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Cops ID Suspect in Cold-Blooded Shooting of Beloved Tennessee Hand Surgeon

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Courtesy of Campbell Clinic and Collierville Police Department.
Courtesy of Campbell Clinic and Collierville Police Department.

Tennessee cops identified 29-year-old Larry Pickens as the man who allegedly staked out and shot physician Benjamin Mauck dead in an exam room this week—an “unthinkable Blooded Shooting tragedy” that’s horrified his loved ones and colleagues.

Pickens now faces charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault. He’s accused of waiting inside Mauck’s orthopedics office for hours before eventually barging into an exam room and shooting the beloved doc dead around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Details surrounding the slaying have been limited. Cops in Collierville, a city of 50,000 about 30 miles west of Memphis, are yet to release a suspected motive, but confirmed Pickens was receiving care from Mauck.

Chief Dale Lane said officers responded to Mauck’s office in less than five minutes, but they weren’t able to revive him. Lane said Pickens seemingly spared other patients after he opened fire then ran outside the building—a sign that Tuesday’s slaying was targeted.

“This appears to be a one-on-one interaction,” Lane said Tuesday. “It’s bad. It’s horrific. It’s terrible. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.”

Lane said Pickens was holding a handgun when officers took him into custody outside Mauck’s office without incident. Video from the scene showed officers sprinting out of the clinic with guns drawn. Separate footage from a body-worn camera showed a man telling officers the shooter “had a gun in his hand and came running out.”

Speaking to WREG 3, a woman fought back tears as she recalled her experience inside the clinic. “Someone’s not going home to their family,” she said. “It could have been anybody else in that clinic today.”

While cops have remained mum on a possible motive, Memphis Senator Raumesh Akbari said in a statement that the shooter had been threatening a clinic employee for over a week. Lane said his department was unaware of the alleged threats.

“Tragedies like this underscore the urgent need for common sense—like reinstating background checks and gun licenses, and establishing new reforms like an order of protection so police can remove firearms from a person who is threatening others,” said Akbari.

Mauck, 43, was married with two kids, the New York Post reported, citing the Facebook page for Rhiannon Mauck. That page’s profile photo appears to show Rhiannon and Mauck smiling with two young children in front of a lake.

An outpouring of tributes emerged Tuesday after Campbell Clinic Orthopedics identified Mauck as the slain doctor. An online bio said he graduated medical school from the University of Tennessee-Memphis and specialized in elbow, hand and wrist surgery for the last six years.

“I am saddened and in a place of unhappiness right now! Dr Benjamin Mauck was an incredible and brilliant physician,” wrote Constance Terry on Facebook, adding that Mauck was the only physician to properly diagnose and treat her after a car accident in 2021.

Just last month, Mauck was named a 2023 Top Doctor in Memphis by Castle Connolly, a national healthcare research agency that puts patients in contact with physicians.

In a statement, Campbell Clinic Orthopedics said it was closing all nine of its clinics—scattered around West Tennessee and Mississippi—on Wednesday as colleagues, loved ones and patients continue to mourn.

“We are shocked and heartbroken to confirm the incident resulted in the tragic loss of one of our highly respected and beloved physicians,” a spokesperson for the clinic, Irina Ollar, said in a statement.

Mauck was also the head of the Congenital Hand Clinic at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, where he was a “beloved colleague and a dedicated physician,” said Dr. Trey Eubanks, the hospital’s interim president.

“We already miss him,” Eubanks wrote in a statement. “His death is an unthinkable tragedy, and I am at loss at what to say. I am so sorry to those who loved and knew him, for those who worked alongside him every day.”

A judge set Pickens bail at $1.2 million, police posted to NextDoor on Wednesday. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday.

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Icon of the Seas: Royal Caribbean Bets on Huge Candy-Colored Cruise Ship

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When the Icon of the Seas sets sail early next year, it will take some time to disappear from the horizon. At 1,198 feet long and a gross tonnage of 250,800, it is hard to miss.

The Royal Caribbean cruise ship will have 20 decks packed with more than 20 bars and restaurants, seven pools, nine whirlpools, and six water slides, as well as mini golf, rock climbing and an arcade. It will carry up to 7,960 people — up to 5,610 guests and a crew of 2,350 to pour drinks, turn back covers, swab the decks and keep the vessel on course.

Since Royal Caribbean announced this newest ship last year, it has helped to boost the company’s sales with high demand for advanced bookings.

It has also become an object of fascination (and scorn) on social media.

Some can’t wait to climb aboard, with rooms already selling out for the ship’s first voyage. But others have criticized its size and bright colors, calling it a “monstrosity.” One critic called an artist’s rendering a “Candy Crush version of the dystopian underground world” from science-fiction series “Silo” on Apple TV+.

Some critics even drew comparisons to an ill-fated ocean liner of yesteryear, noting it is five times “larger and heavier than the Titanic,” and about 300 feet longer.

Royal Caribbean bills the older Wonder of the Seas as the “biggest ship in the world.” When the new one is ready, it will be 10 feet longer, heavier and will carry more people, perhaps giving it bragging rights as the world’s largest.

Royal Caribbean said in a statement last month that the Icon of Seas had passed its first round of sea trials, traveling in the open ocean for the first time near Turku, Finland. The ship will have another round of trials later this year ahead of its debut in January, the company said.

Interest in the ship comes as the cruise industry tries to bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic, when multiple outbreaks onboard ships led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to chastise the industry and ban cruises.

But now the voyages have resumed and vacationers have returned to the sea, even as the industry still faces health and environmental concerns.

This year, for example, the C.D.C. has recorded 13 norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships, four of them on Royal Caribbean International cruises.

And environmentalists like Marcie Keever, program director of oceans and vessels at Friends of the Earth in Washington, contend that cruise lines “continue to build bigger ships that rely on fossil fuels, dump toxic wastewater into our oceans and burden coastal communities with air, water and garbage pollution.”

Royal Caribbean referred a request for comment on Tuesday seeking more details about the ship to its website. The company said it could not comment about environmental concerns, citing a quiet period required ahead of its next earnings report.

However, the company has touted the effect that the Icon of the Seas is already showing on its bottom line, saying in a statement that advance bookings during the first quarter were “significantly higher” than the first quarter of 2019.

Jason Liberty, president and chief executive of Royal Caribbean Group, said during an earnings call in May that the Icon of the Seas has been “significantly more booked” for its inaugural season “than any other Royal Caribbean ship launch.”

Michael Bayley, president and chief executive of Royal Caribbean International, said during the call that the ship was “the best performing new product launch we’ve ever had in the history of our business.”

“It’s really driving a huge amount of demand,” Mr. Bayley said.

My Unlikely Writing Teacher: Pedro Martinez

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Socked in during Covid lockdown, I became increasingly obsessed with archival footage of “actual human life,” so I scoured the internet for any videos I could find of Pedro Martinez, my favorite baseball player, in action. Watching him pitch was like gaining access to memories I’d forgotten or never quite had. Fortunately, the most illustrious game of his career — which took place on Sept. 10, 1999, when his team, the Boston Red Sox, played the Yankees, in New York, amid that year’s playoff race — is now widely available online. Contemporary viewers can see what I would argue is not merely a baseball game but a novel, an opera, a lyric masterpiece. Watching it feels a bit like witnessing Virginia Woolf write “Mrs. Dalloway,” in real time, right in front of you.

Inevitably, my viewing habit came to influence my own work. “This is what writing feels like lately,” I wrote in my journal. “It’s all about pitch sequencing, about sentence variation. You have to move the reader through the paragraph. Fastball, curveball, changeup. Normal sentence, long sentence, short sentence. Straight declarative sentence, periodic sentence, sentence fragment. Keep them on their toes, keep throwing the ball past them.” I’m always thinking about the role that rhythm and movement play in my own prose and in the prose of my favorite writers; I love the way that language can leap from my mind and then to my fingers, much like a curveball arcing out of the hand of an All-Star pitcher. I studied Martinez, first as a baseball player and then, eventually, as an artist — I close-read him as you would a Modernist author. I came to learn that he is an excellent writing instructor, as wild as that sounds. His signature games are a master class in how to shift registers, how to strategize, how to create forms and patterns and leitmotifs. From Martinez, you can learn how to perform on the page.

The Yankee game begins strangely: In the bottom of the first inning, Martinez clips the leadoff batter Chuck Knoblauch’s jersey with an inside fastball, putting him on base. Many of my favorite masterworks, too, begin with a bit of whimsy. For instance: “Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself,” Woolf wrote. What sort of pitch is that? It is a declarative and confident opening sentence, and it stakes its claim: maybe a brushback fastball itself. “For Lucy had her work cut out for her.” At first glance here we have another fastball, but the initial “for” puts some spin on it, turning a declarative sentence into a nonsentence or an addendum to the one before: curveball on the outside corner. After Knoblauch is thrown out stealing, Martinez retires the next four batters before throwing an uncharacteristically flat fastball to the Yankee slugger Chili Davis, who smacks a home run into the right-field bleachers, making the score 1-0 Yankees after two innings.

Given the awkwardness of the first two frames, it might be easy to miss what is transpiring. In fact, several of Martinez’s greatest performances seem to be catalyzed by a constraint of his own making, by a showman’s raising of stakes. (Consider the game versus the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in August 2000 when he incited a bench-clearing brawl after drilling the leadoff batter, Gerald Williams, before going on to throw a no-hitter for eight complete innings.) It’s as if his pitching potential — his “stuff,” as baseball scouts call it — is a powerful and unwieldy beam of light that he must fine-tune and pinpoint as the game goes on.

Mountain View School District Goes Touchless

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Becomes First School District to Install Touchless Toilet Paper Dispensers

El Monte, CA. – July 11, 2023 – Mountain View School District in El Monte, CA has become the first school district to provide a completely touchless restroom experience for building students, teachers, and visitors. According to the Director of Maintenance, Operations & Transportation for the Mountain View School District, “In a post COVID-19 pandemic public restroom environment, we wanted to provide a completely touchless experience for health and safety reasons. We are pleased to be the first in the world to provide an environment that will better prevent the spread of pathogens and disease.” In addition to the hygienic aspect, based upon the savings that commercial buildings have seen from automatic paper towel dispensers, we expect to see a 50% reduction in the amount of toilet paper consumption. Along with safety, financial responsibility is always a priority in our District.”

The Mountain View School District is a K-8 district located in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley and proudly serves approximately 4,500 students at eight schools, as well as the educational needs of approximately 490 preschool children and families through its highly engaging Head Start State Preschool and Children’s Center programs.  

The District promotes sanitary conditions and likes that with “BIOtouchless” automatic, touchless dispensers, the toilet paper rolls are fully protected from airborne pathogens that collect on top of exposed toilet paper rolls in public restroom stalls. It is an unseen threat that the District felt should be addressed and with this technology, human-to-human contamination can be prevented as well.  The high capacity of the units also reduces the number of times our staff has to refill the paper in each stall, enabling them to tend to other tasks.

According to Kevin Dailey, BIOtouchless CEO, “The market is embracing touchless technologies due to health, ROI, and convenience reasons. We applaud the district for its vision and commitment to the health and wellbeing of its students and teachers”. The District utilized their available ESSER III funds remaining in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act to purchase the devices, so the entire upgrade was funded with Federal funds.

The TP-100 has a fully enclosed, aesthetically pleasing design that is suitable for all commercial restroom environments. An onboard processor manages the sensors and motors that deliver high reliability to ensure a pleasant user experience. A simple wave of the hand dispenses 20 or 24-inch segments of paper or a continuous feed for ADA compliance. Multiple dispenses are always available, as needed.

About Mountain View School District:

MVSD prepares today’s students and tomorrow’s leaders for success by providing core academics with 21st-century skills. “We are committed to the development of the whole child and providing not only instructional support to ensure students are learning but also social/emotional support to ensure they are ready to learn.”  MVSD is proud to have school counselors, mental health interns and counseling interns at every school site supporting students and families. 

About BIOtouchless, Inc.:

Founded in 2015, BIOtouchless delivers patented paper dispensing devices worldwide. BIOtouchless is dedicated to improving the quality of the patron experience in public restrooms. Manual toilet paper dispensers are the most serious health hazard in any public bathroom. Trying to keep manual dispensers sanitary, secure, and stocked is inefficient and often impossible. This challenge is everywhere — from public facilities to hotels, office buildings to restaurants, medical offices to hospitals, and at dreaded beach and gas station restrooms.

“Our goal is to put patented disease-prevention devices in as many public restrooms as possible to improve public health and wellness.”

For complete information, visit:  https://biotouchless.com/

Video link: https://youtu.be/Ur3A1M-kRA4

Media Contacts:

BIOtouchless, Inc.
Attn: Kevin Dailey
9891 Irvine Center Drive, Suite 200,
CA 92618
press@biotouchless.com
855-855-9805 x 203

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Opinion | Kathy Hochul: The Supreme Court Could Protect Survivors of Domestic Violence

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When my mother turned 70, she had a unique birthday wish. Instead of a party or a cake, she told our family she needed our help to open a transitional home for survivors of domestic violence and their children.

She saw this birthday present as the culmination of a lifetime spent fighting for survivors of abuse, a journey that began back in the 1970s when it was commonplace to use terms like “battered women,” and survivors had few places to turn. A few months after my mom’s birthday, the Kathleen Mary House opened its doors — named in honor of her mother, Kathleen Mary, a survivor of domestic abuse.

When I was born, my mother gave me the name Kathleen Mary, and her lifelong activism on behalf of survivors made a huge impact on me. The effects of domestic violence are not limited to a single generation, nor should our vigilance against it be. That is just one reason I’m so concerned about the outcome of an upcoming Supreme Court case, United States v. Rahimi, which next year will decide whether to uphold a gun safety law that protects survivors of domestic violence.

The Supreme Court recently announced plans to take up the Rahimi case, which will most likely rely on the court’s recent Second Amendment decision, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. In that case, a majority led by Justice Clarence Thomas overturned New York’s concealed carry law that had been on the books for more than a century — claiming 21st-century gun laws should be consistent with an earlier time, when muskets were common firearms.

In doing so, the court stripped away a critical tool I had as governor to keep New Yorkers safe. In New York, we quickly responded with actions to try to prevent more deadly firearms than ever from flooding our communities, our businesses, our bars and restaurants and even our crowded subway cars. One stray word, or sharp elbow, could immediately have devastating, life-threatening consequences.

Now, in Rahimi, the Supreme Court will decide whether deadly firearms can flood the homes of domestic violence survivors. The case arrives at the court after a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in favor of abusers. The appeals court decided that government cannot prevent an abusive individual, against whom a court has issued a domestic violence protective order, from possessing a deadly firearm.

By striking down a federal law aimed at protecting survivors of abuse, the appeals court put forth an outrageous legal theory that claims individuals with domestic violence orders have a constitutional right to possess a gun. Using Justice Thomas’s historically focused argument from Bruen as precedent, the Supreme Court could rule that domestic violence survivors today deserve only the protections they had in the 18th century — a time before most women could own property or work outside the home, let alone vote.

The stakes could not be higher. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey indicates that about 41 percent of women and 26 percent of men in the United States have experienced sexual violence, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner and reported being affected by it during their lifetime. According to U.S. crime reports, about one in five homicide victims is killed by an intimate partner, and over half of female homicide victims are killed by a current or former male intimate partner.

Here in New York, there are approximately 80,000 serious offenses such as assaults, sex offenses and violations of orders of protection each year across the state, and data shows that in New York approximately one in five homicides is related to domestic violence.

The Supreme Court has a choice: It can lean into the dangerous Fifth Circuit theory that guns cannot be regulated for the purpose of protecting survivors of domestic violence, or it can uphold federal law that keeps guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals.

Before oral arguments are heard, there’s no way to tell which way the Supreme Court will rule. The precedent set by Bruen is extraordinarily troubling. Yet even within the court’s majority in Bruen, there was a split. Justice Thomas kept his focus on historical arguments. But a concurrence by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in which Chief Justice John Roberts joined, left room for certain basic protections, noting that “properly interpreted, the Second Amendment allows a ‘variety’ of gun regulations.”

This concurrence helped inform New York’s response to Bruen. After New York State’s century-old gun law was overturned, I took immediate steps to restore protections from gun violence, including signing new laws to strengthen training and gun licensing requirements. In the spring of 2022, we bolstered our state’s red flag laws, getting guns away from people like domestic abusers who pose a risk to themselves or others and closing loopholes that made the tragedies in Buffalo and in Uvalde, Texas, possible. As a result, courts have issued roughly 9,000 extreme-risk orders of protection in the past year, up from 1,400 in the preceding two and a half years.

Depending on the scope of the court’s decision in Rahimi, these protections could be at risk as well. After a brief spike during the start of the pandemic in 2020, New York is gradually and steadily returning to prepandemic shooting levels and has one of the five lowest rates of firearm-related deaths. I’ve always said public safety is my top priority as governor, and I’m committed to using every tool at my disposal to keep our communities safe from gun violence.

An extreme, out-of-control Supreme Court put gun safety laws at risk in Bruen. Across America, survivors of domestic abuse will now wait in fear to see whether Justice Kavanaugh and his colleagues deem laws that protect survivors to “properly” interpret the Constitution.

I can only imagine what my late mother would say about these judicial attacks on survivors of abuse. But in her honor, and on behalf of all New Yorkers, I’ll never stop fighting for justice.

‘It’s A B***h, But You Gotta Do It. Find A Way To Get Your Hands On $100,000’ – Why Earning Your First $100,000 Is Key If You Want To Be Rich

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079d3d5a6fd982bcabcacfe7b66ab92a

The significance of amassing your first $100,000 cannot be underestimated when it comes to building long-term wealth. As Charlie Munger, esteemed investor and vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., aptly stated during a shareholder meeting in the late 1990s, “The first $100,000 is a b***h, but you gotta do it. I don’t care what you have to do – if it means walking everywhere and not eating anything that wasn’t purchased with a coupon, find a way to get your hands on $100,000.”

Munger’s advice resonates with respected investment and money management experts who recognize this initial milestone as a critical step toward financial prosperity.

The importance of reaching $100,000 becomes even more evident when considering that, for many investors and savers, their ultimate goal is often much higher. In terms of purchasing power, $100,000 in 1998 is equivalent to approximately $186,581 today, representing an increase of $86,581 over 25 years. This calculation considers the average inflation rate of 2.53% per year during this period, resulting in a cumulative price increase of 86.58%.

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Although Munger didn’t provide an exact measure of how much the first $100,000 can grow over time, he implied that leaving it untouched can lead to significant growth. Using a modest 5% return on investment, you would not have needed to contribute any additional funds over 21 years to witness your initial savings grow to $278,596. This exemplifies the power of compound interest, as demonstrated by various compound interest calculators.

The lesson to be learned here is that what comes before and after that first $100,000 can have a profound impact on your financial journey. While there may not be a concrete threshold at which $100,000 becomes a more meaningful driver of wealth than $99,999, the psychological significance of reaching six figures versus five cannot be denied. It serves as a desired milestone for salaries and other accumulations of monetary worth.

To stay updated with top startup news & investments, sign up for Benzinga’s Startup Investing & Equity Crowdfunding Newsletter

Reaching the $100,000 mark, particularly during your younger years, is no easy feat. However, it offers financial stability that can help weather unexpected financial challenges. It instills confidence to take calculated investment risks, opening opportunities for higher-risk, higher-reward ventures.

In her book “Damn Right!: Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger,” Janet Lowe shares a relevant quote from Munger. He explains that accumulating the first $100,000 is the most challenging part of wealth building without any initial capital. The subsequent hurdle is reaching the first million, which requires consistent underspending of income.

Munger likens the process of getting wealthy to rolling a snowball down a long hill, emphasizing the importance of starting early and persisting for a considerable duration. Longevity also plays a role in this wealth-building journey.

Getting the first $100,000

It’s certainly no easy feat. Skyrocketing living costs and stagnant wages means paychecks aren’t getting Americans nearly as far as they used to. But that hasn’t stopped many from trying and succeeding. One of the most popular ways recently has by starting your own business or side hustle. Startups are easier than ever to get started, and often as simple as starting a newsletter, website, making a product or even just a social media account and building a following.

By simply taking a few hours a week and building a startup, that can help supplement ones income to begin saving. For those without the time and inclination to do so, platforms like StartEngine and Wefunder allow investors to own a stake in up-and-coming startups so that when someone else makes it big, investors can get a piece of the pie.

See more on startup investing from Benzinga:

Don’t miss real-time alerts on your stocks – join Benzinga Pro for free! Try the tool that will help you invest smarter, faster, and better.

This article Billionaire Charlie Munger’s Advice: ‘It’s A B***h, But You Gotta Do It. Find A Way To Get Your Hands On $100,000’ – Why Earning Your First $100,000 Is Key If You Want To Be Rich originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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© 2023 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

A Look Back at Megan Rapinoe’s Best Moments

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Megan Rapinoe, who announced on Saturday that she planned to retire from professional soccer later this year, rose to stardom in part because of her outspoken political views and her leadership in her sport beyond the field. But much of that was possible because her career on the field had so many highlight-reel-worthy moments.

She is expected to soon reach 200 appearances for the U.S. women’s national team. She has 63 goals in her international career and is one of only seven American women with more than 50 goals and 50 assists in international competition.

She was the second pick of the 2009 draft of the defunct Women’s Professional Soccer league, and played the majority of her club career with the Seattle Reign of the National Women’s Soccer League. She won a French title with Lyon, a Ballon d’Or as world player of the year and Olympic medals in two colors.

But it has always been the moments and the creativity of her offense, not the volume of goals or assists, that truly set Rapinoe apart. Here’s a look at some of her best touches.

The U.S. women’s national team finished third in the 2003 and 2007 World Cups, failing to capitalize on the momentum of its win in 1999. In 2011, it was facing a humbling early exit when it trailed Brazil, 2-1 in overtime, during a quarterfinal match.

The game was already in stoppage time when Rapinoe got the ball from Carli Lloyd near midfield. She took one dribble, looked up and sent a long ball toward the far post, where Abby Wambach was waiting.

Wambach rose behind Brazil’s goalkeeper and headed the ball into the net, delivering what is considered one of the greatest goals in the history of the women’s game. The Americans went on to win in a penalty-kick shootout, though they later lost an epic final to Japan.

The United States faced Canada in the women’s soccer semifinal of the 2012 London Olympics. Down by 1-0 in the second half, Rapinoe made Olympic history by scoring what is known as an “Olimpico” — a goal that finds the net directly off a corner kick. She was the first woman to do it in the Games. Then she repeated the feat during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

In the first game of the 2015 World Cup, a matchup with Australia, Rapinoe scored twice to lead her team to a 3-1 victory. In the 12th minute, after battling for a contested ball, Rapinoe made a full 360-degree spin at the top of the box before collecting herself with a couple touches and firing a shot from 20 yards. The ball ricocheted off a Canadian defender and found the back of the net.

The United States entered the 2019 World Cup in France looking to become the first women’s team to repeat as World Cup champion under the same coach. Rapinoe put together a career run — winning both the Golden Boot, for most goals (six) and the Golden Ball as the tournament’s outstanding player. But it was her goal against France in front of 45,000 onlookers that sent her on her way.

A master at set pieces, Rapinoe stepped up to take a free kick in the early minutes of what many expected to be a tense and pivotal match. She sent a streaking ball through the box that wound its way through the legs of multiple teammates and defenders and into the back of the net. Rapinoe celebrated by running to the sideline and spreading her arms wide, a gesture that became her signature celebration, and the lasting memory of a tournament where she was regularly in the right place at the right moment.

Looking to build off two consecutive World Cup victories, the U.S. women’s national team headed to Tokyo in 2021 to play in Olympic Games that had been delayed a year because of the coronavirus pandemic. In the quarterfinals, the United States and the Netherlands squared off in a World Cup finals rematch. The game went to penalties after a 2-2 draw, where it was Rapinoe’s dagger to the upper right corner that sent the United States to the semifinal.

Sofija Zlatanova’s New Book Release – “On Music Education, Psychology & Different Abilities” Provides Crucial Insight for Educators of the Future

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In “On Music Education, Psychology & Different Abilities”, Sofija Zlatanova
provides the frameworks and tools for educators to develop curricula as diverse and unique as their students.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 11, 2023, Sofija Zlatanova, an educator focused on psychology, music education, and working with students of different abilities, has released a new book to provide critical foundations for teachers of the future. In “On Music Education, Psychology & Different Abilities,” Zlatanova explores developing a multimedia, learner-centered curriculum that leverages music, art, and composition to reach students.

Zlatanova has spent years researching how to keep creative brains healthy while employing music as a method of treatment and learning. Her book discusses what it means to think critically about music education and how to apply that to working with students of different abilities. “For too long, a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach has failed to serve many students,” Says Zlatanova.

“On Music Education, Psychology & Different Abilities” provides the crucial issues and foundations educators need to work with students of the future. Zlatanova argues that a one-size-fits-all curriculum will not suit the next generation of learners and has failed to serve many students. Instead, she offers strategies for tailoring teaching approaches to individual students using music, art, and composition.

The book covers analyzing composers and applying their techniques, discussing how to develop a multimedia, learner-centered curriculum, and employing music, art, and composition as behavior-teaching strategies. Zlatanova’s experience as an educator and researcher on psychology, music education, and different abilities provides a wealth of insight for teachers looking to evolve their practice.

“On Music Education, Psychology & Different Abilities” is essential reading for educators seeking to understand their students better and teach critical thinking skills that will benefit them for life. Zlatanova’s multifaceted approach to education is the kind of innovative thinking schools need to adopt to support students of all abilities.

On Music Education, Psychology, and Different Abilities is available as an eBook, paperback, and hardcover on Amazon and Worldwide.

About The Author:

Sofija Zlatanova is an award-winning viola performer, and a writer of fiction. Sofija advocates for inclusive music education. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she completed her graduate music studies at Berklee College of Music.

Sofija teaches music (piano, violin, and composition) at the Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education, to children with different abilities, and who are twice-exceptional. As a philanthropist, she continuously shares her skills, and works on projects to support her community. She is a dog-lover, and in her spare time enjoys composing, and connecting with nature.

For more information, please visit www.sofijazlatanova.com

“Like” Sofija Zlatanova on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ZlatanovaSofija/

Connect with Sofija Zlatanova on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sofija-zlatanova/


For media inquiries, or to request a review copy, please contact:

Sofija Zlatanova
info@zlatanova.com
857.262.3075

What Haunts Child Abuse Victims? The Memory, Study Finds

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For generations, our society has vacillated about how best to heal people who experienced terrible things in childhood.

Should these memories be unearthed, allowing their destructive power to dissipate? Should they be gently molded into something less painful? Or should they be left untouched?

Researchers from King’s College London and the City University of New York examined this conundrum by conducting an unusual experiment.

Researchers interviewed a group of 1,196 American adults repeatedly over 15 years about their levels of anxiety and depression. Unbeknown to the subjects, 665 of them had been selected because court records showed they had suffered mistreatment such as physical abuse, sexual abuse or neglect before age 12.

Not all of them told researchers that they had been abused, though — and that was linked to a big difference.

The 492 adults who reported having been mistreated and were in court records substantiating the abuse had significantly higher levels of depression and anxiety than a control group with no documented history of abuse, according to the study, which was published last week in JAMA Psychiatry. The 252 subjects who reported being abused without court records reflecting it also had higher levels.

But the 173 subjects who did not report having been abused, despite court records that show that it occurred, had no more distress than the general population.

The findings suggest how people frame and interpret events in their early childhood powerfully shapes their mental health as adults, said Dr. Andrea Danese, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at King’s College London and one of the study’s joint authors.

“It goes back to almost the stoic message, that it’s what you make of the experience,” he said. “If you can change how you interpret the experience, if you feel more in control at present, then that is something that can improve mental health in the longer term.”

In a meta-analysis of 16 studies of childhood maltreatment published in 2019, Dr. Danese and colleagues found that 52 percent of people with records of childhood abuse did not report it in interviews with researchers, and 56 percent of those who reported it had no documented history of abuse.

This discrepancy could be partly because of problems in measurement — court records may not have all abuse history — and may also reflect that self-reporting of abuse is influenced by a person’s levels of anxiety and depression, Dr. Danese said.

“There are many reasons why people may, in some ways, forget those experiences, and other reasons why others might misinterpret some of the experiences as being neglect or abuse,” he said.

But even considering these caveats, he said, it was notable that adults who had a documented history of having been abused but did not report it — because they had no memory of the events, interpreted them differently or chose not to share those memories with interviewers — seemed healthier.

“If the meaning you give to these experiences is not central to how you remember your childhood so you don’t feel like you need to report it, then you are more likely to have better mental health over time,” he said.

Traumatic childhood experiences have been the subject of some of psychiatry’s most pitched battles. Sigmund Freud postulated early in his career that many of his patients’ behaviors indicated a history of childhood sexual abuse but later backtracked, attributing them to subconscious desires.

In the 1980s and 1990s, therapists used techniques like hypnosis and age regression to help clients uncover memories of childhood abuse. Those methods receded under a barrage of criticism from mainstream psychiatry.

Recently, many Americans have embraced therapies designed to manage traumatic memories, which have shown to be effective in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. Experts increasingly advocate screening patients for adverse childhood experiences as an important step in providing physical and mental health treatment.

The new findings in JAMA Psychiatry suggest therapy that seeks to alleviate depression and anxiety by trying to unearth repressed memories is ineffective, said Dr. Danese, who works at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London.

But he cautioned that the results of the study should not be interpreted as endorsing the avoidance of distressing memories, which could make them “scarier” in the long term. Instead, they point to the promise of therapies that seek to “reorganize” and moderate memories.

“It’s not about deleting the memory, but having the memory and being more in control of that so that the memory feels less scary,” he said.

Memory has always posed a challenge in the field of child protection because many abuse cases involve children below the age of 3, when lasting memories begin to form, said David Finkelhor, the director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, who was not involved in the study.

In treating people with histories of having been abused, he said, clinicians must rely on sketchy, incomplete and changing accounts. “All we have is their memories, so it’s not like we have a choice,” he said.

He warned against concluding that forgotten maltreatment has no lingering effect. Early abuse may emerge through what he described as “residues” — difficulty in modulating emotions, feelings of worthlessness or, in the case of sexual abuse victims, the urge to provide sexual gratification to others.

Elizabeth Loftus, a psychologist at the University of California, Irvine, and a prominent skeptic of the reliability of memories of abuse, noted that the study stops short of another conclusion that could be supported by the data: Forgetting about abuse might be a healthy response.

“They could have said, people who don’t remember in some ways are better off, and maybe you don’t want to tamper with them,” she said. “They don’t say that, and that, to me, is of great interest.”

How to Navigate Dubrovnik Without the Crowds

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The Pile and Ploce Gates, the two entrances into Dubrovnik’s Old Town, once had drawbridges that lifted during the overnight hours, forcing visitors wanting to enter to wait outside its stone walls until morning. The bridges no longer lift, yet the bottlenecks of morning visitors remain.

This compact, seaside city in Croatia has drawn millions of travelers from around the globe for years. Its popularity grew when HBO’s “Game of Thrones” used it as a primary location and visitors soon overwhelmed the city, particularly in the summer. Officials have introduced measures to manage the crowds without limiting the number of visitors, but according to the Croatian National Tourist Board, this year is on pace to become the city’s busiest ever.

Yet a trip to “Pearl of the Adriatic” need not require jostling with other tourists, bumping about like a stream of rambunctious salmon. Planning takes artful timing, minor sacrifices and a bit of luck. Here are six ways to start.

Dubrovnik is a mainstay on the itineraries of cruise ships navigating the Mediterranean, and 377,000 passengers disembarked last year, according to the city’s Port Authority. This year that number could jump to 500,000, as up to five ships are expected to arrive daily during the high season.

Every cruise ship’s arrival sends an avalanche of humanity barreling toward Old Town, mostly between 7 and 9 a.m. In this surge, a few hundred to several thousand people congregate at the two gates, waiting in lines of up to two hours to enter the Old Town, and then typically disperse to view the city’s biggest draws — its ramparts, the main street, or Stradun, or scenery related to “Game of Thrones.”

To avoid joining this ebb and flow of cruise ship passengers, monitor the port’s schedule online. The Port Authority’s schedule and sites like Cruise Dig offer cruise ships’ arrival times as well as the potential number of travelers disembarking. The number of passengers arriving is more important than the number of ships.

A two-hour buffer should be enough to avoid the crowd at the gates, the Jesuit Stairs (best known from the “Walk of Shame” scene in “Game of Thrones”) or the city’s other major attractions.

The city also offers Dubrovnik Visitors, an online resource that estimates how crowded the Old Town is at any moment, and also uses machine learning to forecast visitor numbers during future dates.

The city’s streets empty somewhat in the late afternoon. Day-trippers shuffle out while other visitors rush to the city walls for selfies or even the occasional marriage proposal in front of the setting sun. The golden hour is a better time to take in the Old Town, with a stop by Onofrio’s Fountains before getting lost in the narrow passageways and streets.

If you do need a photo you can hashtag, check the passages and stairways below the walls for unique shots; there will be much less jostling for space.

But don’t skip the city’s fortifications entirely. Undulating terra-cotta roofs rippling off into the distant, glistening Adriatic Sea remain a vista unique to Dubrovnik. It is best experienced as soon as the walls open at 8 a.m., before the crowds and before the sun rises high. A visit is 35 euros ($38), but the Dubrovnik Pass, which costs the same, offers access to the city walls as well as discounts to other attractions and free public transport.

One can find respite from the congestion by ducking into one of the city’s two monasteries and their courtyards. Each offers stone walkways lined by arches, with lush greenery at the center and history everywhere. They are open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The 14th-century Franciscan Monastery, just past the Pile Gate, features elegant pillared columns encircling a courtyard with a small fountain and orange and palm trees (entrance: €6). Next door is the oldest operating pharmacy in Europe, with formulas, tools and tincture bottles on display.

The Dominican Monastery, closer to the Ploce Gate, offers a grander version of the same charms, housed within a larger complex blended into the city’s fortifications (€5).

At both monasteries, the atmosphere encourages hushed tones and meditative silence, perhaps good spots to sip water while contemplating Dubrovnik’s knack for simultaneously preserving and commodifying its historic beauty.

Veteran travelers often steal away to the Gruz and Lapad neighborhoods to find better cuisine, easier access to nature and fewer crowds. These neighborhoods are the de facto urban heart of Dubrovnik, where many of the approximately 40,000 locals actually live, and can be reached from the Old Town by a 30-minute walk or a 10-minute bus or cab ride.

The waterfront in Gruz offers relaxing eateries as well as a nightclub, Klub Dubina, and local craft brewery, the Dubrovnik Beer Company. For traditional seafood dishes under a vaulted ceiling, have anything grilled at Glorijet. One of the city’s more inventive vegetarian restaurants, Urban & Veggie, offers homemade gnocchi with cashew Parmesan and refreshing lemon tarts.

Across from Gruz, Lapad’s lush greenery includes the Velika and Mala Petka Forest Park. A promenade along the sea wall reveals several improvised swimming areas and a beach.

The neighborhood eateries here offer variety, experimentation and unique experiences. Ponat Beach Bar has a slick combination of seaside bites and drinks that can stretch your night beyond midnight. Or have a coffee or a nightcap in Cave Bar More — which claustrophobic visitors should probably skip.

What’s the antithesis of Dubrovnik’s imposing city walls and terra-cotta roofs? An island covered in pine, cypress and olive trees, just offshore.

Lokrum Island, a 10-minute ferry ride away, is one of the few spots even locals visit to beat the summer crowds. The island has a visitor center, bars and restaurants, but also botanical gardens and peacocks roaming the remnants of an abandoned medieval monastery.

The more adventurous can head to FKK Rocks, at the island’s southeast corner, to partake in Croatia’s long history of nudist beaches (bring a thick towel — the rocks can be uncomfortable on bare skin).

In the visitor center, one can find a “comfortable” seat on the original Iron Throne from “Game of Thrones,” given by HBO to the city of Dubrovnik.

Ferries leave the Old Town port about every 30 minutes (€7). Entry to the island, €27.

Only 50 of Croatia’s 1,244 islands have permanent residents, leaving most of the truly unspoiled nature offshore. The Elaphiti Islands, six miles northwest of the Old Town, gives visitors and city residents alike a close-up view of nature. The eight islands and five islets include cozy coves and secluded beaches that trump most of the mainland’s swimming options. (In Croatia, the coastline is public access.)

Three of the islands — Sipan, Lopud and Kolocep — have modest villages with few residents. After the bustle of Dubrovnik, time here feels much slower.

Renting a vessel offers the best chance to create a one-day island-hopping itinerary, and most have skippers available for an additional charge. Prices vary, a group of four can expect to pay about €70 per person for a smaller skipper-less motorboat, with costs increasing along with the size of the vessel. Some companies, like Dubrovnik Boats, offer either custom or prepackaged tours, and craft of various sizes.

Kayaks are also available for rent, with most tour outfits located at Sulic Beach, by the Pile Gate. Again, prices vary, depending on whether you’re joining a group tour or going solo, but expect to spend around €40 for about four hours out on the water.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2023.

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