Expressions
PGC’s Monthly Newsletter
PersonalGrowthCenter
3000 41st Street Ocean, Marathon, Florida 33050
Telephone 305–434–9065
June / July Edition 2008
Director Lisa Marciniak Photography by Wayne L
PGC outings for June / JulyJune 6th: Local shopping June 13th: Bahia Honda June 20th: IHOP June 27h:SombreroBeach
July 11th local shopping July 18thSombreroBeach July 25th Bahia Honda
Director’s Desk
I would like to dedicate this space to the memory of some very special people we have lost in the past few months.
Patty J, who worked for us as a Behavioral Health Tech, passed away on 5/23/08. we remember Patty for her amiable personality and can-do attitude.
Rosemarie Smith also worked as a Behavioral Health Technician at PGC. On 5/30/08, Rose left behind three children and a new husband. Rose will be remembered for her pleasant disposition, a beautiful smile, and youthful spirit.
Mary G (photo not available) passed away on 6/28/08. she had been a member of PGC since it’s inception in the 80’s. Mary was a long time resident of Heron House and loved by all her peers. Mary will be remembered for her playfulness and intelligence.
You will all be missed….
June MEMBER SPOTLIGHT:
Michael M.
Interview By: Tony M.
Michael was born on October 24th, 1951 in New York, New York. He is 56 years old. He grew up in Great Neck, Long Island outside of New York City. He attended GreatNeckElementary School, Great Neck North Junior & Senior High School. His favorite pastimes are watching television next to the palm tree and listening to the radio. His favorite music is a band called Moby Grape. For a while he delivered groceries to apartments. He has lived in the Florida Keys for over 15 years. He came to the Heron House from the Streets of Key West. He likes it at thePersonalGrowthCenter. / July MEMBER SPOTLIGHT:
Lori J.
Lori Jones was born on August 2, 1952 in Winsted, Connecticut, where she grew up. She went to GillertHigh School and graduated from there in 1970. She then went to Data Institute in Hartford, Connecticut for computer and data entry and graduated. Her profession was data entry at Waring Products. She also worked in the school system as home teacher for preschool learning disabled children. She also worked in the school system as a teacher's aid. She also owned her own business as a women's clothing store.
Lori loves all types of music except country music. She likes action movies, mystery and documentaries. Lori likes gardening, riding bicycles, and spending time with her boyfriend. She was married for 28 years and is now divorced. She has one daughter, who is 33 and three grandsons.
Lori needed help applying for Medicaid and Social Security because of a brain injury from a bad accident ten years ago. That is what brought her to the GrowthCenter. She loves coming here and loves all the people here.
Interview by Tony March
June Birthdays
June 2nd- Elizabeth C.
June 2nd Billy Ray M.
June 29th John W. / July Birthdays
July 4th- Mary G.
July 24th- Patricia R.
July 26th- Matthew A.
CONGRUTULATIONS TO THIS YEAR’S ABC MEMBERS!!:
Lori J- Chairperson
Adrian S- Vice Chairperson
Judy B- Secretary
John W- Treasurer
EstelleL- Member at large
New board members took their seats on Wednesday July 2nd
SMALL BIZ NEWS
PIES PIES PIES!!!! Small Biz Department has pies in stock.. Don’t miss out on your opportunity to purchase our signature dish. Whole pies are $8, or by-the-slice for $1.50.
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PGC holds new Nami Connection.Recovery Support Group. The PersonalGrowthCenter is holding the meetings on Tuesday’s from 1:15 -2:15 pm . This group is for those in recovery from mental illness or caregivers of the mentally. For more info call 305-434-9063.
Blueberry Muffins submitted by Lori J.Makes 3 dozen. Preheat oven to 350.
4 eggs
1 cup melted butter
2 cups sugar
4 cups flour
2 cups sour cream
2 Tablespoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 cups blueberries.
Beat butter & sugar together, add eggs & sour cream. Mix together flour, baking powder & baking soda. Add dry ingredients slowly to wet ingredients. Stir in blueberries. Sprinkle top with cinnamon & sugar, if desired. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes
THANK YOU GINI LEE HAFFNER- Associate Director of Programs for the Ohio Office of NAMI
Gini spoke at the PersonalGrowthCenter June 2nd. Mental illness first impacted the Haffner family in 1977. With numerous family members having varying degrees of functionality, she has personally experienced the ramifications of chemical imbalance She got involved with NAMI programs in 1996 and has been working continuously since then to help individuals and their families who are struggling with the effects of mental illness.
MESSAGE FROM Brandy
Hello again! My other email address is not working, so if anyone responded to my last email I can´t access it. I´ll be using this address from now on. I hope that all is well. Next week I´ll be going to the site that I´ll be living at for the next 2 years to meet the people that I will be working with and set things up for when I move there in June. Things are continuing to go well, I´ve been spending a lot of time with my host family near Panama city and learning Ngbere, which is the indigenous language of the area I will be living in. Today I´m in a bigger city near where I´ve been living for first aid courses and finally got to get on the Internet again. I´ll be sure to write again after I´ve been to my site and have more to report.Ciao!
Brandy
Scalloped Potatoes ------By Judy B.
8 Potatoes
1 Onion
1 Cup of chopped Cheese
1 Cup of Milk
Salt & Pepper to taste
Bake in 9 by 10 pan at 350 For 1 hr until the potatoes are tender. / From Tony’s Jokebook…
“What’s the first thing you did when you got to New York?” I took a cab. “What’s the second thing you did?” The police made me return it.
Personal Expressions
By Josepa!My mother was a psychic and it turns out I am too. I had a lot of psychic experiences when I was a child. Dreamt I was a freedom fighter in the Spanish Civil War! Then at the state hospital, I connected with my boyfriend by being psychic. Now I had an incredible psychic dream. It took place in Sanduak. There was a man that was in prison there for attempted murder. 5 years to life. For trying to kill Arnold Swartzenager, the governor of California, with a shotgun. The man in prison was tall with one tattoo on his chest that says, “Mom.” And it's all true!
July is Independence month. The birth laws of our nations month. The month of the birth of a new and self-owned America. The month of self-motivation and self-discipline. Th month of self-indulgence and self-value. The month of beginning and self-leadership and self-rule. July is the birth month of a new life and a new international self-image.
…James D.
“Does anybody stay here?”
“Does anybody leave?”
An article by Josepha W.
They come and they go. Tennis shoes, khaki shorts, Loud shirts and money. They buy everything from diamond rings to real estate. They stay for 3 days or 3 years. They come by boat or they buy a boat. And then they tire of the place and leave.
The others come to escape another place, or face, or problem. They find the cheapest housing they can. They find jobs (none up to their resumes) Then they try to leave. But lack of money imprisons them amongst the palm trees between the seas.
They can’t leave and never do. / Dark Deer
By Mark M.
The molecules of oxygen I was breathing were so abundant, I leaped minute by minute, exasperating the nature of my own hope. The water I stepped in on the edge of the river, sparkled and neutralized the essence of my energy, revolving to and fro, waves crashing across the shore, shimmering sounds, not easy to forget and as the gulls flew over, I watched and observed. Fish sporting across the level, down beneath. Where do I begin? What sounds do I hear, existing positively, or not penetrating things at all.
I waded into the water, of course the sun would shine constantly during the day. At night calm and darkness. The moon was the only light at dark , surmising the power of the solar force to begin it’s rotation once in a while, always setting good nurturing power from within and outside of the reflection of infinity. Why darkness is a good memory of a minute, measure of time, additional to the calculation moving forward, minus the shining forth perpetuation true to completion somewhat in an imaginary fashion, engulfing possibilities. Why I am consistently above the nature of what matters.
And so the entire picture of this creation is fading across the air, moving slowly, always continuing, never released nothingness at all. So the times weave through, satisfactorily.
Home
An article by Josepha W.
There is a place, nestled among lawns and trees, where the mentally ill are not treated like fools or witches. They come by bus or on foot and stay all day – creating beauty out of nothing. They cook elaborate meals for each other. They operate a shop and sell everything from potato chips to clothing. They operate computers and produce the Daily Newsletter and the Monthly Newsletter which contain some of the best prose and poetry you will ever read.
This is their home away from havoc – the place where they prove their humanity and their excellence.
Visit, if you are ready to have your preconceptions overturned.
To Whom It May Concern,
Because of deaths, car accidents, and bad things happening to people, I used to curse and call God “murdering scum.” Then I started to think about what the elders at the churches I go to say. Bad things that happen to us are not God's fault. Then who is responsible for all this death, sickness, and disease? It was Satan who tempted Eve through the snake to eat the forbidden fruit. When Adam discovered she had, he took a bite to get her off. Satan abandoned God's word. If it was not for Satan, there would be no sickness, death, disease, poverty, corruption, wrong-doers, and all this mess we are in. There would not even be age. No living thing or anything else would become of age or grow old. Curse not God, curse the Devil.
One time when I was about to go somewhere, I accidentally brushed my brand new shirt against a charcoal grill and got a black smudge on it. I made a curse. Then I thought to myself, “maybe God did that there than for me to be run into by a car or get hurt by some way. That makes sense because God is a just, fair, and loving God who intends us no harm, though is not a soft touch by any means and who means business. He is slow to anger and can be disobeyed for some time, but when finally angered we have something to deal with and had better straighten up. We are all in danger of being devoured by Satan. The whole world lies in the power of the wicked one.
Some people turn to God when times are hard and when things lighten us up again they abandon God until times get hard again. Faith is not like a comfortable shoe you slip on when you need it and slip off when you don't. Faith has to be kept all the time.
-Tony M
onya / (Non-Alcoholic) Pina Colada Logic
Edited and Submitted by Michael M.
based on Songs by Jimmy Buffet
It’s theseChanges in latitudes
Changes in attitudes
Nothing remains quite the same.
All of my running and All of my cunning
If I didn’t laugh I just would go insane!
Don’t know the reason
Stayed here all season
Nothing to show but this brand new tattoo
It’s a real beauty
A Mexican cutie
How it got here I haven’t a clue.
Wasting away again in Margaritaville
Searching for my lost shaker of salt
Some people claim there’s a woman to blame
But I know, it could be my own fault.
Havana day dreaming,
Boy he’s just scheming his life away.
I blew out my flip-flop
Stepped on a pop top
Cut my heel
Had to cruise on back home.
But there’s mix in the blender
Soon we will render
That frozen concoction
That helps me hang on.