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I have an aneurysm in my brain?

I HAVE AN ANEURYSM IN MY BRAIN?

This is for informational purposes only. For medical advice or diagnosis, consult a professional. When I first started this blog seven or eight years ago, writing about aneurysms was the last thing on my mind. But that was before I married Deena and well before she was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm of her own. I journaled about her adventure and successful surgery last summer HERE and about the occasionally bumpy road to recovery HERE. Little did I know that...

HAVE WE LEARNED ANYTHING AT ALL?

Fascism is alive and well in America, today. In some sense, it has managed to survive during the last century in the proletariat neighborhoods of rural towns where you could find Christmas decorations on houses in August. These same happy homes might have old tires and the engine blocks or transmissions of decrepit cars as flower planters in their front yard. The postman might notice a confederate battle flag hanging on the living room wall as he passed each day...

For the sake of the elect

FOR THE SAKE OF THE ELECT

Sometimes I can be a real glutton for punishment. Like right now. I’m going to take two important articles of the Christian faith and mash them together, possibly in a way that they were not intended to be melded, but in a way that I believe is grammatically defensible and that also meets the letter of the Law and the spirit of grace. I could be mistaken–you be the judge. I don’t think what I’ll write meets the bar of...

As you heal from your aneurysm repair

AS YOU HEAL FROM YOUR ANEURYSM REPAIR

NOTE: I have two additional aneurysm threads on this blog: How my wife’s aneurysm was first discovered here and additional information on intracranial aneurysms here. This post is a continuation of a previous post titled Omi’s Aneurysm. In this post, I plan to journal what I hope will be a very uneventful recovery in the days and months ahead following my dear wife’s surgery, which occurred on August 9, 2024 for a 7 mm saccular, intracranial aneurysm. The word “intracranial”...

Searching for Truth

SEARCHING FOR TRUTH

In the mid-nineteenth century, John Sutter, a European immigrant from Baden, Germany had been granted almost 50,000 acres of generally wooded land by Mexico just northeast of Sacramento, California with the intention of establishing a colony of Europeans loyal to Mexico and committed to keeping Americans from moving in and taking the land. As the leader of the colony, Sutter needed a sawmill to provide lumber for the settlers to build homesteads.  Since there was no electricity then, Sutter needed water...

ON BEING SANE IN UNSANE PLACES

If you’ve taken General Psychology in the past, you may have had to read an essay by D.L. Rosenhan called “On Being Sane in Unsane Places.” It is a wonderful, timeless, humorous, insightful article. I’ve taken some liberty here with the subject and setting of Rosenhan’s story. The original setting in his article was a lunatic asylum, but for those of you are high teachers, have supervisors with Type “A” personalities or who are observers of contemporary politics, you will...

Safe spaces

SAFE SPACES

I was first introduced to the concept of Safe Spaces a decade ago in academia. I had already announced my retirement and was within ninety days of the effective date. I must have missed a memo or something because after returning to campus following a few days of absence, I noticed several office doors in my hallway had a device or discreet emblem or token designating the office as a “Safe Space.” Mine did not. To paraphrase the Bard, the...

Runaway stage

RUNAWAY STAGE

Most of us have seen old Westerns set in the nineteenth century on television or in the theater.  There are wagon trains, cattle stampedes, gunfights in the street, saloon brawls, hangings, stagecoaches and so on. Today, we no longer have wagon trains, cattle stampedes and stagecoaches, but we still have gunfights in the street, saloon brawls and at least attempted hangings by criminales trying to stop Congress from certifying a lawful Presidential election (2021.) There is a familiar motif to movies with...

IF NOT NOW, THEN WHEN?

The other day I was searching for something online and the name of the town I lived in came up in a banner ad.  My home town was basically a gas station and a tree. You could get gas and climb the tree, but that was all the excitement there was in Fosterdale, NY.  So, when I saw that ad, I wondered what had happened in my hometown? Did the gas station catch fire?  Did someone chop down the tree?  As it turns out,...

What we lose by ditching DEI

WHAT WE LOSE BY DITCHING DEI

I remember the first time I saw a truly handicapped person working in public. He was a young man with Downs Syndrome who worked at the local WalMart store as a greeter. People would come in and he would wave at them and smile. Don’t bother asking him where the loungerie department was or whether there was still a sale on studded snow tires. He would not be able to process sophisticated questions or anything other than very basic communication....

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