PinnedMember-onlyDemocracy as an Internal State of AffairsConsider democracy, bear with me here, as an internal process as well as an external one — with the varying aspects of ourselves seeking representation. With the parts of ourselves seeking, yearning to be known and seen, in our chronological adulthood especially when they were not welcomed in our earlier…Democracy13 min readDemocracy13 min read
Sep 12Member-onlyEven in Paradise…It’s Been a Gabor Mate SummerWherever you go, there you are… On a quiet place on the island of Elba things are calm. I am calm, everything being relative. I am calm enough to go in and out of Gabor Mate’s book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts*, a book on addiction, on the need…Gabor Mate6 min readGabor Mate6 min read
Aug 3Member-onlyJustice Was Not ServedEditorially speaking, in the first person, I cannot see how “justice was served” in the Tree of Life Synagogue killings — how the verdict of death has anything to do with justice. Cynically speaking it seems like a way of Americans assuaging guilt about anti-Semitism that at points as been…Tree Of Life Synagogue4 min readTree Of Life Synagogue4 min read
May 26Member-onlyCowboys and Indians in Ukraine: The Narrative We are Exposed to EndlesslyI know this is already very politically incorrect: we don’t often encourage our children — boys or girls — to play cowboys against Indians, as if the latter are always the bad guys. …Ukraine6 min readUkraine6 min read
May 21Member-only“ Are we Overusing the Word “Trauma”? First I Said Maybe but Now I Say No and Here’s WhyGabor Mate has been widely quoted on trauma. As I write, his latest book (with his son Daniel) sits in English on my upstairs coffee table in Italy. It is called The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture. I say “in English” because it is…Trauma6 min readTrauma6 min read
May 20Member-only“It’s a Circus!”: On the Selling of Trauma ConferencesI’d like to address the clatter and hyper-frequency with which we — the therapists working in and interested in (and no doubt having as well) trauma — receive email notifications of yet another conference and series of workshops available online. There is nothing wrong with conferences. When Terry Real or…Trauma3 min readTrauma3 min read
Apr 5Member-onlyTrauma Envy: Prince Harry and MeIt’s humbling to say the least, that my opinion of Prince Harry and his deserving the spot in the American (white perhaps) psyche that is so sympathetic and voyeuristic, turns out to come down to envy. My own that is. Prince Harry was indeed bullied as a child as it…6 min read6 min read
Mar 21Member-onlyThe Anniversary of a War, a War Brought to us by Conspiracy TheoristsThe absence of any evidence for such a plot does not deter conspiracy theorists. Collins English Dictionary Are the people telling us the lies about weapons of mass destruction, about the American quest and mission to bring democracy to the Middle East, conspiracy therapists? Are they war criminals, deciding that…Iraq2 min readIraq2 min read
Mar 21I Couldn’t Understand Why Brits Were So Hostile to Prince Harry.1.6K55M. MeyersThank you and though you're talking about Prince Harry--and why is he still a PRINCE???????,Thank you and though you're talking about Prince Harry--and why is he still a PRINCE???????, I've really appreciated Chris Rock on Meagan Markle. Okay it's hostile but not passive aggressive at the very least. So thank you and it's overdue.1 min read1 min read
Mar 9Member-onlyIf We See Something, Beware of Saying Something, Lest We be Punished and Shunned.This piece and I are fueled by the first 40 minutes of the Chris Rock Netflix standup comedy special, “Selective Outrage”, streaming as we speak. We are all enveloped in a haze of propaganda whether we like it or not. It is like systemic racism, which we breathe in no…12 min read12 min read