Mind and Spirit - Experts and Resources

What Rihanna Could Learn From Tina Turner

Posted to Relevant News by Jill Brooke on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 9:56am

Rihanna needs to have a talk with Tina Turner.

A generation ago, Turner left her abusive husband, Ike Turner, and not only survived, but thrived. Indeed, in songs such as “What’s Love Got To Do With It?”, Turner was able to carve out a new future for herself as well as a stable relationship that has endured over 20 years. Her story also became a cautionary tale for other women and created a national dialogue on the realities of domestic abuse.

Rihanna’s problems are clearly deep-rooted, as are those of most abuse victims. As former special crimes prosecutor Linda Fairstein recently said, the reasons women stay with those that hit and beat them are not always understandable. But it seems that the outpouring of anger towards Rihanna’s boyfriend Chris Brown may be shaking her from a stupor.

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Why Rihanna Reconciled With Chris Brown

The trappings of domestic abuse

Posted to Relevant News by Jill Brooke on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 11:42am

After being allegedly beat up, Rihanna isn't invoking Aretha Franklin's lyric "You're Not Welcome Anymore" to Chris Brown, which is upsetting but not surprising.

After Brown left Rihanna so bruised that she couldn't perform on February 8th for the Grammys, any rational person would never see the creep again. Prior to this case, many falsely believed that those who stick with someone after physical abuse are only doing it because they are trapped — they don't have money, independence or a viable place to go.

But clearly Rihanna doesn't fit that profile. She's enormously successful and has the cash and cachet to go wherever she wants. But now the couple is reunited.

After the incident, Brown released a statement saying, "Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired" and noted that he was "seeking the counseling of my pastor, my mother and other loved ones."

She forgave him. Why?

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Obama and the Politics of Blended Families

Posted to Relevant News by Jill Brooke on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 7:32am

 When Barack Obama is inaugurated next Tuesday, he will be both the first African-American and interracial president in our nation’s history. However, he is a product of another “blend” as well:  A blended family. Obama is a child of divorce, and grew up with a step-parent and half-siblings. This experience, as it has for millions of other children of divorce, has colored the way he sees the world; now that Obama will be President, the perception of “non-traditional” families in our country is sure to undergo a change.

This change alone is worth celebrating.

Although divorce has become more and more commonplace over the years, there has only been one divorced president in our country’s history, Ronald Reagan (interestingly, there has been only one president to never marry: James Buchanan). Whether we realize it consciously or not, the marital status of our past presidents seems to be suggesting something about divorce and the nation’s most powerful position: They don’t go hand-in-hand. In other words, those whose family does not resemble a Norman Rockwell painting need not apply.

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