Ms. Lopez

I am a big fan of Humans of New York.  If you don't follow this page on instagram, you should!  Recently a younger kid was featured and talked about how his school principal was the person who influenced him most in his life.  This kid lives in one of the highest crime areas in New York. 

A few days later, HONY featured a photo of the principal, Ms. Lopez, a photo of some of the students, and a photo from the teacher meeting.   As I was reading through the captions under the pictures I was truly amazed at how much this woman cared about her students and how much she wanted to see them succeed.  As inspirational as it was, it was also sad.  My feelings were very similar to my feelings after I read/saw the Freedom Writers Diary - why aren't all educators like this?

It's sad that not every teacher cares so much about their students and making a difference in the lives of the little people with whom they spend most of their day.   I really thought back to my school experience and I can literally count on one hand the amount of teachers I felt actually cared and went above and beyond for their students. 

My 3rd grade teacher, Ms. Knode

My 8th grade math teacher, Ms. Sparks (at the time I thought she was a bitch but that year was the first year I ever did really well in math)

My 6th grade Social Studies teacher, Mr. Bennett

My 10th Grade English teacher, Mr. Skelton

My College Sociology Professor, Mrs. Brewer

There may be one or two more in there that I just can't think of off the top of my head, but these are the ones that I really remember.   My school was not a school filled with kids living in poverty with drug addicted parents and gangs, this was a school with mostly middle class and above students.  So, yeah there will be difficult days but there is no reason why I should only have memory of 5 teachers who I felt really cared.  And I think kids living in poverty need the caring teachers because in my experience, a lot of the times their parents don't care.

Anyway, my point is that this lady is an inspiration, and what all educators should aspire to - in my humble opinion.   A lot of the children who live in that area have never been out of the city and Ms. Lopez wants to do an annual trip with the incoming 6th grade students to get them out of New York and show them that there is more out there than their neighborhood.  Her choice is to take them up to Boston to visit Harvard University.   HONY started a fund to try to help raise money for this trip and at the time I'm writing this, has raised over $400,000!  That is enough to take a trip for then next 6 years!

 (Click here if you would like to donate)

Also, a lot of people have been sending flowers and cards to Ms. Lopez and her staff thanking them for being such an inspiration to their students.  Between this and the amount of money raised, my faith in the human race has been restored a bit.  It's amazing to see that so many people throughout the US and the world want to see these kids succeed and get out of a life of poverty and crime. 

There really isn't much of a point to this post except to say that I'm glad to see that there are so many amazing people out there and that there are educators who truly try their absolute hardest to see their students succeed. 

Is Ignorance Really Bliss?

I'm taking a break this week from my series on being a humane consumer to talk to y'all about another important topic.  Food safety.

A few weeks ago I began watching the documentary “Food Inc”.  This documentary really got m
e thinking about how ignorance is a really bad thing especially in situations like this.  Ignorance is affecting our ability to change things.

For example, the movie shows Wal Mart corporate employees working with Stoneyfield Organic – a brand I happen to love.  The employee said that Wal Mart began carrying some organic products based on consumer demands.  Consumers changed one of the largest corporations in the world.   We have the power to change things, but we also have to power to keep them the same.

The guy who founded Stoneyfield was often accused by his friends of selling out but explains that by getting his product on the shelf at a place like Wal Mart, more people are seeing it and getting educated.  He also said it proves that you can produce foods safely and organically and still do very well on the business end.   So more people are exposed to eating organically than if he just targeted health food stores.   I completely agree with his strategy.

This is why this next part really bothers the crap out of me.

When I put my initial reaction to the documentary on Facebook, a lot of people said they’d never watch it because they just don’t want to know.  I’m sorry, but that is the stupidest fucking thing I have ever heard!  Like, ever! 

Our government is basically supporting the poisoning of its citizens because of money, but you’d rather not know?  Let me know how you feel about that after you or a loved one contract E Coli form a burger you ate.   How are we, as consumers, supposed to affect change if we just ignore the issues because "the burgers just taste so good" or “it so cheap"?

This is a huge problem!  I wrote a seven page research paper in my research writing class about the effects of antibiotics in animals on our health and on the environment and let me tell you, it’s not pretty.  And this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as what’s wrong with the way food is produced.

I would rather know the gory details so that I can choose my food more wisely.  I would rather know what’s happening and make the choice not to support it.

The same goes for animal testing.  It’s not pretty, so people pretend it doesn’t exist so they can go on buying the $2.00 bottle of body wash and not feel guilty that some poor animal had to be tortured so they can be cheap.

Yes, I do spend a bit more money on food, toiletries, and cleaning products but I know what I’m putting on and in my body is safe and that animals were not abused in the making of the products.  I also know that my fruits and veggies are not filled with nasty pesticides or sprayed with gases.

Being ignorant is not a good thing.  Consumers have the power to affect change by what they buy and what they don’t buy.  If we support local non-factory farms over the products sold in stores or that we know are produced by factory farms, we can really change the food industry. 

However, if we do nothing, things will stay the same and we will continue to poison our bodies in the name of money, laziness and corporate greed.

Watch Food Inc. on Netflix and let me know your reaction.  I would love to know what others think about it.

That Time a Movie Made Me Sick

Yeah, so lets talk about this glorious day.

Just so y'all know, I am a huge baby and cry during about 80% of the movies that I see.  But this one was the worst.

July 11, 2009, I lost one of my best friends.  I had just pulled in front of my house after spending the day moving back from JMU for good.  So the day was bad enough already.  Then getting that phone call made the day go from bad to worse. 

I spent the whole rest of the day with my friends.  It was a difficult and emotional day and when I got home there was no way I could sleep.  I decided to watch a movie.  I picked Remember Me because I'd just bought it and hadn't watched it yet.  (PS Spoilers in the next paragraph).

My first mistake was picking a movie that I knew nothing about.  I hadn't even read the back cover, I just picked it up and decided to buy it.  I think Robert Pattinson is a good actor so I figured it could be good.  I'll spare you the details of the whole movie (which is excellent and I highly recommend it) and say that RP's characters Dad works in an office building in NYC, which you never see the outside of.  Well, RP's character goes to the building to meet with his Dad, who is late because he decided to take RP's sister to school (which is a big step for him).  It then shows a shot of RP looking out the window, then cuts to his sisters classroom where her teacher walks past the date on the chalkboard: September 11, 2001.  I was really out of it and figured that the class was learning about 9/11 in school.  Wrong.  Then it goes back to the office building showing RP in the window and zooms out.  Suddenly it hit me.  I just leaned over the bed and threw up in the trashcan next to the bed.  I spent the rest of the night shaky and crying.

This is the clip of the scene I described.

I had just moved back from college, lost my friend, and was reminded of another loss and the other worst day of my life all in about 16 hours.

And that is my super depressing, worst day ever post.  And the time a movie actually made me sick.

When the World Stopped Turning

This is always a post that makes my heart ache.  Every September 11th I write about those who were lost and those who live with what they saw that day. 

This year, I am angry. 

I am angry that our President wants to defend the people who did this to us, this time in Syria.  I am angry that more people are not educated about Syria and what going to war means.   It means putting our troops at risk by getting involved in another countries business (yes, we should be educated about what is going on in the world, but it does not mean we need to get involved).  It means that our government cares more about making sure that defense contractors are happy rather than the safety of our people and our troops.

I am really mad that each year, people seem to remember less and less.  I see less people wearing Red, White and Blue, I see less facebook posts and I hear less people talking about what happened.

 I am also really angry that our Government seems to have forgotten that they represent the people of the United States, not their own self interests! (More on that in a later post).

When I remember what happened that day 12 years ago, I think about all that was lost and why no one seems to remember who was responsible. 

                            

I remember these two great men who lost their lives.  They were husbands/boyfriends, fathers, and friends.  I think about the way they must have felt being stuck at the top of the towers knowing there was no way out.  I think that knowing Matthew, and probably Mr. Joe, since they worked for the same company, survived the initial impact is absolutely horrifying.  I think about the way they must have felt, knowing that they would never see their loved ones again.  Not knowing why the plane hit the building and what was going to happen when it was all over.  

 I think about my friend Lauren, who was not able to share her wedding day with her Father and who does not get to share her two beautiful children with her father.   I think about Matthews girlfriend who he was planning to propose to, who never gets to know how their lives may have turned out.

I think about my cousin Cindy, a survivor.   I think about the friends that she will never see again.  I think about the friend who saved her, without whom, I may have been attending yet another funeral.  I think about her daughters who would not be here today and her husband who was scared to death for his wife of just 4 months.  I think about the horrible memory that she has to live with for the rest of her life.

I  remember being terrified on that day.  Sitting in 7th grade social studies, I remember people began getting called to the office one by one, then in large groups, then the whole school.  I remember not having a clue what was going on.  I remember coming home to terrified parents who told me that my cousin worked in those towers.  I remember getting the phone call from Mrs. Peacher saying that Mr. Joe was up in NY for his once a month meeting in the towers and that he wouldn't survive.  Then getting the call that Mrs. Char's nephew was also in the towers working for that same company on the 95th floor.  All this while waiting for news of my cousin.  I remember that moment before my parents were able to tell me that Cindy had made it out.  I was 12 years old but I felt like I was 30.  I struggled to try to understand why someone would do something so horrible.  I watch news footage after news footage, documentary after documentary.  I am 24 years old and I still don't understand it.

This day will always be full of emotions for me and hundreds of thousands of other Americans.   It is not something for us to just forget about because it is too painful to remember.   The events of September 11 affect our lives every day.  I think the most important thing is to remember those who were lost, those whose lives were so suddenly and carelessly taken from us.

About the Firm that my Cousin, Cindy worked for
Read this article for the latest on Syria.  
Slightly lighter approach on Buzzfeed
9/11 Digital Archives

The Day My Life Changed

 *I am doing this one day early because I liked this better than Monday's topic and tomorrow is Travel Tuesday, which I just don't skip :)*

My life changed forever on July 11, 2009.  

The day started out pretty sad for me as I was leaving JMU behind.  It was already an emotional day. My family came to move all of my stuff out of my apartment.  My sister and I took one last walk around campus.  We then headed home.

I had my phone on silent the whole way home on accident but now I know it was a blessing in disguise.

I pulled up to my parents house and looked at my phone which had several missed calls from my friends.  So, I called my friend  Kristin first because she was the one who had called the most. 

That phone call completely changed my life. 

The first thing she asked me was if I was driving, this is when I knew something was wrong.  At first I couldn't understand what she was saying, she repeated herself three times.  Then she took a deep breath and I heard it "Brent died".   She told me he had been in a motorcycle accident earlier that morning. 

I didn't hear anything after that.  

My friend was gone.  Heather's boyfriend was gone. I had just seen him on the 4th of July.  We had just hung out.  He is only 20 years old. 

That day and the days that followed were a blur.  But after that week, a lot of thoughts settled in.

My friends and I were faced with the loss of a friend who was our own age.  Someone we thought we'd see grow older.  We were faced with our own mortality.   I was faced with the only regret in my life.

On July 5th a local town has fourth of July fireworks and a carnival.  I was supposed to go with Heather, Brent and Brent's cousin, Chelsea.   I ended up calling Heather to tell her that I was just going to head back down to JMU instead of going, that way I would get home at a decent time rather than 1 in the morning.  That is my only regret in my life, that I did not go to the fireworks.

This decision completely changed my life.  Now, if my friends ask me to do something, I say yes and I do it unless I have to work.  It doesn't matter if I really don't feel like going or I'm tired or whatever.  I go, I take full advantage of the time I have with my friends and I spend every minute I can with them, especially now that we all live in different places.

We all miss our friend every day, but I am happy for the time we all got to spend together.

Some Useful Advice: Being "Drug Free"

When I left JMU and couldn't find a job, I decided to go back to school and pursue a degree in Nursing.  That didn't work out because I hated it, I was only doing it because I knew I would get a job with that major. 

However, I am glad I took Anatomy and Physiology before figuring out that nursing wasn't for me because I learned some life changing lessons from my Professor.   He is a medical doctor who is very intelligent and very up-to-speed on medical research.   He told us the truth about a lot of things that we are often lied to about because companies want money.  Some of these things I already knew and some I didn't.

  The one thing he taught us that really stuck out to me was that Americans have no tolerance for pain.   Americans have a problem, we take medicine for EVERYTHING!  

Head hurts? Take Tylenol.  Tummy hurts? Take Pepto.  Back Pain? Take Aleve.

This is NOT GOOD!  When we take medicine for something as simple as a headache, we are not letting our bodies fix the problem and are therefore causing our bodies to be weak.  If we take medicine at the first sign of a cold, we are not letting our immune systems work.

Our immune systems are just like any other system in our bodies.  In order to be stronger, it needs to be stressed.   He told us that he had been "drug free" for 6 years (this was 3 years ago).  This really struck a cord with me as I thought back to my senior year of High School when I felt like I was taking Motrin every other day for headaches.  I decided right then and there that I was going to be drug free, too.  And be more careful about what I put in my body. 

I have been drug free for the past 3 years and I have never felt better.  When I get sick, my sickness doesn't last as long as everyone else because my immune system has been stressed over the past 3 years.  For example, Josh got sick on new years with a cold that lasted almost 3 weeks.  I caught this cold about a week into his and I was only sick for about 3 or 4 days and it never got as bad as Josh's.

Now, instead of popping a pill when I get a headache, I take a nap.  Usually when I wake up, I feel fine.  If I can't take a nap because I am at work, I drink a lot of water and suck it up until I get off.   If my back hurts, I try to stretch it out, usually that works.  

Now, I am not saying that all drugs are bad.  If I were to get an infection, I would certainly take an antibiotic because infections are a whole different breed.   Also, if I were to ever have a headache or stomach ache that lasts for an extended amount of time, I would obviously seek medical attention.  However, we really need to look at what we are putting into our bodies and be aware of the effects. We need to take a proactive approach to our health care and treatment.

At work, my coworkers know that I don't take any medications and a good bit of them just don't get why.  So, I was really excited when this news story came on the TV.  It is about how Tylenol is actually one of the leading causes of liver failure due to the ingredient acetaminophen.  I was not excited that this has happened to people but because I was able to show my coworkers why it is important to be educated about these types of things. 

I could go on and on about this topic as it is something I feel very strongly about.  So, if you really want to know more about living drug free, please email me because this post is just the tip of the iceberg. 

So my useful advice, next time you have a headache, let your body fix the problem.  You do not have a headache because of lack of medication, you have a headache for another reason and your body will fix itself.

Sometimes I Wonder, Who You'd Be Today

Brent, 

I still can't believe it has been four years since I got the worst phone call of my life.  Four years since we lost you.  Not a day goes by that I don't think of you.   Every wedding that goes by, every party we have, you should be there.  I will always remember you protecting Heather, Kristin and I from creepers at the club, racing around the deck, your random spaz attack in the pool, the night you had boobs, your awesome fireworks, drunk singing, and of course, Aflack!   You were a great friend to all of us and an incredible boyfriend to Heather and while I am sad for her, I am also happy that she got to experience true love while she was with you.  You will always be in our hearts and we will always love and miss you. 

P.S. I still have aflack and he lives on my night stand :)

Creeper

 

"Would you like to buy Aflack insurance"??

 It ain't fair you died too young
Like a story that had just begun
But death tore the pages all away
God knows how I miss you
All the hell that I been through
Just knowin' no one could take your place
Sometimes I wonder
Who you'd be today.

Miss you, friend

Brent Michael Hall
Feb. 3 1989 - July 11 2009