Summer in NH
Hello sweet LJ. I find myself with alot of free time lately, so I guess now is a good time to become reacquainted.
I guess I'd describe this summer as relaxing. No summer jobs, and recently not much in the way of physical activity (unfortunately). I started off the summer pretty much doing whatever I wanted to do, which mostly meant that I spent all my time with Drew. Then I started my two summer classes at Southern: Human Sexuality and Death, Dying, and Bereavement. Interesting combo, no? I was surprisingly pleased with the quality of the courses (Death, Dying, and Bereavement in particular). It's not often that I can say that a class changed my life, but this one definately did. No matter what you're studying, this is a class you need to take. I think it really helped pull me out of complacency and helped me look at my life (and the lives of those around me) as something very fragile and precious. The instructors were amazing-- Bill Faraclas especially. I came home every night in tears because I had learned so much about how to live. I know that sounds rediculous, but it was such a spiritual and powerful class for me and all my classmates. I think the quality of the group I was with really made a difference. We all took the material very seriously. I attribute this mostly to the fact that most of the students were graduate students coming back to school later in life. Many of them had experiences with death in their own life that I can't yet relate to. I learned as much from my classmates as I did from the guest lecturers I think.
Human Sexuality was interesting to say the least. I can't say that it had the same profound impact on my life that Death, Dying, and Bereavement did, but it definately was something I looked forward to every day. I have never been in a class where the students grew so close to each other. I guess the subject matter partly forced this on us. You could tell that Professor Schildroth had been doing this for a while. Everything she did was flawlessly organized. When she showed clips or slideshows, her music was orchestrated to a tee! I've never watched so much sex in my life. Gay sex, senior sex, straight sex, orgies, sex with a disabled person. You name it, I saw it. It all served a purpose, though. The best way to help people get over their anxiety is to bombard them with whatever makes them anxious. Although I wasn't particularly ansy about sexuality, any bit of reluctance is out the window. Perhaps the best part of the class was the fact that she showed a clip featuring Moglia!!! That was amazing! I'm so excited to report back to him on the class and the fact that I saw a much younger him on a fake news report on erections!!!: D
In addition to the classes, I have been volunteering at the Grimes Center, which is a nursing home at St. Raphaels. At first it was horrifying. I was on the verge of tears for the first week. Once I became with the residents, it was a little better, but still incredibly sad. I never want anyone I care about to be placed in a nursing home while they still operate as they do today. Sure, there are positive things going on, but I think the bad outweigh the good generally. The therapeutic recreation dept. is pretty amazing. Everyday there is something fun to do for the residents. The staff (Ms. Fields, Ada, and Brianna) really care about the residents. However, the activities are often only enjoyed but a select few who chose to or are able to participate (either cognitively or physically). I understand that they have developed a list of residents that they know will participate, but I feel like sometimes those who cannot communicate interest would benefit from even just a change of scenery. It kills me to think that some of these people don't have anyone to visit them and to advocate for them when they are unable to do so. I think it's really important to realize that these people were once like you and me. They were young, they had careers and families. They had hobbies and interests. It's so easy just to see them as they are now and ignore everything about them that makes them unique. That would take too much time. There simply aren't enough nurses aides in these nursing homes to care for the residents as they should be cared for. The loss of dignity is really sad.
After classes ended, I spent a weekend in Boston with Drew and then came home for foot surgery. It was nothing too serious, but I'm going to be on crutches for at least 3 more weeks. I'm pretty much confined to the house for a while because I have to keep my foot elevated. When it's low for too long my toes turn purple and it starts to get pretty painful. I had a doctors appointment a few days ago to change the cast, and I got to choose the color... I chose purple for NYU (there was a limited selection). I have two more doctors appointments. They'll be taking out the stitches next week and then taking out the pin the appointment a week after that (OUCH!) I've been doing alot to keep myself busy including making alot of jewelry, putting together a scrapbook for my grandma, reading about the plight of the elderly in nursing homes, watching Six Feet Under from the begining (AMAZING), and doing alot of research on grad schools. Despite all this, I've been going a little stir crazy recently. I feel so unproductive. I need to be taking more classes. I need to be volunteering at the nursing home again.
One of the good things that has come out of being laid up at home is that I've had plenty of time to research grad schools. I know that I want to study gerontology. In what capacity I want to work is still a little fuzzy. I'm thinking that I want to address long term care policy to some extent. I would also like to be a professor down the line. This means getting a PhD and doing research, which sounds fine, although I'm not a huge huge fan of stats. Anyways, I think I've come up with a preliminary list of schools that offer programs that fit what I'm looking for. Originally, I really wanted to stay in NYC, or at least somewhere in the Northeast. However, this is looking pretty unlikely after realizing that there aren't any schools that off my program. The top contenders so far are University of Southern California and University of South Florida. USC has the oldest and largest program in the field of gerontology. I just don't know if I want to move to LA. Thats a long and expensive flight. Florida is more doable, and USF has a good program. I've sent out a bunch of emails and gotten a bunch of replies, so the search is hardly over yet. Soon I'll be compiling applications and what not..exciting exciting!
Anywayssss, I suppose this concludes my bimonthly report. Toodles for now.
I guess I'd describe this summer as relaxing. No summer jobs, and recently not much in the way of physical activity (unfortunately). I started off the summer pretty much doing whatever I wanted to do, which mostly meant that I spent all my time with Drew. Then I started my two summer classes at Southern: Human Sexuality and Death, Dying, and Bereavement. Interesting combo, no? I was surprisingly pleased with the quality of the courses (Death, Dying, and Bereavement in particular). It's not often that I can say that a class changed my life, but this one definately did. No matter what you're studying, this is a class you need to take. I think it really helped pull me out of complacency and helped me look at my life (and the lives of those around me) as something very fragile and precious. The instructors were amazing-- Bill Faraclas especially. I came home every night in tears because I had learned so much about how to live. I know that sounds rediculous, but it was such a spiritual and powerful class for me and all my classmates. I think the quality of the group I was with really made a difference. We all took the material very seriously. I attribute this mostly to the fact that most of the students were graduate students coming back to school later in life. Many of them had experiences with death in their own life that I can't yet relate to. I learned as much from my classmates as I did from the guest lecturers I think.
Human Sexuality was interesting to say the least. I can't say that it had the same profound impact on my life that Death, Dying, and Bereavement did, but it definately was something I looked forward to every day. I have never been in a class where the students grew so close to each other. I guess the subject matter partly forced this on us. You could tell that Professor Schildroth had been doing this for a while. Everything she did was flawlessly organized. When she showed clips or slideshows, her music was orchestrated to a tee! I've never watched so much sex in my life. Gay sex, senior sex, straight sex, orgies, sex with a disabled person. You name it, I saw it. It all served a purpose, though. The best way to help people get over their anxiety is to bombard them with whatever makes them anxious. Although I wasn't particularly ansy about sexuality, any bit of reluctance is out the window. Perhaps the best part of the class was the fact that she showed a clip featuring Moglia!!! That was amazing! I'm so excited to report back to him on the class and the fact that I saw a much younger him on a fake news report on erections!!!: D
In addition to the classes, I have been volunteering at the Grimes Center, which is a nursing home at St. Raphaels. At first it was horrifying. I was on the verge of tears for the first week. Once I became with the residents, it was a little better, but still incredibly sad. I never want anyone I care about to be placed in a nursing home while they still operate as they do today. Sure, there are positive things going on, but I think the bad outweigh the good generally. The therapeutic recreation dept. is pretty amazing. Everyday there is something fun to do for the residents. The staff (Ms. Fields, Ada, and Brianna) really care about the residents. However, the activities are often only enjoyed but a select few who chose to or are able to participate (either cognitively or physically). I understand that they have developed a list of residents that they know will participate, but I feel like sometimes those who cannot communicate interest would benefit from even just a change of scenery. It kills me to think that some of these people don't have anyone to visit them and to advocate for them when they are unable to do so. I think it's really important to realize that these people were once like you and me. They were young, they had careers and families. They had hobbies and interests. It's so easy just to see them as they are now and ignore everything about them that makes them unique. That would take too much time. There simply aren't enough nurses aides in these nursing homes to care for the residents as they should be cared for. The loss of dignity is really sad.
After classes ended, I spent a weekend in Boston with Drew and then came home for foot surgery. It was nothing too serious, but I'm going to be on crutches for at least 3 more weeks. I'm pretty much confined to the house for a while because I have to keep my foot elevated. When it's low for too long my toes turn purple and it starts to get pretty painful. I had a doctors appointment a few days ago to change the cast, and I got to choose the color... I chose purple for NYU (there was a limited selection). I have two more doctors appointments. They'll be taking out the stitches next week and then taking out the pin the appointment a week after that (OUCH!) I've been doing alot to keep myself busy including making alot of jewelry, putting together a scrapbook for my grandma, reading about the plight of the elderly in nursing homes, watching Six Feet Under from the begining (AMAZING), and doing alot of research on grad schools. Despite all this, I've been going a little stir crazy recently. I feel so unproductive. I need to be taking more classes. I need to be volunteering at the nursing home again.
One of the good things that has come out of being laid up at home is that I've had plenty of time to research grad schools. I know that I want to study gerontology. In what capacity I want to work is still a little fuzzy. I'm thinking that I want to address long term care policy to some extent. I would also like to be a professor down the line. This means getting a PhD and doing research, which sounds fine, although I'm not a huge huge fan of stats. Anyways, I think I've come up with a preliminary list of schools that offer programs that fit what I'm looking for. Originally, I really wanted to stay in NYC, or at least somewhere in the Northeast. However, this is looking pretty unlikely after realizing that there aren't any schools that off my program. The top contenders so far are University of Southern California and University of South Florida. USC has the oldest and largest program in the field of gerontology. I just don't know if I want to move to LA. Thats a long and expensive flight. Florida is more doable, and USF has a good program. I've sent out a bunch of emails and gotten a bunch of replies, so the search is hardly over yet. Soon I'll be compiling applications and what not..exciting exciting!
Anywayssss, I suppose this concludes my bimonthly report. Toodles for now.