(no subject)

[spryng]

There went my plan for updating every day. I'm hoping it'll calm down soon - I go to work at my new job today for the first time, then I have a few more days at Target, and finally a day off on Sunday. After that it'll be a regular schedule, something I've kind of been craving for a while now.

So anybody want to do something on Sunday? I was thinking of hiking Sabino Canyon. :D

Had tons of crazy with Doug while she was here, although not a minute to breathe. We took her all over Tucson proper and out to the canyon and to the saguaro forest and then let her loose in town when I finally had to go back to work. Discovered new places and took many pictures - two of my favorite side effects from people coming to visit. :D That and catching up. Lot of catching up to do - but hey, it looks like she wants to study at the university here, so that would be awesome.

In my off time I was trying to finish the wedding photos for the_verb as well as my last book for NaNoReadMo. Alas, I finished a day late, but I still read a lot more than I would have otherwise, considering just how busy these last four weeks have been. Between work, wedding, traveling, family, more family, visits, interviewing, more work, photo edits, I'm kind of surprised I managed to read what I did. Still haven't done a discussion yet, but I'm hoping I'll have another minute or two to do that in the next few days.

I had a lot to say about the shooting last Saturday here in Tucson, but I waited quite a bit to actually say it, and now Scalzi went and encapsulated pretty much my whole view on this thing in much better words than I could have done at the time. I have to agree that the issue here is not so much gun control as it is the abysmal state of our mental health system. Gone are the days of being able to lock up a relative for life on frivolous and unsubstantiated claims of mental illness while you abscond with their money and property - and good riddance - but there is still a general public ignorance of mental illness and the warning signs to keep an eye on. Granted, this man was also incredibly paranoid and I doubt baker-acting him would have helped.

Anyway.

Love you!

Comments

[teawitch.livejournal.com]

As far as Baker-acting this guy, I also doubt it would have helped. They can only hold you for up to 72 hours. After that, you can be involuntarily committed, but I don't think it's easily done (and for good reason, as you stated). Most likely, especially if this guy didn't have health insurance, they would have let him go anyway. Besides, the Baker Act is a Florida statute. I don't know if there is an equivalent in Arizona.

[teawitch.livejournal.com]

The "especially if he didn't have health insurance" part was just me being extra cynical, by the way.

[spryng.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, that's true, but it does play in to it at a certain level. People w/o insurance aren't exactly going to seek out professional help, even if there are sliding scale and other such close-to-free resources out there.
It's complicated, because we have made such broad strides in patient's rights and freedoms and it's so very hard to draw that line broadly. All I can think of is that proper public education on the matter - or really, awareness - would help those on the fence about getting help or forcing a friend to get help make their decision. Considering the prevailing public opinion of depression, though, is that you need to just "get over it", we've still got a long way to go.
Hah, thanks for pointing that out. I totally thought Baker Act was across multiple states for some reason, probably 'cause I feel like it's a common term. But upon proper research, that assumption is pretty stupid. ^^() But AZ does have an equivalent: title 36. Not sure how much it differs from baker act, but it seems to have the same provisions upon a cursory, non-legalese-literate glance.

[pennywhistle.livejournal.com]

Sabino Canyon? Sunday?? ^_^

[spryng.livejournal.com]

Yes yes and double yes! Come with us and we shall traverse trails heretofore untraversed!

[pennywhistle.livejournal.com]

Yay! Just let me know when ^_^

[livetta.livejournal.com]

Congrats on starting at the new job! I hope your strange busy days are filled with sweetness.