I thought of new metaphor to explain my relationship with my older brother, Michael, while looking at some videotapes that I took of him in the 1990s. Mike is autistic, low functioning and has never spoken. A metaphor I often used was: “Relating to my brother Michael is like beating my head against a brick […]
My brother was tested in 1993 and assigned an IQ of 18. [1] Not to worry, his true Adaptive Behavior composite Score is in the range of 12-28. [2] I am so relieved. If this was 1921 and we consulted the American Association of Mental Retardation (AAMR), Mike would have been promoted from Idiot (IQ […]
I came across this term while I was writing my post about Socrates’s ‘An Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living’ quotation. I identified with the term radical self-understanding since it seems that it is an activity in which I am engaged. My activity could also be described with other terms: radical narcissism, obsessive self-reflection, pissing […]
Michael is my older brother who has never spoken and is autistic and low functioning. He was a patient at Willowbrook, a state mental institution, which used to be on Staten Island, New York, and was home to 6,000 patients. After Willowbrook was shut down for widespread abuse, my brother was placed in a group […]
No, this is not about me asking for help – far from it. Today I’m looking at acceptance of help, and what are the barriers for me personally to ask for it. I feel really great when I can help someone else, and really terrible when I need help myself. I avoid asking for help […]
I had an idea yesterday, while watching a movie on TV. In the background, was a stylized portrait that was somewhat Picasso-like. I had just been reading about Francis Bacon (see yesterday’s blog) so I was sensitive to the power of art. I have been drawing for quite a while, but hardly ever do I […]
Vulva stones? The essay entitled, “How the Vulva Stone Became a Brachiopod” in Stephen Jay Gould’s book The Lying Stones of Marrakech [1] intrigued me. No, not for prurient reasons. My interest was stimulated by the references to the British philosopher, Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626). As a philosopher who lived at end of the […]
Me as younger, younger brother Those of you who follow my blog are aware that my older brother Michael is autistic, low functioning (formerly known as retarded) and has never spoken. I don’t know how I came up with the notion that I needed him to tell me who he was. Maybe since I was […]
My brother Michael is unrecognizable in this portrait. I had not intended it this way, but it is oddly appropriate. Since Mike has never spoken and functions on a very low level, I don’t know much about him as a person. He is alien to me. As I have discussed in previous posts, seemingly ad […]
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 […]
