Pentagon seeks answers to why suicides doubled in National Guard and Reserve

Suicides in the National Guard and Reserve rose from 65 in 2009 to 145 last year. Pentagon officials suggest isolation and job woes could be culprits. Frequent deployments also factor in.

By Anna Mulrine, Staff writer 

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Gen. Peter Chiarelli, seen here testifying on Capitol Hill June 22, said Wednesday that the Pentagon is seeking better ways to combat suicide among National Guard and Reserve troops.
Newscom

WASHINGTON

There was a glimmer of heartening news out of the Pentagon Wednesday as the military released its most recent analysis of suicide figures, which found a “modest” decrease in suicides among active duty Army troops, from 162 in 2009 to 156 in 2010. It marks the first time in six years that suicides among active-duty soldiers suicides did not increase from the previous year.

Myth: “If I’m a good Christian, then nothing bad will happen to me.”

Genesis 50:20

This isn’t what I asked for, thank you. I want my old life back.

The one where my parents were the perfect couple. Where I was the only one among my friends whose parents were still together. And seemingly still in love.

The one where I was voted most likely to succeed and everyone, right or wrong, envied my life because it seemed so perfect. And I believed it was.

I want to go back to the times when I knew You were involved in my life. The ones where I prayed and You answered. I talked to You, and You listened. The times when I knew You were alive. Loving. And on my side.

I want the life where all I had to do was show up for class, and I got good grades. Name a job opening, and I landed it squarely. Speak my needs, and my husband moved heaven and earth to meet them.

Dale Carnegie on Making Lemonade

By Rod Anderson , CP Cartoonist

At a time of rising unemployment, anxious and volatile financial markets and shrinking personal retirement accounts, the story of Dale Carnegie's life -- and his wisdom -- serves as an inspirational and encouraging lesson.

How to Stop Worrying

Social Media and the Modern Job Search

By Zephy | Yahoo! Contributor Network

Sometimes it felt like I was searching and searching for a job and yet getting nowhere. I was without a job for about three months after my past job ended. The good thing about it was I was still in school pursuing a teaching degree.

I finished college within the three months of being jobless and was off to start looking for a teaching position. To my surprise I landed an interview almost instantly. Anyway, I spoke with the hiring manager over the phone to set-up an appointment and to go get the necessary medical records, background check, and physical. Everything checked out find and I before I knew it in about three weeks I was sitting in a class of 30 other individuals all pursuing a job as a substitute teacher or a teacher.

Charity urges more action on young male suicide

 By Sima Kotecha
                 Newsbeat reporter Danni Mather says he overcame his suicidal thoughts after seeking help

A national suicide prevention charity is demanding that the government launches a major campaign to raise awareness of suicide.

Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 35 in the UK.

Shoulders hunched and legs pressed together, Danni Mather, 23, told Newsbeat about his experiences of feeling suicidal.

"I just felt empty - that's the only way you can describe it," he says. "It's just complete emptiness."

"You can't smile. You can be told the greatest joke in the world, the greatest news in the world, and you'll just feel like it's nothing. You just exist."

The musician says he did not have much to be depressed about but was unable to push the dark thoughts away.

Continue reading the main story

Every time something goes wrong it becomes the first thing that pops into your head

Danni Mather, 23

On several occasions he considered suicide, he says: "Every time something goes wrong it becomes the first thing that pops into your head: just do it.

"You're waiting for a train and the first thing that pops into your head as you're waiting for it is get in front of it - because if that hits you you're not waking up."

Luckily for Danni, he received professional help and says he overcame his depression.

But more than 3,000 male deaths in England and Wales in 2010 were ruled as suicides or undetermined fatalities according to latest figures.

A total of 868 of those were aged between 15 and 35 - that is three times more than the number of women in the same age bracket.

Advice if you're affected by the issues in this article

Unemployment worries

Jane Powell, director of Calm - a charity that concentrates on preventing male suicide, says more needs to be done.

"Nine out of 10 people aren't aware that suicide is the biggest killer of young men under the age of 35," she explains.

Continue reading the main story

I think awareness of the dangers of salt is higher amongst parents then suicide, and that can't be good

Jane Powell, Calm

"That disempowers both family and parents, plus the young men themselves.

"I think awareness of the dangers of salt is higher amongst parents then suicide, and that can't be good."

She wants the Department of Health to set up a campaign and says she is worried that economic problems, like high unemployment, could make the problem worse.

"For men, they are defined by in many people's eyes by what they do," says Powell.

"If they haven't got a job, then they're no one. I think that is part of why suicide is such a male issue."

Male suicides in the UK have reduced over the last 10 years but the figures are still far higher than those killed in road accidents or knife and gun crime.

Despite that, the man who used to head up the Department of Health's mental health division says the government's current approach is working.

"It took 25 years for the suicide rate in young men to double," says Louis Appleby.

"It took 12 years for it to fall back again to the same level, so something very beneficial has happened.

"Part of that has been the awareness of the front-line agencies that they are dealing with a very troubled, potentially high-risk, group of people."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/17338696

Porn Stars: The Death of a Sex-Industry Profession

A few years ago, the figure of the porn-star-as-mogul had become integrated into mainstream pop culture. Now, they can barely get work. Richard Abowitz reports.

Whither the porn star? And: wither the porn star?

In recent years, if not exactly mainstream, the porn star became a recognizable popular culture figure. She was a raunchy symbol for a debauched time. Placed on a pedestal, the porn star was OK with us gazing up her skirt. During the aughts, porn stars penned bestsellers and helped stock cable-reality-show casts. Even in suburban malls “Porn Star” T-shirts were ubiquitous. There were Jenna Jameson, Tera Patrick, and Sasha Grey: all were well known in mainstream pop culture. They appeared on magazine covers, hosted nightclubs in Las Vegas, and starred in music videos by popular bands.

Then the moment passed.

As if to underline the lack of star power in porn these days, at the AVN (Adult Video News) Awards in Vegas last month, three of the nominees for Crossover Star of the Year were primarily known for encounters with Charlie Sheen (Capri Anderson, Kacey Jordan, and Bree Olson). And the winner of Crossover Star of 2012? Fifty-eight year-old Ron Jeremy.

The veteran Jesse Jane (who appeared on the cover of Drowning Pool’s discDesensitized in 2004) remembers when things were different. With almost a decade making movies, Jane is one of the few stars left from porn’s pre-recession, golden crossover years. “I came in at the perfect time when people still cared about stars,” she says. “Now, no one has a fair chance at what happened for Jenna, Tera, and me.”

The adult film actress Cytherea attended the 28th annual Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas in 2011, Ethan Miller

“It’s a permanent change,” says Alec Helmy, publisher of adult industry trade publication XBIZ. “It is similar to what happened to radio jockeys.”

There are certainly still plenty of big names known to porn fans, including Jessica Drake and Asa Akira. But the days of porn stars gaining ubiquitous success have come to an abrupt halt.

In the industry, no one is exactly sure why. The theories offered by agents, performers, and directors vary. Steve Javors, of another adult trade publication,AVN, thinks porn stars are victims of the economy. “What is happening to porn stars is the recession,” he says. “Companies don’t have the money to market stars that they did a few years ago. Porn stars will come back.”

But others in the industry think the brief period when porn minted celebrity has passed for good. One constant mentioned by all interviewed: the near unlimited number of women who are willing to do scenes. These days, the term “porn girls”—as opposed to “stars”—has started to gain currency reflecting the more vocational quality of a contemporary career in porn.

“The sex is the only part about being a porn star these days that is not hard work,” says porn’s current It girl, Brooklyn Lee.

“The market is oversaturated now,” says Brooklyn Lee. Lee is porn’s latest It girl. At the AVN Awards, Lee, 22, won five awards, including Best New Starlet. She says: “There used to be a few hundred girls and now there are thousands. So porn superstars have fallen by the wayside. There aren’t girls like Tera and Jenna, who transcend the boundary of the industry anymore.”

Jesse Jane agrees. “The industry is so oversaturated with girls,” she says. “I’ve been in the business nine and a half years, and I can barely tell you who is in now.”

Mark Spiegler, a talent agent who launched Sasha Grey’s career and manages some of the top names in the business, including Lee, now turns away more aspiring porn stars than ever before. He notes that if a lot of people are willing to do a task, the star aura of the performers quickly vanishes. “A few years ago there were 100 girls in the entire industry, and now 100 girls enter the industry each week. They used to all be stars; now they all just think they’re stars.” The result, Spiegler says, is that “they’ve become interchangeable.”

One 35 year-old fan attending the Vegas porn convention, who did not want his name used, put it this way: “A few years ago I would rent porn DVDs based on who was on the box cover. Now, I am on the Internet always wanting to see someone different.”

The recession may be one reason, again, for the unprecedented number of women who want to shoot sex scenes. Another reason offered by Spiegler is the change in a porn star’s status from the stigmatized margins. “Ten years ago a girl fell into porn,” Spiegler says. “Now there are a lot of girls who dream of doing porn.”

As with any labor oversupply, the result has been a phenomenon perhaps unique to this Great Recession: unemployed porn stars. “For a lot of girls, it is a struggle,” says Lee. “I know a lot of beautiful girls who do great scenes who can’t find work.”

Many of these underemployed performers find alternate ways to earn a living, all of which further erase boundaries between porn stars and fans. “A lot of girls will do movies as publicity,” says Jane. Then the women monetize that publicity via social media, selling custom DVDs, live cam shows, and, of course, prostitution.

Then there are file sharing and tube sites. “Piracy is a huge factor. People don’t look the same way at free content,” says XBIZ’s Helmy. “Porn stars became like rock stars a few years ago because so many people were buying porn. But free doesn’t create that same impact. The Internet is a flatter landscape for porn stars, because of piracy. You still have big names, but they won’t have the same impact as Jenna.”

Despite the smaller stakes, success in porn now requires all the schmoozing of any competitive career. Lee says: “I spend most of my time trying to make contacts and do the business side. The sex is the only part about being a porn star these days that is not hard work.” Despite her career being on fire now, she knows that means a lot less than “back in the day,” by which she means around 2006. “I have done a Pink video, but there really isn’t the mainstream opportunities like I heard existed for Jenna and Tera.”

Jane says of porn today, “The industry has lost a lot of glamour.”

Lee doesn’t disagree. “For me, it is still worth it,” she says. “For a select group of girls, it is worth it. I got into this because it was intriguing to me. I always watched porn. It is not easy money. I feel lucky I get to work four or five times a week.”

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Richard Abowitz covered Las Vegas for over a decade as a senior writer and editor at Las Vegas Weekly. For many years Abowitz wrote the Movable Buffet blog and print column for the Los Angeles Times. Abowitz is currently editor of JH Weekly in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

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