I love to travel, try new foods, ingest caffeine, and watch political news coverage. A psychologist by training trying to bring a little common sense to it all.
American Playwright William Saroyan once said, “A man’s [or woman’s] ethnic identity has more to do with a personal awareness than with geography”. This is doubly true with Hispanics. Unintentionally, by choosing the descriptor “Hispanic” in the title of this post, I am making a personal choice as […]
Cuba is a land of contrasts. A totalitarian regime ruling over a friendly, open people. Extreme poverty by American standards, coupled with effective public health efforts. An educated public that often cannot put its education to use. Cuba: A mix of low technology such as cars from the […]
Psychology is my professional field. Politics is my hobby. I’m a political news junkie and can name obscure pundits the way most sports fans can name the entire bench of the New York Knicks. This being an election year, I can essentially mainline my addiction. Yesterday, Republican presidential […]
I had the great fortune to visit Cuba as a US delegate of the American Public Health Association (APHA). I was struck by the beauty of the island, the warmth of the people and by the high sense of pride and adoration of heroes. Everywhere one turned you […]
In the words of Sir Adam Thomson, founder of British Caledonian Airlines, “A recession is when you have to tighten your belt; depression is when you have no belt to tighten. When you’ve lost your trousers—you’re in the airline business”. Anybody who travels for work can vouch for […]
I like money, by which I mean I would rather have it than not have it. Most people are like me. We’re not looking to get rich, just make an honest living. Not that I would turn down being rich. When negotiating a salary for a job, […]
At a Happy-hour “Goodbye” outing last night, many of us at the table (with our basil lemonades in hand) pondered the question what happens now after the International AIDS Conference. What changed and what changes are to come? Are we going back to the humdrum of old? Was […]
Those of you that have been paying attention have realized that I draw many of my metaphors, examples, and philosophies from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was my guilty pleasure for a number of years, and I’m fairly certain that its humor-tinged angst is the proper perspective on […]
Lies make the world go round. Especially mothers. As author John Green said, “Mothers lie. It’s in the job description”. We don’t like to call it lying. In fact we invent all sorts of euphemisms for it – gilding the lily, telling tall tales, inventing a fish story, […]
The ability to “pass” is often a loaded term and a loaded action. My son and I both can “pass” in different contexts for different ethnic or racial groups. When I visited Egypt, they thought I was French. When I lived in Spain, they thought I was Tunisian. […]
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