Customer Care
A while back, I read an article – somewhere on HealthCentral? I forget – about doctors in the US requiring their patients to sign an agreement not to rate them on e.g., RateMD before they would treat them and it’s been rattling around in my mind for a couple of months. Aside from the blackmail…
Habits, Tics and Verbal Twitches
People have habits, both in behaviour and in speech (yes, more about words today). Adolescents – and an unfortunate amount of young adults – say like way more often than necessary. Overhearing conversations on the street or in foodcourts where a third of the words is like can drive a person to distraction and dangerously…
Machinations
A long time ago – back when the hills were mountains – I was in graduate school, studying for my Masters in social work. There were classes in theory, classes about research methodology, classes to teach us community development, others that taught counseling skills and one of the common themes were client empowerment, the contract…
Not That I’m Biased
I’ve been thinking about bias. It all started with this article by David Gorski about the Oprah-fication of medicine (link fixed). Well, it started with the Newsweek article, followed by the other one and given that I’ve had loads of time to sit around and think while I attempted to heal this latest maiming of…
Sitting in Judgement
The last couple of weeks have been ridiculously hectic – it seemed that Mercury retrograde moved smoothly and seamlessly into whatever astrological phenomena is responsible for a mass epidemic of idiocy. Truly. There were several days last week where the barrage of idiots (and their attendant emotional upset) took over every day, to the point…
Safety Audit
First, a wee preamble that is only relevant in the most tangential way. In my spare time (what spare time?) I volunteer as tenant rep for my building, which includes serving on a Tenant Council, being aware of issues in the building and the surrounding community and working with others in the neighborhood to improve…
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…
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…
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…
Letters from the Past
During one of the latest excursions into my landfill of accumulated crap – why am I such a packrat? – we found, buried in the back of a shelf somewhere, a harmonica folder stuffed with letters and cards from the early 80s to the mid-90s. As nothing is safe from my attempts to minimize aforementioned…
A Job Opportunity: Solving the Challenges of Writer Overwhelm
Updated November 30, 2021 The impossibility of juggling chronic illness, everyday tasks and writing good books at a decent pace pops up on a regular basis in my life. Every time, I look at my list — or List — and despair at ever catching up or being even vaguely proactive and organized. Did I…
Sidestepping into Happiness
I was talking to a friend the other day about how this particular set of holidays used to be my annual experience of manic depression. Well, not the actual disease, but perhaps a little bit of insight into what it feels like. Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year and there is nothing about…