Rock and Roll Saved My Soul

In 1987, a small group of caring individuals had a vision: establish a private source of support for suicide research and education, and essential suicide prevention efforts could be sustained into the future. These founding families—each of whom had lost a someone to suicide—joined with scientists to create what today is the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, or AFSP. Many of our original founders were concerned about an alarming rise in youth suicide over the previous four decades. During this period, the suicide of young men had tripled while for young women it had doubled. Suicide is currently the third leading cause of death among young people age 15 to 24. The highest overall rates of suicide are for adults age 40 to 59. Before AFSP, there was no national-scope not-for-profit organization dedicated to understanding and preventing suicide through research, education and advocacy. Since its founding in 1987, AFSP has: Mobilized and connected tens of...

Jen: lefse!! Colleen: preparing the holiday meal and spending time with family Sandy: I love that Santa brings my family a movie for each of us every year. Santa always wraps his presents in santa paper along with the stocking stuffer stuff he brings everyone. Last 3-4 years i have wrapped my presents for each person with certain paper. So everyone knows what presents our theirs. Santa writes whose are whose from him. Michaelle: Holiday goodies! Baking, sharing, and of course, eating! Gina: The past two years, since my nephew was born I’ve been going to see him on Christmas Eve and spend time with him and open presents, eat, this year we’re going to decorate gingerbread houses. Heather: Open presents in the morning Radeyah: Around Christmas time my mom and I drink hot chocolate and watch Christmas movies. Lori: My brother and his fiance and I always go to our dad's for Christmas and I always buy my brother and I lifesavers story books as well...

What is the most clever life hack you've learned? Kate: Paper binder clips! They have so many uses. I use them as chip clips and for keeping cereal bags closed. And they're great for holding phone charger cords together if you keep them in your purse or bag so they don't get knotted up.  Sid:  I think the most clever life hack I’ve learned is in drawing where you can use a triangle to build up certain foot poses. (That counts, right?) A list from Google: http://twistedsifter.com/2013/10/clever-life-hacks-to-simplify-your-world/

Dating in the Digital Age By Kate Marie Robbins Where do you find a relationship when you live in a small town, work in a field that is primarily dominated by the same sex as you, and the bar scene isn’t your cup of tea? I didn’t meet my husband in high school or even college like most people do. So where does someone like me turn to? In this day and age, the only viable option for someone like me is the internet. We all have our own reasons for choosing for using sites such as Plenty of Fish, Match, Tinder, Facebook, Meetme, etc. to find dates and none of those reasons are wrong. There is so much stigma still in using the internet for dating and I don’t understand this.  If you’re being safe about what you’re doing, which is key, then it shouldn’t matter where you meet people. It baffles me that some people automatically assume that just because you met someone online that there must be something wrong with them. I decided to write this to try to help try to brea...

In the Netherlands , Sinterklaas arrives on the evening of December 5th. Children leave a shoe out by the fireplace or windowsill and sing Sinterklaas songs in the hope that he will fill them with presents. They also leave some hay and carrots in their shoes for Sinterklaas’s horse. They’re told that, during the night, Sinterklaas rides on the roofs on his horse and that a Zwarte Piet (Black Peter, who is like an elf) will then climb down the chimney (or through a window) and put the treats in their shoes. In Iceland , in the 13 days leading up to Christmas, 13 mischievous trolls called Yule Lads (jólasveinar in Icelandic) come out to play. For each night of Yuletide, children place their best shoes by the window and a different Yule Lad visits, leaving gifts for nice girls and boys and rotten potatoes for the naughty ones. Clad in traditional Icelandic costume, their names reflect the trouble they like to cause: Stekkjastaur (sheep cote clod), Giljagaur (gully gawk), Stúfu...

When should you reveal a secret you said you wouldn’t?  Sandy:  Only time I feel is if that person is in danger and their life is question. Otherwise keep secrets until you die. Sid:   You should reveal a secret when someone is in immediate danger, or if someone is hurting you. Kate: When it puts the secret holder or someone else's life at risk, especially if the person is a child.  Facebook weighs in: If it's someone else's secret never.....because it's not mine to share. However, if it's one of my own then it depends on who I'm sharing it with. I don't reveal any secrets unless I absolutely feel comfortable with a person or know i can trust them. There a still secrets from times in my life no one knows about and never will. -Shauna Y. Depends on the secret and who it might hurt or not. -Jenn W. For one, we must never divulge a secret. A promise is meant to be kept and if we don't honour our own words, we are disrespectin...

CHERUBS is the world's first and largest CDH non-profit organization. We are truly a grassroots organization - CDH families creating something out of nothing when there was no other CDH group, information and services in 1995. CHERUBS was created to make sure that no family endures Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia without support or accurate information. Our Board of Directors includes CDH parents, grandparents, survivors, nurses, doctors and the world's top CDH researchers. CHERUBS is run solely by volunteers and donations. At CHERUBS, every CDH family has an opportunity to honor or remember our children while doing good to help others and work together as a CDH community. No other charity in the world has such a respected, educated or experienced group of leaders who care so much about the CDH community. CHERUBS was not created by one family or for one family. It was not created in honor or in memory of one child. It is, and has always been, a group effort to help ...

Family and food. -Jimmy R. Baking Christmas cookies with my grandmother from an old family recipe. -Shauna Y.

How do you know when it's time to end a friendship? Sid:  I think it's time to end a friendship when it becomes all take and no give, or when it's become toxic in another way that cannot be fixed. If it's unhealthy for either of you to be in that situation, and the fact isn't going to change, it's time to let go. It hurts, yes, but it's what's best. Kate: For me, I've always found it is when you've found you can no longer trust the person any longer and you feel that you won't ever be able to get that trust back. Unfortunately, sometimes a part of growing up is growing apart.  Facebook weighs in: When it becomes toxic for you. When you can't help but be insecure about everything surrounding the friendship. Those worries are real. -Jenna W.

Founded in 1998 by the creators of the Academy Award®-winning short film TREVOR, The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13-24. In 1994, producers Peggy Rajski and Randy Stone saw writer/performer James Lecesne bring to life Trevor, a character he created as part of his award-winning one-man show WORD OF MOUTH. Convinced Trevor’s story would make a wonderful short film, Stone and Rajski invited Lecesne to adapt it into a screenplay. Rajski directed the movie and TREVOR went on to win many prestigious awards including the Academy Award® for Best Live Action Short Film. The Oscar-winning film eventually launched a national movement. When producer Randy Stone secured an airing on HBO with Ellen DeGeneres hosting, director/producer Peggy Rajski discovered there was no real place for young people like Trevor to turn when fac...

Baking cookies -Katy R. Driving around the nice neighborhoods looking at Christmas lights and of course the light festivals -Kathy C. Making and then eating lefse. -Joseph R. Chasing my uncle around the house because he stole the whipped cream. -Liz P. We don't do it every year, but we make gingerbread houses from scratch some years at my dad's house! -Vanessa R.

Kate: Absolutely. I have had many good friends of the opposite sex over the years. And I mean, if they can't really be friends, then what does that mean for the LGBT community? Being a pansexual myself, wouldn't that mean I wouldn't have any friends? LOL Obviously, sometimes feelings can develop, but that's not always the case.  Sid:  Ah. The age old question. If you ask me, I usually have one of two answers. My superficial/joking “Yes, because gay people exist,” or if you wanted my serious answer I would say that society is a little too obsessed with this notion that being attracted to a gender equates to being attracted to everyone of that gender. We also tend to hyper-sexualize and hyper-romanticize just about everything people do, from a really young age. “Straight men and women can't be friends because they'll automatically fall in love or be attracted to each other.” People say stuff like this with any gender attraction, and honestly? It'...

Hands Off Gretel are a 3 piece Alternative Rock/ New Wave Grunge band from South Yorkshire, UK. Launched February 2015 by Singer/Songwriter Lauren Tateand guitarist Seán Bon. Hands Off Gretel have since been described as "One of the most exciting new bands" in the 'Bands To Watch' feature in the US's Alternative Press Magazine. Back in September 2016 the band launched their first 13 track studio album 'Burn The Beauty Queen' after running a very successful crowdfunded backed entirely by their online fanbase. "In an age of beige bands and nonchalant attitude to music, Hands Off Gretel come kicking and screaming like it's the early '90s and to be honest they are a breath of fresh air. " - Uber Rock    The band Hands Off Gretel developed late 2014 between Lauren & Sean, after Lauren's solo band 'The Lauren Tate band' came to an end in the summer of 2014. Tate had recently denied offers from US pop labels &...