Blogga-Looba!Blogga-Looba!A series of essays ond observations on political, cultural and personal events, both large and small, by an Atlanta-based psychotherapist and pundit. 
Articles
Neuroses of Oz
2007-09-09 19:53:00 I hold a special place in my heart for The Wizard of Oz. In my childhood it came on television about once a year and that night was always special in my household. I became gradually able to watch it all the way through without escaping to the safety of the kitchen at the sight of the flying monkeys or the apple-throwing trees. Now that own a copy on DVD I occasionally watch a scene or two More About: Euros
That Creepy Nasonex Bee
2007-09-07 14:03:00 One benefit of maintaining a blog is the opportunity to vent feelings I might not otherwise discuss, even if the topic seems trivial. It's like the old axiom known to midwives for hundreds of years that goes "better out than in." So here's my rant against the creepy Nasonex Bee. Maybe the fact that I have an opinion of this advertising character means that I watch too much television. I More About: Creepy , Cree
Personal Search Histories: "B"
2007-09-06 17:19:00 Here's another in a series that lists terms I've searched for on my web browser over the last two years. I think it provides some interesting psychological and historical insight into my interests and has some poetic value as well. Today's letter: B! Babaluba Beck loser lyrics babel fish baby hot car backgammon baking recipe with splenda balancing egg equinox myth ballyhoo define Baltimore More About: Personal , Search
Date Movie Bulls-Eye: "Once"
2007-09-06 04:12:00 Guys, if you want to score major points with your woman and you live in a big city that gets limited-release movies, take her to see Once. The link that is highlighted in the previous sentence is to a movie review website which lists this Irish indie film to have an almost unprecedented 97% positive approval rating among reviewers. Fellows, let me warn you the plot ain't much. It's about a More About: Movie , Bulls
Personal Search Histories: "W"
2007-09-04 21:24:00 As a "palate cleanser" to my last heavy post, I'm including the first in a series of lighter-hearted "search history" posts. My internet browser saves the phrases I type when I am searching for something online, so that if I begin typing the same letters in the future it will automatically bring up the term I previously used. I haven't cleared my cache in well over a year and the terms I've More About: Personal , Search
Acknowledging the Apocalypse
2007-09-03 02:18:00 Rarely does a week pass that I don't imagine a scene of apocalyptic devastation erupting suddenly all around me. Usually this occurs when I am in a location where large numbers of people are going about their business, such as a shopping mall. I find myself surrounded by humans going about the countless normal activities that make up an uneventful day. Some are talking on their cell phones, More About: Apocalypse
When Cruising Is Confusing: How Senator Craig Can Seek Sex With Men in Bath
2007-08-31 16:03:00 It's all over the news that Idaho Senat or Larry Craig was arrested in a Minneapolis public restroom for signaling his desire to engage in anonymous sexual behavior with an undercover police officer. The country is now getting an unexpectedly graphic education about bathroom "cruising" signals such as foot tapping, hand motions and other subtle forms of nonverbal solicitation. I bet many men More About: Bath , Seek
Found Poem: Friendship Bread Starter
2007-08-29 22:06:00 I love the idea of "found poetry", which occurs when words, phrases or entire passages from other sources are reshaped for their inherent poetic potential. I recently received an email that I thought was a beautiful example of this. My wife Gina sent a batch of yeast starter for Amish Friendship Brea d , along with the recipe, to my daughter's art teacher, "Miss Heather". Soon afterward, More About: Poem , Starter
Sentences I Never Imagined Hearing
2007-08-29 02:53:00 This is a topic that I'll probably come back to occasionally as other examples present themselves. From time to time I hear a sentence that strikes my ear as being very.....unusual. If I somehow had the chance to predict a million sentences that I thought I'd come across in my lifetime, this wouldn't be one of them. I hear one every couple of months, but I almost always forget it soon More About: Hearing , Sentences , Imagine , Sentence
Mother Teresa: Spirituality In The Absence Of Faith
2007-08-26 06:27:00 I am feeling both deep pain and great joy to learn that Mother Theresa, who ministered to the needs of the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying for over 40 years, spent virtually that entire time without sensing the presence of God in her life. If you haven’t learned about these startling revelations, see, for example, the article in Time titled “Mother Teresa ’a Crisis of Faith ”. It reports in More About: Spirituality , Ality
I Am The Sign Guy (Koo Koo Ka Choo)
2007-08-26 04:11:00 For the past three years I’ve been in charge of putting up the messages on the marquee that faces the street at my daughter's elementary school. I performed the same duty for four years before that at our previous school before we moved intown. I’ve posted many hundreds of messages over the past seven years, generally never going more than 4 or 5 days before changing the sign. I’ve grown so More About: Sign
A Long Way From Shawshank
2007-08-24 14:57:00 I just finished watching "The Shaw shank Redemption" again on DVD. The acting does a mighty fine job carrying the film over the numerous holes in the plot. Several scene remain inspiring, such as Tim Robbins crawling through the waste pipe, emerging in a stream during a thunderstorm and holding his arms wide in triumph as the camera pans from above. Yet for all the attempts to show the More About: Long , Hank
Pretending to Talk On The Cell Phone
2007-08-23 03:37:00 I wonder if I'm the only one who occasionally pretends to talk on a cell phone in public to escape a sense of anxiety, but I bet I'm not. Sometimes when I stand or walk alone in a public space I find myself feeling a little too self-conscious for my own comfort. It might happen when I am by myself while lots of people around me are talking as couples or in small groups. Or it might occur when More About: Phone , Cell Phone , Cell , Talk , Cell-phone
Who Let The Dogs Out And Then Killed Them?
2007-08-20 21:34:00 So Michael Vick, the $130 million face of the Atlanta Falcons, agreed today to enter a guilty plea on federal dogfighting charges. His co-defendants had all turned on him amid mounting evidence that he not only financed an illegal dogfighting gambling ring but that he personally participated in killing dogs that under-performed in the ring. Make no mistake about it: Michael Vick is being More About: Dogs , Killed , Then , Who Let the Dogs Out
Poison Me Elmo
2007-08-15 18:37:00 The co-owner of a Chinese toy manufacturer hanged himself after almost one million Sesame Street toys his company produced were recalled for containing lead-tainted paint. According to the CNN.com article about the incident, "It is common for disgraced officials in China to commit suicide." This morning I saw the CEO of Mattel make the rounds of the news shows to "apologize to the American More About: Poison
Trudging to The Awakening
2007-08-10 23:23:00 Last year my family and I went to Washington, D.C. for an enjoyable week-long vacation. At the ages of 7 and 11 my kids were neither too young nor yet too old to appreciate all of the historic attractions the area has to offer. We toured both the White House and Capitol, rode the elevator to the top of the Washington Monument, gazed at the Declaration of Independence at the National Archives More About: The A , Awake , Awakening
Coughing, Screaming, Crying: Atlanta's Code Red Smog Alert
2007-08-09 00:39:00 Atlanta is now three days into a “code red smog alert”, in which the Environmental Protection Agency has determined that Atlanta's air quality is literally not fit to breathe. The combination of 100 degree heat, a stagnant high pressure cell and the absence of any wind or rain has resulted in an atmospheric "dome" over the region that is holding in all of the pollutants generated by the millions More About: Code , Alert , Smog , Ming , Cough
Seeing A Wounded Deer While Kayaking
2007-08-07 04:29:00 This past weekend I had a kayaking lesson with my son and sister-in-law on the Little Tennessee River in western North Carolina. A kayak is such a snug fit, floats so low in the water and is so maneuverable that the relationship that I experienced with the river became dramatically more intimate than I had previously known. We began the long process of learning how to "read" the river, and to More About: Deer , Kaya
Harry Potter Chafes My Ass
2007-08-03 04:14:00 I’m surrounded by rabid Harry Potter fans – both my kids and even my wife raced to read the last installment of the saga of the boy wizard. They breathlessly discuss it with each other, their whispers of excitement charging the household air. They have seen all of the movies several times each, of course. I almost feel as if Harry, Ron, Hermione and all the rest of the Hogwarts characters are
Fullscreen Metaphor
2007-08-01 11:30:00 I saw a list of DVD movie sales recently and noticed that the "fullscreen" format continues to sell briskly, sometimes even outpacing the widescreen version of the same movie. I have a theory about why people continue to watch fullscreen rather than widescreen formats when they have the choice. I think that a lot of folks don't like the blank spaces at the top and bottom of the screen so much More About: Cree
The Future Creates Its Own Past
2007-07-28 19:12:00 It's universally accepted that the past helps to create, or at least shape, the present. There's a poem by Gerald Manley Hopkins titled "The child is father to the man" that poetically captures the idea that what happens to us in earlier stages of our lives has a profound effect on how we deal with the events and feelings that we experience in the here and now. This is one of the cornerstones of More About: Future , The Future , Past , Create
Global Climate Change and Child Abuse Dynamics
2007-07-26 15:57:00 As I continue to struggle to come to terms with the emerging global climate crisis I’ve come to realize that many people who argue against the issue engage in a set of denials that I often experience as a psychotherapist when dealing with abuse dynamics. It seems there are three stages of denial a person must work through in order to fully accept responsibility for inappropriate behavior. I think More About: Abuse , Climate Change , Climate , Change , Dynamics
YouTube Debate vs. Live Earth Concert:
2007-07-25 19:26:00 I watched the CNN/YouTube Democratic debate earlier this week. While the politicians regurgitated their same old speaking points, I found the format of citizen questions to be refreshing and innovative. I'm looking forward to the Republican YouTube debate in the near future. As always, the most trenchant political analysis of the emerging techno-political culture can be found on comedycentral.com More About: Youtube , Earth , Concert , Debate , Live
Television Turns of Phrase
2007-07-21 06:39:00 I notice certain words and phrases on television that I don't think most people catch. At least my wife is generally oblivious to them while they grate on me like nails on a chalkboard. Here are a few brief examples: 1. Anderson Cooper says "I mean" way too often. For an obviously intelligent man this CNN anchor can sure talk like a high school sophomore sometimes. I'm convinced that his More About: Television , Levis
Mini Van Man
2007-07-19 04:45:00 I have finally entered Mini van Nation. For years we drove only 4-cylinder sedans but it became obvious that my family needed a larger vehicle. After methodically narrowing our choices (including weeks of learning about various options and ferreting out detailed information about exactly what people have been paying nationwide) we finally settled on the Honda Odyssey. It's a nice vehicle. We got
Magic Bullet Infomercial
2007-07-18 04:42:00 One of the small joys of my life is when I stumble across another opportunity to watch the 30 minute infomercial for the Magic Bullet , the “personal versatile countertop magician”, which I’ve probably seen 50 times. Sometimes I troll the cable channels looking for it, often striking paydirt early Sunday mornings. For the uninitiated, this fascinating commercial doesn’t just promote the product ( More About: Infomercial , Merc
The 20-60-20 Rule
2007-06-29 04:15:00 I'm not sure where I got the idea for the "20-60-20" rule. A web search came up with several concepts that aren't the same as how I use the term. (Perhaps I didn't dig deep enough down in the results.) What I'm referring to is the idea of a useful ratio for helping to keep in perspective the ebbs and flows of how life seems to be treating us at any particular time. The basic idea is that 60% of More About: Rule
More Therapeutic Distinctions
2007-06-21 04:30:00 A few weeks ago I wrote an entry entitled Thera peutic Distinctions" which included some thoughts about various important concepts that I find useful to address at different times with some of my psychotherapy clients. I've continued reflecting on this topic and have thought of a few more closely related concepts that I find useful to distinguish. Caring vs. codependent – For many years I hardly More About: Erap
On Boredom
2007-05-29 04:08:00 The concept of boredom is supposedly a relatively recent development in the history of mankind. According to this idea, humans were historically so focused on toil and survival that to experience what we know as boredom was unfathomable. This theory holds that boredom is a byproduct of our post-industrial age. Like our ability to produce atomic energy, we are unequipped to appropriately dispose More About: Boredom
The Perfect Babaluba: Heaven's Egg Salad Sandwich
More articles from this author:2007-05-06 03:34:00 Warning: this post is all about an egg salad sandwich that has been named after one of my nicknames. This is not Proust, who can turn dipping a pastry into a cup of tea into many pages of transcendent narrative. My tale contains no great meditations, reflection or revelations. Just egg salad. ----- It's not easy for a vegetarian to order a sandwich, although a few possibilities exist. Blimpie More About: Salad , Perfect , Sandwich , Babalu 1, 2, 3, 4 |
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