Kim’s Comments (group member since Sep 17, 2008)

Kim’s comments from the Runs with scissors group.

I had biopsies done,have stitches for the first time in my life (not handling that well, as I am squeemy) and will have to wait until next Friday to have them taken out.

I went to a dermatologist at my own expense a week or so ago. He feels that I need a full work up, head to toe. I am going to the main campus of the Cleveland Clinic on Tuesday, 7/15 where I hope to get answers.

In the continuation of "Unorthodox", Feldman follows in the footsteps of her grandmother who survived the camps,and who did not seem to always want to follow the Satmar way of life either. Insights into Feldmans' own emergence as an individual while still trying to understand the horrible history of her faith, it heartbreaking, mind-blowing and an inspiration to anyone who is trying to shed old ways of thinking and being.

While this may be unauthorized, it's worth it.

First off, if one made a drinking game of all the times an ! was over used in this book, one would be legally drunk by page 6.

That said,that is the worst thing about this book. I LOVE the series of "Harry Potter" books and I am a fan of "Burn Notice" so this was the best of both worlds. I knew a lot of the terms from other reading and the aforementioned show, but there is a complete glossary in the back which I appreciated. All terms are in bold the first time they are used and in italics later on. The books are referenced with a guide as to which book,and page # in the American hardcover. (All of this is explained in the book.)

While the main focus is on "The Order of the Phoenix" as this is the main "spy work" of the 7, the other books are tied together and quoted. There are a great many tidbits along the way, both about H.P. that I did not realize and about real-life spy practices.

The age range this targeted was not clear, but the conversational tone is comfortable for all ages 13 and up, so adult fans will not feel talked down to, but may find it a little simple at times in explanations.

Over all, a great read for any H.P fan or spy fan

Michelle Knight has blown me away with her strength and candor in this book.

I live in the Cleveland area and I remember seeing the news that night that they had found the missing girls that we had heard so much about. Then they said that there was a third one found. One we did not even know was missing because no one thought to report her gone. This is her tale, in her own words about the hell she lived through, before her 11 year hostage situation, and how she handling she is moving forward. Knight has changed her name to distance herself from this and I don't blame her. If you are seeking a salacious book with gory details you will not find it here. Are parts disturbing, yes. The situation in disturbing. Of the three, Knight has been the most vocal, but then, she had no one to speak for her all her years in hell with a sociopath.

The other girls (for that is what they were when taken) had family pushing their pictures in front of the local media and kept flyers up all over the area for years. Knight, who was 21 at the time of her kidnapping, did not have any of this, yet she held herself together, she kept her faith, and she has come through. She is the pinnacle of grace, resiliency and moving forward. She has found her voice, and I hope it will ring for a long,long time.

It seems that I do not have a staph infection after all, but a topical allergy that a histamine blocker will take care of. I broke out in 3 more itchy spots last night and was able to see the doctor an hour and a half ago. As far as the blisters, I can safely put on neosporin and take regular Claritin as needed. Geez a loo! And I just got my new swimsuit last week and I haven't been able to try i out yet! GRRRRR!

As an update on my Staph infection, I will keep it as simple and non gross as possible. My blisters ended up being the size of quarters and as high as stack of 3-4 of them. These were side by side and made moving my arm hard. They let go Thursday evening and I have been keeping a gauze dressing on them since Monday, changed daily, to pad them and keep them clean. I am now in pain, as they are healing and every time I move my arm, it hurts, so typing is fun.

I am right handed and I never realized how much I use my left arm and hand for things until now. I will end my antibiotic on Sunday and have to call for a same-day appointment with my regular doctor on Monday to follow up on this and see if I need to extend my antibiotic.

My life guards are threatening to put me into a bubble.

This well done response was in the 5/24/14 Plain Dealer:

" Drop 'trigger warning' idea from the syllabus

The New York Times reported Sunday — a version of the article ran in Sunday's Plain Dealer — that a number of colleges are examining whether to implement ''trigger warnings'' for potentially offensive books, films, etc. The warnings would be aimed at readers such as combat veterans, transgender individuals or victims of sexual assault, who might be upset by graphic portrayals of wartime violence or rape, or expressions of intolerance.

At Oberlin College, the Times reports, a pending draft guide would advise professors to ''be aware of racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, cissexism, ableism, and other issues of privilege and oppression.'' A Rutgers student wants a trigger warning applied to ''The Great Gatsby,'' for scenes that reference gory, abusive and misogynistic violence, the Times reported.

Is this political correctness that will chill academic freedom, or a valid concern? Members of our editorial board offer their impressions and Cleveland.com readers chime in:

Elizabeth Sullivan, opinion director, Northeast Ohio Media Group: You might as well put a warning sign on life. Great works of art reflect the complexities and jarring emotions of a life fully and broadly lived. Instead of encouraging students to escape those impacts, colleges and professors should encourage full and open dialogue — a discussion that is respectful of those who might bear internal or external wounds, but that does not shy from the hard and bitter truths that underlie so much of what is moving and ultimately soul-satisfying in literature. Trigger warnings? No thanks.

Kevin O'Brien, deputy editorial page editor, The Plain Dealer: Here's the warning colleges ought to give students: ''You have enrolled at a college. You will hear all kinds of things discussed here. Some will make you uncomfortable. College is a ridiculously expensive timeout from the real world, but we do discuss the real world from time to time. You are here to broaden your horizons, not to narrow everyone else's to fit your comfort zone. If we are mistaken about your motivation, we apologize for admitting you.''

Sharon Broussard, editorial writer, Northeast Ohio Media Group: Romeo and Juliet marry and commit suicide and two families discover their noxious feud can lead to tragedy. A girl who is forced to live with her rapist discovers how to free herself in ''The Color Purple.'' A man uses his wits and ultimately dies for (spoiler alert) the love of his life in ''The Orphan Master's Son'' set in benighted North Korea. They should all carry trigger warnings — that reading such works could change and expand and enrich their readers' lives.

Christopher Evans, editorial writer, Northeast Ohio Media Group: The ultra-left, hypersensitive, politically correct thought police can be just as ignorant and infuriating as the Taliban and the Tea Party bullies. Censorship has no place in the free world, especially in the halls of learning. If these kids have made it to college without reading Shakespeare or F. Scott Fitzgerald or Chaucer or Maya Angelou, they ain't gonna start now. Better to burn CliffNotes and block websites such as eCheat.com.

Peter Krouse, editorial writer, Northeast Ohio Media Group: I'm all for being sensitive to people's feelings, but we're talking about adults here who have enrolled in college and are looking to advance their knowledge of the world around them. Those who have been traumatized may have fragile psyches for very good reason, but providing them with warnings about the books they are about to read seems overly protective and unnecessary.

Thomas Suddes, editorial writer: Suggestions such as these are among the reasons higher education is not better regarded by some people. Of course, one should be sensitive to the wounds that so many humans bear. But that is not the same thing as attempting to anticipate every potential offense or hurt, an attempt that couldn't possibly succeed. All art, whether pictorial, literary or dramatic, has the capacity to evoke powerful responses. That, after all, is one measure of greatness. The only practical result of a warnings policy might be to create yet another set of grounds for litigation, which is one of the last things society needs.


"Universities and colleges are becoming hellishly expensive group homes for the developmentally stunted." — cmorton.gm

"There are no ''trigger warnings'' in adult life. — iNOTaFAN5 What makes these trigger warnings more onerous than the ones you see on TV every day?: — internetsuperstar

"No, let's just censor everything. The poor, sensitive dears."— slyolddude

"Excellent opinions from all six writers." — jonfw2

"Actually, I can't take this anymore, I am offended." — cosmoblue"


I love the reader comments at the end, especially the last one.

I now have a staph infection. I was diagnosed yesterday with one. I evidently have been battling this for a month or so, not knowing what it was and figuring it to be my dermatitis,thinking it was just traveling. I have two "blisters" the size of butterscotch buttons on my left fore arm, and two spots on the side of my left fore arm, and one spot on my chest, near my heart.

I am fine,and on medication. I am not contagious, but I am not comfortable as I ITCH! but I will be fine.

I read this in yesterdays paper and it appears as it did the 5/18/14 Cleveland Plain Dealer:

" Classroom word of warning

Academics balk at student requests for alerts on material

New York Times

Santa Barbara, Calif. —

Should students about to read ''The Great Gatsby'' be forewarned about ''a variety of scenes that reference gory, abusive and misogynistic violence,'' as one Rutgers student proposed?

Would any book that addresses racism — like ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' or ''Things Fall Apart'' — have to be preceded by a note of caution? Do sexual images from Greek mythology need to come with a viewer-beware label?

Colleges across the country this spring have been wrestling with student requests for what are known as ''trigger warnings,'' explicit alerts that the material they are about to read or see in a classroom might upset them or, as some students assert, cause symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in victims of rape or in war veterans.

The warnings, which have their ideological roots in feminist thought, have gained the most traction at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where the student government formally called for them. But there have been similar requests from students at Oberlin College, Rutgers University, the University of Michigan, George Washington University and other schools.

The debate has left many academics fuming, saying that professors should be trusted to use common sense and that being provocative is part of their mandate.

Trigger warnings, they say, suggest a certain fragility of mind that higher learning is meant to challenge, not embrace. The warnings have been widely debated in intellectual circles and largely criticized in opinion magazines, newspaper editorials and academic email lists.

''Any kind of blanket trigger policy is inimical to academic freedom,'' said Lisa Hajjar, a sociology professor at the university here, who often uses graphic depictions of torture in her courses about war.

''Any student can request some sort of individual accommodation, but to say we need some kind of one-size-fits-all approach is totally wrong. The presumption there is that students should not be forced to deal with something that makes them uncomfortable is absurd or even dangerous.''

Bailey Loverin, a sophomore at Santa Barbara, said the idea for campuswide trigger warnings came to her in February after a professor showed a graphic film depicting rape.

She said that she herself had been a victim of sexual abuse, and that although she had not felt threatened by the film, she had approached the professor after class, suggesting that students should have been warned."


I fell that this is going WAY beyond the pale and that this is bordering on censorship. Perhaps the professor should have warned the class before he showed the video that it contained graphic images, but books now need warning labels? Really?

Your letter appeared in today's paper, 5/12/14. I will keep you all posted as to any rebuttals.

Congrats baby! I get the paper, so I will look for it.

My mom talked to my dad's sister D. yesterday and I talked with P. on Sunday. My aunt Maryann is not awful but she is not good either. They did move her to a nursing home and as of Friday she was back in the hospital due to stool in her stomach. She has been transferred to a different hospital that has a open wound department,as this is what she has. They feel that with time,she can heal, but with nothing to attach to, it is hard to "fix" it. It may be up to 6 months or more before she is healed. She is weak, but aware.

My cousin Brandon, who is I want to say about 19, had a bi-cycle accident and is not well. He is not sure how he ended up in the street. A witness pulled her truck in front of him to force traffic away from him as he was on a very busy street. He was aware enough to give his dad and mom's number and they got there before the rescue squad. He has a concussion, and something is not right with his frontal lobe. He cannot have any kind of stimulation what so ever, not even a book.

My aunt may not be as a good as we thought. Due to massive lack of communication from my family amongst themselves and them to us, it turns out that she now has an infection not only in her incision, but internally as well, which is unusual but not improbable.

Thank you.

I did 1 1/2 miles at one go yesterday, April 16, 2014. I was making up for not being able to swim tomorrow since I have plans. I don't think that I will be doing this again any time soon. Too tired.

I am pleased to report that all went well and that my aunt will be going to rehab, for which she is beyond thrilled,upon her release. My aunt is very social and knows pretty much everyone, so she will do well. She has been to this facility before for other rehab so it is a known quantity.

You can also use novelist, available free from most libraries web sites. You can use years, plots and other searches to find your book. I use it frequently myself.

My Aunt MaryAnn (my dad's sister-in-law) is in Ohio State Hospital. She is having surgery today. One of my dad's sister's called yesterday to tell us that Aunt MaryAnn's bowel tract has become detached from her body and is just floating there. She is weak already so....sorry just trying to deal here.

Carrie had a lumpectomy yesterday and is home,resting. It is felt that all of the cancer was removed, but she will still have radiation after her incisions heal.