Monday, May 14, 2012
Sunday, May 13, 2012
an essay I wrote for class on my mom
Shortly after Rosa Parks gave up her seat, a vice chancellor was born; however, when she was younger no one could have imagined it because they were female, African American and lived in the same state that the Boycott took place in, Alabama. This is my own mother who had to overcome insurmountable odds to get to where she is today and this is her story.
My mom was born on a June day. She is daughter of . My grandmother was a country girl who was the daughter of sharecroppers, a system developed by former slave owners in which black people who got very little money for the crops they produced and were trapped on the land. My grandma was born in the 30’s during the depression which made it especially hard for her family to get ahead. My Grandfather lived on the farm in Alabama which his grandfather, who was freed by the slaves as a had bought.
My mom was brown in a time period where her mom was inevitably referred to as a girl and her dad was always a boy. Because of the color of their skin, my grandparents endured segregation. In my mom’s neighborhood was all black and whenever my mom went to town with her mom she was exposed to the bomb mine of the ways of white people. My mom remembers asking my grandmother why she had to cross the street for white people. My mom remembers hearing my grandmother telling her about that at work, as a cook she was forced to go through the back door. her job as a cook for white people, yet home was still home for my mother. When she was born she already had four siblings, that all attended segregated schools, to look out for her. My mom also grew up with both set of grandparents to look out for her.
The pivotal movement that would allow my mom and her siblings to reach their fullest potential came when my grandpa moved the family to California. It came shortly after my mom turned five. My grandpa moved the family because he was in the military and had to pick between Texas and California. He chose California because he had already had relatives there. I am forever grateful that my grandpa chose California because without that choice I would not be here.
One day when my grandma was helping my mom study she told her that she could be a doctor because she was so smart. My mom did not actually believe her. Even though my mom could attend the public school in California she had never thought that she could be a doctor because there were no African American doctors in Sacramento. Still life was good in the state capital. My grandma and grandpa became really busy when they moved to California. Grandpa continued to work at McClellan Air Force Base in North Highlands. My grandmother, who knew that education was the key to a better future, got her teaching credential while raising her five kids and working. By the time my mom graduated from high school after three years she already had siblings that had been in the college system. My mom decided to go to University of the Pacific in Stockton which was close to her parents and little brother, who is a decade younger than she.
The future vice chancellor of diversity for UCSF graduated from UOP she went to medical school at UCSF. She spent a year in Los Angles, yet she would return to UCSF for her residency. In residency one of her black professors encourage her to go into academic medicine. This choice would ground her for a very long time.
In residency my mom met a handsome half white half Mexican man who was the eldest of six children. He also had an interesting story. This man, my father, was a wise soul who loved to read. He was from a poor family and was born in Oregon. He was the only person to graduate from high school. He also came with a little boy, from his first marriage, who was cute funny and enjoyed Ninja Turtles and baseball. Although my father was a different race and had a kid, she fell in love and the couple soon got married.
Shortly after my parents married. The best thing that happened to them was born. I was born a few months shy of their one year anniversary. I was the first child that my mother had actually carried around for eight months, I was born prematurely. When I was born Natalie Cole’s “Unforgettable” was playing in the delivery room. My mom had thought that that song was predicting the unforgettable stuff that I would do. It turned out that it was the song both mother and daughter would live up to.
A year after I was born doctors told my parents that I had Cerebral Palsy. My mom got me all the help I needed, yet she never gave up her work. I was joined by two little sisters that would serve as good teachers for me as I got older, but until then that meant she had three little kids at home the eldest had disabilities. Most people would have given up their jobs to care for their disabled toddler, but my mom never did take off more than she had . During this time my mom worked at two sites, taking care of patients and doing research, Mymom and dad found the best nanny’s to care for us and they would assume all parental duties during the day. Growing up I wished that my mom had been a Stay at home mom, yet I am glad she did not because America needed her to work.
When I was seven years old it was the down of a new millennium and the first time that my mother would become a leader who championed the rights of minorities, That year she would become chief of staff at UCSF. Soon after that she was promoted to associate dean of the medical school. She would be a there for a while. She also became involved in her community outside the hospital. She joined the Commission on disabilities and the compassion on the status of women. She also started began to travel a lot. When I was in middle school my mom began traveling to Washington DC to be on the board on women in medicine and science, The national board challenges the fact that not a lot of women are in leadership roles yet they were more women in medicine. All of this meant travelling advocating and doing countless hours of writing and practicing long into the night.
In the fall of 2010 my mom interviewed for the vice chancellor of diversity. She got the position. My family and I were so excited. Last January we went to a ceremony honoring her work. Going to the event made me realize her impact that she had in her professional life. She became the first female African American vice chancellor in the University of California system. During that time my mom has implemented programs that improve the diversity at UCSF .
Mom is a hard worker, She began working at the age of 16 and has not looked back since. Renee is so wonderful and amazing. She has won numerous of awards and recognition . My mom has shown me that with hard work anything is possible. She has shown me the racism can be overcome and we must keep fighting until everyone has a fair shot at life. She is my mom and I am so honored that her blood runs through my veins. When I think of her accomplishments I feel proud to call her my mom. She has showed me through her actions, those are bigger than words, anyone can make a difference in the lives of others.
Happy mothers day to al the mom's out there
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Able to Go to college Episode one : AZ's new backpack
So this is the first episode of Able to go to college. The video says week two because I did not film the first week of school :(. Now on with the post.
Now these days there are a lot of different types of backpacks. Some are rolling while some are a shoulder bag Some ladies carry there stuff in a purse. For me I need a backpack because due to NLD I am vary disorganized in fact some people have called me.
A Tornado |
And people have also called my backpack a
A BLACK HOLE |
the day I got my orange backpack summer 2010 |
So earlier in the week my dad and I went on a mad backpack hunt. We went all over but no such luck because I am picky . I went looking at my book store in my college. I found two backpacks of the same modal but different colors. I ended up picking the blue one. I got on the bus thinking that I was going home .but I got on the wrong bus. The bus went near by my old school so I was not worried. I called my dad because he was home but the plumber was at our house so he sent Princess and she came to get me.
Got images from
Tornado
http://dir.coolclips.com/Nature/Natural_Disaster/Tornadoes/cartoon_tornado_CoolClips_natu0206.jpg
Black hole
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/.a/6a00d8341bf7f753ef0168e55ba4a3970c-800wi
Captions were done with help from Carolyn Fiory
Sunday, April 15, 2012
girls with autism
Hay guys missed me I was on spring break more on this latter but anyway I saw this interesting video what are your thoughts
Friday, March 30, 2012
CP Awarness Month Highlights
Another month has come and gone. This has been a fun month with me blogging weekly. I like it and it has not hurt my academics at all. I took a bio test today and got a 96%, and no I did not pay the professor.
I told you about Able to go to college. The series is coming soon. Maybe next week.
Connotation and Denotation faced off in this post .
I got some news about my grades.
I re posted about LM for Down Syndrome day
IT was CP Awareness Day and I thought of some ways that having a disabled child was easier than a average one
Guest Posts
Laura sharing Seth's story
Stacey Menz talking about PT and CP
What were some of your favorite post from this month.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
A message from a PT
I have had the pleasure of knowing Stacey Menz since fall 2011. For those of you who do not know Stacey is a PT based in the same town that I grew up in. I wish I had her for PT when I was younger because she is really good. Stacey works at Starfish Therapies. I asked her to write a post about CP and she did so without further ado here is the post on CP
Every person with cerebral palsy looks differently not just in terms of their physical appearance (just like any other person) but also in terms of what they can do really easily and what they have a really hard time doing. This is because it depends on the area of the brain that was affected. Each area controls different parts of the body so it would make sense that an injury in one area of the brain will have a different affect than an injury in a different area of the brain. Despite these differences there are similarities that are important to consider when assisting a person with cerebral palsy to achieve their goals in life, whatever those goals may be.
The similarity I am going to chat about is that for a person with cerebral palsy to learn a new skill whether it is how to walk, how to talk, how to write, etc, it takes a lot of practice. In this way it is no different than someone who is learning how to play the piano or to shoot a basketball or write cursive. All new skills take practice and repetition until they become more second nature. With new skills, each piece of the skill requires conscious thought. Remember the first time you learned to drive a car. You had two hands on the steering wheel, you were sitting upright and barely dared to breath. The radio wasn’t on because it might distract you, and the person who was in the passenger seat wasn’t allowed to so much as whisper. It took all your thought and concentration to move the car out of the driveway and down the road. Now, after countless hours and miles of practice think about all the things you do in the car. I’m sure all of us have at some point and time driven somewhere, parked and thought ‘how did I get here.’ Driving has become automatic and we don’t have to think about every little nuance anymore, unless the conditions change and then we are on higher alert.
This is how learning every movement is for a person with cerebral palsy. Each motion or activity requires constant thought. Nothing is automatic. So not only is going about the day physically exhausting for a person with cerebral palsy because of the extra energy they have to expend to create movement or speech, it can also be mentally exhausting if they have to consciously tell their brain to tell their body each motion and movement.
This is where the practice comes in. The more a person practices an activity the easier it has the potential to become. And, the more the activity is broken down into small pieces and each piece is mastered and then put back together as a whole, the easier the activity has the potential to become. I have seen this in many cases. I have a kiddo where we are working on walking without assistive devices. He is able to do it for short periods but he needs to think about each step and think about his balance after each step. He has a hard time shifting his weight onto one foot so he can lift the other and will often lean out to the side to make this easier, but that then makes keeping his balance harder. So we will take lots of time to practice shifting his weight to one side and then the other while keeping his head and trunk up straight. After we practice that piece he gets to practice walking a short distance and he finds it just a little bit easier to shift his weight, take a step and keep his head and trunk up so that he has an easier time keeping his balance.
Every time a skill is practiced it is reinforcing the pathway that sends the message from the brain to the muscles. The more this road is used, the more efficient it becomes which also helps skills to become more automatic.
The take-away message is that practice and repetition are good. But I also hope you understand how much effort goes into a person with cerebral palsy learning each new skill and movement. Not just the physical effort, but the mental effort. I am amazed every day by the determination and will of the people I work with. They inspire me to work harder. I hope they inspire you.
this little guy will be the star of a video at the end of the post |
Me as a middle schooler with book gal in the backround |
My mom me and book gal I did PT when I was this small |
This is where the practice comes in. The more a person practices an activity the easier it has the potential to become. And, the more the activity is broken down into small pieces and each piece is mastered and then put back together as a whole, the easier the activity has the potential to become. I have seen this in many cases. I have a kiddo where we are working on walking without assistive devices. He is able to do it for short periods but he needs to think about each step and think about his balance after each step. He has a hard time shifting his weight onto one foot so he can lift the other and will often lean out to the side to make this easier, but that then makes keeping his balance harder. So we will take lots of time to practice shifting his weight to one side and then the other while keeping his head and trunk up straight. After we practice that piece he gets to practice walking a short distance and he finds it just a little bit easier to shift his weight, take a step and keep his head and trunk up so that he has an easier time keeping his balance.
Every time a skill is practiced it is reinforcing the pathway that sends the message from the brain to the muscles. The more this road is used, the more efficient it becomes which also helps skills to become more automatic.
I inspire greatness |
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Raiseing a disabled child is sometimes easier than rasing a adverage child
My mom my sisters and me spring 2005 |
1 I do not need a curfew. I do not go out that much and if I do its with my parents so they do not need to stay up worrying when I will be home on weekends.
2 There are a lot of people that have helped me over the years. OT Therapist PT ST they have wondered though my life helping me and my parents.
3 Most of the things I do outside of the home are supervised thus they do not have to worry.
4 Sometimes my sisters tend to think that they know everything. I know I don't.
5 I have never been to a house party therefore I have never been around drugs
6 I have yet to have a boyfriend so my dad does not have to worry.
Got any other ideas? I want to hear them comment below
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