Stability Seeker

Generation ?

2011-06-04T05:58:00.000-07:00

So as I was sitting in my friend's Corolla scarfing down funnel cake after a delicious visit to the Miami Food Trucks, a discussion pooled up about our generation. When I was younger I would sometimes watch those old movies or tv shows where the older generation (usually from the WWII era) proclaimed to the younger Baby-Boomers just how easy they have it and how much harder they had to work than the kids of 'today'. I guess it seemed like a common theme that occurred in. After all, my own grandparents indeed struggled all that much harder than my parents to make their place in America, all of them being immigrants from another place. But well, as me and my friend had a laugh about it, we began to think about the reversal of all that and how it has defined our generation so much. We chuckled at how easy it was for our parents to coast through life without an education, on minimum wage jobs, and still managing to buy homes, own cars, start families, and take the occasional vacation.

So after an enjoyable 3 years in Japan, I return home with my B.S. in Communications still in tact and a lot of experience one would hope would translate into some job prospects. But now I am at a cross road. I want to be a lawyer but prospects are dim, more competitive, and costs for law school are souring. I find myself constantly number-crunching everything from lsat scores to mortgage rates trying to find that nice medium which will equal happiness.

I don't want to be a childless workaholic, but I certainly don't want a mountain of debt (that I can't live in) swallowing up my finances for the nest 20+ years.

So I am studying for the lsat and sending out job applications to places who probably have way more qualified candidates than me. And as a 25-year-old, I find myself craving stability more than ever. I'm ready to set down roots but seem unable to conjure up suitable (and affordable) soil to do so. So I write this wondering how many others in my generation are like me and are they okay with it? I definitely am not proud of the fact I've moved back home with the family but know the realities of the present. And it's not some pretentious feelings of superiority leading me to equate home-living with unsuitability in society, but rather I feel ever more burdensome, not just financially, but also socially onto my dad's life. I mean, I know he loves me and would always take care of me if he could, but I want to take him at some point. I don't want him to have to work so hard. I don't want him to have to work every single day of the week from dawn until far beyond dusk. I want to take care of him when he needs it.

So now I wait until Monday and see where I go from there.

Poverty in South Florida

2008-03-24T16:49:00.001-07:00

Though our class has been working thoroughly on AIDS awareness, Monique and I took a similar approach to another subject that rarely gets attention- poverty in South Florida. So, off we went on our adventure through the city which led us to make this

The Project and Me

2008-02-18T17:39:00.000-08:00

I would like to think that our project in AIDS awareness has somewhat made me more sympathetic to the cause of helping those infected, but in all honesty I do not feel very different from before we began. I have never thought that AIDS Awareness was not an important topic, but it simply becomes another number on a very long list of social problems I already cared about. Certainly, now more than ever I am aware of AIDS coverage. When I see it on the news or hear events covering it, I am reminded of our project. I'm reminded of how necessary health coverage in the media is and how little our AIDS community is ever a mention, but I am not compelled to report on it personally. I think it's just my lack of interest in health altogether that has made me this way. I feel regretful about it and at the same time more certain than ever that what we’re doing is important. It matters to people. It matters to those who barely make the 6:00 news and those who don’t know where to go to or who to turn to if they are so unfortunate as to contract the virus.
However, I think my feelings about the project stem from the fact that AIDS and HIV for an entire semester is too narrow a topic and what has kept actually the most interested in the class is finding the other problems in communities with high AIDS rates like poverty and lack of education and drugs and violence. I like to report on all those things and when it comes to Africa, yes AIDS is a fierce epidemic, but I'd like to focus on the situation as a whole: the genocide, the rape, the wars.
I think that this entire project did show me that I eventually get a little frustrated with reporting on the same subject over and over again, but it also made me aware of AIDS coverage. Every time the news mentions it, I actually pay attention and analyze the situation of not just the virus, but who it affects and why it affects them.
I suppose this experience so far has helped me take a long look at my home in South Florida. To this day it is still a love/hate relationship with Miami. In a place so focused on seeming beautiful and energetic for tourists, it often leaves its natives in the dust. Economically, tourism is a must for the survival of South Florida, but because tourism is such a focus, sometimes the less pretty places are forgotten about. After all, who want to visit a place with high poverty, crime, and a health crisis?
It is not pleasant or fun to report on AIDS, but I absolutely believe it is necessary.

AIDS and HIV Quietly Kills as the Rest of South Florida is Known Only for Ocean Drive

2008-01-28T18:27:00.000-08:00

AIDS Hitting Communities That Often Get Ignored

Shelly Wolland gave giggles between her two sons wrestling in the kitchen. She graciously smiled at the start of the interview and took a seat on her beige leather coach, her Chihuahua wagging his tail inquisitively. Shelly is a mom. Shelly is a doctor and Shelly is an AIDS specialist.
As the interview began, Doctor Wolland’s posture straightened, her hands folding onto her lap and her tone becoming straight and serious.
She has been an AIDS specialist since 1995 and a doctor for more than 20 years. Doctor Shelly Wolland also ran the Sunshine Medical AIDS Clinic where she says AIDS and HIV cases are some of the highest in the nation.
As cited by the Care Resource Center in Florida, Miami-Dade County has the highest concentration of AIDS and HIV in the state, with some places in particular having some of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS infected in the country.
“The zip codes that have some of the highest concentrations in the city are 33142 and 33147. These areas are primarily poorer neighborhoods of blacks and also areas that deal with a large drug problem.” She adds that the drugs are probably the reasons for the high AIDS rate in the community. “This area has a lot of uneducated people as well as a large population of drug users. What tends to cause a lot of spikes in AIDS is not only infection through needles but also drug users becoming too disoriented to realize who they slept with and whether or not they used protection.”
A member of First Baptist Church located in the 33142 zip code also attributed drugs as well as lack of education to the large rate of AIDS and HIV infected in the community.
“We are aware of the fact that our community’s concentration of AIDS is one of the highest in the nation. Our church members are primarily disenfranchised blacks who lack not only education, but are also exposed from a young age to drugs and violence. Sometimes protecting themselves is the last thing on their minds when they are coming from broken homes or are even having to fight to get their next meal. We hope that because this is such a problem, some outside groups might see how crucial helping this community is to the fight against AIDS.” She adds that another large reason AIDS is seldom talked about by the media is because tourism place such an integral role in the South Florida Economy. “People don’t come Miami to see the plight of a community in need. They come to have a good time at the beach and then leave when their done. Miami has to hold up that image of a playground.”
Doctor Wolland explains that though South Florida does have a very large population of AIDS infected people, there are many strides being made in treatment of AIDS patients.

Strong Advice from Doctor Wolland for Those Infected

“There have been significant accomplishments in the way we treat people. Even though AIDS medications weren’t even available until about 20 years ago, people living with AIDS can now live a close to normal life.” She warns though that there are still very important things to consider when contracted with the virus. “If you catch it early and we do a test of your geno type, we can determine what medication will work best for you. The one-size fits all way of treating someone is in the past. But if you are given a certain cocktail of medications, you must make sure to take them consistently and on time.”

She adds that failure to adhere to this advice could result in the virus becoming more resistant to the drugs, meaning more drugs will have to be taken to offset the effect.
“The more you miss your medication, the more pills you have to take. The more pills you have to take the more side-effects you are going to get.” With a nod she again repeats in a stern tone “Do not forget to take your pills.”
Some side effects of the AIDS/HIV medications include nausea, diarrhea, osteoporosis, an increase in heart disease, lipo-dystrophy, tingling around mouth, and sleepiness.
“Regardless of these side-effects or even the cost, most want to stick it out over dying pneumonia.”

The Treatment as explained by Doctor Shelly Wolland

The way the treatments work is that when someone is infected with the HIV virus the first thing that is done is to do two measurements of HIV. What these two measurements tell them is how many viruses are floating their blood per cubic millimeter and what is a person’s T-count, the effects of HIV being that it attaches itself to a T-cell and destroys the immunity. The medications prevent the virus from bonding with T-cells or boost your overall T-count.
The average person has a 1000 T-count in a millimeter. When someone is infected with HIV their T-count will fluctuate between 500 and1000 showing relatively no symptoms. When someone’s T- count is between 200 and 500 a person will become more prone to sickness. Less than 200 T-count is considered full blown AIDS.
Other treatments include injections to build up the white blood cell count; there are also testosterone injections for strength and growth hormones to help get weight back.
Doctor Wolland adds that there are also a lot of problems with coming up with an AIDS vaccine which has been a long time hope of the medical community.
“It is very difficult to develop a vaccine. The virus is always mutating and it’s very hard to pin it down. Also, to come up with a vaccine means we would actually have to inject someone with a strain of the virus and we have no way of guaranteeing that the AIDS virus wouldn’t be transferred to that person.”
She also speculates that perhaps an AIDS vaccine would not be in the interest of most pharmaceutical companies, citing diabetes as another illness whose potential cure might be being snubbed out for fear of financial losses.
“There is a lot more money is treating someone than there is to cure someone.”
Still, Doctor Wolland remains optimistic about newer AIDS treatments, mentioning that all pregnant women are now tested for AIDS as part of standard prenatal care.
“Not all woman get prenatal care, but if a pregnant woman is infected we can give her the proper medication that can help prevent the virus from passing through the placenta and into the baby.”
According to her research, in the passed ten years the number of babies born with HIV from their infected mothers has dropped from 30 percent to roughly 3 percent.
“Regardless, women should be incredibly careful because heterosexual woman are the quickest growing group of those infected with HIV and AIDS.

On Groups who helps sponsor AIDS Awarness feel free to contact http://www.dlp.org/betadelta/ who also will be partcipating in this years AIDS WALK

AIDS and HIV Cases in South Florida Amoung the Highest in the Nation

2008-01-10T02:56:00.000-08:00

In the 1980s and early 1990s, AIDS and HIV were one of the most spoken about and televised issues of the day. Famed NBA Athlete Magic Johnson openly admitted he was HIV-positive and the movie ‘Philadelphia’ was making its mark not only on the Box Office, but on the minds of many Americans. In the mix of numerous elementary school memories were documentaries and the occasional speaker on the subject.
Little was known except that it was an eventual death sentence, or so one assumed and more than a decade later, what was once the country’s number one health crises faded away into the next piece of news. Honestly, the last time AIDS and HIV came to my attention again was during the start of the ‘Red’ Campaign where various electronic dealers from Motorola to Apple were selling red products to bring awareness to the subject.
Suddenly, what was once America’s next killer epidemic became the problem of a far off continent. I don’t believe it was the media’s intent to shift the perception in such a way, but the last time AIDS made the local news was for a three-minute news piece about the local AIDS Walk.
Probably unbeknown to most Miamians is the fact that Florida has the third-highest population of AIDS and HIV infected residents in the United States, with roughly 10 percent of Americans infected with AIDS living in the state. According to Care Resource, a South Florida HIV/AIDS service organization, 43 percent of these people reside in either Dade or Broward County. Also rarely making the news is the fact the Miami has the highest AIDS rate in the nation for a metropolitan area with Ft. Lauderdale coming in second.
As someone who can still remember high school, I must sadly admit that I was explained more about the dangers of drugs than the dangers of contracting AIDS. When I saw a red ribbon, it was about living a drug-free life, not about having awareness about AIDS. Still, Care Resource mentions that Florida had the second highest HIV/AIDS incidence among youth 13-19 in 2004 in the US and that 20 percent of new cases in Miami-Dade are from that same age group.
Of course there are many possibilities to why Miami has such a large portion of its population infected with AIDS or HIV. Statistically, minorities are more affected by the virus than those who are white and the majority of Miami’s population is made up of minorities. It certainly doesn’t help that according to the Census Bureau, Miami is the third poorest city in the United States with 29 percent of its population lacking health insurance. Another possibility is Miami’s large immigrant population. With many coming primarily from Central, South America, and the Caribbean where traditional use of protection like condoms is stigmatized and the idea of having extra-marital affairs is acceptable, many might assume that a large influx of these groups might have also affected the spread of AIDS and HIV.
In just two minutes of research, I found that Miami and a larger part of South Florida is suffering from a growth in AIDS and HIV rates in its population, one of the largest in the country, but one is left to wonder if it will ever be important enough to mention in the five o’clock news or if schools will have the proper funding to deal properly educating people on the virus. Certainly before Google, I was just as ignorant to the fact as any other Miamian.