Happy Thanksgiving

Christmas Cake

As part of TY Home Ec all students are required to make a Christmas Cake. I made my cake as part of a group with Kate Hayden and Irina Bunicci.

We had a choice of making chocolate biscuit cake or actual Christmas cake. We chose to make actual Christmas cake because we thought chocolate biscuit cake just wasn't Christmasy enough.
We made an alcohol free cake and covered it in marzipan, marshmallow fondant and regular fondant.

We decided on a design of two polar bears and a Christmas tree. Here is the end result!

Survivors Day

Survivors day is held every year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving (21st Nov 2015). For one day a year people affected by suicide can come together and share their pain and loss with others to help them feel less alone. 

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention have recently released a series about suicide loss. They have also established a digital quilt for people to remember their loved ones by. 

"The Digital Memory Quilt is an online space where suicide loss survivors everywhere can honor and share stories about their loved ones using video, audio, photos, and words—stories that serve as squares in our virtual quilt." -extract from the Survivor Day website

There is much debate about whether suicide is heroic or cowardly but in my opinion none of this matters. What matters is that the person is gone. We almost kill ourselves thinking, how could I not have seen the signs. But sometimes there aren't any. Sometimes people are just so good at wearing their masks that we can't see through them. Even the greats have been fooled by a deadly disguise. 

But there was something that made that person want to disappear permanently. Something that made them think "I have no other option". And that is what we should worry about. That something probably still exists in our world and if it isn't stopped will continue to take those we love from us. So instead of judging those we've lost for their decisions why don't we think about what made them make that decision because everyday that is what a a family will think about when the person they love is gone. 

For anybody out there reading this thinking "nobody will miss me", don't do it. Just please don't do it. I could list a thousand reasons why but even if you think nobody will miss you, I will. I may not know you now but if you take your life, you take away the opportunity for me to know you. I will be missing maybe one day knowing you. And the time we didn't have together wasn't quite enough . 

If you are taking your life to escape a problem that seems permanent please don't because even if that problem is permanent now we can change it. But I can't help you change the problem if you're not here. 

I really don't know if what I've said here is of any help to anybody or has just made things worse. I'd like to believe it has helped someone. But honestly I don't know. I just hope it hasn't hurt anybody. I just wanted to say something. To let people know that they are not alone. There is so much I could say on this topic and so much I want to but I just can't put it into words. But I want anybody out there to know I am here for you. I will always care. I thought for a long time about what I wanted to say here and this is the best I could come up with. 

Universal Children's Day

"The one thing all children have in common is their rights. Every child has the right to survive and thrive, to be educated, to be free from violence and abuse, to participate and to be heard. "

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

November 20th, marks the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, in 1959, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in 1989. Children's Day aims to highlight the achievements in child development so far but also to highlight what still must be done to make sure all children receive their rights. 

International Men's Day

International Men's Day aims to promote men's and boy's health, improve gender relations, promote gender equality, and highlight positive male role models.

When people think gender inequality they immediately think women are being denied their rights. Yes there is still a lot of work to do in the area of women's rights but men are also being denied some things. Maybe not by law but by society. 

Men don't feel they are allowed to express emotion. This is not because the law says so but because society frowns upon men crying or discussing feelings and labels it weak. Feeling something is not a weakness. Feeling something is a sign that you are human. 

Often we don't even realise that we are limiting boys and men. From the time a boy turns two he is referred to as a "little man".They are told to "man up" when they are sad or upset. This creates the idea that men are strong because they don't express emotion. From the time men are toddlers they are taught this so really it is no wonder than this is the way our society has developed. But something has got to change. 77.9% of suicides in America in 2013 were male while 22.1% were female. This is a very big gap and it is directly related to men feeling pressured by society to be strong. Men are expected to be strong all the time and when they aren't able to be strong they won't admit it because they are afraid that they won't be a man anymore. 

We need to change this idea. We need the world to realise that a man can need help and still be strong just like an woman can. A man should be able to go to the doctor and not feel weak. Just because we need a little help every  once in a while doesn't make us any less. This International Men's Day I am asking you to "Be the change you wish to see in the world" and support men.