July 2018

Depending on who you speak to, skin diseases are much more than an affliction of the skin, but also affecting the mind of individuals and their families. Psychodermatology is a relatively new area of study and increasingly demonstrating the value of treating the mind in order to support the body. The discipline seeks to explain the connection between psychological issues and skin disease, specifically how stress factors into the equation. While psychodermatology is a relatively new concept...

If all goes as planned, this clinic will prescribe the opiates that she will become addicted to—again. They will dull her constant physical pain. They will dull her psychological torment—the particular trait that makes them so attractive to so many. The doctors involved in prescribing them largely overlook the psychological torment, however; a narrow view of a very complicated problem makes for convenient medical treatment.

Many forms of childhood cancers have gone from being a death sentence to a curable disease. Thanks to advances in treatments, the overall survival rate for childhood cancers has increased from 10% a few decades ago to nearly 90% today. This means that by the year 2020, an estimated half a million survivors of childhood cancer will be living in the U.S. With more children surviving, though, it has become increasingly clear that cancer and the subsequent treatments, such as chemo or radiation...

Given the prominence and volume of those voices expressing fear and dislike of immigrants—especially of the undocumented variety—it's easy to forget that theirs is a minority opinion. A Gallup poll released earlier this year found 75 percent of Americans think immigration is "generally a good thing" for the country. A new analysis of public views on the politically charged topic provides a nuanced look at public opinion on this topic—and comes to some fascinating conclusions. For one: More...

FRESNO, Calif.—Census tract 06019000100 has a lot going for it. Locals cheer the melting-pot atmosphere, the arts scene, the nearby nature, and the affordable housing—affordable in national terms , which feels all the more amazing given that it is a quick drive both to the grandeur of Yosemite and to the tech hub of the Bay Area. Start your car up and grab a coffee here at 9 a.m., and you could be standing in downtown San Francisco or in front of Apple’s headquarters by noon. For all that,...

When Republicans delivered $1.5 trillion in tax cuts last December and slashed the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, they said it would come with a big wage boost for American workers. Except it hasn’t. Over the weekend, this chart from Bloomberg showing private data from PayScale’s wage index swept across Twitter. It shows a drop in wages in the second quarter of the year. While wages have risen by 12.9 percent overall since 2006, wages adjusted for inflation (so-called...

Founded more than a decade ago, Summit Prep became nationally known for its success in getting all its students through Advanced Placement classes and into college. But school leaders found that many of its graduates struggled in college without the mentoring and support they’d received at the small charter school in Redwood City, south of San Francisco. “Graduates told us, ‘You guys loved us too much'” said Lizzie Choi, Summit’s chief program officer. In 2012, with a goal of creating...

BOSTON — Six-year-old Princess sounded out the words her mother wrote on construction paper as they worked side by side. “I … live … deep in the sea,” she read. Her mother, Bernise Hall, high-fived her. “She can read whole books,” Ms. Hall said. “She doesn’t even want me to read any more; she wants to do it herself!” [For more on this story by Sandra Larson, go to https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/24/opinion/early-learning-boston-parenting.html ]

Earlier this month, the Kansas City Star published a story about a local police officer who, with a lot of back up, saved three children from needless foster care. But let me tell you what it took to achieve that result. On one level this very good story—written by Cortlynn Stark, an intern for the Star—-is inspiring. On another level it’s frustrating. And on still another, it’s outrageous. [For more on this story by Richard Wexler, go to...

In more than twenty years of running diversity-training and cultural-competency workshops for American companies, the academic and educator Robin DiAngelo has noticed that white people are sensationally, histrionically bad at discussing racism. Like waves on sand, their reactions form predictable patterns: they will insist that they “were taught to treat everyone the same,” that they are “color-blind,” that they “don’t care if you are pink, purple, or polka-dotted.” They will point to...

Resilient Sacramento has recently made explicit, their commitment to doing trauma-informed education & engagement that centers race, and other forms of structural oppression, as sources of trauma. The resources shared in a recent Resilient Sacramento meeting are described here for the entire ACEs Connection community. Please add your resources to the comments!

It was almost a ritual, but one that regularly disrupted the parenting class at a San Francisco-based child abuse prevention organization. Every time a siren blared in the streets below, a female participant bolted out of the room to seek safety in the windowless interior rooms of the multilevel labyrinthine white Victorian that houses Safe & Sound . Molly Jardiniano And it didn’t just happen in the parenting class. “When she heard the fire trucks, she said she would become paralyzed,...