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AUTHOR | SPEAKER
Dr. Lise Deguire
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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...
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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...
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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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How the Witch Became a Model
When I was five, my heaven was a tiny dusty theater at Upsala College in East Orange, New Jersey. My father taught music history there....
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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...
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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...
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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...
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My Worst Fear: Public Speaking (to Nobody)
What do you do when your worst fear actually happens?
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How This Grinch Forgave Her Mother (Mostly)
“Have you forgiven your mother?” Oddly, this gut-wrenching, intensely personal question follows me wherever I go. I am a psychologist and...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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"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...
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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...
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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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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...
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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...
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Why Me? Why Not Me?
(This is Part 3 in the series "Choosing More Surgery." See here for Part 1 and here for Part 2) “How are you doing today?” asked my...
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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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5 Things to Say to a Scarred Person (and 1 Thing Not to Say)
A year ago, I sat eating lunch with my new friend, Betsy. We met when our kids performed in high school theater together. We both...
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