Friday, August 30, 2013

Bullying Advice

In this month’s issue, we published articles to raise the awareness of cyberbullying and bullying in general. In the tech article, we pointed out that if you are a victim, then you are not alone. Teens, pre-teens and adults can sometimes, through no fault of their own, become the target of someone’s venom. On the one hand, this can happen over social media, making it in actuality “anti-social” media. Fortunately, as American citizens, we have rights against such harassment, strengthened by new anti-bullying legislation and the hosting sites are more aware and are willing to take down negative content and bar negative people from using their services.

In my editorial, “Starting the Conversation: Bullying Advice”, I mention that I have also been a victim of bullying but I received help and advice from several places including my mother, who intervened; the Sisters of St. Benedict where I went to High School (unfortunately that school  is no longer open but take a look at the many schools advertising in this month’s issue and the school directory to find another wonderful school and academic program); and even years later, my husband’s philosophy that there are some people that mistakenly think that their candle will burn brighter if they blow out everyone else’s when, in reality, they will eventually just blow out their own.

Other great advice I received was from a very hard-nosed businessman from Uniontown, who insisted that I always remember to never let anyone know that they can upset me or make me angry – he said, the trick is to never react in any way because if bad people know they can make you react by “pressing your buttons” then they will, just because they can. If someone already thinks they can, then the best thing you can do is stop reacting and just shake your head. It is surprising how well this works. A good friend of mine does the head-shake at aggressive drivers and it always seems to work to calm them down and make them drive more sensibly – not sure why this works, I’m just happy it does.

Do you have any bullying advice? If you do, please enter it into the comment section below. 

Friday, August 2, 2013

A Lifetime of Learning

In the August issue of Northern Connection magazine, I started the conversation regarding my desire to embrace a lifetime of learning. In the article, I mentioned that I’ve noticed that it has been awhile since I have learned anything totally new and outside the realm of my job and so I intend to go in search of a new learning challenge.
One of the things that I have been considering learning is a foreign language. I’ve noticed that when I travel to foreign countries, the citizens appreciate any attempt at the language no matter how badly it’s butchered. So, I’ve decided to take a look into learning conversational French since my husband’s company is in Canada and I had some French in High School. To get started, I looked up some software and had a bit of sticker shock – Rosetta Stone® software, designed to teach you the foreign language of your choice is almost $450 – ouch. So I asked around and my father-in-law has been teaching himself Spanish through “Instant Immersion”® software which he thinks is phenomenal and only costs $50 and there are frequent sales for less at Amazon.com. Also, dear friends of mine are planning a vacation to Paris for their twentieth anniversary and they really enjoyed their French class through CCAC and they practice together as they sit on the porch every evening after dinner. How romantic is that!
                Another thing I’ve been considering is to attend more guest lectures. It is just an evening out and not a huge commitment so it should fit conveniently into my schedule. My local library is Northland Public Library and it has has lots of interesting events and lectures, one of particular interest to me is an up-coming presentation about the Battle of Gettysburg in honor of the 150th memorial anniversary.

                Do you have any other suggestions for me and our fellow readers, to help us embrace a lifetime of learning?