Aleccia, Jonel. "Teens More Stressed-Out Than Adults, Survey Shows - NBC News." NBC News. NBC News, 11 Feb. 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/teens-more-stressed-out-adults-survey-shows-n26921>. This source shows that students are just as stressed if not more so than than the adults around them. The article also stresses the importance of breaking the cycle of stress for students, stressing the importance of students receiving better support in their school and home environments. The article also talks about the idea that social media bring students more stress, since that follows students around everywhere relentlessly. Many students also have the stress of performing well in their classes and extracurriculars, the combination of all the pressure put on students leads to depression and anxiety. A large issue with this is that student are not taught how to properly manage and control their stress levels.

Benedictus, Leo. "Sick Cities: Why Urban Living Can Be Bad for Your Mental Health." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 25 Feb. 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/feb/25/city-stress-mental-health-rural-kind>. This source compares stress levels between people who live in the city and those who live in the country. A group of people were put into stressful situations -solving difficult math problems, rude instructors- and their brains were scanned for their levels of stress. The two sections of the brain that deal with stress were shown in the scan. Compared to country dwellers people living in the city had considerably higher stress levels. Even compared to those living in a small town, city dwellers had the highest level of stress by far. I wanted to use this source to highlight how utterly stress people living in the city are, even if we do not realize it.

Borchard, Therese J. "6 Ways Pets Relieve Depression." World of Psychology. Psych Central, 19 May 2013. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/05/19/6-ways-pets-relieve-depression/>. This source gives the detailed run down about how dogs and cats help with depression. Though it only gives six reasons, they are all valid. The source gives reasons as to why owning a pet is a positive thing. It highlights what I want people to know about having a pet, and brings in a lot of the physiological reasons that have been left out in previous articles. It gives the physiological benefits of each category. Things like unconditional love and acceptance and giving the owner responsibility all have positive impacts. I feel that if more people knew how beneficial it is to own a pet, there would be fewer animals in shelters and more in loving homes.

Falcone, Alissa. "Drexel Becomes First University to Host a Permanent Therapy Dog in a Recreation Center." Drexel Edu. Drexel, 25 Sept. 2014. Web. 5 Feb. 2016. <http://drexel.edu/now/archive/2014/September/Drexel-Therapy-Dog/>.I chose this source because it shows the direct benefits of a therapy dog with students. Even though my event will be held outside of Science Leadership Academy, students will have access to the event. Also, since it will be held in a public place there will be a more diverse group of people than just students. The article talks about the long term plans they have for the dog and how students will be able to access him. Though this source does not talk directly about the benefits of having a therapy pet on campus, it shows how more schools are moving forward with the idea of using pets to lower stress.

Jayson, Sharon. "Teens Feeling Stressed, and Many Not Managing It Well."USA Today. Gannett, 11 Feb. 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/11/stress-teens-psychological/5266739/>. This article goes into teen stress statistics. The source goes in depth of people being extremely stress at a young age and how it carries over into adulthood. The article states that teens with high levels of stress are more likely to have a shorter lifespan. It goes into the reality of what it is like being a teenager trying to balance everything. I wanted to have this article as a source to show the reality of teenage stress and how negatively it impacts us. It shows how stress is directly linked to depression and anxiety among teens. It highlight the fact that teenagers under severe stress now are more likely to have severe illnesses later in life.

Kahler, Susan C. " Unmasking the Shelter Dog." Unmasking the Shelter Dog. Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association, 18 Mar. 2015. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <https://www.avma.org/News/JAVMANews/Pages/150401a.aspx>. This source talks about the stigmatism surrounded by shelter animals. A large part of the article is spent dispelling various myths about shelter animals. Animal behaviorists are working to dispel the remaining myths about shelter animals. Studies are being done on animal aggression and food guarding. I wanted to use this article in my sources to show that there is a stigmatism of aggression in shelter animals. Since that myth is a reason many shelter animals are left unadopted. The article also shows that the new owner’s interacts with their pet has an impact on the animal’s behavior. The article also talks about euthanasia versus putting an animal in a shelter.

"NYU Study Examines Top High School Students' Stress and Coping Mechanisms." NYU Study Examines Top High School Students' Stress and Coping Mechanisms. New York University, 11 Aug. 2015. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2015/08/11/nyu-study-examines-top-high-school-students-stress-and-coping-mechanisms.html>. NYU research on student stress. Similar to the other two sources written about stress, I chose this source because it seems the most reliable. Like the other articles, this source discusses student stress and coping mechanisms . This source also compares stress levels between males and females. A lot of this stress comes from wanting a tangible reward and the pressure put on student from their parents to receive those rewards. The article states that a good education is not tangible, but a degree from Harvard or Yale is, so teens are feeling pressure to receive the tangible awards. This source also talks about teens often go to substance use to relieve stress.

Pancake, Soul. "Kitten Therapy: The Prescription for Stress." YouTube. YouTube, 11 Nov. 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35T8wtmTbVg>.

This first source was my initial inspiration for the project. Though I know my project will not look exactly like this, it is the general outline of what I want it to look like. Originally I just wanted to have an adoption even to get animals adopted, but through this video I decided to try and gauge other’s stress levels. This gave my capstone the goal to try and help lower stress levels of others. Because of this video I will now gage with the participants asking them about their stress levels before and after the event. Perhaps, if there is a nice turn out, I will film it and make a small video.

Rovner, Julie. "Pet Therapy: How Animals And Humans Heal Each Other."NPR. NPR, 5 Feb. 2012. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/03/09/146583986/pet-therapy-how-animals-and-humans-heal-each-other>. The article shows that there is a mutual benefit between humans and their pets. Not only would the even help people in the short term, but it may also get some people to adopt. That would help both parties in the long term. It helps us distress, and lower our blood pressure, and it puts animals in a more social situation. Playing with pets has the health benefits of exercise for both parties. With this event I would like to highlight the mutual benefits of having a pet, and adopting. I selected this source because of how well it highlights the benefits shared between people and pets.

Weaver, Jane. "Puppy Love- It's Better than You Think." Msnbc.com. NBC, 08 Apr. 2004. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.nbcnews.com/id/4625213/ns/health-pet_health/t/puppy-love----its-better-you-think/>. This article goes into depth about dogs help with our mental health. It goes into specifics highlighting the fact that saying your own dog will lower your blood pressure. The benefits are seen clearly in owning a dog versus an unfamiliar dog or even a robotic dog. It shows that after about a half an hour both your and the animal’s blood pressure will drop considerably. The writer of the article compares it to the benefits of eating chocolate. It is also noted that this behavior is wired into how humans work, it is not something we learn over time. Exposing children to pets at a young age also helps lower their chances of having allergies and asthma.

Lets stay here for the night, Papa

We haven’t traveled very far today

I know

It could be dangerous

I know, Papa

We need to keep going

No.

The man turned around to see the boy setting up the tarp. The man walked to the boy with a limp to return the tarp to the cart, the boy grabbed the tarp from out of his hands. The man coughed until he couldn’t stand, the boy made a tent from the tarp and started a fire, he covered the man in a blanket and sat down next to him.

The man sat silently and eventually fell asleep. The boy stayed for a moment before going to see what was down the road. He took the gun from the man and walked towards the Road, he saw a small town in the distance. On the way back the boy gathered some brush and wood for the fire. Out of the suffocating darkness he heard his father calling out. The boy returned, the man livid with anger. The fire slowly began to burn out.

Where did you go, where is the gun?

I have it

Why did you take it

I went to go see what was down the road, and to go get more wood for the fire

I dont want you going anywhere without me

You were sleeping

I know

But the fire was going to go out, you would have froze

I don’t care. You cant go anywhere without me.

One of the motifs in this passage was the fire. Both the fire the man sets up at the camps, and the fire he and the boy carry within themselves. As the man gets closer to his death his fire begins to go out. He loses whatever morals he had, becomes angry and bitter. The boy goes to get more firewood, because he knows how important it is to keep the flame light. And despite any fears the boy may have, he risks going down the road on his own to keep that fire going. Throughout the book is it clear that the boy’s fire is brighter than the man’s.

In this passage I wanted to highlight the man’s protectiveness of the boy. The man wants to boy to know how to survive without him there. Yet at the same time the man doesn’t want to see the boy become independent of him, since the boy is his reason to fight to stay alive. After he see’s that the boy can take care himself the man has to grapple with the fact that the boy can survive without the man. The boy is the man’s reason for living. Knowing that the boy is at an age where he doesn’t need someone to take care of him, the man slowly loses his reason to stay alive. The man fights for their survival throughout the entire book. It is his nature to feel the need to always protect the boy, even if he doesn’t necessarily need said protection. There is a fine line between being protective of his son and being over protective, preventing his son from doing anything on his own. This could make life more difficult for the boy after the man is gone and end up hurting the boy. One of the motifs I decided to use was surviving on the road without a companion. The man worries about what the boy will be like on the road on his own. He fears that the boy will hurt himself and end up like the lightening struck man, will he lose his morals to survive, or only survive with the help from others just like Eli. This fear only makes the man more protective and unintentionally harmful to the boy.

Bossypants, written by Tina Fey, is a comical masterpiece. It is a well written story filled with charming anecdotes of Tina’s personal and professional life. Through her success she portrays what it is like to be a woman working in a male dominated environment. She reminds her female readers of how, in those situations, people often turn it into a girl on girl competion. In response Tina says, “You're not in competition with other women. You're in competition with everyone.” Little nuggets of advice, like this quote, are sprinkled throughout the book. Between moments of pure laughter there are moments of wisdom that make this book so unique and enjoyable to read. Regardless of your age, Tina has advice that is relevant to your life. Women, men, teens, parents, everyone can take something away from her book.

Bossypants is not all life advice from Tina, she also discusses her personal life, and her constant struggle to find the balance between work, her social life, and her home life. She shares anecdotes of her childhood and her “just badass” dad, Don Fey, through her teenage years growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, working for a Christian theatre company. The stories are put together to form a timeline of Tina’s life. To add to the moments of nostalgia there are photographs of Tina, her family and friends, throughout the years. It creates an image of her life before fame. She had a normal, awkward, anything but glamorous life. And the pictures she adds in makes you feel like you know her on a more personal level. With the pictures throughout the book you also get a physical image seeing her develop into the person she is today. Continuing into young adulthood Tina discusses her luck with guys. At a point while discussing college relationships she reminds her readers, “When choosing sexual partners, remember: Talent is not sexually transmittable.”

From talk of childhood, Tina makes the transition into her career. And of course, what would her book be without discussing her time on Saturday Night Live and working on the set of 30 Rock with Alec Baldwin. Starting with a Second City, a comedy improv company in Chicago, she learned some of her most valuable lessons about comedy. From there she became a writer for Saturday Night Live where she met and worked with Lorne Michaels and developed somewhat of a mentor and mentee relationship. He is mentioned frequently in chapters about writing for SNL and late nights in the office, Tina also notes Lorne’s influences on her writing and all the useful show business advice he gave her through the years. The advice she got from him at SNL carried over to how she ran things at 30 Rock. She talks about script writing, the editing process, late nights in the studio and how stressful all of it really was is. She shows the work that goes into the script writing and how hard it is writing for comedy. At this point of the book she probably shares her most profound words of wisdom, “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s 11:30.”  

The writing style of the book is comical. Tina has a unique way of conveying humor through sarcasm and satire in writing. No matter the subject of the chapter she finds a way to make you laugh. One chapter in particular, “Young Men’s Christian Association”, described her time working at her local YMCA. The job was far from exciting, yet between writing about the people she encountered or the work that was required, her complaints and rants made the book worth reading. “The people who worked upstairs in the offices...had it made. A guy in boxer shorts never screamed at them, that the residence lounge TV was broken.” The main idea to take away from all of these anecdotes and reflections is that everything will eventually be okay. If you mess up it’s not the end of the world. Countless times throughout the book Tina stresses that you should try to do everything that you can, but there will be a point where you just need to let it go. Which was something I did not expect when reading Bossypants. When I picked up the book I expected Tina Fey to write about how extravagant her life is and how grateful she is for all the opportunities she had been given, like a prolonged Oscar speech. But I was pleasantly proven wrong.

Bossypants was written by Tina Fey, published by Little Brown and Company, on April 5, 2011, 277 pages, autobiography.

Do you remember the fun we used to have here? The unerasable smiles on our faces? Everything disappeared here. Our problem and worries vanished at the sight of bright twinkling lights and the smell of funnel cake.

This was were we first met, remember that Ruth? It was 1939, I had just turned fifteen. The boys and I came here to celebrate at the new amusement park. Sea Side Amusement Park, thats what we used to call it. It was like nothing the town had ever seen.  The whole gang of us, Mickey, Jerry, Fred, Ricky, and Hugh... I was waiting in line for the tilt-a-whirl with Jerry and Fred when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and there you were. You said, “Excuse me Mista, could I borrow five cents for some cotton candy? I can pay ya back next week.” Without hesitation I gave you my last five cents. After that I figured I wouldn’t ever see you again, so the next week when I saw you there you could imagine my surprise.

But that’s all going to be gone soon anyway. This park that we held so near and dear to us is being knocked down to build some sort of new shopping complex. Even after the rides stopped running and the game booths gave away their last toys we always came back. Every year on our anniversary, we would walk through this park and remember. But now that you are gone, this park is all I have left of you. And they want to take it away. Ruth, I am scared I don’t want to forget all the fun we had here. Like right over there! The gazebo where we would all sit, us two, Mickey, Fred, Jerry, Mary Sue, even Annie from time to time. And over there! Right next to the House of Mirrors was where we had our first kiss. Right there, was our bench. I carved our names inside a heart so that every time someone would walk by, they would know that Ruth and Joe were in love. This park was our sanctuary, even in grief we still found it beautiful.

After Fred, and Mickey and even Annie’s funerals we came here. We held each others hand and remembered the fun we all used to have. And then you died, Ruth... I don’t know if it was meant to be, or God’s cruel way of saying “Enough.” It was our anniversary, we were supposed to come here together, but instead I came here alone. Without your hand to hold I sat in the rotting gazebo and remembered. I remembered how you would fixed your hair after riding the tilt-a-whirl, how you would hold my hand as we walked through the side show tent, and how you smiled after that first bite of cotton candy. This place is a kingdom of memories to me, and they want to take it away. So is the world losing is beauty or am I too old to see its colors?

Speech impediments affect millions of people worldwide. Over three million people stutter in America alone. Speech impediments can be caused by a variety of things, the two most common reasons are developmental and neurogenic. Often times people who have an impediment to go speech therapy to try and overcome their stutter. People with a speech impediments often have less power in a system because of  the unwillingness of others to listen.

John Stossel, a co-anchor on 20/20, had a major speech impediment. He stuttered. As a child and even early in his broadcasting career John had to face the daily challenges of his speech impediment. In an interview with Stossel he says, “Fear of stuttering can easily become worse than the stuttering itself…”  Many with a stutter have a fear of being rejected because of their stammer, rather than their actual impediment. This silences countless stutters. This silence gives them less power in a system compared to someone free of a speech impediment. Whether the system be where that person works, learns, or lives. These people can often be eclipsed by the shadow of their stutter. Stuttering can affect anybody at any age, though it commonly begins in childhood, it can also happen after a serious brain injury like a stroke. Stossel also talked briefly on what is was like growing up with a stutter, “I remember terror in the classroom...” This is a common fear, the terror that his listeners, or peers, would not listen to what he has to say but instead make fun of him for how he said it.

This is a problem that people who stutter, face daily. To try and help cope with their impediment, many go to speech therapy in hopes to help their stutter. With dedication and practice many people are able to overcome their impediment. People like Marilyn Monroe, James Earl Jones, and even Emily Blunt and King George IV, have all stuttered. The Stuttering Foundation did a small biography on Marilyn’s impediment, it was said,  “A speech therapist taught her how deliberate breathing prior to speaking could guide her to fluency.” Though in times of stress towards the end of her career the impediment became noticeable, look at how iconic she became. She worked so that her impediment wouldn’t control her, and this gave her the iconic and airy Marilyn voice.Speech therapy will not automatically cure a persons impediment, or turn them into famous actors, but with dedication a stutter could become less noticeable.

Thanks to the movie “Kings Speech” many have gotten a glimpse of what it is like living with a stutter. The film follows the story of King George IV overcoming his impediment while trying to rule a country. Though it is one thing to watch it in a movie and another to live it daily, this movie has shined a light on speech impediments like no other movie has. Wheeler-Bennet, the King’s biographer wrote, “..failures of previous specialists to affect a cure had begun to breed within him the inconsolable despair of the chronic stammerer and the secret dread that the hidden root of the affliction lay in the mind rather than the body.” So many people carry this secret dread of their stammer, even if they aren’t required to make war speeches in front of an empire. The feeling of not being taken seriously is often a bigger obstacle than the stutter itself. This makes us notice how someone without a stutter might look at those who do. In several points in the film mainly when Bertie, the future king, would make a public address did I notice the listener’s reactions. In the beginning of his speech many would look on eager to hear what he had to say. His first few stammers people would being to wince in embarrassment for him, before eventually looking away. In that situation the listener tried to distance themselves from the speaker as much as they possibly could. They did this by looking away, staring off into space, or twiddling their thumbs. Bertie's message was lost due to his stammer and people’s lack of patience.

While researching, trying to find how people react to a stutter I decided to see what google had to say. In a google search phrase, “Are people who stutter” google auto filled in the statement with the following : smarter, stupid, shy nervous, intelligent.  The first subject that was read was the shy nervous option which eventually lead to the National Stuttering Association’s common myths page. The association dismissed many myths such as “People stutter because they are shy and self conscious,” and  “Stuttering is a mental disorder.” The list goes on ranging from poor parenting to a lack of intelligence.  Another source that was found was the publics opinion on stuttering, most of the studies showed that the public thought those who stutter are shy and and often nervous.  It was also said that, “Considerably more children who stutter were bully victims than were children who do not stutter.” I wasn’t surprised by this, it is terribly cruel thing  to do to someone, especially a child. Children often have a short attention span, so not having enough patience and a lack of understanding can lead to bullying. This only makes it harder for someone to stutter have their voice be heard.

Recent media has shined a light on stuttering because of this we now have a better idea of what it is like living with a speech impediment. Many famous people like Marilyn Monroe and King George IV have stuttered, but with serious therapy, time, and dedication they have overcome their impediment and let their voices be heard. Many studies have been done to show that though stuttering is not caused by shyness or nervousness, it can be caused by emotional traumas. People who do stammer are no less intelligent, than someone who doesn’t. People with a speech impediments often have less power in a system because of  the unwillingness of others to listen.

Work Cited

Emily Aten, . N.p.. Web. 29 Oct 2013. <http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster/journal/hallen/public.html>.

. N.p.. Web. 29 Oct 2013. <http://www.stutteringhelp.org/content/stuttering-didn’t-silence-his-story-2020’s-john-stossel-inspires-others>.

. N.p.. Web. 29 Oct 2013. <http://www.stutteringhelp.org/content/stuttering-didn’t-silence-his-story-2020’s-john-stossel-inspires-others>.

National Institute of Deafness, A. C. D.. N.p.. Web. 29 Oct 2013. <https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/pages/stutter.asp&xgt;.>

Center for stuttering therapy, . N.p.. Web. 31 Oct 2013. <http://www.coloradostutteringtherapy.com/additional_info/facts.htm>.