Skip to main content

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

START SPREADING THE GNEWS

Definition: gnews [nyooz] noun: good news; information presented about positive things happening in the world. The thing about news is it no longer means what it was meant to. The term “newspaper” derives its meaning from the idea that each day new events around us were reported to us. There is nothing really new about news today. Sure, the headlines change, but there is nothing fresh about the stories on any given day. Even the most prudent reporters hardly offer us an objective picture of what is truly going on in our world. We learn only about what goes wrong. It would be great if the media felt they had an obligation to report what happens in our world, not just what goes wrong, but news is big business, and the 24/7 news cycle has only exacerbated the “if it bleeds it leads” mentality. Ironic, really, because it would seem that more time to fill would bring more variety to the news space. This has not, however, been the outcome. Thirty years ago, a research group ...

Ages and Stages

Ages and Stages By Jonna Shutowick. M.S. Ed.   School-aged years are far more challenging for some than we give them credit for. Sure, we all know the middle school years are awkward. What parent hasn’t had to tell their child at some point that “none of this will matter soon, you’ll see”? The early bloomers learn this lesson in late elementary school, most learn it by the 9th grade, but there are some still within the “normal range” who do not understand the truth of this until they are nearly 20. That is a huge 10 years! And, of course, this is the reason for social groupings and cliques and anti-bullying campaigns, and the like. The years between ages 10 and 20 see major shifts in emotional growth and, to compound matters, major physical shifts as well. Not everyone matures at the same rate. Nor do our physical, mental, emotional (and, by proxy, moral) abilities mature necessarily in concert with each other. In fact, a challenge in one area often impedes on the others,...