World Traveler? OK, City or State? This section is for writers to share their travel stories, experiences and adventures... Bon Voyage!
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Stacey Lane
Adviser
About Me
- Stacey Lane's Blogspot.com
- I have taught Journalism, Creative Writing and advised Young Reporters throughout the Valley for the past 12 years. I am a freelance writer for the Education, Social and Community Pages with Independent Newspapers. My students write and submit stories to Independent Newspapers' Write to Report Program, Bear Essential News for Kids -Young Reporters Program, EduKid Newspapers and In the Zona. I enjoy teaching, photography and watching writers grow as they master their new found skills... Explore the Power of Personal Expression - visit, Write On! Creative Writing Workshops on Facebook
Tour Tucson: Discover a jewel in the desert
ReplyDeleteBy Stacey Lane
In mid-September, my sister, Sheila and I, discovered a jewel in the desert-- a retreat offering peace and privacy. We took a weekend getaway trip to Tucson where Old West meets New West. While there, we also got a taste of the Arizona Inn’s history.
In the 1930s, guests staying at the inn usually arrived by train, with big steamer trunks in tow and stayed for months at a time. At the time, Tucson’s population was about 30,000 and the room rate was about $12 a night.
Although things are a bit different today, some things stayed the same. The hotel and its original 14 acres of grounds are mostly unchanged since the opening night almost 80 years ago.
The inn was built in 1930 by Arizona Rep. Isabella Greenway. Rep. Greenway wanted to help disabled veterans of World War I preserve jobs in her furniture factory, The Arizona Hut. The same furniture is still used today in rooms, dining area and open spaces. Generations of the Greenway family have continued to manage, restore and renovate the resort. Because of its rich history and awe-inspiring architecture, the inn is also on the National Register of Historic Places.
All 95 individually decorated rooms and suites include modern-day amenities and conveniences. Amongst this is a fully-stocked library filled with the films of actors that frequented the plush and well-manicured gardens and grounds. Famous faces whom have graced the grounds of the inn include Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Clark Gable, Bette Davis and Frank Sinatra, all of whom enjoyed the privacy and tranquility of the resort.
Since the Arizona Inn is located in downtown Tucson, Sheila and I were able to walk to the University of Arizona for a visit and tour. While there, we strolled through many of the local shops. We were also able to bike tour the neighborhood and visit some of the local events happening that weekend. This included Bat Night 2009 at the Rillito River Project, featuring Flam Chen with Logan Phillips and Bat Expert Yar Petryszyn, P.h.D. At sunset, we caught a bird’s eye view of close to 40,000 Mexican free tail bats fly out from under the Campbell Avenue Bridge.
So, if you are interested in visiting this popular and historic town in southern Arizona, don’t forget to make a stop at the Arizona Inn. Visit www.arizonainn.com
Cures Too Expensive for Mentally Ill in Czech Republic
ReplyDeleteBy CAITLIN SHAPIRO
Tales of his secretive past are disrupted by hesitation. He looks around at the other tables, as if trained to be suspicious. Involved in the dissident culture during the 1980s, Jan Machacek rebelled the control of his obedient communist nation; present-day Czech Republic. With experience in assembling his underground concerts, Machacek found an equally devious way to rid himself of the military duties required of all young Czech men under communism: He falsely pleaded insanity and was accepted as a schizophrenic patient at Bohnice Psychiatric Hospital in Prague.
“There was no education of how people should care about the mentally ill,” Machacek said as a witness of mental health care under communism.
His two-month stay at Bohnice required him to participate in group therapy and create paintings with other patients. Resembling a scene from the Czech-directed film, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Machecek’s mouth was routinely checked after the nightly mystery medication was distributed; he was notorious for hiding pills under his tongue.
Throughout the communist regime, the Czech Republic became a breeding ground for stigmas about the mentally ill. Situated just west of Russia, the Czechs were greatly impacted by the overbearing Soviet Union, where “psychiatry had deliberately been used for the pursuit of the political goal of controlling minds,” reported a 2007 study published in Mental Health Policy and Practice Across Europe. “This brought about an institutional culture in the psychiatric domain which is difficult and painful to leave behind, even to this day.”
Despite this, a recent study done by the Czech Institute of Health Statistics revealed that between 2000 and 2006, there had been a 30 percent increase in the number of Czechs who sought psychiatric help.
An increase of patients seeking psychological treatment combined with higher standards for mental health leaves the state funded health care system strained.
“Nobody discusses the real problems of mental health care,” said Ivan David, deputy director of science, research and education at Bohnice. “Discussions with politicians should be about the money.”
David explained how patients admitted into a state run hospital benefit. “As long as they are in the hospital, they have everything for free,” he said. “They stay for free, get drugs for free and when they go to doctors some of the drugs are free, or covered partially.”
However, currently Bohnice suffers from a shortage of staff and its patients suffer the consequences. David explained that with roughly 6,000 patients admitted per year, a staff of 1,050 is not enough. This has left Bohnice with few choices when confronted with a patient that needs to be physically restrained by a lacking staff. Their solution: “pumping” their patients with medication.
Such reasons influenced psychiatrist David Holub’s decision to begin a private practice in Prague. He felt that with the developing standards in the Czech Republic state finances could not keep up with quality, and he should provide an alternative.
Different than the familiar free cost of treatment, Holub charges about $25, with a $40 - $60 mandatory consultation fee, negotiable on the basis of treatment.
“With privately paid practices, you are a little more responsible for attending,” Holub explained.
As for the rise in patients Holub explained there is “also a rise in psychotherapists,” which shows progress since a study done in 2000 where the Daily Nebraskan reported that Czechs ranked psychology as the worst profession.
Although Holub said that most of his patients do not speak of their treatment with anyone beyond family, he senses that stigmas among Czechs are disappearing.
Holub explained Mezi Ploty, a festival that takes place at Bohnice every June during The Week of Mental Health, is an innovative way to increase public awareness of the mentally ill. “But it is not like personal contact,” reminded Holub. “It does not challenge original bias.”
Czechs Mental Health continued
ReplyDeleteby Caitlin Shapiro
The event invites patients and non-patients to come together and watch musicians perform, see theatre performances and participate in painting workshops. The event will celebrate its twentieth year this summer and is a symbol for the status of the Czech Republic, as it has been 21 years since their 1989 liberation.
This year Machacek plans to attend Bohnice for a reason other than using it as a barricade from the military. His band Garage is scheduled to play the weekend of Mezi Ploty.
Currently, Machacek feels that the condition of mental health care has been improving because now the Czechs “are taught through western standards.”
As the stereotypes fade, the Czech Republic will remain fighting the uphill battle of the financial disaster.
In 2009, the London School of Economics reported that the Czech Republic’s “mandatory expenditures in the budget place an unprecedented burden on the State.”
David looks to the future, hoping the standard for mental health care will continue to rise despite financial concerns. As for a solution he vows to keep pressure on the politicians, hoping they will “help us with the process.”
European Travels
ReplyDeleteBy Caitlin Shapiro
The day before I left, I was sitting at Rosie on Elm Street for lunch with my mom.
“Are you scared?” she asked.
“No,” I said.
“Well I’d be scared if my whole life was changing tomorrow.”
“Scared” was the wrong word, but the truth was, my feelings were just as intense — a jumble of excitement and intimidation. But there was no changing my mind. My bags were packed.
For me, a sincere experience abroad meant parting ways with the people in my life who I love and care about. I left my comforts at home. This trip was about me.
As the only Rochester Institute of Technology student embarking on New York University’s spring 2010 Prague program, I knew from the start that Mystery would be my only loyal travel companion.
Studying abroad is like Alice finding Wonderland. I was confused, but I was distracted by the unusual lifestyle and hypnotized by curiosity. In my first few days, I learned that getting acclimated to a new culture was no easy task.
I tried to figure out where to begin in this overwhelming new way of life. I thought food: I eat, they eat, how different could it be? One of my first meals was with local Czechs involved in the NYU program. The menu was poorly translated from Czech to English. My eyes widened at the menu when I read “Zebra.” What? Isn’t that on the endangered species list? I swiftly searched the menu looking for something, anything, else. (Turns out, “zebra” means “ribs” — but I had a funny feeling they wouldn’t resemble those at Ash Creek Saloon.)
One of my new Czech friends suggested I order Svičková, pronounced “svitch-co-va,” a traditional Czech meal. The dish was a thin cut of red meat doused in a sweet, tangy orange colored sauce with whipped cream and a cherry on top. Maybe food wasn’t the place to start.
The food was different, the attitude was different and the people were different. The Czech Republic, former communist Czechoslovakia, didn’t feel so formerly communist to an American. Walking in the streets, everyone looked the same to me: expressionless. On the trams everyone sat facing forward, looked out the window and barely spoke. I thought of the minimal resemblance this had to a subway in New York City.
Prague is home to the longest escalator in Europe. Me, not too fond of heights, looked utterly ridiculous when faced with this 290-foot staircase of death. When I got the courage, my nails clung on to the rail and up I went. The problem was that the rail moved faster than the actual stairs so that my body awkwardly stretched forward and I reminded myself of Will Ferrell from “Elf.”
These minor experiences foreshadowed the greater ones that I would hold with me for life.
Czech your real life at the Door
ReplyDeleteBy Caitlin Shapiro (continued)
In Germany I stood face to face with the Berlin Wall. In Vienna I touched Mozart’s home and admired Klimt’s masterpieces.
In Paris I accidentally stumbled into Mass at Notre Dame. I walked through Marie Antoinette’s gardens at Versailles. I climbed hundreds of steps to see the unobstructed views of Paris from Sacré-Cœur Basilica, or the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. I walked jaw-dropped through the Louvre.
I roamed Antoni Gaudi’s mosaics that take over Park Güell in Barcelona. I immersed myself in the Spanish culture when I refilled my glass of sangria, and flipped tapas in my mouth.
I mourned with the country of Poland at the funeral of its President, and the 96 others on board the plane that went down. I walked the grounds of Auschwitz, finally grasping that what had happened was real. I stood on the infamous train tracks that led almost two million people to their death. This was no longer something I read in a book, but a life changing realization.
Over the few months, this wacky “Where’s Waldo?” way of life became mine. Putting my “real-life,” as many of my new friends and I would joke, on hold was the best choice I made.
Too many people I know had traveled abroad with a friend or sibling, and “agreed” on what they would do while there. Having seen or heard the frustration from them, forced me to take this journey solo. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I refused to compromise on the adventures I wanted to take.
Caitlin Shapiro, a rising senior at the Rochester Institute of Technology, is an intern at the Advertiser.