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You can email me at karenlynnvirtual@gmail.com if you need help with copywriting or marketing.

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Not Being Heard

Article Written By: Karen Moore

 I hate the term "labeled," especially in the education system. I was in Special Education from grade 2, to senior year. I was placed because I am deaf on my left side, but I was still as smart as the other students. What happened, was the school called my mom in to discuss putting me into what they called "a resource room," and I did not understand what that was, being only 7 years old at the time.

As the years went by, especially in middle school, I started to notice the difference in my books towards the books of mainstreamed students. I noticed that my books were very low leveled, while their books are higher in skill. This seemed to concern me, because I wanted to have a chance to be as smart as a normal 7th grade student.

I would have IEP meeting, where OTHERS would discuss what was best for me, and what my goals should be. I felt like I was not even in the room, even though the whole conversation was about me. I remember one time I went to my teacher and asked her, "can I please be mainstreamed for creative writing?" All I got was "I am sorry, but your to slow to learn with NORMAL students." Now, that made me feel sick to my stomach, because how the heck would she possibly know about my potential?

Then fact of the matter was that I always got A's in English and writing was my talent. It is sick to me, knowing that all these people who have Bachelors degree’s or higher, were telling me that I was too slow. I fought and fought for years to be mainstreamed, but no one heard me. I finally did get mainstreamed for Science in 11th grade, but by then it was too late, because how would I ever catch up all those grade levels before graduation? 

I was still excited about the opportunity, and found out that I was the first student to memorize all the bones in the body. It felt so smart for once in my life, and it was a wonderful moment for me. As time went by, graduation came. I remember not wanting to go, because I felt that when I get my diploma, I would not be taking it as a actual senior, but a senior whose on the 5th grade level of everything. I remember looking at the faces of the rest of the graduates and envying them. I wondered where all of them were going to college, and what their dreams are. My dreams did not seem to matter, but at the time I knew I was going to Berklee College of Music Summer Program, and was excited because I am a good singer. The thing is after the summer program, I got accepted but they wanted to much money, so I could not go.

My mom was so depressed about me not wanting to go, but I told her it is ok. I will find my purpose and be successful in it. Well, that was 16 years ago, and now I am sitting here writing this post, and telling you this story. My life did not end up how I wanted it so far, but I never give up. It took me teaching myself 7 years of schooling to catch up to even get my associates degree in criminal justice. I never got to use it, because evidentially there were no jobs for my degree. 

Now I am 36, and I work at a Home Care Aide, and I like it, but it is not exactly what I want to do forever. So I enrolled in Penn Foster Freelance Writer program, and I am going to see where it takes me. 

The point of this post is to say that labeling is damaging. Like in the beginning, I did not have a learning disability, I was just deaf on left side, but because of the actions that were taken with my education, it caused me to be kept back. Being slow, and being kept back are two different things, because If I would of had the opportunity to learn, and remain on the same level of academics as the other students, I would of been fine. I do not want other students to go through what I had to go through. 

I remember, after Berklee I went to Lehigh Carbon Community College, because they were offering a free 2 year scholarship to graduates from my high school. I went to study to be a special education teacher, but ended up flunking out. Do you know how frustrating it is to be sitting In a classroom, surrounded by students who were way ahead of you, and then hearing the professor saying “now all of you should know this from learning it during senior year.” 

It was so painful to know that I did not learn what they had the opportunity to learn. I find it crappy that if your in Special Education, and have IEP’s, that they still talk you into going to college without even realizing that you were kept back so many years. It is like a sick game to them, I think. They get to sit their with their degree’s and over power my life, and future. They do not have to live my future, or the future of other special needs students they screw over, the student does. 

I have three autistic cousins who are very talented artists, and one is also an expert on the computer. Now in school they are labeled as special needs, and they have had their education chosen FOR them, and not BY them also. The thing is nothing can find their true skills, but with the school system holding them back, they did not meet the other requirements to flourish in college, to enrich their natural skills. 

I hate knowing that other students are going through the same thing now, as I did back then. There is no reason why I had to start everything at 36 years of age, rather than 18. Now being a adult student is not nothing to be ashamed of at all, and I admire other adults who decide to go back to school. I am just saying that my life would of turned out a lot different if I was not held back for student reasons. Being deaf on one side, does not make you slow. Yes, it is a disability but when I was in junior high, I met another student who was deaf on her right side. The thing was she was mainstreamed for all her classes, so why am I in the resource room, and not her? 

Well I happen to also have a condition called Goldenhar Sydrome, for which no one really knows what it is, due to it being rare. Goldenhar Syndrome affects you physically, and not mentally. Again, physical limitations does not make you learning disabled either. I just do not understand why school systems let so many kids fall through the cracks. It is like punishing them for having disabilities in the first place. It is already hard enough to be different, and teased, and made fun of, but to be held back academically, when physical disabilities have nothing to do with your mind, is horrific. 

I just hope that in the future, that IEP’s decide to do things differently. Special education students need to be heard, and not commanded. To the school administers out there. Please, your not the one who has to live their future, they are. All students if capable of learning more, should be able to have the choice to do so. No one’s dreams should be pulled away for having a physical disability, and they should have the right to also reach for the stars, just as you want the other students to do so.

Now, to all the special needs students who are not being heard. Listen to me, never give up on your hopes, and dreams. If they do not listen to you, make them. Speak up, and stand up and be noticed for your ability and not your disability. You have the right to achieve your potential, and your dreams. Yes, I fought too, but not strong enough. I still fell through the cracks, but it did lead me to this point to right this post. No not shout, or cause disturbance, but make yourself noticed, and heard, and never let anyone be little you. Be true to who you are, and be strong. 

I have hopes for the future of school systems around the world, and I know without a doubt, more special needs students will stand up, and say “I want to be heard, now hear me.”

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Reach Within

Article Written By: Karen Moore

Take some advice from me. Do not let your natural skills slip away. Do not let yourself get older, and have regrets floating in your mind. Take an opportunity, to reach deep within yourself and embrace your true skills. Then find ways to turn them into potential avenues of business. We all have natural abilities, and I fear that most of us really ignore them. Life is short, and you can make it awesome if you embrace your full potential. I have faced many obstacles though out my 36 years of life, and I never seemed to be able to find myself. With everything that is going on in the world, it seems to trigger a sense of panic within me, to which I then feel that I have wasted my life doing either what others wanted me to do, or what I just had to do. I know there are sometimes situations where you have to do things that you do not want too just to get by, or things that are needed for reasons that were important. Do not get stuck doing something that you do not enjoy, or stuck doing nothing at all. I love my job that I have currently. I am a Home Care Aide, and I enjoy it, but the fact of the matter is, it is not what I really see myself doing forever. I always lived by the motto "as long as it helps others, I will do it." Now, that doesn't mean you will enjoy it, but helping others is good. The thing is, you can help others by doing the very thing that you actually love doing. Yes, it is possible to get stuck doing something you do not enjoy, while helping others. My strong skills, are singing, writing, public speaking, and I am very creative. I am also a logical thinker, and know that I am not 100% happy of where my life is today. The thing is that I can change it if I have the determination. Now that I have money from working, I am able to do this writing program, and get myself one step closer to my goal. I can help people with my words, and its good because I am very empathetic. Being a writer will also help me reach people, and inspire people. I feel that words have power, and can create positive changes in the world, and to be honest we need a lot more of that. So many people in the medical field now are trying so hard to help others, but at the same time they are worried about getting that virus. It actually does suck to actually be doing what you love, but at a risk of your own health, so I give them a lot of applause. Anyways, if your not happy with what your doing now, then may I suggest for you to get a piece of paper, and a pen and jot down what you feel you are good at. Write all of your natural skills, and even think about your past. What were you good at as a child, and has that skill stayed with you through out growing up? If you forget your natural gifts, then truly you forget what makes you who you are. If you are doing something, just because you have too, and if you have time, or the opportunity to make a change, then make it. Do not do it for others, but for yourself. If you do want to help others, then take care of yourself first, and then you will be better off to help others. Have you ever heard of the saying "you can not help others, if you can not help yourself?" With everything that is going on right now, most people are taking their business's and turning them into home based ones. That is technically my plan as well, with my writing. Now if I do get my Real Estate license, I will work from home, but meet clients at different locations. My plan is to be a buyers agent, which is someone who helps people find their dream home. I am not into listing at all, so I feel the buyers route is for me. But like I said, if I do not pass my proctor exams, I will not get sad because I am fall back on writing. Destiny, and fate are funny things because we actually end up where we are supposed too. The thing is, it does not mean that certain people are not meant to help you along the way, and guide you to your final destination. So, please grab that piece of paper, and pen and research yourself and see where it takes you. You might be surprised to find out that maybe your just meant to leave a great big beautiful mark in this world.

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I Know That I Would Make a Great Copywriter.

I often think “why the heck am I a Personal Care Assistant?” Now don't get me wrong. I love helping people, and it is very rewarding, but it is not my dream job. I haven't had luck in my past, education wise. Let me tell you a little about me, and why I feel that I would make a great copywriter. 

I was born very very early in the morning at 2:50am, in March of 1984. My mom practically had to yell for me, due to the fact that I was immediately rushed out of the room. From what mom told me, the doctor and two nurses came to talk to her. They said “I am sorry but your baby girl will always be helpless, and mute, and slow. She will not be able to talk or communicate either. We believe that she is also missing internal organs, and we feel that she will not be able to eat.”

Can you even imagine just what my mom was thinking, or feeling at that moment? I would hate to have someone come to me, and tell me something like that if I had a baby. Mom, then went to the nursery, and saw my dad. My dad was crying, and as my mom approached him he said “Debbie, the baby does not have a ear.” As he continued to weep, mom walked up to the screen and saw me in a incubator. All she did was think that I was adorable. She later found out that the reason I could not eat, was because I was born with a cleft palate. A cleft palate is when you are born without a roof of your mouth. 

Mom came to the hospital everyday to teach me how to drink from a bottle. It took her only a month, and I got off the tubes, and was able to be taken home. I love my mom very much for not giving up on me. Growing up was hard, it was operation after operation. I was born with a rare condition called Goldenhar Syndrome. It is when you born with one ear, cleft palate, crocket jaw.  It is also when your left side of your body grows slower than your right side, and all your bones and organs on the left are small than the right. 

Even though my life was hard, and I did get teased a lot in school when I got older. I always had this feeling that I could not escape. It followed me everywhere. It was a feeling that I was here for something great, but it annoyed me because I didn't know what the great thing was. I discovered when I was 10 that I had a college level reading and writing level. I was shocked, and I then began testing it out. 

I started writing short stories, and reading them to my class. The teasing seemed to calm down because they enjoyed my stories. I wrong adventure stories, and poems. The older I got, I kept writing and thought a lot about special needs students. The reason for that is because I was in Special Education. I did not really let it both me till I was in 7th grade. I remember covering my books with paper bags and hiding them in study hall, because my books were a way lower level than the mainstream students.  One day when I was in 9th grade, I wanted to be mainstreamed for a creative writing class. I went up to my teacher and asked her, and do you know what she said to me?

“Sorry Karen but your to slow to work with normal students.” Can you believe that? It felt like she stabbed me in my stomach. Years of going to my IEP meetings, and they were all about me getting a head, but here I am totally shut down for wanting to get a head. I had a hearing teacher named Mr.Gaydos, and he even agreed with me that it was not fair. Writing is my strong point, and I would not be slower than the other students. 

3 years went by, and now I am graduating high school. I did not feel excited about graduating at all. When the other student were getting their diploma’s, I was getting mine while being on a 5th grade level for all my subjects. I fought, and fought to be mainstreamed, but they never heard me. Now, they expect me to go to college, when I don't even know how to long divide. 

I did go to Lehigh Carbon Community College, but flunked out due to the fact my GPA wasn't high enough. I was studying Special Education, and I got passing grades in all my teacher topic classes, but failed my academic ones. I felt lost, and sad, and disappointed in myself. 

I eventually studied, and taught myself the 7 years of schooling that I was robbed of, and ended up graduating with my degree in Criminal Justice in 2010. The say I graduated from McCann School of Business with my degree, I felt so happy that I cried. I always knew I had this feeling that I could do anything, and I did. I still had that feeling that I was here for something big, but still did not know what it was. 

Now its 2020, and I am 36 years old. I am currently working as a Personal Care Assistant, like I said earlier. Now I know this article is called Why I would Make a Great Copywriter, and I would be. The point of this article was to get to know facts about me as a person, and then believe that I have the confidence, and the heart to achieve my dream of becoming a freelance copywriter. Thank you

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We are Like Phoenix’s

If you think about it, we are all like Phoenix’s. What I mean is that we are all passionate about something, or someone. We get built up for happiness, and then maybe knocked down for disappointments. Hopefully, when we get knocked down, we rise up. We begin to refocus, and start over on a new endeavor. 

Let me share my experience please. My marriage is over, but in the beginning I loved my wife so much. We just could not get enough of each other, and I thought she was my forever. We been together since 2012, and married in 2015. She took off due to  her own self centeredness in 2017, and it broke my heart. I was at that time a phoenix turning into ashes symbolically. 

As time went on, I was just dust of sadness and depression. Then a friend of mine showed me about a job in home care. I became interested in it, and started reading bout it. I needed something to help me get my mind off the pain that I was going though. Usually helping others, helps me heal, so I went for it. I had my interview, and got the job. The feeling I had walking out of the building, after my interview was like I was rising to a new beginning. 

The ashes of my sadness were slowly rising up, and I felt a little less pain. As time went on, and I was making money, and it was building. I was able to buy a car, that was all mine. Now buying that car made me feel accomplished. Basically because my wife always drove my old car, and pawned all my stuff. When she left, I had basically nothing to my name anymore. When I drove my car off the lot, I went like I grew wings and can fly. 

My ashes were now a new phoenix on a great adventure of a new life. I was to busy smiling to even shed one tear. Yes, my wife will always be a painful memory, but its about how you take it. If you concentrate all the time on the negative energies of that bad memory, then you will be full of bad energies also. Bad energies such as crying, depression, isolation, and anger maybe. 

But then you can just see it as a bad memory, and that is all. With all the good that was in my life at that time, it amazingly defeated the negative energies. Now we all can learn from our bad experiences, and I feel that maybe my bad experience did give me a little strength to be curious about my job. 

Now its almost 3 years later, and I am still a phoenix, and have hope to become a stay at home copywriter, or a content writer.  I know that I can do it, and I know if you are down, and sad its ok. You are also a phoenix, and you will rise.

#writer #copywriting #contentwriting

[karenblogs]

Through this Corona Virus, I have heard and seen things that are driving me nuts. First they says it started in China, and now apparently it started here in America. First it spreads though sneezing or coughing, and then its all about 5G. Now I am hearing about a vaccine that we might have to get to control the population of the earth. 

Apparently the vaccine contains a chip that will help 5G kill you faster. I find this to be stupid, and ridiculous. I go out and I see people wearing masks to keep them safe from catching this virus, but apparently virus’s can not be caught that way through sneezing or coughing. This whole thing is just getting out of control, and frankly I do not know anyone who is sick from this virus. 

I am tired of hearing people telling me that its the end of the world. I am not Christian, but I even know that Jesus said that no one will know the end time, that even the son does not know when. When things like this happen, I can understand people getting upset, but when different answers of the source keep appearing, then you must have to get curious. I start asking questions like “ok, then where did this virus start?” or “ Is the government up to something, and think that we are all stupid to it?”

All I know is, if you wanna take precautions to protect yourself and your family, then that is fine. There is nothing wrong with being safe, and honestly I feel since we do not know that truth, that being safe is the most logical answer. The thing that annoys me is that no one knows the RIGHT source, and I am sick of all these paranoid theories out there. I live everyday being safe, and just getting though the day. I guess it sucks though, cause what if I need toilet paper? LOL