MY IGNORANT ERROR I logged into Twitter recently for the first time in a while, and learned that I had committed an intersex vs. hermaphrodite naming faux pas. A few weeks ago someone in the intersex community had @replied to me. This person, an intersex advocate, reasonably pointed out that I had...
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Climate Fiction. I first heard of it just today, though apparently it’s been around since concerns over climate change first emerged. That’s decades ago. Remember Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring? Back in 1962 she sounded the alarm over our planet’s altered ecosystem. She was labelled an alarmist by many. However today...
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One of the differentiating elements of my debut novel is the notion of genrefying it. As an author who has begun to write my first novel, and as an appreciator of the need to market oneself uniquely and in a targeted manner – especially when self-publishing, as I plan to...
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Video Starts By Vilifying Autism The video here claims to be the work of #AutismSpeaks, a controversial organization that advocates in the autism realm. The entire first half of the vignette depicts autism as taking delight in ruining lives. For instance, it says “I will make sure your marriage fails,”...
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From a concerned mother: RT @mamabegood (Brenda Rothman) “The response to autism has usually been to work on changing the child. If they are highly reactive to noise, we think we need to get them used to it. If they are playing alone and not with others, we think we need to...
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Discrimination. It is supposed to be outlawed by the government and constitution. So should we allow exceptions if your religious beliefs conflict with legal reality? According to the Christian Post, “The #ACLU is busy chipping away at religious freedom in our country again. They have successfully brought suit in the...
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Are People With Autism Endangered? The Autism Right To Life Debate – it’s raging now that “cures” and embryo therapy are being developed in earnest. There will come a time in the not too distant future when we’ll have the medical technology to “fix” embryos with genetic markers for Autism...
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The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini My rating: 5 of 5 stars A beautifully written, evocative novel of growing up in a society riven by war, betrayals and efforts toward redemption. Afghanistan in the mid 1970’s serves as the early backdrop as two young friends, star-crossed by class yet inseparable,...
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Hit some important (though not earth shattering) social media landmarks yesterday. As of this morning: FB Friends 885, Page Likes 305. Yesterday morning I broke 1,000 Twitter Followers. But of those, at least 70 were garbage. So I used Unfollow.me and ManageFlitter.com to prune them, forcing “unfollows” of the junk...
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The Hypnotist is the first book I read by Toronto psychotherapist and author Sarah Sheard. It was back in 2001, at a time when I was contemplating becoming a novelist who, like Sheard, would draw upon their professional experience to inform a book’s plot and themes. I ended up focusing on my nonficton writing...
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