The End

Well everyone this is the last week of classes for the term. I have enjoyed the time spent in seminar with everyone.

Learning how to write a scientific research paper has been joyful. There have been times when I felt writing was not something I was interested in doing, but after learning some of the techniques, I have a change of heart.

I will take the tools I have learned in this course and try to use them in my future classes. I am sure I will have the opportunity to use them.

To everyone best wishes with your future classes and job choices.

Helen

Saying Good bye

Class we are approaching the end of a term and I am feeling a bit emotional. I have enjoyed the time spent with everyone. I have also learned some valuable lessons to take with me when writing papers. Some of the techniques learned in this lesson I have not tried until now. I particularly like the outline approach. That helped me to clear up a lot of my paragraphs, along with the paramedic method.

I wish the best to each and everyone. Professor Caliendo, I especially enjoyed you. You have a very calming spirit and mellow voice to go along with it. It was a joy to be in your class. You made the task of writing research papers enjoyable.

Good bye to you all and best wishes for the future.

Helen

Growing

My son had a performance over the weekend. He is a gospel rapper. I have to admit when he first started rapping he was doing secular rap. I was not a big fan of that. I did not understand the background of rapping.

He was nine when he began to express his feelings with music. Everyday he would lock himself in his room, and I would hear his keyboard or stereo until the finished product was presented to the family. I started to notice that the more involved he was in church the more the music started to shift. Well I am loving that of course.

Every year we give a talent show at one of our many family cookouts. My son at this time was preparing an original song that he would not allow anyone to hear until the day of the cookout. To my amazement it was a gospel rap. That made me extremely happy. I was so pleased to hear that for the first time. Everyone loved it.

That was the beginning of his spiritual change. At that moment during the process of his writing, he began to grow. Today he performs at different churches and venues in the area. His music he thought was intended for the youth seems to have captured older listeners also.

Although he still listens to the other music. I am proud to see the growth in him. He is on a path striving to encourage others in their growth to reach their goals.

Helen

Life

Have you ever noticed how somethings we do out of habit? Well it has occurred to me that the things we do out of habit are the things we do repeatedly day to day and we take for granted these simple acts, like waking up, brushing our teeth,walking, talking eating....etc. Did you ever wonder what life would be like if you could not do the things we continuously do day to day?

It has come to my attention that the things I took for granted I did not think much of until I was not able to do them. It was not until I had an injury that kept me from doing the things I enjoyed the most ( running, biking, walking)that I was like a lot of people just going through my everyday life without a second thought about the "what if". I tore the cartilage in my right knee. I was not able to walk for 18 months.

Well now that I think about what if my life had not had this injury I would not have gained the extra 40 pounds, I would have more mobility in my leg and I would not be trying to lose 40 extra pounds.

I never had a weight problem until the accident, and now life has changed for me in a number of areas because of one accident.

Bottom line is to think about life enjoy it, don't take the obvious for granted because it may not always be that way. Take the time to enjoy the walks, the taste, the views....etc. You will enjoy life a lot more when it is appreciated.

Helen

Depression

I started my research on depression. To be specific adolescent depression. I have found some interesting facts about depression. The question of what is depression has been asked and the response is that depression is an illness that involves the moods and thoughts of a person. At times the individual can not communicate their feelings to alert anyone that they have a problem. I never realized that depression affected children as young as two years of age.

I have family members that suffer from this illness. I did not understand their mood swings in the beginning, but now things are clearer for me. I know realize that the aggressive behaviors and the abuse they would inflict on other people.

My nephew was diagnosed as a manic depressive when he was in his senior year of high school. Some of his symptom were him being extremely aggressive and abusive to his siblings, and he started to have hallucinations. He was visualizing things in his mind that were not occurring. This was causing the doctors to misdiagnose him, because they over medicated him leaving him to just be able to sit around and stare out. He is an adult now, they have gotten control of his medication but there are times he still has an episode of acting out.

My sister I believe suffered from depression as a child and was one that was not diagnosed. Because of this she has developed an abusive behavior. She likes to become physical with people and is very short tempered. She has been put on medication and it seems to have her always in a negative state of mind. She seems to always find fault with people and is very self-centered. You cannot talk about a subject without her turning the topic on herself. That becomes so very annoying because you can never finish what you are discuss. She controls the conversation to the point that you just end it and walk away.

I am learning a lot from this research. I believe this will help me to be a little more patient with my relatives and not try to avoid them when they are around. Now I understand that this is something that is out of their control.

Helen

Friends

Most of the time people we have a tendency to call people our friends, when in actuality they are just acquaintances or associates. I find that some people I have labeled as my friends were not friends at all.

I would say it is a situation where I am a friend to them but they do not share the same feelings. I can listen to their problems, or help them in their situations but the favor is not returned.

I can recall waking to a telephone ringing at three in the morning to someone on the other end crying about something going on in their lives, but when I made the call to them, they had the audacity to ask me to call them later. Boy, I say it was a good thing I was not suicidal. I call that a one sided friendship. This person only wants to vent their feelings and not hear what someone else may be going through in their lives.

Needless to say I have limited my time to certain people. I have gotten to the point that when they start to share personal things about themselves, I will stop the conversation and let them know that I may not be the person they want to share that conversation with.

This was just something I had on my mind.

Helen Butler

Be Safe

Hello everyone,

The 4th of July is here. Wow the months are flying by us. We have approached the seventh month already. It will be Christmas soon. Lol! I love the 4th, it brings back good memories. I remember growing up with my family, and my dad always put on a fireworks show in our back yard. That was my favorite part of the 4th. Of course there are the cookouts with the friends and family traveling from out of town to visit. but I am not a fan of the bugs when eating outside, but the games are fun.

Now don't get me wrong I love the outdoors, I just don't like the bugs when eating. Well as I got older, my dad passed away and the 4th was never the same. I don't look forward to it as much and since I have moved to areas that don't allow fireworks.

Well, it appears that during the holidays is when most of our accidents happen. This is the time we have to watch out for drunk drivers. With family on the roads we need to be careful.

When working with the fireworks, watch out for the children and animals. Keep them far away from the flames. We don't want any tragedies during this holiday.

Best wishes to all and stay safe.