Thank you!

Just a story to share that shows smiling at strangers does matter
I was walking home from coffee and found a bunch of white flowers on the ground so I bent down and picked it up. Flowers always make me smile so naturally I was smiling. Then an old man passed me carrying a box of to go food. For the most part I look up while I walk and try to make eye contact with the people I pass. This habit comes from a self-defense class I took years ago that instilled in me the importance of keeping your head high (not looking at the ground) to help prevent getting attacked. Thinking nothing of it, I smiled at the old man carrying the box of food and he kind of smiled back. When we were about ten steps away from each other he said "Excuse me" very loudly. When I turned around to see if he was speaking to me he looked at me with a large smile and said "Thank you for the smile." I smiled even larger and said "You are welcome" and then turned around to continue home. My entire disposition changed in that instant, I walked home with a happy bounce in my step and a perma-smile plastered to my face. So for all those people who avoid my eye contact and don't smile back, I will not remember them but I guarantee you a year down the road (even 10 years later) I will remember the old man who thanked me for my smile.

This is going to be a quick post but I found this website and I found it powerful and effective. It is about preventing brain injuries and to me it seems as if it is targeted towards young men who ride motorcycles and don't wear helmets. The pictures of the ladies are quite seductive and are obviously intended to get a young many attention, but the activities are kind of cool and put what it would be like to have a brain injury into perspective. Like we were talking about in class this week, the people who created this campaign did their formative research and segemented their auidence and decided to target young men through sex, looks, and money. Check out the website! www.protectyourhead.com

Class Project

So for class we all have a group project and personally I think the group and the organization I got assigned to is the best!!! We are working with Student Health Services to design a health communication campain for the Family PACT program. Family PACT is a statewide program that provides family planning services to anyone who is capapable of having a baby or creating a a baby (so that means guys ARE eligible). There are income guidelines and you are can't have other insurance that covers family planning (unless you want to keep it confidential and then you are still eligible). It is an amazing program that is totally under-utilized at SDSU. We met with Student Health Services last week and they told us that they fully plan on using whatever we create. It is so exciting to be doing something hands on and that will acutally be used. We are currently doing the formative research to collect info about who we are targeting and the best way to reach them. Stay tuned for more updates throughout the semester on how the project is going!

Check out the link www.familypact.org

Tell me more with an open face!

I challenge who ever is reading my blog (if there is anyone at all) to use these three powerful words when speaking to people. Instead of asking another question or asking why, simply request the person to expand on what they already said. Then wait and see where it goes. There may be silence, and that is ok, just let the person talk and you listen. I can guarantee that they will appreciate it and that you will find out something more interesting that if you continually bombarded them with questions or just didn’t listen at all. One more challenge, when you talk to someone keep your eye brows raised, see how that changes your facial expression and your voice. I think so many of us go through our lives with a frown and/or blank stares. Try smiling when you talk and just notice how the other person responds. But more importantly notice how much better your feel about the conversations you have. It is amazing how simply raising your eye brown can change how you approach people and challenges in your life.

Midwest Teen Sex Show

CHECK OUT THIS WEBSITE…This is the Midwest Teen Sex Show and they create sex information videos for teenagers. The videos are so funny yet full of valuable information that is so taboo in our society. Below is just one example of what the shows are like but check out the website because they are all worth seeing




Here is the website. www.midwestteensexshow.com

The sad part is these videos would never be used in a classroom setting so teens are left to find them on their own. It looks as if they just had some major national exposure on CBS evening news so hopefully more and more teens will find out about them and watch them (if it is just because they are funny.)