Evidence

Ten hours today and a double tomorrow, so I will share a poignant meme with you all (pardon the french):

Consciousness Continuum

Today, a friend told me about an article in Scientific American about a possible new way to measure consciousness, even in seemingly vegetative people.

This method relies on electromagnetic stimulation--as areas of the brain are stimulated, the resulting brain activity is measured. If only one area of the brain is shown to be active, it can be assumed that the brain is truly not capable of any sort of truly conscious activity. Likewise, if too much activity in too many areas is shown, the same can be assumed. 

However, this method is still in its infancy and further testing is needed to make the assertion that this is, in fact, a measure of consciousness. How does one accurately measure one's awareness of their surroundings if they cannot acknowledge their surroundings?

Vitamin D

Today, my students and I went outside.

It was lovely out, and I feel like we all deserved a little break. That was 9th hour.

In my 10th hour, I had a couple students almost get into a physical altercation at the very beginning of class. But we diffused the situation, and I feel like I handled it better after having been able to soak up some sun than I would have otherwise.

It Comes in Waves

Today was...I have no words for it.

So I'm watching a beautiful film about oceans, soaking my feet, and taking a bit of a break tonight (still need to plan lessons, fill out some forms and send some e-mails). 

If you're curious about the film, it's on Netflix and it is called "Moving Art: Oceans." It's seriously really calming. 

Trying to Open the Bottle

Today, I had one of my classes try a brief group reading.

The material was a bit difficult, as it came from an A.P. book--the reading was Edgar Allan Poe's "MS in a Bottle." (I figured Poe was appropriate reading, as there was a raging thunderstorm outside). Unfortunately, we didn't get too far into the short story--while some of my students loved the difficult material and had questions for it, some seemed to just give up on the "boring" reading and said that they "could not relate to it."

I wonder why this is. I don't think there is much of a difference between the engaged students and the "bored" students as far as reading/comprehension ability. Perhaps some individuals have a tendency to not "delve deeper." Or perhaps I should have encouraged them more. Perhaps they were making an effort mentally but giving me a different story verbally. It could be that some students react to difficult material by asking questions, and some react by acting bored or frustrated.

Well This is Awkward

Tonight, I had to take a test for work and I still have some lesson planning to finish up--so I'm going to share this image that a good friend of mine shared on The Book of Faces.

Rise Star Church

Today, I read about a mentally ill man who has been wandering the streets of Edwardsville, IL.

I am not going to pretend to know exactly what is going on in this man's head, but from the looks of his facebook page it is obvious that he is completely disconnected from reality, with symptoms that suggest schizophrenia. 

The horrible thing is that his delusions center around this narrative (as far as I can tell at this point): he is the high priest of a church and looking for a "bride," one who must be a child who wears green. He believes that it is okay to have sexual relations with children wearing green to cure them of some ailment--he believes that this helps them. 

I want to make this clear--just because someone has schizophrenia does not mean that they will become a pedophile. This man probably suffers from comorbid schizophrenia and pedophilia, and he rationalizes his urges through his delusions. Most people who suffer from schizophrenia are only a danger to themselves, not others. 

However, this man is dangerous. I read a comment just now saying that he has been arrested, but I can't find any confirmation of the arrest in the news. If you live in this area, please be wary. If I can confirm the arrest, I will comment it on this post. Here is a picture of him: