With the Reproductive Health Act now enacted, a woman’s right to make personal decisions about her own reproductive health will be protected in New York State — no matter what the federal government or the Supreme Court do in the future.
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
New York State enacts the Reproductive Health Act on 01/22/19
With the Reproductive Health Act now enacted, a woman’s right to make personal decisions about her own reproductive health will be protected in New York State — no matter what the federal government or the Supreme Court do in the future.
Violent Crime down in U.S. 49% in last 24 years.
From Pew Research Center Fact Tank, 01/03/2019
Violent crime in the U.S. has fallen sharply over the past quarter century. The two most commonly cited sources of crime statistics in the U.S. both show a substantial decline in the violent crime rate since it peaked in the early 1990s. One is an annual report by the FBI of serious crimes reported to police in approximately 18,000 jurisdictions around the country. The other is an annual survey of more than 90,000 households conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which asks Americans ages 12 and older whether they were victims of crime, regardless of whether they reported those crimes to the police.
Using the FBI numbers, the violent crime rate fell 49% between 1993 and 2017. Using the BJS data, the rate fell 74% during that span. (For both studies, 2017 is the most recent full year of data.) The long-term decline in violent crime hasn’t been uninterrupted, though. The FBI, for instance, reported increases in the violent crime rate between 2004 and 2006 and again between 2014 and 2016.
Click on image to enlarge
For more click here.
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Who gets the pet when couples split?
Who gets the pet when couples divorce? Only California, Alaska, and Illinois have any statutes on the books to help judges decide when couples can't with California being the last to pass such a law which took effect on January 1, 2019.
For more click here.
New York State bans mental health professionals from providing "conversion therapy." in 2019.
From New York Times on 01/19/19
Between 2012 and 2018, 14 states and Washington, D.C., passed laws prohibiting “conversion therapy” for minors. Deep-blue New York was not among them.
That finally changed this month when the State Legislature voted overwhelmingly to bar mental health professionals from working to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
For more click here.
Editor's note. I have practiced in the mental health field for over 50 years and have seen great changes in professional and public attitudes towards homosexuality. As a Professional Social Worker I have worked with my colleagues to diminish and eliminate the homophobia in our society. I have worked with many clients who have been harmed by homophobia and have striven to provide acceptance and unconditional positive regard for the worth and dignity of every person. It is a great joy to see this law passed in the New York State legislature at a very fittiing time in the calendar year when we also celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. day.
Saturday, October 27, 2018
Books - Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
What happens when parents suddenly die in a car crash and leave a 17 yr. old son, a 16 yr. old son, a 7 year old daughter and a baby daughter in a rural farming community in Northern Ontario, Canada?
Grown up Kate, now in her 20s tells most of the story.
It is a narrative full of love, sacrifice, loyalty, persistence, projection, and descriptions of attachment styles that are fascinating.
Kate certainly has become avoidant although she had been every attached to her brother, Matt the youngest son. This attachment dynamic is the plat of the book. While Luke the oldest, and Bo the youngest are interesting characters, the primary creative tension revolves around Matt and Katie, 16 and 7 when tragedy strikes the family.
This novel is an extraordinary description of sibling relationships and the significant role they play in our growth and development.
I give Crow Lake a 4/5 and recommend it if you are interested in family dynamics especially those between siblings who are thrown upon their own resources to care for one another.
I would recommend this book to students entering the helping professions especially for its depiction of attachment styles.
Grown up Kate, now in her 20s tells most of the story.
It is a narrative full of love, sacrifice, loyalty, persistence, projection, and descriptions of attachment styles that are fascinating.
Kate certainly has become avoidant although she had been every attached to her brother, Matt the youngest son. This attachment dynamic is the plat of the book. While Luke the oldest, and Bo the youngest are interesting characters, the primary creative tension revolves around Matt and Katie, 16 and 7 when tragedy strikes the family.
This novel is an extraordinary description of sibling relationships and the significant role they play in our growth and development.
I give Crow Lake a 4/5 and recommend it if you are interested in family dynamics especially those between siblings who are thrown upon their own resources to care for one another.
I would recommend this book to students entering the helping professions especially for its depiction of attachment styles.
Friday, October 26, 2018
Books - The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
There are plenty of slave narratives. Do we need any more?
Colson Whitehead's novel, The Underground Railroad, tells the story of a young slave woman, Cora, who escapes the Randall plantation in Georgia with a male companion Caesar and makes her way north and west on a literal underground railroad whose tunnels have been dug by abolitionists committed to undoing the bonds of slavery.
The scenes about slave torture and killings are terrible and offset to some extent by the kindness of strangers who help and conduct the slave escapees to freedom.
This is a story about the tenacity and perseverance of the human spirit against the evil of economic forces and power which exploit, subjugate, oppress, and terrorize to maintain power and dominion. It is a more extreme story of what is happening in America today with Trumpism and the championing of racism, mysogony, xenophobia, deceit and using fear and terror to undue civil liberties and the rule of law.
The Underground Railroad is an old narrative going back 300 years in the United States and continuing on in more subtle and insidious forms in our country today.
Cora and her companions seeking freedom and human development in the face of life threatening terror and domination is a souce of inspiritation and hope. The people who help her and her companions are the unnamed saints and martyrs for the cause of human dignity and respect. While a difficult book to read because of intentional pain and suffering deliberately inflicted to dominate and subjugate human beings, it is more importantly a book not only of resistance, but of endurance, hope, and triumph.
I give The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead a 4.5 on the Markham Behavioral Health 5 point scale.
Colson Whitehead's novel, The Underground Railroad, tells the story of a young slave woman, Cora, who escapes the Randall plantation in Georgia with a male companion Caesar and makes her way north and west on a literal underground railroad whose tunnels have been dug by abolitionists committed to undoing the bonds of slavery.
The scenes about slave torture and killings are terrible and offset to some extent by the kindness of strangers who help and conduct the slave escapees to freedom.
This is a story about the tenacity and perseverance of the human spirit against the evil of economic forces and power which exploit, subjugate, oppress, and terrorize to maintain power and dominion. It is a more extreme story of what is happening in America today with Trumpism and the championing of racism, mysogony, xenophobia, deceit and using fear and terror to undue civil liberties and the rule of law.
The Underground Railroad is an old narrative going back 300 years in the United States and continuing on in more subtle and insidious forms in our country today.
Cora and her companions seeking freedom and human development in the face of life threatening terror and domination is a souce of inspiritation and hope. The people who help her and her companions are the unnamed saints and martyrs for the cause of human dignity and respect. While a difficult book to read because of intentional pain and suffering deliberately inflicted to dominate and subjugate human beings, it is more importantly a book not only of resistance, but of endurance, hope, and triumph.
I give The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead a 4.5 on the Markham Behavioral Health 5 point scale.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)