Posts
64. A nation of addicts
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If you had already demonized the Covington kids before reading. If you laugh at "we need us some climate change up in here". If your feeds include the Huffington Post or the Drudge Report. You may be addicted! Some tips: -Every once in a while, read an article from a smart person you don't agree with (Yes, they exist). -Don't read articles whose title are meant to excite you: "Trump is a conman" "Climate Change Scientist admits he's wrong" -Look at the sources when broad claims are made. Don't assume they are right just because you agree with them. We've all screwed up in this world of information overload. Be aware of what you do when you repost, or even click on an article. May we be cleansed! Bonus: Look how this post in reddit created a massive backlash!
59. Buggatarians
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You know they are coming for dinner one day! The first thing they'll let you know is that it's actually called entomophagy. This article is worth a read ... "My first meal taught me that crickets taste like dirt." "I woke up feeling depressed."But then I threw it up and continued to cry." Just the kind of reactions I fear!
51. Piled On
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From the vantage point of this respite I'm having from depression, thanks to therapy, medication and love; I can describe a bit how it felt. Not only does it not help knowing that you have 'no reason to be depressed', that knowledge is part of the stereophonic,self-hating dialogue that keeps you depressed. Guilt and depression like to hang out together, but the truth is that depression doesn't care about success. So don't be too hard on the successful depressed, their suffering is likely as real as anybody's.
50. Psychology 101
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This is not original material. Someone told me a version of this joke back in 1999 when I was starting my studies in psychology. It was a great way to learn about the different disciplines, in a caricaturization. My chosen discipline is behaviorism, which focuses on behavior and the environment. We don’t know or worry much about what happens in that little noggin of ours, we mostly care about our overt behavior and the observable conditions that change it. It is perfect for me, as I find that the soft squishy feely feely stuff is hard to understand, control and replicate. And no, I don't mean penis when saying "soft squishy feely feely".
46. Prepositions Part 1: A Twinkle in Time
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If you are a native English speaker, this may not weird you as it does English-as-a-second-language folks. We don’t make the distinction between in-on in Spanish, we can use other prepositions (inside/ atop) to guide us. Things get funny with English, specially when dealing with abstract concepts. How can I always be "on time", but "in time I will learn something"? What dictates these functions? It’s madness I say! More tomorrow.
45. It gets emotional
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This isn't about boys and girls. My mother is not famous for her emotional literacy, and I love her to pieces. I have met men who leave most women in the dust when it comes to describing their emotional landscape. However, it is a characteristic in which people vary. I am trying to learn, to become better with my words. The emotional wheel observed here is based on the Junto wheel , if you are curious about it please mosey on to their website and discover.
44. Who really opposes Universal Background Checks?
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I'm really tired of the debate, so I'll just poke fun at it. Everyone who knows me knows that I am biased against the careless and wild adoration and accumulation of guns. There's an emotional aspect to this, as I have been the victim of gun violence. In my case the only thing that would have helped is less guns, not more good guys with guns. The one thing that frustrates me is the reluctance to do anything. The arguments against universal background checks from the NRA are repetitious as ever . Their argument goes a little like this: "We shouldn't compel a universal background check for all sales of all weapons because it wouldn't stop all crime and people could still get guns from the black market". However, they tacitly acknowledge that it could have stopped some. Over 3 million denials since the Brady act in the nineties. Not all of them found their way to the black market. Lives have been saved, guaranteed. The link from the NRA also shows how weird t...
40. Mass psychosis?
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Last week, I was talking about my hardships with cohabitation and the difficulty of creating the routines necessary for a succesful household. Two married men shared with me this theory they had at the beginning of their marriage. I realized that I had it too... the feeling that getting into a routine is a fastrack to death. There’s good news, though... they all shed that belief and were beaten to docility. So there’s hope for me.
35. Doubt is sexier than certainty
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One of the most interesting anecdotal characteristics of the impostor phenomenon , is that it never seems to occur on those that would benefit the most from it: like autocrats and dictators. It is always adored and revered people like Neil Gaiman who mention their experiences with it. In that journal entry he writes a line that always resonated with me. “And I felt a bit better. Because if Neil Armstrong felt like an imposter, maybe everyone did. Maybe there weren’t any grown-ups, only people who had worked hard and also got lucky and were slightly out of their depth, all of us doing the best job we could, which is all we can really hope for.”
33. Estereotipos
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Besides my pale skin, there were quite a bit of elements that separated me from my fellow latinos. For one, I was the only one of my friends that craved Pop Tarts. Here are a few of those differences, but the list is longer. I am sure I am not the only one with ethnic identity gaps like this, it’s probably a very universal feeling to feel like one doesn’t belong! Template:
30. Get Your Mental Health
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30 comics in under one month. That was the goal I set for myself once I found a creative outlet to my thoughts. I end this run with a plug for mental health. I suffer from anxiety, depression and other issues off and on. It's just the way it is and I am happy with who I am. However, being happy with who you are doesn't need to lead to stagnation. Therapy and other solutions are there for you to explore avenues for change and well-being. In this past year I have learned a lot of things I don't want to pursue and a few things I want to pursue. Through therapy I was able to admit to myself what these things are. I will continue working on this blog, but not at the breakneck speed I have so far. It was a delightful obsession, but now it has to become a sustainable one. Thanks to all who have been with me in these first 30!
29. Awareness
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This will hurt. It hurt me. When I came to the United States I was pretty libertarian. Success was everywhere for those who put on bootstraps, I thought. I was handed the white supremacist robe when I learned about redlining , job searches , criminal sentencing , health disparities , gun ownership disparities and black people's own perceptions of themselves . Denying that these things exist is not only false, but it creates stagnation. We have a lot of work to do, but it starts with realizing our part of the problem.
25. Scorched Michigan
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Okay. Even if you are a centrist, as I aspire to be, you have to wonder. This bill passed in the Michigan house last night along party lines. It is a 2 pager with a massive legislative scope. It states, very succinctly: "THE LEGISLATURE AND EACH HOUSE OF THE LEGISLATURE IS HEREBY AUTHORIZED AND EMPOWERED TO INTERVENE IN ANY ACTION COMMENCED IN ANY COURT OF THIS STATE WHENEVER THE LEGISLATURE OR A HOUSE OF THE LEGISLATURE DEEMS SUCH INTERVENTION NECESSARY IN ORDER TO PROTECT ANY RIGHT OR INTEREST OF THIS STATE, OR OF THAT BODY. " I'm not smart enough to prove without a shadow of a doubt that it is a bill to protect people's asses now that the three blue ladies are in. However this bill really muzzles the power of our Attorney General elect (Dana Nessel, pictured above), who had the right to intervene in these matters prior to this bill. It passed last night 58-50 in the house. It feels like even if you assume the best intentions of the bill, which...
23. It goes both ways.
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I am sure that the forced conventions of organizations can be awkward for all of us. I mean, we don’t do this at the bar. Like ask people to shout out their name, position and what kind of bodily fluid they would be. It only happens in our workplace, shielded by our uncomfortable clothes and the flawed notion that there’s a reason for every meeting that we have.