Recent Updates
Death of a Car
It was the early 90’s. Crack cocaine, cheap and plentiful, was burning like an unchecked forest fire through the City. Emaciated addicts, suicidal and psychotic in the crash following the high, swamped my emergency room. Car break-ins by users desperate for quick cash were all too frequent. But parking the car in a garage was ruinously expensive. Riding the subway into Manhattan added an hour to the round-trip. I kept driving in and parking on the street, fingers crossed, hoping for the best.
Of course my car was broken into.
Shoes: A Marriage Morality Tale
Storage. That’s my problem with Hubby’s shoes. They pile up. They drift. They wander into places where they shouldn’t be. How many times have I tripped over one?
A Witch’s Work Is Never Done
Halloween is upon us and as usual, it’s cold and windy, nasty and sleety. Terrible weather for taking the old broom out for a ride. Far colder than my witch’s heart above the roof line, especially when flying at speed. But needs must when this devil drives. Hee hee hee.
Tough though, to keep that slim silhouette against the yellow moon—
Homeward Bound
I love being home and resist embarking on any journey, even if only to go to work. Though once I’ve broken free of the nest’s tractor beam, I enjoy getting away. It’s fun and challenging to see new things, eat new foods, make do with what I have on hand, problem solve getting from here to there. The pleasure of a pleasant chat with an interesting stranger can’t be underestimated.
All that excitement provides the necessary contrast for the peak of the trip—
Book Review: The Professor and the Madman, A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, by Simon Winchester
This surprisingly moving narrative set in Victorian England braids together three histories. First, the making of the great Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which took seventy years to complete. Second, the life of the professor, Dr. James Murray, the OED’s third and justly most famous editor, who worked on it for the last forty years of his life. And third, the life of the madman, Dr. William Chester Minor, major contributor to the OED, an American, Yale educated physician, whose illustrious career as a Union officer and surgeon during the Civil War ended due to mental illness that rendered him “unfit for duty” and led to tragedy.
Book Review: Born To Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, by Christopher McDougall
Intriguing title! I thought. What does the back cover say? My reader taste buds tingling, I plucked the book off the shelf of the wall book display. (Is there anything better than browsing a curated indie bookstore?) I flipped it over.
“ A tale so mind-blowing as to be the stuff of legend.” –The Denver Post
Isolated by Mexico’s deadly Copper Canyons, the blissful Tarahumara Indians have honed the ability to run hundreds of miles without rest or injury.
What?! As a physician and failed jogger (all pain, no gain), these words stopped me short. Deadly? Blissful? Ability to run hundreds of miles? Without rest or injury?
In a riveting narrative, award-winning journalist and often-injured runner Christopher McDougall sets out to discover their secrets.
I bought the book.
Writers and Creators, Stop Worrying About Procrastinating and Learn to Love the Deadline
From newbies to seasoned professionals, we’ve all submitted at 11:59 to meet a midnight deadline. Worse, no matter what we promise ourselves, that seems to be the norm not the exception. Who hasn’t thought: Why do I do this to myself? What is wrong with me?
The good news: nothing is wrong with you. Procrastinating is not the problem.
The Pager Incident
Maybe you think that all it takes to be a great therapist is the ability to nod calmly while saying, “Tell me how you feel about that.” Let me pop that sweet fantasy!
Book Review: Cleopatra, A Life by Stacy Schiff
I couldn’t put this book down. The writing is gorgeous: lyrical, immersive, richly textured and slyly skeptical of the historical record. Did you know Cleopatra spoke nine languages and was a master of finance and political strategy? At the height of her power, she controlled the entire eastern Mediterranean coast, while keeping those enslaving, conquest-obsessed, sexist Romans at bay.
Congress--House AND Senate-- Votes Juneteenth a Federal Holiday
Juneteenth—celebrated on June 19th by most Black Americans—commemorates the legal end of slavery in Texas on June 19th, 1865, more than two years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863.
In honor of Juneteenth, I’m reposting the following essay.
How I Challenged a Privileged White Male Friend’s Racism The hardest part? First, I had to listen to him.
Book Review: 7 ½ Lessons About the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett
The opening “Half Lesson” is titled: Your Brain Is Not for Thinking. It’s not? No. Your brain’s most important job is predicting your body’s energy needs before they arise so you can efficiently make worthwhile movements and survive to pass your genes to the next generation.
This short, accessible, frequently amusing and deeply subversive book exploded pretty much everything I’ve understood about the brain and how it works. That’s quite a statement given I’m a psychiatrist—my medical specialty is the brain.
For example, memories are not filed like paperwork—that’s a metaphor. They are actually recreated on demand. What! Yes.