(Lovely) Blogs You Should Be Reading

This Blog was recently the recipient of the award you see to the left, gratefully received from Dominique Small, founder and author of the Blog, 4 Walls And a View.

This award was unexpected, and I’m sure, given the company, not entirely deserved. First, it is generaly given to bloggers who have much more experience than I in the blogosphere. (While I have been a professional writer/reporter for more than 20 years, I’ve only been blogging since April of this year.)

Secondly, this award is given to those who have been writing exclusively on the illnesses of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and assorted other neurological and auto-immune disorders.

Now, the recipients of the award also agree to turn around and publicize other blogs by paying it forward if you will. So here’s my list of some (Lovely) Blogs You Should Be Reading. They are chosen for different reasons, but all have a voice, a spirit, offer inspiration, or promote activism, and draw attention to needed change, or best-practices research.

Check them out and see what you think.

In no particular order:

ACTIVISM:

Campaign For A Fair Name
“ What’s in a Name?
Well, a lot, actually. Especially when speaking of an illness that affects millions of people across the globe. Thus a group of world-renowned scientists, advocates, patients and celebrities are ‘fighting the good fight’ to create a more equitable, realistic name for what the CDC years ago termed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Learn more about this important work and the upcoming vote by CFS patients right here (see Our Cause), and find out how you can help the Campaign for a Fair Name.”

LIFE’S CHALLENGES/SUCCESSES

Learning to Live with CFS (Author: Sue Jackson)

Lemon-Aide: “Squeezing the most out of life with chronic illnesses” (Author: Kerry)

Jo Blogs: “CFS Recovery is Possible” (Author: Jo)

Living the CFS Life: (Author: Shelli Proffitt Howells)

There are many additional deserving blogs, of course, and I encourage you to peruse these sites and check out some of the blogs each has listed on their sites as well, for there are a wealth of resources out there.

Until next time.

Keep the faith.

–AY

Hating on the poor still in fashion

Well, my article on the state’s CalWORKs program came out today in the Sacramento News & Review, and judging by the online comments we’ve already received, hating on the poor is still alive and well and still very much in fashion.

The story, about the governor’s proposal to scrap the state’s welfare-to-work program, was designed to put a human face on the issue, and featured Jennifer Taylor, a married woman with three children, who lost her job last November in the banking industry — a victim of the recession. Taylor, 37, has worked full-time all her adult life, and welfare was new to her, and a humbling experience.

My reporting showed that more than 86,000 Sacramentans participate in the CalWORKs program — 64,000 of whom are children.

We went to great lengths to show the work mandates required of Taylor and others to receive their cash grants, food stamps, and Medi-Cal.

Still, the comments were angry, and mean. “Give your children to foster care,” if you can’t afford to take care of them, wrote one reader. Others were upset that the state was asked to be a “parent” and suggested that churches, neighbors and comunities step up with a helping hand instead.

Although there was one, I expected more letters to lambast the governor for proposing to turn away $3.7 billion in federal matching funds by eliminating a program that would save only $1 billion in general fund revenue, while plunging more than 1 million children into further homelessness and destitution.

Where’s the outrage about that?

And where’s the kudos for Jennifer Taylor who’s both working and going to school, thanks to the CalWORKs program, to better her life, and her family’s?

When I set out to report this story, I thought I would be able to show readers, through Taylor’s story, just how vulnerable we all are in this economy, and how easy it would be for any of us to end up in her shoes.

Perhaps, at least for the people who have commented, that is too harsh a reality to contemplate. Perhaps, it is easier to blame, than to empathize, for to empathize would make it all too real.

Until next time.

Keep the faith.

–AY

Getting out

I get to go OUT today!!

As I write this, I am waiting for my gal-pal, Cindy, to come and get me (I can’t remember if I’ve posted this or not, but our car died @ one month ago, so … ) and we’re going out for coffee.

Now, this might not seem like a lot to most people, who are ensconced in the work-a-day world and interact with colleagues, clients, and friends on a regular basis. But for someone like me, who not only works from home, but is also dealing with chronic pain, AND, who now doesn’t have access to her own transportation — well, you can see how the world shrinks.

So, an opportunity to have afternoon coffee with a great friend is cause for celebration!

I’m anticipating some of what we’ll talk about. Relationships w/ the opposite sex, of course, but today, with a twist: Cindy’s recently met the love of her life — yes, the one she feels she was MEANT to be with. And, most awesome, he feels the same about her!!! More on this later.

And, I too, have been thinking about dipping my toe in the dating pool again, bolstered by both Cindy’s experience and by my friend, LaVette, who has recently been seeing this very nice guy she met online. Hey, if they’re having such success, why not I?

///

Well, it’s three hours later, and Cindy & I did, indeed, have a wonderful time. She is beyond smitten with her new beau. He is the one she will marry and spend the rest of her life with — this, she knows. “It’s not even a question,” she said. “Every new thing I find out about him, it’s like another piece of the puzzle fitting together.”

Well, don’t we all want that? I know I do.

I’ve decided, for now, to try the site that LaVette is on, since she’s had such good experiences with it, meeting men who seem, at first glance anyway, to be grown-ups, and know what actual courtship entails. Cindy & I ran through a half-dozen possible usernames before coming up with the one that I will try using: LoisLane. Not bad, eh?

Well, I best get to the business of creating my profile and signing up before I lose my nerve. Just wanted to get this post out of the way first.

I hope you’re all staying cool out there in this mad summer heat.

Until next time.

Keep the faith.

–AY