so. many. psychiatrists.

piqued your interest?  Well I'll explain that in a minute.  Before I get to the psychs, let me start at the beginning of the week.  To be honest, I once again had to open my calendar in order to write this blog to say, "woahhh what in the world did I do this week?!" We left off on Monday. I had a great lunch meeting with Assemblyman Danny O'Donnell and Kenny Mack.  We talked about the Dignity for All Students Act, which he led through the Assembly to passage this summer.  An act that seems so simple and natural, and passed with all but 3 yes votes in the Senate, was denied through the Senate 9 times previously.  One decade.  That's how long it took to get 'sexual orientation and gender identity' under the discrimination bias of school harassment and bullying.  It was so great talking about where Dignity has been, where it's going, and how it will evolve and build...and how I can be a part of it.  Jazzed.

That night we also had a fantastic meeting with the new director of the Miss New York City pageant!!  Yayyy!!!  It's back - and in full force.  Details are still TBD, but I can share with you that there will be a Miss NYC, Manhattan and Southeast NY held together on the same day as the state sweeper which will crown Miss Metropolitan, Liberty and Greater Gotham.  The new director has great branding ideas and we look forward to building lasting strength in the NYC area together.

Tuesday, I took my first class at Actors Connection.  I did a teleprompter intensive with Patricia Stark, TV host and actress (and former Miss NY USA!)  It was a great, small class in which we learned the skills necessary to be successful on teleprompter and got lots of time to practice with intimate feedback.  I look forward to her 4-week hosting class which begins next week as well as doing some one-on-one media training for some upcoming exciting television spots we're looking into.

Then it was time for the psychiatrists.  You never know who you're going to sit next to at these dinners and galas.  At the Indiana ACLU dinner, I ended up sitting with a pediatrician and psychiatrist who was coming to NYC this week for the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (mouthful.) along with 1500+ medical professionals from the U.S. and invited me to attend.  They set up a private lunch for me on Wednesday with some of the top psychiatrists in the country to have some facetime for real questions about bullying, with regards to sexual orientation, but universally with stigmatized youth, and what a public health issue this all truly is.  On Thursday and Friday, I attended workshops and clinical perspectives on Bullies, Targets, and “Frenemies”: Understanding and Preventing Bullying and Cyberbullying and Prevention of Bullying Related Morbidity:A Whole-Community Strategy. These were incredibly interesting and informative.  If I shared all of the things I learned, you and I would both be here all day, so we'll save that for another time.

So I was already having a great week, then Friday came.  My sister's flight from Detroit to Boston was cancelled on Thursday night, but they could get her to NYC, so she took the offer and surprised me for a little visit Thursday night.  Only problem with that was I wanted to stay up all night talking when I actually needed to be up at 4:50 am on Friday for the CW PIX-11 Morning Show (more in the next blog).  I managed that, and she got to see me in action and took some great pics!  From the morning show and getting Hannah off to Boston, I went to Union Square to the Beth Israel Pediatric Unit for a little Halloween celebration.  The kids were SO excited to see me (and once again, so was the staff!).  We read a spooky Halloween book together, talked about their Halloween costumes - Elijah was already in his Michael Jackson get-up. Ebrahim was the jam.  He's an 8 year old with a 6th grade reading level - so intelligent, very excited and thorough in meeting me, an avid Yankees fan with a serious evaluation of the Rangers v. Yankees game, and the kid who believes that the winner of Miss America should compete in Miss DIMENSION << insert intense sound effect >> because that's wwwaaayyy bigger than Miss Earth or Miss Universe!  He. Was. Awesome.  I think I have a new publicist. or boyfriend, I can't decide. These kids were so fun though and we had great photo ops.  Can't wait to share the pics with you when I receive them. Then it was off to the AACAP Conference and the gym, then home to relax and play Wii Tetris with my roommates. Yes, I'm that cool.

whew! I'm tired! Mock interviews tomorrow and personal training, topped off with brunch with friends and some Halloween celebrations -- with my roommate, Carlie (Mayo) as Ketchup and Mayo.  Again. so cool.