June was a terrible month for writing, but it turned out to be a great month for collecting experiences that would be good for writing later. At the beginning of the month I was spending my last day in Paris recovering from several days of non-stop record-setting walking around; at the end of it, I'll … Continue reading (Personal) A Writer’s Journal: June 2018
Category: Self-Reflection
(Politics) Fighting to Save the Things We Love
"That's how we're going to win: not fighting what we hate, saving what we love." - Rose Tico, Star Wars: The Last Jedi Last week, the actress who played Rose, Kelly Marie Tran, deleted her Instagram account after months of harassment rooted in racism and misogyny by trolls who hated her inclusion in the Skywalker … Continue reading (Politics) Fighting to Save the Things We Love
(Travel) A Jackalope in France and England
My Husband, The Dragon and I got back to the United States last Wednesday afternoon, and it's taken us a minute to catch up to things after two weeks out of the country. We're still not entirely done; news moves fast these days, and laundry piles up faster still. We really wanted to take it … Continue reading (Travel) A Jackalope in France and England
(Mental Health) How to Help Others
When I look back on the person I was in college -- during the worst period of my depression -- I am honestly amazed that I still have so many friends who knew me back then. I spent most of my time in the computer lab talking to folks online, and barely had enough energy … Continue reading (Mental Health) How to Help Others
(Mental Health) How to Help Yourself
If I could have readers leave the Desk at the end of the month with only one new piece of information, it's that mental illnesses are actual, physical ailments in the brain. While the way we think and perceive has something to do with how the illnesses are expressed, the fact remains that most conditions … Continue reading (Mental Health) How to Help Yourself
(Mental Health) My Comorbidity
One of the reasons it can be difficult to talk about mental illness is the simple fact that so many diagnoses feel poorly defined, or that just when our understanding of terms starts to stick in the public consciousness experts change the game on us, or that those of us with mental illnesses seem to … Continue reading (Mental Health) My Comorbidity
(Mental Health) My Executive Function
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a bit of a misnomer; I think the name is a big reason why ADHD is so poorly understood and controversial as a mental illness. Those of us with the disorder aren't necessarily hyperactive, and it isn't always characterized by a deficit in attention. We aren't bouncing off the walls … Continue reading (Mental Health) My Executive Function
(Mental Health) My Anxiety
When I was a little kid our family had an ancient brown Chrysler my mom called "Nellie". I wasn't sure if it was actually brown, or if the car was covered in that much rust, but Nellie was a formidable vehicle, a 20-foot land yacht with leather seats that gave you frostbite in the winter … Continue reading (Mental Health) My Anxiety
(Mental Health) My Depression
Back when I was 14 or 15, my sister ran away from home for a month and it straight-up wrecked me. We had no idea where she was or if I would ever see her again, and it was the first time we had been apart for that length of time. Growing up, we were … Continue reading (Mental Health) My Depression
(Writing) A Writer’s May
The month of April was...not great for me as a writer. I didn't make much progress on anything of note, though I *did* resume a long-dormant Pathfinder game that I'll take as my big win. I could attribute the lack of writing to my day job, or family stress, or the general pressures of being … Continue reading (Writing) A Writer’s May
From the Desk of Jakebe T. Rabbit 