Our Country is Falling Apart

Every now and then I turn on the Today Show in the mornings, usually when I'm awake but not ready to get up. This morning I'm reminded why I'm not a regular viewer of the Today Show or any other shows like it.

Our country, and the world, is falling apart. Gas prices are soaring. People are driving less because, according to the reporter, of the high price of fuel. Here in Columbus, gas went from $3.85 at most stations to $4.09 yesterday. According to the report, there are 2% fewer cars on the road today than a year ago. More people are car pooling and taking public transportation because they can no longer afford to fill their gas tanks. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled about this shift, I just wish there were more public transportation options available to more people. I have no options but to drive to school. Between the increase in gas and the decrease in financial aid I'm not sure how much longer I can afford to go to school. I certainly can't be the only one dealing with this.

The climate is changing more dramatically and faster then ever before. The southwest part of the country can expect the drought they are experiencing to continue with no end in sight. The midwest can expect to see torrential downpours and major flooding more often with only 8 years between major flooding events rather than every 20 years. The average highs are only projected to get hotter.

There is a high school that had a huge surge in teen pregnancies with 17 sophomore girls expecting. When a reporter from Time magazine went to the high school to investigate she discovered these weren't unplanned pregnancies. These girls made a pact with each other to get pregnant and to raise their babies together. I feel so sad for these girls. Even more, I feel so sad for their babies.

Not only are food prices rising, the amount of food in prepackaged boxes is decreasing. Yet another hit to the family budget.

After listening to all of these stories I have noticed something missing from all of the reports. What we can do to make a difference. They may causally mention what some people are doing. In the gas price story they showed two women who have starting car pooling. But they didn''t offer any real solutions. No wonder depression rates are so high. If you watch any of these morning shows you're being told things are getting worse and worse and offered no solutions. This makes it look like there is no hope, we're doomed and there's nothing anyone can do about it. I refuse to believe this. I know there has to be more that I can do...I just have to spend hours of my time (that I don't really have) to research what those things are. Gee, that sort of seems like the job of a reporter.

Addiction and Feminism

Reflect on your experiences with addiction. What stereotypes do you have? When you think of addiction do you think of other types such as addiction to sex, food, shopping? How are feminism and addiction related?

Addiction has been part of my life, in one way or another, my entire life. Growing up my mom was addicted to Diet Pepsi and cigarettes. At times, she was known to smoke more than a pack a day. My dad has food addiction issues, more specifically, an addiction to sweet food. I myself was addicted to not eating food and to cutting. I also craved alcohol, though I never drank as a teen. I didn't understand why this was until I met my birth family (I am adopted). My birth mom had also struggled with addiction for part of her life. She, in addition to her mom and most of her brothers & sisters, dealt with sex, drug and alcohol addiction as a teen. The others in her family have been dealing with it for much more of their lives. My birth dad dealt with drug and alcohol addiction for a majority of his adult life. I wasn't ever exposed to my birth mom's issues as we never lived together. I was however, living my birth father when he admitted to me that he was addicted to cocaine and alcohol the day before checking himself into rehab. As an adult, both my husband and I have struggled with addition to video games and I am addicted to my ADHD medication as I cannot forgo a dose of prescribed amphetamine and expect to have a functional day. I also still struggle with cutting. While I have not cut in over 8 years the desire is still there at times, mostly when I'm feeling overwhelmed and have allowed others to get the better of me. I wonder if this will always be a struggle for me. I find myself thinking about cutting without even realizing I am thinking about it until it is too late. I hope one day to be rid of these thoughts for good, until them, I'll continue to push them out of my head as fast as they pushed their way into it. Food and I have a very healthy relationship now and we are good friends.

I am, however, proud to say that my mom is no longer a smoker, though, she does struggle with prescribed pills at times and still loves her Diet Pepsi. These don't bother me because she did successfully quit smoking, something she swore she would never do in a million years. My birth father, after falling off the proverbial wagon a few times, has been clean and sober for almost five years after hitting rock bottom after the birth of my son, his first grandchild, when he realized he wanted to be a good grandfather to him. I no longer have a relationship with my birth mother so I cannot say how she or anyone else in her family is dealing with their addictions. My dad is still addicted to sweets and probably always will be. Both my husband and I have conquered our video game addiction and we even canceled our subscriptions to World of Warcraft, which was not an easy thing to do! We did get a Wii for Christmas but have been pretty healthy in our use of it as well as our children's use of it.

Because of my personal and family history with addiction I really can't say what stereotypes I have regarding this issue. I have learned that addiction to anything comes in all different packages and especially from those whom you least expect it. The same goes for other types of addiction. While the first things that often come to mind are drugs and alcohol, I do recognize other additions. I do forget that things such as eating disorders (be it anorexia or over eating), sex, and shopping are considered addictions as these types aren't often talked about...not that addiction in general is something often talked about.

The biggest link, for me, between feminism and addiction comes from my belief that one feminist ideal is having control and power of my body and my life and not turning these things over to someone or something else. When a person has an addiction they are no longer in control of their body and/or their life. Instead, the addiction has control and power over the person though they may not realize it or may not recognize this to be the case.

My teacher is making me blog

For my readers who haven't been reading because there hasn't been anything new to read in some time now, you will be happy to know that I will be blogging regularly for the next ten weeks for a class I am taking. My hope is that this will get me in the habit of blogging regularly so you all have more to read from me. :)

Our Trip to Florida

I FREAKING ROCK!

I FREAKING ROCK! I go in to my History class to take my final exam and my prof comes up to me and hands me my final paper and says: "You currently have an A in this class. You don't have to take the final exam if you don't want to and, quite frankly, if you do take the final exam I am not going to grade it." And I got an "Excellent" on my final paper. :D

I know it is just a 100 level class but 5 years ago I freaking failed out of Columbus State and now I'm smart and I am soooooo not used to what this feels like. Eventually I'm sure an A will be no big deal but I'm not there yet. :D

Ignorance is Bliss

Whom ever coined this phrase certainly knew what they were talking about. As I struggle to make major decisions about my life and my children's education I find myself sometimes wishing I didn't know as much as I do. Jim gets frustrated when I say this as he feels we are able to make better decisions based on knowing so much. Yes, we do get to make better decisions and we also have to deal with the desire to make the better decision without having the means to do so. Fear is another factor we have to deal with; the fear of changing what we know so well. I'm finding this to be true with so much right now: the nutritional health of my family, treating my ADHD, how to educate my children, and even planing my spring quarter schedule.

Nutrition is extremely important and I believe we do better than the average family. However, my son has, at the very least, a sensitivity to dairy and I suspect Jim, my stepdaughters, and I do as well. His sensitivity isn't life-threatening and I'm fairly certain many parents wouldn't even realize his symptoms are even linked to dairy...thus the issue of being too informed. I have a strong desire to go 100% dairy free yet can't get over my fear of not ever having real cheese pizza again or a bowel of cereal with milk or ice cream. With my son being dairy free, eating out is a major challenge. We don't eat out often and there are nights when nothing has been planed, we have no food in the 'fridge and no one has any motivation to cook anything and even if they did, the kitchen would need to be cleaned first. If I were a more organized mom this wouldn't be an issue and I'm not at all organized. So I know the problem and I know what to do about it yet I can't seem to get over a rather silly fear of not having certain foods to do the right thing.


There are days I wish I didn't know I had ADHD. I hated feeling stupid, lazy and crazy back then but at least that was all I knew. Now, I know I'm smart and sane and motivated and I have to chose what portions of my day I'm going to be those things and what portions I'm going to be crazy, lazy and stupid because the meds aren't working well for me any more. We can't afford the medication that works the best as our insurance company no longer covers it and I'm too scared to try the natural treatments as those take time to work. That and they cost even more money than the medication does. Not that I want to be on medication...I just want to function. I just want to live my life and not survive it.

I've posted enough for tonight. To be continued...