On the Stages of Grief

On the Stages of Grief: Developed by Swiss psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in 1969, the stages of grief consist of five basic levels. A popular way of describing these levels involves the acronym DABDA, which stands for denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Since Kubler-Ross spent time working with terminally ill patients, much of her early psychiatric research was published in her first book On Death and Dying. For the most part, she was motivated by the lack of medical school curricula that covered the topic of death (especially from the perspective of the mind). Thus, after a variety of patient interviews conducted at University of Chicago's medical school, Kubler-Ross was able to compile a series of lectures on how people come to "accept" death. Unfortunately, she regretted proposing each grief stage in a linear fashion. In other words, denial does not necessarily have to be the first grief symptom, and likewise, acceptance may not even be the last (as some people might never quite "accept" death as a reality). For absurdist philosophers like Albert Camus, questions of death can quickly become futile when one starts to question the actual amount of choices a person can make on a day-to-day basis.

On the Irish Diaspora

On the Irish Diaspora: Pictured above are statues of Irish emigrants along the River Liffey in Dublin. These statues depict not only emaciated adults, but also malnourished babies and pets. Collectively, they represent a vivid reminder of the trials and tribulations which many Irish folks underwent in the mid-to-late 1800s. For the most part, Ireland's population peaked at 8.5 million around the 1840s. But due to the Great Famine (1845-52), when potato blight decimated the nation's primary food supply, Ireland's population declined by as much as 25 percent. The two most popular international destinations for Irish emigrants at the time were Britain (Liverpool) and the U.S. (Boston, New York, & Philadelphia). By 1890, it is believed that as many as 40 percent of Irish-born people were living abroad. Cities like Boston and New York were quickly overwhelmed, as shortages in housing, employment, churches, and even schools all became major afflictions for these people. And yet today, nearly 40 million Americans claim Irish as their main ethnicity.

On the Great Depression, 1929-39

On the Great Depression, 1929-39: Contrary to popular belief, the Great Depression was not simply a decade-long downturn of the American economy. In fact, the Depression occurred in other countries around the world as well. Additionally, there were even periods of prosperity during parts of the 1930s. Yet it was events at the beginning (Black Thursday in 1929) and at the end (1937-38 Recession) of the decade that caused the most economic hardship. Perhaps what best captured that hardship were the unemployment statistics. At times during the 1930s, nearly 25% of the American workforce had no official (wage) income. And two basic (complementary) reasons for this high unemployment rate have often been cited by historians and economists: overproduction and underconsumption. With overproduction, economists pointed to the massive output of industrial goods (in the 1920s) by car companies like Ford and steel companies such as U.S. Steel. Workplace advancements like the assembly line and scientific management had made the 1920s into a mass-production decade. But when demand collapsed in the early 1930s, many companies took awhile to scale back their outputs. Similarly, many consumers could no longer afford to purchase these goods. Yet if you could pinpoint two goods that Americans refused to give up during the Depression, it was their cars and radios. Houses became afterthoughts.

On Substitute Teaching

On Substitute Teaching: Perhaps the scariest part of substitute teaching is figuring out if you can control the classroom.  At the middle school level, this is a particularly challenging aspect of the job. There's something uniquely rambunctious about having 25(+) 13-year-olds in one room for 5 or 6 periods during the school day. From the start, a substitute teacher gets thrown into the middle of a learning unit which he or she has to quickly adapt to in order to help students. And aside from being an adult, the substitute teacher does not command the same degree of respect from students as the full-time teacher. With these two key disadvantages, a substitute teacher can rapidly become overwhelmed. Nevertheless, there are certain elements of substitute teaching which can be quite rewarding. For instance, some students will embrace the substitute teacher as a welcome change of pace. While other students will start to trust the substitute, and thus, divulge some intriguing information. And with middle schoolers, there's little-to-no filter.

On B. F. Skinner and Behaviorism

On B. F. Skinner and Behaviorism: Often considered one of the most important psychologists of the 20th century, Skinner was a pioneer in the field of behaviorism. And for the most part, behaviorism can be seen as a kind of 20th-century reaction to the 19th-century development of psychoanalysis. Whereas Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytical methods tried to uncover "meaning" behind deep dreams and repressed feelings, Skinner's behavioral techniques put forth that dreams and feelings were secondary concerns. What truly mattered to behaviorists like Skinner were social appearances and personal actions. With a limited free will (and a limited capacity for self-expression), Skinner argued that most people could be conditioned to act a certain way. By examining routines, and conducting experiments involving reward mechanisms, he believed that through the principle of reinforcement, people could be programmed to learn specific behaviors.