Pieces of Me

Still-life pumpkin 11/21/13 By Gloria M. Matthews (First still-life in six years) Six weeks of dealing with back to back illnesses and six weeks of lots of thoughts.  However, in those six weeks I had to tolerate balancing motherhood with household duties as well as personal responsibilities. This past week was the first full week I felt good. My stomach issues still remind subtle but under control.  As I started to feel better with each passing day, I got my passion and determination back to draw, to paint, to write, and to get creative again.  I don't know what it is, but for the last six years I've been itching to be the creative person I once was so many years ago.  I studied art for years but never majored in it for it was something I could never have under the microscope of "grades".  I believed as artists we are storytellers through our works. I posted my most recent work on to my FB page and for those who knew me in my younger years have remember...

Let me start off by saying it's been a year! Already!  However, due to being ill for the last few months, it has interfered with my ability to process sounds well with my CI ear. Prior to getting sick, I was JUST starting to normalize out with all the sounds around me and I was doing just fine in getting to listening better in noise.   Now, I kind of have to go through a detox from all my medicines which I must stop completely and for good as my doctor thinks it's causing my stomach issues. So if you ask me do I regret it?  No, I don't.  I will say I still got a way to go on my part.  I'm not 100% YET or close to it.  But I am slowly building my way up.  I do listen to audio, but I get tired out fast.  My situation of being a single mom of an active Kindergartener and other things I'm swamped by.  But I do go out and chat with my friends and meet with those in the cochlear implant group(s), when I can.  Sometimes, f...

You know how people are quick to comment or make remarks about things that they have no idea about?  Well, I have dealt with my fair share of those over the years.  Granted, while I knew some meant well just out of concern others - well they got to be a bit bossy and pushed unrealistic "ideals" towards my way.  You can bet I walked away from them for good. Over the years, I have always been the athlete, the artist, the thinker, writer, idealist, and a whole other bunch of hats.  However, because I am considered young (newly 30 yrs. old), for years I had to keep my health issues at bay and focus on things that were positive for me.  I love writing, but hate academic writing (most professors on the junior level gave me hell for my grammar and all those petty little details for a hard of hearing/late deafen student doesn't always hear EVERYTHING!)  But my ideas are well put and written.  I love drawing, when I can.  I love reading, researching and ...

Being that I was the only child with a hearing loss in an all hearing school district in the late 80's (to my knowledge),  I cannot tell you it was all sunshine and smiles. I overcame a lot of hurdles growing up in the "hearing world" and I will tell you it wasn't a very easy course.  As I have previously wrote in my article and my blogs, I did not have the best memories of elementary school.  It was hard to fit in.  I got picked on for my speech, made fun of because I couldn't hear certain things, I have had my spelling tests ripped from my hands and waved around in front of the whole class and laughed at.  I honestly felt like the outcast, the misfit.  Of course my spelling tests were horrible. At times, I ate lunch alone for a big chunk of the time throughout my elementary to high school years.  Only a few times I was able to sit with a group of my classmates, but I could never connect with them or understand what was going on so i...

Yesterday, I went to my audiologist to get my new earmold for my left hearing aid.  We spoke about how people who have hearing aids complain of having a hearing aid.  It got me thinking about the sigma attached to hearing loss and the misconceptions of hearing aids. While many are becoming new to hearing loss, it is a complete different world to live in and to deal with.  Some have to find alternative ways to cope with their new-found hearing lost, while others may struggle with accepting the fact that they may have a hearing loss themselves.  To ease worried minds, do not be afraid to get your hearing tested when you sense you are not hearing as well as you should.  The sooner you get your hearing tested, the quality of life can improve. The quality of life is greatly affected by hearing loss creating a sense of isolation, insecurity, anxiety, depression, and strained relationships.  Many have spoken out about this and how it affected them overall....

War on Poverty: An Opinion Written by Gloria M. Matthews “The War on Poverty is the unofficial name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. This legislation was proposed by Johnson in response to a national poverty rate of around nineteen percent. The speech led the United States Congress to pass the Economic Opportunity Act , which established the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to administer the local application of federal funds targeted against poverty. As a part of the Great Society , Johnson believed in expanding the government's role in education and health care as poverty reduction strategies. [1] These policies can also be seen as a continuation of Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal , which ran from 1933 to 1935, and the Four Freedoms of 1941. The popularity of a war on poverty waned after the 1960s. Deregulation, growing criticism of the w...