Song of the day: “The Greatest”
I was never a big fan of Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power. Her voice just seemed too somnolent, too droopy. I haven’t heard her latest album in its entirety, but I like the title track a lot, maybe because she’s enhanced her dreary sound with orchestral flourishes that make her sound less gummy. The song is beautiful, actually, and quite touching.
The refrain goes:
“Once I wanted to be the greatest
No wind or waterfall could stop me
And then came the rush of the flood
The stars at night turned you to dust”
Well, you know what George Eliot used to say: “It is never too late to be who you might have been.”
[Happy photo of Chan Cat by Shawn Mortenson]
liz | 3:42 PM | Uncategorized
NAMI is happy
NAMI Applauds Amnesty International Report
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 /PRNewswire/ — Michael Fitzpatrick, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) today issued the following statement:
“Amnesty International’s report today on the death penalty and mental illness represents a compelling step forward in making the case that profound injustice exists at the most painful intersection of the mental healthcare and criminal justice systems in America.
“NAMI opposes the death penalty for people with serious mental illnesses. The law has not kept pace with modern science. The criminal justice system is ill-suited to address biologically-based brain disorders that create illogical, confused patterns of thought.
liz | 3:16 PM | Uncategorized
In Memorium
It’s been a sad few days with the deaths of Wendy Wasserstein and Coretta Scott King (as disparate as their missions were, they were both formidable women).
This came yesterday from Marilyn Baker, NAMI PA, Chester County Coordinator:
“PA Senator Robert ‘Bob’ Thompson, of Chester County – 19th District, passed away unexpectedly Saturday, Jan 28, 2006 at the U of PA Hospital in Philadelphia. He had been diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis earlier in 2005.
“There will be a Viewing Friday evening (time TBA) and a Memorial Service at 11:00 am on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2006 at the First Presbyterian Church in West Chester Borough.
“I have known Bob for close to 30 years and had the utmost respect for him as a person for his character, dedication to the community, as a public servant to the residents of Chester County and the state of PA, as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, among other committees.
“In particular, he was a strong advocate on the county, state and national level for those persons with mental illness and for those of them, who were put in jail and prison, due to lack of proper facilities for their care. He will be greatly missed.”
liz | 12:39 PM | Uncategorized
Random, but interesting
This is the latest obit I’ve ever read; the subject of the article died in 2004. But hey, she was a fascinating lady, so why not?
Exploring Mental Illness and Battling Her Own
liz | 12:23 PM | Uncategorized
Headlines: Crime and punishment
Ex-Postal Employee Kills Six, Then Self [via Philadelphia Inquirer]
USA: New report on execution of mentally ill prisoners [Amnesty International]
Program helps defendants get mental health aid [Times Union: New York]
Front page images, stories show tragedy played out close to home [Daily Reflector: North Carolina]
Mental Health Court [NewsTalk 1410 AM: Wisconsin]
liz | 12:46 PM | Uncategorized
Behind the curve
I’ve completely reneged on my own promise to provide cute kitten pictures, and I apologize. I’m so behind, the pumas at the Philadelphia Zoo have become the official mascot for Philadelphia Will Do, my colleague’s site. I’m sure D-Mac was wondering why I fell down on the kitten job, but I’m going to defend myself by saying: Pumas are not kittens, Dan. Not even close.
Cute report [Philadelphia Will Do]
Photo courtesy Kitten pictures
liz | 11:45 AM | Uncategorized
Brain Frey
Oy, I’m all Freyed out. Yet the news stories keep on coming. One of Frey’s publishers has apologized, and now people are trying to file lawsuits, which just seems unbelievably ridiculous.
I will say this, however: As a person who partly makes her living telling the truth about her own experience, I can certainly understand the temptation to exaggerate sometimes. When it’s a tough day, and you feel like you can’t form a sentence, forming a non-truthful one seems like it would make things easier. The fact that Frey succumbed to this temptation—in a big way—might be looked upon by some with sympathy, especially since the poor guy’s been publically humiliated.
But I don’t have sympathy for him, beyond feeling badly that he has to be pilloried this way. (Might as well put him in the stocks and pelt him with stones.) It’s like Jayson Blair; I’m bipolar too, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to file fake news stories. Being bipolar isn’t an excuse for Blair’s behavior, as he’s suggested.
Likewise, Frey’s being in recovery doesn’t persuade me he’s necessarily a victim. There are lots of people in recovery who don’t lie, who don’t allow the publishing industry to promote a book as truth when it’s a fabrication. There have to be standards, and personal responsibility.
Literary sins, however, get washed away pretty quick—faster, even, than journalistic ones. Frey’s book will remain popular, and despite his saying otherwise, he’ll probably publish another one within a year—something about what it’s like to fall from grace in the world of big-money publishing. Let’s hope someone fact-checks it this time.
liz | 10:33 AM | Uncategorized
The Wright Stuff
My neighbor gets horrible catalogs all the time. I feel like it must make her feel badly about herself that such tacky companies are so fond of her. She always throws the catalogs out in the communal trash can, and I always pick them out. They’re perfect reading in the morning on the trolley, when I’m just too exhausted to concentrate on the book I’m reading.
My special favorite is Carol Wright Gifts, a catalog filled with fleece-lined eyeglass holders, fitted plastic tablecloths and “Norwegian” slippers. The health-related items don’t conjure a good image: There are compression socks for aching feet and swollen ankles, toe straighteners for hammertoes, magnetic knee braces, a walker tray, an electric callus remover, even “button extenders,” which allows you to keep pants and shirts even after you’ve gotten too fat for them.
Then there are the implications of troubling lifestyle issues: several recliner covers, numerous pet-related cleaning solutions, and enough microwave cooking equipment (including a microwave bacon cooker, pictured here) so that you’ll never need an oven or stove again. Perhaps saddest of all, a one-cup coffeemaker, in case it’s just you and the cat.
Oddly, I feel a strong affinity for the people who order from this catalog, including my late grandmother, who, I now realize, furnished her apartment entirely with Carol Wright products. I don’t have a recliner and a cat, and somehow that seems good to me, like it means I’m okay. But the truth? Most days I’d like to have both, as well as the giant terrycloth towels and the “flattering float dress.” I imagine a Carol Wright universe as happily uncomplicated. A silly fantasy, I know, but my grandmother was so happy to get a bargain on stuff like a patchwork leather luggage set, it was hard not to be jealous.
liz | 10:32 AM | Uncategorized
Professor deception
Ah, The Chronicle of Higher Education. When I was in graduate school, and fancied myself a PhD candidate, I pored over its pages as if it would reveal the secrets to my qualifying exams and tenure-track positions. When my academic career fizzled due to my illness, I stopped reading it.
Now a PW associate sends this link to a story about a student who … well, I don’t want to give anything away, but whose psychological problems made life difficult for the professor (at a small Southern college; so much the worse for him) who tried to give her advice. It’s an interesting spin on the question of student health services.
liz | 10:15 AM | Uncategorized
Still here
Okay, I’m trying to pretend I’m not blogging right now, but I’m still at work, so it’s pointless to pretend. Below, a heartbreaking story of abuse at a state hospital in Texas. Michael Fiala, 35, begged his father to get him out of the hospital, where he was ultimately beaten to death. From the Dallas News:
“Deaths like Mr. Fiala’s are rare, said Joe Lovelace, outgoing executive director of the Texas branch of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. State statistics support that: Michael Fiala was the only patient to die from assault at a Texas state hospital last year.”
I imagine such deaths are, in fact, infrequent, but I wonder at Lovelace’s certainty. How do we know for sure?
liz | 9:47 PM | Uncategorized
