Articles written by Shanna Riley

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About me - Shanna Riley

After the book - and main character - of the same name, I'm a feisty, strong-willed, and passionate woman. Born and raised in southern Louisiana, I'm infinitely proud of my Cajun heritage and am pleased to say I was, quite literally, "raised on the bayou".

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Creative Writing > Memoirs Testimonies: Living with alcoholism: 1 of 14

It's no secret; in fact, everyone that knows me knows it. So I'm certainly not stepping out of the family-member-of-an-alcoholic closet or anything here. The reason I'm even writing about it at all is to help others who might be in a similar situation and feel alone, distraught, and confused. I learned, from the handful of A...
Health & Fitness > Mental Illness Self injury explained: 1 of 6

Self Injury (or "SI"), also known as self-mutilation, is the act of harming one's self to cope with extreme emotions or other overwhelming feelings. People injure themselves in many ways: cutting, which seems to be the most popular, burning, or beating/bruising. Some individuals have even been known to break their own limbs ...
Computers & Technology > Phone Technologies & Issues Should cell phone use be banned while driving?: 32 of 180

Every day on the way to and from work more than half of the people I see are talking and driving. And they are the ones swerving, getting dangerously close to other vehicles or the shoulder, hitting their brakes for no apparent reason, and driving slowly and obviously not paying attention. I've had people on the phone pull o...
Computers & Technology > Computer Maintenance Useful tips for keeping your PC clean: 3 of 15

These are some basic tips and rules to follow to keep your computer safe and clean and running most efficiently that I have learned in over eight years of work as a professional i.t. tech. Virus Protection: In the vast lawlessness of cyberspace and with the number of new viruses being sent out every day you should never be o...
Hobbies & Games > Video Game Culture & Community World of Warcraft: Harmless fun, or an addictive replacement for real life?: 11 of 29

The truth of the matter is that anything - anything at all - can be an "addictive replacement for real life". If someone is obsessively fixated on any activity or subject to the exclusion of all else (especially daily life and health), they are "addicted". Are some people addicted to playing World of Warcraft? Most assuredly...
Hobbies & Games > Video Game Reviews Video game reviews: The Sims 2: FreeTime (PC): 2 of 5

On February 26, 2008, Electronic Arts released its seventh expansion pack in "The Sims 2" universe, adding on to the already extensive Sims world and its playable features. Dubbed "FreeTime", the new expansion pack enhances the lives of your Sims by giving them more to do (and work towards) than family-building and career-gr...
Creative Writing > Poetry Poetry: Left behind: 39 of 80

Why am I doomed to love you? Your love ravages me, Takes me over with no remorse. I want to love you no more, To not suffer The longing, the pain, the misery, That consumes me When I let thoughts of you Take over my mind. I can not love you sanely; There is nothing rational In my feelings for you. The passion I feel for you ...
Politics, News & Issues > People in the News Was Tricia Walsh Smith justified in using YouTube to tell her story?: 1 of 1

As hard as I try, it's difficult for me to dredge up much-if any-sympathy for the "plight" of Tricia Walsh Smith. She is, as you may have heard by now, the misaligned soon-to-be ex-wife of Shubert Organization's president Philip Smith. The wealthy, Broadway maven Smith, twenty-five years his wife's senior, has opted to enact...
Creative Writing > Reflections Reflections: Living with an alcoholic: 16 of 31

On Saturday, March 19, 1977, my parents - Johnnie and Pam - were wed in a small, quiet ceremony. To say the wedding was rushed and hardly prepared for would be an understatement; the decision to marry had been decided on the preceding Wednesday, the 16th. They were both nineteen, soon to be twenty in that same year. It was a...
Health & Fitness > Allergies The dangers of mold to health: 9 of 17

Nearly everyone remembers the pet food-caused deaths of dozens of family dogs in the United States due to contaminated pet food sent out by Diamond Pet Foods in 2005. Yet many people do not realize the lethal agent in the contaminated food was a type of mold; one known as aflatoxin, which Dianond Pet Food's corn shipments ha...