21 August 2009
Tucson District Office
The Honorable Gabrielle Giffords
1661 N. Swan, Suite 112
Tucson, AZ 85712
Dear Congressperson Giffords,
I was laid off from my job as a technical writer at IBM in February 2009. I received a severance package and believed that I would find work before the severance money ran out. Nonetheless, I filed for unemployment, just in case.
I have now been unemployed for eight months and have received a total of about $500 from unemployment. I received my initial two payments for unemployment but then there was an unresolved issue noted on my claim. That is because, when I was asked if I was available for work one week, I answered honestly and said that I was not. Due to my honesty, my claim has been on hold pending investigation.
I was sent a form. I filled it out and return it within the week stating why I was not available for work. I did that more than a month ago but the issue has still not been resolved. I tried to check my claim online but there was no information about what the problem was or the status. I called the help line but the lines are so full that the system just asks you to call back later and hangs up. I have been trying to call for about a month now.
I finally went to the DES office in town to see what I could do about the problem. They don’t actually handle unemployment insurance claims but they said that they could send a fax to the person responsible for my claim. That was two weeks ago and I still have not gotten a response.
How is a person supposed to get by when the safety net that the country has set up doesn’t work? I know that we are seeing a record number of people applying for unemployment insurance at this time but what do I need to do to start receiving the unemployment insurance payments that I am owed? I am ashamed of the state of Arizona for the pathetic state of the unemployment insurance system and how the claims are (or are not) handled. If there aren’t enough people to handle the number of claims, maybe the state should hire some more people. I would like to see you address this issue immediately as there are many more like me and in much more dire straits than I am.
Sincerely,
Erin Still Cizina
Friday, August 21, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Time keeps marching on
Today, I went to radiation, got a massage, and then came home and took a four hour nap. I slept for four hours! It is incredible that I am able to do that. I am not a napper by nature and can only nap when I am sick. I lay down on my bed, closed my eyes and after about five minutes, swore that I would not sleep. I thought about getting up and doing something, any one of the hundreds of tasks that await me. But I resisted, knowing that my body was exhausted. The next thing I knew, I rolled over, looked at the clock and it was 3:00 in the afternoon.
The radiation and chemo have been a bit tough just because I get this urge to sleep all day. My skin is not doing so well. It's pretty sore and blistery so my radiation oncologist has decided to give me a break this week. I will start again next Monday. I will still finish my radiation by the end of the month. It will be a relief. I will then have the month of September free for recuperation.
The month of September will be a wild one. My sister Deb is coming out to be with me and I am thankful that she is. She will be arriving on Mario's birthday and will be here to help me out with his birthday party. Thank goodness! Then at the end of the month, I'm taking off for a bit of a break. A friend from Ireland and I are going to do a bit of touring around the south of Spain for a week. I am going to spend a few days in Barcelona too. It will be good to get away from the messy house and the reminders of what lays ahead in October. I will have a chance to eat some good food, drink some wine, see some beautiful architecture, and spend some time with an old friend.
As it stands at the moment, when I get back, I will have a week to prepare for my surgery. I will be able to have both the mastectomy and the hysterectomy at the same time but it looks like I will have to have a full hysterectomy, complete with the major incision all the way across my gut. I was hoping for laproscopic surgery but my medical oncologist recommends doing the full-blown hysterectomy, leaving nothing behind. I tend to agree with him. Consequently, it will be quite a long recovery but now is the time. I am free to take as long as I need to get better. And I'd rather not have to deal with any of this again.
Thank you all for your thoughts and support. Your help has meant a lot to me. I think I will be doing fine until October. I will keep you all up to date and in the loop.
The radiation and chemo have been a bit tough just because I get this urge to sleep all day. My skin is not doing so well. It's pretty sore and blistery so my radiation oncologist has decided to give me a break this week. I will start again next Monday. I will still finish my radiation by the end of the month. It will be a relief. I will then have the month of September free for recuperation.
The month of September will be a wild one. My sister Deb is coming out to be with me and I am thankful that she is. She will be arriving on Mario's birthday and will be here to help me out with his birthday party. Thank goodness! Then at the end of the month, I'm taking off for a bit of a break. A friend from Ireland and I are going to do a bit of touring around the south of Spain for a week. I am going to spend a few days in Barcelona too. It will be good to get away from the messy house and the reminders of what lays ahead in October. I will have a chance to eat some good food, drink some wine, see some beautiful architecture, and spend some time with an old friend.
As it stands at the moment, when I get back, I will have a week to prepare for my surgery. I will be able to have both the mastectomy and the hysterectomy at the same time but it looks like I will have to have a full hysterectomy, complete with the major incision all the way across my gut. I was hoping for laproscopic surgery but my medical oncologist recommends doing the full-blown hysterectomy, leaving nothing behind. I tend to agree with him. Consequently, it will be quite a long recovery but now is the time. I am free to take as long as I need to get better. And I'd rather not have to deal with any of this again.
Thank you all for your thoughts and support. Your help has meant a lot to me. I think I will be doing fine until October. I will keep you all up to date and in the loop.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
A rough week
Actually, the title is a bit of an exaggeration. It hasn't been rough like the last time I went through treatment. It's just that this week I had chemo on Monday and I have had radiation every day and it's gotten me a bit wiped out. I was so tired yesterday that I could barely get myself out of bed. I am doing better today and I keep thinking that I only have to go through this until the end of August. Unfortunately, since I was so exhausted, I have not been able to write much and so I am a bit behind on this blog.
While I have been laying around the house, not able to do anything, not even read, I have done a lot of thinking. I have been especially thoughtful about a storytelling circle that I went to a few weeks back. It was a group of friends who get together once a month to eat, drink and tell stories. It was my first time attending and I wasn't sure how it would go but it was a lot of fun and very enlightening. All the stories are about the participants' lives and it is very reminiscent of the old storytelling circles back before TV and radio. It was a wonderful way to share an evening.
We heard stories about a flooded basement, a 15-year old's summer spent as a rafting guide, a summer spent as an exchange student in Spain, car troubles, friends and children lost and found, and many more. Every event is different, full of laughter ansd some tears.
As it turns out, many of the people at the storytelling event have other ties to storytelling. Some are part of a group here in Tucson called Odyssey which is a storytelling group that puts on shows every other month at Club Congress. It only costs $7 and it's wonderful to go and hear people tell stories about thier lives based on a particular theme. I am really fascinated with this movement and I think it really encourages people to share about thier lives and we, the listeners, are enriched by their experiences. There is a similar group in the bay area called PorchLight too.
Continuing with the storytelling theme, there were others at the storytelling circle who are involved with a new (to me) phenomenon called "digital storytelling". This is where people create shorts based on stories from thier lives. They incorporate photos and music with the narration to share their stories with others. This is a technique that is being used in community development projects and language learning venues. It is a wonderful way to empower people and to encourage them that their stories are important and people can learn from thier lives.
When I heard about the work that some of the people are doing with these digital stories, I thought that it would be a fascinating area for me to work in. It combines my interest in community development and stories with my knowledge of technology. I am planning to attend a workshop to learn more about how to create the digital stories in September. If it goes well, I may go on to study to become a facilitator and teach people how to create their own stories.
If you are interested in learning more about these topics, here are a few websites that you might check out:
http://www.odysseystorytelling.com
http://www.porchlightsf.com/
http://storiesforchange.net/
http://www.storycenter.org/
http://www.creativenarrations.net/
Thank you for your continuted interest in my blog. I enjoy reading your comments and continuing the discussion with you all.
While I have been laying around the house, not able to do anything, not even read, I have done a lot of thinking. I have been especially thoughtful about a storytelling circle that I went to a few weeks back. It was a group of friends who get together once a month to eat, drink and tell stories. It was my first time attending and I wasn't sure how it would go but it was a lot of fun and very enlightening. All the stories are about the participants' lives and it is very reminiscent of the old storytelling circles back before TV and radio. It was a wonderful way to share an evening.
We heard stories about a flooded basement, a 15-year old's summer spent as a rafting guide, a summer spent as an exchange student in Spain, car troubles, friends and children lost and found, and many more. Every event is different, full of laughter ansd some tears.
As it turns out, many of the people at the storytelling event have other ties to storytelling. Some are part of a group here in Tucson called Odyssey which is a storytelling group that puts on shows every other month at Club Congress. It only costs $7 and it's wonderful to go and hear people tell stories about thier lives based on a particular theme. I am really fascinated with this movement and I think it really encourages people to share about thier lives and we, the listeners, are enriched by their experiences. There is a similar group in the bay area called PorchLight too.
Continuing with the storytelling theme, there were others at the storytelling circle who are involved with a new (to me) phenomenon called "digital storytelling". This is where people create shorts based on stories from thier lives. They incorporate photos and music with the narration to share their stories with others. This is a technique that is being used in community development projects and language learning venues. It is a wonderful way to empower people and to encourage them that their stories are important and people can learn from thier lives.
When I heard about the work that some of the people are doing with these digital stories, I thought that it would be a fascinating area for me to work in. It combines my interest in community development and stories with my knowledge of technology. I am planning to attend a workshop to learn more about how to create the digital stories in September. If it goes well, I may go on to study to become a facilitator and teach people how to create their own stories.
If you are interested in learning more about these topics, here are a few websites that you might check out:
http://www.odysseystorytelling.com
http://www.porchlightsf.com/
http://storiesforchange.net/
http://www.storycenter.org/
http://www.creativenarrations.net/
Thank you for your continuted interest in my blog. I enjoy reading your comments and continuing the discussion with you all.
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