Why I Miss Bill Clinton (and other thoughts):

For Immediate Release

Advocacy Group Unveils New Web site
Site features easy navigation, community resources

REDONDO BEACH, CA, February 7, 2008 – The International Cesarean Awareness Network launches a new, user-friendly Web site today in an effort to further the group’s outreach efforts.

“The new Web site will make an impact in the battle against the growing cesarean statistics by providing information to moms, challenging them to take responsibility for their births and providing a safe community for moms to heal” ICAN President Pam Udy said. “This will give women the tools they need to make educated decisions about their births – because this isn’t about statistics. It’s about every mom and every baby getting the safest birth possible.”

Easy navigation is a key feature of this Web site, which has been in the works since July when ICAN Board Members recognized the need for a more user-friendly Web site. (The Web site can be found at www.ican-online.org) Site viewers will find information separated into five categories: Pregnancy, Recovery, VBAC, Advocacy and Community.

“In our daily advocacy work, we saw a clear mandate for a site that was simple to navigate, simple to understand and full of easy-to-access information for the woman avoiding a cesarean, recovering from a cesarean or on her journey to VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean),” Laureen Hudson, ICAN Publications Director said. “ICAN interacts with women on very different journeys -- the messages a pregnant woman needs to hear to avoid a cesarean are not the same messages a woman on the journey to VBAC needs to hear. We like to think that this site addresses those two complimentary, yet divergent, needs.”

The Web site lets women research the VBAC policies of hospitals near them; learn how to correct problems (such as malposition or pre-eclampsia) that commonly lead to cesareans; get quick physical recovery tips to help after a cesarean; and stay up-to-date on medical research on pregnancy and birth. New community features include user birth blogs, videos and images; and the capability for users to create their own homepage on the ICAN site to share with friends and family. ICAN leadership also can connect more easily via the Web site with the women ICAN serves. Further, the Web site features a new logo – the logo, and all of the Web work, were completed entirely by volunteers.

“We wanted our site to be easy for the average woman recovering from surgery and caring for a newborn to find the info they needed quickly and easily,” Webmaster Melissa Collins said. “One of my favorite features is the online social community that is safe for moms planning a VBAC or just wanting to avoid. I’m really excited to watch this new community grow.”

This new Web site comes after research in 2007 by the National Center for Health Statistics showed the cesarean rate reaching a record high of 31.1 percent. Further, a CDC report indicated the maternal death rate rose for the first time in decades and Consumer Reports includes a cesarean in its list of “10 overused tests and treatments.” Other research from 2007 cites a VBAC continues to be a reasonably safe birthing choice for mothers. And while studies indicate a VBAC is a viable option, women often have difficulty finding a health care provider who encourages a VBAC – which is where one of the site’s new features comes into play.

“The most useful tool for women is probably the Hospital VBAC Ban information,” Collins said. “Women can look up the hospitals near them and find out their VBAC policy and if any doctors are actually available to attend them. It is getting difficult for so many women to find a VBAC supportive provider and this is one way to make that a little easier for them.”

Mission statement: ICAN is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve maternal-child health by preventing unnecessary cesareans through education, providing support for cesarean recovery and promoting vaginal birth after cesarean. There are more than 94 ICAN Chapters across North America, which hold educational and support meetings for people interested in cesarean prevention and recovery.

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My first job after returning to the Twin Cities from my 9-year-long exile in Iowa was at HIRED, a non-profit employment services agency. It was a great place to cut my teeth working with clients coming out of correctional settings, practice some social work skills, and develop questions as a budding social scientist. I just learned from my sister (who works there now) that HIRED is offering opportunities for community members to visit HIRED and learn more about its work. Unfortunately, they also chose a picture of me for their advertising - not sure that will serve them well...Anyway, check it out! HIRED is very good at what it does, working with various groups of people (ex-offenders, dislocated workers, adults, youth, etc) to help them find jobs and training.

HIRED Works

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A recent blog post by Brad Wright reminded me of something I meant to blog about a few months ago. Brad's topic is social causation vs. social selection, which applies directly to a study released last October by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) on the association between depression and occupation. The report finds the following:
* Combined data from 2004 to 2006 indicate that an annual average of 7.0 percent of full-time workers aged 18 to 64 experienced a major depressive episode (MDE) in the past year
*The highest rates of past year MDE among full-time workers aged 18 to 64 were found in the personal care and service occupations (10.8 percent) and the food preparation and serving related occupations (10.3 percent)
*The highest rates of past year MDE among female full-time workers aged 18 to 64 were found in the food preparation and serving related occupations (14.8 percent), and the highest rates among male full-time workers aged 18 to 64 were found in the arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations (6.7 percent)

Figure 1. Past Year Major Depressive Episode (MDE) among Full-Time Workers Aged 18 to 64, by Occupational Categories**: 2004-2006 Combined

I was in no way surprised to find that social workers rank third in MDEs among full-time adult workers. In fact, my first impulse upon reading the report was to look at the top of the list for social workers. It makes sense, right? What totally depressing work! Social workers (and personal care/service professionals) do some of the most heart-wrenching and least-rewarding work (from at least a financial point of view) that exists. Of course we're depressed! This would be a social causation argument, per Brad's blog. Depressing work makes people more depressed.

But then I got to thinking, what if it's that those of us who struggle with depression anyhow are attracted to occupations that are depressing? This is a very plausible argument, and falls under social selection. Take me for an example. I struggle with depression, and not just "the blues," but true, clinical, Axis I Major Depression (according to the DSM). I have often wondered whether or not my suffering (such as it is) makes me somehow more empathetic, or at least more drawn to, individuals who also have such (or similar) pain. My track record of personal relationships (don't take this personally, anyone - I'm sure it's not you I'm thinking of!) as well as occupational choices would seem to bear this out. So, did I choose my career path in social services because I am depressed?

I was heartened, however, to see that social scientists rank among the lowest in MDEs. Maybe the antidepressants I've been taking are making a difference in my occupational choices? Or is my academic turn is making me less depressed?

Things that make you go, hmmmmmm......

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"I can't give you any fresh answers to why a man climbs mountains. The majority still go just to climb them."
~Sir Edmund Hillary, 1919-2008

As a fan of mountaineering lit, which I read with simultaneous awe and conviction that I would never do any such thing, I salute Sir Edmund Hillary, who passed from us today, but not without a long life of high adventure, wit and compassion. If I could drink right now, I'd toss one back for the first bloke to summit Mt. Everest. Cheers! RIP, Ed.

Image Source

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There are many reasons why I am proud of my local chapter of the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN). Not least of these is our upcoming screening of The Business of Being Born, a film directed by Abby Epstein and executive produced by Ricki Lake (yes, I know...). Here is our press release:

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Heather Deatrick
612/232-3257
bobbtwincities@gmail.com

Local birth organization to hold sneak preview of acclaimed documentary by Abbey Epstein and executive producer Rickie Lake
“THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN”
Thursday January 24, 2008 7 PM
Oak Street Cinema, Minneapolis, MN
Tickets on sale December 15, 2007 at http://bobbtwincities.eventbrite.com

December 1, 2007, Minneapolis, MN – The International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN) of the Twin Cities is proud to announce a sneak peek of this compelling and important documentary. “The Business of Being Born” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last May to rave reviews. The file will be released in only NYC, LA and SF in January, 2008. This will be the only public showing in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. It will be a fundraiser for ICAN to raise awareness of the crisis of labor and delivery in hospitals in the United States. Currently, and seemingly in spite of technological advances, the US has the second-worst infant mortality rate in the industrialized world and the maternal death rate is rising for the first time in decades. Following the screening, there will be a panel of local health professionals to discuss and answer questions.

Synopsis
Birth: it’s a miracle. A rite of passage. A natural part of life. But more than anything, birth is a business. Compelled to find answers after a disappointing birth experience with her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to examine and question the way American women have babies. The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein discovers she is pregnant during the making of the film, the journey becomes even more personal. Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?

Reviews
“Highly informative expose ‘The Business of Being Born’ makes a strong case for natural childbirth and an even stronger case for having a baby anywhere besides a U.S. hospital.” Variety, Ronnie Scheib

"’The Business of Being Born’ includes very little of the screaming, gnashing, clenching horror that is the hallmark of most TLC-style obstetri-drama or, for that matter, of the kind of hirsute birthing filmstrip some progressively educated middle schoolers are shown in sex ed. Instead, Lake and Epstein have made a movie about the pleasures and political importance of natural, midwife-assisted home birth.” Rebecca Traister, Salon.com

“The film's message is clear and unflinching: modern medical practices have so distorted the process of birth that we have lost the natural beauty of this rite of passage." Wendy Ponte, Mothering.com

Tickets here

View the trailer here

Find screenings in your area here (hint: Iowa City friends, you've got two opportunities in late January!)

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 08:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ironically, or perhaps Providentially, the scar I wear for having borne Micah by c-section has given me an acute empathy for him in his recovery from bladder surgery yesterday. Anyone who's had abdominal surgery knows that those first attempts to get up and walk after surgery are excruciating. Micah has been bearing up relatively well, though he hasn't walked far yet. I've been pleased with my ability to be calm and coach him through the process, all the while remembering those first days of knowing him through my own, similar pain. Some day, maybe, Micah and I can swap our scar stories, though I think mine will always trump his. "Hey, kid! Remember I brought you into this world through this wound!"

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 05:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have to admit I didn't think much of Rikki Lake back when she was hosting her talk show in the early '90s (though I admit I did tune in every now and then). So when I heard she was coming out with a documentary on the "politics of birth" I thought, really?

Apparently, Rikki is a mother of two, having given birth to the first in a hospital and the second at home. The documentary, The Business of Being Born, includes video of her home birth (pictured left). As a woman who has experienced some of the worst of what the birth business has to offer, I'm looking forward to seeing what the film has to say. Here's a synopsis courtesy of IMDB:

Birth: it's a miracle. A rite of passage. A natural part of life. But more than anything, birth is a business. Compelled to find answers after a disappointing birth experience with her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to explore the maternity care system in America. Focusing on New York City, the film reveals that there is much to distrust behind hospital doors and follows several couples who decide to give birth on their own terms. There is an unexpected turn when director Epstein not only discovers she is pregnant, but finds the life of her child on the line. Should most births should be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potential medical emergency? "The Business of Being Born" is a must-see for moms, dads and anyone even thinking about having a baby.

Photo

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 09:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been having a bit of fun this past week or so working on a side-project: developing a simple website for a community organization I belong to (and also serve on the board for). The organization is ICAN of the Twin Cities, a local chapter of the organization called International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN). You can view my work-in-progress here. It's obviously under development.

I've been a part of ICAN since 2005, after realizing that the emotional consequences of giving birth to Micah via c-section were far more long-lasting and profound than I could manage on my own. The group has provided me with a safe-haven to discuss, cry about, and be pissed off about, having had a surgical birth. It's also been a great place to learn, unlearn, and relearn important things about pregnancy, birth, parenting, loss, grief, and joy - so many key elements of being a mother regardless of how your baby is born.

ICAN has local chapters in many states and provinces - I encourage you to check it out if you or someone you know has had a c-section, is pregnant, or thinks it will never happen to them. Neither did I!

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 01:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The St. Paul Campus is all a-flutter this morning with the pending arrival of Laura Bush for a regional conference sponsored by the First Lady's project, Helping America's Youth. The conference happens to coincide with our recent local tragedy, so Mrs. Bush has scheduled in time to view the bridge collapse site and the Prez is planning to show up tomorrow. According to employees at the student union, where I now sit, Mrs. Bush will be showing up anytime between 11:30am and 2:00pm. I'll be here on the early end of that timeframe, so I may lurk around and see if I can catch a glimpse. She's no Bill, but she is the First Lady...

In other news, we seem to be THE news lately. I watched CNN for three hours on Wednesday night and it was all about our bridge tragedy. Many, many major news figures are here, as well as political leaders. I'm afraid I'm not accustomed to having so much national attention focused on my humble place of origin. We drove past the bridge site on University Ave this morning, finally giving in to the temptation to gawk a bit. It's quite something. Of course, it was hard to catch a good glimpse over all the massive satellite dishes set up to beam the news to all of you out there...

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Occasionally, I peruse our bookshelf looking to re-discover some ink-laden paper jewel. This Sunday, I happened upon just such a treasure in the form of Waiting for God by Simone Weil, a tome given to us by a dear soul who also happened to have taught me 12th grade English. Within, I found a chapter entitled, "Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God." Aha! Just what a grad student needs for a Sunday morning meditation.

Within this essay, Simone explicates two reasons why school studies "...are quite as good a road to sanctity as any other." The first is that the skill of attention gained in study enhances one's ability to attend to God in prayer. The second point pertains to the beneficial influence of academic failure, as the following passage illustrates,

Above all it is thus that we can acquire the virtue of humility, and that is a far more precious treasure than all academic progress. From this point of view it is perhaps even more useful to contemplate our stupidity than our sin. Consciousness of sin gives us the feeling that we are evil, and a kind of pride sometimes finds a place in it. When we force ourselves to fix the gaze, not only of our eyes but of our souls, upon a school exercise in which we have failed through sheer stupidity, a sense of our mediocrity is borne in upon us with irresistible evidence. No knowledge is more to be desired. If we can arrive at knowing this truth with all our souls we shall be well established on the right foundation.

I will be keeping this in mind as I approach my preliminary exams this fall. This perspective may also come in handy the next time a R&R letter arrives from a peer-reviewed journal. If knowledge of my own mediocrity is a path to sanctity, I ought to be well on my way before long!

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Posted by Sarah Shannon at 09:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I returned yesterday from a three-day trip to Ft. McCoy, WI. As part of the research project I'm working on, I helped interview returning soldiers from Iraq about their expectations for reintegration to civilian life. We will interview the same soldiers in 2-3 months to find out how it actually went. To welcome the soldiers home (and entice them to participate in the study!), we offered cold beverages at our display table. We quickly found out that the Minnesota Red Bulls love Mountain Dew. It seems that this was one significant deprivation during the long 22 months in Iraq.

For ethical reasons, I can't divulge here much of what I heard during the interviews I conducted. But I can say that I found the experience emotionally moving, intellectually stimulating, and surprising in many ways. I have now seen many faces and heard personal stories that cut past the political rhetoric and media spin about the war in Iraq. I hope that at least one outcome of our study will be to tell these stories with care and offer some solid input to the military and our society about the experience of reintegration.

Red Bull image
Plus sign
Mountain Dew image

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 04:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I woke up this morning to a front-page story in the Strib about two co-workers in the U's School of Social Work, my academic home. I was oblivious to this pending event (I'm not around Peters Hall much these days) and I'm awestruck. This is one of those, "I wonder what I would do in this situation" stories. I'm acquainted with both Peter and Peggy and I certainly wish them well!!!

Rare employee benefit: Gift of life

A liver transplant patient finds an unexpected donor: a co-worker at the University of Minnesota.

By Mary Jane Smetanka, Star Tribune

Last update: June 12, 2007 – 11:31 PM
Peter Dimock feels perfectly healthy. He bikes 30, 40, even 50 miles in a day. He's a dancer. When he found out he had liver cancer and his best chance of surviving was a liver transplant, he realized it was unlikely he'd find a donor.

There are few donors and nationwide; more than 17,000 people are on the waiting list. The sickest are first in line. Organs usually come from cadavers or family members.

But Dimock didn't have to look any further for his new liver than Peters Hall at the University of Minnesota, where he is a teaching specialist in the School of Social Work. Today, co-worker Peggy Pond will give him 60 percent of her liver. Because livers can regenerate, if all goes well, in about three months both will have nearly full-size, healthy livers.

Last week, the two were joking about the conversations they'll have later this summer when they run into each other at work.

"She's going to say, 'Hey, are you taking care of my liver?' and I'm going to tell her that she's given up all the rights to it," Dimock said.

Nationwide, there have been more than 2,200 adult-to-adult live liver transplants. Seventy of those operations have been performed at the U. According to a national transplant database, 15 of the operations at the U involved donors who were unrelated by blood or marriage to the recipient.

"I can tell you stories that will make you weep in the case of donors coming forward," said Dr. Abhi Humar, director of the U's Living Donor Transplant Program and the surgeon who will operate on Pond today. "You'd be surprised at the goodness in people."

A deadly virus

Dimock, 62, worked as a social worker and counselor at county and mental health agencies in the Twin Cities before joining the U about eight years ago. Over the years, doctors had noticed his abnormal liver enzyme levels and told him to stop drinking. "I told them I wasn't," he said.

In the 1990s, when a blood test was developed for hepatitis C, Dimock learned he was carrying the virus. He suspects he contracted it during his service in Vietnam. He had interferon treatments to kill the virus and visited the doctor every six months.

Last November, during one of those routine visits, a cancer was found on his liver. His wife of 22 years, Vicki, couldn't believe it.

"I was just at the point of really believing the virus was gone," she said. "I could feel myself relaxing and it looked like long-term, things were optimistic ... . It was really shocking and pretty traumatic."

Dimock's tumor was removed. But in people with hepatitis C, the chance of recurrence is high and the cancer is often fatal. Because of his longstanding hepatitis, Dimock also had cirrhosis. One doctor recommended that he have part of his liver removed, while others suggested a liver transplant.

Dimock wanted a transplant. But because he was outwardly healthy, he knew he'd be low on the transplant list. His wife wasn't a match, and he didn't want to involve his son, who will enter college this fall. Struggling with how to tell co-workers what was going on, he wrote a letter.

Dimock was at a doctor's appointment when the school's director read his letter to stunned colleagues at a December staff meeting. Among them was Pond, who thought, I could do that.

The same day, she rapped on Dimock's office door.

"I'd consider it," she told him. Her blood type, A, was compatible, meeting a big requirement for donation.

Pond went home and talked to her husband, St. Paul Humboldt High School Principal Mike Sodomka. He wanted to know if it would affect her life span.

"Well, if you die it does," she told him.

Giving life

If Dimock is the pleasant, do-it-all guy in the School of Social Work -- he's worked on everything from complicated technology projects to continuing education -- Pond is the "good soul" of a school known for its warmth and camaraderie, a co-worker said. An undergraduate community program assistant, she used to bring pies for birthdays. She heads the group that buys get-well cards for co-workers.

Together, Dimock and Pond had started a meditation group that met over lunch hour. But they weren't close. Dimock was gratified but a bit worried when Pond plunged forward to investigate the possibility of donation.

"This is a very big decision," he said.

Over the weeks, Pond, 42, met with a kidney specialist, transplant coordinator, other doctors and a social worker who probed her reasons for wanting to donate. One motivation, Pond said, is that she and her husband can't have children.

"I view this as a way to give life to someone," she said.

While the U has a perfect record with adult live donation of livers, the operation isn't risk-free. Nationwide, two donors have died. Humar said at the U, liver donors have minor complications 5 to 8 percent of the time. Less than 2 percent have major complications that require being re-admitted to the hospital.

Pond's surgery would last five to six hours. Most of her liver would be removed for Dimock. She would be in the hospital for about a week, and couldn't return to work for four to six weeks.

Pond took a week in April to think about what to do. She talked with liver donors, her husband and her minister. She thought about her mortality.

"I just kept going back that it felt like the right thing to do," Pond said. "I'm in a great relationship, I'm healthy, I'm in a great stage of my life."

She was "gung ho" when she came back to the U, but Dimock was wary, aware of the gravity of her decision. "I didn't want to influence her," he said.

"He kept telling me anytime I wanted to back out, it was fine," Pond said.

But Pond came to him and told him she wanted to go ahead.

His reaction: "Oh my God, it's really going to happen."

Puzzles and ear plugs

Last Thursday, 50 people from the school and one golden retriever attended a lunchtime send-off for Dimock and Pond in the Peters Hall basement. The frosting on the cake said, "Live and Let Liver." Two big baskets were jammed with gifts: puzzles, Solitaire and Sudoku games, magazines, Silly Putty, ear plugs.

Pond and Dimock answered questions with banter worthy of a stand-up routine. What would happen to Dimock's liver? "Maybe they'll serve it to me later," he said with a grin as everyone laughed and someone groaned, "Oh, Peter." When someone asked what the two needed to help grow their livers back to full size, Dimock said "Bacon." And when Pond said every liver donor she'd talked to had said they'd do it again, Dimock said, "Funny, but all the transplant recipients said, 'No!' "

The two said they would spend the days before the transplant hanging out with family, cleaning out gardens. Dimock and his wife would test their ballroom dancing skills in competition.

Dimock talked about how strange it was to feel fine and yet know that he needed a new liver. His eyes filled with tears and his voice grew husky as he spoke of his gratitude to Pond, and others in the room began to weep silently.

"One thing I'm learning is how many people care," he said. "It doesn't really hit until something like this happens, and everyone comes out of the woodwork ... . I've never felt so cared about in my life. It makes it so much easier to go into the surgery. It just can't not go well.

"After we go through all this, the next party, I throw!"

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 09:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The wee fam and I just returned from a weekend trip to San Diego. We had a great time sunning ourselves and visiting Jerry's mom and extended family. Highlights included the beach, the pool, and family time. I found myself telling myself often, "I could SO handle this." And now we're back to.....life.

Appropriately, we spent Sunday afternoon on a cruise of San Diego harbor. If you're not familiar with that harbor, it contains enough machines of war to fascinate (or disturb) for hours. Both the Navy and Marines have bases there. Aircraft carriers, helicopters and submarines, oh my! With Memorial Day on the horizon, the tour guide on our ship encouraged us to reflect on those who have sacrificed for our freedoms. I don't often feel partriotic these days, but it was the perfect context to be so moved.

Turns out my Grandpa Stertz shipped out from San Diego for his tour with the Marines in WWII. He fought hard in the Pacific, and I try to remember him and my Grandpa Closser (army man on the European front) on holidays such as Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and the 4th of July. Being in San Diego on the day was a great way to remember this year.

USS Ronald Reagan (currently docked in San Diego harbor)

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The semester ended for me last Wednesday. I've been asked if I'm happy or relieved. I say yes, but honestly, I don't feel a thing. And this bothers me.

Shouldn't I be elated? No more assignments with arbitrary deadlines and uninspiring guidelines. I'm set to walk across the stage next Saturday in honor of completing my Master of Social Work degree. That seems like a big deal, right?

But honestly, I feel flat. Pretty much nothing. Right now, I'm chalking it up to fatigue and the reality that life goes on. I've got several years of school ahead of me for the PhD - and that work hasn't stopped just 'cause the semester's over and my assignments are turned in. I've got prelims to study, articles to revise and try to submit for publication, and an ambitious research project to work on with a great team in Sociology. The financial woes and pressures of graduate school are also taking their toll on my enthusiasm. Debt is mounting, as is my guilt at deciding not to take a "real" job (which I am now even more qualified for with the MSW) to pursue my academic career ambitions. I try to believe this is a "calling" I'm pursuing and not self-indulgence...after all, I just want to make the world a better place, right?

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Posted by Sarah Shannon at 08:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This afternoon, I experienced the most moving and effective historical home tour I've ever been on. And I've done a few, including homes belonging to George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, the Brucemore estate, and, of course, the Glensheen Mansion. All of these sites have in common the rarity and/or beauty of their previous occupants' possessions and stature. However, the mission of the museum curating the historical residence I toured today has an entirely different purpose: to preserve what was a common, ordinary dwelling for thousands of immigrants between 1864-1935.

From my experience this afternoon,The Lower East Side Tenement Museum executes its mission with a great deal of intelligence, sensitivity, and care. Most impressive was the extent to which the museum has sought to personally include prior residents or their descendants in telling the stories that lived between the walls and passed through the hallways of one tenement building. I was especially moved that one descendant who had given a great deal of information and time to the effort was killed in the World Trade Tower on 9/11. His family decided that his memorial would be the ongoing telling of his ancestors' story at the tenement, including the showing of his picture during each tour of his family's apartment.

Next time you're in NYC, don't miss this!

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Christianity Today has an article this month about John Perkins. If you've never heard of him, I highly recommend the read. No other living human being has had a greater influence on my faith; in particular, what it means to really live what one believes. I had the great fortune of spending three months in the summer of 1997 and one month in the summer of 2001 in Jackson, Mississippi with John and his ministries.

Thanks to the hubster for sending me the link!
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Posted by Sarah Shannon at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anyone who rides public transportation on a regular basis can likely regale you with stories of human comedy and tragedy. There's a lot going on on wheels and rails around town. Those on the 5 last night certainly have a story to tell. My husband once witnessed a domestic dispute that turned to taunts to "pull out your gun," which thankfully did not happen. I've been on a bus pulled over by the police looking for "a leather jacket" - I'm assuming they were looking for a person wearing a leather jacket, but this was not specified. On the lighter side, I also listened to a man talking at the back of the bus once (there's always that guy at the back of the bus) who insterted a long "ahhhhhhhh" between every other word, like this: "So, ahhhhhhhhhhh, I took the, ahhhhhhhhhhh, guy to the, ahhhhhhhhh..." and so on. My first thought was, "God, I really would not want to transcribe an interview with that guy!" And then I thought, who has these thoughts?!?

But mostly, I find riding public transit engaging because you just never know what you're going to hear or see, or what chance encounters you might have with the divine in other folks. This morning, I had an encounter with a man at the train stop at Lake & Hiawatha. I caught him out of the corner of my eye and just knew he was going to approach me, I assumed for money. When he said, "Excuse me!" I braced myself for impact. He began the conversation with how nosy people are at the train station. I assumed he meant himself since I certainly had not made any move in his direction. The conversation was fairly nonsensical, as I think he likely suffers some mental illness. When he asked me if I thought he was "good looking or not ugly" I told him I wasn't sure how to answer that question. His reply was, "Well, maybe I'm somewhere in between." Without a pause I said, "Maybe we all are." At this response I was met with a huge grin, baring a gold tooth, a thumbs up and, "Thank you Jesus! God bless you." And we parted ways.

As I waited for the train, something continued to resonate in my spirit about being in-between. Given my new acquaintance's demeanor, it might make the most sense to dismiss his "Thank you Jesus!" as just another crazy thing he said. But I don't think so. I think there was something for me to hear in his words an my own.

The truth is, I feel in-between a lot of things most of the time: indeed, good looking and not ugly, smart and stupid, holy and hellian, mother and career woman. In-betweening is a source of a great deal of stress and angst for me. I would rather have things clear and delineated. Yet, I know better. Spiritually, I know it to be true that I live in-between worlds. I'm a sojourner in a world that I am called to love yet called to leave one day for a new land. Liminality is my reality, whether I choose to embrace it or not. This morning I embraced it. Who knew revelation was waiting at the train?

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Sadly, it isn't often that I feel inspired by a course reading. But I frequently forget why it is that I'm doing what I'm doing and what got me into it in the first place. This quote from Helen Perlman brought me back to a piece of it this evening:

"There is probably no problem in human living that has not been brought to social workers in social agenices. Problems of hunger for food and of hunger for love, of seeking shelter and of wanting to run away, of getting married and of staying married, of wanting a child and of wanting to get rid of a child, of needing money and of wasting money, of not wanting to live and of not wanting to die, of making enemies and of needing friends, of wanting and of not wanting medication, of loving and of being unloved, of hating and of being hated, of being unable to get a job and of being unable to hold a job, of feeling afraid, of feeling useless - all these, and the many other problems of physical and emotional suvival as a human being, come to the door of the social agency."

I guess it's this complicated and consternating nexus of human need and the potential for intervention and change converged in the social agency (broadly defined) that fascinates and, at least in part, motivates me to become a social work scholar.

By the way, wasn't Helen just lovely? And she got her BA in English Lit at the U of M to boot!

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've had occasion over the past couple days to peruse the websites of all 50 state departments of corrections. It's been an odyssey, not only in terms of actually locating the information I want on the site (another post someday) but also of discovering the various messages and images with which these deparments promote themselves. If you were in charge of creating a website for a state department of corrections, what would you want to people to see about your agency online? I present two cases as illustrations of the possibilites:

State DOC-A
State DOC-B

Although the two states in question are next to each other in alphabetical order, they are quite distinct in message. To me, State A says, "Come work for us and kick some ass" whereas State B says, "Come work for us to better yourself and be a part of a noble history." From my observations, State A is in the majority as far as corrections imagery goes. In fact, State B stands relatively alone in its warmth. I found its appearance so surprising that when the page opened I wondered if I had clicked the wrong hyperlink. Someone clearly spent a lot of time thinking through what "story" to tell about this state's DOC.

In any case, I found this handy site in the process from which you can access all state DOC websites.

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 06:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

WCCO News featured this teen parenting program at the Hennepin County Home School on tonight's 6:00 broadcast. I helped jump-start the boys' version during my internship there this past summer. The young man profiled in the story is one that I got to know a little bit while I was there. Watch the story here.

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 07:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I received notice yesterday that one of my article submissions to a scholarly journal has been "conditionally accepted" for publication. This means that some revisions have been suggested and that I need to respond to these suggestions and resubmit the paper for final acceptance. Whew! Another paper I submitted several months ago was rejected, but not roundly. The comments from the reviewers were accurate and fair. In both cases, I have found the peer review process to be encouraging and helpful, rather than punitive or disheartening. In fact, I enjoy the idea that others are reading my work and giving it thoughtful consideration - e.g. does this contribute anything to something that we need to know more about? The fact that in one case, reviewers felt that my work is a contribution to knowledge is quite affirming. Of course, as a friend noted, it is likely that only a couple hundred people will ever read the article once its published, and two of them have already done so, but still...

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I was born on this day, 32 years ago, at 6:58am. According to my father, the sun was just coming up on that Sunday morn, and it was a most inspiring way to greet his first-born. Current pneumatic state aside, I'm glad to be here. So, here's my birthday song, which I heard for the first time a couple months back on Beatles-a-Rama. John lent a hand in 1973 to give Ringo this classic for his first solo album. Happy birthday to me!

I’m The Greatest (Lennon)

Hey, hey, hey, (hey, hey, hey) I’m the greatest and you better believe it, baby!
I’m gonna be the greatest in this world, in the next world and in any world!
Alright, alright, alright, alright, alright, alright, alright, alright, alright, alright, alright, alright.

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 05:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm not one to get sentimental about war, especially in times like this. But I always think of my grandfathers on Veterans Day - both fought in WWII, though on different fronts and with far different experiences and residual effects. My paternal grandpa (Grandpa Stertz, pictured here with my grandmother) fought in the Pacific, as a Marine, and experienced horrors that I hope never to know. So, thanks Grandpa Stertz and Grandpa Closser, now safe at Home. I'm grateful - and I miss you.

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 06:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This is my son, then 17 months old, "voting" in 2004. That year, our little trio volunteered with Kids Voting Minneapolis, an organization that sets up shop for kids under the legal voting age at polling places. The kids are given a special ballot (complete with candidates' pictures) and given instruction on the voting process. The hope is that this early exposure to civic engagement will encourage youth to participate in the political process as they achieve adulthood. From what we saw, the kids who participate do so with great enthusiasm. In 2004, we volunteered at the now defunct Willard Elementary in near North Minneapolis. The organization is looking for 400 more volunteers for this year's Election Day. If you're in the area, consider doing a little community service!

Click here to see results from last Fall's general election. Interestingly, if the kids vote had been taken alone, Natalie Johnson Lee would have won over Don Samuels in the hotly contested (and newly drawn) 5th Ward that contains North Minneapolis' biggest "hot spots" for crime and violence. Also, the responses to the ballot questions are pretty compelling - the kids voted 1465 to 708 that the voting age should be lowered to 16 (something I felt passionate about as a teen); 1690 to 494 said they did not support the wearing of school uniforms (this is not shocking); and 1620 to 206 said that they think the police officers at their schools treat them with respect (encouraging).

Even if you don't volunteer, don't forget to vote!!!

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 01:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A session I attended at my recent meetings featured papers investigating "choices" surrounding childbearing, from the use of doulas during birth to abortion. One paper that particularly interested me was a qualitative study of two groups of women and their definitions of "natural" birth. The study found that women in both of the samples, differentiated by region and race, considered any birth that did not involve an epidural as natural, even if other pain relief or medical interventions were used. Interesting...

For me, choices about any future birth will include, at the outset, whether or not to pursue a VBAC - vaginal birth after cesarean. Acutally, barring any unforseen complications, a VBAC - perhaps even an HBAC (home birth after cesarean)- is what I plan to pursue. Having already made that choice, there are many other seemingly smaller, yet no less important "choices" I will no doubt have to make. But as for the first decision, this news is good for me.

Study backs natural birth after C-section
Posted 6/29/2006 9:28 PM ET
By Rita Rubin, USA TODAY

A study out today could lead to an increase in the number of pregnant women who try for a vaginal birth after a cesarean section, a type of delivery called a VBAC. The study, published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, involved 17,890 women with a prior C-section who delivered at one of 19 academic U.S. medical centers from 1999 through 2002.

It found that those who'd had multiple C-sections were no more likely to have a uterine tear, or rupture, than those who'd had only one C-section. Ruptures occurred in nine of 975 women with multiple previous C-sections, or 0.9%, and 115 of 16,915 women with just one prior C-section, or 0.7%. Women with multiple C-sections were more likely to need a blood transfusion or a hysterectomy if they tried for a VBAC, but their actual risk was just 3.2% and 0.6% respectively.

"I think most practitioners have with time shied away from offering VBAC to women with multiple prior cesareans because of a perceived risk of uterine rupture," says lead author Mark Landon, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at The Ohio State University in Columbus. If such women have an increased risk of rupture, it must be quite small, Landon said.

Gary Hankins, chairman of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' obstetrics practice committee, said he expects his group will now revise its VBAC advice for women who've had multiple C-sections.

In 2004, Hankins' committee said that the only women with multiple C-sections who are candidates for a VBAC are those with a prior vaginal delivery. The new study found that having a prior vaginal delivery made no difference.

VBAC has become one of the most hotly debated topics in obstetrics. In 1999, the obstetricians and gynecologists group advised that it only be allowed in hospitals with an "immediately available" surgical team. That guideline stemmed from concerns about the risk of a potentially catastrophic rupture in laboring women with a C-section scar on their uterus.

By 2004, the VBAC rate had dropped to 9.2%. Many hospitals and doctors would not allow any woman to attempt one.

"I think the important message from Landon's paper, and from our work, is that VBAC in women with multiple prior C-sections is very reasonable," says George Macones, chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Washington University in St. Louis and author of a study last year that found only a small increased rupture risk in such women.

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 04:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Today is my last day at the correctional facility for juveniles where I've been stationed since mid-May. It's been a wildly enlightening and occasionally terrifying ride. But at 6pm, I will officially surrender the two items that have most legitimated my presence in this place: my sercurity badge from county corrections, and my "chits."

You may be asking, "What are chits?" I had no idea there was a word for such a thing prior to my internship in a facility. A "chit" is a small metal tag which one uses, in my present context, to exchange for facility keys and radios (walkie-talkies). Each employee gets two with one's first initial and last name stamped on one side.

One simply cannot fuction without keys in an institution such as this. That may seem like a no-brainer, but until I worked in one, it didn't fully register. The facility I've been interning with is not a total lock-down place, but access to and from units (which are seperate buildings, each housing up to 24 kids) as well as within the administration building is a real challenge without keys. I occasionally felt self-conscious walking around with keys hanging from my belt-loop, jangling as I walked. Seemed a bit "wardenesque," something I am not anxious to be. Over time, though, I adjusted to the trappings of life on the "inside," and it will be a bit weird to be sans chits and badge after today. I'm sure I'll adjust - I prefer life "on the outs."

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One of my tasks this summer has been to facilitate a class for eight young offenders on my unit called "Thinking for a Change" (T4C). I would like to pause, just for a moment, and let the belittling nature of this title sink in (pause)....Sorry, that was just the social worker in me getting a little fiesty.

But I didn't create this curriculum or its title, the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) commissioned it from several experts in cognitive behavioral change techniques. I just do the dirty work of attempting to engage a group of eight incarcerated young men in it's material. Each lesson (there are 22) presents a skill or technique related to the premise that our thoughts control our behavior, therefore, if we control our thoughts we can make better choices about our behavior (aka: quit committing crime).

Hands down, the most compelling piece of the curriculum is the role plays, during which the facilitators, followed by the participants, enact the skills from each lesson. Role play highlights include one in which two young men enacted a "street scene" in which one was selling drugs on the corner and the other attempted to "give him feedback" (a social skill) regarding why his behavior is negative for himself and the community. Of course, they were spectacularly accurate in their depiction of open-air drug dealing - something that I can vouch for having lived three doors down from a major dealing corner for a couple years. The second highlight was a session a week ago in which I played a disgruntled man who just found out his wife had left him and taken his money and his kids. The skill involved was "responding to anger." I had my co-facilitator speechless after walking into her "apartment" yelling, "That bitch better have a god damn good lawyer!" Of course, I got some major cred with the young men for being foul-mouthed and "snappin'" at my unsuspecting "neighbor."

Several of our students report that they are utilizing the techniques of the class and that "it works." The reserach literature also seems to support the effectivness of cognitive behavioral/restructuring techniques in reducing recidivism. A recent meta-analysis says so. I'm not nearly versed enough in the nature and scope of the research to date, but this stuff seems to have growing evidence base. For my part, at this point, I just wish the NIC would reconsider the title...

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 09:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Being from the land of Paul Bunyan, anytime he shows up in a headline my eyes are immediately drawn. But this article also plays to several other deeply held interests of mine - archaeology and literature.

Apparently, Venture Smith, a one-time slave turned free man, provided his life narrative to a schoolteacher who wrote it down. In this slave narrative, Smith related stories of his life which included "fabulous feats of strength," including wielding a 9-pound ax and carrying a barrel of molasses for two miles on his back. Hence, the Bunyan analogy.

I look forward to reading what the archaeologists studying his remains find out. Can stories of his extraordinary strength be corroborated by DNA evidence? Or are they just fabrications of a former slave looking to bolster his rep? In either case, it's a fascinating bit of American history. For my part, I hope Smith was every bit as legendary as his narrative purports.

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know it's cliche nowadays to lament the lack of customer service afforded to consumers. We all have our horror stories. But when you actually get served, as a customer, damn it feels good!!!

Tonight, the cashier in lane 4 at Cub Foods in Robbinsdale provided me with excellent customer service. I had mistakenly grabbed Caffeine Free Diet Mt. Dew (oxymoron? I know, that's a cliche too) instead of regular Diet Mt. Dew. The kind-hearted cashier offered to call someone from grocery to bring me my Dew. I about fell on the floor. It was fantastic. A few minutes later, I walked out of the store, groceries in hand and a smile on my face. Dare I say it gives me reason to hope again? Hmmmm....naw, not yet. But it was a nice moment.

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 09:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There aren't many that I can think of, though my parents found it to be an ideal location for their honeymoon in 1970. But I'd like to see the museum described in this obit:

Founder of Black Holocaust Museum dies
By EMILY FREDRIX, Associated Press Writer Sun Jun 11, 3:17 PM ET

MILWAUKEE - James Cameron, who survived an attempted lynching by a white mob and went on to found America's Black Holocaust Museum, died Sunday at the age of 92.

Cameron had suffered from lymphoma for about five years, said Marissa Weaver, chairwoman of the Milwaukee-based museum's board.

In 1930, in Marion, Ind., Cameron and two friends were arrested and accused of killing a white man during a robbery and raping the man's companion.

A mob broke them out of the local jail and hanged Cameron's two friends, then placed a rope around his neck.

"They began to chant for me like a football player, 'We want Cameron, we want Cameron," he recalled in a 2003 interview with The Associated Press. "I could feel the blood in my body just freezing up."

The 16-year-old shoeshine boy was spared when a man in the crowd proclaimed his innocence.

In 1988, he opened the museum in a small storefront room in downtown Milwaukee. Six years later, he took over an abandoned 12,000-square-foot gym the city sold him for $1. The museum explores the history of the struggles of blacks in America from slavery to modern day and was considered one of the first of its kind in the country.

"It's the most important thing in the world to me to carry on this fight, to explain the history that's been hidden ... from black people," he told The Associated Press in 2003.

Cameron said in interviews that he was inspired to create the museum by a 1979 trip to Israel and Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial.

Weaver said Cameron counted one of his defining moments in June last year when the U.S. Senate issued an apology for not standing against the lynching violence that killed more than 4,700 people from 1882 to 1968, three-fourths of them black.

"I was saved by a miracle," Cameron said at the time. "They were going to lynch me between my two buddies," he said, with thousands of people "hollering for my blood when a voice said 'Take this boy back.'"

Cameron was convicted of being an accessory before the fact to voluntary manslaughter and spent four years in prison, but was granted a pardon in 1993. He said he had been beaten into signing a false confession.

Cameron stopped participating in the museum's daily operations about four years ago but continued attending special events and making speaking engagements, Weaver said.

"The museum is his legacy," she said. "That was his life's work to share with the world the injustices that African-Americans have suffered while at the same time, and most importantly, providing an opportunity to repair bridges that have been suffered because of our history."

Cameron is survived by his wife, Virginia, and three of their children.

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 08:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Summer's here. For me, this means three months under lock and key at a local correctional facility for juveniles. I'm working as an intern alongside a social worker with young men at the peak of their criminal careers (16-18 years old).

This week, my first, has been largely wrapped up in orientation sessions, but I've also had the chance to sit in on some therapeutic groups, a staff meeting, and just hanging out on the unit (there are 19 guys on our unit right now). I've heard facility staff refer to the guys as "both dangerous and vulnerable." I have a lot of thoughts and feelings to process, but here are a few experiences that have struck me so far:

*"the unbearable brownness of being" - 86% of the youth in the facility are "of color." This percentage far outpaces the percentage of minority youth in the metro area. Minority overrepresentation in juvenile corrections is a widespread problem.

*Pepper spray really does suck. During a training session on using restraints (I don't get to do anything except push the panic button, but it was fun to learn a few take-down maneuvers), we were exposed to pepper spray -something that is rarely used when a kid is really out of control.

*Optimism lives. Despite my prior cynicism about correctional staff workers and their attitudes toward these kids, what I've seen so far are staff who seem to genuinely care about making a positive impact, being mentors, and helping the kids make it legit.

*I'm not that bad at ping-pong. Before I left this evening, the only white kid on the unit invited me to play him in ping-pong. He took the first game, but I held my own and took the second (at least until he ducked out to go play cards). It was my first real "connection" with one of the kids - I'm just glad I didn't make a total ass of myself!

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 09:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, I guess sometimes social work does get a little good publicity. This week's issue of TIME brings some around a Minnesota "best practice" in child welfare. A PhD classmate of mine is a supervisor in the program called Alternative Response in Olmstead County which seeks to respond to families involved in child protection cases in a "strength based, family centered, safety focused manner." The program has managed to cut repeat cases of abuse from 16.1% to 5% over two years. Read about it here.

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 09:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I really didn't take rumors of Dan Gable making a reprise on the Iowa Wresting team's coaching staff seriously until my husband informed me this evening that it has indeed come to pass. Gable has signed on as assistant coach to his former wrestler and assistant, Tom Brands. In this strange (awkward?) reversal, the Hawks hope to escape the misery of the past several years which has seen the descent of the program from #1 to, well, miserable.

I'm having a hard time picturing Gable taking the second-in-command position. Not even double hip-replacement could keep Gable on the bench as head coach. As a new head coach of a (once) premier program, I'm not sure I would feel as comfortable as Brands appears to in inviting the man/legend/minor god who established the program's former greatness to be my co-pilot. It could make for a really bad case of back-seat-driving.

But we'll see. I'm probably like a lot of other devoted Hawk fans - I just want to see our wrestlers back on top, rather than flat on their bellies. Being #1 really is more fun.

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Big news out of Iowa City today - Hawkeye wrestling coach Jim Zalesky sacked!. The buzz has begun surrounding who will replace Zelesky and restore Iowa's program to its rightful excellence. Apparently, even Dan Gable disapproved of Zalesky's job saying his successor "went his own way." I think it's a fantastic decision by U of Iowa's Bob Bowlsby - maybe one of the best he's made as head of Iowa's athletics. I look forward to seeing what happens - rumors abound that former Hawk champ Tom Brands is the top replacement candidate; other "optimists" hope for a Gable reprise. Not likely. We shall see!

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Being engaed in the kind of research and clinical training that I am pushes me to think a lot about how people construct the "story" of their individual, familial, and cultural lives. Not that people "make things up" (though some of us do, let's be honest) but that in order to create meaning and facilitate our own, and others', understanding of what happens to us, we engage in real-life narrative development. So as I look at youthful offenders and their families, whether as a researcher or a clinician, I want to know what "meanings" they have constructed around their behaviors, which to many on the outside-looking-in seem pretty f-ed up, bur from another angle might be adaptational or make perfect sense. I have a hard time thinking of more interesting or engaging work (sorry to those of you who find machines and "laws of nature" fascinating, I mean no offense!).

I've also had opportunity through TV and books lately to engage in "re-storying." If you've missed PBS' phenomenal series, African American Lives, I highly recommend that you check your local listings for the rebroadcast. To sum up, Whoopi Goldberg 'bout made me weep, and not from laughing too hard. It's a powerful, powerful show. On the book side, I've been reading Judgement Days, the story of the relationship between LBJ and MLK in the mid-1960s. Although it's "history" and may sound like rather dry "fun" reading, it's yet another angle on a familiar plot - an opportunity to see the "story" through the lens of this particular relationship. The "meaning" of certain events are cast in an alternative light and provoke thoughts and ideas not yet explored.

We human folks is such interesting stuff. The sheer complexity of our "stories" is staggering and these examples speak to me deeply about the tragic comparmentalization of each other that we seem so prone toward performing almost daily, without thinking. I have no answer or truly great insight to share, except that I plan to keep "reading!"

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sweet rest, Coretta.

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 03:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last night, I became an aunt! More importantly, my sister Erin and her husband Trav became parents to a beautiful little girl:

Audrey Violet Follett
7 lbs, 0 oz; 19 1/2 inches
brown hair, blue eyes, very alert and quiet

Audrey, Erin & Trav are all doing well - except the new mommy & daddy are pretty tired. But, they will get used to that feeling soon enough! Erin & Trav gave me the honoring and humbling opportunity to attend the birth and help them with whatever they needed. It was one of the most amazing and miraculous moments of my life! Having been asleep for my son's birth by c-section, it's the first birth I've ever seen in person. Wow! I've never been prouder of my sis who worked really hard and accomplished a mighty and beautiful thing.

Happy Christmas & New Year to all!

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 01:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Over the Rhine me...

One of my favorite bands is coming to town on December 6th. That evening, Fine Line Music Cafe will play host to some of the best poetry-in-song on planet earth - doors at 8, music at 9. One reviewer characterizes OTR's songs as "fine and varied illustrations where folk, rock and American roots music caress and kiss" (All Music Guide-USA). Sometimes bluesy-folksy-jazzy, often meditative, and occasionally unabashedly sensual, OTR (and Karin Berquist's vocals, specifically) gives voice to what my paltry voice cannot summon forth from my soul. These are songs I sing with my eyes closed (which can be a problem when driving...). Now to find a babysitter...

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 01:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

a happier side to our halloween...

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 02:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

This is interesting...

'God Bloggers' Head to National Conference
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer Sun Oct 16, 4:24 AM ET

LA MIRADA, Calif. - What would Jesus blog? That and other pressing questions drew 135 Christians to Southern California this weekend for a national conference billed as the first-ever for "God bloggers," a growing community of online writers who exchange information and analyze current events from a Christian perspective.

The three-day conference at Biola University marked an important benchmark for Christian bloggers, who have worked behind the scenes for years to spread the Gospel and infuse politics with religion.

Topics included God bloggers' relationship with the traditional church, their growing influence on mainstream politics and how to manage outsiders' perceptions.

Some predicted bloggers could play a role in reforming the modern church by keeping televangelists and other high-profile Christian leaders honest.

Joe Carter, author of evangelicaloutpost.com., compared blogging to the 95 Theses posted by Martin Luther nearly 500 years ago that launched the Protestant Reformation.

"It's like putting 95 blogs out there," said Carter, who previously said God bloggers offer an "uncensored and unadulterated" view of contemporary Christian thought on politics and organized religion.

Many bloggers are now writing about religious oppression, poverty and world hunger, instead of hot-button issues such as abortion, homosexuality and assisted suicide, said the Rev. Andrew Jackson, a seminary professor and pastor at the Word of Grace Church in Mesa, Ariz.

"With blogging you tend to break out of those circles and you see other points of view," Carter said. "There's a bigger world out there than gay marriage and abortion."

At one well-attended workshop "When Non-Christians Read Your Blog" Biola University professor Timothy Muehlhoff gave instructions on writing about faith without alienating nonbelievers.

He stressed that God blogging has the potential to be a "train wreck" because done wrong it can reinforce stereotypes of evangelical Christians as angry and close-minded "pit bulls of the culture wars."

"As Christians today we are embroiled in the argument culture and we have forgotten this one thing: 'Blessed are the peacemakers.'," he said. "Wouldn't it be nice if we could say we brought a level of civility back to the conversation?"

Jackson, who blogs at smartchristian.com, said he wasn't as sure what long-term influence blogging would have on evangelical Christians but he knew it would be important.

"We are just at the beginning of what is going on," he said. "We need to start thinking about how we can harness and focus the Christian blogosphere for greater impact."

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."
- Elizabeth Stone

Ok, so he may have inherited his father's taste in baseball teams, but who could hold that against this cuteness??? (Thanks to Auntie E for the pic!)

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 09:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There are lots of important things to think about post-Katrina: what went wrong and who is to "blame," America's long-standing tolerance and perpetuance of poverty and racism as a part of the nation's social fabric displayed before the world in shocking and shaming TV images, volunteerism and compassion, how much recovery and rebuilding will cost and how will it be paid for, should New Orleans even be rebuilt and if so in what form or fashion, the price of oil and the costs of our dependence on it, whether or not the U.S. is prepared to respond to biological/chemical/nuclear attacks if we can't even do so adequately to the most anticipated natural disaster in the nation's (maybe even the world's) history, and the list could go on and on. When I think about what my kids will someday read in their history textbooks about Katrina, there's one thread that intrigues me more than others, and it is woven into many of the questions above: that is, the interplay between local, state, and federal jurisdicions in U.S. governance during times of crisis and how well-established tensions between these levels contribute toward such issues as reponse, recovery, and rebuilding.

Just yesterday, volleys bounced back and forth between the mayor of New Orleans and President Bush regarding the reopening of the city to residents. An AP snippet captures the tension that intrigues me:

"Mayor Ray Nagin, under mounting pressure to rescind his decision to let people in, defended the move and complained that the federal official in charge in New Orleans, Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, had made himself "the new crowned federal mayor of New Orleans.""

Quotes such as Nagin's "crowned federal mayor" remind me of phrases such as "outside agitators" utilized during the Civil Rights movement by Southern politicians to describe not only Northern activists, but Federal officials and courts seeking to "interfere" with "our way of life." Obivously, the circumstances are different - a massive, destructive natural disaster versus the systematic, man-made institution of segregation - but it seems to me that the sentiments are similar. In essence, the message is: Feds, butt out. Ironically, up until this week, the message from New Orleans (and other localities) had been "where were the Feds when we needed them?" The fact that Katrina affected the deep South, states which, had the North not won the War of Northern Aggression (aka the Civil War, or THE war if you are from the South), would not belong to what we now know at the U.S. of A., highlights the tension all the more from the standpoint of history. Had it been Boston or New York affected, I wonder if such exchanges as we've seen in Nagin vs. Bush would even take place?

In the end, although it may not be a headline-making aspect of Katrina's effects on American politics and life, it seems to me that a further sifting of governmental roles in anticipating and responding to disasters, natural or otherwise, needs to take place.

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 12:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In social work circles we talk about something called "cultural competence," that is, the delivery of services and conducting of research that demonstrates sensitivity and respect for diversity in culture, orientation, creed, etc. So, when I saw this concept in action while viewing The Exorcism of Emily Rose, I got a little excited. The film is an adaptation of the true story of Anneliese Michel who, after attempting medical treatment for epilepsy, purused a spiritual avenue for relief from demonic "possession." The priests who conducted the exorcisms, along with Anneliese's family members, were later tried and convicted of manslaghter. The movie depicts a simplified version, with only one priest involved and none of the family members tried.

In the film, cultural competence came into play when the priest's lawyer (Laura Linney!!), a skeptical, career-driven agnostic, decides to provide the defense that the priest desires - to "tell Emily's story" - in spite of the threat that doing so may pose to her career advancement. What unfolds is, in my opinion, one of the best, nonjudgemental cinematic depictions of earnest people of faith pursuing what they consider to be a legitimate path toward healing that I have ever seen. Linney's character treats the priest (played by Tom Wilkinson) with dignity and respect by letting him tell his story - and Emily's - even though in a court of law it borders on absurd. In the end, the question posed by the film is, "is it possible?" that Emily's and the priest's explanation of demon "possession" for her affliction is a viable one. The film's answer, contained in the epitaph on Emily's grave, is: "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," a Scriptural reference from Philippians. A very thought-provoking film!

The flick is also a very good horror/thriller, a genre I just happen to love as well. It has all the schtick that comes with the genre - spooky music, graphic images, creaking doors, disturbing noises, evil voices, etc. So, even if you could give a hoot about cultural competence or the faith vs. science debate, go for the thrills. You won't be disappointed.

Speaking of cultural competence, I'm knee-deep in a crash course on Southeast Asian cultures as my new boss has me working on a project studying mental health service delivery and the Southeast Asian population. Back to work!

Posted by Sarah Shannon at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)