In this month’s Scientific American (May 2013), there is an article called ‘Seeds of Dementia’ by Lary C. Walker and Mathias Juker. Without going into detail, Walker and Juker, through their research, became reasonably certain that mis-folded amyloid beta (Aβ) proteins provide the point around which larger masses of Aβ proteins aggregate, causing synapses to clog […]
When I used to visit my brother Michael, at his Day Program, sorting was one of the challenges the teacher presented him and his classmates with. “This sock goes with the rest of the socks in this basket,” a classroom assistant would urge. It was a task that eluded him. It is a task that […]
I think I can encapsulate my process of exploring my relationship with my brother as a (sometimes) systematic organization of information I had already (i.e., family photographs, my early writing) combined with a search for new information. This involved getting more involved with Mike’s life to see what it was like, documenting my experiences with […]
I am writing this at JFK waiting for the flight back home. To all those we didn’t get a chance to visit in New York hopefully next time we will be able to see you all. We had a wonderful, relaxing trip welcoming William to the world in Chicago and off to see Mom in New […]
So I started taking pictures of my brother, and I had a vague idea of the book I wanted to write. What happens next? I took more photography courses and classes about refining my vision. I found that I had to filter through advice about composing a photographic memoir and make some decisions. For example, […]
Striving to portray my brother I am a big believer in learning. If one can learn from the best, it is wonderful. I had great opportunities to take classes from world-class photographers at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York City. In a previous post, I mentioned one of these classes with Nubar […]
Have any of you ever been embarrassed by your family? I’m reminded of this by encounters with current teenagers with whom I have had engaged in substantive and fulfilling conversations prior to entry into their years of double digits. I was embarrassed way before my teen age years. Previous posts about my older brother should give […]
In a previous post I mentioned the difficulty in starting the project about my brother. He was in my life every day until I was 10 years old, but I didn’t have much contact with him after that, for a long time. Lost wax method In thinking of Mike’s influence on me, I recall the lost […]
Here I begin a series of occasional posts about my attempts to gather my thoughts, photographs and writing into a coherent narrative about my relationship with my older autistic brother and my family. Facing such a task can be overwhelming: Thoughts can be muddled, photography skills may not be up to par; even the statement of […]
[Note: Back to personal archives for this post.] Mom took me to the this man when I was young. I realize now, he must have been a doctor. I was feeling sad. We were in a sunlit room, I remember that the chairs and tables were low, even though I was small then. Mom left me […]
