On a more serious note:

I know that the media is desperate to report something about the movie theater shooting, but I’m really annoyed by the current headline that’s making the rounds:

CNN: Colorado suspect was seeing a psychiatrist
FoxNews: Court papers reveal Colorado shooting suspect was seeing psychiatrist
NYTimes: Colorado suspect was getting psychiatric care
ABCnews: Colo. suspect was seeing a shrink

I find this reporting horribly offensive, irresponsible and damaging. We know NOTHING about what he was seeing a psychiatrist about. NOTHING AT ALL. Nothing has been released. And yet it’s being reported everywhere, because the media (and our society as a whole) has decided that seeing a psychiatrist is a sign of a deranged mind. “Aha!” says America! “He was seeing a psychiatrist! That explains SO MUCH!”

But it doesn’t explain anything, because seeing a psychiatrist is not a damning sign of craziness, or a precursor to murderous behavior, or a conclusive sign of ANYTHING AT ALL.

Legitimate, non-murderous reasons real people might see a psychiatrist (not comprehensive):

Eating disorders
Claustrophobia
Generalized Anxiety
OCD
Depression
Sleepwalking
Alzheimer’s
Mourning
Substance abuse
Nightmares
Perfectionism
Dyslexia
Pathological Gambling
Stuttering
Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia (like me)

My point: So the Colorado shooter was seeing a psychiatrist; SO WHAT? Implying that seeing a psychiatrist is relevant to this case–WHEN NO FACTS ARE KNOWN–paints every person with a mental illness as a potential mass murder. Which is BULLCRAP.

This is why people are afraid of admitting to mental illness. It’s why very sick people refuse to get help–because they’re afraid of the stigma.

It was GOOD that this shooter was seeing a psychiatrist. I have no idea what the reason for his visits were, but seeing a psychiatrist meant he was trying to get help. I wish MORE people were willing to see psychiatrists. But that’s not going to happen as long as society views psychiatric patients as ticking time bombs. So STOP IT.

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I’d like to officially announce (and invite you to) the Vegetarian-For-A-Month Challenge!

This started with fellow author Marion Jensen and I betting who could last longer as vegetarians, but we’ve now been joined by another author, Bruce Eschler. So, I’d like to invite any and all to join the challenge/torture. We’re not doing this for any reason other than curiosity. I’m personally not an activist, nor am I particularly health-conscious. I just have recently eaten some tasty vegetarian fare and wondered if I could handle a whole month of it.

The rules are these:

1. It begins Monday the 16th. This will give us the weekends to clean out the fridge/stuff ourselves with bratwurst. It ends on August 12th at midnight.
2. We’re being lazy vegetarians: dairy is allowed; eggs are allowed; fish is allowed. Therefore, according to Wikipedia, we aren’t vegetarians; we’re ova-lacto-pescatarians. That sounds way more awesome.
3. Things that are not allowed: any mammals or birds.
4. Things that we don’t care about: trivial amounts of animal-byproducts in stuff. For example, no one is going to throw a fit if we eat regular refried beans rather than vegetarian refried beans. Because, come on.
5. Any quitters—and this is the most important point!—must eat six Big Macs in ten minutes, and they must film it and post it to YouTube, so that they will be humiliated in public. In the event they puke, SO MUCH THE BETTER.

This will all be difficult, because it’s summer barbeque season. But, we’re tough, and we made the rules lenient enough that even a lazy person (like me) ought to be able to handle it.

So, if you’d like to join us, please do! And, if you’d like to drop bacon-wrapped delights at Marion’s house, please do!