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Fathers Can Be a Pain in the Ass
I’m going to talk a little bit about fathers. Mothers are important too, but I’m a guy and I can talk about mothers another day. Because it’s a touchy subject, I’m going to begin with a Men in Black (MIB) joke, like I always do when I’m being defensive. There’s this MIB 3 scene in…
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More On Taming the Juggling Balls
I’ve been juggling for about 5 months now and reflecting on my progress. I think I’m doing OK for a geezer. Sena would call me a hot dog although I would still call it ugly juggling by any standard. What’s striking, at least to me, is the little bit of science I can find on…
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In Search of Al Martin
Today, I was thinking of a guy named Al Martin, who was one of the few African American role models for me when I was a teenager in Mason City, Iowa. I thought of him a couple of years ago, googled his name and couldn’t find him. I mentioned him anyway in a blog post…
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Iowa State University African American Science Graduates
I was thinking about what to write for the first day of Black History Month, which starts today on February 1, 2023. As usual, I started to reminisce about my time at Iowa State University (ISU) in Ames, Iowa. I usually don’t talk about my undergraduate days. In fact, I had a little trouble finding…
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KCCK Big Mo Blues Show Brings Back Memories
Last night on the KCCK Big Mo Blues Show I listened to something I haven’t heard since the mid-1970s. It was a radio commercial for the Green Beetle and Frank’s Liquor Store. It ran right after the song, “Memphis Women and Fried Chicken.” I think I first heard this radio ad while I was a…
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Exercise or Weaponize My Privilege?
Back in November 2022, while on our way to the Stanley Museum of Art, we saw the two murals on the East Burlington Street Parking Ramp. It was the first time we saw them in person although photos were available last fall. The Little Village article published an article about them on September 30, 2021.…
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MLK Week Redux for the New University of Iowa Psychiatry Fellows
I discovered the University of Iowa Dept of Psychiatry had a very successful match, filling key residency slots in Child Psychiatry, Addiction Medicine, and Consultation-Liaison fellowships. Congratulations! That’s a big reason to celebrate. This reminds me of my role as a teacher. I retired from the department two and a half years ago. But I’ll…
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An Old Post on Breaking Bad News
I’m reposting a piece about a sense of humor and breaking bad news to patients I first wrote for my old blog, The Practical Psychosomaticist about a dozen years ago. I still believe it’s relevant today. The excerpt from Mark Twain is priceless. Because it was published before 1923 (See Mark Twain’s Sketches, published in…
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New Season for Highway Thru Hell
There was a countdown on Sunday for the new season for Highway Thru Hell. That’s the explanation for the featured image. The show has been on a while; this is season 11. Season 11, for the first few episodes will deal with the catastrophic floods that devastated British Columbia in November of 2021. It took…
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Giving Credit Where Credit is Due
Here’s another vintage post from around a decade ago after my former Psychiatry Dept chairperson, Dr. Robert G. Robinson and I published our book, Psychosomatic Medicine: An Introduction to Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry” in 2010. Blog: Who Gets The Credit? When I think about peak moments, I remember this guy back in junior high school who decided…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 