Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Dec. 31, 2003, edition 1 / Page 9
Part of The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
http://www.thecharlottepost.com W)t CFjarlotte WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2003 1B Harp soothes the sick, dying THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WINSTON-SALEM Tyra Somers still remembers getting her first harp during one of the most difficult moments of her life. Eleven years ago, she faced the possibility of a lung transplant in a sterile unit of a St. Louis hospital when someone brought her harp music. She recovered and did not need the transplant, but her love remained for the sound of the harp and what it could do to soothe the spir its of the sick and dying. After studying the instru ment in New York, she began playing in hospice, nursing homes and hospitals through The Harps of Healing Project, a program she created. “When I was in the hospi tal, I just enjoyed the music so much myself and 1 had a vision that I would be back there and besides being a patient, I would be able to play for other people,” she said. Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem run a joint project that brings art into the hospital. The program hired Somers to play in the lobby, cafeteria and other public places. Last week, she set up in front of the Christmas tree in the waiting room for Cancer Support Services. As people drifted through the room, many stopped to listen to the Christmas carols that carried from Somers’ harp in soft, clear tones. -^T’ve had cancer , fory six years, and when I come'out here I see otlier cancer patients and they -.don’t look very happy,” sai^S James White of Mayodan, who wus at the medical center for a doctor’s checkup. The music . helps, he said, by letting him feel as happy as he can in . those circumstances. For the past four years, Somers has even taken her harp to the bedside of d3dng patients. She said she believes the harp is capable of opening people’s hearts. “My fnend called and said. Would you play for my mom?’ and I did. These are both strong-headed, intelli gent women and both kind of hardheaded. I don’t know how much either one was the kind that would express emotion freely. What hap pened was that tears began to flow freely, which happens o^n,” Somers said. 'Somers chooses her music based on what the patient needs. For example, she sometimes uses a slow, steady beat for those suffer ing from heart problems, or more unmetered, random music for people who are restless and distracted by pain. Dealing with sickness so much does not wear on Somers like people expect it to, she said. LIFE *It’s not as upsetting as you wjjuld think, even when it’s something awful hke a siek child. I think the saving thing is usually when you go i&o an environment like f&t one you feel helpless,” SJmers said. ;fThis time you are going in with something in your hand that can help.” SISTA Gonna work on AIDS education By Artellia Burch artelUa.bitrch@ihecharloitepost.com SISTA stresses the importance of sister ly love in reducing the risk of contracting AIDS. Its motto: Sista love is strong! Sista love is safe! Sista love is surviving! The national outreach organization aims to reduce sexuaUy-risky behaviors by informing women on topics related to AIDS. The goal is to increase proper and consistent condom use. Since its incep tion, SISTA worked to improve risk reduc tion skills and behaviors by combining the theory of gender and power with social learning. SISTA has a local branch that uses five sessions to discuss the impact of HIV on the black community, particularly women, learn facts and debunk myths about HIV/AIDS, self assertiveness train ing, behavioral self management and cop ing skills. The Rev. Gwen Curry of Present Day Cares Inc., presides over the Charlotte branch of SISTA. Since July, SISTA has been helping women through the housing authority, substance abuse treatment centers and shelters. ‘We give information to the directors of programs with women who are sexually active,” she said. Once women join the group, they attend intervention sessions and after complet ing the project each woman receives $20. “More than 50 percent of women with AIDS are African American women,” Curry said. “There’s a 30 percent increase among heterosexual women and in Mecklenburg Coimty 77 percent of all cases in the county are African Americans. “Our community lacks information on preventative measmes. When AIDS was very prevalent in the white gay commu nity there was a massive education process that took place. The same is going to have to take place with us.” Curry says part of the black communi ty’s ignorance is a result of the black church remaining silent about sex and HIV/AIDS. “The church, the agency for social change hasn’t gotten involved in spread ing information on preventative mea sures,” she said. “The church has been silent because in order to talk about sex you have to talk about it from a biblical perspective. The church doesn’t have a language that tells a person to use preventive methods. It only tells us fornication is a sin. The chiorch has a disconnect between theology and sociology Chinches are concerned with saving souls versus saving lives. It’s choosing spiritual health versus physical health. I want people to live and be healthy. I want to help the total man spir it, mind and body. My perspective is you can’t clean a fish until you can catch it. And to do that you have to talk about pre vention and to do that you have to talk about sex. If you talk about sex, you have to talk about all kind of sex and aH kind of people Hke the gay, lesbian and bisexual.” Curry says women need to take more control when dealing with their well being and have more candid discussions with their mates about sex. “Because of men on the down low, bisex ual men and infideHty women don’t know the men they are sexually involved with,” she said. “We want to teach black women how to be proud of the body God gave them. And learn how to manage their own behavior. “The most encouraging testimonies are from women who say prior to the project they didn’t have the confidence or self esteem to talk abut sex yfith their mate . about using condoms eve^ time./lj^ost of' the women wanted to be tested.” Here are some tips from Curry to help improve sexual communication: . 1. Make sure you understand what your; mate believes sexuality is'all about. 2. Talk about why you and your mate are having sex in the first place 3. Talk about your feeHngs. Rev. Gweri Curry will speak at United Methodist at 3545 Beatties Ford Rd. on Sat. at 6 pm.. Survey finds parents, teens drawn eloser by driving together THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A six-year old law requiring teenagers to spend a year dri ving with an adult has had an unintended consequence, with some reporting in a new sur vey that the time they spend together driving had improved their communication. The survey by the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center found that about 44 percent of teens and adults said their communication had improved. About a quarter of each group said the activity had made them closer. Michael Riera, author of several books on parenting teenagers, says the findings make sense, because the car is the perfect place for par ents to converse . with teenagers. “It’s a side-by-side relation ship, which makes it much less vulnerable than face-to- face,” he says. Roswell Ramseur and his son, Kendall, 17, say the^d agree with that. “I do talk a Httle bit more when I’m driving,” Kendall Ramseur said. The conversations center on Kendall Ramseur’s college plans and his music. He plays cello in the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra. Katie Wood and her moth er, Betsy, said Katie’s recent ly completed year of super vised driving also provided time for good talks. Conversations during their first weeks together usually focused on the driving itself, Betsy Wood says. “At first, it’s like, 'You’re going too fast! Watch that car!’ You’re very uneasy at first.” But as Katie Wood gained experience and her mom relaxed, conversations turned to school, fiiends and clothes. ■"‘I think it was really good. We really spent a lot of time together,” Betsy Wood says. "Nobody can walk away when you’re in the car,” Katie says. Under North Carolina’s old Hcensing system, a 16-year- old could drive alone after completing a driver’s educa tion course. Now, teenagers may drive only with a supervising adult for their first year. After that, they get second-level Hcenses that let them drive without supervision but prohibit recreational night driving. After six months at Level 2, teens with clean records get unrestricted licenses. North Carolina was the sec ond state, after Michigan, to enact a graduated system. Now, nearly 40 states have adopted such systems. Numerous studies have found that graduated Hcens es reduce crashes and save lives. In North Carolina, fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers fell 57 percent the first year after the law was enacted. Overall crashes fell 23 percent. Researchers didn’t predict the new rules would improve some family relationships. Some might expect the close ness to result in irritation. Sometimes, it does. The center’s survey found 16 percent of teens and 8 per cent of parents agreeing "we get on each other’s nerves more than usual.” But many more teens and parents reported positive interactions. North Carolina is the first state to explore whether driving together can improve parent-teen commu nication, said Rob Foss, senior research scientist with the Highway Safety Research Center. He says he beHeves this inadvertent result of gradu ated Hcensing is important. “In virtually every behavior risky for teens — drinking, drugs, premarital sex - a pro tective factor against that is parent-teen closeness,” he says.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 31, 2003, edition 1
9
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75