Class Exercise B: YMCA's RISE partners with Piedmont Opera to empower immigrant entrepreneurs

BY AUTUMN KAREN
Q News
MARCH 17TH, 2022

The whir of sewing machines cushions melodic laughter and mumbled, feminine tones in a series of interconnected rooms at the back of Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem every Wednesday morning.

White, wood cubbies reaching towards the ceiling above a long counter face the two dozen busy fingers. Each cube stores the brightly colored bits of an in-progress textile project. A neatly printed black-and-white label across the bottom of every square bears a name originating from somewhere far away: Burma, Honduras, Mexico, South Korea, Venezuela, France, China, Colombia, Afghanistan.

The women in these light-filled rooms are all non-native English speakers, here to grow their entrepreneurial capabilities through the YMCA’s Refugee & Immigrant Society of Entrepreneurs (RISE) program. The program grew largely out of the needs of Burmese immigrants who wanted to learn new textile skills.

Expanding Their Trade 

Prior to the pandemic, the group sold many of its wares at craft fairs in the area. Participants worked with staff and volunteers to practice their English with customers, besides learning inventory and sales skills. As the world knits itself back together with in-person events, the program hopes to have these entrepreneurs behind the booth again, rather than selling only online or through custom orders.

Arts organizations were also forced to pivot during the pandemic, opening opportunities to think about community in a different way. During those discussions, staff at Piedmont Opera brought the idea of community partnerships to the opera board. That led to a themed collaboration alongside Cinderella last year — working with the Salvation Army to collect shoes for individuals in need. With its new production of Ragtime opening this weekend, Piedmont Opera sought out an organization which highlighted immigrant and refugee populations.

Piedmont Opera board member Jill Stricklin worked closely with Literacy Program Director Ellen Gallimore to find a way to meaningfully support RISE. “Most of our fabric and supplies are donated,” Gallimore says.

To facilitate appropriate donations, Gallimore and her team created an Amazon wishlist to promote through Ragtime.

The show centers on the intertwining lives of three diverse communities, represented by three New York City stories — a wealthy white couple from New Rochelle, a Black woman and the Harlem musician she loves, and an immigrant Jewish father and his young daughter in the Lower East Side. The Tony award-winning musical, based on the acclaimed novel by EL Doctorow, presents a powerful narrative of immigration and intersection, of extreme social and economic disparity.

Rising Diversity Within The Community 

The Triad itself is home to a rich and diverse immigrant community. According to the 2020 Census, more than 8 percent of the population of Forsyth County was born outside of the United States. It’s more than 10 percent in Guilford County.

Women like Kudu Julietaw, who came from Burma years ago and has been attending Wednesday meetings since early in the program, generally make their way into RISE through its parent literacy program at the YMCA.

Right now, the group enthusiastically works to fill a custom order of Easter crafts: fluffy, sewn baskets and stuffed carrots with smirking faces. In the past, participants created intricate Christmas ornaments, embroidered books, patterned market bags and more. Though the items stitched together are often whimsical, the entrepreneurial education gives these women a substantive way to develop transferable skills.

Beside an ironing board in the workroom are two tables spread with a variety of brand-new sewing supplies that have just arrived from Amazon: rulers, rotary cutters, packages of clips, notions, and two large empty boxes. In the room next door, the immigrant entrepreneurs of RISE whizz across fabric on a pair of newly donated sewing machines.

“After I came to the RISE program, I can now sew and crochet,” Kudu Julietaw says. “Now I have a part-time job, but if I still have time, I’ll come to class.”

Defining a Balance Between Family and Work

Participants attend RISE according to their schedules, but free on-site childcare allows parents to join when they have small children in tow.

Seated in a sunny spot among the piles of material, Julietaw’s fingers expertly stitch wide button eyes onto the face of a carrot sewn out of bold calico fabric.

RISE is designed to teach skills, but also to give earnings directly back to members. For most projects, materials are donated, putting sales proceeds into the hands of women like Julietaw. In the five years since its inception, many participants have gone on to gain full-time employment; some have bought their own homes.

The program currently has 15 members, but its space at Wesley Memorial can accommodate more people, and that’s a definite goal for Gallimore as she continues to promote the program. “I cannot thank the opera enough,” Gallimore says. “It makes such a difference for us.”

Learn more about RISE at ymcanwnc.org/community/literacy/rise. Ragtime opens at Piedmont Opera on March 18 at the Stevens Center in Winston Salem.

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Class Exercise A: 5 Red Flags You're Dealing With 'Situational' Depression

By Caroline Bologna 
Q News

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Experts explain how to recognize symptoms and cope with this adjustment disorder.

Depression is not a one-size-fits-all experience. For many, it persists for a long time or feels as though it’s constantly recurring. For others, it may only arise under specific circumstances and for a short duration. This latter condition is what many call “situational depression.”

“Situational depression is a depressive experience that is triggered by a traumatic event or a change in a person’s life, such as job loss, the death of a loved one or an unstable work environment,” said Greg Kushnick, a licensed psychologist in New York. “It is usually considered to be a normal reaction to a major life change or trauma.”

He noted that a depressive reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic can be labeled “situational,” depending on the severity of symptoms, when they started and how long they persist.

What is Situational Depression?

The term “situational depression” is more of an informal descriptor for what is often categorized as a type of “adjustment disorder.”

“When people think of situational depression, they are often thinking of adjustment disorders,” said Steven Bartek, clinical instructor of psychiatry at Michigan Medicine. “An adjustment disorder is a reaction to a stressor that is more intense than a typical emotional response, but not as severe as a full depressive episode.”

“I hear people use the phrase ‘situational depression’ quite a bit, and I honestly have mixed feelings about it,” he added. “It captures something valuable for many people, in that it seems to provide an explanation for the sadness they are experiencing. That can also be a risk, though, since people often minimize the severity of their depression when they think of it as just a reaction to a situation.”

Spotting the Signs

Wondering whether your experience with depression is “situational” rather than something more long-term? Below, experts share some insights on the matter.

As with other depression-related experiences, situational depression tends to involve a low mood and feelings of sadness, guilt or hopelessness. You may have more difficulty feeling pleasure or joy than usual, as well.

“The first step is recognizing that there has been a change in your mental health, Kushnick said. “If you’re unsure, consider asking someone who knows you well as to whether he or she has witnessed any changes in your mood.” (Or, if you’re worried about a loved one experiencing this issue, make note of the changes in their mood.)

Bartek emphasized that it’s perfectly normal and understandable to experience low moods, especially amid the challenges of 2020.

“People sometimes feel pressure to ignore negative emotions ― particularly in a world of perfect Instagram photos ― but during a year with a worldwide pandemic, economic uncertainty, a nationwide referendum on racial violence, and families divided along political lines, experiencing strong and sometimes negative emotions is normal and does not need to be a source of shame,” he said.

In addition to mood shifts, various behavioral changes are also associated with situational depression. These include changes in appetite and eating habits, poor or excessive sleep, bouts of crying, social isolation, losing your temper, rumination, loss of energy, and more.

“People may engage in binge eating or reckless behavior, or ‘acting out’ ― impulsive or self-injurious behavior with substances, sexuality, etc.,” said Sue Varma, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center. “It becomes concerning when someone’s making poor decisions ― or has thoughts or behaviors of self-harm. This warrants immediate professional help.”

“Usually you will see emotional or behavioral symptoms within three months of a specific stressor occurring in your life,” Varma said.

Basically, you’re having an emotional response to a traumatic event or life change, and the extent of the reaction will exceed what is expected in response to that stressor. What constitutes an “expected” response can vary, depending on your culture, baseline mood, and behavior.

In more extreme circumstances like the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic, your baseline may shift, as everyone is expected to experience some mood and behavioral changes at this time. But it’s important to continue monitoring your psychological response and how it affects your day-to-day life.

With situational depression, your symptoms can be severe enough to impair your daily functioning. You may have low motivation and difficulty concentrating.

“People usually experience low mood or anxiety that is intense enough to impact their functioning, such as not being able to focus at work or neglecting relationships,” Bartek said, adding that you shouldn’t allow the “situational” moniker to prevent you from seeking treatment when you need it.

Situational Depression Over Time

Finally, the main item that sets situational depression from something more long-term is how long you’re experiencing the issue.

“Situational depression has a shorter duration than other forms of depression. Situational depression ends when the event ends, the person recovers or with the passage of time,” Kushnick said, adding that therapy can help reduce the severity and length of the symptoms.

Bartek noted that these symptoms tend to go away about six months after the stressor ends. Although disorders like situational depression usually don’t require medication for treatment, they can be serious and are associated with an increased risk for suicide.

And if the situation triggering the symptoms is a severe trauma, you also may experience other symptoms, such as nightmares, flashbacks or other problems associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. Talking to a professional can help determine the best course of action for your particular circumstances.

“The best ways to resolve an adjustment disorder are to stop the stressor (if possible) and to engage in therapy,” Bartek said.

“Throughout this year, the stress, uncertainty, and isolation that has come from the COVID pandemic have led to many people feeling symptoms of depression that are new to them,” he added. “If these symptoms are persistent and do not go away as they normally would, if they are impairing someone’s ability to function, and especially if someone develops thoughts of suicide, treatment should be sought. There are good, evidence-based treatments that can bring relief, even while this stressful situation persists.”

If you or someone you know needs help, call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also text HOME to 741-741 for free, 24-hour support from the Crisis Text Line. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention for a database of resources.

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Introducing Stubborn Interior Designs

 Welcome to the Stubborn Interior Designers blog page! We are very excited to announce the launch of our new blog page which will provide readers with the latest information on interior design trends, inspiration for your office or home, work completed in the past, tips and tricks, and an inside scoop of what will be trending in the future seasons. At Stubborn Interior Designs, we practice the most ethical customer service by promising to get back to our customers within 48 hours of a recorded message, we never leave a customer hanging. We are located in High Point, North Carolina because what better place to know the trends than the furniture capital of the world. Our goal of this blog is to build a better relationship and connection with not only our customers, but people who generally love interior design and we will do this by creating a fun place where we can discuss the ins and outs of the interior design industry. You will be able to get the inside scoop on how to transition your home decor from season to season, as well as how to design your office in a chic and modern way for all of the upcoming holidays and events. In addition, we plan to have weekly segments such as “office of the week” or “room of the week” to give recognition where it is deserved, so if you think you have the hottest room in the country, send it in for a shout out. We also plan to keep an updated “trends chart” that will be updated weekly showing fashion trends that fashion professionals are eyeing for the future seasons. As a former fashion interior design blogger, I loved to browse on Pinterest for the current trends, but now with this blog page, you can just look right here! We will have a folder of all of our past work where readers can see and get inspired to design something great and unique. Check out this portion of the blog to get an idea of our work. Lastly, we want to be able to offer opportunities to our readers such as professional tips, recommendations, and tricks on how to elevate your home without using a sledgehammer. Over the past 15 years, my team and I have created an abundant list of ways to bring life back to your interior design, without going broke (within budget). We are thrilled to announce a place where this information can be found so that everyone can redesign any room of their choice. We can’t wait to hear from you guys and see what you have designed or any questions that you may have. We are excited to share with you our hashtag #MyStubb where you can share your latest interior design with us and ask us any questions! We hope to see your creativity shine on our blog and we’re excited to start this new branch of Stubborn Interior Designs with you! 

SEO Terms: Home, Interior, Design

Who Am I and Who Do I Want to Become?

 My name is Addison Tyler Antico. I was born and raised in Wayland, Massachusetts. For my entire childhood, my life goal was to become a professional NBA player, until I reached about 10th/11th grade where reality started to kick in. I was an athlete my whole life, but then I was introduced to politics. One story that I believe captivates who I am as a person took place in High School. In 2016, before the school year started, I came up with the idea of expressing my support for then-Republican candidate Donald J. Trump. Except I had 1 problem: considering where my house was located in relation to the road, no one would ever see 1 small yard sign. I told my father let's get 1000 small Trump signs and flood our lawn. Long story short, too expensive, so we decided to build 1 massive Trump yard sign. The sign was 16ft tall and 50ft long. This was the beginning of something that I would have never thought would transform my life. 

In 2016,  I was taking my first ever “AP” class (Government Class), which was a little nerve-racking, but I always told myself “If I enjoy the overall topic and put my brain to it, I will succeed.” That is exactly what I did: I got involved in every class discussion, and not because I wanted to, but because I had to. There were a lot of times where I didn’t want to speak, but I had to because no one else would. Note, Wayland is a very very small town that is 95% intolerant democrats (no diverse thought). I was the only person in my class that held more of a Conservative viewpoint. Except, I had one friend in the class that had conservative views, but he didn’t have the heart to speak it. Every day, I would be verbally beaten by not only my classmates, but my own teachers, so I made it a mission to give them a good debate, but kept in mind to ALWAYS be respectful, always. The year 2016, made me the person who I am today. I learned how to properly stand up for what you believe in, especially when you hold an unpopular opinion. If I never spoke my mind because of the fear of facing backlash, I would not be the person that I am today. I am NOT perfect, but I will always speak up when I feel like something must be said. When I look to see 10 years down the road, I see an entrepreneur that is craving to make a change, whether that is specific actions or small conversations that slowly change people's perceptions. My goal in life is to never be another “sheep” in society. Meaning, don’t be a robot or most importantly a follower. 

Conservative, Entrepreneur, High School

FINAL POST: The Relationship Between Technology and Humans

Just WOW, watching the New York '64-65' World's Fair Futurama Ride was amazing. Not the ride itself, but rather the human idea of the future in 1964. I mean Americans in 1964, believed that we would expand our understanding and discover more of Earth and Space. The ride talks about discovering diamonds in Antarctica and building an entire city with futuristic technology. I was amazed when I was watching the ride, because there was a reoccurring theme of new infrastructure and exploring more into our planet, Earth. However, we haven't really done that with increasing technology. I don't want to be pessimistic, but they were always showing a happy/better future, but sometimes that isn't the case. I feel that most humans see the unseen future as positive just because we don't know what it is. It is shown that with the increasing productivity of technology that the world will be a better place, but why? Why is it that the future ALWAYS positive? Is it human instinct?

We have used technology to create a more efficient world especially in regards to human communication, but we haven't really made a true positive impact on the world with technology. Instead, it seems like corporate greed and self enrichment has taken the spotlight. People are really creating products that will make money, rather than impact the world positively. I'm not saying that there aren't companies who are trying to have a huge, positive impact on the world rather than just money, because there are companies that exists, such as Tesla. Tesla has started a movement of electric cars, when every "professional expert" was saying that electric cars didn't have future, and Elon Musk challenged that and proved the world wrong. In the past years, you are starting to see other Car Manufacturers to produce electric cars such as Ford, Porche, Nissan, BMW, Audi, etc.

But then there are companies like Apple who once had society interest's as the forefront of the company's mission, until Steve Jobs passed away. Once Steve jobs passed away, Apple became empowered by corporate billionaires who only seek on how to make more money. The company will do anything to increase revenue even if that means having their workers work in Sweatshops.

Even with Freedom comes a price. We have taken our technology and created a better world for humans and not the entire planet. We have been greedy, with only wanting more to life and it makes me wonder...will it be the death of us? With humans always wanting to increase the way of life without taking the Earth into consideration could be very dangerous to the future. I find it imperative to find ways to increase the way of life without damaging our planet...the only thing that keeps us alive. The question we must ask ourselves moving forward as a society is "Are we taking too much of Earth for granted?" , because there are consequences to everything. We can't always jump the gun just because we think we can!

Is Kim Jong Un Alive?

According to multiple reports, Kim Jong Un is in critical condition due to a "botched Heart Surgery". Anything surrounding Kim Jong Un's health, is a rumor or was through multiple sources, which makes this a very difficult discussion to talk about, because all possibilities are being talked about such as "his sister will take over for him" or "Kim Jong-Un's well travelled uncle could become next North Korean leader". NK News wrote an article 9 days ago called "We don't know" if Kim Jong Un health rumors are true, Trump says". Then another article states "South Korean minister dismisses "fake news" surrounding Kim Jong Un's health", and that was written on April 28.

Wherever you look online, you will find multiple stories discussing the supreme leader, and almost all of the stories will contradict each other. There is no clear statement on what is going on with Kim Jong-Un and this is what makes this conversation so hard to talk about, because rumors and fake news can easily be misinterpreted as facts which causes a lot of confusion and disarray.

This is a very interesting topic because although Kim Jong Un hasn't had a a major impact on the world, he sure has one on North Korea. If he truly is gone, there will be another North Korean leader, and he is most likely to continue the dictatorship regime that Kim Jong-Un left.

What's crazy to me is that we finally had a President who would work to build a strong relationship between the dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong Un. President Trump became the first sitting U.S. President to cross the 1953 armistice line separating North and South Korea and then in addition, they met for 50minutes with only interpreters. The reason why I bring this up, is because the United States hasn't had this much progress with North Korea EVER, and now that Kim Jong Un could be dead, does this mean that the United States has to start over?

The Future Will Tell!

Disinformation

Disinformation can be defined in many ways...

• "false information which is intended to mislead, especially propaganda issued by a government organization to a rival power" 

• "false information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by planting rumors) in order to influence public opinion or obscure truth" 

Whether you choose read one definition over the other, they basically mean the same thing. I decided to choose Disinformation as my key word to research on, because I feel like we live in a time where we are constantly trying to determine whether news is wrong by human error, or deliberately false to push a certain narrative out. Overall, I believe that disinformation is extremely dangerous to the world and could be the death of us, if we don't have our heads screwed on right. A great example would be Coronavirus. 

The other day, during a White House Press Conference, President Trump spoke about experiments that the CDC were doing on Disinfectants and COVID-19. The President spoke about a possible disinfectant to "clean out" the virus in minutes. It was beyond clear that he was speaking in regards to a government experiment, but the President was taken way out of context. 

Business Insider: Transcript

This story made headlines, and as the story got bigger, the story got more twisted. I find this to be a great example of Disinformation, because the other day, my girlfriend told me that Trump is an idiot, but I searched for the full, original video and it was beyond clear that he wasn't telling people to go home and consume disinfectants. However, my girlfriend showed me the story on Snapchat and it was very twisted. It showed the President talking about disinfectants using soundbites rather than showing the entire clip. I recommend any that is reading this, to go watch the actual press conference. 

Although there are many bad sides to Disinformation, I would like to touch on the possibility of disinformation having a positive affect. A great example would be using disinformation in war or in sports. In war, you could create fake attacks planned out on paper and have your enemy see it on purpose, so you then can plan around your enemy coming after you. It allows you to trap your enemy in war or even in sports. 

Now that I have done research on Disinformation, it makes me wonder who's most vulnerable? I came to the conclusion that people who are not involved on social media nor pay attention closely to the news are the ones that are most vulnerable because the further away you are from being involved the more you are to believe any type of news. People who are constantly reading up on news, and checking their sources will be able to detect fake or disinformation better than most people. 

I recommend watching the video below, which shows a great example of disinformation:

Defending Disinformation