MsUnderstood By: Jerry “Nykole” Hodges On October 10, 1956, a baby was born to a middle-class family in Mobile, Alabama. The couple, Steve Edmond Ray and Lois Arlene Mott-Ray, already had two other children, Lila Louise and Doyle Edmond. They were a happy family. However, their third child’s life would not be an easy one. Being born as a hermaphrodite, intersex, brought forth many struggles in her life. From a young age, Jerry “Nykole” Hodges always had female tendencies, like playing with paper dolls, wearing her sister’s dresses, and even attending ballet class. Throughout her sixty-four years of life, Hodges has faced abuse, physical, emotional, and sexual, from churches, classmates, and people in her everyday walks in life. After a marriage to a woman for twenty-seven years failed, Hodges began to live as a woman. She is now married to Charles Hodges, and even her husband has felt the ridicule and abuse thrusted upon him for his relationship with her. In the past, Hodges struggled with suicidal thoughts, but with major help from her husband and God, she is able to find comfort. Hodges’ hope in writing her story is to help others like her. While it is not easy, there is hope in faith, walking with God, and those family and friends who are supportive. Please know there are others out there who can share in your pain and who can help guide you to a better life living as your true self.

Journeys of the Mind is a fictional collection of four short stories with the basis of each being a different mental illness. The people in the book intentionally have not been named, because it is the author's hope that the reader will identify them with someone in their own lives. My hope is that Journeys of the Mind will instill empathy in the reader for those who are not classified as normal by society's norms. So take a journey into the minds of four different characters who suffer from depression and delusions, dissociative identity disorder (schizophrenia), Alzheimer's, and codependency.

A woman stands at her kitchen sink, believing the grief over her broken marriage is about to crush her, when an unexpected friend arrives at her door carrying a plastic white garment bag and three small boxes. What a friend! What an inspired gift! What an amazing demonstration of Gods love and concern for us! Through this tender moment of understanding and quiet display of Gods grace, a womans faith and trust is restored, and her healing slowly begins.

Selective mutism is an anxiety disorder, and its currently one of the most misunderstood, under-diagnosed, and undertreated mental health conditions. When children with selective mutism feel expected or pressured to speak in social situations, they become terrified. Therefore, their level of anxiety significantly increases, but by remaining silent, their anxiety level slightly decreases, obtaining some relief for themselves. For these children, remaining silent is actually an ineffective coping mechanism, or a maladapted solution to create a sense of safety within themselves. Hence, their mouths freeze, and they are silent. This is temporary relief, but longitudinally, these children suffer in silence. Due to the fact that many children will display normative shy behavior or even socially anxious behavior at times, it can be challenging to discern if the childs behavior falls within normal limits or if the child actually demonstrates clinically significant behavior, signifying a selective mutism diagnosis. This can be confusing for parents, teachers, and even clinicians. This manual is meant to help clarify this distinction and will also assist you in figuring out how to seek help, ask the right questions, and what you can expect from early intervention services, school-based services, and holistic, therapeutic, and psychiatric services.

From the concert stage to the dressing room, from the recording studio to the digital realm, SPIN surveys the modern musical landscape and the culture around it with authoritative reporting, provocative interviews, and a discerning critical ear. With dynamic photography, bold graphic design, and informed irreverence, the pages of SPIN pulsate with the energy of today's most innovative sounds. Whether covering what's new or what's next, SPIN is your monthly VIP pass to all that rocks.

The most popular question any pregnant woman is asked — aside from "When are you due?" — has got to be "Are you having a girl or a boy?" When author Andrea Buchanan was pregnant with her daughter, she was thrilled to be expecting a girl. Some people were happy for her; visions of flouncy pink dresses and promises of mother-daughter bonding were the predictable responses. Other people, though, were concerned: "Is your husband OK with that?" "You can try again." "Girls are tough." This mixed message led her to explore the issue herself, with help from her fellow writers and moms, many of whom had had the same experience. As she did in It's a Boy: Women Writers on Raising Sons, Buchanan and her contributors take on what it's really like to raise a child-in this case, a girl-from babyhood to adulthood. It's a Girl, is a wide-ranging, often humorous, and honest collection of essays about the experience of the mother-daughter bond, taking on topics like "princess power" ("Shining, Shimmering, Splendid"), adding a girl to a brood of boys ("Confessions of a Tomboy Mom"), dealing with a daughter's eating disorder ("The Food Rules"), and mothering "hardcore mini-feminists" ("Tough Girls").