Tag: mental illness
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As a Professor, Sometimes I’m Pretty Stupid…
I was worried the past few days. I was getting sick–again. The manic depression that had hurled me into a psychotic attack in December nearly did me in. My family and I got through it, but it was a dangerous time. Bipolar is a progressive, organic brain disease. And it’s a killer. The brain deteriorates…
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Ode to Instagram
I stayed away from the thing for a long time. To me, it was just another waste of entire days, something that got in the way of reading poetry or having coffee with a real human being across the table. And, it is, or it can be. But, that’s a question of self-discipline. I stayed…
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Why I’m better off living in a war zone
Three months ago I had a psychotic attack, one brought on by childhood trauma and a heavy batch of manic depression. It was horrible. My family, I put them through hell one more time. Since then, I have been writing myself out of the madness. This blog has been a place for me to think…
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Our Guns, Our Madness
Dear Reader: This is from the archives, I wrote it after the massacre in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, it’s a timeless piece, and will remain so until this country gets rid of its guns. I know madness. I have manic depression and have been hospitalized when paranoia seizes me from the shadows without warning—the belief that…
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Nicaragua Was Not My First War
In 1969, when I was seven, we made a trip to El Salvador for the summer. My parents had plans: they considered moving to my mother’s home country, for financial reasons. Life was cheaper in Central America, even for a financially strapped gringo family. Mamá still had kin in the country. We could build a…