Beyond the Cover

Hugh Welch Diamond was a British physician and photographer who is known as the first medical photographer.  Working at an asylum, Diamond-like many others of his time-believed that mental illness could be diagnosed from a person's face, or physiognomy.  Previously, a variety of different artists and physicians attempted to describe the difference in physical features between the mentally ill and the so-called normal.  Working with the new photography techniques that were blooming at the time, Diamond developed the idea that photographing patients could be used medically to record the physiognomy, to aid in treatment, and to identify patients who were being readmitted.  

Seated Woman with Bird

Patient, Surrey County Lunatic Asylum

Patient, Surrey County Lunatic Asylum

Representation of mental illness in the media is something that impacts me in a very particular way.  I think that even to this day, we have this centuries old idea that people who are mentally ill will somehow look different from those who are not.  They will be unkempt and will have some kind of difference in feature, and if not that then their behavior will be different.  Individuals with schizophrenia will always hear voices telling them to kill people and people with bipolar disorder will constantly be swinging from one extreme to the next.  That's what countless television shows, movies, comics, song lyrics, and even books would have us believe the majority of the time.  This isn't the truth though; you can have a mental illness and still be a beautiful, productive, funny, incredible, contributing member of society.  There are so many misconceptions, but we can fight through them.

People that I love very, very much have dealt with this kinds of issues.  But I would never call them crazy.  I would never describe them as unbalanced or neurotic or dangerous.  The truth is that many people are fighting these kinds of battles all around us, every day.  And when we use that kind of language, we're only fighting against them.  We're only making their battle that much harder.  And though Welch and others like him were living in a time where they truly thought that those with mental illness were somehow intrinsically and irreparably different from the rest of society, we cannot let those attitudes continue.  We must advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves, each of us and all together.

References

Diamond, H. W. (1850-1855). Patient, Surrey County Lunatic Asylum [Photograph]. The Metropolitan      Museum of Art (2005.100.812), New York, NY.

Diamond, H. W. (1850-1858). Patient, Surrey County Lunatic Asylum [Photograph]. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2005.100.19), New York, NY.

Diamond, H. W. (1855). Seated woman with bird [Photograph]. The J. Paul Getty Museum (84.XP.927.3), Los Angeles, CA.

Lansdown, R. (2011). Photographing Madness. History Today, 61(9), 47-53.

Changing Plans

When the end of high school roll around many students start hearing a symphony of, "So, what are you going to do after graduation?".  The assumption with high school nowadays is that you'll either go to college or join the workforce.

Graduating from college is a little different though.  At this stage, people expect you to get a real job.  Maybe you go to grad school.  You've invested in your education and it's been very much worth it, but now it's time to pay back on that investment.  Over the past few years I've had this set-in-stone vision of what I would do after graduating from TLU and it went something like this:

1. Go to graduate school to get my Master's in Counseling Psychology.
2. Work as a therapist for children and adolescents.
3. Maybe get my Ph.D. sometime after that.

But as this semester has started, I've begun to realize some things.  I'm just not ready for grad school yet.  I've spent over 3/4 of my life in school.  I don't know what it's like to not do school, and I know how to do it well.  It's my comfort zone, but I think it's time to leave that comfort zone.  Another huge piece in this puzzle is that I don't actually know what I want to do.  I know the path that I could easily take to be "successful", but I don't know what I need to do.  It was during the opening convocation of my freshman year, that I first heard this quote:

"The vocation for you is the one in which your deep gladness and the world's deep need meet -- something that not only makes you happy but that the world needs to have done."

My main problem is that I just don't know how to put together what makes me happy with what needs to be done.  I have some inklings or whispers of things that I want to do, but I'm not sure how to pull them together.  I know that I want to help children.  I want to help them explore the world and learn and thrive and see it as the beautiful place that I know it can be.  I want to help children understand that they are important and that they can do great things no matter what background they come from or what other people have told them in the past.  Another aspect of this is that I want to help the adults in these children's lives understand how they can better interact with and understand them.  I have pieces of things that I care about, but I don't know how to meld them into one career.

I recently began exploring some different Americorps programs.  The programs that make up Americorps support nonprofit organizations in a variety of fields and in communities all across the country.  My plan is to apply with programs in the Austin area, particularly ones working with children and education.  This way I'll get the change of scenery that I've been craving but without having to sacrifice progress towards my goals.  By working with the populations that I want to help in my career, I'm hoping to gain a better understanding of what actually needs to be done and how I can help it get accomplished.

Overall, I'm feeling confident and excited about this new path.  I think that it's going to give me a chance to grow more as a person while also allowing me to help the people that I want to help.  The future is looking bright and I keep being reminded that sometimes we need to give ourselves options and be unafraid to take the road less travelled.

Two Things

School is crazy.  Work is crazy. Life is crazy.

All is good.

But here are two especially good things.

Good advice.

Good music.

Be the Change You Wish to See in the World

     So, I'm taking a class called Leadership for Social Change this semester and it involves training shelter dogs in the Seguin community to help make them more adoptable.  Last Tuesday night a few of the women who work with the Animal Rescue Foundation (A.R.F.) came to talk with our class. They even brought their dogs and everything!
    One of the women, Barbara Upper, said something that made me think.  We were talking about how much they've helped to improve the Seguin Animal Shelter and she said that you get from your community what you tolerate.  A lot of the time we see things happening in our community that we think are awful, or we say, "Oh, that could never happen here."  But the truth is, they can.  And things will only change when we choose to change them.

Happily outside with Emily after his bath!

Sadly stuck in the shelter!

   
















     My friend Harlie and I ended up going to the animal shelter to see their facilities.  They were super crowded since their facilities are so small, and if there are too many dogs then they end up having to euthanize some of them.  That is, unless they can find foster homes.  This is where a lot of the work of A.R.F. comes in.
     These women have dedicated their lives to helping find homes for these animals, doing everything from placing dogs in temporary foster homes to driving halfway across the country to deliver dogs to the Hamptons, to holding monthly adoption drives at Seguin's Barky Park.
     On the day that we visited, we noticed that there were some dogs that really needed to get out of the shelter because they were literally going crazy from being stuck in such small cages with no chance to play or run.  Harlie ended up taking a dog named Tin Can to foster and I ended up fostering one as well.  Otis was brought in by his owner to be euthanized but the people at the shelter decided not to because he was so cute!  This story has a great ending though: it turns out though that my roommate Emily has been wanting a dog and she ended up adopting him just a few days later!
     It's still early in the semester, but I have to say that I'm absolutely pumped to be a part of this class.  Not only are we using positive reinforcement and clickers to train the dogs which obviously interests my psychology side, but we're also doing a lot of good for these animals.  I'm really looking forward to seeing where all of this will lead.

August 2

Finally got my books for school.  Buying books is bittersweet for me; I love having the new books and paging through them and getting excited about the learning journey that I'm about to embark on, but I also hate having to part with the money.  I got books for just four classes and my bill totaled almost $400.  Way more than the typical college student can afford, but about average from my experience. In case you were wondering, this is what it looks like when you buy $400 worth of text books.

This is what $400 worth of textbooks looks like...and they're all USED! 

I also cleaned out my car (which needed it SO badly) and made Rosemary-Lemon Chicken for dinner. (Of course I forgot to take an after picture!)

I threw it all into the crock pot around noon before I went down to school and then by the time I was done cleaning my car at like six it was ready.  I used boneless skinless chicken breasts and did everything the same except that I added 1/2 cup of chicken broth to keep it from drying out.  Katie also made mac & cheese to go with it, as well as some steamed broccoli.  Absolutely delicious and definitely something that we'll be making again!!

Days like this make me kind of sad that summer's about to come to an end.  I love this feeling of freedom and independence and just being able to do what I want and live.  At the same time though, I can't wait to get back into the swing of classes and for everyone who's not in Seguin to get back.  I'm already feeling like this is going to be one amazing semester!

I love TLU in summertime.

I love the smell of the freshly cut grass and the friendly wave from the man who's cutting it.

I love walking into the library and being greeted by the friends who are working there.

I love coming to the ASC and seeing the middle school kids on campus for a tour excitedly flipping through their information folders.  We didn't get the backpacks when I came on my first tour, but the folders are exactly the same and somehow that's important.

I love how the guy who works in Lucky's seems to understand that coffee is really, really important and tells me to have a great day.

I love knowing that the slowed down pulse of campus during summer will be reinvigorated come fall when everyone's back on campus.

I love that even though I know that my classes will be challenging, I have a whole group of professors and friends who believe in my dreams, just as I believe in theirs.

I love sitting on my big yellow couch here in the ASC and looking around and truly being glad that I am here.

Mostly I love how all of these little things add up to make this place a home.  It's more than a school.  It's a community of people living and loving and learning together.

We learn boldly and we live to inspire.  I'm going to miss this place.