Spectacular Magazine (Sept 2014) | Page 23

LIFESTYLES ‘TIS THE SEASON… FOR MEDICARE OPEN ENROLLMENT 2015! By Lacky Barnes, M.Ed. The season is coming where you get to decide if you will keep your same 2014 Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug Plan or StandAlone Prescription Drug. All Americans on Medicare are allowed to make insurance changes during their Annual Enrollment period which runs from October 15th thru December 7th of each year. Whether it is a PPO Plan (Preferred Provider Organization) or an HMO Plan (Health Maintenance Organization) you may need a policy check-up to make sure you are in the best plan to fit your 2015 health insurance needs. Keep in mind, HMO policy’s have a lot of RULE’s surrounding which doctors and hospitals you may use. With HMO’s THIS IS YOUR LIFE By Del Mattioli TO BE YOUNG, ANGRY AND BLACK Forty years ago prayer was taken out of the public schools, negatively impacting the educational landscape for students everywhere – especially African American youths. In African American families, prayer has been an integral and permeating source of faith, hope and stability during challenging times. During slavery…while fighting for civil rights — prayer was peaceful and powerful. Our schools have become more infected with gun violence, covert racism/ discrimination and apathy towards learning. In the absence of prayer, African American youths are increasingly becoming angry and resorting to destructive behaviors. According to the US Department of Education the majority of public school attendees are African American and the lowest graduation rates are among African Americans. Why? Is this intentional? Is it getting better or worse? The African American youth suffers from “spotlight anxiety”, “stereotype threat” and “No Child Left Behind.” The spotlight is always on, the stereotype threat is consistent and the ‘No child Left Behind’ allows educators to ignore unprepared youth and to pass them. Is this beneficial to us? The “stereotype threat” in the schools threatens our African American youth when it comes to learning and test taking. (Claude Steele) It is extremely painful to witness our youth experiencing built-up anger. Anger has three components: physical reactions, perceptions of what is causing the anger and behavioral anger. Everyone experiences anger. It is a universal human emotion that motivates us to stand up for ourselves and correct injustices. Anger crosses the line when it becomes harmful to negatively impact the ability to function well in daily living, hurts others, relationships, h