I'm not a psychologist but....

I think the media has absolutely crossed the line (shock) and is over-saturating the news with stories about teen suicide. Its one thing to educate young people about depression and suicide, and entirely another to hype it. Teen suicide is getting hyped- especially in terms of the presence of depression and suicidal thoughts on the internet. Teens aren't just getting abused (lets call "bullying" what it really is) online, they are using the internet as a means to romanticize, and poeticize their depression and depressed thoughts. Depression is a disease that prevents you (among other things) from thinking well, rationally, logically. Several teens' last and intentionally last action was to tweet a suicide message. How screwed up is that? Not only are these deaths tragic (and obviously preventable since some of these tweeting teens spend HOURS or DAYS talking about it on their social media accounts... why are their friends not calling 911 or their parents?!!?) but they are intentionally publicized. To the mind of a young person, and especially a young person suffering from depression, this is a way to end their life in a way that rings true with the literary tragedy of their favorite bands and teen romances. The media saturation only underscores the distorted idea that suicide is a common and acceptable reaction to lifes sometimes intense struggles.

The media needs to stop sensationalizing this act, which is the most extreme symptom of a mental ILLNESS and bring it back to the place where it is an extreme, terrible, tragic and uncommon act of severe desperation and sadness. Social media needs to be monitored more closely so that when someone is saying FOR DAYS that they are planning to kill themselves, someone (it should be their friends who are, on twitter, begging the suicidal person to stop (instead of calling for help or taking action), or their parents) can take it seriously and do something to help. TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER. What ever happened to that idea? Take care of each other. It is your responsibility. You have partial ownership of the good of your peers and your community (whether it exists purely in the cyber realm or not).

Teens have been bullied and have been making the decision to end their lives forever, this is not new, but it is apparently (and very sadly) a sexy media buzz term at the time. I honestly feel (without a medical degree) that this, and the over-use and lack of understanding of social media by teenagers, is exacerbating this societal ill. The abuse by peers needs to be put to a stop, but so does the hyping of suicide. Its not a trend, its not poetic, its not glorious.

Again, I'm not a psychologist, but........

I feel like I'm the only person in the world who knows what "occupation" means

The first time Zizek has disappointed me... I may cry. I was expecting a call to arms. http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3496710.html
How can he possibly approve of the occupiers ASKING PERMISSION (yeah, I'm talking about your fucking permits) from the corrupt state to engage in an activity that is supposedly meant to overhaul the state's values. That doesn't make any god damned sense. I feel like I'm on crazy pills watching this trash. A corrupt system/ state of power will never legally allow anything that will lead to the change we need. An occupation is a forcible, militant take-over, not asking for a permit then shitting yourselves and throwing a fit when it expires. YOU affirmed the state and its laws and its values with your wimpy permit and then cry when they enforce it.
This whole display of fashionable and uber-compliant angst is NO different than buying your Toms because it makes you feel like you did something good and changed the world, when all you did was look sweet for your next facebook album. Shit is grim.

Review: Cowboys and Aliens

A-

Yes I realize that this is quite inflated compared to the movie critics. But they are just that, critical, and this is one of those movies that I knew I was going to like from the outset so... they can take their film snobbery over to Cannes or Toronto or whatever because this movie RULES.

1st, James Bond and Indiana Jones (no I will not refer to them by their real names, but in C and A they are Jake Lonergan and Woodrow Dolarhyde respectively). 2nd, cowboys. 3rd, aliens. What else does the American movie-going public really want from a summer movie? What I appreciated the most (and what is really the meat of the movie) was the juxtaposition of two apparently disparate genres in their true archetypal forms. The cinematography was great, the aliens looked the most real I've seen lately and I liked the true blue hard-boiled eggness of the cowboys.

Part of the trueness to both genres means that in a lot of ways it was predictable, but it was somehow still exciting to me. The shock of seeing spaceships and saloons together on the screen is plain old creative and some parts did take me by surprise.

People can say what they want about Indi's acting chops but I loved the Dolarhyde character and thought he played it well. James Bond is a bit too pretty boy with pursed lips (this isn't Zoolander, Bond!) for me in gneral. But I just have one word to say about 007 in chaps: yes.

If you want something deep and metaphorical from the aliens (a la District 9, etc.) or some incredibly narrative and intellectual take on the Western (something ripped off from Cormac McCarthy) you need to adjust your expectations before seeing Cowboys and Aliens. This is a face value movie and if you expect something that is simply cool, you'll enjoy it.

And like I said: James Bond in chaps.

Goodies

We all ask and get asked this question all the time. I don't have a dentist... do you know of a good one? Where do you go to get your haircut? Etc etc. So I'll post a quick list of my "good ones," in case anyone is in the market.

Good dentist:
Dr. Joshua Ehrlich. Super nice person and gentle as far as dentists go, located right off the Wellington brown line, but also accessible to the Belmont red line. He also has flexible hours which is convenient. His staff is very friendly and helpful and I appreciate that he and the hygeinist usually talk about something of interest during my cleaning; so even though I can't contribute to the convo, I'm not bored to death (its the little things).

Good GYN:
Chicago Women's Health Center. This is a really awesome place that I go to even though my insurance doesn't cover me there. They are on a sliding scale and are run mostly by volunteers. They have A LOT of services: general gyn stuff, counseling, MASSAGES (and yes, the massages are also on a sliding scale. Hello!).

Good stylist:
Natalie at Urban Lift. Urban lift is a very cool non-chain hair salon in Roscoe Village (Addison brown line). This place used to be a house so it has a nice comfortable feel (nothing too industrial for me... I hate feeling like I'm in a doctor's office when I get a hair cut). The best part, for me, is this cute help-yourself manicure bar in the back area so you can paint your nails while you wait. They also always offer a complementary beverage (beer, wine, soda, etc).

Can I get your digits? Oh wait, they're on facebook

Not exactly sure if this is old news or not, BUT: apparently if you use a facebook mobile app on your cell-phone, your phone number is now visible to your friends (and maybe their friends? depending on your settings) under the "Contacts" section. Obviously this is not something most of us want made public and its only a matter of time (minutes) until they use it for marketing. So anyways, here's how to take your number down:
--> Account
--> Edit Friends
On the left --> Contacts
(Et voila! Everyone's phone numbers! Eep!)
Click the blue link that will be shown in this box (you can click my picture to make it bigger):

In true marketing-oriented media fashion, they make it sound like you're deleting something much more than just your phone number, but you're not. They'll send a similar email once you've done this, again, to make it seem like you're now going to be missing out on something. Probably just phone calls about what Harry Potter character you are or what your baby will look like (i.e. nothing).

Nadeau

VERY excited about this post. Today I was going about my usual weekend routine with two friends when we decided to go check out this "little" furniture store on Ravenswood called Nadeau. Holy cow: best "lets just wander in" find EVER. Touting "furniture with a soul," this place has so much unbelievably cool furniture it was hard for me to contain myself. The store is a no-frills warehouse, packed literally floor to ceiling with amazing imported pieces. And while it is super crowded, everything was so unique and homey that I didn't feel visually overwhelmed.

Pretty much everything I saw was solid wood and many pieces were painted with a distressed look that reminds me of Real Simple (which means I love it based on principle). What makes Nadeau such a score beyond the homey/hip furniture, is that nearly everything is very reasonable price-wise. We're talking Ikea price range here, people. As if all of this weren't enough, they have several locations outside Chicago (including my hometown of Minneapolis!).

I can't wait to go back and buy a few pieces. I'm almost regretting posting this because now my mental-purchases might be missing by the time I get back... the pics I posted are of the things I really want so DON'T buy them : )

$nowballing

Tied with finding a job for biggest dread of post-bacc life is (drum roll) paying off student loans. I have well over the national average racked up in loans that were used to finance my BA (in philosophy.......) and now I have to pay up. Big time. When thinking about the end of my 6 month grace period I feel an unpleasant tightening in my chest and fear a heart-attack. I have lost a lot of sleep thinking about it.

However, a couple of tools and a solid plan have made me feel a lot better, like I have a bit more control over the next 20-30 years of my fiscal life. 1st off, this budget calculator from You Can Deal With It demonstrates how much life actually costs. Keeping in mind the starting salary for someone with my level of education in my fields of interest, etc., I realized that I will have a decent amount of wiggle room even with my student loan debt.

2nd, I am fully planning on using "snowballing" to pay off my debt. I have heard Suzy Orman talk about this (that crazy money-wise minx) and it is laid out here, along with other general personal finance tips. The basic idea is that you make the minimum payment on all of your debts EXCEPT the one with the lowest balance. You should pay as much as you can reasonably handle over the cost of the minimum payment every month towards the lowest balance. When that one is paid off, you pay the same amount of money that you had been using for the now-paid-off debt IN ADDITION to the minimum payment for the next lowest. (So if you were paying $250 for the minimum and about $100 extra per month, you would pay $350 in addition to the minumum balance for the next account in the snowball.) I am a non-genius when it comes to math but it makes good sense to go about it this way to minimize interest build-up and night terrors about being chased by angry Ben Franklins.

Review: Google+

B-. But let me qualify.

I really like G+ but I seem to be one of the lonely onlys! Why is this thing not taking off? It has all the lovely genes of both twitter and facebook without any of the icky mutations. The reason why it seems to not be fun is that people are used to having hundreds of friends and followers as opposed to maybe 30 or so people in their G+ circles. The only way for it to be more happening is if people don't give up on it, continue to use it as much as they do other SN sites and invite other people. Its hard to interact on it as much when fewer people are on it so spread the G-love.


Do you have G+? Do you hate it, love it, hate to love it? Do you want it? Tell me. I can invite you, drop your email.

NPOs seem not to love me

But I love them and I am trying to become employed by one. Especially one that works directly with youth and/ or is very community based.

Do you work for an NPO? Volunteer at one? Do you love it? Tell me.

Health Insurance and BC

Birth control, that is. Not British Columbia. Or Boston College.

For those who haven't heard, starting on Monday (though for your insurance provider it may be later (has to kick in by 2013)) insurance providers must start paying for women's preventative care including all FDA approved forms of birth control, etc. Interestingly, they must also pay for breast pumps (and voluntary sterilization... but breast pumps sounds less scary to me).

Here's a full list of stuff that must be COMPLETELY covered by your insurance provider.

"Well woman visits" is sort of vague, but I think that means paps and such. I wonder if the HPV vac will also be covered? It should be. If you're aware of any clarifications or specific details let me know.

Kits for Kidz

I don't know about the rest of you, but I for one am a certifiable nerd and love(d) shopping for school supplies. Right now the biggest bummer about being finished with college is that it means no more glee-filled trips to Target, filling up a red basket with highlighters, notebooks, 3 ring binders and the like.

But never fear fellow dorks, there is a way to have the joy of this task doubled (possibly tripled) by giving to Kits for Kidz. KFK works directly with CPS to provide school supply and hygeine kits to homeless CPS students. What I really like about Kits is that you can purchase a box or backpack full of supplies instead of just giving money without knowing where it goes or what it buys.

Here's a recent CPS spotlight on Kits for Kidz.

Let me know if you are supporting any similar programs : )