"This is America?"
In first grade, we stood each morning to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. It was the late 1960s and all girls were required to wear...
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AUTHOR | SPEAKER
Dr. Lise Deguire
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Try Swiping Right
I saw an old friend last weekend (name and info changed.) Mary is a social worker, a few years older than I, smart and witty, quietly...
Searching for "The Roses Man"
I met “The Roses Man” when I was 5 or 6 years old, attending Franklin Elementary School in East Orange, New Jersey. I was freshly...
Winning the Worst Award
Picture me at 22 years old, bright eyed with big hair and a big smile to match. I strode the campus of my college, Tufts University, with...
How I met TED
“You should do a TED talk,” a literary agent suggested, as I blinked at her. “A TED talk? What would I even talk about? And how do you...
Darkness Descends; An Ode to Joy
It crept in like a low fog, so lightly that I didn’t notice it beginning to swirl around me. A vague unease, a weighty sigh. The sun...
The everyday grief of an "obsolete" mom
What is the reward of being a good mother to a blessedly healthy child? They leave you. How could it all be gone? Where did it go?
Road Trips Are Never What We Expect
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." — Marcel Proust Guest Author: Pat Wetzel...
My Worst Fear: Public Speaking (to Nobody)
What do you do when your worst fear actually happens?
Disfigurement: A Call for Awareness
(republished, with permission, from the Pennsylvania Psychologist) When I was four years old, I survived a fire which burned away my...
How NOT to Turn Into your Parents
My grandmother “Memere” sang every morning as she opened her lace curtains, welcoming the sun into the bedroom we shared. Her chirping...
Happy To Be “Too Sensitive”
My mother used to tell me, “You're too sensitive.” It was a repeated refrain, deployed when I cried too long or hurt too much. She said...
A Dose of Compassion, Doctor's Orders
I have been a patient and a doctor, on both sides of the bed. I have sat with injured people, processing their trauma. I have also been...
What the Shaman Said
“The ancients knew something, which we seem to have forgotten.” Albert Einstein Life takes us interesting directions, and mine recently...
Six Calming Strategies for Dark Times
“Now is the winter of our discontent.” Although I quote Shakespeare, I really only know this line from my ninth grade obsession with the...
Come on Charlie
By Ken Giglio, guest author Every time I leave Florida and my 96-year-old father, like I did two weeks ago, I wonder how many more days...
Learning Differently or, "The Candyman Can"
Once upon a time, I gave birth to a perfect little girl, with big blue eyes and a wide smile. She exuded peace and serenity. A friend of...
Remembering on Memorial Day
On Memorial Day, we honor our nation’s fallen. I would like to write about those who gave their lives defending our country. However, I...
What is Your Purpose?
What brings meaning to your life? I am not asking because I have the right answer. I am asking because I want you to have an answer, an...
Hey Hollywood – Scars Don’t Make You Evil
At the end of a weary work week, I sprawled on the couch ready to watch a movie. I wanted to be entertained by someone else’s problems...
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