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A detailed and trauma-informed case against using the word "crazy," especially in reference to this time of COVID-19

I keep going back and forth on whether to call this behavior out: the use of the word “crazy” to describe stuff that is unpredictable, wild, unusual, or that provokes confusion. I used to use it a lot myself. “That’s crazy!” is a phrase I’ve uttered probably, and this is no exaggeration, a million or more times. But I’ve stopped now. I’ll explain why. Right now I’m seeing it even more than ever used to describe this era that includes the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic. “These crazy times,”...

The important role of policy in addressing childhood trauma during COVID-19 and beyond

By Renee Gross, JD Health Policy Consultant, Kaiser Permanente Over the past few months, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused everyone to grapple with uncertainty and manage new stressors at home, at work, and in our communities. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll indicated that 45% of Americans report that the current crisis is harming their mental health. We are facing unprecedented disruption in our daily lives and navigating a world of school and business closures, job losses, social...

Prevalence of Bullying Among Youth Classified as LGBTQ Who Died by Suicide as Reported in the National Violent Death Reporting System, 2003-2017 [jamanetwork.com]

By Kristy A. Clark, Susan D. Cochran, and Anthony J. Maiolatesi, JAMA Pediatrics, May 26, 2020 Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth are more likely to be bullied and to report suicidal thoughts and behaviors than non–LGBTQ youth. 1 Whether bullying is a more common antecedent among LGBTQ youth who die by suicide, however, is unknown. We investigated this question using postmortem records from the 2003-2017 National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). Methods...

Sutter Health finds black patients get coronavirus diagnoses at later stage than white peers [sacbee.com]

By David Caraccio, The Sacramento Bee, May 25, 2020 The chief medical officer for Sutter Health is seeing a worrisome trend when it comes to COVID-19 diagnoses. According to data reviewed by Dr. Stephen Lockhart, African Americans were almost three times more likely than their non-Hispanic white peers to learn they had the coronavirus-caused illness through an emergency room or hospital test. The black patients also were far more likely to be admitted for care, leading Lockhart and research...

Is Everyone Depressed? [theatlantic.com]

By James Hamblin, The Atlantic, May 22, 2020 The word I keep hearing is numbness. Not necessarily a sickness, but feeling ill at ease. A sort of detachment or removal from reality. Deb Hawkins, a tech analyst in Michigan, describes the feeling of being stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic as “sleep-walking through my life” or “wading through a physical and mental quicksand.” Even though she has been living in what she calls an “introvert heaven” for the past two months—at home with...

No Fault Of His Own: 'Cracked Up: The Darrell Hammond Story' On Netflix [decider.com]

By Sean L. McCarthy, Decider, May 25, 2020 The mythology of the sad clown dates back to the 1800s. A classic joke, incorporating the British star Joseph Grimaldi ( modernized in the Watchmen graphic novel and movie to reference Pagliacci ), the myth has become a hardened cliche of a stereotype we use to rationalize the offstage downfall of a beloved comedian or comedic actor. But as we learn once more, or perhaps for the first time, in a new documentary about Saturday Night Live star Darrell...

Hunger Program's Slow Start Leaves Millions of Children Waiting [nytimes.com]

By Jason DeParle, The New York Times, May 26, 2020 As child hunger soars to levels without modern precedent, an emergency program Congress created two months ago has reached only a small fraction of the 30 million children it was intended to help. The program, Pandemic-EBT, aims to compensate for the declining reach of school meals by placing their value on electronic cards that families can use in grocery stores. But collecting lunch lists from thousands of school districts, transferring...

Does Whiteness Explain Local Land-Use Patterns? [housingmatters.urban.org]

By Jessica Trounstine, Housing Matters, May 20, 2020 Although segregation has decreased from its peak in 1970, the United States remains highly segregated. City governments regulate land use, and thus, control the distribution of housing. A recent study tested the hypothesis that whiter communities create restrictive land-use policies that allow them to exert control over their neighborhood’s demographics and maintain the status quo. To test the hypothesis, the author analyzed the...

The Case for Letting the Restaurant Industry Die [newyorker.com]

By Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, May 22, 2020 In late March, not long after the coronavirus brought America’s restaurant industry to a tense and precarious halt, the writer, cook, and artist Tunde Wey posted, to Instagram, the first part of an essay titled “Don’t Bail Out the Restaurant Industry.” “We’re on the cusp of something… ordinary,” it begins. “We’re on the cusp of everything remaining the same.” The piece, which Wey released in ten installments in the course of a week (and later...

Reimagining Courts As Dispensers of Justice After Coronavirus [chronicleofsocialchange.org]

By Vivek Sankaran, The Chronicle of Social Change, May 17, 2020 During a recent training , a judge showed us a glimpse of his future courtroom and what awaits us when juvenile courts reopen. A plexiglass shield will separate the judge from the litigants. Attorneys will spread out across the courtroom. Parents and children will be seated apart from their own attorneys. Everyone will wear masks. What I saw frightened me. This can’t be our new normal in child welfare. Even before the pandemic...

'We Miss Them All So Much': Grandparents Ache as The COVID Exile Grinds On [californiahealthline.org]

By JoNel Aleccia, California Healthline, May 26, 2020 Back home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Richard and Denise Victor would get to see their four grandchildren almost every day. One set of kids lives around the block; the others are half an hour away, all close enough for frequent visits and sleepovers. “With the younger ones, we have a routine of stories when they spend the night,” Richard Victor said. But when the coronavirus hit, the couple were at their vacation home in Florida and,...

I'm a Physician During COVID. Don't Ask Me How I'm Doing [medpagetoday.com]

By Leto Quarles, MedPage Today, May 21, 2020 When I wear a mask over my face, I am protecting both of us. When I wear a mask over my feelings, I am protecting both of us, too. When you ask me, "How are you doing?" this is why I have no answer. Four days a week, I have a (currently, mostly virtual) primary care practice taking care of manageable problems, trying to teach folks how to take care of their chronic health conditions so they can continue to function and stave off catastrophic...

Becoming Your Healthiest Self: An Eat-Well, Get-Fit, Feel-Great Guide for Teens [jamanetwork.com]

By Michelle Cardell, Aaron S. Kelly, and Lindsay A. Thompson, JAMA Pediatrics, May 26, 2020 Parents, empower your adolescents so they can make choices that promote their healthiest self. Teens, getting older means making decisions about what matters to you most. Making healthy choices is a great place to start. Taking care of your physical, emotional, and mental health is what makes it possible for you to do all the things you want to do. Fuel Up You are in charge of what you eat and drink.

Teaching in the Time of Coronavirus [podcasts.apple.com]

By Taraji P. Henderson, Apple Podcasts, May 25, 2020 Teachers adapt to daunting COVID-19 challenges, Michael Kosta talks to Florida's Grim Reaper protester, and Taraji P. Henson discusses the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices. [ Please click here to listen to the podcast .]

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