M.J., Chris Brown, an update on the CA gang-rape case, and a stressful “Study this”
In a recent interview with a London tabloid, the late Michael Jackson’s sister La Toya reportedly expressed concern that Jackson’s two sons have not yet “accepted” their father’s death. Now I don’t know how much to make of Ms. Jackson’s assessment, but research has shown that grief does come in stages, beginning with “resistance” thinking, like denial, anger, and bargaining (e.g. with God — Please bring him back, and I’ll…), then proceeding to deep sadness and despair, and finally culminating in acceptance of the loss. Ms. Jackson stated that the children are in therapy, so if they are having trouble moving through the stages of grief, hopefully the therapist can help them with that process.
Surprise, surprise, rapper Chris Brown seems like he may be stepping on thin ice with the judge who allowed him to stay out of jail and perform community service while on probation for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, singer Rhianna. The judge ordered him to stay away from Rhianna, which as far as I know, he has, but he’s apparently posted a picture montage of himself and Rhianna online, which, if I were the judge, would have me watching very closely for any indication that he’s trying to get close to her again, not just in cyberspace but in real life — if I saw that, he’d be in prison faster than he could say “kiss, kiss.” Also, another shocker, Brown still doesn’t seem to get the seriousness of his violent actions toward Rhianna, referring to them as “mistakes” online. No Chris, a mistake is an accident, and I don’t think you beat up your girlfriend accidentally.
Five males, two of them adults and three of them juveniles charged as adults, are now in custody in the California gang rape case that I wrote about in my previous post. That’s great, but cops think there may be as many as five more perpetrators still at large.
Study this: A study of workers at Boeing over a ten-year period found that, contrary to what you might expect, workers who lost their jobs in layoffs actually were often happier and less stressed-out than workers whose jobs were spared, the theory being that pervasive uncertainty about the future of one’s employment coupled with “survivor guilt” (feeling guilty for still having a job when one’s friends no longer do) can cause even more stress than having to make ends meet while looking for a new job.
