Obviously, my most poignant memory of 9/11 was watching the Twin Towers come down. I also felt sad for the people directly affected by the tragedy. I lived thousands of miles away at the time, but I still remember feeling connected to strangers.
But what about after that day, when our leaders began to comfort us?
I remember President Bush telling us that we should make sure to go out and spend money so that we could keep our economy going. It would, he promised, be a way to defy our enemies, who seemed bent on destroying our financial well-being as a …read more

Memorial Day

It’s a national holiday in the US. Are you working? I’m not judging. I’ll be working some today too. Does it seem to you, as it does to me, that we’re technology is allowing forcing us all to work more and at all hours?
For me, this is a huge advantage because I rarely have to be in a physical location at a certain time and that allows me to pursue a certain level of balance between work and parenting. But sometimes, it is hard to turn it all off. If I’m not doing actual work, I at least do my …read more

Are you ready for the summer? Are you ready for the good times? Memorial Day considered by many to be the official start of summer. Let’s hope it’s a turning point in our economic confidence. Here’s a sampling of Memorial Day news from this week.

The Biz of Baseball reports on major league baseball’s honoring of veteren’s at all games this Memorial day, as well as on the Fourth of July and September 11th. In addition they’ll work to raise money and awareness for Welcome Back Veterans, a program which addresses the mental health and job needs of returning American Veterans.
For …read more

Memorial Day doesn’t have to be just one day, and my previous post about veterans’ health got me wondering about the care that my grandpa received from Veterans’ Affairs (VA). My grandpa served in World War II on a minesweeper for the U.S. Navy. Take a look at him and a shipmate in the photo below. He’s on the left. WWII sailors were lookers, weren’t they!?
I gave my mom a ring on Monday and asked her to tell me a little bit about the care that my grandpa received.

Earlier this month an e-mail was sent by psychologist Dr. Norma Perez at Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center in Temple, Texas to staff suggesting that they “refrain from giving a diagnosis of [post traumatic stress disorder] PTSD straight out.” Dr. Perez suggested that a diagnosis of “adjustment disorder” be given instead. This didn’t upset me at first as there are many instances of any number of conditions being over-diagnosed, and maybe Dr. Perez just wants to be accurate. As I read on, though, a couple of things jumped out at me.
First, I learned from many sources that the level of …read more