Is Insanity a Disease or Simply a State of Mind?

After reading The Yellow Wallpaper I was thinking about mental illnesses. Who decides what is classified as insanity. I think that a lot of things, like ADD, BPD and ADHD are conditions that are often overdiagnosed. I think that doctors see kids who have a little too much energy, or a rebellious spirit, and immediately want to pump them full of drugs that will mellow them out. It's not that I don't believe that these conditions exist, I just think the statistics prtraying how many kids get them are greatly overexaggerated due to doctors' eagerness to provide a 'curable' diagnosis. In the Yellow Wallpaper completely agreed with the assumption that the narrator went bonkers. She obviously had inadequate medical care, and it was nobody's fault, what was wrong with her would not have been recognized by physicians from her time. It just makes me wonder at how we got from 'she's overexhausted and needs to stay in bed for 3 months' to 'we don't know why but she's hyperactive so lets give her some meds that will induce a hazy, slow existence and you can take her home after we fill the prescription.' It also kind of scares me that the narrator might not have been better off getting modern treatment, that she would have been just as unhappy as she was in that yellow room.

Poetry in a Nutshell

Heroes. These amazing storybook characters that every person, child or otherwise looks up to and envies. My personal favorite is Iron Man. He's charismatic, cocky and a genius. Plus, in the movies he's played by Robert Downey Junior...enough said. The real question, however, is what makes a true hero. Society labels a hero as 'one who shows great courage.' That can be, firemen, policemen, doctors, military personnel or even teachers (it takes a lot of courage to take on the jerks teachers have to deal with.) In class we've talked about literary heroes like Beowulf and Oedipus. They were seen as heroes due to their deed and accomplishments. They were well-known people (kings) who overcame a huge challenge or even fate, even if Oedipus did a pretty awful job of it.
Society sees heroes like fireman and policemen, at the same time they acknowledge Superman, Batman and Iron Man as heroes.So what is a hero?
I don't think that there is any true definition for a hero. I think that heroism is in the eye of the beholder. Anyone can be a hero, parents, teachers, dogs. Heroes are just ordinary people who do amazing things. i.e Iron Man.

To be or Not to Be

On the subject of soulmates.
The last couple of days of class we've been talking about soulmates, specifically whether Catherine and Heathcliff were soulmates. I think that in a literary sense, yes, Catherine and Heathcliff should have ended up together somehow, either in death or in life. I hated Heathcliff's guts but I think that his whole deal with the coffins was pretty romantic. I think that the author meant for us to think that Catherine and Heathcliff were meant to be together
When we talked about soulmates mostly I thought of Twilight (which I enjoyed but did not become obsessed with, I am an Edward fan until Jacob takes his shirt off.) In some ways Jacob and Edward reminded me of Edgar and Heathcliff, Jacob is the sexy, moody guy like Heathcliff and Edward is the nice guy like Edgar. The only difference is that I think (no, I know) that Stephanie Meyer wrote the books in a way that Bella (crazy chick who totally reminded me of Catherine) ended up with the nice guy and that was who she was meant to end up with. I thought Jacob was a total jerk like Heathcliff. I guess it depends on how you interpret the novels and how you think of them, it may even be that the time period that the novel is set in can influence your belief.
I, personally, do not believe in real life soul mates. I think that you can fall in love with a person and be crazy happy with them and them crazy happy with you can be a perfect match but I also think that you could go to England and find some other dude that could fit that same profile. I am a religious person. I believe in God and that he gave us free will. That God knows what our life is going to turn out to be but that he's not controlling it. It's almost like he reading one of those lousy adventure books (if you choose to date total jerk #4 please proceed to page druggie....) and he's just sitting up there shaking his head at us. If God had a Twitter: #Maddiebrokeherankleskiing#SMH... I'm getting a little off track here. Basically I believe that a person can find that perfect person down path #1 but if they had chosen path #2 then some other perfect person could come along. Maybe they got it wrong and they split those greek mutants into a thousand different pieces, I don't know.

The Bloody Jack novels are also a great tie-in to soulmates... :P

US Prison System Corruption

            The corruption of prisons in the United States is a growing problem today.  Not only are the prisons overcrowded but the prisoners are also often mistreated.
            One of the reasons that many of America's prison are overcrowded is due to the Three Strikes Law. This Law requires that criminals who have recieved 2 or more convictions for violent crimes or other serious felonies be given a life sentence no matter what the third crime may be.  Many prisoners are serving a life sentence for a crime as small as petty theft or stealing a piece of pizza. These third crimes are often a result of the prison system's faulty procedures. When a prisoner is released they are released with no job prospects, almost no one if willing to hire a ex-convict.  The newly released ex-con is then forced to live on the streets, resorting to theft just to feed themselves, this increases crime rates and has a simple solution. Before the prisoner is released they should be given an opportunity to contact potential employers and to find a suitable living space. The prisons could also find a way of finding and recording the names and contact information of nearby businesses that are willing to hire ex-convicts.
           In 2005 Channel 4 did an investigation of the abuse in the United States prisons.  What they found was horrifying. Prisoners were often told to strip naked while several guards scream obscenities at them and shock them with cattle prods.  Some prisons have a form of punishment called the Restraint Chair. This is simply a chair that has restraints around the legs, wrists and chest. This may not sound that bad but the prisoners are often forced to sit in this position for over 20 hours. Many prisoners have died from this treatment, being forced to sit in the same position for that long leads to blod clots which without immediate medical treatment can be fatal. The same type of abuse even occurs in our Juvenile Detention Centers. The 'wards' are often severely beaten after striking out physically.  One story they found was of a young boy who, after hitting a staff member in the face, is hit repeatedly in the face and kicked in the head.  Prisoners in the adult prison system often endure second degree burns from being pepper sprayed. Many prisoners on death row die under 'mysterious circumstances.'
          The prison systems in the United States are the most crowded of any country. There are over 2.1 MILLION people in the US prison system. Many are innocent and many are serving life for a crime that doesn't deserve that conviction. American tax payers pay $22,000 per year for each of those prisoners. Many are in the system for life for some small conviction, even more end up back in the system after being released with no definite financial future.