The Press-Dispatch

April 17, 2019

The Press-Dispatch

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C-6 Wednesday, April 17, 2019 The Press-Dispatch HOME LIFE TO ADVERTISE: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: ads@pressdispatch.net Visit: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg Deadline: 5 p.m. on Monday Youth First Today by Diane Braun, Youth First, Inc. THE DEADLINE FOR ALL REAL ESTATE ADS IS 5 P.M. EVERY MONDAY 21st OFFERS FINANCING FOR: HOME ONLY LAND HOME LAND IN LIEU BUY-FOR USED HOME FINANCING SECONDARY HOUSING VISIT: Apply.21stMortgage.com FAX: 1.877.312.2100 *Certain loan conditions must be met. NO APPLICATION FEES OR OTHER OBLIGATIONS TO APPLY. WE FINANCE CREDIT SCORES ALL * HOMES Includes full drywall and many other outstanding features! DON'T MISS THIS ONE! Fully modern kitchen, spacious rooms and so many amenities! 814 NIBLACK BLVD., VINCENNES • 1-800-743-7004 • WWW.BAIRDVINCENNES.COM THE TIME IS RIGHT! JUST $66,900! CALL Brian Schoonover 812-459-2772 629 N. 5th St., Petersburg $ 275,000 With almost 3,000 sq. ., 7 bedrooms, 3 baths, full basement and close to 1 acre, the possibilities are endless. NEED ROOM? You must see this home if so! REDUCED TO BACON CREAM CHEESE BOMBS MEALS IN Monica's MINUTES Share your favorite recipe! www.facebook.com/mealsinminutes Monica's Meals in Minutes PO Box 68, Petersburg, IN 47567 mealsinminutes@pressdispatch.net FACEBOOK MAIL EMAIL By Monica Sinclair The recipe I found this week describes it as an appetizer. However, I'm fairly certain I could eat it as a meal and be per- fectly happy. How could I not be when there is bacon, bread and cheese involved? These are so simple and would be great to take along to a family function or just as a mid-day snack. En- joy! INGREDIENTS • 1 can refrigerated biscuits • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened • 8 ounces bacon, cooked and crumbled • 1/4 cup green onion, chopped • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated • 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated • 1 tsp garlic powder DIRECTIONS 1. In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix together cream cheese, bacon, green onions, garlic pow- der and parmesan cheese, mix well. 2. Open can of biscuit dough and separate out each biscuit. Roll each biscuit out flat. 3. Take a spoonful of the cream cheese mixture and place it into the center of the biscuit dough. 4. Take edges of the biscuit dough and fold over un- til cheese is covered. Pinch edges to seal. 5. Place on a greased baking sheet and repeat un- til all the biscuit dough is filled. Sprinkled grat- ed cheddar cheese on each biscuit before plac- ing in the oven. 6. Bake at 350 degrees for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown. Source: centslessdeals.com We all know that sitting for long pe- riods of time isn't good for your body, but what does sitting in front of the tel- evision do to your brain? A recent conversation with a col- league made me curious about this phenomenon called "binge-watching." Binge-watching is defined as watch- ing between two and six episodes of the same T V show in one sitting. A recent Netflix survey found that 61 percent of about 1500 on-line respondents say they binge-watch regularly. Why do we do it? According to Robert F. Potter, PhD., director of the Institute for Communication Research at Indiana University, we do it for a few reasons: • Production companies encourage us by offering up the next episode as soon as the previous one ends. • Writers structure dramas with cliffhangers at the end of every episode. • We want to keep watching. Tele- vision captures our attention in more ways than one. Plots, subplots and dia- logue require us to pay close attention to scene changes. Our brain is hard- wired to monitor changes in our envi- ronment as a survival mechanism, so it's hard for us to tear our eyes away. As long as something's moving onscreen, we're watching. Sitting still for long periods of time slows one's circulation and metabolism, resulting in sluggishness. At the same time, great T V shows with complicated storylines and complex characters can wear you out emotionally and mentally. Excessive T V watching has long been associated with health problems such as obesity and diabetes as well as men- tal health problems like depression. Cliffhangers, on the other hand, leave us with a heightened sense of ex- citement. If something positive hap- pens afterward, the excitement may carry over into your real life and make it more intense. Your emotional state at the end of a show is also affected by how you felt when you started it up. Research shows that people who tried to forget about their anxieties by watching television had a four percent increased risk of de- veloping insomnia. This is similar to any addictive be- havior, Potter says. If you use some- thing to help you escape from prob- lems you almost always feel worse lat- er. Research shows that the longer you stay in the world of a T V show, the more it influences the way you see the real world. A better strategy is to use T V as a reward for confronting and dealing with an issue. Want to break the binge addiction? If you are addicted to hour-long dramas, watch one episode and then just 20 min- utes of the next episode. That will like- ly resolve the previous episode's cliff- hanger but won't draw you in for the entire hour. As this behavior continues to be a part of our culture, just remember to exercise some caution once one episode concludes and resist the urge to click that "next" button. This column is contributed by Di- ane Braun, Project Manager for Youth First, Inc., a local nonprofit dedicat- ed to strengthening youth and families. Youth First provides 55 Master's level so- cial workers to 76 schools in 10 Indiana counties. Over 38,000 youth and fami- lies per year have access to Youth First's school social work and afterschool pro- grams that prevent substance abuse, pro- mote healthy behaviors, and maximize student success. "Lucas wants to marry Ellie," one mom said. "Colton talks about marry- ing Sophie. Or Jade. Some- times Ellie," said the other mom. They chuckled and then looked at me. "Who does your boy want to marry? " "A bison," I replied. My son is 6. And he wants to marry a bison. His friends are 6, too. But this seemed lost on their mothers as they stared at me. "A bison? As in a buffalo? " The moms were huddled along the back wall of the birthday party — the adult version of standing, arms crossed, by the bleachers while the school dance carries on in the crowd- ed gym. Fewer rulers are used to keep bodies a respectable 12 inches apart, but measurably, more judgment spews from the wallflowers. "We went to Yellowstone, and he re- ally fell in love with them," I said. My son has had a recurring dream since our trip nearly two years ago. He and a bison are running a race. My son gets caught up in a hidden wire trap. The bison chews the wires and frees him. Then the bison picks my son a clover, and they continue the race. To my kindergartener, this is love. Being saved by someone and given a deli- cious token of affection (and nourish- ment) is as good a reason to marry as any, he says. I'm not sure I disagree. The moms were not im- pressed with the dream. "He doesn't want to mar- ry Ellie? I thought all the boys wanted to marry El- lie." "Is this bison he wants to marry a boy bison or a girl bison? " another asked. "I just said my son wants to marry a bison. Does the gender re- ally matter? " I had been warned about the com- petitiveness of moms — how they com- pete over when the children walk, talk and ride bikes and when the children enunciate their R's, tie their shoes and learn to read. I didn't think they would compete over whom their children love in kindergarten. In kindergarten, I loved and wanted to marry Mr. Rogers and Super Grov- er in equal measure. Mr. Rogers, as it turned out, was too old for me and, let's face it, too good for me. Super Grov- er turned out to be a puppet. I'm un- sure of Super Grover's gender identity, but I'm guessing it's somewhere near nonbinary on the spectrum. I was al- so completely infatuated with Whoo- pi Goldberg. The mom-on-mom crime runs deep at forced-together social situations, such as birthday parties. I would avoid them altogether if I weren't afraid that never showing up would affect my son's social status — something he still has despite wanting to marry a bison. Shocking, I know. "Does he understand what a mar- riage is? " the mom of polyamorous Col- ton scoffed. "Clearly, they will have to adopt." The moms chuckled. I blushed — but not from shame. It was from an- ger. Why is this a joke? Why is this a thing? Why are we marrying off and asserting the unknown desires of our children before they can even spell the word love — or the word friend? The moms looked at me, awaiting a response. And for some unknown rea- son, I felt completely compelled to give it to them — as if their overly plucked brows, furrowed in fearful disdain, commanded it from me. I decided to tell them my son's child-rearing plans with his bison love. He'd spoken of it frequently. "As a matter of fact," I said, confi- dent that my rebuttal would wipe the sneers from their faces, "my son wants to marry a bison specifically so he can have half-human, half-bison children. So there." It shut the moms up, but perhaps not in the blaze of glory I had imagined when I began my retort. There was a pause, and then came a follow-up ques- See BISON on page 7 Katiedid vs... by Katiedid Langrock Bison babies Binge-watching and your brain

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