The Effects of Child Neglect

I watched Oprah in horror as the story of a little girl name Danielle came to light. What happens when a child is left with no parental love, touch, affection? or without learning to talk, to walk, or to reason? Danielle is the result. In July 2005 detectives were called to a house where a little girl, never seen before, was peering out a window holding a dirty blanket. Fearing the worst, the neighbor called authorities. What they found when they arrived can only be described as barbaric. There were feces on the floor, dirt, food and thousands of roaches. When they went into a bedroom they found 6 year old Danielle huddled in a corner in only filthy diaper. Drinking from a bottle, her mouth just hung open in fear. She could not speak and grunted like an animal; She weighed just 43lbs. When her mother was asked why this was done her mothers only response was "I did the best I could". My heart just broke when I saw this and I was able to quickly see the correlation between what is learned in the 1st formative years of a childs life and the the outcome of neglect such as this. If those basic human needs are not then we do not learn or grow mentally.

Landmark Alzheimer's Discovery

Duke University beleives they may have identified a second gene thought to be responsible for Alzheimer's Disease. Though more research must be done to confirm, they are excited to start studies that could begin as early as 2010. I have a personal link to Alzheimers. My grandmother Maddalena was diagnosed in 1995 with the disease and waged a long 12 year battle with it. It was extremely hard to watch her go from a vibrant, happy person to a shell of someone we had never met. Her losing the ability to speak for us was one of the hardest phases. Her melodic voice was silenced forever and we were left with only occasional eye contact. When that was gone too, we had all but given up hope that her spirit was still there. But shining thru like the sun on cloudy day was her smile that could light up a room. Watching someone go thru Alzheimers is like watching a person fall away piece by piece. Almost as if they die twice. She did pass in 2003 and I pray that scientists are getting closer to preventing this disease as I want to know for myself as well as my children.

Worry & Anxiety

Haven't we all had days like this? I myself can think of something in the middle of night and get can't get it out of my head kwowing full well their is nothing I can do about it until the morning. Needless to to say, I dwell until I am able to put my mind at ease and fix the problem. I tend to think I am a little anxious. After all being Italian does not help. We tend to worry about everything!!! We worry about worrying. There is no wonder their is a high rate of heart diseases with my family. I can really see where stress can take years off of your life sure. My dad had a massive coronary at the age of 39!! Luckily he survived but it was pretty much spelled out for him that he needed to make some changes. His severe Type A personality need to come down notch if he wanted to see his children graduate High school. He no longer sweeps the dirt road we lived on, or cleans the shower grout with a toothbrush. Although he still leaves himself a note to take out the trash every Thursday night. Which wouldn't be a big deal if the trash hadn't come every Friday morning for the last 46 years!!! Some things can never be changed.

The Many Faces of Michael Jackson

Since he was 8 years old Michael Jackson had been entertaining the world until his tragic death this past June. A pop icon dubbed the best entertainer who had ever lived was silenced forever. I found his life fascinating and followed him on his amazing journey thru his career. I learned every word and tried to my best to learn every dance move with no avail. Over the years we have all seen Michael Jacksons image change and people just regarded him as a "weirdo". But looking closer into his life their is quite a story behind those many faces. His body image of himself so distorted by the angry words of his father. The obsession with his vision of perfection and desire to keep changing even when change seemed enough to the rest of us. Only now do we realize the cries for help along the way. I think ultimately the drugs he was taking were a complete escape for him from the reality of having to accept who is was when he could no longer change his appearance. He created his own reality in the end it is what cost him the most.

Begging Elephants in Thailand July 6, 2009

In this report by Dan Rivers, of CNN, he discusses the use of elephants as cash making machines for local villagers. He calls it "elephant begging". The elephants are withheld food and then made to walk the winding, fog filled streets of Bangkok looking for tourists who will pay feed them. The villagers can make as much as $30 per animal per day which in Thailand is very good money. They are shaping these animals to lose their fear of humans and rely on them as their source of food. I could see that they were being conditioned and the food being used as a reward.