Stories Articles
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"Didn't anyone understand? I'M NORMAL! I wanted to shout. I've always been normal." |
Knowledge is Necessity. Our stories inform and bind us. Here, you will find snapshots of my life. The first five gushed out of me in a mad stream soon after I was diagnosed in 1999. The sixth is an amalgamation of two reflective essays that followed soon after.
Suddenly, it seemed, my past had a mad coherency. The exercise proved cathartic and healing. This series was part of my original 50 or so pieces when I debuted mcmanweb in late 2000. As a group, they are the only original articles that remain substantially unchanged on this site.
Then I was content to let sleeping dogs lie. Over the next six years, I focused on straight reporting and commentary on my illness, with occasional personal reflections playing second fiddle. Then, in late 2005, HealthCentral invited me to blog as an "expert patient." Gradually, I settled into a groove of opening up about things going on in my daily life. This set the scene for starting up a wider-ranging blog at the end of 2008, Knowledge is Necessity, with an emphasis on knowing thyself. My next three collections of pieces had their genesis there - expect more to come.
Here, also, is a tribute to my good friend Kevin, in whose memory this site is lovingly dedicated.
Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." For what it's worth, here's mine ...
The pic to illustrate Stories is Fragonard's "A Young Girl Reading." We all have stories in us. What the woman in the illustration does after reading one of them is up to her. Who knows, once she gets out of that chair.
Innocence, Reality, Denial, Disaster, Discovery, Healing
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When I First Knew I Was Different A six-year-old faces an unpleasant truth. |
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A small skinny kid learns to cope. |
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First love and a family saint. |
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Looking back, I never stood a chance |
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Rage, Goddess, sing the rage. |
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Writing about the illness that nearly killed me was the key to my recovery. |
Recent Years
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Healing happens, but don't expect to stay in the same place. |
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Part of coming home involves coming to terms with where you've last been. |
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My Life as an International Awardee Nothing changed, yet ... everything changed. |
A Day in the Life
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My Totally Unexpected Didgeridoo Experience An unexpected acquisition generates healing. |
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I was fairly inconspicuous, holding a didgeridoo nearly a foot taller than I was. |
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I Enter My Elvis Pizza in a Cooking Contest I venture outside my comfort zone. |
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My Brilliant Shopping Experience I handled the situation perfectly. |
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I Invest in a New Chick Magnet But in opting for a car with a radio that works, did I make the right decision? |
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Nothing fell out of the sky. |
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Occupy the World: I Will Bring My Drum We ARE the ninety-nine percent, I banged out. |
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See the Man With the Stage Fright Social situations are challenging enough without having to step out on stage. |
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It wasn't my doing. |
Life, the Universe, Everything
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Life on a Planet Not of My Choosing My futile quest searching for meaning in a world that defies meaning. |
In Loving Memory
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The sky was the limit. His brain tricked him into believing otherwise. |
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He dared dream we could reshape our reality. It was a noble dream. |
