Annotated Bibliography

Graham-Jones, S., S. Reilly, and E. Gaulton. “Tackling The Needs Of The Homeless: A Controlled Trial Of Health Advocacy.” Health & Social Care In The Community 12.3 (2004): 221-232. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Oct. 2012.

            This article is looking at an assessment of a study that had been conducted. The study was looking at whether a health advocate’s attempts of coming up with a way to improve the homeless’ quality of life was effective. The health advocacy intervention involved having homeless people move into hostels or other temporary living environments and registering at a health center. They used three means to determine if the attempt was a success. They used the Life Fulfillment Scale, the Delighted-Terrible Faces Scale, and the Nottingham Health Profile. They had many different types of people in the study. With one group they had support from a health advocate during their stay. The other group just had general care at the health center. Overall, the group with special care from the health advocate showed a better quality of life at the end of the study than people administered general care.

Martins, Diane Cocozza. “Experiences Of Homeless People In The Health Care Delivery System: A Descriptive Phenomenological Study.” Public Health Nursing 25.5 (2008): 420-430. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Oct. 2012.

            This article is discussing how homeless people view the healthcare system. There are quite a few things that they see that is impeding their use of healthcare. They see lots of barriers between themselves and getting adequate healthcare. One of these barriers is feeling labeled and set apart from others in the healthcare system. They also feel like they are invisible to health care providers. This also makes them feel disrespected by people in the healthcare field. They don’t see a set system for healthcare for the homeless either. All of these things cause the homeless to put off healthcare until a crisis arrives. There are many things that the homeless people interviewed would change to make the healthcare system better.

Nickasch, Bonnie, and Suzanne K. Marnocha. “Healthcare Experiences Of The Homeless.” Journal Of The American Academy Of Nurse Practitioners 21.1 (2009): 39-46. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Oct. 2012.

This journal article is discussing the experiences that the homeless have with healthcare. Many homeless people find that they aren’t able to receive healthcare for various reasons. One of the major reasons is the financial difficulties that they face. They also have issues with meeting the physical needs required for life such as shelter, water, food, and air. They lack adequate transportation to places that provide healthcare. There is also the lack of compassion from health care officials. Lastly, most homeless people have an external locus of control which is when the environment has more control over their situation than they do. Overall homeless people are not satisfied with the health care system and there are many things that could be modified to make the system better.

What did I learn about the library?

I really learned how to use the databases better in this visit. In high school I felt like I was floundering around on the databases. This really was a good way of showing me the best way to use the databases to my advantage. If I had been left to figure this out on my own I’m not sure that it would have gone so well. I probably would try to check out three books that were in all three other campuses and be struggling through searching on the databases. Knowing that there is also help with MLA citations is a big load off of my mind as well. I know I have always struggled with it, as I’m sure many other people have, and I’m glad to still have something to guide me through it. Having questions to answer really helped me because it gave me something to focus on as well. If someone had just said hey look at this that would be exactly what I would do. I would just look at the screen and try and comprehend all of the information on the screen. I’m glad to have more direction and I think that overall this was a really educational experience and I’m glad to have been here.

Aaron Huey’s Definition of Social Justice

I saw Aaron Huey’s view on social justice as being there. Not just saying look what they’re doing to themselves but realizing that you were a part of it and it is your job to help. Turning a blind eye to people that are hurting is a form of social injustice. He focused on what had happened to the Native Americans and he certainly had a lot of social injustice to tell. There were massacres, treaties broken, and things stolen from them. I think that he saw social justice as keeping a treaty. As being fair and treating others the same despite their race. I think that a lot of social injustice stems from racism and people thinking that they are better than someone else because of their race. If people would stop trying to put themselves on a pedestal above others then maybe the frequency of social injustice would go down. Huey talked about the massacre of Wounded Knee. He spoke of how the soldiers were praised for killing so many women and children. I think this is the opposite of what he sees as social justice. Not only did the soldiers see themselves above the Native Americans to kill them, but the country saw them above the Native Americans to the point that they gave out more medals than ever before. It’s sad how social injustice works, but for it to end we all will have to work hard to make everyone have the same rights.

Bryan Stevenson’s View on Injustice

Bryan Stevenson spoke mostly on the injustice of different races. He also spoke about the inequality of different social classes. He saw injustice as people being treated differently because they were black or poor. I agree that it’s not fair for people to be treated differently because of race or social class. He talked about 13 year olds being tried as an adult. I think that they shouldn’t be able to do that because 13 is not legally an adult. If a 13 year old tried to buy cigarettes you wouldn’t let them because they aren’t old enough but they can be put in prison for life? I can’t comprehend how this is possibly the right thing to do. I think it’s really cool that he got to meet Rosa Parks. He is fighting against social injustice in the court systems where she was fighting against social injustice in general at the time. It would be amazing to meet someone who helped to change history the way that she did.

Resolution…partly

I think that the woman in the mountains really helped Tayo overcome most of his conflicts. As I mentioned before I think he felt really alone and like nobody wanted him. Her being there for him and wanting to be there with him really seemed to help a lot. Also, I think finally finding the cows gave him a sense of completion. I feel like he had a feeling of not being finished almost. Like he had started something but then he was thrown off track before he could finish it. It may not have been what he originally started but it gave him that feeling of completeness, like he finally finished what it was he set out to do. At the end of the pages we got to I think is the climax of the story. I know what’s going to happen and I definitely think that that is what’s really going to shock everyone. Overall I think Tayo learned to believe in himself. Sure it’s nice to have others there, and sometimes you need that other person there so that you can get to that point, but he needs to understand that he is ok.

Ceremony

Tayo has a conflict with himself and his own mind. He has a conflict with how society treats him. He has a conflict with other people in his town. He has a conflict with how wet the jungle was in the war and how dry it is at home. Everywhere he turns there is some sort of conflict. A lot of the conflicts stem from the war and his PTSD, but some of it also stems from his mother and her reputation in the town. The fact that he is half native american half white doesn’t help him out at all either. I think that to resolve the conflict he has to find peace within himself. I’ve finished the book so I know what he ends up doing to try and resolve the conflict. I think that his way of thinking is sound in what he has to do to finally find peace with himself and that inner peace will spread to the other aspects of his life. It’s hard for me to pick a particular scene that I like the best because they are all so detailed in helping you to understand how he feels. I think that showing how much pain he has helps people to connect with him and feel sympathy for him. I’ve never experienced that much pain but I have been in pain so it helps to create a kind of connection to him. I feel sorry for him and I wish I could have been able to help in some way. (Sure it’s a fictional book but still I generally feel the need to help those who are hurting.) One scene that I do like, and please don’t take this a sign of me being a psychopath, is when Tayo gets drunk and attacks Emo. Part of it is because Emo is awful and has is coming, but part of it is because Tayo is addressing his pain. He isn’t addressing it in a healthy way mind you, but at least he’s saying to himself, “I’m hurting and I’m going to do something about it.”

Wisdom Walk

My place was beautiful. A moss covered clearing deep in the forest far away from everyone else. A softly bubbling brook with the bright blue sky peeking through the tops of the trees. A soft warm breeze gently blew my hair across my face as I laid in the clearing. I could smell the moist earth and the bright smell of the brook as the crisp, cool water rushed by. I got up walking barefoot down the path that had at one point been well used but was now covered with a damp layer of fallen leaves. My hands brushed over the small saplings and the hard bark of the trees older than me by far. I breathed in the damp air smiling as I thought of the fairies that could be overhead like in Terebithia at girl scout camp. I walked happily through the soft meadow, birds chirping and small wildflowers reaching out for my ankles as I walked by. I sat at this magnificent tree and realized I wasn’t alone. He was there and I was happy resting against his shoulder as we sat. Then a sudden pang of hurt hit me. It couldn’t be true. I got up trying to shake the feeling and walk away. He followed me and I walked faster. It hurt how my mind could betray me like this. Make me believe he was there when I knew he couldn’t be. I walked into the house and shut the door but he still came in. I walked into one of the rooms and shut the door behind me trying to shut him out knowing he wasn’t there, knowing he couldn’t be there because he was such a wonderful person that he put someone he didn’t know above himself. Knowing that he was in a better place but wishing he could still be here with me.

My Meditation

Dissatisfied. I have too many thoughts running through my head to ever not focus on something. There’s always something that comes to mind. Some problem I’m having, some trivial stupidity that in the long run means nothing but at this point in my life seems to be some terrible calamity. It sucks. I wish I could sit and not think. Not have anything come to mind. Not worry. No issues that come to the front of my mind and overwhelm my senses. I like sleeping. I may dream I may not but in the morning I rarely remember and it’s nice to have time to not think. Unfortunately preceeding my blissful hours of blankness I have to lay in bed for some seemingly indeterminable amount of time before I can slip through the soft door of sleep and finally have some peace. It’s a struggle to get there but once I’m there it’s worth the trouble and wait. Then too short of hours later my alarm clock blares in my ear cleaving me from my peaceful slumber and subjecting me to another day of endless thoughts.

Meditation is…

Meditation is intense thought. Concentrating on one thing for so long that you can pull yourself away from it and get a better view. Say you’re thinking on your emotions. You think so long that you almost pull them out of you and hold them tight in your hand so that you can hold them at arms length to examine them and better understand them. Meditation is over complicated. People see it as this lofty thing that only those with intense patience and mind set can achieve. It can be as simple as laying in bed and thinking back over your day. Thinking of what you did and what you would change. Planning what you needed to do the next day. Meditation is a broad topic. From monks who live in silence and use meditation as prayer to the three year old who sits and stares at his blocks toy trying to figure out how to make it work like his mom does. There is no right or wrong way to meditate. It’s something that comes from inside you. You can’t force it. It needs concentration but you have to have the urge first. The need to sit and think on something, whatever it may be.

When I Think of Meditation…

I think of thinking. Sitting in silence for hours and hours and just thinking. It also makes me think of that pinesol commercial where she’s meditating and starts floating in the air. I wonder if you could float if you meditated hard enough. Like Chris Angel. I think of Buddhism as well. Of Buddha sitting and relaxing which then lead to the start of a whole religion. Sometimes I wish I had the attention span required for meditation. But unfortunately I can barely focus long enough to stay on topic for our free write. Meditating makes me think of calm. Just being pulled apart from the world for awhile so that you can focus on yourself. I find reading a book kind of like meditating because when I read a book I go to a completely different world. Well if it’s a good book anyways. Then when I finally have to snap back to real life, which is rarely as much fun, I feel kind of dazed. Lots of candles and incense also come to mind. The haze of smoke in a dimly lit room. The cloying fragrance of some exotic spice floating around your head like the thoughts inside of it. Swirling to form different ideas and move you to new topics. The soft murmur of some low chant playing in the background that creates enough background noise to keep the mind on track but not so much that it distracts you from what it is you starting meditating for in the first place. A situation in which some people could get overwhelmed and not be able to handle some unseen pressure to think of something profound. Every thought that makes you think can be profound though…