Monthly Archives: October 2011
Imagining a World “Full of Awesome”
“Awesome” is one of my favorite words to use with K. It’s my little way of telling her that what she is doing or has just done is something to be admired. I use it frequently – to encourage her to do things “by myself, Mama!”, to try things she’s scared of (“Getting to pet Jay’s cat Bailey is awesome, isn’t it, K?”), to keep her from crying on the playground because she slid down a little too fast on the slide and scared herself (“Oh my goodness, that was awesome, K! Let’s try it again!”). I use it so much that Kwill often use it too, telling me in her ever so serious voice: “Tha’s awesome, Mumma, tha’s awesome.” Read the rest of this entry
Where Medical, Political and Educational Worlds Meet
…Or do I really mean “Collide”? On Sunday, Jamie and I attended the annual Neurofibromatosis Symposium conducted by Harvard’s Center for Neurofibromatosis and Allied Disorders (CNfAD). As many of you know, K was diagnosed with NF1 just a couple months after she was born. To date, her condition is relatively mild, and with luck it will remain so.
There is something strangely compelling about taking a peek into the health care sausage factory (I’m sure my buddy Paul could tell you a whole lot more on this front). At this Symposium, there was a microcosm of the health care industry. Physicians, clinicians, social workers, advocates, not-for-profit organizations, parents, patients, educators, lobbyists – with the exception of actual honest-to-goodness politicians – I think we had every category covered, with many people present who filled more than one of those roles. It’s hard to know exactly how many people attended, but at a shot in the dark guess, it was probably about 100 people.
Let’s accept as true that everyone there had an ultimate goal of helping people with NF. The manifestations of how best to reach that goal, on the other hand, varied widely.
Remembering How the Jello Used to Jiggle
When I was growing up in LA, I loved basketball so much that my dream in life was to be Chick Hearn.
I used to use a tape recorder similar to this one.
(Even then, you can tell that my athletic ability was non-existent, since I was dreaming of being an announcer, not a player.) Somewhere in the bowels of my mom’s house are hidden a few audio tapes of a 12-year-old girl vainly attempting to provide the play-by-play for a Lakers game. I used to watch the game, turn down the sound and use an old tape recorder to practice.
Goodbye, Pants.
I totally fooled you with that headline, didn’t I? Sorry @GeoffJentry, but you should know me better.
Some of you may recall that I love comics. Not comic books (sorry, Paul), but comic strips. You know, the Sunday Funnies. Or rather, what the Sunday Funnies used to be once upon a time. Today, unfortunately, I get bored by most of the Sunday Funnies. It could be that I’ve gotten older, or it could be that things just aren’t as funny as they used to be. Anyway, this isn’t supposed to be a regurgitation of my love for Comics.
However, the wonderful world of the Internet has enabled a whole new stable of funny, intelligent and occasionally artistic people to find a life publishing comic strips for the enjoyment of themselves and often the rest of us. Read the rest of this entry
