Instagram bans ‘graphic’ self-harm images after teenager’s suicide
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
MOMO CHALLENGE EXPOSED | DON’T DO IT | DO NOT CALL PERIOD | WHATSAPP GAM...
Dear Lord!!! I just saw this ALERT on the news this morning in British Columbia. Parents, this is hacked into the video's after a cartoon or ????? It encourages children/teens to take their lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Woman Arbitrarily detained for 11 months by FHA
A B.C. Supreme Court judge says Fraser Health violated a
39-year-old woman's charter rights by detaining her unlawfully for 11
months. She spent some of that time at Delta Hospital.
Fraser Health
Fraser Health
It was nine months into her detention before the woman was able to speak with a lawyer, in spite of having asked repeatedly, according to court documents.
Fraser Health Authority staff decided, for her own good, to take her away from her mother in October 2016, according to the documents. They invited A.H. to go shopping at the mall. But instead of taking her home afterwards, they brought her to Delta Hospital, where she was admitted. Staff told her she had to remain at the hospital for her safety but didn’t provide her with any written reasons for detaining her.
The woman escaped three times. Police brought her back each time.
READ MORE: Woman is furious after father’s body moved from hospital without family’s consent
Police told Fraser Health Authority staff that they couldn’t detain her unless they applied to do so with a certificate of involuntary admission under the Mental Health Act, which would allow them to detain her for 48 hours.
The Fraser Health Authority applied, and the time ran out, but A.H. was kept in hospital for another 10 months.
The same thing happened after her third escape from the hospital. A.H. was shifted from Delta Hospital to Surrey Memorial Hospital, where a secure ward had opened up. Once more, the Fraser Health Authority completed a certificate of involuntary admission to hold the woman for 48 hours.
But the judge said that procedure wasn’t followed in either case so there’s no evidence that the woman was even certifiable under the Mental Health Act.
READ MORE: Mother of patient with new Vancouver measles case alarmed after Delta doctors missed diagnosis
Court documents say the Fraser Health Authority kept A.H. at Surrey Memorial under section 59(2)(e) of the Adult Guardianship Act, which would allow designated agencies to take emergency measures to protect A.H. from harm. But a separate ruling from the provincial court said 11 months of detention could no longer be classified as an “emergency.”
Fraser Health also didn’t apply for permission at that point to assist the woman without consent under section 56 of the Adult Guardianship Act, which would require the provincial court to agree that she was being abused or neglected.
Court documents show A.H. underwent significant constraints while detained. On at least one occasion, she was physically restrained to a bed. She was often denied requests to go outside for fresh air, and her phone and internet use was heavily restricted.
A.H. was also kept under a Do Not Acknowledge protocol — meaning if anyone called or came to the hospital looking for her, staff would deny her presence there.
For the first few months, she was not allowed visitors, but after January 2017, she began having visits from her two children.
READ MORE: Fraser Health issues north Surrey drug alert after 12 people overdose in 4 hours
The B.C. Supreme Court judge said on many occasions that A.H. had said she wanted a lawyer or asked staff for help in speaking to one. She was told different things from time to time — sometimes she was “redirected,” and other times she was told her detention could not be challenged.
Finally, in August 2017, she was able to speak with a lawyer, who filed a petition on her behalf.
The same day, Fraser Health applied to provincial court for an order under section 56 of the Adult Guardianship Act.
That order was granted, but the Supreme Court judge found on Tuesday that the Fraser Health Authority violated several charter rights by unlawfully detaining A.H. from October 2016 to September 2017.
READ MORE: Fraser Health urges people with ‘winter blues’ to reach out
Those rights included the right not to be arbitrarily detained, the right to be informed promptly of the reasons for detention, the right to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right and the right to have the validity of a detention promptly reviewed.
The judge called the actions of Fraser Health Authority staff “inexplicable.”
The Fraser Health Authority said in a statement that it’s aware of the decision and is reviewing its next steps but couldn’t comment further.
© 2019 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Dyin For Help: Golden Gate Bridge
Dying for Help
Saturday, January 12, 2019 at 10 PM ET/PT on CBC News Network Sunday, January 13, 2019 at 10 PM ET/PT on CBC News Network
Episode only available in Canada.
Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50 in the UK – causing more
deaths in this group than car accidents, and even more than cancer. This
means that the most likely thing to kill Dr. Alexander Van Tulleken is
himself. And he wants to know why.
In Dying for Help, Dr. Van Tulleken reveals why people develop suicidal thoughts, and what can be done to help them. The film speaks with suicide attempt survivors, parents, and doctors and researchers working in suicide prevention, and explores the interventions which aim to save people’s lives.
In Dying for Help, Dr. Van Tulleken reveals why people develop suicidal thoughts, and what can be done to help them. The film speaks with suicide attempt survivors, parents, and doctors and researchers working in suicide prevention, and explores the interventions which aim to save people’s lives.
The Passionate Eye
Dying For Help: Golden Gate Bridge (short)
00:00
01:20
If you are in a crisis, call 1-833-456-4566, available 24/7, or visit Crisis Services Canada for text or chat options.
One Explanation of when the Rapture will be
Vincent Wienand SORRY
GUYS NO RAPTURE, TRIBULATION OR PEACE TREATY IN 2019. THE ELITE IS
PLAYING WITH YOU. ACCORDING TO DANIEL 9:24-27 IT WILL BE 2020 FALL
FEAST. PLEASE NOTE"" "THE FINAL JUBILEE IS 2027/28""". EVEN PSALM 90:10
DECLARES IT MOST OF US CONCENTRATE ON THE SEVENTY BUT AVOID THE 80 IN PSALM 90:10.
On 14th of May 1948, the state of Israel was proclaimed a nation! Since 1948, we have seen Israel put forth leaves on her tender branches both economically, military, financially and spiritually, and Israel has become a world force always on news all over the world. If the leaves of the fig tree can be said to have sprung forth in 1948, then the generation is 70 years old this year! 2018 MAY 14
If we use a generation of 80 years (with years of labour and sorrow TRIBULATION. ) according to Psalms 90:10, then the year for 1948 generation to be over is (1948 + 80 years): 2028. Taking into account the seven-year Tribulation period, that would place the latest year for rapture and the beginning of the great tribulation to occur as (2028 – 7): 2021. That is only 3 years from now!
It's interesting that, even though Moses wrote Psalms 90 over 3,000 years ago, and he lived to be 120 years old, today, 70 years is almost exactly the average life expectancy of human beings worldwide. The average life span of those living today in Israel is between 70 and 80 years! It is reasonable to conclude that the generation Christ was talking about in the parable of the fig tree will also be 70 to 80 years in length.
In fact, Christ’s parable of the Fig Tree in Matthew 24:32-35 and Moses’ length of a generation in Psalms 90:10 seem to go hand in hand! Labour and sorrow is figurative of the Great Tribulation that is soon cut off thus Jesus ends it when He comes riding on a horse to Armageddon battle and we fly away. ISAIAH 61.2.
On 14th of May 1948, the state of Israel was proclaimed a nation! Since 1948, we have seen Israel put forth leaves on her tender branches both economically, military, financially and spiritually, and Israel has become a world force always on news all over the world. If the leaves of the fig tree can be said to have sprung forth in 1948, then the generation is 70 years old this year! 2018 MAY 14
If we use a generation of 80 years (with years of labour and sorrow TRIBULATION. ) according to Psalms 90:10, then the year for 1948 generation to be over is (1948 + 80 years): 2028. Taking into account the seven-year Tribulation period, that would place the latest year for rapture and the beginning of the great tribulation to occur as (2028 – 7): 2021. That is only 3 years from now!
It's interesting that, even though Moses wrote Psalms 90 over 3,000 years ago, and he lived to be 120 years old, today, 70 years is almost exactly the average life expectancy of human beings worldwide. The average life span of those living today in Israel is between 70 and 80 years! It is reasonable to conclude that the generation Christ was talking about in the parable of the fig tree will also be 70 to 80 years in length.
In fact, Christ’s parable of the Fig Tree in Matthew 24:32-35 and Moses’ length of a generation in Psalms 90:10 seem to go hand in hand! Labour and sorrow is figurative of the Great Tribulation that is soon cut off thus Jesus ends it when He comes riding on a horse to Armageddon battle and we fly away. ISAIAH 61.2.
Monday, February 25, 2019
Suicide and Homicide Support Group
Homicide and Suicide Support Groups are starting once again where Deborah has her grave. The cemetary is called Valley View Memorial, in Surrey, BC. The month is going to be March 14th, her birthday when one of them begins. I found them to be very helpful. Please contact them directly.
Thank you
Thank you
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
First-time Grandma
As you may know, I will be a first-time grandma this year. Here is a photo of the mom and dad to be! I could use some tips for sure. I can't wait to hold my little grandbaby, and find out her name. God is so faithful, and I pray for all families to cherish each other while they can. Each day brings new hope. 
Monday, February 18, 2019
Sunday, February 17, 2019
Looks aren't everything. Believe me, I'm a model. | Cameron Russell
I have posted this brilliant speaker, because I know that the persuit of perfection often leads to disappointment, and then at times suicide. I know that my daughter who was very beautiful, also strove for perfection. I only found this out in her suicide note. This is how she looked.
Yesterday at the Orpheum
The last time I was at the Orpheum was about 22 years ago when the Suzuki violin students had a joint performance here in Vancouver. My daughter who is now 28 was on stage and played her pieces of the first book of Suzuki along with many other students. I still remember sitting in the audience with my other three girls watching as she stood strong and tall in her pink tul dress. As the song pieces got more difficult there was fewer and fewer students on the stage. At that time I did not realize that the violin would be such an important part of our lives; or music should I say. She would continue to play another 10 years, which included at least 6 years in the Surrey Symphony Orchestra. Deborah her youngest sister would also achieve level 5 Conservatory in Violin, and level 8 in piano. Such great memories, as we sat in the front seat, having a great profile view of the amazing conductor and the primary violinist. We heard the Magic Flute by Mozart, as well as Brahms incredible pieces.In contrast with the beauty of the Orpheum Theater, and the fine performances, the filth on Granville street etched hard in my memory, as we walked to the Skytrain Station. Countless, homeless, beggars, weekend musicians and line ups to the Commodore pub, police cars littered the street. It was as if I stepped into a city called Sodom. Young women in mini skirts, the smell of pot, and alcohol everywhere was obtrusive. One comfort was having some young folks give us their seat on the train for us 'old folks'. I slept in this morning.
Thursday, February 14, 2019
The Dating Games-An Online War Against True Love
The Dating Games
An Online War Against True Love
A war is being waged against true love. As we celebrate another
Valentine’s Day, I wonder if you will be another civilian casualty.
If the current trends continue, what will the pursuit of marriage be like in twenty years? One new study reports, “Apps are the new norm in dating. . . . By 2040, 70% of people are expected to meet through dating apps.” Why does that cause any concern? Well, because despite all the new and innovative ways to find love, “People are lonelier than ever. . . . One study found that over half of dating app users reported feeling lonely after swiping.” They have called it “the gamification of courtship.”
The fierce irony is that the “game” wounds and devastates so many. Dating websites and apps have ridden in on digital horseback, bearing a dozen roses and declaring their fidelity, but their first love is in your pocket — and they’re jealous lovers. They play the sympathetic matchmaker up front, but they’re more like the Gamemaker in Hunger Games — pulling whatever levers necessary, at whatever cost to you, to get what they really want.
Online dating may have wed its thousands, but it’s wounded its tens of thousands. If you’re wandering out into the crossfire in your own search for marriage, are you awake to the pitfalls?
If the current trends continue, what will the pursuit of marriage be like in twenty years? One new study reports, “Apps are the new norm in dating. . . . By 2040, 70% of people are expected to meet through dating apps.” Why does that cause any concern? Well, because despite all the new and innovative ways to find love, “People are lonelier than ever. . . . One study found that over half of dating app users reported feeling lonely after swiping.” They have called it “the gamification of courtship.”
The fierce irony is that the “game” wounds and devastates so many. Dating websites and apps have ridden in on digital horseback, bearing a dozen roses and declaring their fidelity, but their first love is in your pocket — and they’re jealous lovers. They play the sympathetic matchmaker up front, but they’re more like the Gamemaker in Hunger Games — pulling whatever levers necessary, at whatever cost to you, to get what they really want.
Online dating may have wed its thousands, but it’s wounded its tens of thousands. If you’re wandering out into the crossfire in your own search for marriage, are you awake to the pitfalls?
Who Will Deliver Us?
For all its many weaknesses and perils, old-fashioned courtship did prevent the pursuit of marriage from becoming a playground for digital likes, swipes, and winks. Real-world structure and boundaries meant, for the most part, that pursuing a woman required intentionality, clear communication, patience, and risk. It felt more like buying your first home than renting a movie on iTunes.
Wi-Fi, one of the greatest achievements in communications technology, should have made romance so much easier — more people, less driving, more access. Instead, it seems to have blurred the lines we needed, leaving us even more lonely and less likely to find wedded bliss. The websites and apps have manifestly facilitated random sex and superficial flirtation, but they seem to have done far less to help us find love. Far from solving our problems, they have often multiplied and complicated them, leaving many feeling like we’re driving blindfolded — until the inevitable crash into greater heartache and deeper loneliness.
Who will deliver us from the gamification of our hearts — from this dating scene of death? “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25). Because of him, in the midst of all of the confusion and heartache, we have an anchor and a refuge. We’re no longer condemned by the sins we’ve committed in relationships in the past — by the ways we have wittingly or unwittingly followed the course of this world (Ephesians 2:2) — and we’re not captive to the broken and prevailing dating trends of our day.
Five Reasons to Quit Playing
While the world plays games with sex, romance, and “commitment,” Christ frees us to quit playing and start dating differently — with selflessness and humility, with clarity and intentionality, with patience and sobriety, even if we choose to meet someone online. If you have been wounded by the romantic carelessness of others, or you’re tired of suffering from all the ambiguity, or you simply want to avoid the dangers of dating today, here are five big reasons to beware online.
1. Humility, not vanity, prepares us to love a spouse.
The overwhelmingly popular swipe feature, which allows you to impulsively like or reject people based on their appearance, can poison anyone with pride. The flick of a thumb, so seemingly harmless, threatens to cheapen the image of God. What does God feel when we flippantly swipe a real man or woman, someone he himself wove together, into the trash bin of our phones?
When there were no apps between us, the dynamic was more palpable. You had to reject people to their face (or at least with your voice over the phone), where you were confronted with them as a person, not just as pixels. We don’t have to like or date every man or woman who likes us; we do need to treat them as eternally valuable made ones. Online dating has made it so much easier to treat them as virtually nothing.
The yay-or-nay culture in online dating not only diminishes the value of a person; it also fortifies our walls of pride. The apps and profiles pretend to give us the power to decide what is better or worse, ugly or beautiful in a human being. Instead of leading us to marital bliss, that kind of vanity ruins us for marriage, for the kind of the crucified love that requires Christlike humility at every single turn.
Fill your phone and life with habits that expose vanity and cultivate humility. If you want to love a woman (or man) well, you will need to be relentlessly vulnerable about your own faults and tenaciously patient and compassionate toward hers (or his).
2. Money, not wisdom, fuels online dating.
If you seriously want to be informed, you won’t have to read long to realize that money, not love, drives these companies. They don’t go to sleep at night dreaming about how to get you married. They go to sleep, wake up in the morning, and work extremely hard to make money — from you or anyone else. It’s not personal, but it is incredibly professional.
People have undoubtedly always made money from people who want to marry, but never at this scale and never this pervasively. By some reports, $2.5 billion every year (and growing). After food, shelter, and water, there is no demand higher than love, and Silicon Valley has quickly learned how to turn the demand into millions and millions of dollars. Even if you don’t pay, they’re selling your “free” clicks and likes and connections for advertising.
This does not mean that dating websites or apps are inherently bad, or that godly people may not find their godly spouse through them, but it does mean dating online is inherently dangerous. The apostle Paul warns, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evils” (1 Timothy 6:10).
If your priorities and desires are shaped by Christ, then I’m sure dating websites and apps can be one good way to meet your future spouse — like a pirate ship in the hands of a just captain. I fear, however, that too many Christians have instead reluctantly climbed aboard with Jack Sparrow, expecting to find a stowaway among the crew to marry, while blindly riding into whatever trouble the ship takes them.
3. Perfection is an illusion, not an expectation.
The apps allow you to create the illusion of perfection — and to buy that same illusion from others. No one creates a profile looking for opportunities to highlight their weaknesses and expose their flaws. The whole system is built to make us look (and feel) too good about ourselves — to indulge in (and entice others with) an illusion of ourselves.
Paul says, “By the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (Romans 12:3). Can we really think honestly and soberly about ourselves while we’re busy making ourselves look as good as possible?
Many of us need to be reminded that God’s perfect person for us isn’t all that perfect. Every person who marries is a sinner, so the search for a spouse isn’t a pursuit of perfection, but a mutually flawed pursuit of Jesus. We are not only looking for an almost-perfect husband or wife; we are looking for a man or woman secure enough in Christ to boast in their weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Regardless of the believer you marry (and how well their profile scored), you will likely find out soon that you do not feel as “compatible” as you once did, but hopefully you will marvel more at God’s love for you in Jesus and the amazing privilege it is to live out that love together, especially in light of the ways you consistently disappoint and fail each other.
4. Romance has the power to ruin lives and souls.
Gamification. I wrote this article because of that word — because the word was so grossly (and personally) familiar, and because it was so deeply offensive. I have seen the destruction careless dating can cause because I have been the naïve, reckless, and selfish destroyer. I flirted without any serious intention of pursuing. I let girls wonder if I was leading them on. I played hide-and-seek with the blood-bought hearts of my sisters in Christ. I treated physical intimacy like a hobby.
Game may describe how some of us have treated love, but what we leave behind often looks and feels more like a house leveled by a tornado.
We all want to pretend dating is fun and harmless until we’re the ones harmed while someone else has their fun. But even before we get hurt, we know how much is at stake. We know the springs of life flow from the heart (Proverbs 4:23). We know she was formed by God in her mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13), and given a soul that will last forever. We know the passions of the flesh wage war against us (1 Peter 2:11). We know that we are lured and enticed by our desires into sin, which leads to death (James 1:14).
Romance has as much power as anything to ruin lives and betray souls. When you’re tempted to treat it more like Candy Crush, remember the eternities that are affected by romantic intimacy.
5. Jesus demands (and offers) more.
You cannot avoid this war altogether. Even if you left all the websites and traded in your smartphone, pursuing love will mean being vulnerable to potential heartbreak. The world of online dating simply makes it easier to get hurt. I want you to be wide awake to Satan’s schemes against you. I want you to be prepared for the fiery arrows that will fall on your path to marriage. I also want you to know how people are wounded so that you can love them well in dating, even if you never marry them.
Jesus will demand more of you. Dating how he wants us to will not be convenient, easy, or cheap. It will require extraordinary patience, self-control, and sacrifice — far more than most expect from us online, and far more than we can muster without his moment-by-moment help. The love he demands won’t have the thrill of flirtation, or the mystique of ambiguity, or the adrenaline rush of sexual immorality, but for the first time, it will feel real. Because it will be real. Because it will be filled with him.
A Blanket of Snow
I believe we cannot escape pain in this world. It is the very fabric of human life. The other day, as the fresh snow blanketed our roads, a late winter event, I drove around at the cemetery where Deborah is buried. The white covered branches, and tombstones made it one of the nicest parks that you can imagine. The vast area of memorial plots, and pedicured trails almost felt like I was in another world, had it not been for the few tractors, and one excavation vehicle. I did not get out of the car as the trail was blocked to her plot, yet I had to see the virgin white, vast snow landscape. I have lately longed to be in the world of the dead and not the living. I long for the peace, and the land of no pain, and no tears, and no strife. I have also immersed myself more in books like 'My glimpse of Eternity'. I look forward to seeing Heaven. The pain that surrounds us, however, is temporary. We must realize that this condition is only for a brief time (feeling like a lifetime to some).
I still touch and feel, and see Deborah's pictures, clothing items, and more. Yesterday, I had on her Helly Hansen stag leather boot. My doctor commented on how nice it was. I had to tell him it was Deborah's. My doctor discovered a result of my biopsy in my calf that I injured 10 months ago. The reason I said a result is because another result indicates differently. One biopsy; two results. Am I going insane. So apparently, I got gardeners disease; a fungus that is inside my left calf of my leg. It is as if a cockroach is inside of me, I told my doctor yesterday. My pills are over $8 per day, and I will likely have to take them for six months. I am also putting tee-tree oil on the surface of my closed wound, since a retired doctor told me that tee-tree heals athletes foot and the fungus on it. So life has been arduous to say the least. On this Valentine's Day that the world celebrates, let us be separate from the world, and look to Jesus for our source of daily strength, and joy, and unconditional love.
I still touch and feel, and see Deborah's pictures, clothing items, and more. Yesterday, I had on her Helly Hansen stag leather boot. My doctor commented on how nice it was. I had to tell him it was Deborah's. My doctor discovered a result of my biopsy in my calf that I injured 10 months ago. The reason I said a result is because another result indicates differently. One biopsy; two results. Am I going insane. So apparently, I got gardeners disease; a fungus that is inside my left calf of my leg. It is as if a cockroach is inside of me, I told my doctor yesterday. My pills are over $8 per day, and I will likely have to take them for six months. I am also putting tee-tree oil on the surface of my closed wound, since a retired doctor told me that tee-tree heals athletes foot and the fungus on it. So life has been arduous to say the least. On this Valentine's Day that the world celebrates, let us be separate from the world, and look to Jesus for our source of daily strength, and joy, and unconditional love.
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
"Furiously Happy" Unites Kindred Spirits
‘Furiously Happy’ Unites Kindred Spirits
Jenny Lawson’s best-selling ‘Furiously Happy’ is a humorous account of her struggles with mental illness
Author Jenny Lawson, with tote bag, Sunday among fans at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, Calif. PHOTO: ANNIE
TRITT FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By
Updated Dec. 11, 2015 2:47 p.m. ETThe Wall Street Journal
HANNAH KARP
PASADENA, Calif.
In “Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things,” Jenny Lawson
writes humorously about her struggles with mental illness, expressing
thoughts some of her readers said they’d been afraid to utter aloud.
On her book tour this fall, even her most anxious and agoraphobic fans
have turned out in droves, confessing their secrets, connecting with
kindred spirits and letting loose. Wearing everything from hair curlers
to pajamas, they bear gifts ranging from booze
to taxidermy, and wait hours to get their books signed and share their
struggles with Ms. Lawson.
A typical event feels like a raucous support-group meeting conducted by the funniest stand-up comedian in town.
“Furiously Happy,” which spent eight weeks on the New York Times best-seller
list and has sold 70,000 printed copies, according to Nielsen BookScan,
is a mishmash of funny essays, conversations and what Ms. Lawson calls
“confused thoughts.” The 41-year-old author offers a window into the
mind of someone struggling with anxiety disorder,
impulse-control disorder, avoidant-personality disorder,
obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression, among other ailments. Her
book doesn’t give advice and is intended to show the benefits of being
“a bit touched,” while helping readers laugh at their neuroses.
Flatiron Books Senior Vice President and Publisher Amy Einhorn, Ms.
Lawson’s editor, said there is a “long tradition of books dealing with
depression and mental illness being incredibly popular,” going back to
J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye.” Two books
alongside Ms. Lawson’s on best-seller lists had similar themes: Patrick
Kennedy’s “A Common Struggle” and the young-adult novel “Challenger
Deep.”
Ms. Lawson also has a blog that
gets millions
of visitors each month, one of whom posted this week that his son had
just been treated for “anxiety and depression…nothing stabby.” OnTwitter she
has about 500,000 followers. Twitter is a godsend because “it can be
two in the morning and I can say I’m panicking, and there will be at
least 100 people who are awake,” she said, adding that many tweet their
support. Last month Ms. Lawson inspired hundreds
of people to start tweeting their most awkward moments, a discussion
that went viral.
 |
| Keep reading Below |
Fans of Ms. Lawson at Sunday’s event for the author at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, Calif. PHOTO: ANNIE
TRITT FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
But it is her readings that separate her from other celebrity authors,
attracting devotees who “need special care,” said Heather Duncan, the
marketing director of Denver’s Tattered Cover Book Store. Though other
writers can pull bigger crowds, Ms. Lawson’s
fans bond more and linger longer as she stays until the wee hours
signing each and every book, Ms. Duncan said.
Advertisement
Braving crowds can be a tall order for Ms. Lawson’s readers, but they
are quick to come to each other’s emotional rescue. At one reading this
fall some attendees fashioned a small fort out of their sweaters to give
a panicky fan a place to calm down. At another
reading in Denver, bookstore workers helped out by saving places in the
book-signing line for people who needed to regroup in the bathroom.
Recently, Ms. Lawson crouched beneath the signing table for a photograph
with a fan who couldn’t handle the spotlight.
“Every time when I go out on stage I think I’m going to have a panic
attack, but I see so many people with the same deer-in-the-headlights
look and think, ‘Those are my people!’” said Ms. Lawson, who opened her
jammed reading in Pasadena, Calif., last weekend
by promising her pills would kick in soon.
Ms. Lawson grew up in Wall, Texas, and wrote for various websites and
publications before starting her current blog in 2007. After publishing
her first book, the 2012 memoir “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened,” Ms.
Lawson said, her readings were thronged but
fans weren’t comfortable sharing their own stories. When she started
promoting “Furiously Happy” this fall, though, things were different.
Many fans arrived with friends they said they had made at readings on
her 2012 tour, and they felt more confident that
no one would judge if they “started to freak out a little,” Ms. Lawson
said.
Since September, she said, “I have not had a single reading where I
didn’t have a person whisper to me...‘I’ve never known another person
with trichotillomania’”—a disorder that involves the uncontrollable urge
to pull out one’s hair. (Ms. Lawson recommends
tricks like coconut oil, to make the tactile sensation of pulling less
satisfying.)
The most meaningful insight, she said, came from a formerly suicidal fan
at a reading who showed Ms. Lawson a picture of her children and
thanked her that they still had a mom.
Cayla Newnan, a fan, dressed as Ms. Lawson on Sunday at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, Calif. PHOTO: ANNIE
TRITT FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Among the memorable gifts the author has received: sunglasses decorated
with pills, and a painting that a fan made by using lips as a
paintbrush, kissing the paint and then the canvas. Knitted items are
popular, since many of her fans need something to do with
their hands, she said.
For her recent Sunday-afternoon reading at Vroman’s Bookstore in
Pasadena, some fans arrived five hours early to secure good seats. One
woman standing in the aisle confessed to a friend that she had been
ambivalent about coming because “I’m a fan but not a
huge fan so I worried about taking up the place of a fan.”
Cayla Newnan, a 15-year-old from Woodland Hills, Calif., came wielding a
blow-dryer with curlers in her hair—a homage to how Ms. Lawson appears
on her blog. Chaz Boston Baden, a 52-year-old computer programmer from
Anaheim who said his wife struggles with depression,
came wearing teddy-bear ears glued to a headband. Though Ms. Lawson
writes a lot about her animals, both real and stuffed, Mr. Baden said he
simply likes the ears, which he also wears at science-fiction
conferences.
James Callaghan, a 36-year-old graphic designer from Altadena, Calif.,
said he hadn’t read “Furiously Happy.” But he attended the reading,
bearing cookies and Cheez-It crackers for Ms. Lawson, to thank her for
all the retweets he got after sharing his awkward
moment last month: “That time I told my Art Dept co-worker to use
Photoshop to ‘youthenize’ the old lady in a photo.”
David Buchanan
Authorhttp://www.amazon.com/dp/
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Please Pray
My dear friend who has written the Sparkling Deborah Poem has posted this on her wall yesterday,
Please
pray for my daughter's friends. The wife left her husband because he
was toxic. He stalked her, so she called the police on him. He did not
want to do anything for himself; he relied on his wife to do everything
for him. In the ultimate act of selfishness and control, he hung
himself. His son found his body.
This ungodly man has left a huge mess behind him. His wife should not feel guilty; she put up with him for far too long. Neither should his children feel guilty. He did not provide and protect them like a man ought to. But they are all very likely feeling guilty. Please pray that God will help this family get on a good track, to follow His path.
This ungodly man has left a huge mess behind him. His wife should not feel guilty; she put up with him for far too long. Neither should his children feel guilty. He did not provide and protect them like a man ought to. But they are all very likely feeling guilty. Please pray that God will help this family get on a good track, to follow His path.
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Instagram bans ' graphic' self-harm images after teenager's suicide
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The change appears to be in response to accusations that the platform was partly responsible for the death of Molly Russell, a 14-year-old girl who died by suicide in 2017.
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This comes just weeks after Molly’s father, Ian Russell, told the BBC that he has “no doubt” Instagram helped kill his daughter.
After her death, Molly’s parents explored her Instagram account and were shocked to have easy access to graphic material about depression, suicide and self-harm.
“There were accounts of people who were depressed, or self-harming, or suicidal, and [Molly] had quite a lot of that content,” Russell says. “Some of that content seemed to be quite positive, perhaps groups of people who were trying to help each other out, […] but some of that content is shocking in that it encourages self-harm, [and] it links self-harm to suicide.”
“We didn’t know that anything like that could possibly exist on a platform like Instagram,” says Russell. “And they’re still there.”
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New Instagram policy aims to ‘create safe and supportive community’ for all
In the statement, Mosseri says Instagram created the new policy following consultation with global experts on youth, mental health and suicide prevention.He also makes a distinction between graphic and non-graphic images. The latter will still be allowed on the site, but more difficult to find.
“We are not removing this type of content from Instagram entirely, as we don’t want want to stigmatize or isolate people who may be in distress and posting self-harm-related content as a cry for help,” Mosseri says.
Facebook, which acquired Instagram in 2012, also updated its policy in a similar way, directly citing Molly Russell’s death as a catalyst for the change.
“We constantly re-examine how we’re doing as we develop new products or see people using our services in new ways,” Facebook’s global head of safety, Antigone Davis, said in a statement. “And that’s what we’ve done following the tragic death of a young girl by suicide in the UK.”
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Banning graphic images is a step in the right direction, expert says
According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, roughly 4,000 Canadians die by suicide each year, and it’s the second most common cause of death among young people.It’s unclear whether there’s a direct link between media that portrays self-harm behaviours and actually engaging in them.
However, according to Dr. Antoon Leenaars, a Windsor-based clinical psychologist, social media can have influence. “We also know that if the person has depression, they are even more vulnerable.”
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For Leenaars, regulation is key.“Global News probably has some media guidelines about reporting suicides. However, with platforms like Instagram, there’s no control about what’s said, how it’s said, how factual it is and how sensational it is,” Leenaars told Global News.
“What is the benefit of having graphic pictures… except for sensationalism?”
While Leenaars supports Instagram’s new policy, he wants to stress that there were likely other factors which influenced Molly’s death. “I agree with the father that, in all likelihood, this social media impacted his daughter,” Leenaars says. “Is that the sole cause of it? That’s really a hard thing to say.”
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There’s still more to be done
For Fardous Hosseiny, the national director of research and public policy at the Canadian Mental Health Association, accessibility and stigma are the biggest roadblocks to suicide prevention.“In general, the system needs to be transformed. When you injure yourself [physically], you can see a doctor within a couple of days… but when it comes to mental illnesses and mental-health challenges, our system has six- to 12- to 18-month wait times,” Hosseiny told Global News.
While people wait, their mental illness gets worse, and they often result in suicide because they have no other ways to cope, he says.
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Part of that system is social media, which can function like informal peer support, Hosseiny says.“Some people are reluctant to have a face-to-face conversation about things like this, but they might have an online group where they can just type a message. If we put the right protocols in place and the right framework in place, we can leverage social media for good.”
However, policy can be slow to change. In the meantime, if you’re worried about someone on your feed, reaching out is the best thing you can do.
“Usually, those people are looking […] to create a safe environment for dialogue,” says Hosseiny. “One thing we know about suicide is that if you talk to someone that’s showing [worrisome behaviour], it’s not going to increase their likelihood of attempting suicide.”
Where to get help
If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help, resources are available. In case of an emergency, please call 911 for immediate help.
The Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, Depression Hurts and Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868 all offer ways of getting help if you, or someone you know, may be suffering from mental-health issues.
Meghan.Collie@globalnews.ca
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