You Never Know What You Have Until It's Gone

On Sunday, October 14^th, 2012, at 1:30 pm, Mary Anne Snedden, 54, was driving down Brown Avenue in Turtle Creek, PA on her way to Walmart when a woman ran a red light on Tri Boro Avenue and broadsided Mary Anne’s car on the driver’s side. The force of the impact pushed Mary Anne’s car into oncoming traffic and she collided with two other cars. One car was pushed onto the sidewalk on the other side of the road. Mary Anne was the only one in the multi-vehicle accident to suffer major injuries. She was wearing her seat belt.The paramedics had to use the Jaws of Life to remove Mary Anne from her vehicle.

This picture shows how the Jaws of Life are used to open a vehicle

This is a Google Earth image of the intersection where the accident occurred

Mary Anne was taken to the trauma unit of Presbyterian University Hospital. She suffered multiple injuries to her pelvis - two breaks and three fractures, as well as a rib fracture. This type of injury is extremely serious and potentially fatal as the pelvis houses many important internal organs and if broken can cause severe internal bleeding. The following morning she was taken to surgery and a bar external to her body was screwed into her hips to stabilize her pelvis while it healed.

Mary Anne demonstrates how the stabilization bar was screwed into her hip bones to keep her pelvis in place

After spending ten days in the hospital Mary Anne was transferred to LGAR (Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic), a nursing home, until she was able to care for herself again. During this time she was not allowed to put any weight on her pelvic area. She had to sit at a 60° angle in a wheelchair. The stabilizing bar was removed after six weeks. She had to wait another two weeks before she was allowed to try to walk. Her first attempts at standing and walking exceeded everyone’s expectations. After only a few days with a walker she was able to walk with minimal assistance, and was released from the nursing home after spending a total of 58 days there.

She arrived home a few days before Christmas, two months earlier than anticipated. No adaptive equipment was necessary in her home. Even though her recovery to date has been remarkable, she still has a long way to go. She suffers with daily pain and is unable to return to her former job. Mary Anne and husband Terry, 58, feel family support and religious faith got them through. “I believe this experience has brought my wife and I closer together,” Terry said. Mary Anne and Terry have two children, Dan, 28, and Carissa, 22. 

Mary Anne and husband Terry stand tall seven months after the life-changing accident

Mary Anne Tells Story of Her Near-Fatal Car Crash Mary Anne Talks About Her Nursing Home Experience Mary Anne Talks About Her Recovery and What Got Her Through Mary Anne's Husband Terry Tells How The Accident Affected Him

You Never Know What You Have Until It's Gone

The subject of my biography is my aunt, my father's brother's wife. She was in a near-fatal car crash in the Fall, and broke her pelvis in 3 places. After she was released from the hospital she was placed in a nursing home since she was not allowed to put any weight on her pelvis area for 2 months and had to learn walk again. 

Around the World in 3 Hours

I attended the Pittsburgh Folk Festival on Saturday April 20th for 3 hours in the evening and took pictures of various cultural exhibits including foods, crafts, and clothing from different countries as well as videos of cultural dances from China, England, and India. The countries covered throughout the evening were Hungary, Syria, Slavic countries, China, England, India, Peru, Lithuania, Turkey, and Poland.

Around the World in 4 Hours

For my Meograph assignment I would like to attend the Pittsburgh Folk Festival this coming Saturday April 20th from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm and capture my experiences through a timeline. I'll be eating the various foods, visiting the vendor market places, and watching dance performances and musicians from various countries around the world.

Men in Skirts, a Tartan Day Celebration

Paul Thompson and Don Campbell, in their tartan (plaid) skirts, celebrate their Scottish heritage. The unique tartan patterns often identify a Scottish clan or regiment.

The Pittsburgh Tartan Day celebration was held on April 6^th, 2013 at the Bethel Presbyterian Church. This is the event’s 15^th year.This event celebrates Scottish Americans as well as the Scottish Declaration of Independence (Arbroath) in the year 1320 from English rule. The American Declaration of Independence was modeled after the Scottish Declaration of Arbroath. This Tartan Day was sponsored by the St. Andrews Society of Pittsburgh whose mission is “to preserve and promote Scottish Heritage and traditions through educational, philanthropic and social endeavors.” Events included Celtic music, Scottish foods, Scottish ware vendors, educational cultural workshops, and a silent auction to raise money for the Scottish arts. There was no charge for this event, but donations to the St. Andrews Society were encouraged. The donations and proceeds from the auction contribute to anyone who wishes to pursue studies in the Scottish arts. This event was of interest to me because of my Scottish heritage. 

The Pittsburgh Tartan Day Celebration was held at the Bethel Presbyterian Church on April 6, 2013 from 10:00 to 5:00 pm

The Callan Celtic music group, a band from Pittsburgh combines traditional Celtic music with modern jazz influences for a lively, upbeat sound. The word callan means ruckus in Gaelic. 

The cultural educational workshop topics included ones on Scotch whisky, geneaology, weaving, playing bagpipes, speaking Gaelic, Scottish surnames, jewelry making and Celtic symbols. This video includes snippets from some of the workshops and a swordsman in the exhibit area. The swordsman, Jim Roberts is a member of the Cateran society, which teaches how to use the Highland Broadsword, a Scottish fencing sword from the 1700s.

Kathy Wells demonstrates the traditional Scottish spinning of wool

The Zircus Comes to Town

The Zany Umbrella Circus celebrated its tenth anniversary by performing "Cake" in Market Square in Pittsburgh, PA on Friday March 22, 2013. "Cake" integrates trapeze, clowning, mask-work, and other circus acts.

An Afternoon at Latitude 40

A Day at the Animal House

Japan Club Movie Night

Ban the Butts?

About.com Civil Liberties provides arguments to both sides. Tom Head, the author of the article, said that it most likely would be constitutional to ban cigarettes federally. Another argument Head presents is the fact that cigarettes pose a major health risk to the smoker as well as the people around them. The other side of the argument Head presents is that people have the right to harm themselves as well as cigarettes being a major part of the economy. A USA Today article provided information on the health benefits of smoking bans. After smoking was banned in public places hospitalizations for heart attacks fell an average of 15%. Hospitalizations for strokes fell 16%, and hospitalizations for respiratory diseases fell 24%. The article also mentions the reduction in health care costs resulting from smoking bans.

The article from project-syndicate.org promotes an alternate solution. They recommend reducing the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to reduce the addictive quality, as well as making the cigarette more alkaline to make the smoke less easily inhaled. An article that came from the Baltimore Sun stated cigarettes shouldn't be banned because people have the right to engage in risky behaviors. They said you might as well ban dangerous activities such as football and rock climbing. My Health News Daily states that even though cigarettes kill 450,000 people a year, it would be impossible to enforce a total ban on cigarettes due to pressure from big tobacco companies, the cost of enforcement, and the inevitable rise of a black market. New York Times article "Battle of the butts" discusses expansion of the smoking ban in shared living spaces such as apartments and condominiums to prevent fires caused by smokers.

Mayor in Japan Saves Town Devastated by Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Meltdown

In an act of desperation, 55-year-old Mayor Katsunobu Sakurai of the city of Minamisoma Japan posted a youtube video pleading for help for his devastated town. In March 2011, Japan suffered a nuclear disaster due to a major earthquake and tsunami which put many towns surrounding the Plant in great danger. Although half the town followed evacuation orders, 20,000 people remained in their homes or shelters, and were forbidden to leave. This meant food supplies were dangerously low as the people that delivered food weren't allowed to enter the town. As the Japanese government was ignoring the plights of the town, Sakurai felt he had no choice but to ask for help over the internet. He was surprised when people from all over the world sent supplies to the town. 

If I were to interview him, I would ask him how his town is doing today.

Time magazine article

ABC News article

New York Times article

AOL News article

NPR article

I chose these sources because they are reputable news sources that I am familiar with. 

Picture of Katsunobu Sakurai 

First Blog Entry Ever

My name is Bethany Snedden. This is the first time I've ever made a blog. I attend Slippery Rock University. For my New Media Journalism course our first assignment was the creation of a blog. I'm interested in seeing how it goes. I'm a Communications/Public Relations major as well as a sophomore. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect with this class but so far I'm pleased. I've taken so many classes I feel don't have much to do with my potential future career but this one is much more in line with that. For my job I would like to promote non-profit organizations through various social media sites. 

I've never taken anything like this class before. I like how it's hands on applied learning as opposed to sitting in a lecture and memorizing information. Despite being an avid internet user I've never done the majority of the things that I will do in this class. The only thing I'm really familiar with is Facebook, and there are even many things I don't know how to do on there.

The creation of this blog showed me just how much I don't understand about the internet, and how much I took for granted. I'm looking forward in this class to learning to do many things I've never done before. 

I chose the site CNN.com for my traditional media link because this is a website that I go to at times to see the news for the day. 

I chose RT news for my new media link because I go here often. This site is more independent than liberal or conservative and has more information on world news.