I was looking though some pictures today. (No surprise there, I’m either looking through old pictures, old writings, old… doesn’t-matter-what as long as it’s old and in my past.) I have boxes and boxes of photos of my big brother Mike. He is autistic, low functioning and has never spoken. I don’t even know what […]
Yesterday, my post was about Willowbrook, the large mental institution on Staten Island, New York, where my older brother was for about 15 years. Michael is autistic, very low functioning and has never spoken. Willowbrook was broken up by court order and the six thousand or so residents were relocated. This took many years to […]
The joke is, “What comes between fear and sex?” …and the answer is: Funf How about, “What comes between vier und sechs?” Aha! Die Antwort: Fünf. Wird es jetzt sehr klar? Ok, so this is a joke to be told, not written. But this is a blog. So, what does this ‘joke’ have to […]
First reaction When I first heard of this malady a couple of days ago, I must admit, it appealed to my macabre sense of humor, especially when Wikipedia[1] described Americans afflicted with strokes speaking with English accents after recovery, a Norwegian shrapnel victim in 1941 suddenly speaking with a German accent, and so on. It […]
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 […]
A man whose health has been declining of late, goes to the doctor with his wife. The doctor checks him over and as they leave, he asks to speak to the wife alone in his office. “Your husband is gravely ill,” the doctor says. “But if you follow my instructions to the letter, he will […]
I wonder if it is a common trait of siblings of the severely handicapped to have a dark sense of humor. Webster defines gallows humor as ”humor that makes fun of a life-threatening, disastrous or terrifying situation.”[1] Disastrous or terrifying might describe experiences of some of us siblings; perhaps some have experienced life-threatening situations as […]
