All over the place

This blog is kind of a hard one for me at times. With the main blog, there is always an abundance of materials, and I may struggle with what order to put things in, or when I will be ready to actually say what I want to say, but ultimately pacing myself is the biggest issue. There is also usually a very logical order to the travel blog.

With this one, it started as a way of capturing newsletters, and then there were no more newsletters, so I stopped, and then it felt important to go over the basics again, and now I do not really know what I am doing, which I am afraid may be very obvious.

Usually where it works is that I get into a project of some kind, and that's where the material comes from. I think I am on the verge of a few things, so this is just sort of an update on what is going on, so future directions may make sense.

The main thing is the troubled teens. I have started my reading, but I haven't actually blogged about the list. Part of the problem there is that it is sort of a moving target. I keep thinking of other things that would possibly fit, and be helpful. To some extent, it will probably never really be done, but there will be a point I am sure where I will start writing about it. Some of it will probably be on the main blog, but some of it could be here.

I have read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, and have checked out Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher. This is for suicide, of course, but The Bell Jar is about mental illness as well. For school and social issues, I am reading Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman (I should probably watch the movie Mean Girls too), and will read Behind the Mask: Adolescents in Hiding by Dennis Rozema.

For social and image issues, I want to read Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein. Because the internet is such a big part of how we interact, I will also read You Are Not A Gadget by Jaron Lanier. Also, because I have heard it is about how there are healers, sufferers, and carriers, I am going to read The Plague by Camus.

The one that I think will personally resonate the most with me is In Search of Fatherhood by Kevin Renner. I have read Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher, but at the time I knew I would need to read it again, and we seem to be there. I thought it would be because I had daughters.

I don't really have anything specific to eating disorders, but if I can find a good book on it, I will. I think I am adding The Feminine Mystique now as well. So many of the issues that these girls face have answers in feminism, with equality and empowerment. I don't know that this would be the best book for it, but it would be a starting point.

In addition, I am currently doing my Black History month reading. I know it's late. I have finished Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus by Ana Maria Spagna, and have Mirror to America, by John Hope Franklin, checked out. The other two will be Before the Mayflower by Lerone Bennett Jr, and Slavery by Another Name by Douglas Blackmon.

Also, I need to read more poetry, so I will be getting a book of poetry each by Langston Hughes and Sylvia Plath, and will be reading For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange which goes with multiple areas.

There are a couple of music books going in there as well, which relate in different ways, but basically, all of that goes together, and will probably take up most of the summer, but I hope to know more and be able to be more helpful. There are so many issues with mental illness, bullying, societal pressure, grief, and abuse, that it is an impossible task, but it is possible to be more informed, and that's what I'm trying.

The other thing I am thinking about is economics. People are trying to stretch their dollars and make career and education decisions, and there should be much better options out there, but if I can find information that helps, I am going to go for it.