Demi Lovato

Demi Lovato

          Hello, this is IGL and this post is about Demi Lovato. Demi Lovato is a singer and actress, and also, a philanthropist. Demi Lovato is a celebrity that has struggled through many issues as a child and adolescent, including cutting, eating disorders, bipolar, substance abuse, and bullying. Demi has been bullied as a child, but during middle school, the bullying became too much and she pulled out of public school to be homeschooled. She had a rocky relationship with her self-esteem issues and her eating disorders. At a young age, she began binge eating, and soon, throwing herself up because of her bullies. She also began to cut herself to harm herself.

          She always wanted to become a singer/actress, so she landed a role on Disney Channel to a short series called As the Bell Rings. People were impressed by Lovato’s talent and Disney soon gave her the roles in Camp Rock along with the Jonas Brothers, the sequel, and her own show, Sonny with a Chance.

          Lovato’s first account of substance abuse was around the age of 12. She got into a car accident and was prescribed painkillers. She would sneak them from her mother’s purse and consume them, enjoying the feelings of being taken away of her conscious. Through her teen years, she began to party a lot and use drugs and alcohol. After her relationship with Joe Jonas broke, whom she dated for about two months, she started to frequently party. When one of her own friends threatened to tell, she punched her and had a nervous breakdown.

          Her family and friends suggested for her to go to rehab, where she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. After exiting rehab, she got better, and stopped cutting, purging, and overcame her past experiences. However, she relapsed, and continued her substance abuse with cocaine and alcohol. But after one day of throwing up in the limo, she decided to turn her life around and stay sober. She lived in a sober living house for quite a time, and now advocates against glamorizing intoxicants.

          She released her hit single “Skyscraper” in 2011 and published a daily meditation book called Stay Strong: 365 Days a Year to positively treat a day better. She advocates against drug and alcohol abuse, reckless partying, self harm, and hate. She tells people that no matter how they feel, they are beautiful. She has inspired people to tell their story after she dared to tell hers, and helped many souls in getting better from their own issues.

          Lovato is also an advocate for LGBT rights, and was crowned the grand marshal for Los Angeles’s Gay Pride Parade in 2014. She has publicly announced her love for the LGBT community and how even though she was Christian, she knew that Jesus loved everyone and treated them equally. Today, Demi Lovato has been an inspiration to people everywhere: children, teenagers, and adults. She has been an incredible role model to people all around the world.

Idea+Gift=Love IGL

Help Stop Cyberbullying!

Help Stop Cyberbullying!

       Hello, this is IGL and this post is about cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is using technology to bully someone else. Today, many people all around the world are abusing technology to hurt an individual’s feelings in a devastating way. Any network used can hurt someone, such as Facebook, Google Plus, and Twitter. Or you could simply just send a cell phone text. If you tease someone, their feelings can get hurt in a considerable way. Cyberbullies are in a sense cowards. They, instead of saying something face-to-face, they tend to hide behind a computer or phone. When cyberbullies are confronted and exploited, they really have nothing to say.

          Whenever something inhumane is done, consequences are sure to come. Even if you're friends or close to someone, they might interpret your message differently than you intended. You can be a cyberbully simply by passing on a picture or something private to people you know. If you get a picture sent to you that could be embarrassing or humiliating to someone, it is humane nature show everyone something exciting. However, this could hurt someone very much. People can make some actions that are drastic, such as self harm or suicide.

          Megan Meier was a young, 13-year-old, diagnosed with depression and ADHD, who lived in the state of Missouri. She was bubbly, goofy girl who loved spending time with friends and family—she killed herself in 2006 by hanging. Megan Meier was a user of MySpace, and she found herself an online friend by the name of “Josh Evans”. They exchanged messages and became friends. Moments later, “Josh Evans” began to send her hurtful messages. She couldn't talk all this hate any longer and hung herself in October 2006. It turns out that this Josh Evans isn't real, and the people who made the account where Lori Drew, Sarah Drew, and Ashley Grills. Sarah Drew was a friend of Meier, and when she heard that Megan allegedly called her an “ugly lesbian”, she and her mother, Lori Drew of 49 years of age at the time, created the MySpace account along with Lori’s employee, Ashley Grills, 18. They taunted her and finally, the message that sent Meier to the doorsteps of Death, said “The world would be a better place without you”. The Drews and Grills were sent to court about the case. An adolescent and two adults were involved in the suicide of Meier. Instead of having a talk between parents and adults, Lori Drew cyberbullied a young girl.

          Tina Meier, Megan’s mother, created a foundation called the Megan Meier Foundation. It represents all the consequences and aftermaths of cyberbullying. Tina has traveled all over the United States to teach children of all ages the matters of cyberbullying and what might happen afterwards. Today, the Megan Meier Foundation reminds people of the terrible effects of gruesome cyberbullying.

          There are many ways for you to help. You could:

1. Start a petition and get people to sign it.
2. Spread the word about cyberbullying.
3. Encourage your friends or yourself to stop spreading private media of others that could hurt their feelings.
4. If you are a victim of cyberbullying, remember to stay strong and know that people are there for you and people who love you.
5. Volunteer/donate at the Megan Meier Foundation (site: meganmeierfoundation.org ) or other organizations.

Help Stop Cyberbullying!

Idea+Gift=Love IGL

Mental Disorders

Mental Disorders

          Hello, this is IGL and this post is about mental disorders. Mental disorders are conditions in which the brain is not able to function correctly. People with mental illnesses can be born with them or can be affected by their environment. Mental disorders can be defects in personality, education, social ability, phobias, depression, impulse-control, memory and eating disorders. These affect people and others around them. It affects their past, present, and future. However, people with mental disorders should be treated equally as anyone else.

          There are many types of mental disorders, such as:

• Anxiety disorders: This could affect both adults and children. They can last a long time and are quite common. They put the person in a depressive mood, creating feelings like angers, stress, and fear. This includes phobias, panic disorders, social anxiety, stress, OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), and general anxiety.
• Child disorders: These affect a person during their childhood. It can be social or learning abilities. These include pica, ADHD, autism, dyslexia, bed wetting, and much more.
• Sleep disorders: These are in effect during sleep. They include insomnia, sleepwalking, sleep bruxism, nightmare disorder, narcolepsy, hypersomnia, and sleep terror disorder.
• Mood disorders: Mood disorders affect a person’s behavior and mood, and some may even cause potential, violent outbursts. These include bipolar, depression, Cyclothymic Disorder, Seasonal Affective Disorder, and Dysthymic Disorder.
• Organic Brain disorders: Organic brain disorders are caused because of the individual’s surrounding environment. Trauma from past events or other failures of the body could cause this. These include dementia, (sometimes) amnesia, Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, delirium, Parkinson’s disease and Huntington Disease.
• Personality Disorders: Personality disorders affect a person’s behavior or mental thoughts. A type of personality disorders is called an odd personality disorder, oddly dissociative and detached. These are Schizotypal, Paranoid Personality Disorder, and Schizoid. Another type is Dramatic, being over reactive or sensitive. These include Antisocial, Borderline, Narcissistic, and Histrionic Personality Disorder. The last group is Anxious, when a person is scared to be independent and sometimes detaches him or herself from others. These are Avoidant, Dependant, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
• Impulse Control Disorders: Impulse control disorders are conditions in which a person has an addiction or urge that might harm him or herself or others around. These are Kleptomania (stealing), Intermittent Explosive Disorder (anger issues), Pyromania (setting fire), Pathological Gambling, Trichotillomania (hair plucking), Internet Addiction, Dermatillomania (skin plucking), onchycophagia (nail biting), and compulsive shopping.  

There are many other types of other mental disorders, such as conversion disorders, factitious disorders (pretending to be injured or sick), and substance abuse (abusing intoxicants). 

Help people with mental disorders!

Idea+Gift=Love IGL

Stop bullying

Stop Bullying!

          Hello, this is IGL. Our project is a very important message to EVERYONE. This project is bullying, something nobody wants to become a victim of. Bullying includes put-downs, teasing, vandalism, gossip, rumors, cyberbullying, racism, sexual harassment, Physical abuse, threats, and exclusion. This is a negative thing that everyone can stop.

          Once upon a time, there was a middle school in the California Bay Area. That middle school was an ordinary middle school. They had the loners, the bullies (populars), the nerds, the Goths, the genetically disordered, and the jocks. We’re pretty sure there weren’t any plastics since it’s a middle school because that would just be weird.

          In that middle school, there was a girl we will just call “A”. A was bullied by many people but she had some friends. They were good friends, but she also had some bad friends. The bad friends (aka the bullies) were backstabbing bullies and she never had a clue about it. They did many horrible things to her. They used a form of bullying called cyberbulling, where they use technology to hurt someone’s feelings. They sent texts to everyone and convinced them that A was a bad person. They also posed as A and sent people rude texts. One person, named “B” was a bad friend. B was a bully, and had a lot of bully friends. One of B’s bully friends schemed a plan for B to make a recording of saying many horrible things about A. B’s friend sent that video to everyone by e-mail, and sadly, to A too. A was hurt, and she never got over it.

          Another time was when IGL witnessed this act. A was walking over to the trash can, and some girls were also having lunch there. The moment A walked over, the leader of the group of girls threw some food at A. The food was solid and hard, and A got hurt, both emotionally and physically. This is called Physical Abuse. The people also called A ugly, stupid, annoying, and disgusting. They excluded her away from their group whenever A walked over, trying to make some friends. This is Put-Downs, teasing, and exclusion. They spread rumors and gossiped of how she did badly on a test, and things like who she went to the dance with then how her date ditched her there. This is called rumors and gossip. They threatened A of telling people she liked bad things about her if she didn’t do something they wanted A to do for them. This is called threat and vandalism. That is how A lived.

          There is another time in a different school of the same area. There was a boy and a girl. The girl shall be called “C” and the boy shall be called “D”. C was always a happy go lucky girl, until D one day decided to upset her with his bullying. C wanted to play a game with D and his friends at recess. But D decided to play a cruel game. He said that girls couldn’t play sports because they were too weak and sports were only for boys and men. This hurt C very much. Whenever it was PE, C was excluded whenever she was in D’s team to play a sport. This carried on for years. This is called Sexual Harassment.  Sexual Harassment could also be related to sexual innuendos.

          It was a year later in fifth grade when D was in C’s class—again. In class, one day, an argument rose from a table. A girl was arguing with D about something, and then suddenly D shouted out about him being Australian, and said how Asians were stupid and always looked like “this” *puts his two fingers to the edges of his eyes, raised them up to form chinky eyes*. This shocked the teacher and half the class since half the students were Asian. This is called Racism.

          All these were schools that members of IGL went to. Sadly, this is the problem with the world. And one result of bullying could end up terribly wrong. It is called self harming.

          Self harming is when a person hurts themselves to relieve pain. Self harming is bad! B-A-D bad! And usually, this happens when someone is bullied too much. Self harming could be in different forms like an eating disorder. If you know someone who is self harming themselves, tell someone immediately!

          Once upon a time, in the California Bay Area, there was a high school. Once again, they have the bullies and the bullied. A teenage girl was bullied, so bullied that she decided to self harm herself. She was bullied so much, that she tried so many different ways to kill herself. One day, she was rushed to the hospital, and died in early morning. That is why bullying is BAD.

          Even though it seems that this could be difficult to accomplish, YOU could stop bullying. There are many ways to stop bullying. You could:

1. Stand up for someone. Standing up is when you confront a bully and tell them to stop bullying the victim.
2. Tell an adult. You could tell a trusted grown-up when bullying is present
3. Don’t bully anyone yourself. Bullying could cause a lot of pain.
4. Spread the idea to stop bullying yourself.

As you can see, if you do these steps, you could stop bullying!

-Idea+Gift=love IGL