The Throwaways is a documentary created by director Bhawin Suchak. Within the film, activists are fighting to receive equality and justice. The film shows angry parents pushing for more safety precautions. Living in a Urban setting like our capital region of Albany is stressful. The burdens of living a city under poorer conditions does not guarantee the highest quality. According to Adam et al (1985), the throwaways are a term used for the population of people that are rejected by society. While runaways refer to adolescents that runaway from home, throwaways are those who are asked or encouraged to leave. Therefore this term has been coined in order to describe a group of people that are not wanted. Similar to the activist in the documentary, she claims that The Throwaways are the population of citizens that most do not want to deal with, nor do they know how. In addition, the activists complained about the violence within the neighborhoods. One man claimed that the “hood” was a place where African Americans came to die. The violence that is lies within the neighborhood has deeply affected the youth as well as other members. According to DuRant et al (1994), homicide is the number one leading cause of death in black Americans ages 15 to 19. Downtown Albany is definitely an unsafe place to raise children. The different environmental factors lead to issues in adolescents and later in life.
1. Adams, G.R., Gullotta, T & M.A. Clancy. “Homeless Adolescents: A descriptive study of similarities and differences between runaways and throwaways.” Adolescents. 20.79 (1985).
2. DuRant, R., Cadenhead, C., Pendergrast, R., Slavens, G., & Charles Linder. “Factors Associated with the use of violence among urban black adolescents.” American Journal of Public Health. 84.4 (1994) 612-617.
On April 22nd, Brian Frank , a member and advocate for the LGBT community came into class to talk about the difficulties of belonging to this community especially when family is concerned. Brian Frank described his story of becoming a father as a gay man. In a society where homosexual and transgendered people are a minority, becoming parents was unheard of and an incredible task 20 years ago. Brian began by telling us his background. He was a closeted bisexual who was confused about his sexual orientation and did not come out until meeting his now partner, Steven. Being together 23 years molded the men into an intimate and comfortable couple that made the courageous decision to become parents.
I think that Brian Frank’s story is inspiring. To come from a family that does not respect or accept him, but still have the desire to start a family of his own is beautiful. He told us stories and showed us pictures of the numerous occasions that him and his partner believed that their family was starting when they were fostering different children. I could never imagine the heartbreak of giving up every child that comes into your life. I think that there are so many people in this world that have no business being parents. Parents that neglect and abuse children, giving them lives that do not benefit the children in any way. Brian explained a story of two foster parents that refused to adopt two children but also refused to let Brian and Steven adopt the boys solely because they were gay. This story only shows the indecency in people and how cruel people can be.
Overall, I believe that Brian Frank’s presentation was the best class of the semester. It was realistic and transparent just as he had promised. There are so many different ways for LGBT couples to start families now, that do not need to be through adopting foster children. Couples could have children through surrogacy, heteorsexual relationships, and other family structures. All children deserve a place to live and loving families to care for them, regardless of the sexual orientation of the parents in the family.
These are some links to websites about LGBT families:
On this past Saturday, April 12th, I attended Sociology Student Symposium to watch fellow classmates and filmmakers present their studies. Throughout the day there were several different panels and three documentaries that touched on many different topics. I had volunteered to sign people in for breakfast and then I attend the documentary, “The Patron Saints,” that was directed by Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky. The documentary was shot in a nursing home over a period of five years. The directors chose to focus on a few subjects in particular and a few aspects of nursing homes that influence the day to day lives of these individuals.
With the increasing amount of elderly people, there is a growing population that will need further care in the future. Nursing homes or other aided care is necessary with daily activity. According to Gillian Harper Ice (2002), most residents of nursing homes are disabled, weak or have chronic, coexisting conditions. Most patients are in need of assistance in their day to day care. They are highly dependent on the institution’s staff as well as family members not only for physical needs but emotional and psychological needs as well. The patients within the documentary were experiencing a variety of issues, most had cases of dementia. One patient was unaware of where she was or her reason for being there. Other patients, were hand fed their meals, clothed, washed and given medications at all hours. Staff members are aware of their conditions and take care of the patients to the best of their ability.
Nursing home staff members are often highly stressed. Acting as a caretaker for many patients at one time is a lot of work for minimal pay. One study, shows that although stressful, the work is harder depending on the feelings of the patient/resident (Brodaty et. al, 2003). Staff within this study found that most patients had negative attitudes, not positive. These residents were much harder to please, while most of the staff enjoyed their jobs, 25% claimed that it was not because of the patients. The directors of the film captured a gracious relationship between resident and staff. The film showed patients that only see their families once or twice a year. The staff must double as company and a caretaker. According to Cooper, Selwood, and Livingston, one in four of the elderly are at risk of neglect. A disabled young woman, who they called Ro-Ro in the documentary, was physically abused by a family member and is unable to have unsupervised visits and her roommate had taken on a maternal role in her life. Overall, the relationship between the nursing home staff and residents was professional and caring. The nurses were assertive when the patients were not cooperating, however all nursing staff was helpful and caring.
The documentary was very moving. Jim, one of the patients, added humor to the film as well. It was upsetting to learn families rarely visit their residents. They were lonely and neglected. I think that many elderly people are uncomfortable being in nursing homes to begin with. A comforting staff seems to ease the resident into cooperating and overall benefiting their health.
The following is a link to the trailer of the documentary.
Brodaty, Henry, Brian Draper & Lee-Fay Low. “Nursing home staff attitudes towards residents with dementia: strain and satisfaction with work.” Journal of Advanced Nursing. 44(2003): 583-590.
Cooper, Claudia, Amber Selwood, & Gill Livingston. “The prevalence of elder abuse and neglect:a systematic review.” Age and Aging. 37(2008): 151-160.
Ice, Gillian Harper. “Daily life in a nursing home Has it changed in 25 years?” Journal of Aging Studies. 16(2002): 345-359.
jenn.terrio 