Here's where I post various discussions or reactions to things related to my work, home life or interests that I think my clients and friends might appreciate.

WORK	HOME LIFE	INTERESTS
Publishing	Parenting	Art & Music
Writing	Autism	Architecture
The Internet	Relationships	Archaeology
Marketing	Current Events	Culture

My most recent entry appears at the top of this page, with previous entries descending beneath.

Each entry contains icons to indicate subject matter, and you can click these to see an index of all related articles.

At the bottom of this page is a directory of my blog entries, listed by posting date (YY.MM.DD).

Please direct any feedback to my e-mail address above.

M O S T    R E C E N T    E N T R Y

Spencer Gets a Pet

Synopsis:  I'm allergic to cats and dogs, but had them all my life.  For the first time in ages I've been able to live pet-free.  Spencer, however, wanted a pet at daddy's house, and my giving in to his wish invokes many truisms about autism, identity, individuality, and even polytheism.

Excerpt:  His guinea pig is actually his third, at least.  Like Darren Stevens on Bewitched, the original went away, and the producers brought in a replacement, acting like nothing had happened.  The only ones fooled, of course, would be viewers like Spencer who don't really look at faces.  Every few months Spencer would report that his guinea pig suddenly got a little bigger or smaller, or went from being hyper to very mellow.  Shape-shifting isn't enough to suggest to Spencer that a new creature or person in the same role is actually a different person.

Aging Authors

Synopsis:  Prolific author Mary Higgins Clark autographed a children's book for me and Spencer.  Clark has over 40 books in print and is one of the most prolific women in the publishing industry.  I discuss the ascent and descent of her work, and contrast it with that of others--Agatha Christie, and Jaqueline Kennedy Onasis (yes, she earned her place in the list).  What can I and other aging creatives learn from these powerhouses?

Excerpt:  Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins Clark Conheeney has 40+ books to her name, and they sell. In fact her debut novel, We Are the Children, first published in 1975, is in its seventy-fifth printing! At this point the mathematician in me says "2011 minus 83 equals 1927-28, which is FORTY EIGHT years before 1975. MHC didn't write her first novel until she was almost fifty?

Overstimulation

Synopsis:  I discuss a parent's dilemma between leading an adult life and providing adequate guidance and care for one's child.  How much of what we do is misguided, and how can we know?  A history of hysteria meets the age-old questions of "how much TV?" and "what qualifies as overstimulation?"

Excerpt:  Would you believe that when writing became increasingly available to the masses in early Western history, prominent thinkers railed against it as unhealthy? Socrates railed against the spread of literacy, as he believed it would dwarf the memories of men (the Greek word for read is "anaginosko," literally "to know again," as paper and ink spare the scholar the task of remembering). Indeed, from the dawn of human civilization, bards relayed epic tales, such as Homer's Ilyad, purely from memory.

Assassination

Synopsis:  British filmmakers released a film in 2006 about the assassination of George W. Bush half-way through his second Presidential term.  Was this film politically divisive, or did it actually have some meritous rhetoric, absent of any homicidal malice?

Excerpt:  What surprised me right off was that the film portrayed a believable array of reactions from characters purported to be Bush Administration insiders and Secret Service agents. As a mockumentary, it seemed relatively neutral, and quite sympathetic to the slain President.

Parenting an Autistic
Child

Synopsis:  I share my experience in raising a child with Asperger's Syndrome, and the two biggest lessons I have learned from it.  Also discussed are early diagnosis and treatment and dealing with defiance and meltdowns.

Excerpt:  In my observation, it is the home that is the number-one factor in helping the ASD child.  All other therapies are secondary--not optional--secondary, as shorts are secondary to a runner's shoes.  You shouldn't omit the shorts.  Shirt, maybe, but neither shorts nor shoes.

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