#adult me is cool & my inner child & teenage self love her & that’s all that matters

[eternalamaranth]

There’s truly so much freedom in knowing who you are. 🌟

[vasiktomis]

The Father’s Grooming of Faith Seed

That’s right, it’s an analysis in defence of (the late current) Faith, mostly in her younger years. Please scroll past if you’re not interested in this take. Please also keep in mind that these are personal opinions that I’m pulling based on game backstory and character portrayal, but I’m not without my biases. I wholly support members of the fandom who enjoy Faith being empowered in her evil, but it’s just not for me. I’m writing from the perspective of a former homeless youth, and while most of my thoughts are a personal interpretation of gameplay and conjecture from lazy writing limited information, I believe that I do have some insight into what Rachel may have gone through in terms of her attraction to Joseph and her recruitment into the Project at Eden’s Gate. Warnings under the cut: Mentions of child grooming, drug use and misuse, indoctrination, abuse, religious trauma. It’s Far Cry.

Yes, she’s flawed and she’s an absolute shite of a person. She’s a cultist. She’s a liar. She’s just as forceful and twisted in her indoctrination as Jacob and John are. Her methods are awful, and she’s complicit when it comes to Joseph’s orders and his corruption.  No Seed sibling is anything short of a monster, and Faith is no exception.

At the end of the day, though, she WAS a kid when she was recruited by the cult. Before Joseph found Jacob, he’d already committed atrocities. Before he found John, the lawyer was a corrupt executive and a sadist.  Rachel was a rough-sleeping teenager with one friend. She absolutely grew into the monster that she would become in her 20′s and there’s no excuse for her actions as an adult, but just as Jacob and John’s traumas were used against them in fostering their dependence on Joseph, so was hers.  What makes Joseph’s influence over his adopted sister so much more insidious is that he couldn’t rely on family sentiment in recruiting her initially. Instead, he found a lost child and manipulated her naivety and her desperation for acceptance.

Rachel was a minor who was groomed by a strange man in his 30′s, and no resident adult stepped in to prevent this from happening.

I realise there are many fans who disagree with the point I’m making here about the vulnerability of Rachel’s youth, but your brain has not even developed fully by 25, let alone 17. She was a minor, and no matter the claims that she was happy to go along with the cult from the start, I believe her when she says that she was drugged by Joseph and forced to take on her role as Faith Seed.

The earliest information we have on Faith is tidbits from her teenage years. In-game dialogue from locals like Tracey and Virgil.

Disregarding the argument over whether she is or isn’t Rachel Jessop, Faith’s overall sentiment remains the same: She was a child without a community of adult role models. She and Tracey were drawn to commune-style living in their teen years before the Seed brothers arrived in Hope County. They had both turned to drugs, and were ostracised by the locals. Rachel grew up in absence of a safe space. She had little guidance, and those she could depend on and confide in were, well...pretty much just Tracey.  Neither had healthy guardians to steer them in the right direction. They were on their own, and despite being of an age where (in an optimistic setting) their developmental needs should have been met by responsible adults, they were instead brought up without aid, and without acceptance.

Tracey mentions Rachel’s people-pleasing habits from way back in their childhood, even in the days where they hadn’t started living with the Project. She avoided conflict and wanted to be liked. She didn’t understand that acting as if everything was fine didn’t necessarily make it so.  I applaud Tracey’s scepticism of Joseph, and her ability to see through what was happening early on when the two of them first joined the Project, but I don’t blame Faith for her blindness to it.  She’s not even old enough to graduate high-school at this point. She’s been ostracised from an early age. She’s been swept under the rug. She’s got suicidal ideation and no one in this world loves her. What wisdom is she supposed to have gained? Tracey might be strong enough to carry on with the ‘us against the world’ mantra, but Rachel doesn’t want conflict. She wants a community to take part in, and to be understood and accepted. One day, the enigmatic leader of their church shows up. Everyone in the Project worships him. His importance is in their very scripture. He’s their Prophet. He, of all people, takes a liking to Rachel.  It’s easy to point the finger and judge her naivety, but when you’re a displaced kid and a cool adult takes a shining to you, it’s very fucking difficult to resist keeping away from them. It’s very fucking easy to get star-struck by what appears to be a healthy role model, even if your friend knows better than to buy into it.

I grew up with a lot of friends who dated college guys when we were in high-school, and the argument was pretty similar. Most of us were able to see how insidious it was from the outside, but when you’re the minor in that scenario, it’s not the adult whose attention and affection and praise of you is wrong; it’s the other kids. They don’t understand. They’re jealous. You’re special. You’re mature beyond your years. Smarter than them. That’s why you’re hanging around adults and they aren’t. Reading Rachel’s letters to Tracey at the church, in which she implies Tracey’s envy over her spending more time with the cult than with her, I felt that Rachel’s lens had by this point been entirely clouded by Joseph’s influence. She cared about her friend and wanted to keep her by her side, but she’s entirely unable to compromise the feeling of acceptance that she’s found with Joseph.  He’s all-knowing and all-loving. He understands and forgives. Everyone loves him, and because he puts Rachel on a pedestal, they love her too. Tracey disrupts this. Tracey doesn’t fucking get it. Tracey is the poison. 

Rachel was Joseph’s best prospect for a new Faith. She was a blank slate and she’d obey him in earnest. She wouldn’t doubt him, because she never knew any better. She was legitimately happier in the Project than she was on the outside, and her honest belief helped to quell arguments of corruption and ulterior motive. She was pretty. She could sing and dance, and once they cleaned her up a little, she’d make for a perfect Siren.  Typical of an abuser, Joseph successfully isolated Rachel from her circle. By now, he was likely her only voice of guidance. He and his terrifying older brother who has sworn to protect them no matter the cost, and his charismatic younger brother who gives her pep talks and knows what it feels like to suffer from drug misuse. Joseph helped Jacob bounce back from post-traumatic dissociation. He saved John from self-imposed hell. He could help Rachel, too. I believe that Rachel was invited to take the role of Faith, and instructed to get clean in order to do so. That at some point amongst her attempts to stop using, when she was totally alone and suffering from withdrawal, her invitation wasn’t nearly as loving as it once was. It became an ultimatum.  I believe Rachel was given a heavier dose of scopolamine than Joseph claims they gave her. That in her lowest moments, her role model fed her the fear of banishment should she turn back. With the added aid of a powerful drug that massively affects decision-making and short-term memory, Joseph forced Rachel to destroy her identity and assume the role of Faith Seed. Whether or not she recalls this due to being under the influence at the time, I’m not sure, but the Bliss has set her free, and she’s now the Herald who will help recruits take the same leap she did. She’s in Joseph’s inner circle now. She’s trusted enough to be exposed to the ugly side of the Project, and while the view from the top isn’t nearly so wonderful as it once sounded, Faith Seed has no life to return to. She only has Joseph, and he knows it. She’s just as dependent on him now as his brothers are, and if she doesn’t please him, she won’t just lose that sense of acceptance she’s been chasing since she was a teenager. She’s too close to him now to know that the other Faiths didn’t just quit. They were disposed of. Once upon a time, Rachel wanted to die. Now she’s terrified that she just might.

[very-grownup]

THE YEAR IS 2020 AND I WATCHED NEON GENESIS EVANGELION FOR THE FIRST TIME, MOVIE EDITION

Some brief thoughts on the movies with the possibly huge caveat that I liked the end of Neon Genesis Evangelion and I don't think you can retroactively "fix" art.

Evangelion: Death and Rebirth. My friends told me this was basically a recap of the series followed by an "explanation" of the ending and I feel I cannot overstate how /good/ this series was throughout and including the movies at reusing, repurposing, recutting material. So throughout Death it felt less like a recap and more like Anno trying to condense the salient points he might have had reason to think the audience missed? There's a really good moment where it's that awkward first meal in Misato's apartment with her and Shinji and the audio from one of Misato's inner monologues about her struggle to be good for her mother and good enough to be loved by her father is used and ... that's the core. That's Misato, that's Shinji, that's why Misato tries to be what Shinji needs and also can't be what he needs, why she ultimately fails him, and it's such an important thing to underscore because the core of the series is Shinji's inner self.

I'm also interested in the one bit that's used twice, near the beginning and again at the end of Death, which is Shinji and Kaworu's final confrontation in the underground tang ocean. Like, that's indicative of how well this stuff is done. It's not a recap, it's a framing.

Rebirth is the "explanation" of the end of the series where I guess explanation means "NERV and all the robot stuff" because I think this is never not the same ending as the series, with the congratulation tang world. It's just congratulation tang was inside Shinji (important).

NERV, the robots, all that stuff (not important but very cool to look at and a useful conduit for information about Shinji and the people who inform Shinji as the series is happening) basically goes to fuck with MAGI getting hacked and the UN bombing NERV and killing everyone.

Shinji is inert and passively trying to die while Misato saves him and tries to propel him to action. Asuka is put in her EVA for protection and discovers the soul of her dead mother inside it and regains the will to do some badass fighting and throws a battleship at tanks. Rei has broken Gendo's damaged glasses and is hanging out mysteriously and nakedly in a tang vat until Gendo comes to her but like ... the kids are all essentially returned to some aspect of their square one. Shinji is passive and non-responsive, without will to live. Asuka is furious and fighting and confident and the confidence feels false, wrong in the way the congratulation applause in the tang felt wrong. Rei is once more an unknowable cypher. And then MASS PRODUCED WINGED EVA UNITS CIRCLE DOWN ALL RELIGIOUSLY. END.

Because throughout the series no one has really been interested in helping these damaged, lonely kids with their problems and the adults are all operating at mysterious cross purposes, of course what was happening outside the tang congratulations was fucking disaster war.

There's also a bit at the beginning of Rebirth that I guess I should acknowledge happening where Shinji goes to see Asuka comatose in the hospital and wants her to wake up to save him because she's the proactive one who /does/ things and isn't afraid. So he's shaking her and crying and jerks her body around and her bare breasts are exposed and he masturbates and feels horrible about it but I'm honestly more interested in what direction was given to Megumi Ogata for "sad masturbating teenage boy noises" than the scene itself. Like, Shinji hates himself, Shinji's disgusted by himself, Shinji does not feel he can trust himself, his body, his impulses, anything. Everything's tainted and violence and the self-loathing is all-consuming.

End of Evangelion, I am told, is the response to people hating Death and Rebirth which in turn was a response to people wanting a "real" ending to the series and this is why you should never let fans dictate you work to you and also why you can't /fix/ art. It contains all the stuff from Rebirth and maybe after a certain point you'd notice the "real" ending is all the stuff from the last real ending and understand that /was/ the ending, that everything else is a coda or a post-script that is elaborating on what was already there. Nothing in either of these films /changes/ the final episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

But fuck does End of Evangelion allow Anno to append some gorgeous and horrifying visuals to the series. Like we get a look at the mass produced white, winged EVAs and WOW I HATE THEM and their weird smooth lizard heads with white human teeth and red lips pulled into smiles.

Gendo and Rei, by the tang spa? Part of her arm just /falls off/ and there's the little nubin of white bone jutting from the remains of her shoulder and Gendo puts his hand INTO HER and draws it downward so she can make him one with his dead wife once more.

Asuka's EVA is unplugged and runs out of power after she's defeated the white EVAs and then they regenerate and she tries to muster up the energy to fight them again and a spear /pieces her head/ and goes through her eyes and the white EVAs swarm her like vultures. The white EVAs /eat her/ and expose her EVA's entrails and leave her and the EVA ruined and then just pepper her all over with even more spears and she's writhing and contorted with agony, dying, and they're flying away.

Rei rejects Gendo and goes to merge with Adam Lilith Trevor but not before Ritsuko shows up to shoot Gendo, only to get shot herself, and Rei goes into Adam Lilith Trevor and they are one and the purple ... faceplate? Mask? Falls off and underneath the face becomes Rei's.

Misato dies getting Shinji to the robot, sending mixed messages and good lessons mixed with bad right until the end, but ultimately Shinji doesn't get in the robot, the robot awakens and forces Shinji into the robot and there's a massive surfacing and laser wings and screaming.

End of Evangelion: there's a lot of screaming.

Rei becomes a terrifying giant and guess what /everyone is turned into the orange tang/ except Gendo who gets eaten by the EVA and screaming traumatized Shinji who is kind of forced to be the key in a sephiroth arrangement in space by the white EVAs. Shinji's ego dissolves and he and his EVA become a new world tree and there are eyes all over it and that's how giant Rei can turn the whole world to tang and it's visually stunning, there's so much cool visual stuff but it's not really telling us anything new. It feels like the animated version of having a really solid five page essay and being told you need to hand in a ten page one. So you tweak the font size, the margins, the spacing. You pad out the word count by restating things unnecessarily. Maybe some of those redundant sentences are beautiful, maybe they're better than what you originally wrote in some aesthetic sense ... but they're saying the same thing.

The Human Instrumentality Project is about saving humanity by destroying it, finding safety and understanding by removing individuality. With no separation of self and other there can be no hurt, no betrayal, no lies, no being alone. That still happens. That still has a great appeal to a psychologically troubled child who has only known abandonment and disappointment and being seen by others only when he has value to contribute to their goals.

The addition to that brought by End of Evangelion is Shinji having dialogue with Rei and Kaworu about what is lost in choosing the tang and explicitly coming to choose leaving the tang and becoming an individual again, even knowing it comes with pain. I don't think that's a change to the original ending so much as it is an explicit acknowledgement that the series ending was not good or real or happy for Shinji, but neither is the ending when Shinji chooses individuality and pain and risk.

There isn't a happy ending for what Neon Genesis Evangelion was really about, there isn't a simple happy ending for Shinji (or Rei or Asuka), there's just figuring out that you are someone who deserves to continue to get to choose, no matter how fucked up you are.

And when the giant Rei gets her head sliced from her neck and it falls and you see the individual bones from her spine fall, that's really fucking cool. There's so much here that's /really fucking cool/. But nothing that made me cry like Shinji being made to destroy Tohji.

I'm glad I watched both movies with my friends tonight. Anno's an incredibly skilled director, but I think it's that skill combined with the messy, raw emotional core of the series that's made the series so iconic.

Shinji's a good kid and '90s weeb culture did the series dirty.

[p-k-dreamin-blog]

This is the life I’ve settle

1. Emotional Obstacles  🤔

Like I’ve always said in the previous projects, I think the most emotional obstacles I’ve met in my high school years, even more in my entire life until now, is the decision that moves to America and abandoned everything and everyone I had and loved. I won’t say it’s sentimental or tragical to leave the people all around me and the place I’ve lived for fifteen years, because that is how the things going on, leave your hometown, leave your family, encounter new people with new personalities, it’s everyone’s life. We have to get used to it. For me, an immigrant as a Junior student, it is just like have the opportunities to experience the mood swings: from excitement to depression, from joy to sorrow, from inner harmony to inner chaos. Even though I always heard elder people talk about how the old friendships go and new friendships develop, I’ve thought it would always have a way to maintain a relationship and never fade away, “how a friendship that is so stable and seems forever to die in the future? It makes no sense.” But the truth is, when I moved to a new country and went through such much things, I think I become more and more lazy to talk with my friends on phones. Am I only a virtual character to them? It seems like they also have the same feeling as me. How to find the best distance between a relationship? I’m considering. If the distance is so close we would fear more and be a coward when we really need to say goodbye and fuddle ourselves in the pathetic emotions; so how about pushing away the distance? We would possibly become more and more cold-blooded without realizing. I mean, I think the human being is just like other animals in the world, we need to accompany, to avoid the sense of loneliness, but we are more complicated. We have the emotions that most of the animals don’t have, jealous, suspicious, arrogant, the way we express our hate, and the way we express our love. I’m feared to pull the relationships so close to anyone and feared to push the relationships so far to them. All the people I’ve met, whether I like or dislike, they’re a lesson to me in some ways, if I appreciate them they are even the treasures, and I don’t want them either slip away from me or destroyed by time.

2. Past Actions 😏 🛫 🗽

I still remember in last year’ today and before the summer break, how I tried to persuade my parents to buy the air tickets and pre-order ten days and almost two months of vacation rentals in my hometown. I made a promise, then I did it, without any bargaining with my parents and hesitation to put into effect. I remember the feeling when I woke up at 8:00 AM on weekends, lock myself in my study room and spent three hours a day to memorize three hundred SAT vocabularies without rest; faced the mirror to practice my spoken English; and squeeze my time to prepare presents to my old friends. But now when I recall all these memories. Am I doing these hard work for myself, or to others? My uncle taught me when I was a child that never live for others in your lifetime, live for yourself. Yes, I improved my overall English skills in one year, got 1400+ on SAT and a good GPA, successfully earned my air tickets two times as I promised. However, I also remember how I laughed at my favorite shopping mall’ square when I called my mother to tell her I broke up with my Ex, I can’t say I did nothing wrong in the relationship, I just felt so funny, and I understood that there is actually something in the world that you can’t trade with hard work. But what would I become if I don’t try too hard to earn the air tickets？ Wander around for my entire Junior year? Give up the SAT because I noticed that there’s such a test too late? Only social with Chinese friends and avoid unnecessary communication with English speakers? For now, I can’t imagine what I will become if I don’t even try to do all of them. The experience when I went back taught me an unforgettable lesson, and I guess I just get my rewards in a way that leads me to become a more complete and sober person in the future.

3. Current Inactions 😑

I don’t really have something that I regret for my Senior year, just like when I tried to make a wish on my Birthday party when I blew the candles on my cake, I can’t think out anything I want for now. I have the friends that like me, a room that I decorated with a pair of big French windows, a lovely golden retriever, and a pair of AJ1 in my favorite colorway. For my Senior year, I took the classes that are challenging but also good for my future; I lay down burdens and bad memories and have a brighter view for future; I met the coolest teacher. If I really have some inactions to say, I would say I could call my old friends more frequently and let them know how much I miss them; and I could put more efforts on my classes and earned even better grades, but I’m also cool with the grades I have now.

4. Legacy (Best Friend)  👺

Hmm…. It’s really a more difficult question to think than my family members. Webber Yamaura is my best Japanese friend, and also my best of my best friends because we shared a similar taste on food, animes, Japanese TV dramas, he is the closest friend I had in my previous school, and few of the people that I would share both happiness and sadness in my high school years. I like him because of the way he tries to make me laugh when I was depressed or stressed out and how we live together before I move to America for days and after I returned to my hometown. I will use his tone to write a legacy for me.

At the very beginning, I apologize for my hesitation to write this for you. Afterall I don’t want to write it at all, or I’m fear to write it. Because this would be the very last letter I wrote for you and you would never come back to me again. I think you didn’t know me from primary school to Junior high school, but I always knew you, this is because of fate. We are always together, and you just like another half in my heart, you are my first time have met bosom friend really understand me!

You let me understand the world, how the world runs, you let me happy and I treated you back. Recall the memories when I poke fun of you every time, try to embarrass you, I was just trying to make you laugh. Can’t you imagine that lol! But you were always being depressed. ( I was really really afraid that you suffer from depression or something like that.) But saying more carefully, I’m also very glad to have you for my sophomore year. Even you can’t physically be with me anymore. I know how you try to be low key after you move to a new country, and I appreciate you to do so even though it doesn’t look like the old you. You used to want to be memorized of your achievements and grades for many years from primary school to high school and I guess you don’t want it anymore. Because when I reopen your social account and review all of your posts. You’re becoming quieter after you move to America and less out-going and flaunting. However, you are the people who can really care about others in true heart and respect others without judgments. You try to comfort the people around you when they’re depressed but you can’t really find a good way to comfort yourself. You seemed always have directions of what you want to do but sometimes no ready for the next step; seems so casual but self-confident, but you also lost yourselves in the nights. I’ve seemed the real side of you and that’s all the things I want and I’ve learned.

Although the last, we did not meet again.

(Reference some sentences from 2016-2017 Yearbook)

5. Legacy (Family Member)  👴🏻 👵🏻

Elder people in my life always think I’m a good child that has a good grade at school, respect the eldership, have a bright future. But I think my closet family members know that versatility is not the best way to define me as a teenager, a person. Like other teenagers, I’ve rebelled my parents, made them heart-broken by ravings. I’m a lazy child in person, I even gave up studying violin for a year and forgot most of the skills I learned for 7 years.  I had puppy love, which is OK in America but strongly against in my hometown. After all, I’m not as good as some adults think I’m. My parents would probably say:

“Our son is a child with a dream to become an adult, knowing who he is and knowing who he wants to become.”

It seems like a general parents comment to their children, isn’t it? But I think this featureless comment is actually very important to me. Somehow I don’t want to become an adult anymore when I realize how much obstacles and difficulties I need to meet in my future career. I want to pause at my age now and be myself as a high school student, no matter where I’m. My parents know me as a good child also, but they know how I’m not a perfect good child.

6. Epitaph Reflection  🍂 🍂 🍂

Michael Leroy Luther - 2007 - “Game Over”

I don’t want my epitaph seems so sentimental like what I’ve described who I’m for the entire semester. I want it to be brief, and don’t leave regret and sadness to people who loved me and thought highly on me. “Game over” is a good way to express me also because I’m not a nerd who only know how to study in some adults recognition, I like games also. even more, Pretty like. I brought a PS4 at home this year and try to collect all the games I want to play from 2013 to 2018. Even though I don’t have enough time to play it. And on the other side, it’s also good to describe my manner to live in a proper way. I think my life, and anyone’s life is like a gambling. We put ourselves as chips on the table and see what will we win or lose after game round by round. Life for me is just a more realistic name of the game for many years already.

Douglas Glenn Colvin - 1951-2002 - “O.K… I gotta go now.”

This epitaph is both laid-back and practical at the same time. If I recall my description in my previous project and this one I would say I’m somehow easy on everything for now because I gained everything I want as a Senior. But I’m also a practical, kinda old-fashioned teenager who prefer use the vinyl machine than Bose Speaker. Is Vinyl machine practical? Definitely yes, the modern Vinyl machine can play Vinyl and use Bluetooth at the same time, and they are way more beautiful than a hulking black box. If I would die young I will use this way to summarize my life because death is unnecessary to be so sad, I’m not saying I’m not afraid death, but I’ve imagined using the weirdest Indian music in the world as my BGM for my funeral, but that’s what I want. Don’t be so sad, people die. I caught the moments of my life, while I’m young and quick, and I do not regret for both the good and bad decisions.  

  7. Epitaph Creation  😇

“Here Lies a dreamer. Arrogant but low key.”

Before I think about my own epitaph, I thought about who I’m again for the third time for this project. The conclusion I had is that I a, a contradict person. Like Hamlet, I have the directions on what I want to do in the future, but most of the time I don’t have a specific plan on enacting my dreams.

I was arrogant in the past, the most flaunting student in my grade and kinda disdain what my Chinese and English teacher taught but easily earned the very top scores on tests, so I think many teachers liked me and loved me at the same time. I was the class president in my previous school, I led my class to a wrong direction in a tricksy way which teachers probably know now when I move away and would regret their decision to let me be the class president. But I actually improve the overall test scores for my classmates in some ways, which I don’t know how indeed. I poke fun at teacher’s dialect also like other naughty students. I used to advertise myself in public and hope everyone in the school knows me as an elite student, I did successfully somehow. And I thought I would continue when I move to America.

But the truth is, I became much quieter when I move to Arcadia, probably is the environment influence. It’s really a quiet city if compared with my hometown or Los Angeles downtown. But the most important reason is that what I’ve gone through as an immigrant, a friend, a lover, a son, and a student. I think it’s unnecessary to advertise myself anymore so I’ve given up many manners I used to have and warning myself to be a low-key dreamer.

I want to memorize as a dreamer. Because a dream is better than realism when we are children. We become who we are all because of a dream, so even though I would be buried under grass and dirt I hope my dream could somehow influence some of the people I knew, like how I comforted and encouraged friends.

[hotgirlinahotcar]

* headcanon free-for-all

tagged by: several of you for other things (that are started but still in my drafts...). And with all of y’all already tagged in those too... instead of re-tagging the same people for the same stuff... new thing... tagging: @conviictus / @melioriisms​ | @cunninglinguistx​ | @governingmouse | @governinglion | @nicophaught | and everybody else who wants to | non-rp-blogs: just replace ‘your muse’ with one of your fav chars to write about notes: the following answers are heavily influenced by headcanons {d’oh} and whatnots and are subject to change if we ever actually find out more about Gidge...

♥ is there an article of clothing that means the most to your muse? Yep, several. Nope, not her jackets. All the special shirts and other garments that weren’t initially hers but somehow ended up in her possession for some reason or other... (except for stuff that was just discarded or forgotten at her place that ends up in her closet without having any special meaning to her).

❀ what does your muse’s daily routine look like? Most days Gidge gets up at the asscrack of dawn to go surfing - unless the weather won’t permit it (in which case she either goes back to sleep, wakes up her woman for a different kind of workout or catches up on chores and whatnot instead). After a quick shower she then shows up for work barely on time and spends her day there being her glorious sapphic psychologisty self... then after work there really isn’t much of a routine anymore, it’s more of a day to day thing... either back to the beach, or when stuff is piling up, it’s time for chores/errands/paperwork etc and she does the adulting thing. The nights that are all about her girl and spending time together doing whatever they feel like really are her favs though (especially when those also happen to include beachy-surfy and/or lesbionic stuffs). If she’s single though, she might turn her axe-effect up to 11 and hit some lezzie nests for starters... Just hanging out with friends in general is never a bad idea either. And of course the more or less sporadic lazy and quiet nights in are good for the soul too. Naturally, with a lifestyle like that, there also are the days when she’s just beyond exhausted because all that lack of sleep for various reasons caught up with her and she just goes to bed early to recharge properly.

◎ does your muse plan for the long-term or short-term? Both. Realistic goals and all that. Of course she’s only human though, so while she may have the sapphic psychologist skills professional knowledge beneficial to maintaining a healthy balance in general, advice is always easier given than taken. In consideration of that, in most matters, she not only encourages clients and friends alike but also tries to live by it herself. On the flip side of that, nothing wrong with indulging in occasional crazyass notions either. Even the wildest dreams come true for some people after all... In advice-mode she’d also insist on cautioning against actually expecting the more unrealistic stuff to happen though. Cause that kind of thinking has the potential of providing the ideal environment to the birth of delusions.

◆ what is one secret your muse has? Her girlfriend Franky is probably the biggest one... and the canon one... other than that, in verses where she did the pro-surfing circuit thing, it’s not so much of a secret as a part of her life that she just doesn’t share with people at work... with the long lost kid trope, there’d be that... then I have plenty of ideas about the reasons why she got into psychology in the first place... like being forced to go to a mental institution/straight camp when she was a teenager... as in shit was done to her there by the people who were supposed to help her and it becomes her calling to provide therapy done the right way and save people from suffering the likes of what she had to endure... lotsa stuff along those lines. And then there’s the ever classic infinite roulette game of insanity: ‘paid for college (or whatever) by being/got rich by being/gets off on being/leads a double life as/is undercover as/used to be/is mistaken for/pretends to be/wants to be/is forced to be/is being lured into becoming/is basically the same person {cause you’re playing the same muse - a stripper/porn star/lingerie & nude model/hooker/high class escort/assassin for hire/notorious thief/criminal in general/heir to a famous crime family/rockstar/other type of celebrity/is married to/divorced from/related to (somebody rich and famous)/vampire/mermaid/witch/werewolf/alien/ghost/superhero/immortal/time traveler/pirate/ninja/dinosaur/rocket ship/shark toast/swirly whirly junglepants/several or all of the above/is basically the same person {cause you’re playing the same muse - and somebody knows/finds out/stumbles over the intel/gets dragged into it/starts investigating by looking into something unrelated/gets an (anonymous) tip/comes from that world too (and is either keeping the same secret or the complete opposite, is well known for it/comes from another but equal/similar/conflicting/antagonistic situation/is basically the same person {cause you’re playing the same muse}’ {you get the point, these could all go on forever and range from slightly canon-divergent to the crackyassest bloody shit you could ever imagine... Now, I’m not saying I could imagine Gidge in any and all kinds of scenarios, but I’m never not up for at least spitballing, no matter how cracky and insane it might seem.} {Back to the serious side though, I love the whole secret thing so much, so there’s gazillions of headcanons/ideas that I have, but not too many that I’d just ascribe to Gidget in general, so it really depends on the thread.}

ϟ who means the most to your muse? why? Her girl. She’s the love of her life and the world wouldn’t make sense without her in it. And while Bridget had a life before her, since she met Franky/Lorraine/*insert your muse’s name if you wish*, she can’t imagine ever going back to that because she doesn’t even remember what she was living for before she experienced the love they have for each other. 

☛ what is your muse’s biggest regret? {I’m gonna leave this basically open for now because I think that would heavily depend on plot and thread and whatnot.} For example, if she did have a kid that she lost somehow, obvi it’d be that... but ‘kids are gross’ versions of her never even would’ve had said child and thus would have entirely different biggest regrets... ex pro-surfer Gidge might forever mourn the loss of that career and might not ever stop resenting whatever ended it... {so yeah, options, options, options... with variations... and alternatives... so just scroll back up to that roulette wheel and we’ll leave it at that until something specific comes along.}

❥ is your muse cool? She thinks she is anyway... XD Nah, she’s chill, but she def has that adorkable side too. Especially when she’s actively trying to be cool... like that ‘I’m not a screw’ scene... {Sorry babe, but your inner Elsa had her gloves on there...}

✯ which three traits define your muse? {Actually... lemme change this one a bit... you can do either version, whatever you prefer.} to be answered at some point in the not so distant future {So I just realized this is just gonna make this post a lot longer and doesn’t even quite fit in with the headcanon thing anymore anyway and can easily be a whole other tag thing by itself...}

♕ would your muse hug a monster? *smiles at @governinglion​ with wide open arms* {PS: Dude, we really should start talking about starting something... I even have a couple of ideas I’ve been meaning to shoot at ya but haven’t yet cause my ADD is playing fucking pinball with me atm...}

❣ is your muse a fighter or a lover? What’s with the ‘or’? It’s entirely possible to be both at the same time... Just sayin... So yeah, definitely both. Particularly so when the lover brings out the fighter. (That goes for kinkyass passion-motivated activities as well as the ‘my love for you will make me fight to the death and I ain’t letting nothing and no one get in my way’ thing.) 

✎ what does life mean to your muse? Biologically, she’s pro-choice. Philosophically... okay, yeah, nope... not gonna go there. To answer in some profound yet vague and still revealing way I’d have to write a fucking epos. So I’ll pass. Your call whether you wanna ponder the meaning of life or disregard this one too.

Disclaimer: Actually this was a meme before I misappropriated it for this. So all credit for the questions goes to whoever wrote them originally. @vhsmeme I think... I hope you don’t mind that I turned it into a tag thing instead. By the time I realized I should’ve fucking asked you first, I had already written most of the replies... so...

But yeah, not cool to just assume it’d be okay, and I acknowledge that. Sorry!-ish. In my defense tho... there’s a hugeass ‘free-for-all’ right there in the title... I just realized that... XD

[phawareglobal]

PH Awareness Film - phaware® interview 250

In our 250th episode, phaware.global co-founders Steve Van Wormer and Marie Rand reveal a "breathtaking" new PH Awareness short film project with the film's director and producer, Elisabeth White from RooAndKanga Productions.

Steve:              Welcome to I'm Aware That I'm Rare, the phaware® podcast. My name is Steve Van Wormer, president and co-founder of phaware global association. Welcome to our 250th episode of the phaware podcast. Today, we've got a very special conversation lined up for our 250th episode. I'll be joined by one of our fellow co-founders here at phaware, Marie Rand, and an award-winning director and producer, Elisabeth White. We're going to talk about a special project we've been working on for quite a while here at phaware, a live-action short film project that's going to take pulmonary hypertension awareness to another level. Without further ado, here's my conversation with Elisabeth and Marie.

Marie:              Hi. I'm Marie Rand, and I am the managing director and co-founder with Steve Van Wormer and John Hess of phaware global association, and I am the mother of a PH patient who was the first person to undergo major heart surgery using the first drug in clinical trials in 1994. Her name is Chloe. I spend my time helping raise awareness and working with Steve and John to develop technology for pulmonary hypertension. Sadly, we lost Chloe in 2006. We work together at phaware in effort to do projects that are out of the box and differently oriented, so that we can raise awareness in innovative ways. This podcast today is about one particular project that we're working on.

Elisabeth:         My name is Elisabeth White, and I am a film director and producer. I've been living in Los Angeles seven years now. I love working with organizations. I've worked with international charities such as Ronald McDonald House and Amnesty International, and now I love working with you guys. I think www.phaware.global is just something amazing.

Steve:              One of the very first things we did as an organization when we formed over five years ago was to put a proposal together to do innovative things, one of which was to do a film of some sorts, whether it was a documentary or a short film beyond say a PSA.

Marie:              With that, we at phaware discussed many options and directions that we could take with this potential film project, and we ultimately landed upon doing a piece that was not documentary, but fictional, allowing us the ability to develop characters and [show] the multiple sides of the human condition in regard to somebody who has a disease. I think that we achieved this really beautifully with this piece, because we are able to show the outward-facing side of a patient or a person with the disease and the inner side of them and how they're feeling, which is often is very different than what they're portraying to the world. We find this an important thing to show, because it helps our patients. We are giving them a piece that they can share with other people that enables them to speak about who they are and what they're feeling. I have found with this piece that it's very alarming to people at first to really see a vision of what a patient is feeling like inside. It's the first time I think people really react to what they believe the patient's feeling. The closest someone who doesn't have the disease has come to saying, "Oh, I think I get that."

Elisabeth:         When you guys came to me to direct and produce this film, I honestly didn't even know what pulmonary hypertension was and what people that have PH are going through. For me as a director and to see and feel these visions, it was very surprising and heartbreaking. We took a diverse group of PH teenagers. They come together, and we see their journey through friendship and self-discovery, and what these teenagers, what these young people are going through. First of all, through their teenage years, and second, fighting this disease. It is actually a secret disease, because when you have PH, you don't really see it. I think we did an amazing job. When people with PH and just ordinary people watch this, we can approach awareness and especially what they're going through, these teenagers.

Marie:              As I said, my daughter Chloe passed away from pulmonary hypertension in 2006, and I have four other children Liz, Zack, Ava, and Elijah, who are all very committed to the pulmonary hypertension community. They have a deep love and great compassion for people who are ill. When we were talking to Elisabeth about casting the production, my son Zack happens to be an actor who started on Broadway when he was nine years old and has done TV and film. He became a part of the production for multiple reasons. One is because he is very well versed with the pulmonary hypertension community. He also wanted to honor Chloe and be part of the filming and production so that we could be certain that we had the emotion of pulmonary hypertension patients. In addition to that, my daughter Ava joined in. She is going to college for sound engineering and design. She was on location working behind the scenes, thanks to Elisabeth, learning with an amazing sound technician. My other kids were there as well, some playing extras. It was really wonderful for us as a family to be so involved in the piece, and Elisabeth was really instrumental in wanting to pull that all together and having our family be there to help bring this piece to life.

Steve:              What's a beautiful thing is we have an award-winning director behind this project, and because I see it on Instagram and social all the time some of the accolades you're getting. Can you tell the listeners what some of those projects were?

Elisabeth:         Well, we did a music video with Snoop Dogg and C-Tru. We've won quite a few awards with it. It's called California Party, and we've won a lot of awards, because it's about diversity. I love no matter what projects I'm doing, like next month, I'll be going Indonesia also to direct a feature film. As a filmmaker, you need to bring awareness. You need to bring diversity that people visually understand. No matter if it's good, bad, sad or happy, people understand what humans are going through in a daily life. That's what we're trying to bring to this film that people understand what teenagers (and not even just teenagers). I mean, you [can] get PH as a child or as an adult. I went to one of your events a couple of weeks ago, and I spoke to other people, and I met this wonderful woman. She was, I think, in her 40s or 50s, and she just discovered a couple years ago that she had pulmonary hypertension. That's why I love working with organizations, and I want to bring awareness no matter if it's music or film.

Steve:              Speaking of music, many of the music tracks in this film are attributed to yourself, and maybe tell us a little bit about your past in music, Elisabeth.

Elisabeth:         My first love to the art world still is music. I'm a singer/songwriter. I got signed when I was 18 years old with BMG in Germany. I've released five albums. I've toured around the world with Lenny Kravitz, Deep Purple, performed with Brian May, Simple Minds, many, many artists. I was very fortunate, and sold a lot of albums. I was living in London, and I came to United States through Universal Music, but I was always a passionate filmmaker through my music developing music videos. Suddenly, bands came up to me and said "hey," and record companies, "Hey, could you direct our music video?" That's how I started to film. Ever since then, I just love being a part in the film world, as well.

Steve:              I think another cool piece at least for me is many of the artists and collaborators we've been working with since the inception of phaware (and even earlier), whether it be graphic designers or sound people and editors have been involved in this project, which we're very excited about. It's lovely to see the evolution of that, and to that end when we were cutting [the film] together, Elisabeth was always mindful of saying, "Do we understand PH, because we want the viewer to really connect with that?" So early on, the very first thing you see is some facts about the disease. While we were [editing], we're like, "Well, let's get more patient voices involved.” Something that I'm personally really thrilled that we have in [the film] is many years ago, I made a series of PSAs [public service announcements] with a number of children raising awareness for PH specifically in pediatric patients. My son Lucas, who is a voice actor in his own right and a number of other kids were cited in them, whether it be our partner John Hess’ son Iain Hess, Maddie Bonpin, who was the first patient I ever met. She was six months old. Joel Belt and a couple other patients. We tracked all these patients down and used those kids, [who are] young adults now, to voice these facts to really ground this as you launch into this movie. It was a team collaboration community project. I'm just thrilled how it's come together.

Elisabeth:         It doesn't matter if it's music or film. There's always a collaboration between many, many people. It's just not, "I directed or I produced it." No, it's a collaboration on this project of like 100 people. The key to success is to have just a great team, and I'm so lucky to have phaware. You guys were always behind our back, and I couldn't have done this project without you guys, as well, because I just needed the fact and the personal touch of each and one of you. You've lost a child [Marie], and I know Steve has a child with PH, and John has a PH child who just had a lung transplant. So, it was a very educational experience for me and very heartwarming.

Marie:              I think it's a really important to note the idea of collaboration and the importance of collaboration because as I said, my children and I were on location, and I can't even count the number of times Elisabeth and/or Peter [Lugo from Roo and Kanga Productions], would come to me and say, "Is this accurate? Is this what you would be seeing in a PH patient?" But knowing that I had lived for 13-and-a-half years with Chloe being a patient, and it was really important to both Elisabeth and Peter that they were collaborating at all times, making sure that what was happening was accurate. In post-production, it became even more of that. That got elevated to a different level. It was agreed upon early on that this was a collaborative process. That's what we needed to do. We needed to work together, and thankfully, we did that and came up with a really good product using the talents and skills of a lot of really creative people and people who are super passionate about this project, Steve being one of them. His son, Lucas has PH, and his background is that he works in the industry and has for a very long time. I watched as I was there on location and then what happened afterwords was Steve picking everything up with Elisabeth and Peter and moving forward with it in a way to produce something really spectacular.

Steve:              I'm more of a post-production person, so I loved the idea when we would play around with scenes and, "Hey, where could we move this?" We moved things around, and we would talk about different ways to get into [scenes] and get out of something and how to reveal certain points. So that was great.

Elisabeth:         Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

Steve:              One thing I want to note, tragically a person who was an actor in the film just recently passed, and maybe Elisabeth, if you want to talk about that, because you cast him, and I just wanted to make sure we give a shout out about that.

Elisabeth:         Yes, unfortunately, Clement von Frankenstein our “Dr. Brooks” passed away last week. He had a heart attack. He was a huge fan of this project, and it went very close to him, especially working with teens and just listening to all the stories. On set, I know Marie was always talking to Clement, as well. He took it very personal, his role. I know that he was very sick. He had diabetes, and he had heart problems, and for him, he'd said to me that he is so thankful to do this and be a part of this project and to bring awareness. Clement, thank you so much. I'm sure you're listening wherever you are, and thank you so much for bringing this amazing performance that you gave us. Everybody will see it on the silver screen, and yeah, it was amazing. I'm actually very heartbroken that he's not here, but I went to the hospital. He was in a coma. I went to the hospital to see him, and I played his scene, so he could see it before he passed away.

Marie:              We did a screening of this [film] with an industry partner. The intent was to get feedback, and the feedback was both enormously helpful to us and extremely insightful. As I listened to the responses of people, and I happened to be in the room during the viewing, they were very taken aback. It was jarring to them to see PH be portrayed with such realness and more so than they imagined what a pulmonary hypertension patient may be feeling. As the piece progresses, there's a shift. Towards the end, it becomes somewhat lighter, and their response was (and I think this is a really important thing). It's often necessary to push the viewer to the point of some discomfort, so that they really feel the sensation of what's happening. Then as you bring the piece around, you lighten it so that they don't have to feel that pressure for too long, and yet there is. I mean, literally pulmonary hypertension is about pressure. It's about elevated pressure in the lungs. So, as they were explaining to me that they were feeling the pressure of like being pushed upon because it was difficult to watch in regard to that's being what a PH patient is feeling. I thought, "Well, that's exactly what we were trying to capture." We were trying to give them the sensation of, in essence, taking your breath away in a different way than what happens to our patients, but still taking the breath away. We got amazing feedback, but that worked really beautifully.

Steve:              This was an industry crowd that works in the pulmonary hypertension space, mind you, so these are the people that are on the front lines every day with clinical trials and on the pharmaceutical front. So, it was interesting to hear some of the comments that motivated them to work harder in the work that they're doing on behalf of these patients at the same time.

Elisabeth:         Still even though it was this discomfort, we still have a comedic relief, which is important, because not everything in life is bad. I always say, "Life is a complicated comedy.” It sounds very dark, but through PH and what you guys are doing as an organization, and me talking to some of your patients at that event, they feel they're not alone. They have a community to reach out to, who could help who, what doctors. That was for me very uplifting and to see all this and what you guys are doing. It's amazing.

Steve:              What's interesting with the piece, as well, is there's a multitude of characters that are all suffering from this disorder, and they are all masking it in different ways or hiding it in different ways. They're keeping it internalized.  One might be outwardly angry about it or might be outwardly optimistic about it or whatever. We all have these masks that we're putting on too, so I think that was executed well by the actors. It was executed well in the edit and in the direction. We're just happy to take a new trajectory out there on the advocacy and awareness front, and hopefully enlighten more people about PH.

Marie:              As it is with any creative effort when you work this hard on something together. As Elisabeth said, she's learned so much about pulmonary hypertension. She's met patients. She's met caregivers. She went into a whole world that she had never seen before and has really attached herself to this. That's the brilliance of working in this industry is that when we all work together and collaborate the way that we did, we really facilitate change, and that was our effort here.

Steve:              What I get from this, hopefully, and I hope you both agree, is there's no shortage of stories to tell whether it be in a podcast or whether it be on the big screen. We'll endeavor to tell more intricate stories about this rare disease that impacts so many people around the world.

Marie:              I don't know if everybody knows that three-and-a-half years ago or so, you came up with the idea of this podcast series. Steve came to John and me and said, "I have this idea, and I'd like to give it a try." We are now on the 250th episode of a podcast series that literally was a glimmer in your eye, and it now downloads somewhere between 10 and 20,000 downloads per month on every platform that exists. We spent a great deal of time with this particular piece, with other creative things that we have done together, we’ve chosen content together, and we've spoken about which physicians or patients or whatever we've done to work on this together. You have been taken that with another team of people that nobody knows is really behind the scenes who are longtime co-workers of yours and friends of yours that help us create this every day. We are getting the message out on a broad scale about pulmonary hypertension in a way that’s never been done before globally. I hope that everybody knows the amount of work that you put into making that happen every day, because I'm not sure people do. I'm also not sure that people understand the number of conferences we go to and how many meetings we attend and how deeply immersed we are in facilitating change, because we're in it for the cure, and we always will be. We are always thinking about patients and their quality of life and what's next for them.

Steve:              Marie, Elisabeth, thank you so much for joining us today.

Marie:              I'm Marie Rand, and I'm aware that I'm rare.

Elisabeth:         I'm Elisabeth White, and I'm aware that I'm rare.

Steve:              To learn more about our phawareness short film, go to our website at www.phaware.global, or follow us on social at @phaware. Thank you so much for following us for 250 episodes. We've got so many more stories to tell, so much more medical education, and great conversations from all around the world. My name is Steve Van Wormer, and I'm aware that I'm rare.

Learn more about pulmonary hypertension and our PH Awareness short film at www.phaware.global  Sign up to be notified about upcoming screenings, film release details & trailer updates.

Follow us @phaware on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube & Linkedin Engage for a cure: www.phaware.global/donate #phaware #ClinicalTrials @antidote_me rooandkanga

Listen and View more on the official phaware™ podcast site

[gastro-nomique]

The 8 Best Parenting Books for Willful and Spirited Kids

Is there anything better than those moments where you snuggle your baby in a rocking chair before softly putting them to bed? Or cuddling with a chatty toddler on the couch on a snowy afternoon?

But some parenting moments are much less pleasant and can have you tearing out your hair, wondering when the real parent is going to show up and deal with these difficult scenarios.

One reason I love books to help me in my parenting is that the book isn’t biased toward my child (either positively or negatively) – if you ask a friend or family member or teacher for advice, they may be inclined to give you advice that’s skewed based on their relationship with your child.

Whether you’re just starting to see early signs of having a spirited child or you’re worn down by the daily frustrations of strong-willed offspring, these eight books are wonderful for helping you make the most of your relationship with your child and guide them in growing into functional, fantastic teenagers and adults.

Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids: How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting by Dr. Laura Markham. If you feel like all you do is yell at your child (and haven’t we all had those days or weeks or months?), this book can help you bring a new normal to your family. She focuses more on the parent, helping you understand your own emotions and how to control them so you can parent better. And once you forge a better connection with your child, you won’t have to pull out the threats, bribes, or punishments. This book focuses specifically on toddler through elementary school-aged children.

Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child Is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, and Energetic by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka.  Voted one of the top twenty parenting books on Amazon, this title is great for helping you see your spirited child in a more positive light and recognize that their spirited tendencies usually lead to very successful, able adults – if you can survive their childhood. I really appreciate that this book focuses on specific areas that tend to be high-conflict, like bedtime, mealtime, and homework. And if you love this one, check out her book Kids, Parents, and Power Struggles: Winning for a Lifetime too.

Setting Limits with Your Strong-Willed Child: Eliminating Conflict by Establishing CLEAR, Firm, and Respectful Boundaries by Robert J. Mackenzie. Think of this book as your parenting toolbox. Sometimes it feels like your only two options as a parent are punishment or permissiveness, but Mackenzie gives you dozens of ways to handle the problems that come along with having a strong-willed child so that you can motivate your child properly and help them behave at home, school, and play.

Parenting the Strong-Willed Child: The Clinically Proven Five-Week Program for Parents of Two- to Six-Year-Olds by Rex Forehand and Nicholas Long. If you’re at your wits end, start here. This book will walk you through hands-on ways to deal with your strong-willed child and improve your home life. I particularly love that this book discusses specific factors that lead to disruptive behavior and then given strategies for managing very specific behavior issues. This edition also has a really helpful section about how to work with your child’s teachers to make sure you’re giving a united discipline front.

Kids Are Worth It!: Giving Your Child The Gift Of Inner Discipline by Barbara Coloroso. We all want a quick solution to behavior problems, but parenting is definitely a long game. This book focuses on self-discipline and how to help your child develop it (although, you’ll probably pick up a few tips for yourself too). There’s almost nothing you could teach your child that would better serve her than how to be self-disciplined.

Parenting a Child Who Has Intense Emotions: Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills to Help Your Child Regulate Emotional Outbursts and Aggressive Behavior by Pat Harvey and Jeanine Penzo. If you see other children handling disappointments or issues that would make your child collapses in a sobbing (or screaming!) heap in the grocery store aisle, this book will help you and your child deal with those intense emotions. Using strategies from behavior therapy, you’ll be able to practice them in both cool and hot situations. No promises that you’ll never have another public meltdown on your hands, but you’ll at least have the tools to deal with it better than threatening to leave them alone in the grocery store.

Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason by Alfie Kohn. Your child desperately wants to be loved, no matter how they’re behaving, and this book turns much of conventional parenting on its head because it teaches children that their parents only really love them when they please those parents. Kohn helps parents step away from discipline that indicates to children they need to earn love and instead teaches parents to work with their children, offering unconditional support, to help raise emotionally healthy and responsible adults.  and unconditional support that children need to grow into healthy, caring, responsible people.

The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children by Ross W. Greene. If you are worn out by constantly dealing with a child that can’t deal with any variation in routine or unexpected surprises, this book can help your whole family. Greene starts with the factors that lead to these episodes (and shows you when those episodes are most likely to occur), and then gives you the tools to reduce those outbursts proactively with your child by solving the problems that are causing them in the first place. Not only will your child be more flexible and able to handle their frustrations, but it can also significantly reduce the friction between you and your child. And who wouldn’t want that?  And if your child’s frustration is causing problems at school, you may want to take a peek at Lost at School: Why Our Kids with Behavioral Challenges are Falling Through the Cracks and How We Can Help Them. 

If you have recommendations for books that have helped you parent your child, I’d love to hear them in the comments!

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