Good day inmates!

It’s summer time finally! The sun is beaming down (occasionally), the sky is ever-blue and the island I live on is full of visitors. Oh yes, summer! The time of year for music festivals, trips to the beach, road trips along sweltering roads and wonderful parties at sunset. The time of stargazing and sunbathing. It’s my favorite time of year, believe it or not. I wanted to post another chapter of the Harlequins writing music, but I thought it would be fun to do it a bit differently this time. We’re here to celebrate the summer after all!

So yes! This is the “Summer Special” of the Harlequins writing music! Let’s all rejoice and party and all that! I’m going to post some summery songs that I may write with sometimes. I find that my productivity goes up noticeably during hot weather, it just makes me feel…

Carol A. Hand

As the date of the quintessential celebration of colonial oppression for Indigenous Peoples in the U.S. approaches, signaled by load explosions in the night, an image from my childhood comes unbidden to mind – a child crouching, head bowed, eyes closed, hands tightly covering ears.

Photo Credit: Carol A. Hand

I remember how much I disliked attending these events with my family, surrounded by crowds of people cheering and oohing and aahing in the local park as the symbolic missiles of war blossom like booming “fiery flowers” in the darkened evening sky. I didn’t know the deeper symbolism then for Indigenous Peoples, but the mindless and frenzied fascination of the crowd frightened me. I realize it still does. It brings to mind a story I wrote about my experiences in Missoula, Montana, during the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

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Photo Credit: http://www.montanalandtrusts.org/successes/

I moved to this…

‘if’

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master,
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you…

Parenting is hard normally but if you are depressed as well then it is much harder than it should be.

By Jackie Saulmon Ramirez | July 2. 2014

In my Parents Anonymous Group, depression touched many of our lives from time to time. Many of our members dealt with very difficult, stressful situations that occasionally felt hopeless. In our group we shared our experiences and various solutions in hopes that our situations would improve and most did in time. The suggestions in this three-part series are some that our group discussed and are offered up to each other as possible solutions. This is not meant to treat depression but instead gives options to lessen sadness to feel better.

Get Up

Spend a little or a lot and buy a seasonal affective disorder light therapy lamp that is both safe and effective.

Maintaining your daily schedule hinges on the hour at…