Scene from "Mom"

Thinking—and talking—about Alzheimers

MOM, a film dramatizing a moment in the lives of an Alzheimer’s patient and her caregiver-daughter, lasts only 10 minutes but manages to convey a surprising amount of implicit information about coping with the disease. Perhaps most importantly, the film packs an emotional punch that underscores the heartbreaking realities of Alzheimer’s.

MOM’s greatest asset is as a catalyst for discussion. Sarah has brought her mother home from the nursing facility for a visit. They sit comfortably together in the sunny backyard drinking tea, though their conversation is hardly relaxing. Nearly ever exchange between Sarah and her mother, who are sometimes joined by Sarah’s patient, understanding male assistant, exemplifies some aspect of the Alzheimer’s experience.

One of the most difficult things about the disease is the mutual frustration of both caregiver and sufferer. Sarah’s mom becomes repeatedly distressed recalling a vague incident during which another woman was “mean” to her.

The film movingly depicts Sarah’s quickly escalating frustration as she is forced to repeat the same information or assurances to her parent. Recently she moved her mother to a nicer room in the nursing home, but the older wman keeps insisting that she has been moved to a brand new facility and misses her friends.

Relief comes, ironically, from her mother’s tendency to be easily distracted, a blessing for Sarah, giving her moments of peace. When her mother becomes agitated near the end of the film, Sarah points out the hummingbirds that always bring a smile to the older woman’s face. “My friends,” she calls the birds.

But most overwhelming is Sarah’s heartache when it becomes clear that a beloved, long familiar person is no longer who she once was. The first few times the male assistant appears, Sarah’s mother thinks he looks familiar—by the end of the film she doesn’t recognize him at all. She even forgets that it is her own daughter with whom she has been speaking the entire time. Despite its brevity, MOM draws us into charged moments like this, making us empathize with anyone—caregiver or sufferer—coping with the unique pressures and the emotional ups and downs of this distressing disease.

Link for Intermedia Product Page

This innovative video program was developed in consultation with immigration and criminal defense attorneys, law enforcement officials, community outreach workers, and people from the Spanish-speaking community who, in their own words, tell newcomers the reality of life in the United States.

For more information, please click this link

An “American Dream” by any other name would be as sweet…

“America,” says one hopeful Mexican immigrant at the beginning of El Sueno Americano (The American Dream), “–that’s where God lives.”

For newcomers to our country, this may not seem like an outrageous claim. Life in America can be exhilarating. When immigrants finally get here from Mexico, and Central and South America, the possibility for improving their lives seems closer to becoming a reality than ever. Everywhere are signs that success is within the grasp of ordinary people like themselves. They may start to think that they’ve finally got it made.

Exciting, exhilarating—without a doubt. But life in America is also complicated and overwhelming even for those who were born here. For people who speak no English and have little familiarity with American culture, the pitfalls are many and may easily spell disaster.

Of all the possible immigrant nightmares, which is the worst? That’s easy: running afoul of Immigration and/or the Police.

Waking From The Nightmare

Help has now arrived in the form of the film El Sueno Americano (The American Dream). In a clear, declarative style, aided by Spanish voiceover and English subtitles, the award-winning El Sueno (New York Festival and Telly Award Finalist) teases apart the tangle of potential problems that can easily result from not understanding one’s obligations and rights where these two institutions are concerned.

With many states proposing and adopting more stringent policies aimed at identifying, prosecuting and deporting illegal immigrants, it is more important than ever that those who are here legally be well schooled in advance. Immigrants must not only know what information they are bound to give to authorities but what they are legally protected from divulging. If an immigrant fails to understand the issues and the questions before they are raised, the most innocent-seeming slip can bring dreams of American happiness success crashing down.

Covering All The Bases

To get the most versatile and universally helpful information, the producers of El Sueno Americano have solicited the expertise of dozens of professionals on both sides of the border. These experts offer no-nonsense solutions about confusing issues such as the role of the often unscrupulous “notarios.”

A notario is substantially different from the American “notary public.” That difference can be very difficult to grasp. And, as this film stresses, there are unscrupulous sorts who would exploit the confusion. Many an unsuspecting immigrant has his or her life savings because of a simple lack of understanding.

The Voice Of Experience

The information presented in this film is detailed and exhaustive and as comprehensive as a manual. And yet it is also salted with real-life stories told by immigrants who have already successfully navigated paths through these complicated institutions. This personal approach is likely the most compelling aspect of this film. These stories will resonate powerfully with any newcomer and help alleviate the fear that is part of any immigrant’s story.

To order this program, please visit the Intermedia Website

Depression. Bullying. Steroid abuse. These are some of the most harrowing issues affecting young people today. The threat they pose is reaching crisis levels. Counselors and educators all over The United States and Canada struggle to keep ahead of the spread of these afflictions.

Seven powerful and provocative new short films, collectively called The Maple Ave Series, provide valuable tools for initiating a dialogue about these disorders and shedding much-needed light on serious problems that teens face every day. Each Maple Ave film sets teens in believable dramas in which they struggle with an ever-growing roster of issues.

The Hurting: Cutting for Relief

One of the most troubling of these issues is self-mutilation, more commonly known as “cutting.” Cutting was virtually unheard of just a few years ago but is now finding its way into the mainstream of teen life. In THE HURTING: Cutting for Relief, a girl named Ashley substitutes one kind of pain for another, regularly cutting her arms and legs as a way of masking the misery of living with an abusive parent.

Ghosts in the Hall

Same Problem, Different Perspectives

As disturbing as cutting may be, it is not as widespread as the epidemic of bullying. In HATING TAMI: A Look At Female Bullying, the main character is regularly ridiculed by her classmates. Tami is even made the butt of a classmate’s vicious prank in which a boy appears to be interested in her. Besides the all too realistic depiction of Tami’s predicament, the film examines the role of parents whose attitudes can sometimes leave kids emotionally stranded.

Another Maple Ave film, GHOSTS IN THE HALL: The Aftermath of Bullying, deals with the same subject from a different perspective. The film presents two teens, Jim and Jenny, who have the same problem but whose lives, we soon find out, take radically different trajectories. Like Tami in the previous film, the two are tormented by their peers. Jenny is able to pull herself from a deep depression. But Jim can’t cope. His gradual slide into despair makes it easy to see how simple-seeming student pranks can end in disaster.

Jenny's Reasons

Friends Helping Friends

Depression, resulting from bullying, is the subject of JENNY’S REASONS: A Story About Teen Depression. Jenny—the same girl who appears in Ghosts in the Hall—is in the grip of a deep depression. Confused, overwhelmed and desperate, Jenny makes plans to kill herself but is saved when a friend, Tanya, intervenes at the last moment, helping Jenny to cope by sharing a dark secret from her own life.

Jenny returns the favor in another Maple Ave film, P.S. I MISS YOU: The Aftermath of Suicide. Tanya has a serious problem of her own: her brother has recently taken his life, and Tanya can’t make sense of it. She tries to deal with the loss by reaching out and helping others. But nothing seems to help. She starts drinking, and when that also does no good, she drinks more. Things have gone from bad to worse when her friend Jenny steps in and pulls Tanya back from the brink.

P.S. I Miss You

No Strange Bedfellows

At first blush, bulimia and steroids may not seem to belong together in the same film. But as MORE THAN THIS: Steroid Abuse & Eating Disorders points out, these two seemingly unrelated disorders are quite similar: each is about addictive personalities, and each involves body image issues on both sides of the gender fence.

The film follows Donnie, a star basketball player, whose abuse of steroids is completely unraveling his life. His coach is reluctant to help his star planer, leaving the problem in the hands of his girlfriend, Angela. In this film, the character of Angela raises the question of the bystander, a person who is close to someone in trouble and either chooses to help… or not. While taking care of Donnie, Angela, who once struggled with bulimia, can’t bring herself to share her experiences with two classmates for whom such a gesture could be crucial.

The final film in the series also deals with addiction. In PROMISE ME: Parents with Addictions, Ann’s parents are tearing apart the family with their twin addictions—the father’s to gambling, the mother’s to alcohol. Like her mother, Ann has trouble facing reality. She can’t bring herself to confront them even after her father has worked his way through her entire college fund. The result for Ann is despair. Despite the efforts of her brother and her best friend, her depression worsens until it seems that she is powerless to do little else but succumb to it.

Promise Me

Films Fulfilling their Function

Besides the hot-button nature of the subject matter, the Maple Ave. series is certain to appeal for many other reasons. The recurring characters in these films give the series the welcome familiar feel of a weekly TV show. Each of the seven programs is 25-30 minutes long. This makes them ideal for classroom presentations, allowing time for questions and discussion. And since it’s likely that these engaging films will provoke a good deal of healthy reaction, the chances are good that they will do what they are supposed to: they will help.

Even now — after Mr. Sheen began carpet-bombing his bosses in radio rants, prompting CBS to shut down production on the show — observers still seem more entertained than outraged, tuning in to see him appear on every talk show on the planet and coming up with creative Internet memes based on his most colorful statements. And while his self-abuses are endlessly discussed, his abuse of women is barely broached.

Our inertia is not for lack of evidence. In 1990, he accidentally shot his fiancée at the time, the actress Kelly Preston, in the arm. (The engagement ended soon after.) In 1994 he was sued by a college student who alleged that he struck her in the head after she declined to have sex with him. (The case was settled out of court.) Two years later, a sex film actress, Brittany Ashland, said she had been thrown to the floor of Mr. Sheen’s Los Angeles house during a fight. (He pleaded no contest and paid a fine.)

Please read the rest of this informative piece at the New York Times

 

The White House is set to hold a conference next week in which President Obama will hear  concerns about anti-LGBT bullying.

The anti-bullying prevention conference, scheduled to take place at the White House on March 10, is being hosted by Obama, the Department of Education and the Department of Health & Human Services.

In a conference call Tuesday, Melody Barnes, White House domestic policy adviser, said the conference will bring together students, parents, teachers and other leaders who “have been affected by bullying, and who have taken action to prevent bullying.”

“Participants will have the opportunity to speak with the president and representatives from the highest levels of the administration about bullying as well as ways to take action to address it in their communities,” Barnes said.

Link to the rest of the story.

Use Your Strength: Mobilizing Young Men to Prevent Sexual & Dating Violence

Intermedia proudly offers the new title, Use Your Strength: Mobilizing Young Men to Prevent Sexual and Dating Violence. This film introduces Men Can Stop Rape (MCSR), an award-winning pioneer in youth development programs. In this film, MCSR presents a fresh approach to the problem of sexual violence and date rape. In contrast to traditional efforts, men are not identified as the enemy. Instead, they are treated as allies, vital partners in preventing sexual and dating violence.

Working in classrooms directly with male students, MCSR’s facilitators tap into young men’s native intelligence and good will to help them identify the most powerful male role models in their lives. By emulating these males, and by learning to trust their own logic and good sense, these young men draw conclusions about the proper treatment of women and learn what they must do to foster safe and equitable relationships.

With clarity and conviction, MCSR has offered a program to engage young men, enabling men to transform the dominant messages they hear into messages of integrity and genuine strength. A vital organizing tool.”

Michael Kimmel, Professor of Sociology, Stony Brook Author of Manhood in America and Guyland

Use Your Strength

Click here for more clips and purchasing information.

From the World AIDS Day Website:

World AIDS Day is celebrated on December 1 each year around the world. It has become one of the most recognised international health days and a key opportunity to raise awareness, commemorate those who have passed on, and celebrate victories such as increased access to treatment and prevention services.

UNAIDS took the lead on World AIDS Day campaigning from its creation until 2004. From 2004 onwards the World AIDS Campaign’s Global Steering Committee began selecting a theme for World AIDS Day in consultation with civil society, organisations and government agencies involved in the AIDS response.

Themes run for one or two years and are not just specific to World AIDS Day. Campaigning slogans such as ‘Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise’ have been used year round to hold governments accountable for their HIV and AIDS related commitment.

President Obama: “We’ve got to dispel this myth that bullying is just a normal right of passage, that it’s some inevitable part of growing up,” President Obama said. “It’s not. We have an obligation to ensure that our schools are safe for all of our kids.”

Presidential Proclamation–National Domestic Violence Awareness Month

NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH, 2010

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

In the 16 years since the passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), we have broken the silence surrounding domestic violence to reach thousands of survivors, prevent countless incidences of abuse, and save untold numbers of lives. While these are critical achievements, domestic violence remains a devastating public health crisis when one in four women will be physically or sexually assaulted by a partner at some point in her lifetime. During Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we recognize the tremendous progress made in reducing domestic violence, and we recommit to making everyone’s home a safe place for them.

My Administration is committed to reducing the prevalence of domestic violence. Last year, I appointed the first-ever White House Advisor on Violence Against Women to collaborate with the many Federal agencies working together to end domestic violence in this country. Together with community efforts, these Federal programs are making important strides towards eliminating abuse.

The landmark Affordable Care Act also serves as a lifeline for domestic violence victims. Before I signed this legislation in March, insurance companies in eight States and the District of Columbia were able to classify domestic violence as a pre existing condition, leaving victims at risk of not receiving vital treatment when they are most vulnerable. Now, victims need not fear the additional burden of increased medical bills as they attempt to protect themselves and rebuild their lives.

Individuals of every race, gender, and background face domestic violence, but some communities are disproportionately affected. In order to combat the prevalence of domestic violence and sexual assault in tribal areas, I signed the Tribal Law and Order Act to strengthen tribal law enforcement and its ability to prosecute and fight crime more effectively. This important legislation will also help survivors of domestic violence get the medical attention, services, support, and justice they need.

Children exposed to domestic violence, whether victims or witnesses, also need our help. Without intervention, they are at higher risk for failure in school, emotional disorders, substance abuse, and perpetrating violent behavior later in life. That is why my Administration has launched the “Defending Childhood” initiative at the Department of Justice to revitalize prevention, intervention, and response systems for children exposed to violence. The Department of Health and Human Services is also expanding services and enhancing community responses for children exposed to violence.

Ending domestic violence requires a collaborative effort involving every part of our society. Our law enforcement and justice system must work to hold offenders accountable and to protect victims and their children. Business, faith, and community leaders, as well as educators, health care providers, and human service professionals, also have a role to play in communicating that domestic violence is always unacceptable. As a Nation, we must endeavor to protect survivors, bring offenders to justice, and change attitudes that support such violence. I encourage victims, their loved ones, and concerned citizens to call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1 800-799-SAFE or visit: www.TheHotline.org.

This month — and throughout the year — let each of us resolve to be vigilant in recognizing and combating domestic violence in our communities, and let us build a culture of safety and support for all those affected.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 2010 as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. I call on all Americans to speak out against domestic violence and support local efforts to assist victims of these crimes in finding the help and healing they need.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.

BARACK OBAMA

Here are some items in the news we are watching:.

As the recession continues to hurt the social services sector, the state of California has come up with a creative way to fill some of the funding gaps. From the San Jose Mercury:

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Counties could raise fees on marriage licenses by up to $10 to fund domestic violence shelters under a bill sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by the state Senate.

Counties already collect a $23 fee on marriage licenses to fund domestic violence shelters. The bill approved Thursday lets county supervisors increase the fee to $33.

Alarming statistics about prison sexual abuse in America were recently released:

A US Justice Department study reported Thursday that, from October 2008 to December 2009, 88,500 inmates nationwide were sexually assaulted behind bars–4.4% of inmates in prison and 3.1% of inmates in jail.

The study showed that Females are twice as likely to be victimized as males, and that 13% of women and 19% of men were victimized in the first 24 hours after being admitted to a correctional facility.

A new study suggests that child abuse rates in the U.S. are on the decline.
From Time Wellness Blog:

The number of maltreated children in the U.S. has fallen steadily in the last two decades, according to a report this week from the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.

Overall, physical-abuse cases per capita fell 3% between and 2007 and 2008 (the most recent year for which stats are available). Meanwhile sexual abuse fell by 6%, the report says. These figures continue long-term downward trends in the rate of physical and sexual abuse nationwide — with most states reporting cumulative drops of over 50% since 1992 — although neglect cases per capita seem to have remained fairly stable.