMART Office:

"Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehension, Registration and Tracking (SMART) Office
“Sex Offender Registry Laws: From Jacob Wetterling to Adam Walsh”
By Laura L. Rogers, Director of SMART Office
As Director of the new Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) Office within the United States Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, one of my responsibilities is to educate law enforcement officers and other criminal justice professionals on recent statutory changes relating to registration of sex offenders. This article outlines various changes instituted by the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (AWA), which President Bush signed into law last year.
National standards for the registration of sex offenders were previously set by the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act. Under Wetterling, the national standards for registration of sex offenders applied to states, the District of Columbia, and principal territories. Wetterling required residency registration and encouraged registration of employment and school information. AWA adds includes Indian tribal jurisdictions and requires registration by sex offenders where they reside, are employed and attend school. AWA increases the federal failure to register penalty and allows for state sex offenders to be prosecuted federally for failure to register pursuant to inter-jurisdiction or foreign travel.
The AWA broadens the range of offenses against adults to cover crimes that involve sexual contact, while Wetterling was limited to assaults involving sexual acts, such as rape. AWA includes crimes of child pornography and conspiracy and extends registration beyond adults to include certain juveniles convicted only of the most serious sex offenses.
AWA establishes three tiers of registration requirements, based on offense severity. Tier I offenders must register for 15 years and complete annual in-person showups; tier II offenders must register for 25 years and complete semiannual showups; tier III offenders register for lifetime and complete quarterly showups. As under Wetterling, recidivism pushes offenders into higher tiers. AWA provides for tier I and juveniles offenders to be relieved of their registration requirement after maintaining a clean record for 10 and 25 years, respectively.
Wetterling required sex offenders to submit their names and residential addresses, with relatively limited requirements concerning other information. The AWA strengthens reporting requirements by mandating sex offenders submit information including SSN, employer and school information, fingerprints, physical description, photograph and a DNA sample.
A key element of the AWA is that it establishes standards to promote greater uniformity across public sex offender Web sites. Wetterling required the establishment of state sex offender Web sites, but left discretion to states about which registrants and what information would be posted. AWA establishes minimum requirements regarding which sex offenders and what information must be made available to the public through state and the National Sex Offender Public Website, and it sets forth specifications about required search capabilities. Information that is statutorily exempted from public dissemination will be included on law enforcements National Sex Offender Registry.
Another responsibility of the SMART Office is to provide jurisdictions with guidance regarding implementation of the AWA. The SMART Office is working on implementation guidelines. After the ongoing internal review process at the Department of Justice is completed, the guidelines will be made available for public comment. The dissemination of the guidelines is a top priority for the SMART Office.
Interim rules regarding the retroactivity of AWA were published in the Federal Registry on February 28, 2007. Public comment is available until April 30, 2007. Sex offenders convicted of an AWA registration offense, who have completed their registration requirements, must register if they come back into the judicial system by receiving a conviction for another crime, regardless of whether the offense is a sex offense.
All jurisdictions are required to implement the minimum standards included in Title 1 of the AWA by July 27, 2009. Jurisdictions should consider AWA minimum requirements as a floor, not a ceiling. Jurisdictions are free to implement regulations that are stricter than what AWA requires."

For a complete view of The National Guidelines for Sex Offender Registration and Notification go here

National Quality Measures Clearinghouse

The National Quality Measures Clearinghouse has a new site. Healthcare Innovations Exchange
Here are just a few interesting programs I found through the site: Adapting Your Practice: General Recommendations for the Care of Homeless Patients and Caring for Diverse Populations with Dementia "The Diversity Resources were developed to include a variety of resources for people with dementia, their families and caregivers and health and social service professionals."

These two sites are great resources and I recommend them highly.

VINELink ver 2.0

"VINELink is the online version of VINE (Victim Information and Notification Everyday), the National Victim Notification Network. This service allows crime victims to obtain timely and reliable information about criminal cases and the custody status of offenders 24 hours a day. Victims and other concerned citizens can also register to be notified by phone, email or TTY device when an offender's custody status changes. Users can also register through their participating state or county toll-free number."

The Blues Page

I've been neglecting the blues page this month, so I felt like Stevie Ray this Sunday morning. Go have a listen... :)

Dreams...

Today, I will try to do my best with my writing, but first I want to tell you why I can not write like I should be able to, given my background.

I've told you all before about how my son's father was an abusive alcoholic. What I didn't tell you was for nearly three years I was afraid to go to sleep and didn't. It was inconceivable to my thinking a human being could go without sleep for more than a couple of days and when I first started doing it, it was a sort of contest with myself to see if I could.

In the beginning my not sleeping was borne out of gut-wrenching fear. Fear that he would come home in one of his rages and I would not be aware enough to protect us. This fear as the most real fear I have ever felt, if not the most rational. The longer I went without sleep the easier it became to stay awake and eventually I couldn't sleep.

Now this is a testament to my strength. It was nearly two years before I started having flashes of hallucinations. Nothing full blown I could describe, just thinking someone was there and turning to see just a flash. These flashes happened every third month, then every month, then every week, then a couple of times a week until and I think I've told this before, I was looking out my child's window one brilliant day filled with sunshine, birds chirping and with the smell of fresh spring grass being mowed, I saw the lucky charms elf guy laid-back on a tree limb, smoking a huge pipe, with his legs crossed, kicking his foot, laughing and waving at me. He was gone as quickly as he had appeared. I was horrified.

Even in my psychotic state I knew what that was. I knew that while I had done a great many drugs in my youth, for the most part they were depressants, to help me escape the reality of my childhood sexual abuse. I had only hallucinated one time after being tricked into drinking mushroom kool-aid. I grew up in the 60's but never ever wanted to hallucinate. Never tried or even entertained the idea of trying hallucinogens. Nope, that was never going to be me. Yet, here I was full blown sober for years, hallucinating.

To make a long story short, it scared me into finally seeking the help I needed. By the grace of God I was in Atlanta at the time with access to free mental health clinics and therapy and anti-depressants. I continued with this regimen on and off until I decided to go back to school years later. This was when I realized the full extent of what I had lost.

I don't know the exact point I lost my Phd level vocabulary but somewhere along the way it disappeared and no matter how hard I try I can't seem to get it back. When I was tested in the seventh grade my vocabulary was already beyond college level. Probably because I used books as an escape from my reality before I discovered drugs. In my 20's I could out-talk any intellectual, including college professors, I knew except my mother :) but that's another story for another day. These days, if I can figure out how to use "overarching" in a sentence, it is cause for great celebration and many self pats on the back :) I have managed to find a way to communicate with my middle school command of the english language but it will always be a bone of contention with me and well, just plain sad. So anyway that's the reason I don't write any more than I do and the reason why you will never see my name in a byline of some prestigious publication.

Now that I've gotten all that crap out of the way, on to the title of this post, dreams....

This morning I woke up at 2am. Why, you ask? Because NBC decided to make up for all the money they've lost with crappy programs and put an advertisement on every other minute of the opening ceremonies, so I fell asleep after the USA came out on the field. Yep, I missed the awesome lighting of the torch. Damn Commercials! So I get up at 2am and drink an entire 4 cup pot of coffee, which unlike most people, puts me right back to sleep. The dream was a typically fragmented dream representing stuff I had experienced through the day intermingled with the unconscious and the conscious dreams of what I really want which started me thinking about that dream I've had since childhood.

My first recollection of it was, I would grow up and have a husband that worshiped me and we would have a house full of children and I would lovingly prepare meals for them and teach them all that I knew, as would he, we would raise them up to be outstanding young adults together and then husband and I would send them out into the world to make their own way and we would rock in our rocking chairs on the front porch while our children periodically brought the grandchildren to visit and be spoiled.

So I've resigned myself to the fact that the husband part is probably never going to happen but does that mean I can't still have my dream? No, I think not. So the dream has been amended yet another time. Here is the amended version...

I want to be "house mother" in a home for abandoned, abused and neglected children 8 through 18. I want a great big old victorian mansion, pale yellow with white shutters and white trim with a wrap around porch and hardwood floors (probably laminate) everywhere except the kitchen and bathrooms. I want 10-20 acres of land to surround it with access to, at the very least, a "branch" (small, clear stream leading to a river) for swimming. I want to do for these kids what I never got to do for my own "large brood." Think, the old lady and the shoe and you should get a clear picture only I will know what to do. :) I want to be the one they trust, the one they come to in their time of need, the one that offers them a place to feel safe and be their teacher about life. I want to teach them how to cook grand meals, live by a budget and balance a checkbook. I want to give them the skills they will need to make their own way in life or help them find out how to acquire those skills I have no clue how to do. I will have to find someone successful in love and relationships to provide their classes on that subject. The only thing that I could tell them that I have learned is that it all boils down to respect...respect of self first, then respect for the significant other, then respect for the relationship. Being able to communicate and respectfully disagree are key components also. I've told the boy all his life that if anyone ever tells you that they don't deserve you then believe them and run as fast as you can in the other direction. I learned that the hard way. Finally, it did occur to me that they probably did know themselves better than I did and I should just take them at their word and not stupidly think I could change them and stay.

I believe I have the skills to do this. The one thing I never doubted about myself was that I am good at mothering and now I have access to expertise and programs I never had before. I need someone to teach me how to write a grant for this. I have searched through all the grants available and it looks like there may be some options but I have no clue where to begin with the writing and research. I have this great big ole' lofty dream and I'm stuck on the cliff, afraid to jump in. I guess, one day at a time....

Feministe--Is it worth the risk?

There is a great guest post up over at Feministe on fibromyalgia and living with disability. I would repost it here but it is very long and I want you to go check out other posts over there so as always click the title link to be taken there. Have a great day!

This Needs to be Federal Legislation

I know I said I was going to take a nap but then I ran across this...
The title link will take you to the latest story on Boni Frederick's killers.


"Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher signed into law a measure intended to boost safety for the state's social services workers.

Senate Bill 59 – known as the Boni Frederick Memorial Bill – was named in honor of Boni Frederick, a social services aide who was fatally beaten and stabbed while she was in the line of duty.

The bill will provide $3.5 million to fund security improvements at state child welfare offices. Another $2.5 million will be used to hire additional front-line staff.

The law calls for the implementation of several safety elements, including giving staff devices enabled with “panic buttons” and global positioning system capabilities. It also has an emergency clause, meaning it takes effect immediately.

“The new law is a good start for the changes we need to bolster the security of the child protection system,” Fletcher said. “The measures I signed into law today will protect both social services staff and the families – particularly the children – they serve.”

The original bill, which was backed by Fletcher's administration, had called for about $20 million during the next 16 months to add more than 300 social services staffers, including 225 social workers

Tighter Security, 24-Hour Access to Criminal Records

Kentucky lawmakers supported the new law.

“One of the best aspects of this law is that social services workers will see a difference almost immediately,” said Sen. Charlie Borders, R-Russell. “Their office security will be tightened, and with faster access to criminal records of families being served, they will know sooner when something is amiss.”

Under the new law, local offices of the Department of Community-Based Services will receive security enhancements such as buzzer-entry systems that restrict access to staff work areas from front lobbies. Staff also will have 24-hour access to criminal records.

“Passage of the Boni Bill is just the beginning of a safety net for our social workers and we plan to do more in the near future,” said Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville.

Mark Birdwhistell, secretary of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services – where Frederick worked – said he and his staff welcome the long-sought legislation.

“From the tragedy of Ms. Frederick’s death has emerged much-needed support for improving the safety of our social services staff, as well as an awareness of the valuable work they perform each and every day,” Birdwhistell said."

New Page and Other Stuff

Hey...it's me...remember me? I have been all about business on and with this page for so long I know you have missed me :)

So, this is what I've been up to...

Created a new page this morning just for my university's school of social work. Men with Pens would be proud, I suspect. Except for the font...sorry, MWP I changed it on here 'cause you said it was hard to read and there is much stuff on here to read but I have to have it somewhere. I use Georgia normally by default. It is a silent tribute to my son who was born in Georgia and his love for the University of Georgia Bulldogs. I'm not going to do the rah-rah here because I need my sanity for a little while longer and there's plenty of time for that later. Luckily, Jackson State doesn't play them in football or we would have blood and guts all over this house during that game :).What was I talking about? oh, yeah, the new page...you can see it here. Nothing fancy or all involved but(snerk)it does link to this page :)

Now on to the other stuff. This is not a pleasant topic for me and really hard to write about but I learned a long time ago to not hold stuff in to the point it festers and I explode. When I do, it is never pretty and I am always the one suffering the most from the consequences. So I have removed my sitemeter, my lover, my entertainment, my distraction from the real world. Why, you ask?

It was creeping me out when someone would come to my site in excess of 10 times a day and click my sitemeter tab. Not every time but most times. This became an obsession with me and I ended up with the hair on the back of my neck stiff from being at attention the entire day. Why would it creep me out? Because I don't understand why someone would want to know my stats that many times a day. I freely share them with my readers from time to time anyway. I realized the widget allowed anyone to not only go to my stats page but also allowed them to go to my details page. The details page tells me where you came from, where you live or where your browser lives, how many pages you visited and what you clicked on to leave. Someone else besides me being able to see all that personal information about my precious readers was just not acceptable to me. I can put my life out there but I don't have the right to put my readers lives out there for anyone to use as they see fit. I really thought it was a fluke and the person would tire of it and move on, but it continued and seemed to be a never-ending thing. It makes my skin crawl just thinking about it. *Edit* Now that I've had time to think about it I suppose I should thank my cyber-stalker for bringing it to my attention..........

So anyway, I removed it and went with Google analytics and believe me I won't be having any love affair with G-A. It reminds me of the chairman of the board type, round spectacles, corn cob up his a**...you know the type. It is very thorough though I have to admit. It doesn't really give me real time, where you came from, what you clicked on and where you went stats though. Maybe it just needs more time to do it's thing. Besides I always have MyBlogLog for that even if I do have to wait a day for it. Speaking of MBL. I have a contact request yesterday from someone that publishes...I quit counting at 57...different blogs! Boggles the brain :)

K, so that's it for today, I'm going to straighten up the kitchen my boy cleaned spotless for me yesterday (so I would cook chili!)then take a short nap and then hit the books again :) Have a great day!

Some Good News and Some Bad News

These two articles came from the Children's Monitor Online, a public policy update from the Child Welfare League of America. The good news:

"Higher Education Act Reauthorized with New Loan Forgiveness Included

Last week, Congress gave final approval to legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. The bill (S. 1642) is the first reauthorization of higher education since 1998; most significantly for child welfare, it includes a new program to allow loan forgiveness for social workers who work for public or private child welfare agencies.

The provision must be funded now, but its inclusion in the law is the first significant step in child welfare workforce development in many years. The provision actually addresses several areas of workforce need, including certain teaching specialties, Head Start and Child Care teachers, and social workers in child welfare. Once enacted, it would allow up to $2,000 in loan forgiveness for each year a social worker remains with an agency, to a maximum of five years and $10,000.

Several more steps are necessary before the program is in effect, including regulations and appropriating funds. CWLA will continue to monitor its development; look for additional information in coming weeks."

The bad news:

"Senate Finance Committee Postpones Adoption of Child Welfare Bill

The scheduled Senate Finance Committee action on a major child welfare financing bill was abruptly postponed August 1 when Senators agreed to wrap up their summer session Thursday night, July 31. Although they remained in formal session last Friday, there were no votes and few members around.

The Senate Finance Committee was set to adopt S. 3038, the Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Guardianship Support Act of 2008, at the mark up session. The legislation, which represents the work of chief sponsors Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA), takes the original Grassley bill introduced last May and adds several provisions similar to the House companion bill, the Fostering Connections to Success Act (H.R. 6307) sponsored by Representatives Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Jerry Weller (R-IL).

Both bills include significant improvements in child welfare. They are crafted with bipartisan support and are both paid for. Each of the bills would reauthorize the adoption incentives program, provide for Title IV-E funding of kinship placements, and require states to have agreements in place that will allow foster children to remain in school or, if that is not possible, get immediate enrollment in a new school.

The Baucus-Grassley bill includes a phased-in delink for adoption assistance. By 2011, all special-needs adoptions would be eligible for federal support. Currently, eligibility is linked to the now defunct-AFDC cash assistance program--eligibility as it existed 12 years ago. The phase-in covers older children in special-needs adoption in the first years. The McDermott-Weller bill does not include an adoption delink. The Baucus-Grassley bill would allow states to extend foster care to age 21 at state option, but this provision would not take effect until fiscal year 2011 (October 1, 2010). The McDermott-Weller bill would allow states the option in the first year. The Baucus-Grassley bill would allow tribal governments to apply for direct access to federal foster care, adoption, and kinship funding, but the requirements are more stringent than the provisions in the McDermott-Weller bill.

The Baucus-Grassley bill includes a few other provisions not in the House bill, such as creation of a new resource center for tribes, some limited funding for state-tribal collaborations, a kinship incentive program, and a 10-state demonstration grant allowing states to suspend foster care licensing requirements in regard to bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage for kinship families. The demonstrations would last for three years, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services required to report back within one year on the effect of state efforts. Two items not included in the Senate bill but in the McDermott-Weller bill are the expansion of Title IV-E training to private agencies, a CWLA legislative agenda item and an important workforce improvement strategy, and health planning requirements for children in care.

The Senate Finance Committee could take up the bill on September 10, when it returns for the fall session. Depending on the pace of Senate action, the goal would be to negotiate the differences in language and programs between the House and Senate versions and come up with a final bill that could pass through the politically charged atmosphere in September. If Congress can do it, this would be a significant accomplishment not just for Congress and CWLA members, but for thousands of children and families."

Drive-by-Shooting Sunday: Prin's Links

I've been waiting about 6 weeks for this review of my site. While I know most of what they say is true and I know I asked for the abuse but...Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! So I will be taking their suggestions...most of them and making some changes to the site. Before I do I would like to know what my readers think. So if you would be so kind as to click the title link, read and let me know what you think should go, what should stay etc, etc. Thanks.

"that" and bread

So, I have this rave bubbling inside of me today, plus the AADD is in overdrive. First I want to explain the title of this post by saying, I am no grammar/spelling/English language queen. There are words, however, in the English language given to driving me up the proverbial wall, "that" is one of them. Now here is where you should go click the title link to see for yourself the disgrace and know why I might want to go take a long soaking bubble bath to soothe my last nerve.

Normally, I read AlterNet every day. I subscribe to several of their feeds but today I am considering the cancellation of all my subscriptions, simply because of the writing in this article. The detested word is even in (assumption here) Alternet's editor's title description of the article! I just feel there is no sentence in the English language which would not be made better with the use of another word or by dropping the word completely from the sentence. I have other pet peeves but I'll leave those for another post.

Now on to the other rant. If you weren't living in the Gulf Coast region before Katrina then you won't get it. I am allergic to wheat so the only kind of bread I can eat is white bread. The cheaper it is and the more beaten to a pulp the wheat berry is in the making of such white bread the easier it is for me to tolerate, plus you can not make a tomato sandwich with any other kind of bread...it's just an abomination.

Before Katrina we had the most lovely white bread in the country. It was cheap and usually on sale for 79 cents a loaf. It was never more than a buck. It was so soft and airy you had to be really careful with it's packaging in the store and transportation home lest you get home with it so mushed it was totally inedible. It always had the front seat of the car even if there were other humans needing to get home. Before Katrina it was plentiful and my favorite was the Kroger brand "buttermilk" thin sandwich bread. In a pinch, I would usually go for Brookshires thin sandwich white bread.

After Katrina there was no bread of any kind for a month or so. When it did start trickling in, it was stale and has pretty much been stale ever since. Certainly not the quality we were used to. Now come on people, I understand that you might have had four weeks of bread backed up that you needed to unload on those of us desperate for bread, but three years?!?! On August 29th of this year it will have been three years since Katrina devastated us. Yesterday I went to the store to try to find a loaf of soft white bread...you can not imagine just how time-consuming this is. You used to be able to walk in and just feel a couple of loaves to find a suitable one, now you have to check out nearly every one and finally settle on the least offensive. All of this aggravation now costs me at least $1.29 a loaf and I have seen it close to $2! for a loaf of white bread...gimmee a break! If the crust on top is not hard then you have to be sure to check out the bottom because it might be. This phenomenon can only be caused by sitting in storage for way too long, which means we are still getting the backup supply. How about this...take a couple of months worth and give it to the zoo or somewhere to feed the birds or other critters. Then maybe we can have a decent tomato sandwich before summer is over. Besides I am getting a little sick of friggin' toast!

NEA Unveils Education Plan to Reshape Federal Role in Education

I subscribe to several "Google Alerts." One for social work, one for the congressional caucus and one for feminism, oh, and one for KoKo Taylor, but that's beside the point. They alert me whenever someone in the blogosphere is writing about the subject and gives me a snippet of what they have written. All I have to say is, boy, people are pissed about the NEA's new plan. I don't have the time to re-find them for you but I thought you might like to read the entire plan for yourself. The entire pdf file can be found here. The title link will take you to the NEA's synopsis.

These Kids Mean Business

This is such a cool place! Click the title link to be taken to the site map page.

"The Documentary

“A lot of kids would like to start their own business of one kind or another, but they don’t know how. Most schools don’t teach it.” So says Clarence Page, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Chicago Tribune and essayist of THESE KIDS MEAN BUSINES$. The documentary premieres on PBS Thursday, August 30, 2007, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings).

Centered on budding entrepreneurs across the country and the programs created to foster their interest and understanding of the free market, THESE KIDS MEAN BUSINES$ tells the tale of underserved youth creating and living their own versions of the American success story.

In the course of the documentary, viewers meet young entrepreneurs such as Eric and Derrick, 16-year-old twins in urban Milwaukee, as they promote their thriving lawn-care business; Laima, age 16, who makes sure her Web site development company in New York City doesn’t sacrifice good design and aesthetics for the latest special effects; and, west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, David Lawson of Wise County, Virginia, who began converting six acres of his family property to a vineyard after completing a high school entrepreneurship class several years ago.
David Lawson

“I got a first-hand knowledge of writing a business plan, and it opened me up to the idea that it wasn't necessarily a college-get-a-job market,” says David Lawson. “There might be opportunities outside of just getting to college and working for somebody. I've always wanted to be able to work for myself and be my own boss, but I wasn't sure exactly how I could do that.” David’s elective entrepreneurship class was through an organization called Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning, otherwise known as REAL. “This class was a good introduction for me to realize that it's not so complicated in some respects to start your own business.”

Additional young entrepreneurs profiled include: a student-managed salad dressing company, Food From the ‘Hood, which was born in the aftermath of the 1992 riots in South Los Angeles; a 7th grader who designs inspirational picture frames and artwork; and a student-owned snack vending machine business.

“The old thinking figured kids were too young to learn about entrepreneurship. The new thinking sees entrepreneurship as a healthy remedy for classroom boredom, restless energies and high dropout rates,” says Clarence Page in THESE KIDS MEAN BUSINES$.

The stories in the documentary come from many parts of the country: Milwaukee, Wisconsin; South Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; Chicago, Illinois; Wise County, Virginia; and New York City, New York. Among the organizations featured in the program are the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, REAL Enterprises, Center for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Entrenuity, and the C. E. O. Academy.

In 1987, Steve Mariotti founded the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) with the mission of teaching low-income youth how to start and manage small businesses. “I think it's very important to start as young as possible,” explains Mariotti. “We start at the age of 11 and we are thinking about even moving down to the age of seven. The sooner a young person starts to train their mind to think entrepreneurially, to look for business opportunities, to think about budgeting and planning, to think about marketing and sales, and so that it's incorporated into one's very intellectual being, I think it's very, very positive.”

What do these diverse youngsters from very different parts of the country have in common? They're part of a quiet revolution that's been growing in recent years. Each of them has learned how to start up, own, and operate their own business.

-Clarence Page
Syndicated Columnist, Chicago Tribune

Academic experts interviewed in the documentary comment on their extensive research, which indicates that entrepreneurship education has a positive effect on the academic performance of at-risk students — as well as affecting attitude and behavior. Featured scholars are Andrew B. Hahn, Ph.D., Professor, Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University; and Howard S. Rasheed, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Cameron School of Business, University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

“Entrepreneurship projects are, first and foremost, experiential education; they fill a vacuum that many young people feel that they need,” says Professor Hahn. “And they’re voting with their feet. They’re leaving school in droves, if you look at the dropout rate. And the principal reason for the dropout rate, according to research we and others have done, is that kids just don’t like the regimentation of school. And they’re crying out for experiential learning opportunities.”

“What we are trying to do with Youth Entrepreneurship is bridge the gap. Teach [students] life long skills, understanding the business concepts and economic processes, so that they can create, as opposed to be part of, a work force,” comments Dr. Rasheed. “So we're not really training students to become consumers, or employees. We're training them to be employers, and economic creators.”

Also interviewed is Cathy Ashmore, executive director of the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education. “The rationale behind having young people begin to develop those experiences, is the high motivation we see as a result of being involved in those programs,” says Dr. Ashmore. “To find out that you have opportunities is a whole new message to so many young people. And to actually experience the process for doing it, so that you feel empowered to go out there and do it sometime in your life.”

In addition, life-long educator Rudy Crew, superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, talks about his plans to include entrepreneurship education as part of his secondary school reform policy. “We’re realizing that Miami Public Schools is the centerpiece of the economy for this entire region,” says Dr. Crew. “And to that extent, entrepreneurship has to be a part of the curriculum. We really do believe that how students make sense out of their world, how they actualize and realize their own dreams and goals by being participants in that world at an early age, all have a lot to do with their ability to be very successful later in life.”

Clarence Page concludes THESE KIDS MEAN BUSINES$: “Even if these ambitious young entrepreneurs don’t launch their own company right away, they walk away with skills, values and experiences that can help them in other ways for the rest of their lives.”

Check Local Listings for Times »

And to that extent, entrepreneurship has to be a part of the curriculum. How students make sense out of their world, at an early age, have a lot to do with their ability to be very successful later in life.

-Rudy Crew Ed.D.
Superintendent
Miami-Dade County Public Schools

The rationale behind having young people begin to develop those experiences, is the high motivation we see as a result of being involved in those programs. To find out that you have opportunities is a whole new message to so many young people. And to actually experience the process for doing it, so that you feel empowered to go out there and do it sometime in your life.

-Dr. Cathy Ashmore
Consortium for
Entrepreneurship Education

Business failure is really a business transition. You know, you transition from one business that may not be as profitable as you want it to be, you close down that business and you start another business. So it's not an issue of failure. It's only failure is that you don't get up and start it ... and try again. That's when you fail.

-Howard S. Rasheed, Ph.D.
Cameron School of Business
UNC at Wilmington"

Lavena Johnson

The title link will take you to an article on commondreams.org talking about the overall coverup by the army of the rape and murder of women soldiers. When I first read this story I just couldn't post about it. To think, a soldier serving for me was treated in such a manner was just completely incomprehensible. To think about her father having to view his daughter's body after the crime, well, I just can't imagine the pain. Here's the short version found on Alternet:

"The Jamie Leigh Jones-Halliburton rape case was horrific, but what happened to PFC Lavena Johnson in Iraq in 2005 was many orders of magnitudes worse.

The parents of the young Missouri woman were told that she died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds, and her death was ruled a suicide. But her physician father became suspicious after looking at injuries to the body:

After two years of requesting documents, one set of papers provided by the Army included a xerox copy of a CD. Wondering why the xerox copy was in the documents, Dr. Johnson requested the CD itself. With help from his local Congressional representative, the US Army finally complied. When Dr. Johnson viewed the CD, he was shocked to see photographs taken by Army investigators of his daughter's body as it lay where her body had been found, as well as other photographs of her disrobed body taken during the investigation.

The photographs revealed that Lavena, a small woman, barely 5 feet tall and weighing less than 100 pounds, had been struck in the face with a blunt instrument, perhaps a weapon stock. Her nose was broken and her teeth knocked backwards. One elbow was distended. The back of her clothes had debris on them indicating she had been dragged from one location to another. The photographs of her disrobed body showed bruises, scratch marks and teeth imprints on the upper part of her body. The right side of her back as well as her right hand had been burned apparently from a flammable liquid poured on her and then lighted. The photographs of her genital area revealed massive bruising and lacerations. A corrosive liquid had been poured into her genital area, probably to destroy DNA evidence of sexual assault.

Despite the bruises, scratches, teeth imprints and burns on her body, Lavena was found completely dressed in the burning tent. There was a blood trail from outside a contractor's tent to inside the tent. She apparently had been dressed after the attack and her attacker placed her body into the tent and set it on fire."

Please go here to sign the petition to let Congressman Waxman, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform know that you will not tolerate such horrors.

You can read more about Lavena Johnson and find the link for the "Democracy Now" video at lavenajohnson.com

generationFIVE

The title link will take you to the "History" Page. Clicking here will take you to the "Resource" page and here will take you to the "Approach" page.

"generationFIVE envisions a future in which child sexual abuse no longer occurs.
In this vision, the intergenerational impact of child sexual abuse is interrupted and mended.

In this vision, the impact of trauma does not keep us from actualizing our individual and collective potential. Instead, collective healing supports our creativity and resilience.

In this vision, the conditions that allow child sexual abuse to occur are transformed in such a way that child sexual abuse and other forms of violence become uncommon rather than ever more common.

In this vision, free from the conditions that allow so much violence to occur, children, adults, families, and communities have lives and relationships that are safe, loving, and healthy. They live in a world liberated from the effects of violence and oppression. They live in a world that is just and sustainable.

In this vision, we can all contribute to ending child sexual abuse and other forms of violence because we can all participate in personal, community and political change.


Whether you have a history of child sexual abuse, are a parent, a community member, a person who has sexually abused children in the past, a service provider, a social justice activist and/or are part of a community organization, please join us in this radical approach to uprooting child sexual abuse.

generationFIVE supports and develops liberatory approaches to responding to and preventing violence.

generationFIVE addresses child sexual abuse where it happens most - in our families and communities.

generationFIVE believes that society can become less violent, and that the majority of people who sexually abuse children can change. Child sexual abuse is not "human nature."

generationFIVE addresses the traumatic impact of child sexual abuse on individuals, families and communities while supporting individual and collective resilience.

generationFIVE understands that child sexual abuse is one of many forms of violence that promote domination and institutionalized oppression.

generationFIVE sees connections between intimate, community and State violence and systemic oppression.

generationFIVE works to change the relations of power, community beliefs and practices as well as the social conditions and State violence that allow child sexual abuse to occur.

generationFIVE understands that ending child sexual abuse requires both personal and political transformation. Social justice and justice for individuals who experience violence are connected, reliant on each other, and mutually reinforcing. By creating the world we want to live in, child sexual abuse is less likely to occur. By addressing individual instances of child sexual abuse, we help to create the world in which we want to live."

Senate Child Welfare Bill (Companion to H.R. 6307) Still In Development, Call-In Day Today!

This is important, so I have added it today in addition to the regularly scheduled posts.

"The Senate Finance Committee is still in discussion over a possible child welfare bill that would be the companion to the McDermott-Weller bill, H.R. 6307. (See Children's Monitor, July 7, 2008.) The committee was expected to act last week, but it is engaged in debates over several issues. As a result, CWLA is joining in an effort to have a call-in day today, Monday July 28, to urge members of the Senate Finance Committee to act before the August Congressional break.

The states with Finance Committee members include Arizona (John Kyl-R), Arkansas (Blanche Lincoln-D), Colorado (Ken Salazar-D), Idaho (Mike Crapo-R), Iowa (Chuck Grassely-R, Ranking Republican), Kansas (Pat Roberts-R), Kentucky (Jim Bunning-R), Maine (Olympia Snowe-R), Massachusetts (John Kerry-D), Michigan (Debbie Strabenow-D), Montana (Max Baucus-D, Committee Chair), Nevada (John Ensign-R), New Hampshire (John Sununu-R), New Mexico (Jeff Bingaman-D), New York (Charles Schumer-D), North Dakota (Kent Conrad-D), Oregon (Gordon Smith-R and Ron Wyden-D), Utah (Orrin Hatch-R), Washington (Maria Cantwell-D), and West Virginia (Jay Rockefeller-D). Everyone in these states is urged to call their Senate members of the Finance Committee and ask their Senators to act now to reauthorize the Adoption Incentive Program and help support adoption and relative guardianship.

A toll-free number for the call-in effort is open Monday and Tuesday, July 28-29; call 1-888-686-8191. We urge everyone to call in on these days.

The Senate bill, like the bipartisan McDermott-Weller bill in the House, is expected to include several other key provisions. The McDermott-Weller bill includes provisions on kinship care, direct access to federal funds by tribal governments, expanded access to training funds for child welfare workers, and extended supports to foster youth and adoptive families, as well as strengthening health and education requirements.

The next critical step is for the Senate to act before the August recess, which would allow for any differences between the House and Senate to be negotiated during the August break."

Blogtalkradio

The Child Welfare League has some very interesting radio broadcasts on here. Click the title link to go have a listen. Go here for a listing of all their features and programs.

H.R. 5447 Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act

The title link will send you to the complete bill that was introduced in February. There are tracker feeds here and for the Senate version S. 2858 here so that you can keep up with what is being done. As far as I can tell nothing has been done beyond introduction. We should probably use the widget over in the sidebar to tell our representatives to get off their a***s and get it moving. It is the prettiest piece of legislation I've seen in a good while and well worth the (dream)read.

A Total Break

Most of you know that I hurt my back 2 months ago and have had shooting pain totally through my midsection for this entire time. That makes it somewhat hard to sit at this computer. I finally went to the doctor and got some flexaril and I think it is getting better finally but the drug is making me very sleepy and very stupid and very paranoid, I think :) Today, I got my feelings hurt when I visited a blog that I normally read whenever she posts and decided to check out her blogroll. Guess what? I'm not on it and yes, she is a social worker. Now normally, I'm not the kind to just tuck tail and run with my hurt feelings in tow but, today I did, complete with tears in my eyes. That is just complete and utter nonsense. I'm a tough old bird usually and normally what I would have done was to call them on it by leaving a comment either asking permission to be on it or to ask why I wasn't on it. This usually solves the problem. My reaction today did not only not solve the problem, ended up only making me disgusted with myself. It has to be the pain, it makes you do stupid stuff...

So I've decided to take a break from thinking about this blog for awhile. My first knee-jerk reaction was to just pull it all down and say to hell with it but I still need a place for all this information for my own benefit and for those of you who use it regularly so I'm not going to do that. Instead I'm going to take a break until around the 6th of August. I'll probably schedule some posts over the weekend but then I really need to let it go for a minute.

I finally faced my fear, bit the bullet and signed up for an appointment to take the licensure exam. I will be taking it August 5th at 9:30 central time. So if any of you out there happen to think of me on that day I would greatly appreciate your thoughts and especially your prayers...I am old, you know, and I need all the help I can get :) Thank you all for your continued support and encouragement. It has meant the world to me. I'll be back after the test, hopefully with great news and a rested viewpoint :)

Learn and Serve America's National Service Learning Clearinghouse

Please click the title link for more information on just what service learning is and the skills proper implementation of a service learning program can provide. I have also added the toolkits page of the website to the "toolkits" links sidebar.

I've been on a search quest for the past few days. It started with a comment left on bluejean's blog and now has me in full blown search mode. I will be adding what I found, as far as assessment tools/forms, probably on the Victims Assistance Page, as that is where I have the most room and will not have to make yet another page for this blog. I'll put up what I have now and add more later. There are hundreds of links to sort through. :)

An Article from CJ Social Worker

I'm not sure if you all know this but I nearly always post an article in it's entirety if it stirs emotion deep within me. This is one of those...


"Ex-Sex-Worker

Forgotten is forgiven.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
She posed with exaggerated sexually at the counter of the rural Texas working class restaurant, waiting for her lunch order. Her purposely selected clothes were probably a size too small. She was sending out a signal and occasionally looking around the room at the uniformed, blue-shirted workers on lunch break to see who was receiving it. A few were and giving her lurid looks. I felt like I kind of knew her. I’ve talked to many women like her over the years, women who are primarily defined by the approval of men – male defined women.

When we left the restaurant, my husband, who is a criminal defense attorney, remarked about the “ex-dancer” in the restaurant. I guess that makes sense since he represents so many of them. I said, “You mean the woman who looked like a sexual assault victim?” Maybe we’re both being reductionistic. Maybe we’re both right.

Sex workers seem to be perennial victims, at least the one’s I’ve met. Most of them have been my clients, victims of domestic violence. (And, mothers. Kind of takes away the lure to think that the woman gyrating in front of you at Babe’s has a 2 year old at home.) Maybe my view is skewed. I also meet a lot of teachers and nurses who are domestic violence victims. So – maybe I just see a lot of them because this is another profession that primarily employs women?

From what I’ve experienced and read, and what I think to be true is this: How is it that a woman feels like sex is her primary power? Is it because society tells women that to be worthwhile, we have to be sexually attractive? Is it advertising? Magazines like Cosmo? Playboy? Penthouse? Could it be that women who end up selling sex are taught at a young age that the best, most powerful thing about them is sex? And who taught them? An abusive step-father? Grandfather? Pedophile uncle?

Once a woman is defined as a sex seller – a prostitute, dancer – then she can never, ever get away from that role. Never. She will always be known as an “ex-dancer.” You can imagine at the PTA meeting that someone finds out. One mother whispers to another, “SHE used to dance naked.” Yet, we wouldn’t consider defining a man as a “sex-buyer” or much less and “ex-sex-buyer.” Could you imagine at the same PTA meeting, one father saying to another, “You know, he used to go to titty-bars all the time.” Even if they did, it would be said with admiration or jealousy.

A common defense in domestic violence cases is this idea that the woman is a whore. They don’t come out and say it like that. But, that’s what they mean. “She was cheating, so he lost it and hit/shot/stabbed/killed her.” Often in protective order court, the man’s attorney will talk about how she works as a dancer, or she’s been having a sex with many men. Uhhhh, and that has what to do with the fact that he beat her until her face looked like one big, swollen bruise? Once a respondent’s lawyer told us how the protective order applicant had been having sex with a lot of different men. I looked at him with a straight face and said, “You mean she’s a whore?” He said, “yes” without the slightest clue that I was being sarcastic. Wow. My co-worker had to explain it to him.

The point is this: We want sex-workers. We want male-defined women. We encourage and expect this behavior from women. The price they (we) must pay is that we cannot escape this role and we cannot be equal. It isn’t that sex or sexuality is bad or wrong. It is the imbalance of power that is wrong. Even if a woman temporarily gains power in her role as a sex seller, ultimately she will pay the price – her humanity, her self-worth, and inclusion in the “legitimate” world. Because, she’ll someday be at that PTA meeting or at church or try to get a job in an office – and they’ll say it…”you know, she used to…”


Posted by CJ Social Worker at 12:10 PM"

Beijingers told to mind their manners

At first read this was hilarious, then I started thinking...it might be nice if we all lived our lives with these guidelines :)

"1) Don't pick your nose, yawn, shout, pull at your clothes, pull at your fingernails or scratch your head when talking to foreigners

2) Show your most civilized face

3) In conversation, wear a smile, don't stare to long or do anything to make people feel ill at ease

4) Subjects to avoid include what foreigners earn or how much they spend, how old they are, whether they are married and whether they are healthy

5) Also off-limits are questions about where foreigners live, where they have worked, their religious or political beliefs, or what they are currently doing.

6) Be careful when being interviewed by foreign journalists during the Olympics

7) Don't say or do anything that harms national prestige, the country's image or national security.

8) Before you help [a disabled person], first of all get their agreement and co-operation. Absolutely do not use force or be too enthusiastic

9) Do not to barge onto buses and trains"

CDC's BRFSS Prevalence Data--Start Page

I found you guys another cool tool, especially if you are doing research.

"Established in 1984 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a state-based system of health surveys that collects information on health risk behaviors, preventive health practices, and health care access primarily related to chronic disease and injury. For many states, the BRFSS is the only available source of timely, accurate data on health-related behaviors. "

Click the title link for the start page.

Be sure to check out these two pages:

BRFSS Maps

BRFSS--Site Map

13 months and this is all I get?

My blog is worth $7,903.56.
How much is your blog worth?

Roughly off the top of my head, that's about $600. a month right? Geez...I so need a real job :) Hey, Bluejean, if I can find a way up there will you mentor me and teach me how to be an awesome social worker like you are? No offense intended to anyone else, I respect you all...bluejean just hits me where I live :)

Hey, go have a chill day, revisit your youth and visit the blues page...I am :)

Barefoot and Pregnant...

Since no one seems to be reacting to this proposal I thought I would provide some more articles for your perusal, before I decide that everything I have worked and voted for in my lifetime is just going down the drain and women are just plain out fucking determined to stay beneath a man. Every article I read on this subject just makes me want to scream and or take to my bed as only a true southern female can.

I like men, don't get me wrong and I don't totally blame them for our predicament. Until we as women take the time out of our busy schedules to pay attention to what is happening around us things will never change and apparently will revert back to medieval times. Last night I dreamed I entered a sitting room in the White House and there was Bush surrounded by hundreds of naked pregnant women all smiling up at him and thanking him for thinking for them, because they really did want to have many, many children even without the help of a man or an income to support them. When oh when are we going to make a man as accountable for children as we do a woman? When?

It's been a long day so I'll leave you with the links:

Click the title post for the Reuters article

Feminist Wire Newsbriefs

Alternet: White House Tries to Define Contraception as Abortion

President Bush Please Stay Out of My Reproductive Organs!

Got this email from Naral today. Will January never get here? Click the title link for the New York Times article. Please use the widget in the left sidebar to voice your opinion.
<<<-----------------------


"Just hours ago The New York Times reported that the Bush administration is proposing a new regulation that could discourage doctors and health-care clinics from providing birth control to women who need it.

Pro-birth-control members of Congress are calling on the Bush administration to reconsider this terrible idea. Please let your members of Congress know that you strongly oppose this attack on birth control!

This proposed regulation deliberately confuses the definitions of contraception and abortion and could seriously jeopardize state laws and policies that protect women’s access to birth control. For example, state laws that require hospitals to provide sexual-assault survivors with access to emergency contraception could be jeopardized.

This issue makes it all the more clear why we must elect pro-choice Sen. Barack Obama as our next president. Sen. John McCain has repeatedly voted against allowing women to obtain birth control and there’s no doubt he will carry on Bush’s anti-choice legacy. Sen. Obama has a consistent record in strong support of women’s access to contraception and is the chief sponsor of legislation to make birth control more affordable.

Take action today. Don’t let the Bush administration’s attacks on birth control go unanswered.

Thank you for remaining vigilant against the Bush administration and taking action today."

Human Rights Watch: Defending Human Rights Worldwide

The title link takes you to the United States Children's Rights page but the entire site has many, many interesting and informative articles listed by country. Great site!

Improving Negotiation Skills: Rules for Master Negotiators

*Update*
It seems as though Google has decided to link people to this post. I have recently added many links under negotiation for social workers on the Child Welfare page which can be found in the sidebar.

The art of negotiation has always interested me very much. Click the title link for an awesome article on the fine points of negotiation.

The University of Hull: Best Practice Guide for Disabled Social Work Students and Placements

Ok, I know this is somewhat old in terms of the virtual world, but still it is still cool. Click the title link to be taken to their homepage. I have also added the full report in the "toolboxes" sidebar. Here is an excerpt taken from their background page:

"Improving access for disabled students to courses within Higher Education is a priority. This is particularly the case for professional training programmes such as Social Work. Students are supported on campus by Disability Services. However, questions remain about the adequacy of placement support for disabled students.

The project seeks to address these questions and has a particular focus on students whose needs are 'unseen'. These include dyslexia (the most prominent declared disability in HE, mental health problems, visual or hearing impairments. They can also include medical conditions such as epilepsy, arthritis, diabetes and asthma.

The project will focus on identifying any challenges that social work students face on placement as well as exploring positive experiences of support.
Aims and Objectives

1) To identify any opportunities and barriers in relation to the learning of social work students with unseen disabilities on practice placement from the perspectives of disabled students, practice placement co-ordinators, practice teachers and disability support staff.

2) To co-ordinate and deliver a learning support service to social work students with disabilities on practice placement.

3) To identify examples of good practice in supporting the learning needs of students with unseen disabilities on placement.

4) To produce and disseminate a Best Practice guide to ensure effective and consistent learning support of disabled students undertaking professional education."

Simply Momtastic

Click the title link, please. I'm not sure if she is a social worker but she has written one of the best, most comprehensive posts on what to do when Child Protective Services comes knocking on your door that I have ever read. She also has other cool stuff on there for those still in the child-bearing years. Definitely worth the read :)

The Sumsing Turbo 3000 Xi Multitask

Thanks Cathy over at Grandad's blog Head Rambles for the laugh. I needed it this morning as the blues page is still messing with me! Click the title link for the video. There's another link on Cathy's blog for an experiment with phones that really is scary!

Working with Elected Officials

Click the title link for the ACLU's great article on working with elected officials. The ACLU downloads page also has some great stuff for advocacy, including preventing burnout. I have also added The Activist's Toolkit to the list on the sidebar. If you just want to call your congressman directly you can call 202 224 3121. You might not get to speak with them directly but you can voice your opinion and they will be notified.

Alternet also has a great video up on who voted for FISA and how much $$$ they received from the telecom companies.

Carry a Big Sticker also has some great stuff!

IMHO

For eleven days now I have been reading the comments on Dr. Rob's now famous post "Shame." I will let you click and read for yourself as I am too tired now to re-hash it for you. Suffice it to say that it is about the treatment of the morbidly obese by the medical community, although it started out innocently enough with only how he treats his patients, it snowballed all the way to a New York Times article on it, complete with many more pages of comments. God love him...I doubt he expected this sort of commotion when he wrote that innocent, honest post, but as usual people jumped on it and hijacked it for their own agenda etc., etc.

I have made my suggestion for alleviating the problem and truly hope someone takes the bait and runs with it. My answer? The provision of water aerobic programs throughout the universe. I truly believe that if doctor's (especially in rural communities) in particular were to use their influence for the greater good it could spark a nationwide even universal approach to obesity.

Water aerobics combined with the Health at Every Size teaching module could virtually eliminate the problem.

This is just my humble opinion.....

Sorry, Firefox 3, Guess It Was Me After All

Geez...this has been a harrowing 24 hours. I removed all drivers having to do with sound and video that were on my computer and reinstalled most of them and then went to download.whatever and found a couple others and downloaded them too. Then I downloaded the Google toolbar for Firefox 3. Now, since I didn't check each one individually after installing, I can't tell you which one worked but one of them or maybe the combination of them all worked because I-NOW-HAVE-SOUND-ON-THE-BLUES-PAGE-WITH-FIREFOX-3!!! Yea me!!!

Still not happy with the bookmarks thingy but I was reading somewhere that maybe I just don't know how to use them yet :)

Firefox 3--Please Help!!

If anyone out there has downloaded Firefox 3 and can help me with this problem it would be greatly appreciated!

I can't say I've always been happy with Firefox but for the most part it is so much better than Explorer that it makes it's little quirks bearable. At least until a few days ago when I upgraded from Firefox 2 to Firefox 3.

#1 problem: It apparently is not recognizing dark blogs. At first I thought it was just my blues page until I went on other dark sites and had the same thing happen. It will not allow sound to be played, from the finetune player or from the youtube videos...not good for a blues site. It is not recognizing the site's address apparently because I tried changing the template and that didn't work. I know it is a Firefox problem because I can listen to the videos and the player just fine with Explorer and from my desktop. This is very frustrating!

#2 problem: When I go to bookmark a site it is not letting me choose which folder I want to put the potential bookmark in. It tells me "site bookmarked" wtf! I have well over a hundred folders in my bookmarks. If it was bookmarked, where the hell did it go? It goes to the very bottom of the bookmarks list! It takes me nearly a full minute to get to the bottom of this list and then another minute to get back to where I was. I realize I'm a little strange with all the bookmarks I have and lately I have been trying to clean them up but this will take forever going like this. If I'm working on something I liked the old way that would let me keep the top 5 folders I was working on in the drop-down menu, let me create another folder if I needed to and easily flip back and forth between folders. This really sucks...

Firefox 3 has basically shut me down...or right now I feel like it has, so if you have any suggestions please feel free to fire away before I lose it here....
*EDIT*
ok, crap...just checked the finetune player on this page and it won't play on here either...OMG I don't wanna have to go back to using Explorer!!! WWWAAAAAHHHHH!!!

The Anne E. Casey Foundation

I have not posted in a few days because I could not find anything that did not piss me off to the point of pure, raging, idiocy. Finally, in my travels through my "reader" I found something worthy of a post. I think I have told you about this foundation before but it was awhile back and probably included in with another post. This time I think it deserves it's own stand alone post. Click the title link to be taken to their home page where you can find a link for the 2008 KIDS COUNT Data Book, A Roadmap for Juvenile Justice Reform, Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative among other great stuff. The following was taken from their "Our Approach" page:


"a mission and history rooted in an ambitious vision of building better futures for disadvantaged children, the Casey Foundation’s approach to philanthropy has always embraced more than giving grants to achieve our goals.

We use our resources to partner with and forge collaborations among institutions, agencies, decision makers, and community leaders so they can work together to transform tough places to raise families. We fund research, technical assistance, and multi-site demonstrations that help service and support systems like public schools, juvenile justice agencies, and child welfare systems get better results for kids and families. We directly deliver exemplary services, identify and measure what works, and share lessons learned to demonstrate the potential of reforming public policies and services on behalf of children and their families.

No one single investment approach can fully meet the needs nor truly make a lasting difference in the lives of the significant numbers of vulnerable children and families encompassed by Casey's mission.

However, taken as a whole, these approaches to philanthropy and "change-making" help increase our positive impact on the populations we care about most; expand our influence with key audiences; and maximize our ability to leverage even more resources for the kids, families, and communities at the heart of our mission.

Providing Direct Services
We design and deliver services and interventions for foster children and their families, facilitate adoption, and help prepare at-risk youth to become successful adults. All of these services are driven by our goal of securing and supporting lifelong family connections for all children and youth.

Reforming Public Systems
System reform is a signature Casey investment area and a major emphasis of our work. We demonstrate, replicate, and advocate for changes to public human services and systems that do a better job of providing effective, efficient assistance to the children and families they were designed to support.

Providing Strategic Consulting
In an effort to make lasting and measurable reforms in public human service systems, the Casey Foundation provides intensive, strategic management support to leaders of public systems who are working to create fundamental change.

Transforming Neighborhoods
Building on Casey’s history of system and community change investments in multiple communities and neighborhoods, we seek to demonstrate that improving the quality of the places in which our most vulnerable children and families live can make measurable and sustained improvements in their ability to survive and thrive.

Strengthening Families
We work to advance the premise that improving future opportunities for vulnerable children requires helping parents to secure the resources, connections, and skills they need to support, nurture, and provide for them today.

Building Economic Success
By investing in new models, best practices, evaluation, and policy research, Casey’s goal is to promote specific strategies that enable parents to get jobs and advance in the workforce, increase their income, and build and protect a base of assets sufficient to secure a better future for their families.

Using Data and Evaluation
We gather and promote the use of data as a critical tool for change. We also routinely seek and support independent evaluation of our initiatives to ensure that our investments are yielding real results.

Ensuring Racial and Ethnic Equity
We support research, promote understanding, and share data around issues of disparity that continue to result in opportunity and achievement gaps in low-income communities of color and ethnic diversity.

Featured Resource

Publication thumbnail for A Call to Action: An Integrated Approach to Youth Permanency and Preparation for Adulthood
A Call to Action: An Integrated Approach to Youth Permanency and Preparation for Adulthood

Children who ‘age out’ of the child welfare system without a permanent family and/or adequate preparation for adulthood often do not have the supports needed to thrive independently. This report highlights efforts to ensure that youth currently in the foster system benefit from the most strategic preparation and supports for entering adulthood.

Data Spotlight

Children in Poverty

Over 13 million US children under the age 18 live in poverty. Find more facts on poverty in the KIDS COUNT Data Center."

Cultural Competence Resources for Health Care Providers

Click the title link for a little light read this morning :) There is also an eighteen page toolbox...if you've been reading here for very long you know I love toolboxes! I feel they pick up where school is so lacking, in the actual 'tell you specific actions to take' department. If you want to just cut to the chase of the article the toolbox is located here. In fact I think the challenge for the day will be to pull all the toolboxes I have out and put them on the sidebar...oh, what fun :)

Is a Big Hunk of Steak Worth Almost 2000 Gallons of Water?

Click the title link for the article...I have only one answer to that question...Absolutely :)

How about this for an idea?

About a month ago I re-injured the pinched nerve in my back so I haven't been able to do much strenuous stuff and I've not been able to look for a job. So I'm thinking of ways I could promote myself and this blog to the various helping agencies around town and possibly find a way to work from home doing what I love to do...seek out information for social workers. In my mind, it should be useful/time-saving/productive for social workers to have someone do their emailing to senators, look up the progress on various legislations, etc., etc. I don't want to give away all my ideas here because I've had very good ideas taken from me before. This time I need to make my own money and not let others ride on my ideas. I have so much on here that I think would be beneficial to other social workers and their clients. I've never been one for self-promotion, especially where an income is concerned and have little or no experience doing it, so...I'm asking for ideas as to how I should go about this and what I should say. Should I take specific examples to each agency as some sort of proof that I could make their lives easier? Should I go to the top or try to get in another way like through the IT department. Should I work up possible scenarios where my being able to provide the information in a timely manner would be beneficial to the business workings as a whole? I just want to know what you think. If you don't want to post here in the comments you can email me
dkfaircloth@hotmail.com This is the address I have for all my social work related emails. Thanks in advance :)

H.R 6307

"House Passes Bipartisan Bill to Extend Kinship, Foster Care

On June 24, the House of Representatives passed the Fostering Connections to Success Act (H.R. 6307) by a voice vote. Representatives Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Jerry Weller (R-IL), the chair and ranking members, respectively, of the Subcommittee on Income Support and Family Security, introduced the bipartisan bill the week before.

The legislation draws from an earlier bill McDermott had introduced, the Invest in KIDS Act, H.R. 5466. CWLA has endorsed both bills.

The new legislation extends support for kinship care, provides a state option to extend foster care to age 21, extends access to federal training funds to private agencies, provides tribes governments direct access to Title IV-E funds, requires greater health planning by states for children in foster care, requires greater coordination of ongoing education by the state and local education agency for foster children, and reauthorizes the adoption incentives program.

The legislation is significant for at least three reasons: It contains significant child welfare policy reforms, it is bipartisan, and it is paid for. McDermott had indicated on several occasions he would seek bipartisan agreement over common issues of support if Congress did not pass his earlier comprehensive Invest in KIDS Act. All items are included in the CWLA 2008 Legislative Agenda.

The floor debate demonstrated broad bipartisan support. McDermott said, "I think there are children out there right now who are going to benefit from this," and Weller indicated, "Members of this body stand in the place where the parents of children in foster care belong. That is a serious responsibility, and this legislation accepts that responsibility and makes solid, bipartisan improvements."

The bill, if enacted, could make significant advances in support for kinship care, foster youth, and tribal populations and would strengthen access to training for the child welfare workforce. Perhaps equally important, the bill is paid for by including what are referred to as offsets. These offsets, or changes in programs or cuts in other areas, generate federal revenue and mean the federal deficit would not worsen as a result of the bill's passage. The two offsets are to allow the IRS the ability to collect or recover unemployment compensation collected through fraud, and to allow the U.S. Treasury greater flexibility in investing federal funds.

The legislation now goes to the Senate, where it will be referred to the Senate Finance Committee. Last month, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) introduced the Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Guardianship Support Act of 2008 (S. 3038). This bill is his version of the adoption incentive program and includes a kinship care extension of Title IV-E funds, as well as several other provisions on adoption."