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Reading Between the Lines of 9 ½ Weeks
However, as a work of fiction, it stands as exquisitely powerful storytelling of a woman who willingly gave up everything in her world, except for her job, for a relationship with a man that had nothing to do with intimacy and everything to do with chasing a high.
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Seeking Inspiration from Fiction
The Cheerleader captures what it feels like to be a teen and trying to figure out who you will become as an adult as well as the intensity of discovering and coming to terms with your sexuality.
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The Stories We Need to Hear About Mental Health
May, mental health awareness month, makes me more aware than usual of the standard narrative that goes along with mental health—medication and therapy are the fixes. This May 60 Minutes aired U.S. kids grappling with mental health crisis made worse by the pandemic and it focused on the months-long wait time for teens to receive therapy but did not discuss what teens can do to lessen their anxiety and depression in the meantime, nor did it discuss the systemic and cultural conditions that breed anxiety and depression. What research reveals There’s so much more to the story. There’s so much more to the puzzle that comprises mental health. As gymnast…
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Perspective Please: Bad Vegan fails to address addiction and mental health
Netflix nailed handling how the nuances of racism played out in the two-hour documentary The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie and Fitch yet failed to address the mental health and addiction issues in the 2022 four-hour long Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives. docuseries. Bad Vegan focuses on the rise and fall of New York City vegan chef and high-end restaurateur Sarma Melngailis who has an MBA from Ivy League University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, which U.S. News and World Report ranked number one in their 2020 annual ranking. She and her boyfriend, fellow A-list chef Matthew Kenney, line up deep-pocketed investors, and, in 2004, open Pure Food & Wine, a raw…
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Afterparties—A Masterpiece
Author Dana Spiotta noted So’s ease with traversing so many different subjects, “from pop culture to genocide to the deep tentacles of the family romance with unfailing precision, wit, and sensitivity.”
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Freedom Writers Movie Misrepresented Teachers
How teachers are characterized in the 2007 movie Freedom Writers makes me jump out of my skin. Freedom Writers portrays the four years brand new teacher Erin Gruwell taught English at Long Beach, California’s Wilson High School. It is highly unusual for a teacher to have the same students for English classes all four years of high school, yet Gruwell did. Gruwell stepped out of the classroom and started her foundation and speakers bureau after those four years. Through her foundation, Erin Gruwell has taken great strides in making high school English curriculum relevant and effective. Composite characters We’ve all heard, “The customer is always right.” Lately, it’s become, “The…
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The Voice’s Paris Winningham Spills His Heart and Soul on Stage
What would it sound like if you were singing for your life? Singing to stay alive? Paris Winningham’s voice has been haunting me this season of The Voice. The semi-finals are tonight. The competition is down to eight singers. Vote for Paris at NBC.com or by downloading The Voice app. Between my daytime job, writing on the side, and raising children, The Voice and 60 Minutes are the only two network television shows I routinely watch. I have never voted for a contestant on The Voice before. But this season I am. I was struggling to describe to an acquaintance why Paris’ voice gets under my skin and into my…
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When Inspiration Accosts You—Write a Short Story
Former mayor of Stockton Michael Tubbs gave a recent interview to the Los Angeles Times regarding his new memoir The Deeper the Roots. He talks about learning from rejection, “‘Nos’ are such a gift,” he says. “Not the ‘no’ in and of itself, but what you learn from the ‘no.’”
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Could modern psychiatry save Sylvia Plath?
Why would a brilliant, young, beautiful woman kill herself? Heather Clark’s new biography, Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, digs deep into the life and times of literary legend Sylvia Plath. It sheds light on the trajectory and treatment of her mental health condition and what role key interpersonal relationships played in exacerbating her depression. Despite this biography’s many strengths, it did not address the mental health nuances that would help to demystify the mental health challenges Plath, her husband’s mistress, and, eventually, her son faced. (Her son Nicholas Hughes committed suicide in 2009 at the age of 47.) Based on the details of Plath’s…
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What I Got Right Now—YouTube
The more I learned about the intricacies of depression and anxiety, the more amazed I became by all the factors that could influence them. A number of years ago, I shopped a proposal for a book entitled Depression Zappers: 45 Ways to Fight the Blues and the Blahs. The book would provide brief engaging descriptions explaining the science behind the six categories of depression zappers accompanied by an illustration for each and links to learn more. A couple of agents responded, but no book deal. Between working full-time and raising two young children mostly on my own, I had to put the manuscript as well as my fiction on hold…
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Could Juul’s marketing team have been that clueless?
It is possible to live in a bubble and ignore everyone and everything outside that bubble. However, when the product you sell contains nicotine, a highly addictive substance, and the long-term use of nicotine has been linked to addiction and long-term health consequences, it’s time to venture outside your cozy bubble.
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Nutrition an issue in Demi Lovato’s 2018 relapse?
Demi Lovato released the first two episodes of her YouTube docuseries “Dancing with the Devil” on March 23, 2021. Two more were released on March 30, and two more will be released on April 5. Releasing the docuseries on YouTube makes it accessible to anyone with an Internet connection and a smartphone or laptop. “Demi is an honest songwriter. Demi thrives on using her music in a cathartic way,” says her manager Scooter Braun during Dancing with the Devil. Braun’s quote sums up why her songs and performances appeal to me. Also, Demi Lovato has been a fearless mental health advocate. What stood out to me after watching the first…
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Book review that brought tears to my eyes
Amidst so many half-finished short stories, novels, and screenplays, publishing my novel Dream Walking in 2013 felt so good. Between raising two kids almost entirely on my own, freelance writing, and working full-time, I had zero time to promote it other than a few in-person events. Last summer, I visited Dream Walking’s Amazon page and was overjoyed to find this July 2019 review: 5.0 out of 5 stars A nuanced personal experience with bipolar disorder you never see — and a damn good read “I downloaded this on a whim and was smitten at the outset, I couldn’t stop until it was done. The story takes us inside the author’s college-age…
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Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel adds to mental health stigma
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, a Netflix docuseries, is four hours long. Feature films and documentaries tend to last 90 minutes to two hours. Although Crime Scene: Cecil Hotel was four hours long, it did not tell significant facets of the story regarding the 2013 disappearance of Elissa Lam. How could Lam, a creative, adventurous college student who did not dabble in drugs or dangerous men meet such a tragic ending? The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel should have focused on the trajectory of her bipolar disorder and the challenges involved in treating it. At what age was she diagnosed? What were her past episodes like? What…
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What If No One Can Diagnose Your Illness?
Some weeks I can’t stop reflecting upon the real-life stories I come across that show how far we have to go to achieve more equitable and effective healthcare in the United States. This past week, I watched Netflix’s Diagnosis series for the first time. Netflix’s website summarizes Diagnosis, “Dr. Lisa Sanders crowdsources diagnoses for mysterious and rare medical conditions in a documentary series based on her New York Times Magazine column.” The compelling one-hour first episode of the series, “Detective Work,” portrayed 23-year-old Angel Parker who had been suffering with debilitating symptoms for nine years. Shooting pains throughout her muscles would render Angel unable to walk, in excruciating pain, and…
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Joy and Panic—Manuscript Almost a Book
Why are drug addiction and suicide rates increasing, particularly among young adults? The contradiction between tremendous strides in research and worsening outcomes motivated me to write Intact: Untangle the Web of Bipolar Depression, Addiction, and Trauma.
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Eavesdropping can yield ideas for stories
Maybe I love eavesdropping, because I grew up in New York City where you hear fragments of conversations while walking amidst crowds or while using public transportation. I don’t go out of my way to eavesdrop, but even a few overheard words in passing can trigger musings about characters and plots.
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Could Default to Truth Theory Help Explain Denial?
A good book makes one think or imagine, or both. Malcolm Gladwell’s Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know got me thinking and imagining a lot, and I need to write a few blogs to sort out everything I read. Soon after finishing reading Talking to Strangers, I was walking through the maze of Ikea, the Swedish superstore (313 Ikea stores in 38 countries), and it triggered memories of my Swedish grandmother. Fables told by grandmother “Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish,” my grandmother used to admonish me. In other words, buying a cheap pair of shoes that you soon have to replace is not saving…
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Reflecting on Friendships
I discovered Help a Reporter Out, H.A.R.O., a few years back when I was approaching deadline, and my regular sleuthing hadn’t provided enough sources for a feature article I was writing. Quoting their website, “HARO connects journalists seeking expertise to include in their content with sources who have that expertise.” Three times a day HARO sends emails detailing categories and experts needed. I don’t check every day, but occasionally I do, and recently I offered to guest blog for MorningLazziness.com, because an idea for the topic immediately came to me. Also, it was something different than what I write for my own blog. One of the friendships I depicted in my guest…
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Victims Recovering Their Voices—Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich Docuseries
If no one listens to you, anyone can do anything to you. The series explores why it took so many years for the victims’ voices to be heard despite diligent criminal investigation and ample evidence gathered. One of the earliest victims reported her crime in 1996.
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Pain and Rage
Spilling out Spilling in Come undone Again, and again Pretend it’s not happening Survive Numb Came to believe That I don’t count No one listened, no one cared Be quiet. Carry on. You’re such a smart girl This poem is one of the poems in my nearing completion memoir/information guide Intact: Untangling the Web of Bipolar Depression and Addiction. I would never be able to remember how desolate I felt at 18 if I hadn’t kept journals. I had written down “Pain and Rage” amidst my scattered words. By picturing certain events, it took me back to the time I felt so horribly betrayed yet once again and then was…
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Imperfect Life: The Roy Halladay Story—a perfect documentary
Gripping. Eye-opening. Tragic. ESPN’s E:60 Imperfect: The Roy Halladay Story tells the story of the enigma that is addiction. Why does a happily married man, financially set for life, father of two, and one of Major League Baseball’s legendary pitchers succumb to addiction? Ever wondered why addiction is described as cunning, baffling, and dangerous? Watch this documentary. Storytelling strategies that worked The director let the characters, those interviewed, reveal the story. Everyone interviewed was forthright and knew Halladay well, including his wife, his older son, his father, and former teammates. Excerpted footage of Halladay at various stages of his life, including childhood, were effectively used and let the viewer get to know…
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Protests have brought awareness to a host of issues, including K-12 education
“The American Dream should be having freedom regardless of race, being able to have something you are able to succeed at and be able to turn into a job…” my son Patrick wrote five years ago for a 10th grade social studies assignment. Barack Obama was still president. We had worked on Obama’s 2008 campaign. I had been overjoyed when he was elected and thought racism in the United States was declining. In 2017, Charlottesville shocked me as have umpteen overt acts of racism since then. To make progress, we have to understand and address the root causes of the hidden inequities that allow racism to flourish. “I think the protests…
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Looters—More to the Story
Too many of the same stories told in mainstream fiction. #socialjustice #writingcommunity
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You’re not hearing me
My voice fades out into futility #letthemspeak #racialtraumamatters #heartheirvoices