Public Health Practices to Stem Violence in Vulnerable Populations

Sounds like a snoozer but I’m betting it will be anything but on Tuesday, February 14 when Frontline airs “The Interrupters.” Awarded “Best Documentary of 2011,” this two-hour program follows three CeaseFire Chicago “violence interrupters.” Their goal? To stop the next act of gun violence from occurring in much the same way public health officials work to stop the next contagious act when dealing with a public health threat.

This was the premise of a crime show I saw last year. It caught my attention because it made so much sense to reach the person at the moment of decision and offer them another way to view the situation as they decide upon their next step. It also intrigued me that an epidemiologist envisioned this approach. In my experience, when people think outside the box and come to a problem with fresh eyes, the ideas that bubble up create an entirely new paradigm. It’s exciting. And redefining what it means to be a hero in communities rife with gun violence is certainly an enterprise that’s worth our time and attention.

The organization in the film, CeaseFire, was developed in 1995 by an epidemiologist, Dr. Gary Slutkin, to reduce gun violence among youth. You can hear Slutkin speak about Disrupting Violence in this video, or read more about the CeaseFire approach. A current evaluation of the CeaseFire program in Chicago by the National Institute of Justice found that “all seven communities experienced statistically significant reduction in gun violence.”

Join me in viewing “The Interrupters” on Tuesday night. Then check back here to post your comments.

Step-by-Step Experiments

My books are out!  They have step-by-step experiments designed for kids in grades K-4.  The illustrations are terrific and help the kids know what to expect!

Summer in the United States. Winter in Australia.

If you have a birthday in August and you live in the United States, you have a summer birthday.  Did you know that if you have the same birthday but live in Australia, you have a winter birthday?  Yep.  It’s true.

The summer months here are the winter months Down Under.  So the winter holidays you enjoy with snow and ice?  Bar-be-que and swimming time.  The holidays you look forward to for long, lazy days at the beach?  Short and bundled up down there.

How can that be?

The Earth revolves around the sun.  That means the sun stays still and we move around it in a gigantic loop.  While we loop, we also spin on our axis – the imaginary stick that runs through Earth from the North Pole to the South Pole.  Each time we spin we move from day to night and back to day again.

The axis we spin on is not straight up and down.  It is tilted.  Because of this, the sun cannot shine equally on all parts of the Earth that fact it at one time. When the part of the Earth with the United States (the Northern Hemisphere) is tilted closest to the sun, it is summer here and winter in the part of the Earth with Australia (the Southern  Hemisphere).

Can you guess what happens when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the sun?  If you guess the Northern Hemisphere would have winter and the Southern Hemisphere would have summer, you’re correct!

Consider This:
The months don’t change. Only the weather does. It is September in the United States at the same time it is September in Australia. The only difference is, September is the Fall in the Northern Hemisphere and the Spring in the Southern Hemisphere.

Why is Summer Hot?

Most people believe the summer is hot and the winter is cold because the Earth is closer to the sun in summer and farther away in winter.

That’s just not true!

The Earth is closest to the sun in January! If it’s a matter of how close we are to the sun then January should be the hottest month and it’s not.

So what’s going on?

The temperature of Earth has to do with the tilt of its axis; not how close or far it is from the sun. The sun’s rays shine at a steep angle in the summer. Because of this, the light is very focused and a lot of energy hits one spot at a time. In the winter, the sun’s rays hit Earth at less of an angle. With the light spread over a greater distance, there just isn’t enough focused energy to make it very hot.

Another thing at work in keeping summer hot and winter cold is that the days are longer in the summer. This means there’s not only focused light reaching Earth, but plenty of it! In winter, when the days are shorter, there just isn’t enough daylight to heat things up.

Try It Yourself:
Take a flashlight into a dark room.
Shine the flashlight at a steep angle and see how strong the beam is on that spot.
Shine the flashlight at less of an angle and see how strong the beam is on that spot.

(Not sure what a steep angle is versus a shallow angle? If the floor is the 0 degrees and the ceiling is 90 degrees, a steep angle would be when the flashlight is shining down from about shoulder height. A shallow angle would be when the flashlight is shining from around your knee. Give it a try and see for yourself.)

Plastic Bottle Bird Feeders

>If a summer nature journal sounds good to you but the terrarium is not your thing, how about a bird feeder made from a 2-liter soda bottle? You can recycle and help your feathered friends at the same time!

Gather your materials – and an adult for the cutting part! – and you’re good to go.

Soda Bottle Terrariums

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Summer Nature Journals

A summer nature journal is the perfect way to sharpen your observation skills while keeping your writing sharp. The only thing you need is a journal and a project. How about micro terrarium? They’re easy to make and fun to observe.

All you need is a small container, some small plants like clover from the yard or a micro variety of a plant from the local nursery. You can even grow herbs if you’d like. Next you’ll need a small container that’s attractive and easy to seal. The last thing you’ll need is gravel, sand, and soil for your plants.

Not sure how to get it all together? Here’s a video from StormTheCastle.com that will take you through it step-by-step.