Hello. My name is Alyssa Silva, and on Jan. 7, I failed my vertigo test. Again. For the sixth or seventh time. Here’s a little useless fact about me: I’m a terrible test taker. In college, my final grades were saved by papers and projects because I always…
I go to my family and friends for advice before anyone else. They’ve always given me tremendous input, but how is that affected by SMA, if at all? In the following interview, the first in a series, I’ll explore how SMA impacts the way people perceive me, as well as…
Technology is a wonderful thing. It’s something that is a part of all of our lives and can have tremendous benefits. Ella has her own iPad and spends time playing games, looking up videos of things she enjoys learning about, and texting us…
“Well, I certainly hope this little incident hasn’t put you off flying, miss,” says Christopher Reeve in the 1978 “Superman” film. “Statistically speaking, of course, it’s still the safest way to travel.” Well, if you’re Lois Lane and the Man of Steel comes to your…
Professional writing has always been a bit of a dream job. As a college freshman, I realized that my idea of writing didn’t exactly coincide with academic writing, which had me taking juvenile literature classes and, the bane of my existence in 2013, British literature courses.
Last week, I explained why I’m ditching the “new year, new you” mantra. Today, I’m keeping the conversation going by discussing my alternative to New Year’s resolutions. I’ve never been the type of person to set resolutions, and that’s for one simple reason: Life with SMA can…
The kids had two weeks off from school for winter break. They spent time with family and each other, and Ella used her manual wheelchair a lot. The festivities started with the annual breakfast for Lindsay’s birthday at Egg Harbor, where…
In season five of the FX series “Sons of Anarchy,” main character Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam) watches his best friend Opie (Ryan Hurst) die in a prison fight. It’s a brutal scene that features some of the show’s defining elements: Shakespearean drama, graphic violence, and…
Just like every year, I spent the last few days of 2018 and the first few days of 2019 reflecting on life; specifically, what my life has looked like until this point and what I want it to look like going forward. It seems like every…
Since we’re in the season of embracing a new year and all the possibilities that come along with it, I thought it would be a great time to bring this up. For quite some time, I’ve grappled with the idea of “new year, new you,” wondering if it…