Apparently, Donald Trump Jr. has the self-awareness of a sea pineapples sphincter. (Do sea pineapples have sphincters? Ill just say they do, because its 2019, and you can say whatever you want now, apparently. Go ahead, fake news. Fact-check me. I dare you.)

So the walking, talking conflict of interest whose father has spent the past three years turning the presidency into a carnival ring-toss game is super concerned about Joe Bidens ethics:

Why didnt @JoeBiden recuse himself from dealing with Ukraine?

His son was on the board of a Ukrainian energy company that had been investigated by the prosecutor who Joe pushed to be fired.

At the VERY LEAST, theres the appearance of impropriety. A clear conflict of interest.

Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 2, 2019

And, yeah, people noticed:

Lol pic.twitter.com/C90JtZrckC

Rhonda Harbison (@rhonda_harbison) October 2, 2019

Wait. Didnt you meet with Russians to get dirt on Hillary?????

john chamberlain (@jrcjohnny99) October 2, 2019

Are all the Trumps genetically engineered to lack self-awareness?

Jeremy Ray Jenkins (@JeremyRJenkins) October 2, 2019

Junior, didnt your dear sister Ivanka receive dozens of trademarks from China when serving in the Trump administration? How much are those worth? Just curious

Chris Piekenbrock (@ChrisPiekenbro2) October 2, 2019

Why are foreign governments renting rooms at Trump properties and leaving them empty?

mrs morton (@ladyofliberty0) October 2, 2019

pic.twitter.com/pwGTpDptPV

El Lobo (@__El_Lobo__) October 2, 2019

Why are you taking a $50,000 speaking fee for one speech at UofF, Jr?I mean, even Hunter Biden only made $50,000 for a months worth of work.

So your rate is much higher. We get it.

Christina Moore (@AddConfessions) October 2, 2019

Why doesnt your dad show us his tax returns?Why is he suing to keep his tax returns hidden?Why did he not divest from his businesses?Why are you and your sibs running his businesses?Why is he using his office to enrich himself?Why is he so spectacularly corrupt?

Hans Wiersma (@hwiers) October 2, 2019

And on and on and on and on and on into infinity.

I mean, the stink of corruption from the Trump administration and Trump Orgwill outlast the heat death of the universe, but lets all look at Joe Bidens son, okay?

Enjoy the impeachment inquiry, Jr. Its sure to be entertainingfor most of us, anyway.

Is Trump still chafing your arse-cheeks?ThenDear F*cking Lunatic: 101 Obscenely Rude Letters to Donald Trumpandits breathlessly awaited sequelDear F*cking Moron: 101 More Letters to Donald Trumpby Aldous J. Pennyfarthingare the pick-me-up you need!Reviewers have called these books hysterically funny, cathartic, and laugh-out-loud comic relief. And theyre way,waycheaper than therapy.

then let us make a small request. AlterNet is increasing its original reporting, edited by The Nations Joshua Holland, with a focus on 2020 election coverage. Weve also launched a weekly podcast, Weve Got Issues, focusing on the issues, not Donald Trumps tweets. Unlike other news outlets, weve decided to make our AlterNet 2020 coverage free to all. But we need your ongoing support to continue what we do.

AlterNet is independent. You wont find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of white nationalism, to spotlighting the overlooked struggles of the working poor, AlterNet continues to speak truth to power. As newspapers close, America needs voices like AlterNets to be sure no one is forgotten.

We need your support to keep producing quality journalism. As Silicon Valley absorbs more and more advertising dollars, ads dont pay what they used to. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure AlterNet remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to AlterNet, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

Continued here:
Donald Trump Jr. lectured Joe Biden about conflicts of interest. It didnt go well - AlterNet

Photo: Vulture and Courtesy of the Studios

Over the past few years, horror fans have been spoiled by a steady parade of outstanding studio films (Get Out, Annihilation, A Quiet Place). Were in the boom times! Sort of. The major market offerings of 2019 havent quite lit both our hearts and the box office ablaze, save for Jordan Peeles megasuccessful Us. But ahead of the official horror season (fall, of course), the spring and summer months did manage to deliver some lovably mad thrill rides like Crawl and Ready or Not and a slew of smaller, more adventurous releases pushing the form in exciting directions: There were dance parties in hell, really disturbing drug trips, meditations on trauma, murderous works of art, alpine witches, and more. Here are Vultures picks for the top horror films of 2019 so far.

The motto for the Conjurings expanded-universe movies has generally been Good enough! While there are some jump scares to be had among the franchise, outside the core components of Ed and Lorraine Warren, most entries feel like theyre on cruise control to keep this big machine rolling for New Line. And listen, the third Annabelle movie doesnt break any new ground, but it is a damn fine time at the movie theater. Having the Warrens anchor the whole affair brings that warmth and familiarity that Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson have mastered as paranormal-investigator lovebirds, and building the action around a night with the babysitter gone wrong makes this quaint haunted-house outing feel like just the right kind of teen scream for a summer horror movie. Annabelle, were happy you came home.

It is hard to do possession and exorcism and make it feel fresh, but thats exactly what director and co-writer Emilio Portes pulls off with Belzebuth. The story starts in the delivery wing of a Mexican hospital where a nurse goes rogue and carries out an unspeakable killing spree. That event lays the groundwork for a shocking string of murders that will take place years later in the same town, targeting local children. But these are not crimes of men, and supernatural investigators are brought in to assist local police in rooting out the unholy origins of some approaching evil. The deaths are heinous, but they dont veer into exploitative, and the lead cop who was touched by tragedy at the start of the film finds himself in the middle of god and the devil as he fights to save a young boy. Belzebuth is gritty, intense, and at times terrifying.

There is only one movie this year thats worth watching if you want to see a wild pig the size of a van terrorize the wilds of Australia. Much like Razorback before it, this entry from writer and director Chris Sun is both thrilling and ridiculous a creature feature thats down-to-earth only when compared to the spectacles of kaiju and Kong. And thats what makes it a great time. Theres a lot of blood and guts, a lot of full-view shots of the gnarly beast, and perhaps most incredibly of all theres the truly massive actor who played Rictus Erectus (Nathan Jones) in Mad Max: Fury Road as a goofy, overprotective uncle who both bottle feeds a mob of baby lambs and furiously sings Ice Ice Baby while driving. In a movie about a rabid man-eating boar. This is cinema!

The feature debut of writer and director Mitzi Peirone is narrative in the form of a quick hallucinogenic trip. A pair of neer-do-well women in their 20s are being hunted by the law and decide that their childhood best friends grand country estate is the best place to hide out. Big mistake: Their friend, Daphne (Cams Madeline Brewer going all out once again), is an extremely troubled shut-in who conscripts her old friends into playing the most fucked-up game of house ever: Theres upsetting sexual role-playing, violence, even adults in playpens. Braid is a flawed work, but Peirone commits to going big and weird and wild enough to make this an exciting debut.

A tight, terrifying film about what happens when a large group of dancers are unknowingly dosed with LSD during a party and then left to survive the waking nightmare unfolding around them. Provocateur Gaspar No wrote, directed, and shot the film himself, working from a five-page story treatment for a script. (He hadnt even planned on using a choreographer until star Sophia Boutella talked him into hiring a professional.) With a cast made up almost entirely of dancers who had never acted before, No eschews rigid scene structure in favor of long, voyeuristic shots of the characters crumbling amid pounding dance beats. Its intimate and beautiful and brutal and unique and increasingly hard to watch.

If you didnt predict Crawl about a father and daughter trying to ride out a category 5 hurricane in Florida while trapped under the flooding foundation of a house and pinned inside their watery kill box by a bunch of man-eating alligators was going to be one of this years surprise hits, then shame on you! Shame! Piranha 3-D and High Tension director Alexandre Aja flexes his creature feature muscles once again under the producing eye of Sam Raimi for this lean, 87-minute disaster thriller and body horror bonanza. Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper are a surprising yet great father-daughter pairing, and in addition to being a break-neck suspense film it also gives you the catchphrase, Apex predator all day, baby!

Deep Murder has managed to hack the system. Thanks to its novel premise what if a slasher took place on the set of a soft core porn, but its not actually a set and everyone just is a stock porn trope? and complete commitment to its in-world rules, its practically impossible for this movie to fail. Cheesy dialogue? Tons of cliches? One-dimensional characters? Theyre all just part of the porn construct, which also sets up incredibly silly kills and some surprising avenues for character development as the porn mansions inhabitants start to achieve self-awareness and grow beyond their soft-focus constraints. And every single actor, from Katie Aselton to Jerry OConnell to Chris Redd and the rest, plays their respective archetypes (the hot mom, the dirtbag sex fiend, the hot jock, etc.) with such gusto you cant help but respect it. You dont need a big budget if youve got a logistically achievable big idea, and Deep Murder unselfconsciously goes all in.

Hagazussa has been making its way to audiences for a long time. (Vulture named it one of its most anticipated horror films of 2018.) The feature debut of Austrian filmmaker Lukas Feigelfeld centers on a woman named Albrun, who was orphaned after her mothers death under disturbing circumstances and grows up in an alpine village where the residents (and local clergy) treat her terribly. Feigelfeld exercises extreme patience in creating an atmosphere of dread, letting his heroines battle with her true nature and the society that persecutes her unfold like a lucid dream. On its face, Hagazussa will remind some viewers of The Witch, but Feigelfelds film is working with a magic all its own.

Lets hear it for melancholy Irish horror! Following in the path of recent sad-horror highlights like The Cured, The Devils Doorway, and the outstanding A Dark Song, Lee Cronins The Hole in the Ground uses grief and trauma to envelop viewers in its portentous atmosphere. The story centers on a woman and her son who left a dangerous situation behind to start over. But theres this massive hole in the ground in the woods behind their new home thats giving off some seriously evil vibes. As her son starts changing for the worse, Sarah (Seana Kerslake) starts losing her grip and must figure out how to break the hold of that gaping, breathing crater and whatever is inside it.

With all due respect to Jordan Peeles revival, I Trapped the Devil is the best Twilight Zone episode youll see this year. Of course, its not literally an installment in that episodic series, but this surreal, nerve-twisting story of a man convinced he has Satan trapped in his basement wouldve made Rod Serling proud (see The Howling Man from the original series). Josh Lobo wrote and directed this haunting little number that combines an unwelcome family homecoming at Christmastime and the smallest-scale battle between good and evil.

One of the best things happening in horror in 2019 is how much more overtly queer its been. In director and co-writer Yann Gonzalezs period-piece/French slasher, Vanessa Paradis plays a gay porn producer who is wrecked by the combustion of her relationship with her girlfriend (also her editor) as well as by a strange raft of murders. A masked killer is picking off her actors and the ineffectual police are of no help, leaving Paradiss Anne to try and sleuth him out herself. Knife is a beautiful film that still feels like it was made in a grittier 1970s film scene, and its a dare to other filmmakers who might dull the queer presence in their movies in the service of something more broadly appealing.

The fact that writer and director Danishka Esterhazy is able to create such a complete-feeling world with just a few stark hallways and sleeping quarters is a testament to the richness of Level 16. Set in an ominous boarding school called the Vestalis Academy, which is presided over by a severe headmistress and a kind physician, the story revolves around a group of girls raised to embody purity and goodness so that they may one day be adopted by loving parents. Each one must be a pristine incarnation of feminine virtue, lest she be punished, but after a lifetime of being treated like a living-doll lab rat, one girl has had enough. When Vivien (Katie Douglas) realizes what adoption for Vestalis girls really means, she conspires with a fellow prisoner to break out. In the process, the girls learn the full extent of the horrors theyve been subjected to without their consent, and that the prescribed definition of a good girl is total bullshit.

The German film Luz, from writer and director Tilman Singer, sounds simple enough, a young woman arrives in a police station with a demonic entity on her tail, but the execution is far from simple or even intuitive. Instead, Luz functions like a feat of hypnosis. Its short, just 70 minutes, and yet deliberately paced and tough to untangle. But its also enveloping in its weirdness a truly art-house horror experience. If youre looking for a genre picture to challenge and unnerve you, check out Luz.

Ari Aster followed up Hereditary with a body horrorlaced, brightly lit mindfuck that only he could make. At nearly two-and-a-half hours long Midsommar counts as a horror epic, and it follows a group of American grad students as they participate in a rare seasonal festival that will test their fortitude and their sanity and their interpersonal relationships and, of course, their ability to survive. Aster returns to catastrophic grief as a main theme for Midsommar, and once again impresses with his meticulous world-building and willingness to push the audiences limits for how much disturbing behavior they can handle. The writer and director goes bigger and more ambitious for Midsommar, letting audiences know the violent delights and pitch-black humor show no signs of tapering off.

This Brazilian ghost story features a mortician in a rut who spends his night shifts chatting away with the bodies that land on his table. But its not all in his head. Stnio is having real conversations with the dead, and one of them tips him off that his wife has been stepping out. He gets back at his wife for her infidelity, but using his ill-gotten information comes with a price, and now Stnio must protect his family from the spirit thats attached itself to him. Dennison Ramalho co-wrote and directed this tense haunted-house effort, and it makes for some good old-fashioned bump-in-the-night scares with just enough of a twist to feel fresh.

One Cut of the Dead is a zombie movie, but not the kind youre used to. This low-budget Japanese zom-comedy follows a film crew making a cheesy undead production when theyre suddenly overrun by flesh-eating monsters but to say anymore would wreck the many surprises of this truly innovative zombie romp. One Cut was a box-office smash when it premiered in Japan in 2018, and its truly one of the best movies this subgenre has seen in a long time. Its funny, frantic, bloody, and keeps you guessing at every turn. Actiooooooooon!

Making a truly good exploitation movie asks something close to impossible: Go all-out while exercising just the right amount of judgment in the exact right places, and also strike the right balance between class and trash. The Perfection, which was directed by Richard Shepard and co-written by him along with Eric C. Charmelo and Nicole Snyder, gets the recipe just right. Logan Browning and Allison Williams star as two elite cellists whose paths cross when Williamss character, Charlotte, comes out of a long retirement and reconnects with her old teacher, who has been guiding the career of Brownings Lizzie ever since Charlotte had to leave the conservatory a decade ago. Its a queer, twisted, and jarring story of love and obsession and violence and vengeance and sexually charged cello performances. If youre feeling a semi-hard-core, its a slice of perfection.

Writer and director Nicolas Pesces debut feature, the excellent The Eyes of My Mother, was black-and-white and felt troublingly real. His follow-up, an adaptation of Ry Murakamis novel Piercing, is just as intimate but much more surreal. Mia Wasikowska and Christopher Abbott star as a pair looking for some dark pleasure, but theyre on very different pages about what that means. Shes a prostitute, hes a paying customer planning to elaborately kill her, but his plans get more complicated when Wasikowskas character turns out to be even scarier than he is. Its a sort of love story for people who like psychosexual foreplay and violence, and Pesces execution is thrilling.

Ready or Not is the feel-good genre rager of the summer. Havoc queen Samara Weaving best known for ripping up the screen in The Babysitter and Mayhem finds herself in the middle of another rampage as a new bride fighting off the in-laws who are trying to kill her. Theres a whole deal with a supernatural pact and ritual sacrifice, but the point is, Weavings Grace married into the wrong family of bumbling rich assholes who think it is their dark mandate to turn her into a blood offering. But she wont go quietly, and puts up one hell of a fight as a blood-stained bride in this joyfully over-the-top horror comedy. Watch Ready or Not and receive the bonuses of a bow-and-arrow armed Andie MacDowell and a coked out Melanie Scrofano.

Its been a great year for narratively adventurous genre films. FilmmakerA.T. White has been writing, directing, and producing short films for years, but Starfish is his feature debut. Virginia Gardner stars as Aubrey, a girl attending the funeral of her best friend. Pretty soon, after an overnight invasion in which monsters tear through the landscape, shes one of the last people on Earth. Its not A Quiet Place, though. Most of the movie is of Aubrey staying in her dead besties apartment, hanging out with a pet turtle, scraping by to survive, and trying to decode a series of messages her friend left behind that could possibly save the world if she cracks them. Its haunting and visually arresting and occasionally has some scary-ass monsters. Think survival horror as a dream sequence.

American audiences had to wait two years to finally see Tigers Are Not Afraid as it rolled out around the world, but this gritty ghost story managed to surpass the hype. Mexican writer and director Issa Lpezs beautiful, brutal dark fairy tale centers on a group of children orphaned by gang violence who are being hunted by thugs and followed by a mysterious otherwordly presence. It feels like a bracingly current successor to the early cinematic legacy of Guillermo del Toro small-focus stories blown out into imagination journeys through the fantastic who has raved about the film and is now collaborating with Lpez. The filmmaker wanted Tigers to feel like a war movie in its execution, and her blend of wonder and realism is a best-case example of how horror cinema can snap our world into such clear focus.

Photo: Monkeypaw Productions/Blumhouse Productions

Jordan Peeles follow-up to Get Out pushed his thematic ambitions even further: Us is an action thriller, a sci-fi horror film, and even a family comedy that comments on race, class, Generation X, and more. At the heart of it all is a gripping dual performance by Lupita Nyongo that should vault her into the For Your Consideration race come awards season. With Us, Peele cements his status as a thrilling creative talent willing to go big.

Velvet Buzzsaw is exactly what Netflix is for: Get a fascinating director together with a great ensemble cast, throw a lot of money at the whole thing, and let it all be as weird as possible. Writer and director Dan Gilroys follow-up to the enthralling Nightcrawler sees him reuniting with Rene Russo and Jake Gyllenhaal. She plays a high-end-gallery owner named Rhodora Haze and he plays an esteemed art critic named, yes, Morf Vanderwalt. Theres also Toni Collette as a bitchy art buyer, Natalia Dyer as a lowly executive assistant named Coco (who is hilariously referred to as Rococo), and Zawe Ashton as the ambitious climber Josephina. Together, they all end up in crisis when a cache of brilliant work is discovered in a dead mans apartment and it literally starts killing people. The death scenes are fantastic. The narcissism is dialed up to the max. The bangs on Gyllenhaal are unforgettable. A wonderfully fun blend of camp and horror.

One thing that sort of gets left behind in movies about pioneers on the frontier is that the frontier was probably really scary. Homesteaders were out in the middle of nowhere, vulnerable to murderous passersby and/or malevolent spirits. The scope of The Wind, from director Emma Tammi and screenwriter Teresa Sutherland, is enjoyably narrow. A woman named Lizzy (Caitlin Gerard), who is often left alone by her husband because everything is far away or hard when youre a pioneer starts getting haunted by either a ghost or her own mind or both. As the story slowly unfolds, we learn about the strange and sometimes tragic events that have shaped Lizzies isolated life on the prairie, and the combination of Gerards powerful performance and the ever-more-chilling setting makes the world itself start to feel like a constant threat.

For more of the years greatest pop culture, dont miss Vultures list of the best movies, best songs, best albums, best books, and best video games of 2019.

Read the rest here:
The Best Horror Movies of 2019 (So Far) - Vulture

At any age, in any life stage, you can change. Whether youre 77 years old or 17, you can learn, grow, adopt new habits, and make new choices to create a life you truly love. It may not always feel that way, though. When childhood emotional wounds tether you to the past, it can feel like youre being swept away by a fast-moving current; although there are branches on either side of the riverbank to grab onto, something is mentally blocking you from reaching out. That something is a tether point, an invisible string holding you back.

Your tether points originated with emotional injuries or traumas in childhoodexperiences that were hurtful and damaging to your sense of self. The same event or experience will affect people differently. School-yard teasing that stays with one person for decades may be brushed off easily by someone else. Genetics, previous events, mindset, and beliefs can all affect which childhood events stay with you and hold you back, and which you shrug off. The social support you received in the wake of the trauma, the traumas duration, and the type of injury it is also can affect the tether-creation process.

Trauma generates emotions, and unless you process these emotions at the time they occur, they can become stuck in your systemnegatively affecting you both psychologically and physically. The healthy flow and processing of distressing emotions like anger, sadness, grief, and fear are essential. You will never resolve underlying issues if you deny and run from your feelings. Suppressed emotions dont just go away; instead, they become toxic. They will keep showing up in your life, in some form of dysfunction or unhappiness, until you resolve them. Throughout life, feeling your feelings is one of the healthiest and most productive things you can do.

To reach out for that metaphorical branch and pull yourself from the current, you have to find what it is in your inner world that is tethering you to your traumas, restricting your movements and limiting your choices. You have to make conscious what is unconscious so that you can free yourself from your past and grab onto the life you want by making new, more empowering choices.

To find your tether points, you dont have to go through every experience youve ever had and dredge up old sorrows. Instead, look at what isnt working well in your life right now. What situations make you feel extra emotionalhair-trigger anger, deep despair, shame? Are there times where you think you should have an emotional reaction, but you feel numb? What do these feelings or lack of feelings tell you about yourself? The act of self-exploration and understanding will help you get to know yourself on a deeper level. It will help you to process and let go of any beliefs, memories, judgments, and regrets that are keeping you bound to the past and unable to fully engage with life in the present.

To free yourself from what is limiting you and unconsciously driving your actions, you need to observe yourself non-judgmentally. You need to bring your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs into conscious awareness. In doing so, you shift from using the fight-flight-or-freeze part of your brain to the less reactive and more analytical one, which can explore, discover, and create.

The qualities youll need in your self-observation spell the acronym COAL:

By using COAL, you create a psychological safe-space where you can let your guard down to reveal the sensations, emotions, and thoughts trapped inside. When you focus on your inner world, you are practicingemotional mindfulness. Self-awareness is fundamental to understanding and being happy with yourself, forming close relationships, and recognizing your motivations so that you can build your life based on what is true for you now, and not a response to past trauma.

You must feel your feelings; your emotions are helpful companions on the journey of life. You need to make friends with them, learn from them, and interact with them in a loving, not fearful, way.

Original post:
To Heal from Trauma, You Have to Feel Your Feelings - Psychology Today

PHOENIX October 1 marks the beginning of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. In Arizona, 100 people are killed every year due to domestic violence, according to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. The average woman will take the abuse, leave it and go back to her abuser seven times before saying enough.

"I went back to him several times, he would have eventually killed me," said Kerri Walker, who is a domestic violence survivor and is now an advocate at a center for battered women. "I was beaten sometimes with gun butts over the head.

It has been decades since her abuse happened and to this day, Kerri says the psychological scars remain.

"I managed at some point to be able to run away and get some help," she added.

Now she's one of two advocates at the Sojourner Center, a center that receives and helps victims of domestic violence, helping those who have suffered brain injuries due to domestic violence.

"Brain injury is a treatable condition," said Jonathan Liftshitz, with the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix. Lifshitz is handling a study of the brain's injuries to women and men who have suffered at the hands of their partners.

"These events happen behind closed doors between two individuals; one who receives the head injury and one that doesn't and the person who receives the injury suffers some type of loss of memory. So, if you can't remember the event, you can't report the event," adds Liftshitz.

According to the Executive Director of the Sojourner Center, 1 out of every 3 battered women suffer some type of traumatic brain injury (TBI).

"We would always do a screening for a TBI but it was a one page form that we would fill out we would ask if you questions like 'have you been hit in the head' or 'have you ever lost consciousness' or 'have you been strangled' and then we filed it, says Carrie Borgen.

Now, the Sojourner Center, through the two advocates and the partnership with community agencies is providing medical help to the women who have shown symptoms of TBI.

In about a week, a domestic violence survivor, dealing with a brain injury, is set to move into an apartment provided by the Sojourner Center. The apartment is one of two shelters available to provide a victim a place that is 'trauma informed' meaning that the colors and the feel inside the apartment is one of comfort and safety.

"The duplex that we were able to renovate with this funding is not only trauma informed, but TBI informed with a special needs of somebody with a TBI," added Borgen.

The funding for the efforts on furthering the support strategies to brain injury domestic violence survivors is part of a collaborative effort with the county attorney's office.

"A number of years ago we did some work on strangulation and we went to the legislature and the legislature responded by making that a class four felony and so hopefully we can present our findings at some point on traumatic brain injury to the legislature so that people really realize just how seriously that needs to be treated," said Rachel MItchell, Deputy Chief at the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

In treating the brain injury, the ultimate goal is self-awareness, so that the victim is less prone to going back into the cycle one more time.

"Even meditation or yoga sometimes is good. Nutrition supplements are also good; there's a lot of work going....and that we can do here," added Borgen.

Anyone who is in need of help, or who knows someone in a domestic violence situation, can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-779-SAFE or visit http://www.thehotline.org.

See the rest here:
Traumatic Brain Injuries at the epicenter of 2019 Domestic Awareness Month - ABC15 Arizona

Westfield Elementary School student leaders of the month are, from left, front, Sidney Coleman; second row, Reegan Sutphin, Laughter Jessup, Jaelyn Leonides, Kyler Felts, back row, Rizal Holliday, Trae Flippen, Taylor Sutphin, Savanna Mathis, and Emily Spencer. Emily Lor, Zoey Edwards, and Piper Halstead are not pictured. - September Leaders of the Month are, from left, front, Hunter Harp; second row, Kennedy Branch, Nora Love, Emma Goins, Brayden Roberts; third row, Ryland Taylor, Coby Yarboro, Presley Hiatt, Levi Shelton, and Brantley Roberts. Ethan Kovatch and Joslynn Penn are not pictured. -

Westfield Elementary School recently named its Leaders of the Month for both August and September.

The students chosen for August were selected by their peers for demonstrating the leadership attribute, self-awareness, the school said in making the announcement.

Those chosen by their peers for the honor in September were selected for demonstrating the leadership attribute, accountability.

Westfield Elementary School student leaders of the month are, from left, front, Sidney Coleman; second row, Reegan Sutphin, Laughter Jessup, Jaelyn Leonides, Kyler Felts, back row, Rizal Holliday, Trae Flippen, Taylor Sutphin, Savanna Mathis, and Emily Spencer. Emily Lor, Zoey Edwards, and Piper Halstead are not pictured.

September Leaders of the Month are, from left, front, Hunter Harp; second row, Kennedy Branch, Nora Love, Emma Goins, Brayden Roberts; third row, Ryland Taylor, Coby Yarboro, Presley Hiatt, Levi Shelton, and Brantley Roberts. Ethan Kovatch and Joslynn Penn are not pictured.

See the rest here:
Westfield names students of the month - Mount Airy News

Photo-Illustration: by Stevie Remsberg; Source Imagery: New York Public Library

Doing the Mostis a special series about ambition how we define it, harness it, and conquer it.

Over the past year or so, Ive been haunted by the fear that Im running out of ambition. Its a broad and existential threat, but the more pressing issue is that Im having trouble self-motivating to start my next book. Procrastination isnt uncommon, especially among writers, but historically Ive overcome it through sheer force of guilt, anxiety, and ambition. This past year, though, somethings changed. I still feel bad about my lack of productivity, but I feel less bad than I did before. Only the ghost of guilt remains, and the animating energy it used to give me has begun to dissipate somehow.

On the one hand, this could be a good thing. I know its not healthy to worry about work all the time. Experts on the topic dictate that happiness must be sought outside work; that no level of professional success or fame precludes dissatisfaction. There is or should be so much else that can fill ones life, outside professional ambition. But still, I worry: What if mine is gone, and doesnt come back?

Reassuringly, Jacques Forest, a psychologist and professor at Universit du Qubec Montral, tells me that ambition is a self-sustaining resource (or it can be, at least). The question is not how much ambition I need, but what kind. There are four different reasons why you want to work or do any activity: fun, meaning, ego, and reward, he says. When ambition is motivated by a desire for fun or meaning, our performance and well-being increase. But when were primarily driven by ego and/or reward, our work suffers, and so do we. And when our work suffers, and fails to live up to the external, material expectations we set for it, its pretty hard to want to keep doing it. We cant grow out of our ambition Forest says hes found no real link between ambition and age or careerbut we can make ourselves miserable in service of it, which may lead to its demise.

We can also just get tired. Some studies on willpower have suggested that after so many minutes/hours/days spent resisting whatever temptation were trying to avoid (any of the seven deadly sins will do), we will grow fatigued and give in. Other studies have argued that we only run out of willpower if we buy the idea that willpower can run out. Maybe the truth is somewhere in between: Ambition can be depleted, but not permanently unless youre chasing the wrong thing.

Most people are motivated by all four forms of ambition, to varying degrees, Forest says. If I were to honestly examine the motivation behind every book I write, I know Id find the desire for fame, for credibility, for recognition, for money. There is also the love of the actual writing, the feeling I get when a good sentence is finished. And above all, there is the desire to connect, to tell stories I wish Id had access to when I was growing up. When I started writing, that dream of connection was all there was. The more success Ive found and its been pretty moderate the harder its gotten to prioritize connection above all else. Money and fame havent exactly taken its place, but my objectives are now muddier, more complex.

According to Forest, its probably good that I havent produced a huge hit yet for my psyche, at least. There is very good research showing that if you attain extrinsic goals, like financial success, fame, or popularity, its actually like doing drugs: you need a bigger and bigger dose to get high, he says. Attaining those ambitious goals ruins your well-being. Put in non-academic terms: it pays not to sell out.

But still, Im struggling to motivate so what do I do? According to self-determination theory, of which Forest is a proponent, all people have three innate needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness. When we feel ourselves losing steam, it usually means that one or more of them arent being met. Forest even calls those three innate needs vitamins, which I find helpful as a way to think about them regularly.

Ultimately, these needs arent surprising: We are more motivated to work when we feel basically good at our jobs, when we feel that we have a say in what we do, and when we feel connected to other people around us. Of course, accomplishing these things in a work setting is easier said than done. And in the world we inhabit, its impossible to ever really forget about money. Forest laughs when I ask him how we can reorient our ambitions to be less capitalistic.

Among my young students, their dream is, by 30, to get their Tesla car in the parking lot with a nice home and three trips per year, he says. I make them write down goals which are needs-satisfying, [so theyll think about] what theyll do on a daily basis to satisfy their psychological needs. At the risk of sounding like a mindfulness guru, much of Forests advice amounts to practicing self-awareness and introspection: thinking about what really matters to you, and how to obtain it.

Its easier, for me at least, to think about my work and ambition in day-by-day metrics in words written, in money earned. But with my more extrinsic ambition in hibernation, Im forced to revisit the bigger, fuzzier picture: what I need, and what Im doing about it. To be clear, Im still not sure how to go about this. Im just doing my best not to give myself a deadline, for once.

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Have I Run Out of Ambition? - The Cut

We all want our children to be happy, healthy and successful in whatever they do. Teaching your child how to meditate can give them a jumpstart to start accessing the many benefits of meditation.

A World Health Organization (WHO) report, that was released last year, says that one in four early teens in India suffers from one or the other mental health issue and depression tops the list. A quarter of children between the age group of 13-15 years suffer from depression. The National Mental Health Survey 2015-16 (NMHS), conducted by National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore emphasizes that 9.8 million teenagers in the age group of 13-17 years suffer depression and other mental health disorders and are in need of active intervention. The study also found that the prevalence of adolescent depression is highest in metro cities as compared to small towns and rural India. And these mental health issues do not necessarily start from the age group of 12 or 13 years, but it begins at an early age which keeps brewing till they turn adolescents.

As a child specialist in the Holistic and Alternative therapy, I come across many teenagers and children facing issues that directly impact their mental health and in turn affect their overall life. In fact, 30 -40 per cent of adults suffering from depression had a history of depression during middle school and adolescent years.

Hence, it is imperative that your children are guided towards tools that can help them to cope up with the emotional challenges. Meditation is a very effective tool which if used and practised from childhood will help in empowering and enhancing your childs life in many ways such as-

Healthy emotional development Kids who practice regular meditation are emotionally stronger, happier and more relaxed, have less temper or mood tantrums as well.

More self aware to make right choices Meditation creates self-awareness even at such young ages as during meditation the kids can analyze an action that they may have taken and check if it was right or wrong. With this kind of awareness, they will grow up to be more conscientious and have greater sense of understanding.

More compassionate and higher self-esteem Meditation among kids helps in developing higher levels of confidence and resilience, they are more connected to self and respectful of others and display good decision making and pro-social behaviour.

Better focus and memory Meditation not only changes brain patterns that enhances memory but also heightens mental focus and clarity which improves the cognitive performance.

Above are just a few of the benefits of meditation that have been listed but there are innumerable benefits that your children can avail for life, if as a parent you make them practice meditation regularly.

When meditation is done with the help of a professional, it becomes more effective since the help and guidance of such individuals helps the child to learn and practice meditation and turn it into a way of life. As an International Meditation Expert, I encourage and recommend all the parents to get your child not only acquainted to Meditation but also make Meditation a regular family fun activity. It doesnt have to be boring or uninteresting activity; the way I do it is by making it so much fun for them that the children yearn for doing it on a regular basis.

It is much easier to build stronger children than repair broken adults!

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Why your child should meditate and become mindful! - Times of India

What is wisdom? One recent attempt to address this question, by Sharon Ryan, a philosopher at West Virginia University, begins with Socratess famous line, "The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing." In doing so, Ryan argues, Socrates may have defined wisdom as Epistemic Humility, the notion that you are wise if you believe you are not.

However, per Ryan, an alternative interpretation of Socratesmay argue that his view expresses a notion of wisdom as Epistemic Accuracy, because he believes hes knowledgeable only when he actually is. Wisdom, in this view, resides in the accuracy of your beliefs. You are wise if you only believe you know what you actually know.

An alternative approach to wisdom, per Ryan, may argue that its not enough to know what you know; you also have to know a lot. Thus we may opt for a Hybrid Theory, by which a wise person is one who has extensive knowledge as well as few unjustified beliefs. Still, this formulation leaves out the question of successof living a good life. Intuitively, we can all envision someone who knows a lot, and has very few unjustified or false beliefs, and yet is unable to be successful in life.

So, a test of wisdom appears to be ones success in achieving a good life. Then again, who defines "good"in this context? Aristotle held that, It is evident that it is impossible to be practically wise without being good. Most philosophers and lay people addressed to the question of wisdom would probably include moral virtue as inherent in the definition of living well.

However, otherslike the philosopher Dennis Whitcomb of Western Washington Universitymay argue cogently that a morally repugnant person could nevertheless be wise. Perhaps wisdom entails not a good life in the moral sense, but a rational one. A wise person, in addition to having world knowledge and self-knowledge, is one who lives their lives rationally and reasonably. Such a person will not be devoid of emotion but rather able to regulate it in a rational manner.

Historically, the question of wisdom has mostly resided in the domains of philosophy, religion, and literature. More recently, however, the question has attracted the attention of contemporary, research minded psychologists. An effort has been underway in psychology to pin down the concept of wisdom in terms that can be measured, and devise theories of wisdom that yield testable predictions.

Many laypersons, when asked about wisdom, will associate it with advanced age. When we imagine a wise person, we do not commonly imagine youth. It is possible that in ancient societiesin which tradition ruled over change, and in which arriving at old age was itself an achievementwisdom was indeed closely linked with age. Yet the relationship between age and wisdom, like much of everything else, is bound to be more complex today. Indeed, the psychological research literature by and large challenges the idea that age begets wisdom.

For example, Paul Baltes(1939-2006), the German developmental psychologist who founded the Berlin Wisdom Project at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, is perhaps the most influential figure in this area. In Baltes thinking,wisdom is defined asan expert knowledge system concerning the fundamental pragmatics of life. That system hasfive components:

While age does not factor explicitly in the Berlin Model, Baltes and colleagues research suggests that wisdom rises steadily from age 13 to 25 and then remains relatively stable through to age 75, after which a decline is common, correlated with the physical decline. They also found that intelligence explains less of the variance in wisdom-related performance than personality traits. Life experience (in particular, interacting with other people) is the strongest predictoraccounting for more than25 percentof the variance.

Taking a somewhat different theoretical tack, Monika Ardelt, a professor of sociology at the University of Florida, has advanced the influential Three-Dimensional Theory of Wisdom. Unlike Baltes and the "Berlin Group" who consider wisdom to be an "expert knowledge system," Ardelt considers wisdom to be a "combination of personality qualities" that "cannot exist independently of individuals. For Ardelt, its not enough for one to be knowledgeable and articulate. True wisdom involves virtuous action as well as emotional self-control. Ardelt notes that:

Wisdom cannot exist independently of individualsif this is true, then wisdom itself cannot be preserved outside of individuals. Its distribution in society depends on the personal development of the people who make up society and not on the development of a cultural software. The moment one tries to preserve wisdom (e.g., by writing it down), it loses its connection to a concrete person and transforms into intellectual (theoretical) knowledge. I propose that even the most profound wisdom literature remains intellectual or theoretical knowledge until its inherent wisdom is realized by a person.

She has proposed a model of wisdom as a personality characteristic, made up of three dimensions:

For Ardelt, then, wisdom exists only to the extent that wise people exist. Wisdom, in her definition, can grow with age, but it doesn't do so automatically; rather, it grows for those who seek it and invest in nurturing it.

Ardelts workhas also found that college students scored at the same level as older adults on measures of wisdom. Yet some differences did emerge. Qualitative evidence suggests that many older adults, particularly in the top 20 percentof wisdom scorers, grew wiser with age by learning from life experiences. The results indicate that wisdom might increase with age for individuals with the opportunity and motivation to pursue its development.

The American psychologist Robert Sternberg, of Yale University, has developed his own ideas about wisdom in the Balance Theory of Wisdom. For Sternberg, wisdom is defined as, the application of tacit knowledge as mediated by values toward the achievement of a common good through a balance among multiple (a) intrapersonal, (b) interpersonal, and (c) extrapersonal interests in order to achieve a balance among: (a) adaptation to existing environments (b) shaping of existing environments, and (c) selection of new environments.

His emphasis on balance refers to balancing self and social interests, long- and short-term goals, and multiple environmental contexts and demands. Sternberg has argued that we would be wise to pay more attention to wisdom when we choose whom to admit to university, whom to hire for a job, and whom to elect to high office. This is because, according to Sternberg, errors in judgment and policy decisions are more often failures of wisdom than of intelligence. He explains:

Although currently, our societies tend to emphasize analytical intelligence in their assessments of individuals in school, college, and beyond, one could argue that assessments of wisdom would be more valuable.When citizens and leaders fail in the pursuit of their duties, it is more likely to be for lack of wisdom than for lack of analytical intelligence.In particular, failed citizens and leaders are likely to be foolishto show unrealistic optimism, egocentrism, false omniscience, false omnipotence, false invulnerability, and ethical disengagement in their thinking and decision making. In other words, they fail not for a lack of conventional intelligence, but rather for a lack of wisdom.

Like Ardelt, Sternberg argues that age does not inherently confer wisdom. He summarizes thus:

Most important, the person has to utilize life experience in a way that is consistent with the development of wisdom people must want to develop their wisdom-related skills in order for them actually to develop, and then must adopt the attitudes toward lifeopenness to experience, reflectivity upon experience, and willingness to profit from experiencethat will enable this development to occur.

In conclusion, while psychologists (like laypeople) may differ in their definitions of wisdom, both theory and data in contemporary psychology appear to converge on the notion that old age is neither sufficient nor necessary for the development of wisdom. The question to ask when it comes to wisdom is not how much time youve had, but what you chose to do with your time.

On its face, this appears to be a fairly wise conclusion.

Read more here:
When Im Old and Wise: Is Wisdom Related to Age? - Psychology Today

There are indeed scant bright spots one can point to in Sands, which opened Sunday night at the Barrymore, the first production by writer/director/former escort Willa Ferreyra. For one, it does eventually end, though this, especially by hour two, was not a given, not something to be counted on, as some sacrosanct article of faith. In addition, there is a sort of ribald audacity to producing a play set in a pile of sand called Sands that does indeed caresswithout outright ticklingmy funny bone. And Willa herself, who I met backstage slightly before this assault on reason began in earnest, does seem possessed of a wry wit, and a self-awareness not often so proudly displayed on or off Broadway. Shes going to need both her wit and self-awareness to survive this sandy debacle, but Im rooting for her. Decency is a beautiful, fragile thing in a young playwright. Decency is, after all, not something youd assume of someone romantically involved with the mercurial Connor Roy, eldest son of Waystar Royco founder and CEO (and enemy to human progress) Logan Roy. Connor Roy has thrown his hat into the presidential ring, launching a quixotic campaign predicated on boredom and a flat tax, and it may be that in a year and a half Willa Ferreyra will be writing her next play from the second floor of the White House. Stranger things have happened. At least once or twice.

Sands is the story of five late-20-somethings who are on their way to the wedding of a couple they hate. These 20-somethings have clever noms de plume like Mr. Big Dreams and Ms. Deep Regret and Mr. Shithead. These youths inevitably get lost and, of course, start wandering deeper into the desert. Tensions rise. Secrets are revealed. The vitality of somnambulant millennial humanity set against a sandy inhospitable backdrop. So, the trenchant question is this: Exactly how many scenes of people kicking sand does a play need? If you answered, as a sensible patron of the arts would, One, maybe two at most, you will be in for a crushing disappointment. How many times must a character, crushed by ennui and boredom, fall to their knees and punch sand over and over again? I hate this goddamn sand! was admittedly a funny line the first three times it was uttered. And all the sand songs clumsily inserted into the proceedings. Sandcastles by Beyonc. Enter Sandman by Metallica. Wet Sand by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The one sincere moment of liftoff that the play achieves comes right before the (first) intermission, courtesy of a Gregorian chant version of Darudes Sandstorm that scores a fiercely realistic sand-eating competition.

Unfortunately, the meandering plot and confusing ethos is not the only culprit of on-stage homicide, as the performances in Sands are uniformly unbalanced, running the tangled gamut from truly bad to completely unwatchable. Indeed, Chloe Hannah, who plays Ms. Deep Regret, the central character, at times barely seemed to know her lines. There were many moments when she just didnt respond to her costars. They looked at each other, their eyes dancing, their thoughts some hidden maelstrom, and then theyd just walk around in the sand some more, leaving entire conversations unfinished. This happened many times. The whispers I heard from those in the know claim the actor meant to portray Ms. Deep RegretJennifer Something, I didnt catch a last namevery abruptly absconded to some Celtic bacchanalia, or in the words of one member of the production, Yeah, she like, got on a plane to go to some rich asshole party in Scotland or Ireland, Im not sure which ... whats the difference? She didnt really understand the sand anyway.

Which, of course: a final word about the sand in Sands. The action in Sandsset in three distinct time periods, all involving copious, even ludicrous amounts of sandtakes place in the desert. And yet, the sand that covers the stage at the Barrymore like an old Persian rug or a Spanish soccer players five oclock shadow, is clearly not desert sand. The hues are wrong, the color tainted. Sandy brown, earth yellow, field drab, golden Namibian sunset, all those familiar shades and tints found in dunes and deserts the world over, are totally absent. Instead, were treated to something brittle, something off-white, clunky and aliensandbox sand, construction site sand, the gray dead tooth of the sand world. Im not a sand snob, but it was hard to concentrate on who was betraying whom and why everyone would occasionally speak as though they were 1920s gangsters during Act III on account of all that disgusting sand they were stomping around in. Unfortunately, the contumelious aesthetics were just the chaser to the double shot of absinthe that involve what this humble theater critic will refer to as hygiene issues.

To my eye, and the keen eyes of others as well, the sand, those myriad heaps and mounds of workaday sand from Uncle Franks construction site, would occasionally shift in a way I can only describe as absolutely gross. It is my own bad fortune to have been sitting so close to the stage that it became my very own front-row Golgotha. That there were sand mites ensconced in these grainy ziggurats I have no doubt. In fact, I have the raw and red scratch wounds to prove it. That these creatures have infested that sand is doubly upsetting. First, it dovetails with other whispers Ive been privy to, the persistent rumors of the productions total lack of hygiene caused by Connor Roys paradoxical penny-pinching. Secondly, and infinitely more troubling, is that these sand mitespesky innocents essentially, brought here against their willwill be forced to watch Willa Ferreyras Sands over and over again, imprisoned in some hellish temporal time loop, trapped in the darkest possible version of Nietzsches eternal recurrence.

In conclusion: Loved the sand. Loathed the disgusting show. And to be honest, I didnt love the sand.

SundayTickets: Through Oct. 23 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre243 W 47th St, New York, NY 10036Run Time: 2 hours, 47 minutes.

Disclosure: HBO is an initial investor in The Ringer.

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A (Totally Real) Review of Willas Broadway Play in Succession - The Ringer

BRADENTON FL Stress at work can adversely affect other areas in life, such as relationships and sleep, studies show. And as stress in the workplace rises, having a stress management strategy is vital, say mental health professionals and experts in corporate culture.

Its not just workers who suffer from stress. Employers feel the effects of stress in increased absenteeism and lost production, and some companies address work-related stress with policies and practices.

But its important for over-stressed workers to develop their own tools to better deal with stress and not let it affect their job performance or quality of life, says Cynthia Howard (www.eileadership.org), an executive coach and performance expert.

Stress is the new normal and, to become resilient, you must practice strategies that will unhook you from the damaging, reactive nature of the stress reaction, says Howard, the author of The Resilient Leader, Mindset Makeover: Uncover the Elephant in the Room. One cannot think their way out of a stress reaction, and when you ignore what can happen, you leave yourself vulnerable.

Howard offers these strategies to build a tolerance to work stress and perform at a high level even during stressful situations:

Breathe

On a count of four, breathe. The goal is breathing with intention to shift the stress effect. Howard suggests taking four deep breaths breathing in on the count of four, holding on four, exhaling on four.

Breathing is your first line of defense against the distraction of the stress reaction and being overwhelmed, Howard says. Most people today are in moderate to severe stress, multitasking, or in the throes of strong emotions.

Breathing, she says, gets shallow and less effective in blowing off the buildup of carbon dioxide, leaving you more acidic the opposite of what the body needs to stay energized.

Take a moment

The three-second transition. Used at different parts of the day, such as before and after a meeting or difficult conversation, this strategy helps develop the feeling of being in the moment.

Be deliberate with three seconds, Howard says. Pause, breathe, and focus on what you are going to do for three seconds. This slows down your mind and opens your awareness. With practice, it will also expand your situational awareness and lead to more enjoyment of your day.

Mindfulness

Practice everyday mindfulness. Because many people are distracted in a social media-filled world, Howard says, its hard for them to focus for long periods. Mindfulness can tune out distractions.

Mindfulness means directing your attention to what is happening in the moment without judging what is happening, Howard says. This practice improves the quality of your attention and decreases your reactivity to stress.

Keep a journal

Howard suggests taking 10 minutes each day to write out thoughts. This practice will increase self-awareness and build your ability to stay in the moment, Howard says. You will get to know yourself at a deeper level and, with that, get to the real motives that drive your choices and behavior.

Then, she says, set a time limit to do your journaling and have specific goals in mind reflecting on a conversation, recapping your day, digging deeper into your reaction to something. Then go back and review your journal after every quarter. Have you made progress?

We tend to expend more energy than we renew, Howard says. Most people go through the day with constant interruptions, irritations, and other emotional triggers, all draining energy. It is essential to use some type of stress-relief strategy every day to keep our energy stores filled.

About Howard

Cynthia Howard, RN, CNC, PhD is an executive coach, performance expert and the author of The Resilient Leader, Mindset Makeover: Uncover the Elephant in the Room. She researched stress and its consequences in performance during her PhD. In the past 20-plus years she has coached thousands of professionals, leaders and executives toward emotional agility and engaged leadership.

For more information, visit http://www.eileadership.org.

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Stressed at work? Four strategies to reboot, refresh - Daily Herald