The View From Kalamazoo

I just stumbled into something surprising and wonderful – it appears that one can watch the entirety of Closet Land (which is not easy to find, and not available on Netflix) on YouTube.

It’s a very powerful film (I had nightmares for a week thereafter, and I normally don’t get the eebies from films) and if you are really uncool with psychological torture do not watch – but I recommend it, the performances of the two actors are intense and amazing (and, as I think I’ve mentioned before, this is what cemented Alan Rickman in the #1 spot of my mental list “Actors of Amazing Talent – Seek Out All They Do”…I had been watching for more from him since 1988’s Die Hard, but this performance floored me).

Parts:
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine

Have finally been nagged to death – I now have a Facebook account.

Good grief.

You know it’s amazing how little it can take to drag me out of desperately stressed and foul mood-fueled disgruntlement…yesterday I was having One Of Those Afternoons, and one of the grad students brought me chocolate (and better than that – he brought me dark chocolate, and is utterly and completely Full Of Win for it, too!)…granted this is a student who always makes me smile, anyway, but it totally saved the afternoon. I especially appreciate those students who always manage to make me smile, or laugh (or chuckle evilly, I’m very thankful for those!)…they contribute significantly to my sanity, moreso than they realize.
(My full-time minion goaded him into it, I suspect – but I think he’s the bees knees anyway…an extremely nice, potential-full, and uncynical young man. Since my memory of myself as either young or uncynical is rather hazy, I observe my favorite students with glee and cheer them on from the sidelines. Gratuitous, mayhaps, but I am a mere clerical schlub, after all.)

Other bits:

My (and Shana’s) blogging session for Congress is looking very interesting and I’m dutifully putting together my organizer paperwork. I have managed to dodge the panel bullet for the second year in a row, but I’ll be presiding this time. I expect to see y’all there!

Projects in progress at the studio right now include tossed-slab platters and faceted bowls (thrown and modified, in other words). And I have glazing to do – three pieces that were bisqued during the late-summer studio break at the art institute, one of which is a very rough and organic (even for me) slab-built fairly tall vase-form. It’s destined for the salt kiln.

And it’s Colin’s 5th birthday. Am I feelin’ my age? Hellsyeah. I’ll be feelin’ the headache not long after we arrive at the dreaded Chuck E Cheese tonight. I think I need to bring a book..and ibuprofen.

It’s ADHD Awareness Day again! Read and be more aware! (and if you have the time volunteer in your schools! I do – medieval, medieval, medieval!!) Myth: Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder isn’t a real medical disorder.

ADHD has been recognized as a legitimate medical diagnosis by major medical, psychological, and educational organizations; these include the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Education, and the American Psychiatric Society, which recognizes it as a medical disorder in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It is biologically based, and research shows that it’s a result of an imbalance of chemical messengers, or neurotransmitters, within the brain.

The primary symptoms are inattention and impulsiveness, sometimes also combined with hyperactivity. Those with this diagnosis often have difficulty with many core aspects of daily life, including time management and organizational skills. My Emma is combined-type, that is she displays all of the aforementioned primary symptoms (in spades!). Like many other parents of ADHD children I know, after her diagnosis and education on the nature of the disorder I noticed the signs that allowed me to trace it to her paternal line – I know parents whose own ADHD was diagnosed only after their children and were relieved to learn the information that put their own experiences to date into clear perspective.

Myth: ADHD is a new diagnosis.

The symptoms that describe the disorder were published in the respected medical journal Lancet in 1902, first described by George Fredrick Still. Although the technical moniker has changed over the years, the disorder described has not.

Myth: The use of Ritalin is a fairly recent development.

Ritalin has been in use for over 45 years and Dexedrine was used for ten years before that. Something new, however, is delivery – in addition to tablets, there is long-active time-release, and even the same stimulant in a patch (marketed as Daytrana, which Emma is on now and which I am grateful for as the delivery method both circumvents her rocket-speed metabolism and leaves her system slowly enough that the stomach issues that led to poor appetite and mood swings are almost non existant). There are many other stimulant medications on the market, now, increasing the ability of pediatricians to best treat the individual needs of individual patients.

Myth: Children with ADHD eventually outgrow their condition.

On the contrary – more than 70 percent of the individuals who have ADHD in childhood continue to have it in adolescence and up to 50 percent will continue to have it in adulthood. Given the severity of Emma’s displayed symptoms I am fairly certain that she will continue to have struggles with the disorder into adulthood and may need to treat it with medication, in addition to other treatments, even then. Early diagnosis has been key for her in our striving to give her the best tools possible to succeed – estimates suggest that 6% of the adult population has ADHD and the majority of those adults remain undiagnosed (only one in four of those diagnosed seek treatment). Without help, adults with ADHD are highly vulnerable to depression; anxiety; substance abuse; career, legal and financial problems; and trouble in personal relationships — children left undiagnosed or diagnosed very late struggle with self-esteem issues, difficulties in social interaction (which can inlclude run-ins with authority in and out of the school setting), and overall poor educational foundations. Only through early diagnosis have we been able to work with both pediatrician and school system as well as we have to ensure Emma has what she needs both educationally and chemically to put her in the best position possible for learning and advancement.

Myth: ADHD affects only boys.

Girls are just as likely to have ADHD as are boys, and the gender of the child makes no difference in the symptoms caused by the disorder – because this is a persisting myth, however, boys are still more likely to be diagnosed than girls. Emma, obviously, is a girl with the disorder.

Myth: ADHD is the result of bad parenting.

This one always gets my riled, especially when I read it in conjunction with opinions of physicians in other countries to attempt to claim this it’s merely an American invention. Parenting these children is difficult, plenty difficult enough without the sort of stigma this myth bolsters. A child with ADHD has been taught that blurting things out in class, getting out of their seat, paying no attention to adults teaching, and letting their impulses for self-entertainment rule their behavior are wrong – the child cannot control these impulses and the issue is rooted in brain chemistry, not discipline. Overly strict parenting, like punishing a child for things s/he can’t control, can actually serve to make ADHD symptoms worse. Professional interventions: drug therapy, psychotherapy, and behavior modification therapy (in varying combinations) are often required. While I tend to lean toward strictness, we are aware of the time of day, timing of medication, and even what she’s eaten and the amount of sleep gotten – we, therefore, respond to Emma’s behavior accordingly.

Myth: People who have ADHD are stupid or lazy – they never amount to anything.

Recent studies show that people with ADHD are of above-average intelligence and certainly aren’t lazy. Many well-known, high-achieving individuals from the past are thought to have had the disorder, including Mozart, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, George Bernard Shaw, and Salvador Dali. There are high-achieving individuals with the disorder in business today (to consider merely one career area) including top executives David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue Airways, and Paul Orfalea, founder of Kinko’s. The high incidence of co-morbid learning disorders can compound the appearance of a student lacking in intelligence, and getting extra help for Emma’s LDs has been a particular focus for us from 1st-grade to present (4th grade).

Consider checking out these Expert Podcasts about ADHD.

(posted one day late, as for some reason I could post on the old version of my blog last night but not this)

Tomorrow is ADHD Awareness Day.

There is an on-call event, for anyone interested.

I need to talk to Emma’s teacher tonight, but I suspect 4th grade is too old for me to continue my classroom visit…it’ll likely just cause her grief.
Will be blogging it, as usual.

Please send me email if there is something in particular you want me to address: lisa at carnell dot com or my university email .. I’ll check both.

Academia + idiocy = … more in the way of embarrassment for WMU. Some days I just don’t know about this place, really — and this is my dear Alma Mater on top of owner of my soul (Congress just sublets the soul, technically speaking). What the hell are people thinking around here?!? We’re up to our danglybits in budget crisis, the state will shut down completely in a week if the legislators don’t correct their cephalo-anal conjucture issues, and the resulting cutoff of funds to higher education will spiral our sorry arses right down the drainpipe to Hell. *headdesk*

Actually, I’ve been near-insane for the last two years, sans details and whining and ranting as I’m not Dooce-ing this, a OMFG stressful time for me in ways that beg manic laughter, hair pulling, and hide-the-weapon. Let’s just say, between you and I (and yes, I realize you is a bigger word than three letters in this case) it’s a damn good thing there has been a hiring freeze here at the Uni., as I’ve been watching the listings that do manage to get through…and the only reason I’ve not run away screaming is the lack in those listings. No, really. I guess the bright thing is I am as close to optimism (as I can manage) re: the new leadership, however. Trying to be happy happy…not quite to joy joy, but I’m making a valiant effort.

So I offer this information, noting that this is in addition to Stress, The Home Edition, to explain that a rather Known job + crap morale = no blogging. I continue to read those I have always followed, but I don’t respond…I figure that living in a perpetual state of well and truly pissed-off does not lend itself to the ability to comment and post anything of relative worth, so I do not. This is the point at which I note the awkwardness of blogging under my own name – I know I’ll see most of y’all in May, after all.

Perhaps after the grand move to WordPress (in progress) I’ll make more of an effort. I’ve been poked to make explanation, so here I am. (Now the poking will cease, yes?) No, haven’t given up on blogging completely, I swear.