(Re) Chic

In a previous post I planted some seeds in some unused coffee cups in my apartment.  Well, lo and behold...they've sprouted!   These delicious basil plants in the making seem to be really enjoying my kitchen window and I look forward to them getting a little bigger so I can find them a pot where they can flourish into herbs I can cook with! My pineapple tree to be looks quite sad though.  I'll let you know if it perks up and starts growing roots...its looking a little dismal right now.  Happy Spring!

An excerpt from Kathy Cronkite's On The Edge of Darkness.   Kathy Cronkite continues to battle the stigma associated with Depression and speaks on the topic.  You can read her bio with the American Program Bureau here.   This passage is a quote from William Stryon, author of Darkness Visible, struggled with Depression his whole life and I think the excerpt below illustrates my own feelings on Depression and overcoming the shame                              and stigma associated with it.   It would lesson my sense of a person's integrity if I learened that he or she had suffered from depression and had hidden it.  I honor or respect whatever presonal reasons they had for that, but I would feel far more respect for people who fully face up to the fact that they have had an illness and tell the world.  I think its a matter of responsibility, because the illness will contyinue to be stigmatized as people try to hide the fact that they've had it.     Traditionally, people hav

I have never been one to have Spring Fever but this year, I've become ObSeSeD with Spring (and yes the High School style typing is completely necessary).  I'm attributing it to the fact that I'm working with a community garden project so naturally I talk about gardening, planting, and spring everyday.  But add that fact with the 65 degree weather we've had this week and its turned into an obsession.   It started with something simple.  I've always wanted a rose bush and they were incredibly cheap at Big Lots (gotta love that place).  So I bought one and planted it in a large pot in the hopes that it will live long enough to move with me to my next residence next year.   Well getting my fingernails dirty really started the obsession into a full blown ObSeSiOn.  Upon volunteering to make fruit salad for a carry-in at work I read this article  on growing a pineapple top and immediately ran to Kroger after work to purchase one.   My soon to be pineapple tre

And here's why.    I've just discovered a fantastic initiative that is raising awareness about HIV/AIDS in women and girls.  It's called The Red Pump Project. According to The Federal Government Source for information on Women's Health: womenshealth.gov.  Every 35 minutes a woman tests positive for HIV in the US.  This number is staggering.  That's almost 2 women every hour.  It doesn't have to be this way.  All we have to do is raise awareness about HIV/AIDS to the women and girls around us so that we can make a difference.  So ROCK THE RED PUMP!  And share it.  Because every woman needs to know!

I would just like to say that I had a FANTASTIC day at work today!  The Choice Pantry system that I've been working to get implemented at Sugartree Ministries has finally happened and I got to write the feature article on the blog about it!  The great comments from clients and volunteers spoke volumes about how great the project was and it was truly one of those "this is why I do what I do" moments.  I can't wait to see more success with it in the future.  But don't just hear me gush about it...go read the blog about it here!

I was diagnosed with Depression when I was a Junior in college.  However, I had known that I needed to seek out help as early as High School but I avoided seeing a therapist or getting prescribed medication because of my family's "suck it up" mentality that I had grown up with.  I knew that my parents would never be able to accept me taking medication for depression because they did not (and still do not) see it as a real disease.   That being said I find this article from the New York Times incredibly frustrating.  While I commend these scientists for working on a problem that truly does need to be focused on and their creativity in thinking about a problem from another angle the idea that depression is a GOOD thing and that people with depression should be happy because its an adaptation to make them live better lives is simply ridiculous.  Depression is a disease that KILLS people.  If that is a diagnosis of an adaptation then isn't Cancer also an adaptation