My capstone is about how to properly stretch as an injured athlete. I first got introduced to this by getting injured as a high school softball player who had to go to Physical therapy for elbow tendonitis. This really inspired me to create this booklet because before going to physical therapy I didn’t really know how to do these stretches at home without the trainer. So coming up with this will help the SLA community if they get injured by knowing what to do when stretching and how to stretch. I was able to interview Physical Therapists. Going and shadowing them helped with the creation of this booklet that I began making. I also was able to read books and collaborate with the physical therapists so they could look over this booklet and help me with any questions on what stretches to include and what not to include and how long to make it. By the end of this I was able to pull everything together and made sure it is digital so everyone can access this at home or at school before and after games. I just wanted to make an impact on the SLA sports community and help get players to continue to play after getting injured because they probably want to play!

Throughout the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest our narrator is a guy named Chief Bromden. Though we do not know why he is there and what might have happened, we know that he feels a certain way about the people there in the ward with him. When Mr.McMurphy gets committed to the ward the power dynamic between the Nurses, Chronics, and Acutes shifts. McMurphy often is known to have started arguing back and forth with the nurses, especially Big Nurse. He is really one of the only people who have begun protesting what Big Nurse has said. When Bromden and most of the other patients are really scared of Big Nurse and what she can do to them. She has great power over all of that but McMurphy does not seem to be afraid of this.

The way that McMurphy has protested is something that I have been trying to understand throughout this entire book. He doesn’t get nervous like Bromden or Billy Bibbit, he instead faces the problem he wants solved head first. When McMurphy knew the World Series was coming on TV he knew that he needed to be able to watch it in the ward. A number of people told him that it wasn’t worth the risk, “It’s still a risk, my friend. She always has the capacity to make things worse for us. A baseball game isn’t worth the risk.” (107) McMurphy completely disregarded this comment and went on asking people to vote with him, but he made it seem like they were getting something out of this as well when it was something he wanted himself really badly. When the vote came to a close it was 20-20 which meant that he wouldn’t get the World Series on the TV. But what no one told him was that the chronics were involved in this vote and they were the 20 who couldn’t vote yes so they would vote no. This made Mcmurphy extremely mad at Big Nurse and anyone else in charge. When the vote closed Bromden raised his hand, discrediting him being deaf and voted yes. Which changed how people now see Bromden. In that moment I’m not sure whether he cared about what he was doing or knew what he was doing. I just knew that it was something that would completely change how McMurphy see’s Bromden. McMurphy was so happy but Big Nurse kept saying the vote was closed when the meeting ended, which made Mcmurphy extremely mad again.

To me, as a reader and personally, I do not understand how McMurphy has the guts to keep standing up and pushing for what he wants against authority when no one else can or wants to. Like Bromden, I would be scared of Big Nurse as well, “Watching him sitting there frowning all to himself, I remembered what the Big Nurse had said in the meeting, and I began to feel afraid.” (148) I understand where Bromden is coming from. Knowing that both of these people are manipulators is something to keep in mind, something that will stay in your mind forever. Something that will alter the way you think about all authority figures in your life. When I look at the people of authority in my life I notice how scared I am to talk to certain people of power. Teachers, mentors, bosses, and even friends’ parents. In my life I have never really been able to stand up for myself the way McMurphy can. I usually just choose to deal with whatever I’m going through alone or with my friends, which is fine because I usually come out of anything with a better understanding of myself or I come out stronger than I was before. I think there are certain benefits and disadvantages to being like McMurphy when standing up for what you believe in and what you want.

I’ve never really been the one to go against what someone says or wants. I usually follow the rules to a T. When I was younger I always did what everyone told me to do. Which can be good but then sometimes can’t be good at all. Whenever I would do my homework when younger I would always tell my mom how I would have to follow exactly what the teacher told me or else I would get in trouble. Now knowing I can use my own strategies is something helpful. Knowing what’s best for you is something I think is so important to growing as a person. I think understanding a character as important as McMurphy is crucial. Understanding why he wants what he wants and will do anything to get what he wants. I think first finding out why he is committed there and if he acts like this normally in life. Being a true leader for people in the real world is what I mean. The way he gets everyone to follow him and listen to him. McMurphy has yet to be afraid or step back from addressing authority but rather run towards it. I think that is something that I am still figuring out how to do till now. Knowing how to ask for what I want and stand up for what I believe in.

Throughout the novel The Handmaid’s Tale there have been many themes of memories and how this can affect her present suffering and future. Offred the main character has been shown to be focusing on these happy memories but then relating it back to the present and where she is, what she has, and how this is impacting her emotional state. In chapter 35 she references the feeling of feeling erased and forgotten after seeing a picture of her daughter, that was brought by Serena Joy. The part of this section that resonates with me is the feeling that my birth mother could have gotten a picture of me and felt the same way. She gave up her child and I don’t know much about her. Slowly the thoughts of her have been going away. But the same goes for me. I have one single picture of my birth mother, one memory, one thought. But I know nothing more. The feeling of not knowing whether she remembers me feels bad, not wanting to be forgotten or erased. I want to be remembered for something she used to care about. Offred shared that she knows her daughter knows her mother isn’t there but she has been erased from this narrative. On page 228 she shares, “You can see it in her eyes: I am not there. But she exists, in her white dress. She grows and lives. Isn’t that a good thing? A blessing? Still, I can’t bear it, to have been erased like that. Better she’d brought me nothing.” Offred feels pain after being shown this photo. Clearly she sees her daughter growing up in a world without her in it. I am growing up in a world where I don’t see my birth mother either. She has given me away to some other lady but who I now call my mother.

Offred often speaks about how she wants to go back to how things were back then and how everything was generally better back then. She would wish everyday that when she’d go to bed that she’d wake up in her own house and everything would be back to the way it was. On page 199 she explains, “Every Morning when I go to bed I think, In the morning I will wake up in my own house and things will be back to the way they were.” Having these types of thoughts after some change in your life is not uncommon. I know when I was younger I would wish that things could change quickly. I have been separated from my mom twice when I was younger, not for long but around ten days. I remember missing her so much no matter the situation I was in I wanted to be at home with her. All I felt was sad. I wanted things to go back to how they were before I wasn’t with her then. I understand the feeling of wanting for things to go back to the way they were, especially if life was just really good back then and you were happy. The idea that resonates with me the most is how this is a constant thing everyday where she doesn’t want to be here and she wishes every night that she could just go back.

Throughout the novel of The Handmaid’s Tale there is a circling theme along with memories that speaks about having hope and then going into despair. Finding someone or something to give you hope but then realizing where you are and how life is going in the current moment. Currently she tries to sometimes escape from this world that she is in by going to her memories and past moments in life, which can be happy. To then relive these moments and forget about what is happening now in this new world and society. But then it’s this theme again where she pulls back from these memories and realizes she is back in this world of Gilead and nothing can take her back to this past world. For example again when she sees this picture of her daughter it can bring her back to the moments when she was with her and not in the moment where she is right now. When she lays in bed wishing she was back in her home before Gilead she can go back to the memories thinking about what life was like back then and how she felt when she was there back then. She had a family, a life. Now she is separated from them and can only think of them through the memories. The past memories are now contributing to her current suffering in this new world.

Hola me llamo Maya. Yo tengo quince años. Yo tengo una hermana. Ella tiene catorce. Yo tengo una mamá. Yo no tengo papá. Yo tengo los ojos marrones y el pelo castaño. Yo tengo el pelo ondulado. Yo tengo tres tías y un tío. Yo vivo con mi mamá y mi hermana.

Emily es mi prima. Ella tiene los ojos azules y el pelo rubio. Emily tiene el pelo largo. Ella es delgada. Emily es muy divertida, agradable, e inteligente. Emily es muy amable con todos los que conoce y da la bienvenida a todos. No es ni baja, ni grosera.

Tía Maria es mi tía. Tía Maria tiene los ojos marrones. Tiene el pelo castaño. Ella tiene el pelo corto. Tía Maria es un poco gordita. Tía Maria es muy inteligente. Tía Maria es muy divertida. No es ni baja, ni mala.

Yo tengo los ojos marrones. Yo tengo el pelo castaño. Tengo el pelo largo y ondulado. Yo soybaja y delgada. Yo pienso que yo soy muy simpática y amable con todos. Estoy incluyendo. Soy muy amable con todos. No soy ni alta, ni grosera.

Emily es mi prima. Ella y yo somos inteligentes y amigables. Nosotras practicamos el juego de deporte y tenemos muchos tréboles en la escuela. Ella es 15 años mayor que yo, pero estamos muy cercas. Nosotras tenemos el pelo algo largo. A nosotras nos gusta estar alrededor del perro. Ambas llevamos gafas. A nosotros ambos nos gusta la partida a la escuela.