Sharing storm stories

Hurricane Daze

Tropical Storm Fay started out as an uneventful day off school for most Tampa Bay area students, but then stuck around to cause harm, even loss of life, with excessive flooding. We hope you and your family remained safe during the storm. Click on the comment button below to tell us about your experiences.

Back to Work

Briiiinnngggg ... School's back in session!

Summer is over this week, or at least the part where you don't have to go to school. Are you ecstatic? Are you so bumbed you're dragging your backpack on the ground? Tell us about your experiences being back in the classroom.

School is back in session ...

... It is time to turn in your reader log.

It is time to head back to school. We hope you have been keeping track of your favorite articles in your Summer Times Reader Log.

After school starts, all participating students who completed their reading logs will be entered in a drawing to win some great prizes including free admission passes to Muvico Theaters, ice cream for a year from Working Cow Ice Cream, cool merchandise from Busch Gardens and a Dell computer with flat screen monitor and DVD burner donated by Data Balance. Send your completed logs to the address below to be entered in the drawing. If you missed a week or two, just be sure that all 10 boxes of the log are filled out with information from different days you read the newspaper. Don’t forget that you and your parent or guardian must fill out the back page of the log in order to be eligible for awards. If you have misplaced your reader log or need a new one, you can call the reader hotline or go to our NIE Web site. 

Click on the comment button below to share your thoughts about the Sizzlin' Summer Times Reader program.

HOT SPOT week 10

Your Final Summer Sizzle!

It is almost time to head back to school, so why not take time to reflect on all of the fun things you have done and learned this summer? Have you read any interesting newspaper articles this summer? Have you read any good books? This week’s HOT SPOT activity focuses on exploring new worlds in literature. Speaking of reading, we hope you have been keeping track of your favorite articles in your Summer Times Reader Log.

After school starts, all participating students who completed their reading logs will be entered in a drawing to win some great prizes including free admission passes to Muvico Theaters, ice cream for a year from Working Cow Ice Cream, cool merchandise from Busch Gardens and a Dell computer with flat screen monitor and DVD burner donated by Data Balance. Send your completed logs to the address below to be entered in the drawing. If you missed a week or two, just be sure that all 10 boxes of the log are filled out with information from different days you read the newspaper. Don’t forget that you and your parent or guardian must fill out the back page of the log in order to be eligible for awards. If you have misplaced your reader log or need a new one, you can call the reader hotline or go to our NIE Web site.

This Week's HOT SPOT activity

Newspapers are a great source of information, and newspaper articles can be entertaining. Some book authors even pull the ideas for their stories from the pages of the newspaper, where truth is often stranger than fiction! Many times authors will create stories based on real-life occurrences. Look through the St. Petersburg Times for an article or cartoon that would make an interesting story for a children’s book. Write down the facts in the story. Now, create your own children’s book based on those
facts. Be creative. Share your story idea and the original article with other students across Tampa Bay on this Summer Times Reader Blog. Also, share your Summer Sizzlin’ Times Reader experiences with others. Just click on the comment button below to share your thoughts.

The Swirl of Stress

THE SWIRL OF STRESS
The pressure of an approaching storm can manifest itself in physical ailments. You've got to take care of you.

Not all of a hurricane's damage is obvious. Even before one blows through, it can wreak havoc, and this we may not see. It is the damage we suffer because of stress. "We are geared to short-term stress," Dr. Paul Lewis says. "It is the 'fight-or-flight phenomenon' in which our whole physiology gears up to kill the saber-toothed tiger. "So short-term stress is actually a good thing: The body can (alert) the immune system. But with stresses coming over a longer period - like the approach of a hurricane - that's a bit more of a problem," says Lewis, medical director of the Turley Family Health Center of Morton Plant Mease, Clearwater.

"The longer this period of psychological stress, the immune system switches to detrimental changes . . . antibody responses are not as high."

This could result, he said, in slower wound healing, our inability to fight off infection. "It is very clear that the autoimmune illnesses such as lupus and fibromyalgia" will be worsened by chronic stress.

"Advanced age and chronic disease increase our vulnerability to stress-related decreases in immune function. It makes it all that much harder for the body to regulate itself."

Dr. Andrew Alexander, an emergency physician at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, notes that stress can elevate blood pressure, causing strokes or heart attacks. Less dramatic results include secreting more stomach acid, which could exacerbate ulcers.

"When people get uptight, they tend to forget things, such as taking their medications or following diet restrictions," Alexander said. "Not staying as hydrated or as nutritionally fit as they should could elevate the blood sugar in many diabetics."

There are precautions you can take, as well as some you should take, to help yourself medically when a hurricane is threatening.

Lewis, also an assistant professor at USF, says, "Anything you can control will reduce your sense of stress. You want to adjust your attitude as much as possible - look at this as a challenge, rather than a threat."

Before an evacuation is ordered, Lewis adds, "Come up with a plan to make it through. Develop a support network to talk with."

And in case of an evacuation, "You need to know what you are going to do, where you are going to . . . Make sure your diet is nutritious and balanced. Practice relaxation techniques - yoga, tai chi, breathing exercises."

A hurricane warning is also a reminder to check your supply of prescription medications. If you are not getting refills at a local drugstore, the typical few days of warning won't give you time to reorder by mail.

The solution: State law allows pharmacists to dispense a one-time emergency refill of up to a 72-hour supply of prescribed medication, says pharmacist Susan Gordon, who works in a CVS pharmacy in Tampa.

"If the prescription was filled originally by CVS, you can go into any of our pharmacies all over the country and get that refill. If you are not a CVS customer, just provide us with your pharmacy information and we will call that pharmacy."

And if you use the mail for refills, take the prescription container to the pharmacy "and we would call the mail house for you and refill that prescription at our store."

If the governor has proclaimed a state of emergency because of a disaster, any Florida pharmacy can dispense up to a 30-day supply.

And, Gordon says, the trip to the pharmacy is the time to buy a prepackaged first aid kit or get the items you need to fill the kit you will take with you in case of evacuation.

Robert N. Jenkins can be reached at (727) 893-8496 or bjenkins@sptimes.com.

Credit: Times Staff Writer

HOT SPOT Week 9

Summer Readers: Keep Sizzlin'

Statesman, philosopher, inventor and printer Benjamin Franklin said, “A penny saved is a penny earned.” The $100 bill sometimes is referred to as a “Benjamin” because Franklin’s image appears on it. In today’s world, saving Benjamins (and Georges and Abrahams!) is important. People are learning to be more careful with their money and to live on a budget. Everyone should have a budget: families, businesses and the government alike.We all need long-term and short-term budgets and long and short-term goals for improving the quality of life. This week’s HOT SPOT sponsor, McDonald's, will help you stay within your budget and spend those Benjamins wisely.

This week’s HOT SPOT activity

This week, look for stories in the St. Petersburg Times about individuals who earn large salaries. Make a list of the things you like about that person’s job. Discuss how, if you had the same job, you would do the job in the same or different ways. What would you do with your money? Are you a careful spender? Do you have a savings account? Imagine you have just been paid one million dollars for a brilliant idea. Look in the Times for advertisements or stories about things you would like to buy, as if money were no object. Cut them out and paste into a collage of your “dream” shopping list. If the prices are not listed, research how much each item costs. Now imagine you have one Benjamin, $100, to spend. What item or items could you afford with $100? What would you buy first? Why would you buy these items?  Share your thoughts with others in this blog. Just click on the comment button below to share your thoughts.

If you want to participate in the Summer Reader program, go to tampabay.com/nie/summer for details on how to get started.