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My big day is here – birthday 54. I am firmly in my mid-fifties. And I’m good. No big plans. Having lunch with a friend. Then I’m going to enjoy some birthday cake from Prantels while watching ‘When Harry Met Sally.’ On a DVD, no less. By myself or rather with the cats. My birthday […]
Pre-pandemic, I began seeing my counselor twice a week for therapy. We were starting to work on trauma and one session wasn’t enough. This was 2019. Her boss resisted. My insurance did not, so after self-advocacy, I became a woman who went to therapy twice a week. Like psychoanalysis without the cocaine or sex. I […]
What? For me? We all know that blog about my birthday all of the time, usually morose reflections on the birthday that could should would disappoint. At the end of the day, I’m a neglected kid with abandonment issues who still doubts the wisdom of her actual birth. Consequently, I am a wonderland for birthday anxiety. […]
Last week, I attended a town hall meeting organized by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. It was invigorating, but I had to work through some stuff to step out of my skin and into my role as a supporter. As I headed out the door to the meeting, imposter syndrome wrapped me in familiar tendrils. […]
Today, I ask you to donate $5 to another crowdfund, one of your choice. It was one year ago that this GoFundMe crowdfund launched. It was a Saturday morning. My sleep was fitful. Waves of desperation washed over me because I could not afford a lawyer and I had no money to even buy shoes […]
Today, August 27, 2024, marks one year since I was wrongly detained for an involuntary commitment (302), held against my will for four or five hours, then discharged to find the lock to my home had been changed. Each of these claims is a fact. The date, the invalid 302 paperwork, the time spent at […]
“I am a blogger,” I offer in lieu of the J word – a fusion of activism, reactivism, and news. The distinction seems important. I rarely stop to examine the accuracy of my clause because of the intensity I feel my cause. See, a journalist wouldn’t write that sentence, correct? “I am not a journalist,” […]
I was most likely born with a genetic predisposition to mental illness disability. My father has undiagnosed bipolar disorder, my mother unipolar depression. Most of the adults in my family used alcohol to self-medicate. My brother has ADHD which is very adjacent to bipolar. Disability. Disability. Disability. The neglect and abuse of my childhood created […]
In acknowledgment of Disability Pride Month, a look back at previous posts. Most of my blogging about mental health began after 2010 when I was declared totally and completely disabled by the Federal Government. I immediately hit many walls of discrimination, bias, and ignorance on the part of other people. My response was to up […]
A 302 in Pennsylvania is shorthand for an involuntary civil commitment. 302 is the section of the Pennsylvania code under Mental Health Law. This is a disability pride issue. Last year, LGBTQ activist and writer, Susan “Sue” Kerr suffered an inexcusable violation of her civil rights when multiple officials deliberately disregarded established ‘sprocesses meant to […]
