‘What can I do differently?’

No one is more critical than I am during times when I make a mistake. It’s tempting to berate myself but far more productive to look ahead and ask, “What can I do differently going forward from this point?” It’s not so easy when occupying the moment to focus on the more productive view.

How to ‘chip in’ for Molly the dog

Molly in the care of
Clearlake Veterinary Clinic

Your reference librarian is on the job in the Lake County Record-Bee newsroom. In response to a reader question about “chipping in” for Molly, a dog who was found starving in a Clearlake residence:

An account has been set up at Clearlake Veterinary Clinic, 3424 Emerson St., 707-994-9100, and a fundraising event will take place Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Moon & Stars Botanicals, 6030 Highway 20 in Lucerne, 707-217-6854.

The fundraiser is a joint benefit for Molly and for another dog, Gizmo, who is in the care of Lake County Animal Services.

CNPA Better Newspapers Contest judge

Had a lunch-time date with the California Newspaper Publishers Association: serving as an online judge for its Better Newspapers Contest.

Papers enters the competition and field members of their staff to serve as category judges. I logged in online and viewed entries in a photographic category.

Someone else will pick the actual winners, so it offered me a no-pressure chance to evaluate some remarkable photography.

Day of Mourning for people with disabilities killed by relatives or caregivers

Photo from Twitter user @AspieSide during March 30 #vigilforgeorge
List of people with disabilities who were killed by parents or caregivers

The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network will observe a Day of Mourning on March 1 for people with disabilities killed by their relatives and caregivers.

Day of Mourning began last year as a response to the murder of George Hodgins, a 22-year-old man with autism, and to the way people were talking about his death.

“Far too often, according to organizer Zoe Gross, “when a disabled person is murdered by a caregiver, journalists write as though it is the disabled victim who has perpetrated a crime simply by existing. In discussing the killing, people say that we should feel sorry for the murderer, because they had to live with a disabled relative. When a disabled person is murdered, many people act as though the murder victim’s life, not their death, was a tragedy.”

Vigils were held March 30 in 18 cities and on March 31, according to Gross, a 4-year-old autistic boy named Daniel Corby was drowned in a bathtub by his mother.

“There is so much work to be done to change public perceptions about the worth and the quality of our lives. That is why the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network will be holding Day of Mourning again this year on Friday, March 1st. And I need your help to organize vigils across the country.”

Don’t blame all media for unhealthy images of women

A selection of videos in my women’s health class this week raise interesting points about U.S. society’s unhealthy emphasis upon a narrow standard of female beauty. We were asked, in a discussion board, to respond to one film in particular, Miss Representation.

While I share genuine concern about messages of female dis-empowerment, one point that I object to is its attribution to “the media” of unhealthy attitudes about women.

A very small number of pundits, notably from Fox News, are shown presenting offensive comments dismissing Hillary Clinton, yet this attitude is attributed to “the media” as a whole. Images of emaciated models from magazine advertising are also attributed to “the media.”

News anchor Jennifer Livingston brought bullying into national dialogue when she responded to a viewer who called her fat.

Livingston’s television station is not Fox Network News and she is not Bill O’Reilly but when people dismiss “the media,” they lump Livingston into the same category as the pundits whose spiteful comments are featured in the film.

Why is it OK to stereotype “the media” and everyone who works in various media industries as somehow all contributing to these destructive attitudes?

I agree with a statement in the video about the importance of advertising as a source of media revenue and also agree that advertising is based upon making people feel anxious and insecure. But it is important to specify the medium and the type of advertising.