What Would My College Life Be Without Medical Dramas?

Everyone knows that a big part of college is binge watching great shows on Netflix whether you're avoiding your responsibilities or having a night in with friends. This past year I have torn through two great shows on the lovely creation that is Netflix: Grey's Anatomy and House. I finished ten seasons of Grey's in under a month and I am tearing through House as I write because of all the free time I have had in the past two weeks because of snow.

When I was a sophomore and junior in high school I took a class in healthcare science because I thought I wanted to be in the medical field (I later discovered I wouldn't last a day in med school so that ship sailed long ago) and also it sounded awesome and it was! I met one of my good friends Erica there and I was introduced to House. We watched the series out of order because my teacher only had certain seasons so I had seen some of the episodes before but to see them come together now in one story is amazing.

So if you watch Grey's you know why it's awesome. We've got great character development in it and the surgeries they do on the show are interesting so you learn things while watching which I love. I've always been a medical junkie while at the same time being on the fence about my own personal feelings about the practice of medicine since I grew up in a world of doctor's appointments as a young child if that makes sense. Anyways, Grey's has Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane who are very fun to look at in my opinion.

House, though, is awesome in a totally different way. House is more focused on the medical aspect as it's kind of like a Sherlock Holmes type show with medical mysteries. House has character development too, but it's more of a backdrop to the mystery. Plus, Hugh Laurie playing the sassy and brilliant character of House is kind of amazing as is his American accent when he's actually British. Another great aspect of the show is his friendship with Wilson, played by Robert Sean Leonard (who I absolutely fell in love with) because hopefully we all have our own friend like Wilson is to House so that makes it so relatable.

So they're both awesome!

                                                                   

T Minus 20

I'm in love.

Not with someone, not even close, but with something.

I wrote an earlier post about finding my purpose in life at my very young age and as I get closer to one of the biggest milestones in my campaign I can't stop thinking. I am t-minus 20 days from one of the biggest days of my life, actually. I'm not one to believe in Fate or Destiny but somehow I feel like when I made the choice to do this with my life that this day would come sooner or later.

It kind of feels like a wedding day of sorts: I need everything to be planned, as close to perfect as it can be, and I'm even already planning my outfit, I have a location picked out, and I'll be with my mom for this important day.

Also like a wedding I'm sure I'll cry at some point during the day and that I'll need tons of cake after it's over. There won't be speeches about me, but silence to remember others and to reflect on what I'm going to do after I leave the museum because going will change my life.

Sounds just like a wedding to me.Why do we only have weddings for marriage? I think everyone has some sort of career wedding, and in that sense yes I'm marrying young. And I'm happy with my choice.

I talked to the  head of Accessibility Services at the museum and she has pu in my request for the Highlight Tour! It's so cool to speak to the people at the museum because they are so helpful and I absolutely love them!

Holocaust Museum Houston, Getting Ready For DC, And Kind Words

As I continue preparing the logistics for my trip to DC I'm also mentally preparing. I've heard wonderful things about the museum in DC as well as how moving it is. Coming from a city with a small museum like the Breman I had never really thought about the bigger museums.

That is, until Houston.

HMH (Holocaust Museum Houston) is the fourth largest Holocaust museum in the nation. I went last summer with my aunt and uncle when I visited them. HMH had so many things I had never seen before: a large memorial at the entrance with the names and locations of entire villages wiped out by the Nazis all across Europe, a garden to remember the children, a ship used to carry Danish Jews to safety the of Sweden, a hall of remembrance, the cattle car that deported Jews to Auschwitz that you can stand in.

A cattle car.

I wish I could describe the feeling of standing in that car and the thoughts your mind races through but no words can. An overflow of all sorts of emotions hit you and it isn't until you step out of the cattle car and leave the museum that they really hit you and they come in tsunami waves. I don't remember the ride home from the museum but I do remember getting home and going to the room where I was staying in my aunt's house, shutting the door, and sobbing for two hours. Yes, two whole hours of my day I spent crying.

I'm glad I saw HMH though, because it is helping me prepare mentally for USHMM. I have no doubt going to the USHMM will change me and if I said I was ready I'd be lying. Even I can't be fully prepared for it and I accept it.

Yesterday I received a text from my long time friend Alex. She and I have known each other since we were probably three and four years old. It was totally unexpected and super thoughtful. She said, "Hey Helon, hope you've been doing well. I'm reading your blog and I love it! You are such a talented writer and I see you going so far in life spreading awareness of the Holocaust through your writing. I wish I had something I was that passionate about already." Even though we are in two different states at different schools this message meant the world to me. It's things like this that let me know I am on the right path. Thank you, Alex! I love you!

Below is a link to a video put out by the USHMM called "What You Do Matters". I think everyone should watch it in light of the rising prejudices against many groups worldwide. We need to stand against this.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NGS13P5Jf8&list=PLWQC3P4psZP5ZW5nlverJwusMzAD_Gybz&index=4

A Dream Three Years in the Making

Guys, in two weeks one of my long term dreams is going to come true.

I am finally going to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum after three years of wishing I could go! My mom and I are going to go over my spring break and I'm super excited. I've been preparing for this for three years and trips to other Holocaust museums, but this is the big one. This is the biggest Holocaust memorial in the country.

We are going to go on what's called the Highlight Tour. It's for low-vision visitors like me and they have things enlarged to see better and the tour also has aspects that aim to focus on other senses since some blind people take this option of a tour. For low vision people they use flashlights and give you magnifying glasses to help you out.

I chose to do this option because with the low vision tour the crowds most likely will be more manageable. I think if I wanted I could do the normal tour just fine but I want to make sure I have enough room to actually walk around and see things. This tour option, I think, will give me the best experience possible.

We are also going to celebrate my mom's birthday while we're in DC so that should be fun too. It's been ten years since we've been and I am super excited to spend a fun two days with my momma. I love taking trips where it's just me and my mom, they're so much fun!

Here are some pictures from my previous visits to other museums!

Knowing What I Want To Do So Young?

Some people get married young, some enter the workforce young, some people know what they want to do with the rest of their lives young. All three of these are somehow looked down upon by society in a way. Why would such a young person know they've found the One? Why would someone not go to college and get a job out of high school? What do eighteen/nineteen year olds know about themselves, right?

I fall into the third category. Since my junior year I knew I wanted to preserve the history of the Holocaust and teach it to others. I'm not a schoolteacher-type person but that doesn't mean I can't teach others if I'm not in a teacher's position. I do not want to be a teacher, but I know I have a passion and sense of importance surrounding what I do.

This March I'm having an article on the Holocaust education resources we have in Georgia published by an Atlanta bimonthly paper called the Jewish Georgian. I am so lucky for this opportunity to assert myself in this field while I'm still young. Some people might think that I'm just experimenting with different career options at my age but somehow I know I'm on the right path with my life. I might end up doing something else as a main career, but I'm certain the underlying reason why I make a career choice in the future will be because I have an opportunity to continue educating.

So I guess in a way I'm kind of lucky to know what I want. I'm the type of person who knows her own mind and I really like that.

I May Not Be Beautiful or Dateable, But I'm Determined

In the 21st Century young love seems to be an important thing for a lot of women. Besides getting an education some women go to college to see who they can find to date and maybe marry. I'm not downing that at all but that's so far behind on my personal list of things right now at this stage of my life I just don't think that it's practical for me.

I don't see myself as a physically beautiful girl, but I do know that I am determined to do something with my life and that makes up for my lack of beauty. That's a factor that I hate to say a good percentage of college guys don't like in girls. I'm ambitious and perhaps so much so that I would unknowingly neglect a person that I was dating to pursue my campaign of remembrance and that would lead to them dumping me. While that might seem kind of selfish it probably is true. So I may not be a dateable girl and that's fine.

I feel like I need to be doing something bigger than dating with my life. Why devote myself to one person when there is a whole generation wishing for me and other people to carry on their stories so they aren't lost to history? Why would I do something as trivial as date when I need to be impacting the world?

I'm a feminist and I know that. But I don't want this to sound anti-dating. I'm fine with the concept but I see it as unrealistic for someone like me who has so much of myself dedicated to something so much bigger than most girls my age. Maybe one day a man will respect my ambitions and let me continue my work while seeing him and that'd be pretty cool.

Would I Rather Be Able Bodied?

I am 19 and I am disabled.

Of course I never use that as an excuse for anything but I've been seeing a lot of parents of special needs kids in the group I volunteer for called CHASA repost things from blog sites about having a disabled child so I'm going to weigh in here. Not all the posts I've seen are like this but it seems to me a lot of the authors of the blogs write in a way that attracts pity, whether they want it or not. I think this has got to stop.

If you have a child who was born different from others, a lot of these moms who write blogs say they can't stop comparing their kids to able bodied kids. I'm not a mom so maybe I don't quite fully understand where they're coming from, but as a disabled teenage girl comparing myself to others my age is just stupid. Why would I wish I looked like the cheerleader? Why would I wish I was into One Direction rather than studying the Holocaust? As a teen girl that sounds crazy so why are parents of young children born differently comparing their kids to others and not enjoying their unique kid?

A lot of people who don't understand what it's like to be disabled also are quite unaware of the set of etiquette rules for interacting with disabled people. Over the years I have gotten everything from people's pity to blunt and forward questions about why I walk the way I do and if I'm in chronic pain. To the first type of question I usually tell people that it isn't their place to ask if that's the first thing they can think of when they approach me. To the latter, it kind of shocks me. No I'm not in chronic pain at all but it makes me wonder if it looks that way to others.

A lot of disabled people don't want pity from others. Yes, we had something that we really couldn't do anything about happen to make us this way and no, some of us don't feel bad for ourselves so neither should you. Some of us don't sit around comparing ourselves to our peers, instead we get involved in any aspect of life that we can. We actually appreciate little things more than anyone else. And that's something I'm proud of.