On June 9, 2008 my book A Unique Bunny, was selected by my first Publisher: PUBLISH AMERICA to be the book of the week. I am humbled and honored.

Here is what I wrote to them on the PA forum:

I am so humbled that you choose my book "A Unique Bunny" for your uplifting book of the week. You have been the best in my book- always for publishing.

I am so grateful for the friend of an aquaintance who had passed away about a year after she had first told me about Publish America. Then the aquaintance herself mentioned that she had also been published by your great team and to give you a try. I have two books published by you and the experience has been so remarkable and rewarding.

It has been a true blessing to have met some of the other talented and creative authors from this site and also in groups such as Florida Writer's Association, Wizards of Words and a new Writer's Christian group forming in the West Coast of Florida area.

Through all of the ups and downs, laughs and tears, this has been the most incredible experience in my life.

Thank you Publish America for giving me a chance. Thank you for allowing me to have my most precious dream come true.

To all inspiring authors--never give up. For me time, patience and Faith in God has been the most humbling growth. There is always a spark of light even in the darkest of times. Never give up. Never allow anyone to snatch or stomp your dreams away. Ignor all the negatives and know that God (or whatever your faith is) is there standing by you believing in your worth--who you are--who you are ment to be. We all have a purpose in life. Mine is ministry and to give hope, faith and love to those who are hurting.

Always remember WORDS ARE POWERFUL.

I wish all of my fellow authors and friends the best. Being an author has been rich in knowledge. There was a time when I would feel sad if my royalty check was only $20.00. It isn't about the money. It's about the growth and learning of who we are and for me where I stand in my faith. The friends that have been made are priceless. Believing in a company (PA) that some trashed was worth sticking through it, because Publish America may have made some errors (as humans we do), but it cares about it's authors. In the three years that I have known them they have always been kind and considerate. Many of the PA staff has more patience then ever imagined. Blessings to all of you.

I am so blessed today. Thank you again PA. You are my first love and wherever the road takes me on this quest as an author...you will NEVER be forgotten.

My humble gratitude--

Author
D'Maria Scaglione

PS. I was so excited that my hands were shaking at typing this. Please forgive any errors.

www.publishamerica.com
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Today I was meditating and thinking of Memorial Day. My brother will be going to Bay Pines tomorrow to my fathers grave. My father fought in WWII. He was a very proud soldier and was hurt in the war and after he was released from the hospital he decided to go back and fight for his country. We have many of his medals today. My father died of Alzheimer's Disease in 2004. He may have forgotten who we were, yet he always had clear memories of being a soldier.

My brother fought in Viet Nam. We were always so worried about him. He was my only brother. War is horrible, but it does grow boys up into men in a very short time. The experience of training should be for all young men (or women) yet I hope that someday there is no more war anywhere in the world.

My son was going to be a Marine. He was so excited that after high school he was all set up to go. He had a horrendous car accident (we almost lost him) and after his many surgeries, he was devastated to find out that an officer came by and told him that he was no longer able to go. We never even thought that my son would walk again, but he is strong and works in a very dangerous field. He works in Hazerdous Materials, but he still thinks of the Marines.

My nephew is a Leutenant in the army today. Our family is proud of our men. I do hope that our service people come home soon. I hate war, yet my family loves this country and will protect it if they can. All of the men in my family have been in the service. Today we honor all of them. We also honor those that we do not know and who have perished.

God bless our service people. Thank you for protecting our country. I pray that all of you come home soon.

D'Maria Scaglione

When I was a bratster in my youth and went to the Circus, I loved the clowns. They were funny and silly. Oh to think of running away and being a clown at the Circus was the thing many young ones dreamed of back then. Today though, I hear that children and adults are so afraid of clowns. This is truly sad. Being in the clown ministry at my church I went and did some research for my costume etc and can really understand now why children and adults hate clowns. There are so many EVIL clowns and costumes. They are scary even to me.

I truly will enjoy being in a clown ministry --the puppet ministry has been so rewarding so far. It's a shame that in these times clowns are ugly with big teeth with evil intentions. It's fun to go back to the days of innocence with our church group where clowns are just silly and fun, plus we minister love, joy and especially the Lord to all.

D'Maria Scaglione

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for visiting my site. I noticed that I have over 4000 hits. I really appreciate all of your visits and stopping by. You know that you can go to www.amazon.com to see my books and the ratings.

I haven't been around to blog much due to being extremely busy. I have been involved in volunteer work and other community services which I thoroughly enjoy. Even with health problems there is an attempt to give back a few hours a week with some of my favorite organizations. Some of them helped me when times were harder.

I am still fighting some health problems and dealing with family issues, yet I know that God has a way of making everything work out in His time.

Thank you again for stopping by! Enjoy the books!

Blessings,

D'Maria Scaglione

 http://www.youtube.com/v/ervaMPt4Ha0&autoplay=1

Being an advocate for the mentally ill and disabled it truly upsets me that the government (and a big chunk of Florida) no longer cares about the mentally ill. In the last five years or so there have been so many changes in laws that those that need help are on the streets, in shelters or prisons. Many mental health facilities have been closed and for those who can’t afford rehabilitation or medication are put into situations where the problem has a band aide place on a colossal oozing , rotting sore and then thrown back out to the wolves of society. Mental illness is one of the most significant problems that our society has.

We have our soldiers living in the streets from wars gone past, and families living in cars, and abuse is at an all time high in this country.

Understandably, we need health care. Many patients who have devastating illnesses also suffer from depression. Children are just being medicated without dealing with the emotions of what is going on or how to cope in this technical word. Therapists (and social workers) are overworked and certainly underpaid. The people in our country feel confused if a situation occurs such as Columbine or Virginia Technical College. Our children and many adults are in dire need of help.

A year ago the state of Florida changed laws so some of the most vulnerable in our society lost their health insurance due to the Medicaid/Medicare changes and many were at a loss as to what to do or where to go. Clients who went to their therapists were dismissed immediately without warning. A year later there are still problems with insurance companies not wanting to cover mental illness or specific medications.

Many of you may feel that this problem does not effect your lives, but it affects all of us and it is getting worse. Mental illness can affect our parents, children, friends, relatives, and the person living right next door to you. There is help and it is hard to get, yet when a person is severely depressed it is hard for them to reach out or have doors slammed in their faces.

I wrote a letter of my concerns to Senator Bill Nelson. Here was his answer. Americans need health insurance for all. Mental health needs to be covered as well because it is a disease. Below is Senator Nelson’s letter. He is deeply respected and I hope more people can become involved.

Dear :

Thank you for contacting me regarding parity in insurance coverage for mental health patients. I appreciate hearing from you on this important matter.

Today, about 26 percent of American adults, or nearly 58 million Americans suffer from mental disorders. Under most health insurance plans, however, mental health services are not given the same level of coverage as medical and surgical services.

That's why I'm a cosponsor of the Mental Health Parity Act of 2007 (S. 55 . This bipartisan bill would require health insurance plans that offer mental health coverage to provide the same benefits and fees for mental health services that are given for other medical illnesses. This bill has been reported out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and now awaits action on the Senate floor.

This type of legislation is a step towards the equitable treatment of mental illness, and I will work for its passage. Please don't hesitate to contact me in the future.



P.S. From time to time, I compile electronic news briefs highlighting key issues and hot topics of particular importance to Floridians. If you'd like to receive these e-briefs, visit my Web site and sign up for them at http://billnelson.senate.gov/news/ebriefs.cfm

God bless the USA. Please allow those who need help to get it.

Lately the media has been saturated with the right to Freedom of Speech. There have been arguments with Rosie O’Donnell and people wanting to fire her due to her Un-American rants on the television show “The View”. Lately, Don Imus had been fired due to his racist remarks toward a Female African American basketball team.

I have never heard of Don Imus or seen his show. Shock jocks never have impressed me and knowing that they spew hate anyway would give someone a clue not to listen. Our society gives these celebrities a great deal of money to speak on the airwaves. Celebrities have their many fans who drool on every word. Imus, has been in the business of talking garbage about others an incredible thirty years. So why fire him now? Granted what he said was a stupid and hurtful thing to do, yet weren’t his words expected of him? As Americans are we all not responsible to breed this kind of contempt against people in this society? We claim to hate bigotry, racism and sexism, yet we slam the airwaves with this kind of talk or music. So was Don Imus a scapegoat? If he were young, handsome and charming would he have had the same response?

We have many young rappers who talk filth in the music industry. Their music consists of hate and murder to police officers and also brag of rape. These young rappers also call themselves derogatory names as well as any other culture. Their music is bought up in droves and many of these young people are incredibly rich. Is that Freedom of Speech or Racism? People buy this trash or listen to it.

We call this Freedom of Speech. How fine is the line between Freedom of Speech, racism, bigotry or negative words about our government (ex: Rosie O’ Donnell view against the United States as she spews propaganda and conspiracy theories). When is the line considered crossed to fire a person?

Being a white, Italian woman, in my youth there were many times I had been puzzled by words that parents, teachers and friends said about my Nationality. Even in the work place there were instances where I had been called “racist” names supposedly out of humor. Is there any one that hasn’t been called a name or put down? Granted it is cruel and hopefully our children and grandchildren will have a different take on what has happened generations before them. Thus, we all need to take accountability for our lives and also how to cope when a person does say cruel or racist words. Once can either hide or become stronger in knowing who they are, without allowing others to dictate another’s being of existence. Also if our society is becoming alarmed at racism or bigotry remarks we need to stop listening and buying products the person represents.

We are all responsible for racism and bigotry. We are all accountable on how we use our precious Freedom of Speech. We need to think, because there are consequences to our actions. Be kind - Rewind. Pray for those you dislike as though you would want someone to pray for you.

D'Maria Scaglione

Scallions, spinach, lettuce, mushrooms, and peanut butter. The peaunt butter was the one that got me.  Being sick for weeks and wondering what kind of bug I had. In my home, peanut butter is one of my main staples. Being an artist not much meat is eaten and peanut butter was a protein 3 times a week. Walmart had the cheapest and it wasn't too bad...or so one thought.

Finally, I am getting my health back (sheez again) and moving forward. The thing is what is happening to our food supply? I thought that we had inspectors?

Now with the pet food recall, that just absolutely floored me. Thank God my dog eats dry food, but all of those poor sick animals. It would have killed me if my dog died.

So what is going on? What is next? We need to write our government for sterner inspections. Personally, I feel that it is sabotage. We had been warned of this after 9/11 and I feel the government knows much more that it is telling us. For panic reasons I can understand this, but we need to save our people and our pets from being poisoned.

We have homeless that eat dog and cat food and I wonder if any of them know of the incurrent dangers that are there?

Their are elderly in this country that also eat pet food due to hunger.

As a child years ago there was never a fear of being poisoned by food. We used to make dirt cakes and sometimes eat them (ugh).

So what is happening to our food supply? Our pets? My heart goes out to those who lost their pets.

Where is the government of OUR people lately? Do they not care any more? It took weeks before this pet food outbreak was even mentioned --Chinese wheat? Rat poison? What the heck?

So how do we fix it? How do we save our own USA?

D'Marie Scaglione