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LostHope's comments:
on Sex Education for College Students
What makes her brilliant?
posted 2 years, 3 months ago
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on Sex Education for College Students
I agree. There are legitimate sex educators out there who have studied the subject seriously and their academic record reflects it. They usually get an advanced degree and have real credentials. She doesn't.
posted 2 years, 3 months ago
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on Sex Education for College Students
What exactly makes her any kind of authority or educator, a bachelors degree in American Studies or some porn books she wrote?
Her bio lists: She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with her Bachelor's degree in American Studies from Wesleyan University in 1993. She is the author of seven books: Secrets of Female Ejaculation and Great G-Spot Orgasms(Quiver Books, forthcoming), The Big Book of Sex Toys (Quiver Books, 2010), The Anal Sex Position Guide (Quiver Books, 2009), Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships (Cleis Press, 2008); True Lust: Adventures in Sex, Porn and Perversion (Cleis Press); Down and Dirty Sex Secrets (ReganBooks/HaperCollins); and The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women (Cleis Press)
posted 2 years, 3 months ago
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on Homeless in the Suburbs
Homelessness was always my greatest fear and now here I am. I remember gathering up a whole bunch of excess things from around the house when I had one and taking it down to Dignity Village. Batteries, soups, food, clothes, basic hygiene stuff. It was good to help out but I always felt it was somewhere I didn't want to end up.
posted 2 years, 4 months ago
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on Homeless in the Suburbs
I'm sure a lot of people -- especially the homeless -- would like him to address homelessness in America. But the SOTU address is always one of blind optimism without ever having to say how the programs enumerated there will be financed or conducted. It's not a particularly uplifting subject so it might get briefly mentioned but then quickly moved away from.
posted 2 years, 4 months ago
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on Homeless in the Suburbs
Yep, as you stated, it was one major medical event that really pushed me over the edge. And I had insurance at the time. BCBSO just decided not to cover a pre-approved hospitalization and then punted the bill back to me afterwards. With everything else that happened and with the hospital bill, I was sunk.
How can I have faith in the American way of life when events like this happen so often to people?
P.S. I studied in your same field.
posted 2 years, 4 months ago
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on Homeless in the Suburbs
I'm homeless. I have been for about 2 years now. It's still hard to say that, or believe it. I'm not on the street anymore, but now I'm just one step away while staying with a relative. And no, I never thought it would happen to me. I've heard people say that before, but again, I never thought it would be me. I'm college educated -- even some grad school -- and have worked in a variety of jobs for the last couple of decades.
I was married and living in Portland just a few years ago with a good job at a major medical university. You know which one. It was a good place. My big mistake was trusting a spouse who I came to learn was a very selfish, manipulative person even though I thought she was a good person just because she was a doctor. I learned that the hard way. I left my job to return to grad school and she left a few months later, even though we had talked about it for years and I had supported her and waited until she was out of residency and comfortably into private practice before I made an attempt at school. Just cleaned out our bank account one day and left me high and dry. The first rumbling of the Great Recession in the US began shortly after that and I haven't been able to find work since then. I kept thinking it would change, but it didn't. And that's after sending out hundreds of resumes for everything under the sun. It's been hard but I've had to survive on no unemployment assistance. I can't really say how I've survived. Or at least I shouldn't say here.
The stress and destabilization of that time brought on depression and anxiety (maybe PTSD) like you wouldn't believe. I lost everything: a marriage, a home, pets, all my savings, my health insurance, car, possessions. It was just a big avalanche after a while and I couldn't believe it kept falling, but it did. It's made for some interesting conversations with credit card companies. And I can tell you that there aren't many mental health resources out there for people without insurance. Mostly it's just people saying there's help out there. But that's mostly what help there is: just people saying there's help out there.
I'm tentatively back in school now, not graduate school but just another undergrad program. Something that sounded interesting and gives me something to do during the days. It's difficult doing it with little to no resources except bare bones student aid. It covers about half what the school estimates it will. I barely have enough to eat most weeks and go without most of the books. But I only have to get C's to stay in school. It's not the way I'd like to do it, but the way I have to. I was a good student once but maybe that's just not in the cards now. Anyway I figure as long as the loans are available I'm going to take as much as I can get. If I never complete the degree or never get a job out of it I'll not worry about paying back the loans. It's a common theme now among undergrads, I'm finding out; not a lot of hope.
posted 2 years, 4 months ago
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on Unemployed for Ages
Tom: You got that right. I seem to have lost almost all my fear now that I have nothing left to lose.
DAP: It's divided, not "devided." Being able to spell is one of the benefits of my "arts degree."
posted 2 years, 5 months ago
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on Unemployed for Ages
DAP: My degrees are in political science/econ and psychology.
posted 2 years, 5 months ago
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on Unemployed for Ages
DAP: Unemployment INSURANCE is something most people pay into while they are working, it's not just a giveaway program. Would you not submit an automobile claim if your car was in a serious wreck, or a health claim if you had to go to the hospital for medical treatment? It's insurance that people have already paid for.
posted 2 years, 5 months ago
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on Unemployed for Ages
Think it's just a coincidence that while *official unemployment* is at 9.8% -- really it's up around 20%, but we even stack the deck in measuring it -- corporate profits are way up, and luxury goods sales are also way up? It's as though the rich are squeezing to poor and working poor to death.
posted 2 years, 5 months ago
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on Unemployed for Ages
I've been out of work for more than three years and was never even eligible for unemployment, since I left my last job in '07 to attend graduate school. That was after supporting my spouse in her medical career goals for the previous five years. She left a few months later and secretly cleaned out our bank account. In the wake of that, my grad school plans collapsed and I lost everything. I sent out hundreds of job applications during that time but got no responses. I became homeless.
I'm still homeless but sleeping on someone's sofa now for as long as that may last. I'm at another school living on student loans, not because I want another degree (I have 2 already) but so that I can eat, have something to do during the days, and stay alive. I don't worry about debt anymore since my credit is so ruined from medical debt that I will never recover from it. And I have no expectations of finding a job when I'm done, if I finish a degree at all. The jobs are just not out there anymore. Once I was unemployed more than about 3 or 4 months nobody would even consider me, even though I had a solid work history and got along well with everyone. So...I'll take as much student loan money as I can for as long as I can. I wish it was different, but it is what it is.
posted 2 years, 5 months ago
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