Category: reminiscence

  • Memorial Day Connections

    Memorial Day Connections

    I was never in the military, but I tried once ages ago. I guess I’m lucky it didn’t work out. Memorial Day always makes me thing about my father, John Amos. Once upon a time, I would have said our relationship was either non-existent or difficult. But I’m not going to dwell too much on…

  • May is Mental Health Month: Today the Topic is Finding Awe

    May is Mental Health Month: Today the Topic is Finding Awe

    Since May is Mental Health Month, the topic for today is finding awe. I don’t think of it as mainly feeling small in the face of the grandeur of creation. The point is we’re a part of creation. We rightly could feel awe at ourselves just about everywhere we happen to be. We took a…

  • Svengoolie Show Movie: Dr. Cyclops

    Svengoolie Show Movie: Dr. Cyclops

    Svengoolie Intro: “Calling all stations! Clear the air lanes! Clear all air lanes for the big broadcast!” Here’s my deal; I fell asleep last night while watching another TV show on a different channel, “The UnXplained” hosted by William Shatner (Shat’s in the house and he’s 95 years old!) before the movie Dr. Cyclops came…

  • Editing My 16-Year-Old Blog Post

    Editing My 16-Year-Old Blog Post

    There’s a couple of reasons for this odd post. There are two reasons for writing it. One is a belated respect for copyright law and the other is a selfish one-my eye is on the WordPress prize for editing a post more than 6 years old. The latter will no doubt be disqualified because the…

  • KCCK Radio Friday Blues with Bobby D

    KCCK Radio Friday Blues with Bobby D

    Last night Bob DeForest (Bobby D) was doing the driving spinning the blues on Friday night. One song brought back memories, but it wasn’t the song itself because I never heard until last night. It was on the list of records last night, but missing this morning. Hey, I was there. It was “Jesus Dropped…

  • Personal Ancient History

    Personal Ancient History

    The essay below is a blog post I wrote way back in 2010. I was a mid-career consultation-liaison psychiatrist in a university hospital. And I’d always been a writer by inclination. It was one of my first posts and after that, blogging was something I never really pulled away from. I tried to give it…

  • May is Mental Health Month: Topic Today is Advocacy

    May is Mental Health Month: Topic Today is Advocacy

    Today’s topic for May Mental Health Month is advocacy. This could be about sharing a resource. I thought it might be OK to mention an Iowa resource for mental health, Your Life Iowa. It can be overwhelming to decide whether or not you’re ready to accept help for mental health challenges. First, you have to…

  • May is Mental Health Month: Topic for the Day is Friendship!

    May is Mental Health Month: Topic for the Day is Friendship!

    Today’s topic for May Mental Health Month is reaching out to a friend. I can give a shout out to three. This is a quirky one for me because two of them are long distance and one of them I haven’t communicated with for years. This stretches the definition of friend a little. So, on…

  • New York City Memories

    New York City Memories

    The recent New York Post story about the man who shoved a 76-year-old retired schoolteacher down a flight of subway stairs caught my attention. The assailant had been sent to Bellevue for a court-ordered psychiatric assessment for similar agitated behavior not long before this assault. My understanding from news stories is that he was held…

  • Getting Enough Sleep for the Most Important Person in the World: You

    Getting Enough Sleep for the Most Important Person in the World: You

    So, what’s on the menu for Mental Health Awareness today? It’s what some experts call sleep hygiene and there are all kinds of lists on the internet telling you how to get enough sleep. I think you’re OK with focusing on helpful tips that seem right for your age, your temperament, and your life and…