Saturday, April 4, 2009


Do you ever think twice when tossing away the last two pieces of bread or discarding something you took one bite of and disliked it? If we can pile all the food that we throw away we can definitely make a difference in providing food for the starving children all over the world. Poverty does not only consist of malnutrition, but can consist being displaced with no shelter and possibly no parents. If we can all help donate 1 dollar each month or just help donate some money we can definitely make a difference in these children's lives.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Friends- a show that can relieve stress through the beauty of Laughter

Is laughter a medicine than can help relieve stress to all individuals? Whether it’s laughing at a joke, a television show, or just the small things in life, studies have proven that laughter/humor can relieve stress in all environments.
The television show Friends, is a great resource for laughter. I myself have personally experienced going through a tough and emotional time and depended on the show to relieve my stress. Every time I watched Friends, I felt the stress on my body being lifted away. I believe that everyone should have laughter in their life. Without it how can one really relieve their stress? Meditation? Kicking and screaming out our anger or stress? Taking it out on others or on our car by speeding? Some of these forms can be harmful to one and individuals surrounding them. Laughter not only helps relieve stress from an individual, it can also provide happiness.
In Science Daily, “Laughter is the Best Medicine,” Melissa B. Wanzer, EdD, professor of communication studies at Canisius College, explores the affects of humor with three groups of individuals. The three groups were health care providers that dealt with terminally ill patients, employees, and aging adults. She found that all three of the groups used humor to help them relieve stress and cope with life. Professor Wanzer introduces her studies to convince one that laughter/humor is widely used in many work force areas and age groups to help with coping. From my own experience I’ve seen my siblings use laughter as a form to cope and relieve stress. For example, my brother Tong watches Friends or other comedy shows to relieve his stress from his long day of work. Another example, after my husband laughs and enjoys his time with his favorite little sister, his demeanor is definitely changed. This stress that he has built up is all of a sudden lifted from him and becomes suddenly invisible.
As a result I would conclude that laughter not only helps people cope with stress, but definitely can change a person’s demeanor. Laughter is a key essential in life.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Breaking Dawn

How often do we really get to experience true divine love? Do many people in our society today even know what true love is? In the book, Breaking Dawn, Stephanie Meyer introduces true love in a way that’s never been displayed before. This is one of my favorite books because not only does it display love between a couple, but many other types of love. When people hear the words true love, most people automatically assume it is love between a man and a woman or love between spouses. But in the book Breaking Dawn, the author introduces true love in all shapes and forms. Bella, an eighteen year old, is in love with her vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen. The two lovers make a pact for marriage for a real honeymoon and Bella’s transformation. Miraculously Bella ends up being pregnant, which has never been heard of in the vampire world. A vampire impregnating a human? The baby eventually is taken out from her and she nearly survives with the venom of Edward spurting straight into her heart to save her. After the conversion they are faced with the Volturi, which is a royal and very powerful vampire family from Italy, who are coming to destroy the immortal child of theirs. On the verge of losing their lives and love ones, Edward and Bella go through great efforts to prove that their child is not an immortal child, but half human and half vampire. Immortal children immediately called to be destroyed because being children they will always harm humans staying at their children stage and risk the vampire’s secrecy to the public. Edward and Bella go to the fullest instinct to ensure their not only their family’s safety, but their love ones too. Through it all, Jacob a werewolf and faithful friend, proves his love for Bella, Edward and their daughter Renesmee by standing by to fight the Volturi when it came to it. To the Volturi’s surprise they are faced with a coven that has finally met their match and faced with werewolves, they are forced to see the truth. They find that the immortal child is in fact a half breed which means she would cause no harm to humans. In a review from Love Vampires, they note that “The romantic tension between Edward and Bella is non-existent – it is clear that whatever happens to them (death, Jacob, mutant vampire baby) their love is non-negotiable and to a certain extent this alters the feel of the story, losing some of the romantic magic of Twilight in the process. If beginnings are tricky, endings are fraught with difficulties. At the beginning readers have no expectations but by the end everyone seems to have an opinion on how they would have finished the book if they were writing it. Thankfully Stephenie Meyer was writing the ending so the resulting story is a good one and in my opinion a fitting end to this fantastic series. The strength of Stephenie Meyer’s writing as ever lies in her exploration of love in its many guises and Breaking Dawn gives her the opportunity to examine the relationships between mother and child, father and daughter, husband and wife and the bonds of friendship.”