Judy Mick: Fear No More

Judy Mick: Fear No More

In 1983, my wife and I “rescued” Judy from a state institution for people with various labels. She’d lived there since she was 12, when her family’s doctor suggested she’d be better served away from society. Now she was 44. We brought her back to her home community to stay in our group home located near her sister and mother. But Judy cried herself to sleep, and I realized that integrating her back into society (and her old neighborhood) was not going to be as simple as I had imagined.

The initial adjustment was a shock to all involved, including the neighbors who’d signed a petition to keep us out. The man who lived across the street helped me understand a father’s protectiveness of his daughter. He threatened to kill me if the fellow housemate who was unable to speak due to his cerebral palsy “touched” his daughter. I told him to keep his son from throwing rocks at the gentleman.

Judy taught us the difference between being a “house parent” and being Mom and Dad, which helped us raise our own two children. She tried our patience but earned our love. One of the most trying moments came after I made the mistake of telling her she could buy a record player when her “lifetime savings” arrived from the state institution. When the money arrived, it was only enough to go to a matinee movie. So Judy was none too happy when we went to the movie. She let out her frustration on the movie, repeatedly saying, “Shut up, movie.”

While that embarrassed me, I later delighted in doing things that embarrassed my children. Today, living in North Carolina, I find myself embarrassed by our state government. It seems that my whole life, I’ve been taught to fear the boogeyman. As I’ve come to know people with “differences,” however, I’ve come to see the commonality in us, rather than the differences.

Judy did eventually adjust to living in our community. She became known and appreciated by many, even those in the neighborhood. She taught me that we can all overcome our fear and live together. Thank you, Judy, for teaching me not to fear someone with a label of transgender or to define people solely by one characteristic. Like Judy, I wish to overcome my fears.

Behind this good writer is a great editor; Mark Bloom. Learn more about Mark's talents at
Mark Bloom: Clear, concise online writing services 

Redemption Song by Bob Marley

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our mind
Wo! Have no fear for atomic energy
‘Cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time

How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look?
Yes, some say it’s just a part of it
We’ve got to fulfill the book

Won’t you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
‘Cause all I ever had
Redemption songs
All I ever had
Redemption songs
These songs of freedom
Songs of freedom

 

New website renewtess.com benefits national and local non-profits

New website renewtess.com benefits national and local non-profits

Ian Rudick, owner of Come From the Heart is pleased to announce the creation of www.renewtees.com website tied to an ecommerce website offering renewed t shirts and t shirt bags to benefit local and national non-profits. Prior to moving to Asheville one and one half years ago, Ian Rudick and Come From the Heart created a partnership with the American Booksellers Association to market bottlecap magnets to independent bookstores nationwide and benefit their foundation for free speech. In addition to buying products to benefit ABFE (American Booksellers for Free Expression) on this website, individuals can purchase products to benefit Homeward Bound and The Hope Chest for Women.

Ian was pleased when he moved here to learn about the multitude of local non-profits doing amazing things to help transform people’s lives. He was initially drawn to Homeward Bound as he understood the importance of permanent affordable housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness ever since visiting a homeless woman and her son in Ohio in the early 1980’s. 

The woman he visited was living in ”transitional housing” until she progressed to a point of stability to a permanent home… He visited her on Halloween night and immediately understood the failure of this model when she drove him in her car to take her son trick or treating. He was confused until she told him she was driving her son to her former neighborhood and how she had to make up an address in order for her son to be able to stay in his school. “I understood the model being used was lacking rather than some personal/moral failure on the part of the homeless person.” Rudick said.

Rudick met Sara Laws the Executive Director of the Hope Chest for Women at a local chamber networking event. Sara helped him learn more about her agency’s person-centered approach to providing direct support to women with breast and/or gynecological cancer by addressing the areas of greatest need as identified by the individual.

The tag line for renew tees, “May All be Renewed” works on many levels. As a serial and social entrepreneur, Rudick has had to reinvent himself numerous times as the world has changed and money making ideas have run their course. To renew is defined as “to make new, or as if new again”. Both agencies personify that hope for the individuals and families they serve.

In conclusion Rudick said,” In 2016, I am hoping to add renew tee products and non-profits to benefit and serve. An individual can have us make their t shirt into a reusable bag and designate a portion of the sale to the charity of their choosing. I am wishing for this website to grow along with the capacity of the non-profits to enhance the lives of the people they serve so that all may be renewed.”

www.renewtees.com

www.custombottlecapmagnets.com

http://homewardboundwnc.org/

http://hopechestforwomen.org/

Beautiful Reality-Challenged Dreamer

Beautiful Reality-Challenged Dreamer  

I remember one time visiting a fellow who spent his days in endless tedium at a “day program.” An example of an “enlightened” activity at such a program might be for one person to screw a nut and bolt together, after which his “teammate” took it apart. Visiting such a place is despairing, to say the least.

An objective observer with no ties to such a program might conclude that the point was to take a person who was socially devalued and develop activities to reinforce such an attitude. I’m not suggesting this was done on a conscious level, but in the famous words of my mother, words that still echo in my brain decades after her death: “It happens to be true.”

The man I visited lived in a world of fantasy that was far more interesting than the physical world in which he found himself. I learned from him the incredible power of the human spirit and imagination. When times seem the most hopeless — such as the present, filled with war, hate, and fear — I remember him. I find hope and courage from his complete inability to accept the reality of his world as it existed.

When I lived in West Virginia, the area was impoverished and lacked culture. For me, that meant opportunity to enrich my community. The further one is from the ideal perception of self, the more potential one has for personal growth.

Some might say the fellow who attended the day program was reality challenged. I perceived him as a beautiful dreamer. I too wish to be a beautifully reality-challenged dreamer.

Behind this good writer is a great editor; Mark Bloom. Learn more about Mark's talents at

 Mark Bloom: Clear, concise online writing services

Beautiful Dreamer written by Stephen Foster

Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me
Starlight and dewdrops are awaiting thee
Sounds of the rude world heard in the day
Led by the moonlight have all passed away

Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!

Beautiful dreamer, beam on my heart
E'en as the morn on the streamlet and sea
Then will all clouds of sorrow depart

Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!

Beautiful by Carole King

I have often asked myself the reason for sadness
In a world where tears are just a lullaby
If there's any answer, maybe love can end the madness
Maybe not, oh, but we can only try

You've got to get up every morning with a smile on your face
And show the world all the love in your heart
Then people gonna treat you better
You're gonna find, yes you will
That you're beautiful as you feel