A writer with a law degree. A crazy woman in the kitchen. Sometimes able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
Posted in Deep Thoughts, politics on Nov 20th, 2008
Yesterday was the guiltiest day of the year– the first freezing & below, bitterly cold, windy day of the winter. My guilt started early, and kept going. First, the coffee shop around the corner, where I stopped for my morning coffee and breakfast sandwich to eat in my safe, warm car as I drove across [...]
Posted in politics on Nov 5th, 2008
Yes, we did.
In this week’s New Yorker, unrepentant democrat David Sedaris has a scathing and scatalogical take on the undecided voters in the upcoming election.
I work in one of the parts of town that’s still transitioning from grotty to more mixed-use. All over town, condo-business-retails spaces are going up, and there is finally some movement over at North Station. So there are lots of construction workers standing around. One site is clearly union, and there are [...]
Paul Krugman has an interesting column in the NYT about this election and geek civilization– he uses the term “culture,” but in the context of the article, and considering the ways in which geeks commune, sharing information and identity on the internet, I think “civilization” more properly captures the contrast with anti-intellectuals who disdain individual [...]
Posted in Deep Thoughts, government, lawyer, links, politics on Apr 7th, 2008
There’s an interesting article in the NYT about former prisoners and the operation of what used to be termed “halfway houses.” Underlying the entire article is the assumption that we want our former prisoners to do well– to succeed upon release, to integrate back into the community– and that this is why these places [...]
It’s hard to be a historical figure and share any day with MLK, but here’s one worth noting, thanks to today’s Writer’s Almanac– Dorothea Dix, crusader for the humane treatment of the indigent mentally ill.
Posted in Deep Thoughts, government, links, politics on Apr 3rd, 2008
Today is the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination. You can find a partial archive of his speeches and video and audio clips, here and here. Link to The King Center, here.
For the transcript and audio of Robert F. Kennedy’s speech in Indianapolis about Dr. King’s death, click here.
For Nelson Mandela’s Acceptance Speech [...]
Posted in government, links, politics on Apr 1st, 2008
Lucky elitist member of the educated middle class that I am, I can’t imagine joining the military to pay for college. I know that I will earn enough, later on, to pay it off. I can’t imagine joining the military at all, peacenik beneficiary of prior solidiers’ deaths that I am. I’m lucky– I’m smart, [...]
Posted in bipolar, links, medicine, politics, science on Mar 31st, 2008
A detailed review of the Mental Health Parity movement, and the push to make health insurers cover mental illness on par with physical illness. No question where I fall on the larger question, but I’d be interested in reviewing any scientific discussion about the ways to show/prove/test for the existence of hormonal/biochemical mental illnesses such [...]