One in nine adults in the United States takes antidepressants, and women make up two-thirds of that group. Yet a meta-analysis of 151 antidepressant drug trials published in Lancet on Oct. 21 makes clear that maybe they shouldn’t be. The analysis of 30 different drug trials and almost 60,000 individuals found that both the psychologicalContinue reading “Newest Study Still Fails to Examine the Effects of Psychiatric Drugs on Women”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Sounds of Silence
A gale whistles through the sashes and rattles the bedroom door, an unwelcome visitor. I rouse from solitary sleep. Floorboards creak above. A door slams shut. I wrap myself in felted wool and rise, quivering, to join the other women of the witching hour searching our homes. “Not even a mouse,” I say, startling atContinue reading “The Sounds of Silence”
Fish in the Water
In all those seventy-three sea and lakeside summers, those long idyllic sun-filled days with fat fluffs of white sailing high to cast now-and-again shade, or those humid, hazy days when the whine of mosquitoes filled her ears and no-seem-‘ems swarmed her damp body, she never learned to swim. Not really. Not beyond a doggy paddle.Continue reading “Fish in the Water”
Good News
For those seeking insights into my unpublished memoir, This Bed We Made Me, I invite you to look to two online magazines containing my essays. First, Mad in America has posted “Something Broken” for Mother’s Day. And Marrow Magazine #13 will be sharing my essay “A Lucky One” later this month. Both deal with sensitiveContinue reading “Good News”
On the Road
During a road trip the other day, a friend helped me give voice to the vision I think could create a real choice in politics. Here’s the kernel: We on the left need to craft our own emotionally compelling narrative that acknowledges the real pain of falling behind and not providing what we had hopedContinue reading “On the Road”
Reluctant Spring
Spring retreats. Plants stutter, deterred and broken by frigid gales that froth and rime the sea. Mangy deer in tufted coats clip infant green to bare earth. Rain pummels, flattens. Ragged clouds sweep the sky flat, obscure the light, impound the warmth. A world too mean to enter. Icy damp soaks bulky layers as IContinue reading “Reluctant Spring”
A Winter Idyll
What’s that saying about flailing against the inevitable? That’s not it. Something about going all in cuz you know it’s over. Whatever. What’s that got to do with us? We need to get the hell outta here before we can’t. The snow’s . . . What? . . . 6 inches? Let’s go. Continue reading “A Winter Idyll”
Pace in Writing
The variety said to be the spice of life is equally important in your writing. Repetition in the form and sounds of your writing can make your narrative flat and lifeless. The same structure and phrasing reviewing similar content slow writing to a standstill. Readers head for the exit. See what I did in thatContinue reading “Pace in Writing”
July 2024
Tendrils I yank the daisies up by their roots, spewing dirt across my toes but ending their sprawl and droop across the garden path. A memory flashes as I trim the roots and tug the leaves from the lower stems. My great-grandfather hands three-year-old me the roses he has de-thorned one by one to keepContinue reading “July 2024”
Online coaching: “Scare Quotes”
At the request of a fellow writing coach, I posted this advice on SM about “scare quotes,” those quotation marks used here and problematically elsewhere when nothing is being quoted. I share what I pulled from my teaching archives in case you’re curious. Use scare quotes only when essential and very sparingly even then. TheyContinue reading “Online coaching: “Scare Quotes””
Ruminations 