Psycho Donuts: Tasteless

I wanted to post a newsletter I received from NAMI this month. For those of you who aren't familiar, NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness. According to their website, NAMI is "the largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness." Each month, NAMI StigmaBusters publishes a newsletter. StigmaBusters is a network designed to fight inaccurate portrayals of mental illness. The purpose of the group is to educate society regarding mental illness, the reality surrounding the disease, and the numerous struggles consumers and family members face as a result. StigmaBusters essentially works to fight ignorance and discrimination. The August newsletter contained the following ... thought it would be good "food for thought" ... no pun intended! I especially thought the comparison to cancer, heart disease, diabetes or burn victims was an excellent point.

Psycho Donuts: Tasteless

Join the national on-line food fight. Help turn lemon donuts into lemonade.

Since early spring, NAMI Santa Clara County and other mental health groups have been fighting an impressive, valiant battle against stigmatizing elements of a "Psycho Donuts" store that opened outside San Francisco.

The store's worst features include a straitjacket, padded cell decorations and tasteless donut names-such as "Massive Head Trauma," which has especially enraged war veterans.

Concern has existed that the company's business plan may envision franchise expansion to other states or communities-but victory may be near. The store owner has promised an "evolution" and some changes are starting to be made. Nonetheless, the story "went national" this week.

• Fox News ran a "debate" between the business owner-a Silicon Valley entrepreneur-and the head of United Advocates for Children and Families.


• AOL ran a story with a reader survey-60 percent of respondents supported the store. Last time we checked, there were more than a thousand reader comments posted. Add your own!


• An ABC News story also produced strong reader comments. Please review them and add your own.

Protests raise awareness and begin a process of education-and dialogue-even if they don't immediately change minds. Here are points to consider in posting your own comments on-line. The basic points can be used in almost any situation-and any ongoing reports of this controversy.

• The U.S. Surgeon General has warned that stigma surrounding mental illness-including mockery-is a major barrier to people getting help when they need it.


• Would a business ever seriously consider a humorous theme involving cancer, heart disease, diabetes or burn victims?


• Mental health advocates work every day to help individuals and families who need help. Does Psycho Donuts support that need? For people who want to learn more about mental illness and education and support programs please visit the NAMI Web site.


• We respect freedom of speech-which includes our right to protest. We also have a sense of humor (Food fight? Lemon donuts?). But there is such a thing as business social responsibility. Psycho Donuts should not be contributing to a public health crisis by reinforcing stigma. They should be supporting education and recovery.

Yes, donuts can be funny. But not tasteless ones that are hazardous to public health.
We congratulate NAMI Santa Clara County and all the other groups and individuals who have been leading the fight in the local community-and seeking a constructive outcome. We welcome the business owner's promise to "evolve." Let's hope it happens quickly.

1st day of 4th grade

Well I was able to snag ONE picture before we left this morning ... thank goodness he was smiling! There were quite a few moms taking pictures of their kids (which CLEARLY did not make them happy) in front of the classrooms today, so I told him it could've been a lot worse. :) Here's to the start of a great school year!

Psssst!

School starts tomorrow. :) Clothes are set out, backpack is loaded up, and the fresh blueberry pancakes that mom made today are ready to go for breakfast. If I can get away with it ('cuz you know ... he is in fourth grade now ...) I'll post a pic of my baby's first day. :)

Okay - so in the previous post, we mentioned some of Cam's old skateboards were going to be repurposed. We saw the idea on one of the episodes of "Built to Shred", a TV show that shows a team of skaters that travel around building skate ramps, parks, etc., with materials they find lying around or in junkyards. With the amount of used boards lying around, we figured this would be perfect. And now the reveal ... a skateboard chair!

3 more days ...

until school starts. Yes, Cam's first day of school is Monday. I will have a 4th grader. 

A FOURTH GRADER! 

Seriously? A fourth grader? Wow. Okay, anyway, today was Meet the Teacher. We already hit the school on Tuesday to put money on his lunch account, pay our Parent Council fees, signed up for our volunteer hours (I'll be working in the library ... :) I'm so excited! And yes, I did clear it with Cam before I signed up ...) and met the new principal. All of this had to be completed before we could get his teacher assignment. So he knew who he had on Tuesday, but didn't get to meet her until today. I decided to take the day off  so Cam and I could have one more day of summer vacation together! Mrs. Vincent is his teacher this year, and she seems like she is definitely on top of things, sweet as pie, but won't take you-know-what from anyone. I liked her. After meeting the teacher, we headed out to Chili's for some lunch. Shopping was next on our list ... which produced some new shoes - for both Cam and mom!  :)  And since we got his supply list from his teacher, we finished up the outing with school supplies and grocery shopping. By the time we got home, it was pretty close to his skate lesson, so we headed out to that. Grabbed a pizza on the way home, and finished up the night with a roarin' game of Sorry. I won them both.  So needless to say ... he is ready for Monday. Oh ... yeah ... I'm kinda ready too.  :)

Overhaulin' ~ AZ style

I remember the fall/winter/spring days in Oregon when it was raining so much and for so long, that we were stuck in the house. No playing outside. Forget riding our bikes. For a while, it was okay. But holy crap do I NOW know what mom and dad went through! "I'm bored ... there's nothing to do ... she's bugging me ... blah, blah, blah." The same goes for the weather right now. It is so hot outside, hence the severe weather alerts/excessive heat warnings, that we are literally forced to stay in the house. Forget any outdoor activities right now. The weeds? Rapidly taking over the yard. And they are staying put for right now. Mowing the lawn? Well it's done at about 9:00 pm and involves a jump in the pool upon completion. And that spiffy new ramp in the back? Think it's been used three times, for a total of 20 minutes. You look outside and see a bright, clear blue sky, but that's where the pleasantries end. It's just gross. But that's okay. We know in a couple of weeks or so that we'll be back to beautiful weather and temps, for a LONG while! So ... with that said, we were somewhat forced into an Overhaulin' - Arizona style. We've been able to knock out some projects off our "indoor" to-do list. One of which was redecorating Cam's room. Previously, it was motorcycle themed. Wallpaper border, accessories and signs on the wall, etc. The new theme? Do you need to ask? Do I need to tell you? Skateboarding. Duh. For Christmas he got new bedding, and that's about as far as we got. Well this weekend, we took down the wallpaper border, put up some chair rail, and painted it white - very clean looking - repainted his walls, and hung up the new accessories. It also gave me the chance to get rid of more "crap" as I call it, "important stuff" as Cam calls it, that was just taking up space. I think we may have just single-handedly supported the Child Crisis Center with our donations these past few months. :)

Just a side note: Cameron was very meticulous in picking out the "items" that were to be displayed on his bookshelf ... the Harry Potter collection, the first bible he used in Mrs. Lorts class, a locomotive radio that belonged to Great-Grandpa Lasky, one of Great-Grandpa Kenny's fishing trophies, a set of Hardy Boys books that belonged to Bryan's brother, his first baseball glove, some of his model cars, license plates, and knick knacks that he picked up in various souvenir shops (one of his favorite past times). :)