I first became interested in Silent Birth when I heard about Katie Holmes’ experience. I had never heard of it before and it sounded fascinating and different. As a health student I am required to learn not only how to prevent birth but also healthy ways of giving birth. Born from an interest in Silent Birth, this article is about alternative birthing methods.

Picture this: there is a delivery room with white walls and a hospital bed in the back and a bunch of doctors gathered around it. Nobody is saying a word. The feeling in the room is peaceful and the atmosphere is calm. The only noise before the baby is born comes from the mother and after the baby is delivered no sound is heard except for cries from the little one. “[The newborn is then] wrapped somewhat tightly in a warm blanket, very soft, and then left alone for a day or so.” [-L. Ron Hubbord] This strategy of non-care may be convenient for parents with promotional junkets and postpartum photo-ops to attend, but it sounds like a real can’t-have for the poor kid stuck in thebetween-lives area,” journalist Dana Stevens wrote in her article titled Silent Night Holy Crap. Even though based on her writing it is clear Stevens doesn’t like a lot of things about Silent Birth, she still gets some interesting facts across.

What I’ve just described to you is what a hospital room would look like during the Scientology-based birthing method called silent birth. You’ve probably heard of c-sections and natural births, but what about silent births? It’s an old tradition practiced by more than you may think, and it has recently been brought to light by celebrity couples such as Katie Holmes and Tom Cruz, and Jon Travolta and Kelly Preston. But where does this different method of birthing come from and what does it mean for the mother and the child?

According to the official website of the Church of Scientology, “Scientology is a religion that offers a precise path leading to a complete and certain understanding of one’s true spiritual nature and one’s relationship to self, family, groups, Mankind, all life forms, the material universe, the spiritual universe and the supreme being” (Church of Scientology). L. Ron Hubbard believed that the words heard by a baby when they first enter the world have the power to affect them negatively in the future. He believed that negativity heard by a baby in the first seconds of it’s life had the power to cause permanent psychic scars. The outcome of this negativity being the creation of engrams (a term Scientologists use to describe the recording of a painful memory not usually accessible to the conscious mind) in later life. “A calm and harmonious atmosphere, is the best way to prevent engrams, he averred”  (ABC, Primetime). During silent birth epidural and other drugs are allowed as well as as much noise from the mother as she chooses, it’s everyone else that is silent. So for the mother and child, silent birth means giving them a peaceful and quiet birthing experience.

In the birthing method Water Birth the mother gives birth to the baby in a tub of water. It is said to be more relaxing, less stressful, and feel more private. Being emerged in water also helps lower blood pressure. There are many benefits for the baby, such as providing security and reassurance and providing a similar environment to which it has lived in for nine months (Water Birth). Water Birth is an alternative birthing method and there are not many risks to the mother or child.

While Silent Birth is fairly new, Hypno Birth like Water Birth is another birthing method that is thousands of years old. Hypno Birth teaches that severe pain does not have to be present during birth if the mother is free of fear and tension. Hypno Birth has been described as similar to daydreaming (Hypno Birthing). It is a method of self-hypnosis that causes the body to be relaxed prior to giving birth.

These three birthing methods are different in many ways, for instance Silent Birth does not involve water and Hypno Birth does not require silence, but they all have at least one thing in common: a main goal of providing a relaxing and calm atmosphere for the mother and the child.

Bibliography

Stevens, Dana “Tom and Katie’s Scary Scientology Birth Plan.” (2005): Web. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/surfergirl/2005/10/silent_night_holy_crap.html

ABC Primetime “Tom Cruise Confronts Rumors About Silent Birth.” (2006): Web. http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=1837794&page=1#.Tw5VjPmwX-t

Official Church of Scientology “Scientology.” Web. http://www.scientology.org/what-is-scientology/scientology-background.html

American Pregnancy Association “Water Birth.” (2007): Web. http://www.americanpregnancy.org/labornbirth/waterbirth.html

Hypno Birthing “Taking the Birthing World by Calm.” (2000): Web. http://www.hypnobirthing.com/howitworks.htm

Wikipedia “Engram” Web. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engram

PLEASE DO NOT PRINT EITHER ONE OF THESE DOCUMENTS, USE THE INTERNET TO VIEW THEM! THE ZINE WILL NOT PRINT RIGHT AND PRINTING THE SCHEDULE IS A WASTE OF PAPER!

Kubota Gardens by Mat Morgan

Bridge Week Schedule Revisions

Monday (January 23)
· Regular Monday class schedule and coor
· Finalized Spring schedule of classes will be posted at 9 am (A draft can be found on this site)

Tuesday (January 24) Shortened Regular T/F Class Schedule
8:30 Classes – meets from 8:30-9:15
10:00 Classes – meets from 9:20- 10:05
12:00 Classes – meets from 10:10-10:55
2:30 Classes – meets from 11:00-11:55
12:30 – Building closes per SEA/SPS furlough day.

Wednesday (January 25)
· Bridge Week Begins
· Open class time for final completion of projects and presentations

Thursday (January 26)*
Breakfast potluck, Thursday, Jan 26, 9:15am (may shift to Friday, depending on need)
9:00-9:15 – Coor
9:15-10:30 – Teachers talk about classes in the Great Hall
10:30 on – Coordinating and Bridge Week activities

Friday (January 27)*
· Coordinating and Bridge Week activities
(Note- previously scheduled as a day off, 1/27 is now a snow make-up day.)

Monday (January 30)*
9-12 – Coordinating and Bridge Week Activities
Noon: Class Sign-ups Begin

Tuesday (January 31)
Regular Schedule – First Day of Second Semester Classes

* We need Workshop facilitators!
Students, parents and Nova friends are encouraged to share a skill, lead an activity, guide a discussion… Workshop sessions will be held Thurs, Fri and Mon and are 1- 1.5 hours in length. Workshops can be artistic, athletic, culinary, academic, musical, activist, philosophical, employment, craft-related, or otherwise inspired.
Have questions or ideas? Please email Isabella: gymorder16@gmail.com

Anonymous uses social networking sites such as facebook, twitter and YouTube to stay in contact as well as to share up and coming plans such as protests like Occupy Wall Street. There is no one leader. Anyone can propose a project and if there are enough supporters and it is relevant enough then the group may act.

    One of the biggest movements that Anonymous is involved with is Occupy Wall Street. Although Anonymous was not the originator of the movement they helped to spread the word during the media blackout by posting video and messages online.
In one of Anonymous’ most recent operations they took on the Zetas. Though the name sounds like they could be a fraternity, they are actually one of the most violent drug cartels responsible for over 265 deaths in the last two years. Anonymous’ reason for taking on the insane drug cartel is that they had kidnapped one of Anonymous’ members from a protest in Mexico. The Zetas backed down and released the Anonymous member after Anonymous threatened to publish names of officials involved with the Zetas. This act of taking on the Zetas shows how Anonymous really sticks together.

Recipe:
How to Make Fish Kale Pockets (for best results, only use organic ingredients)

You will need to get a bunch of Kale leaves–around 8-10 leaves. Then get a pound or two of sock-eyed salmon and make sure it is organic so that you know its fresh and it’ll probably be your only expensive ingredient. Next you’ll need organic mayonnaise, and a package of chives and green onions–or if you happen to be growing some you can use that too–and pick up some soy sauce as well because it will be used for making your sauce. You’ll need a few different vegetables, which consist of about a pound of carrots, celery, cucumber and crimini mushrooms. Get a few different spices to help season everything to perfection: granulated garlic, thyme, basil and smoked paprika. You can add more spices if you like because you might like different kinds of spices than I do.

Assembling the pockets

Tartar Sauce Mock-up
To make this sauce, get maybe four spoonfuls of mayonnaise, a hand full of chives and green onion then mix in 1½ tablespoons of soy sauce. Once you’ve mixed all of that together, you now have your sauce and you’re ready to make the pockets.

The Pockets
What you are going to need to do now is take your kale leaves and lightly rinse them off with just plain cold water. Then you’re going to want to make one pocket at a time. Take two kale leaves and lay them in an X-shape with one leaf on top of the other; put two strips of your sock-eyed salmon right in the middle of the Kale leaf and about a half a spoonful of your mayo mixture and spread that on the salmon.  Then shred all of the vegetables you got onto the salmon. The sauce kind of acts like a glue and keeps all of the vegetables from moving around too much and it also makes it taste really good too.

Once you’ve done all that, it’s time to wrap it up. Take the two opposite flaps of the leaf that is laying on the bottom and fold one on top of the other and then do the same with the top leaf and put a tooth pick through the middle while cooking them so it stays in place.  The end result will be your Salmon Pockets and they will be delicious.

I advise that you try and use your own judgement for making this. Recipes are great, but if you have some different ideas you think would make this dish better, feel free to add them or not use an item I listed. This is just the way I like to make them and I love sharing it.

Cooking Instructions:

• Preheat your oven to 350ºF degrees
• Get a deep medium sized glass baking pan
• Put about a cup of water at the bottom of the pan (to keep moist)
• Place on middle rack of the oven and let cook for 10 minutes and check every 2 minutes until the outside looks crispy
• Check inside temperature which should be about 125ºF-130ºF
• Enjoy!

I find that it’s easy to overlook a graphic novel’s words and focus solely on the artwork. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. The pictures in Blankets are often worth millions. However, when you do pay attention to the text, Thompson doesn’t use a single unnecessary letter. The book is an organized thought process, a meticulously planned masterpiece of painful nostalgia.

Because I’m living my own adolescence, I think Blankets came into my life at exactly the right time. But I also think that each time I read it, no matter my age, it will apply differently and continue to add layer after layer of relevancy.

I think everyone should read this. It’s just so good. I actually cannot stress that enough.

****trigger warning: molestation****

First of all space is big, really big. We have already found several planets like earth that might sustain life and that’s just near our solar system. That’s not counting the rest of the galaxy, among hundreds of other galaxies in the universe. Also if you take in account that there may be some kinds of life that can live in different environments than we can, then the possibilities are endless.  There are so many possibilities that I find it’s hard to imagine that we are alone in the universe.

While the conditions for a species like humans to exist are fragile, that doesn’t mean the same for all species. For humans we have to be on a planet not to far from the sun and not too close to it either, and the conditions on the planet need to include perfect water. It is possible that s
Some life does not need these conditions. Some might be able to live in harsh planets close to the sun  or on the cold waste lands of icy planets. It’s possible some kinds of life could live in gas giant planets, something we can-not do. What I find interesting is that it’s possible that some species might live in space not on a planet. This kind of species would have to feed off of something strange like gas from a nebula or the energy from a dying star.  With space being as big as it is, it’s more possible the suitable conditions for all kinds of life to pop up. After all it happened for us.

There is an other way that life could exist and this one sounds a little more like science fiction. Parallel universes could have life in them. There could be a universe similar to our own but different. In this universe last night you could have called your best friend Segrath who is an alien living on mars. Or maybe  there’s an intelligent  species from another universe that’s more advanced than ours, and they have found a way to travel from one universe to an other. Now this is all more unlikely but it’s still a possibility. What do you think, are we alone?