Invisible Child By Andrea Elliot

Calvin and Hobbes embodied the voice of the Lonely Child is an article written by Libby Hill. In this article, Hill digs deep into the famous comic strips of the 80’s and 90’s, and uses her now adult mind to examine the deeper meanings of the comics and how they shaped her childhood. Hill’s main focus is on the theme of loneliness, and how Calvin is able to find ways to cope with the loneliness that often plagues children in the modern world. As a child, she related to Calvin, because Calvin’s character, despite being complex in nature, was portrayed in such a way so that children could relate to him. As the article progresses, she begins to draw comparisons to reading the strips as a child and then rereading them as an adult, and she explains

Technology has changed people’s communication greatly. Technology hurts human communication because it separates bonds, and people don’t know how to do face to face talking anymore.

In the book Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, Susanna Kaysen was only 18 years old when she agreed to enter a medium security psychiatric facility in Boston, McLean hospital in April 1967, after a failed suicide attempt. She insisted that her over dose on aspirin was not a suicide attempt, but after a 20 minute interview the doctor decided she needed to be admitted to a hospital. During her prolonged two-year stay at the hospital Kaysen describes the issues that most of the patients in her ward have to deal with and how they all differently deal with the amount of time they must stay in the hospital for. While in the hospital Kaysen experienced a case of depersonalization where she tried to pull the skin of her hands to see if there were bones underneath, after a failed escape attempt. Soon, after going to therapy and analysis she was labeled as having recovered from borderline personality disorder. After her release she realizes that McLean Hospital provided patients with more freedom than the outside world, by being free responsibility of parental pressure, free from school and job responsibilities, and being free from the “social norms” that society comes up with. Ultimately, being in captivity gave the patients more freedom then in society and created a safe environment in which patients wanted to stay in.

Within the confines of this paper, derived from an immensely valuable article, describing the impoverished young life of an 11-year-old girl named Dasani. A five-part article written in the New York Times turned out to be a masterpiece for learning, which published in 2013. Four different perspective theories were used to analyze young Dasani's personal life, Dasani's Homeless life, and Dasani's life in general. Furthermore, I will be assessing through, Fowler’s Stages of Faith Development, Control Theories, Behavior Settings Theories, and History, Social Structure, and Human Agency/Cultural Hegemony. Using the four different perspectives of theory afforded an exciting opportunity to attempt to understand her life from multiple angles a rather multifaceted approach. The process proves to be quite rewarding. Assuredly, many fresh perspectives were learned, with the paper this in-depth and broad scope allows the opportunity for a deeper learning experience. I learned, without a sound base in a young life that encompass, safety, food, shelter, and semi-functional parents, a child will have a difficult time getting a strong foothold in life. I learned this lesson from, in my opinion, the only way that will stick with you always, and will influence all decisions as well as thoughts. I lived it! Born into a mixed racial family that was devastated from no education. Abuse towards my brother James eight years old, my sister Felicia five years old and myself age of nine, was common to each day. Me being the

Sanity is subjective. Every individual is insane to another; however it is the people who possess the greatest self-restraint that prosper in acting “normal”. This is achieved by thrusting the title of insanity onto others who may be unlike oneself, although in reality, are simply non-conforming, as opposed to insane. In Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted, this fine line between sanity and insanity is explored to great lengths. Through the unveiling of Susanna’s past, the reasoning behind her commitment to McLean Hospital for the mentally ill, and varying definitions of the diagnosis that Susanna received, it is evident that social non-conformity is often confused with insanity.

The poem “Mothers and Daughters” is written by Pat Mora. Pat Mora is a contemporary award winning writer, who writes for children, youngsters and adults. She was born in El Paso, TX in the year 1942. She attains a title of a Hispanic writer; however, the most of her poems are in English. In her literary work, one can observe the different aspects of the immigrants’ lives such as language issues, family relationships, immigrants’ experiences and cultural differences (1187).

Alex Kotlowitz’s There Are No Children Here is a documentary exploring life in inner-city Chicago during the late 1980’s. The book follows the lives of two African American youth, Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers, who live in Chicago’s Horner Homes over the course of two years. It tells of a lifestyle that is a reality for many Americans and forces the reader to acknowledge a broken system that so many turn a blind eye toward. Kotlowitz does not sugarcoat the struggles and hardships that the citizens of the inner-city face every single day. The Rivers’ boys, like all the children of inner-cities, experience situations and know of unimaginable horrors that rob them of their innocence and childhoods. Lafeyette and Pharoah have to face and overcome many forces that can change their lives for the worst, such as: gangs and drugs, the social system, the Chicago Housing Authority, and the battle within them to give into the worst of society. Sociological concepts, including: racism, strain theory, and social stratification can explain some of the exploitation of Lafeyette and Pharoah.

In “The Homeless and Their Children”, author Jonathon Kozol explains how poverty and homelessness can go hand in hand, but he also shows his readers that the government in New York City during the 1980’s did not really attempt to assist those in need. The author shows us how the homeless and illiterate struggled by sharing with us an interview with a young woman called Laura who resided in a massive welfare hotel. Kozol did not find it necessary to write this piece in a persuasive tone, or a compassionate tone, or even an angry tone to get his message across. He did not need to include a multitude of statistics to convince his readers that homelessness, illiteracy, and governmental apathy were issues. As stated in the introductory

The play “No Child”, written by Nilaja Sun showcases a teacher, Ms. Sun as a teaching artist who is under a grant to facilitate the production of a play, teaching and encouraging live theoretical performances in a dysfunctional environment.No Child is a reflection of Nilaja Sun’s experiences as a teaching artist in the public school system in New York. In the play Ms. Sun brings a senses of hope and inspiration not only to the students but to the teachers as well in one of the toughest classrooms of Malcolm X High School, in Bronx, New York. The narrator of the play is a observant Janitor of the Malcolm X High School. Since he has been performing his job related duties as a janitor he witnessed the struggles and obstacle faced by the school and students. No Child accurately illustrates students, teachers and communities imprisoned by a corrupted public school system.

In this essay I intend to explore the narrative conventions and values, which Oliver Smithfield presents in the short story Victim. The short story positions the reader to have negative and sympathetic opinion on the issues presented. Such as power, identity and bullying. For example Mickey the young boy is having issues facing his identity. It could be argued that finding your identity may have the individual stuck trying to fit in with upon two groups.

Growing up in today’s society can be traumatizing for any child. When it comes to growing up as a young girl, however, it can be downright devastating, but not only for the child but the parent as well. There are so many decisions to be made when choosing how to raise your child, assuring that you have instilled proper values to develop a healthy sense of self-worth and confidence.

In Cinderella Ate My Daughter Peggy Orenstein examines the triumphs and pitfalls navigating raising a daughter, in today’s mixed message world. From peer pressure and the need to fit in today’s society, young females have commercialism forced at them at every turn and in very clever ways. Doll creators have been pushing the boundaries of good taste with each new season launch. When the more “mature” actresses at the age of 17 feel the need to do something drastic to remove them from the wholesome image created for by company executives, mothers and consumers feel betrayed, and yet then we need to have a dialog with our kids as to why just last month Miley Cyrus was wonderful but now she is not okay for the viewing household.

This paper provides a brief summary of the novel Beautiful Boy by David Sheff (2008) that shows life of his son’s struggling drug addiction through the eyes of a helpless father. This paper also expands on the notion of how substance abuse and addiction are represented per several factors – individual, social, cultural and economic, as well as what instances/occurrences may have played a significant role in the development of substance and alcohol addiction Nic, the individual at risk, the circumstances that may have led David to acknowledge his son’s substance abuse problem, and what factors facilitate recovery. In addition, this paper covers the book’s application to the social work practice, including direct social work

Within the confines of this text I will be exploring the New York Times article invisible child in the shadows Dasani’s homeless life. Dasani’s life will be examined through the lenses of five different theories. The five theories will be, Health and wealth connection theory, cognitive theory, psychoanalytic theory, attachment theory, and relational theory. To be summed up in the end with the conclusion.

In Meredith Small’s article Our Babies, Ourselves she focuses on people’s social and psychological development through examining the different cultural aspects of raising a child. During this process she compares the American perspective of treating babies, to those of the Gusii and the Dutch. Throughout her examination many points are made that I believe can give the reader’s a valuable understanding of the impact of different means of parenthood on a child’s future development.