It Got Me Again
Remember Mercury retrograde? The quarterly phenomenon that astrologers claim affects technology and communication and when I post about how it’s out to get me, I get the distinct sensation that there’s eye rolling out there, people not quite buying into this. Settle in my friends and let me tell you about my week. Have your…
New Archetypes
I’ve gone on before about the madonna/whore dichotomy of disability portrayal in miscellaneous forms of entertainment, such as TV series, movies, books, etc. And disability means either long-suffering saintliness or it’s an outward manifestation of inner evil, leaving realistic portrayal of disability as just another facet of a person’s life to… well, CSI. However, I’ve…
The Other Side of the Coin
Earlier this week, I read something by a woman who has rheumatoid arthritis talking about hope, talking about the impact the disease has had on her life and at the end of the piece, she wrote that when she was old, she’d be able to look back and “know what a truly amazing life I…
I’d Rather Be Working: An Interview with Gayle Backstrom
A few weeks ago, I interviewed a fascinating woman for HealthCentral: “As follow-up to my recent Beginner’s Guides to work and going back to school, I interviewed Gayle Backstrom, author of I’d Rather Be Working: a Step-By-Step Guide to Financial Self-Support Review with Chronic Illness. Gayle also wrote When Muscle Pain Won’t Go Away, the…
Not Always Binary
I was having a conversation with a friend a couple of days ago and we were talking about ethics and principles and at a certain point, my friend said “either something is right or it isn’t.” And, as happens occasionally around here, I got to thinking. Because although I agree on a very elemental level…
The Reader
Continuing my quest to watch the Oscar winners, my next pick was The Reader, for which Kates Winslet won the Best Actress award. I’ve loved her work since I first saw her in Titanic, admire her choices (okay, most of them, maybe not so much The Holiday, but maybe it would’ve been better without Cameron…
Living back from the Edge
When you’ve been to the brink, to almost-death, to you can see it from here without binoculars, it changes you. In the beginning, it is overwhelming. The world is overwhelming. In the beginning, I was regularly brought to the brink of tears by a perfect pepper, by the sun shining through a leaf, constantly reminded…
To Be or Not To Be
This week on HealthCentral, it’s about inspiration, dreams and rebuilding your life: “I don’t have a choice of whether or not I have Parkinson’s: I have it. But other than that, I have a thousand choices, and I can’t let myself be sunk by the weight of that one non-choice…” – Michael J. Fox, Entertainment…
Joy to the World
This weekend, it was warm. Not just not freezing, but actual warmth. Going out into the sunshine, I meandered through the neighborhood and saw buds, tiny leaves working their way out, leaving a delicate green tinge on branches that have been dead for months. Life is coming back. In a raised flower bed that is…
State of Bliss
I read this post a while back and have been keeping it in my back pocket for pondering. It’s about the Celtic legend of Ceridwen’s magic potion granting knowledge and wisdom and the punishment of Gwion for accidentally imbibing it. I like the musings about knowledge and wisdom and why it is apparently a bad…
The Slow Road
Remember this injury? That turned permanent? It even has a name now – thought of Priscilla, Celia or Brunhilde, but instead, it’s apparently a variant of Golfer’s Elbow and all without even playing that pointless game. It got aggravated. In fact, it got downright testy and has gotten progressively worse on a weekly basis for…
Better Living Through Chemistry
My new HealthCentral post ponders drugs and why we take them: “I used to start the day with crying in the shower, hiding my face under the spray, silent tears of pain mixing with the water. Once the day got going, I’d build up the barricades again and distance myself from the pain, but in…