Episode 36: Positive Psychology, Happiness, the Wonder of Auggie Pullman, and the Shannon Surprise

I start the episode with a joke about Auggie Pullman. Next, I have a thought of the day from Helen Keller. The December topic continues with literature and disabilities.  I talk about about psychologist Martin Seligman and positive psychology, 3 dimensions of happiness, and the 7 habits of happy people. Then I will be talking about the book and movie Wonder. 

In this week's Rite of Passage Experiences (ROPE), I talk about how my cousin Shannon who helped me better articulate for myself last Christmas.

Special thanks to Jacob Thurmond for editing this episode.   

Episode 35: Text World Theory, Freak the Mighty, and a Christmas Cousin Christina

I start with a character joke. Then I use another quote from Helen Keller. Next, I talk about. Next, I talk about the Text World Theory. Then, I talk about the young adult novel Freak, the Mighty. Kevin and Max create a formidable partnership. I also use the trailer from the movie.
    
In this week's Rite of Passage Experiences (ROPE), I talk about my cousin Christina. She struggled with her ADHD, but she was able to leverage it and get her MBA. We talked back then about managing cross-functional teams and the importance of teamwork.

Episode 34: Bibliotherapy, Disabling Attitudes in Literature and a Christmas Oxymoron

I start with a closed captioning joke. Then use a quote from Helen Keller. Next, I talk about some of the negative disability attitudes. Next, I talk about Tiresias in Oedipus Rex. Then, I talk about bibliotherapy.  

In this week's Rite of Passage Experiences (ROPE), I talk about a bright idea, I thought I had during the Christmas season.

Episode 33: Maternal Health, the Life Course Theory and Feeling Thankful After Finding Gratitude And Faith in the Process

I start with a Thanksgiving joke. Then I use a religious quote from Corinthians. Next, I talk about the Life Course Theory from the Maternal Child Health Bureau. Next, some mothers struggle with ambiguous emotions because of having a premature child. But faith helped some mothers adjust to having a premature child.   
    
In this week's Rite of Passage Experiences (ROPE), I talk about how a NY healing mass disappointment led me to look beyond the physical after visiting Lourdes, France. Lourdes is a Catholic religious pilgrimage site. I managed to find deeper reasoning.

Episode 32: Caregiver Stress and Caregiver Dyads

I start with a grappling joke. Then I give a thought about gravity. Next, I talk about exceptional caregiving. I give the definition of physical stress, according to Merriam-Webster. Then, I talk about extra vulnerabilities of caregiver stress. I mention the HALT acronym. I talk about caregiver stress strategies from the Mayo Clinic and other sources. I then talk about the Caregiver Dyad as a way to equalize and collaborate.
    
In this week's Rite of Passage Experiences (ROPE), I talk about the caregiver challenges I had with my parents. I swallowed fear, like the P!NK song says. Then I talk about some of the stressful situations growing up.     

Episode 31: World Prematurity Day, The March of Dimes, Mark Hamill, and My 1980s Rodney Dangerfield Birthday Present

I started with a prematurity joke. November 17 is World Prematurity Day. The March of Dimes was started by FDR because of polio. Mark Hamill from Star Wars did a PSA in 1977. The Virginia I'm Determined program now helps parents and kids with disabilities with different elements of independence. 

In this week's Rite of Passage Experiences (ROPE), The 1970s attitudes were different with different with the Willowbrook institution. Through using my crutches, I was able to decrease my some of my medical fragility physically and navigate some of the challenges mentally in my own Rodney Dangerfield way. I provided some personal reflections and ramblings. I then provided some CDC resources here.      

Episode 30: Maternal Health and the Life-Course Theory

Because my birthday is in November, I will be talking about maternal health issues this month. After a joke and a thought of the day, I talked about the Life-Course Theory and liminality. I then talked talked about key human development areas of trajectories, transitions, and turning points.

In this week's Rite of Passage Experiences (ROPE), I talked about some of the early experiences around my prematurity in the 1970s. I also talked about how my crutches and my disability helped me lead a more memorable life. 

Episode 29: Hallowed/Halo Myths, Existentialism and the Disabled God Theory

With today being Halloween, I started out with a joke about evil. I then used a quote from Rene Decartes. He went on to talk about disability stigmas in religion and the negative halo phenomenon. It is more commonly known as the halo or horn effect. Following that, he talks about cognitive dissonance, the Good Samaritan and the Disabled God Theory, and the power of existentialism.

In this week's Rite of Passage Experiences, (ROPE), I talked the crippling impact of negative thoughts, my exposure to existentialism with Shakespeare, and how Decartes helped me to better understand the power of my thoughts and innate ideas.

30. Episode 28: More KSAs in the Nickelodeon Blabbatorium

In a continuation of October as National Disability Employment Awareness Month, the episode starts wit a Nickelodeon slime joke. Then with another quote from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. I talk about the KSA framework. 

In this week's Rite of Passage Experiences, (ROPE), I talked about some of my challenges with the Nickelodeon Blabbatorium. I got some advice from my supervisor to not use proper language with kids. I built rapport using Mad Libs, and twisted some words to make my language more approachable. I also had a problems keeping up with the conversation. Over time, I talked to the kids about shows like Rugrats. That led to different discussions about problems at school. Finally, I helped to conversation trades in the community chat room. 

29. Episode 27: The KSA Framework and Nickelodeon Goes Online with AOL in 1995

In a continuation of October as National Disability Employment Awareness Month, ththe episode starts with a knowledge joke and has another quote from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. I talk about the KSA framework. Knowledge, Skills, Abilities framework helps people fulfill their job responsibilities. I then talk about why I developed some observational skills from school.

In this week's Rite of Passage Experiences, (ROPE), I talk about my training as NickOp4 on AOL. I then talk about online bulletin boards. Because the platform was new to so many people, there was some spam and junk messages. I also talk about messages on the Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore message boards. I then talk about a how a mistake led to a deeper understanding of different audience segments.