Category Archives: Consciousness Raising
January 27, 2015 Thank You, Science Fair!
I wept when I saw this photo on Facebook today. I weep as I write this. Science Fair was my salvation!
I was a teen when my family hit really hard times.
Fortunately, I was a kid who was a native of Washington DC. Four generations of my family had nourished our minds and souls at the Smithsonian Museums.
When I was a girl, Mother would pack me a sack lunch and pin two streetcar tokens to my blouse and off I would go to spend the day at the museums on the Washington Mall.
Natural History was my favorite one, especially the Hall of Minerals. I loved crystals.
Later, my science fair project would be about crystals. I grew crystals in a strong electrostatic field and observed the changes in their behavior under the influence of that field.
Even as my family was collapsing around me, I continued with my project. I did well in the school fairs and the regional fair. When I was a senior in high school, I won first Grand Prize in the Regional Science Fair and won a trip to the International Science and Engineering Fair in St. Louis.
As a result, I won enough scholarships that I could attend college. I completed my BS in Chemistry in 3 1/2 years.
Later, I would earn an MS in Human Physiology.
And later, my MD.
All because of Science Fair.
When my daughter started first grade I started volunteering to judge school, district and regional science fairs. I did so for 16 years. I judged twice at International.
My daughter was a science fair kid, too.
I coached her science fair classes starting when she was in 9th grade.
I taught the science fair kids to watch three movies:
* October Sky, because science fair CAN be your ticket “out”.
* Space Monkeys, because sometimes the judges give it to the monkeys.
* Cool Runnings, because, “If you are not OK before you win the gold medal, you won’t be OK after you win it.”
I am happy to say that science fair taught my wonderful daughter poise and grace under fire from science fair judges. She’s an alumna of the International Science and Engineering fair, too. She’s a PA and holds her own BS and MS.
So, you see, I wept when I saw the photo at the top of this blog. Because of science fair, I have three degrees. Because of science fair I’ve written two books, three columns for national magazines, many articles for national magazines and now this blog.
Thank you, Science Fair!
- 2 comments
- Posted under Biology, Book, Consciousness Raising, Crafts, Crying, Feminism, Healing, Mental Health, Minerals, Science, Science Fair, Scientist, Writing
January 26, 2015 Cracked, Sore Fingertips?
A bead artist in one of my Facebook groups was bemoaning her cracked fingertips. I will share what I wrote to her, in case you are suffering as well.
I am a doctor/artist and I wrote a comprehensive health care guide for women who do crafts. It won a Gold Medal for Health Communication and was a Main Selection of the Doubleday Cooking and Crafts club.
One whole chapter of my book is on the fingers.
Here is what I am doing this winter for my cracked fingertips. Every night I put a teaspoon of sugar in my palm and pour in about a teaspoon of olive oil. I scrub down my hands, the backs, palms and fingertips. I rub my fingertips in my palms in the sugar scrub to burnish off dead skin and to stimulate the blood vessels.
Then I wash off the sugar with water under the tap, then most of the oil with hand soap.
I keep my fingernails very short so that the skin on the tips is uniformly tough, so that it resists cracking.
At bedtime I put 1/2 teaspoon of sweet almond oil in my palm and I massage it into my hands, especially my nail beds and fingertips. The massage not only delivers the oil to my skin but opens up the capillary beds so that maximum sturdiness of the skin develops.
If you want my book, many Amazon Booksellers have it for 1 cent plus $3.99 shipping (this keeps me humble; if you buy from Amazon Booksellers I won’t make even that one cent, which is fine).
If you need it today you can get it from C&T Publishing as an e-book. There’s a hot link to the C&T listing on my author website http://www.susandelaneyauthor.com.
BTW, C&T was the best publisher a gal could dream of!
October 10, 2014 It’s the Real Thing
Recently I invited my daughter and my son-in-love to accompany me to a Reidel wine tasting.
I knew that Reidel made wine variety-specific glasses.
I wanted to find out more.
I admit that I walked into the tasting expecting that “varietal glasses” were simply a marketing ploy.
I could not have been more wrong.
Reidel glassware was founded in 1756 and is owned and managed by the tenth and eleventh generation of Reidels.
In 1973 Reidel began a collaboration with wine growers and its own taste scientists to develop glasses that brought out the best in each variety of wine. All of the glasses are “workshopped” by panels of wine growers, glassmakers and taste scientists. After determining from the vintners what aspects of the wine they hope to present to the taster, the glassblowers and taste scientists create a glass that will do just that.
Important considerations are the shape of the top of the glass. If the chemicals that make up the aroma of the wine (esters) are lightweight, the glass must have a rather closed-in top. The shape of the middle of the glass is important, too. The wine must be delivered to the portion of the tongue and mouth that can best taste the unique characteristics of the wine.
Who knew?
The Reidel staffer had us taste two whites and two reds. We tasted the first white in two different glasses. It tasted like a different wine in the cheap glass! The same thing happened when we tasted the second white in three different glasses (the cheap glass and the two different white wine Reidel glasses). You would never know it was the same wine in each glass! We tasted the first red in four glasses and the second red in all five glasses. Each time the wine tasted different in each glass.
Color me surprised.
At the end of the worksop the Reidel guy showed us a photo of the glass that Reidel had workshopped for Coca Cola. Two workshops were held in Atlanta at Coca Cola headquarters to find the shape of glass that would allow you to best taste “the real thing,”, to allow you to taste Coke the way that Coke is meant to taste. Both guys who know the secret formula for Coke were at each workshop.
The end product is the glass you see above.
Coca Cola Classic and Mexican Coke (made with sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup) both taste fantastic in the Reidel glass.
BTW, no ice is needed!
I got my Reidel Coke glasses from Amazon.
You can buy the high end Reidel mouth blown crystal glasses or Target has machine made Reidel glasses made in the exact shapes of the fine crystal. Both will deliver the proper flavor of the wine.
- 2 comments
- Posted under Biology, Challenge, Consciousness Raising, Cooking, Crafts, Dining Out, Food, Science, Wine
October 3, 2013 Soldier-on-Soldier Treason
Last year 26,000 of our military personnel were victims of soldier-on-soldier rape.
Half were men; half were women.
Soldier-on-soldier rape undermines the honor of the military.
Soldier-on-soldier rape undermines the loyalty of the military.
Soldier-on-soldier rape undermines the courage of the military.
What could be more cowardly than a soldier raping another soldier? The perpetrators of these crimes become cowards.
These rapes threaten the trust and discipline that make the military strong.
I all these crimes TREASON.
If the chain of command punishes the victim, which sadly happens in more than half of the reported cases, I call that TREASON, too.
The patriots who are the victims of military-on-military rape undergo a shattering of their bodies, their minds and their souls. These patriot-survivors will never be the same.
I have the privilege of knowing a PATRIOT who was raped at one of the service academies. I have followed the shattering of her incredible strength and potential as a result of the crimes committed against her. She is healing now. I pray that her healing become complete.
I have had the privilege of knowing her parents. I have witnessed the shattering of the emotions and souls of her folks as a result of the crimes committed against their daughter. I have witnessed their anguish as they have watched their daughter’s shattering and slow recovery, which continues.
The parents are secondary victims of the treason committed against their daughter.
ESPN did a great expose of these issues. You can watch the 18 minute segment here:
http://www.bluefoottv.com/projects/e60-the-enemy-within/
The segment tells the story of two women, one a Sailor, one a Marine, who were raped by fellow military. Shockingly, it was the two victims who were punished, not their attackers!
I call punishing the victims treason also.
Tags: Crime, ESPN, Rape, Soldier, TREASON, United States, Victims, Women
- 2 comments
- Posted under Challenge, Consciousness Raising, Feminism, Healing, Mental Health, Pain, Tears
September 22, 2013 It Matters to That One
Today at my church, we presented the fourth graders with their own bibles. The youth minister had wrapped the bibles in five different layers of “gift wrap”. First a mailing envelope, because it was a Special Delivery. Then festive gift wrap. Then a map, because the Scriptures would take the kids to places they’d never been. Then newsprint because of the “Good News” in the bible. Finally in gold paper to mark the bibles as treasure.
It was a beautiful ceremony, but seeing the fourth graders stand there makes me tear up every year because, statistically, it is fourth-graders that are sexually abused by clergy, altar boys and altar girls. They are so little!
Sexual abuse is a fourfold catastrophe for the child: physical, emotional, spiritual and sexual. It creates a shattering of the child that takes years to heal.
My own abuse by a clergyman happened when I was five. That’s me in at age five on the cover of my book.
My faith is strong again now. People remark on it. I would not wish on anyone what it took for me to get it back!
I have a Pinterest board “Justice for Kids”:
http://www.pinterest.com/susanddelaney/justice-for-kids/
It is based on the “Legend of the Starfish”: A woman is walking along the beach at low tide. Every time she sees a stranded starfish, she reaches down, grabs it and throws it into deep water. A man is walking toward her and when he gets to her he asks her what she is doing. She explains. He says, “it doesn’t matter, you can’t save them all.” She throws the starfish in her hand into deep water and looks him in eye kindly. “It matters to that one.”
Every time I come across a photo of a starfish on Pinterest, I pin it to Justice for Kids and add the words, “It Matters to That One”.
Protect one kid.
Save one kid.
Believe one kid.
Call the police if a kid discloses abuse of any kind. It is THEIR job to investigate, not yours.
It matters to that one!
p.s., it’s grand if you can save more than one!
Tags: Child Abuse, Children Youth and Family, Sexual abuse, Starfish, Support Groups, Survivors, Violence and Abuse
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Book, Challenge, Codependency, Consciousness Raising, Crying, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Pinterest, Prayer, Reconciliation, Walking, Writing
March 23, 2013 A Nod to the 70s
In a nod to the 70s and the Consciousness Raising movement, I have created a line of LadyFlowers looking at themselves in the mirror. This is my favorite. I’ve spent the morning photographing them. After lunch I’ll write the copy and then upload them to my Etsy shop LadyFlowersbySusan.
Tags: crafts, Handcrafted, Women
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Consciousness Raising, Crafts, Feminism, Handmade, Healing, Mental Health, Polymer Clay
