Discussion One Due: 2/5/17 1. Hello everyone! I am Ellen Morrell. I am from the suburbs of Chicago originally. This is my first semester at UWM and I am very excited for this class. I graduated from Colorado State University in 2011 with a degree in Merchandising. I am interested in becoming a recreational therapist so I thought this program would be great to help me with my career goals. I wish I had known about recreational therapy when I was 18! I was originally interested in occupational therapy, unfortunately I did not get in my first round of applying. Although I will most likely reap ...continued...

Although I never thought of myself to be 'prejudiced' or 'biased', I do understand that my beliefs would great impact my work as a healthcare professional. When I had taken the Cultural Competence Self Assessment Survery, I quickly came to a scary realization that I did know as much as I thought I did. For example, there was a question regarding non-verbal communication (pointing fingers, thumbs up, etc) that I had thought was universal. In fact, I was wrong, as I did not realize there are many different ways facial expressions and gestures could be interpreted as. Not surprisi ...continued...

I was born in London in 1952 to Irish born parents. They both came from Monkstown, a pretty village on Cork harbour about eight miles from Cork city. It was here that I spent my first twenty summers. This wonderful experience caused me to view Ireland through rose-tinted glasses for ever more. Before the opening of Cork airport, in 1961, our annual pilgrimage started on a train from Paddington Station, in London. It took us to Fishguard, a port on the Welsh coast. Then we boarded the Innisfallen ferry, which passed Monkstown on its way up the river Lee to the docks in Cork city. The first p ...continued...

Dragon Sword-Book 3 in The Battle Wizard Saga Chapter 1 Black magic smells like nothing else. Worse than the oily smoke of a rancid grease fire overlaid with a tang of decayed meat. Its evil wrapped around and layered the tongue like a thick paste of ashes and motor oil. Only Sig could smell it. A good extra sense since his job was hunting evil. Sig walked the middle of a narrow, cracked asphalt road bordered by a cornfield to the left. Cars and pickups lined both sides. A sharp steeple rose above the whitewashed wooden building on the right. Morning sun reflected from red and gold pa ...continued...

SURI’S HEART Kishinev, Moldavia A House in the Jewish Quarter December 1846 by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields “Yussel!” Papa pounded the table with his fist. & ...continued...

North Pole ...continued...

The name my parents chose for me was Marcia Ann Haag. I was born August 29, 1944. At I begin to write about my life I am 68 years. I can't say old, because as we age our body changes, but in many ways our thinking and feelings seem as young as ever. I hope you can get a peak into who your mother is and how I came to be this way. My plan for this book is that Dad and I will both write in each section. I will write first and his will be the second part of each chapter. The format we will be using is question and answer. Y ...continued...

One of my chief delights in the warm months is watching the hummingbirds that flock to our feeder. They cluster around the feeder, competing for the nectar it provides, swapping out places at the feeding stations. They're always pretty competitive, even if there are only two at the feeder at the time. I wonder that they don't get hurt as they dive down at each other. The competitiveness rivals that of ten year old boys on the playground, only the hummers are in a fight for life-sustaining resources instead of the top of the climbing bars. Sometimes I count as many as ten or fifte ...continued...

http://tinyurl.com/y8kakux7I'm writing this as encouragement for authors who get dumbed down reviews from mindless readers. Even though I have over (200) five star reviews on my novels Blue Hole and the sequel River's Edge I still get a few reviews like the following. One said, "I haven't stated to read the book yet and not sure i will so I'm giving it one star. Another said, "Not sure if I was able to follow the story I've been on pain medicine, one star. A third said, "I didn't like the book but my husband and our son did, one star." I le ...continued...

Chapter One Dana Gerard’s pulse quickened as she scanned the horizon. The sky glowed the murky greenish-gray color of a bruise, and a menacing wall of clouds rolled in the distance. She knew a possibility of rain had been forecast, and she’d been hoping for a good, steady shower – the kind that sank in deeply, nourishing farmers’ crops, one that would wash away the dirty browns of winter and give life to the budding tulips and iris that had just begun to dot her neighborhood. But that scenario seemed unlikely now. These clouds carried an ominous threat. Pulling he ...continued...

Driving down the road on a beautiful pre-Autumn day, the large red sign catches my eye. "Estate Sale 50% Off"…. I am torn, yet curiosity draws my car to the curb. As an avid garage sale seeker, I often enjoy the victory of the bargains I find while rummaging through items no longer wanted by the owner. But the items of my garage sale victories are most often found outside on the hard cement driveway or garage…unattached to story, emotion or the life that shared its journey. This Autumn day I find myself entering the E ...continued...

Our cooking today is so much different from days gone by. When my granddaughter was three, she stood in front on my oven door where a whole chicken baked in a glass pan. With wide eyes she said, "Is that a chicken?" You see, her mother only bought chicken parts. She'd never seen a whole chicken. How different from when I was a child. Below is a recollection when I visited Grandma at about age five. I've included it in my cookbook Family Favorites from the Heartland. Fried Chicken-Grandma’s Style During the late 40s and e ...continued...

By Chris Christodoulou &nb ...continued...

PROLOGUE Claire shook the spray of liquid from her hand, laughing. “Jeez, take it easy. I didn’t realize you’d already been drinking.” She checked the glass for signs of damage before lifting it to her lips. Mary’s toast carried liberal enthusiasm. “In your honor, babe.” Mary leaned forward. “Seriously, Claire. This is fabulous. You nailed it.” Claire grinned. “About time, too.” After months of wishy-washy deliberation, the Whitfield Library Board had finally agreed to launch a capital campaign to raise mon ...continued...

Pregnancy is a blissful time. When pregnant with baby number three the blissfulness of it all just runs right through you. Today May 10th, 2006 my son was born. Although it was an emergency c-section he was brought into this world screaming and purple after being almost strangled to death by the umbilical cord. I had my son. My family was ecstatic and my dad was the proudest Papa in the world. Things were hard but I never gave up and always tried to do what was best for my family. I did the best I could with what I had to work with. Around three months old we started noticing freckles all over ...continued...