“Oooh, I’m so depressed, my partner left me.” While the line above isn’t unusual, this ain’t depression. We tend to throw the word around a lot, with most people utterly unaware what depression is. Clinical depression is crippling. There are good days and bad, but I’m getting ahead of myself . . . What is […]
When I was growing up, mental health issues meant only two things: You were crazy and should be put away. You were an artist and should never get better. Note: These were not mutually exclusive. This may have been different in other parts of the country, but in rural, Upstate New York, this was the
Sins of the Previous Generation Read More »
“I try to laugh about it, cover it all up with lies. I try to laugh about it, hiding the tears in my eyes. Cause boys don’t cry.” – The Cure, ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ Boys don’t cry. And certainly not men. We’re like the British. We keep a stiff upper lip. And if you believe
It shouldn’t be this hard to write this. It shouldn’t. I shouldn’t feel drained, hollow, scared, depressed, sad putting the words to page. But I am all those things. I agreed to do it months ago thinking that it would be easy-—a slam dunk. It has not been. I have struggled more with this than
This debut novel by author Heather Levy, is chock full of gray areas that authors can tend to shy from for teen protags such as abuse, sexual awakenings, and crime. It tells the story of Sam Mayfair, a young woman struggling to cope with trauma and the murder of her abuser. The death of the
Walking through Needles Read More »
The concept of allowing readers to achieve catharsis by sharing in the intense emotions of characters goes back at least to ancient Greece. If you’ve ever cried with a character in a work of fiction, you know how powerful and healing it can be. It’s one of the most effective ways to bond a reader
Withholding Catharsis Read More »
There are nights when I shoot up suddenly, jolted awake by searing nerve pain. In those late hours, I lie still envisioning a slasher breaking into my house wielding a knife or chainsaw or machete (think Robert Rodriguez or Rob Zombie grade of cinematic gore) only to have me beg them to take the left
On Those Nights When Only Cake will do… Read More »
Embarrassingly, Rumaan Alam was not on my radar until I heard an interview with him on NPR. As he summarized this recent work for the listeners, I was shocked, as I’m sure you will be if you choose to read it, that it was written a good two years before the pandemic. Like some fiction
Book Discussion: Leave the World Behind Read More »
