#13. Recover Loudly
So others don’t die quietly.
That phrase, "Recover loudly so people don't die quietly" was unknown to me until I saw it on a bumper sticker last week. I didn't know what it was supposed to mean, but I definitely knew what it meant to me.
When I got home, I looked it up and found out that it's a motto of an anti-addiction group--and I love that--but to me, in the 20-odd minutes I was following that car and pondering the sentiment, it referred to mental illness.
Way back fifteen years ago, when I was first getting sick (I have severe depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia) I hid my illness. I stopped going to writing group, because it was just too much for me to handle. I really struggled at work, missing days, and avoiding contact. I stopped going to church. And through it all, I didn't want to tell anyone why I was doing these things. I was suffering quietly, because I was, honestly, too confused by what was happening to me to be willing to take risks.
And I suffered like that for a good year, becoming a recluse, getting laid off from my job. And, I don't remember what the straw was the broke the camel's back, but one day I just vomited it all up. I told everyone. This was before social media was much of a thing, but I had a widely-read blog and that post got a lot of views.
There's a line in one of my books (The Counterfeit) in which someone says "People aren't afraid of monsters; they're afraid of the dark."
Being open about my mental illness has been one of the most therapeutic things I could do for myself. Now, I will totally concede that it may not be true for everyone. I certainly come from this from a position of privilege. I had already lost my job in a layoff, and I was living off a book advance, so I didn't have to worry about professional repercussions. I could see why that could totally be a reason someone would want to stay quiet.
But it's also the reason why I am so vocal: because maybe I can be and you can't, and maybe you need to have someone hear that mental illness is real and valid; that there are people you can confide in; that you're not alone.
I have schizophrenia and depression, and I am recovering loudly, I hope that my words will help other people not die quietly.
Remember, as I've said many times: if you don't have anyone else to reach out to, reach out to me. robisonwells@gmail.com
Bits and Bobs from The News
#1. Penguins are great. Everyone knows this. But a new study says that penguins are helping to combat climate change (or, at least, the melting ice caps.) The theory is this: penguins eat a lot of fish and then they poop a lot, and this penguin poop emits ammonia, and the ammonia wafts up into the sky and BECOMES CLOUDS. Not ammonia clouds, because yuck, but the ammonia particles are like little cloud seeds that make clouds bloom. And these clouds block the sun from melting the ice caps. The takeaway: maybe have more penguins? I don't know what we're supposed to do with this information. But: science!
#2. The Hubble Telescope is pretty great, we can all agree. And I know what you're asking right now: what has the Hubble Telescope been looking at lately. Or, more specifically (you are asking): what was the Hubble Telescope looking at on my birthday? Well, on MY birthday, it was looking at Galaxy Pair NGC 3314. I know this, because NASA has a page where you can look that very thing up. Take a gander!
#3. Brain health took a major step, like a massive step, forward in the last couple of months. We all think of the brain as being made up of neurons, and it is, but there are more than 3000 different kinds of neurons. And, in a confluence of events, researchers from 29 institutions published papers describing a thousand different ways to manipulate those neurons with engineered viruses. We can turn them on, turn them off, make them glow (!!??) Anyway, the gist of this major news is that we are suddenly much more able to tackle things like Alzheimers, ALS, and Huntington's disease. No cures yet, but we suddenly have a thousand more tools in our toolkit.
#4. If you have ever wanted to dance between lasers while robbing an art gallery, you are one step closer. Scientists at the University of Science and Technology of China have created contact lens that let you see infrared light. They even work if your eyes are closed! And you don't need to power them, as you would an infrared headset, because they're made with nanoparticles with nanoparticles that convert near-infrared light in the 800–1,600-nanometre range into shorter-wavelength, visible light that humans can see, in the 400–700-nanometre range. Neat!
Distractions and Diversions
So, a back before the Lewis and Clark expedition, there was a different expedition that searched the lower part of the Louisiana Purchase, and while going up Red and Atchafalaya rivers, they found what was essentially a 1500-year-old, 160-mile-long log jam. It was so dense that you could ride a horse from one side of the river to the other without getting wet. Anyway, loggers cleared it out. But if you'd like an exhaustive history of this big weird thing, Miniminuteman has it for you.
Speaking of Texas (the Red River goes into Texas, so technically we were) remember the Alamo? This great channel is run by a historian who poses interesting thought experiments like "What if Napoleon had modern artillery at Waterloo?" or "What if 50 WW2 soldiers fought at Gettysburg?" This video is "What if 50 Rangers helped defend the Alamo?"
Nerdwriter is an amazing channel that discusses writing in all its forms, and this one digs into how John Lennon wrote (the John Lennon part of) A Day In The Life, which is arguably (I would argue it) the Beatles' best song? (Trigger warning: there are mentions of suicide.)
That's all for this week! If you want to learn more about me, visit my website.
I have friends everywhere.
