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...
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AUTHOR | SPEAKER
Dr. Lise Deguire
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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...
My Worst Fear: Public Speaking (to Nobody)
What do you do when your worst fear actually happens?
The Problem with "Women Talking"
Sarah Polley’s Women Talking is a beautiful ensemble piece, in which women gather to discuss how to handle a violent crisis. The...
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...
Your Accidental Activist
Somehow, I have become an activist. This was never my intent. All I ever planned was to write my memoir. I did not intend to be a public...
"Burn Baby Burn"
[Author note: In recognition of this back-to-school time, here is a reprint of my blog about bullying. Many children are bravely...
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...
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...
My Brother, the Whale, and the Duck
My brother Marc and I were born exactly four years and 51 weeks apart. It was just my birthday, and on February 19th, it would be his. As...
Angels who leave Christmas trees
When I was four years old, an angel left me my very own Christmas tree. I lay on a soft twin bed, tucked in the corner of a wood-paneled...
A Tough Fall
(Part 5 in the series Choosing More Surgery) I spoke to a psychic two weeks before my recent operations. The psychic is a friend, an...
Somewhere Over My Rainbow(s)
(Part 4 in the series Choosing More Surgery) I have always loved “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” I identify with Dorothy in The Wizard of...
I Hate Walter: Choosing more surgery (Part II)
(For Part I of this series, click here) “You need to make friends with it,” advised my surgeon. She smiled at me, her long straight...
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