Bill Brenner

TV News and Depression: How I Learned To Turn It Off

by Bill Brenner April 21, 2013 Depression

This week’s news coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings and the aftermath only hardened the feelings I express below. I have nothing but contempt for the big three: CNN, Fox and MSNBC. Local news did a far more admirable job covering this tragedy.   I find myself increasingly outraged at what I see on the TV news channels lately. I’m not talking about the news itself, but the way it’s presented with loud graphics, dramatic…  [Read More]

When People Don’t Like A Discussion, They Call It Drama

by Bill Brenner April 17, 2013 Communication Skills

Since I write a lot about how we talk to each other in this blog and my professional one, I hear the word drama a lot. It’s almost always used to describe something people don’t want to discuss. It’s a one-word arsenal meant to shoot down anyone you disagree with. I get shot at a lot. And I’m perfectly fine with it. Yesterday I publicly took a local newsman to task for relishing his coverage…  [Read More]

Hearts Bigger Than Boston or Any Bomb

by Bill Brenner April 16, 2013 Gratitude

Whenever we experience the kind of evil we saw in Boston yesterday, pictures emerge to restore some hope in the human race: EMTs, police, firefighters and many bystanders leaping to action, giving victims medical care and getting survivors to safety. As a lifelong Bay Stater who tends to be prideful of my Boston roots, those scenes warmed my heart. But I don’t want to be selfish. What we saw wasn’t merely a Boston thing. It…  [Read More]

Boston Marathon Explosion: Observations and Helpful Links

by Bill Brenner April 15, 2013 Communication Skills

I wasn’t in Boston for the marathon today, but I’m in that specific area all the time and am stunned. Far as I can tell, everyone in my family is safe and accounted for. I’ve started this post to use for communications. If anyone has information regarding the rail lines, alternate routes out of the city or wants to find out about friends and loved ones, I’m hoping the comments thread or the Facebook and…  [Read More]

Some People You Just Can’t Save

by Bill Brenner April 15, 2013 Grief management

I just learned that a young man from my extended family was murdered recently. I only met him once, when he was a baby in the late 1980s, and I’m told he had a troubled adulthood that led him to seedy neighborhoods and bad crowds. Mood music: [spotify:track:3a1HY1vAKItKCK2I5cgavn] When good kids fall in with the wrong crowds and go tragically astray, it’s hard on their family, especially those who offer help. That’s an obvious statement,…  [Read More]

Return From the Overeaters Anonymous Wilderness

by Bill Brenner April 11, 2013 Addiction

Last summer I wrote a post about being lost in the Overeaters Anonymous wilderness, filled with discontent and a fair amount of self-righteousness. I have no regrets. We all need to step back from time to time and reevaluate pieces of our lives. Now that I’ve done that, I’ve decided to return from the wilderness. Mood music: [spotify:track:4K2Tu79vpqrLNyDVtCvBNR] I’ve made peace with what I see as the program’s imperfections, and I’ve gained the wisdom to understand…  [Read More]

People Without Filters

by Bill Brenner April 10, 2013 Communication Skills

My closest friends know that a true sign of affection from me is when I pick on them. For one friend’s birthday recently, I called him a “broken-down barge” on Facebook. He loved it, because he knows that when I talk that way, I cherish the friendship. I’m all too aware, though, that this trait is a double-edged sword that can cut deep when turned the wrong way. Mood music: [spotify:track:4xTjyX1PVTZJftjY2dUzBi] I guess you could…  [Read More]

Julian Assange: Autistic Hacker Or Just An A-hole?

by Bill Brenner April 9, 2013 Communication Skills

Last year I wrote a post about a report suggesting autism is an affliction of the brilliant. One man mentioned as an example was WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has described himself as having the “hacker’s disease.” Yesterday, a reader’s comment inspired me to revisit the issue. Mood music: [spotify:track:74Tgft8pxSCO0nkf4uxiM4] The reader said in part: This compares a neurological disorder to genius people whose curiosity takes finite state machines to places that their creators never imagined. How’s…  [Read More]

The Worst Abuse of All

by Bill Brenner April 8, 2013 Fear and anxiety

I’m taking a lot of abuse lately, the kind that leaves me mentally tired and physically aching. It’s not abuse from family, work colleagues or law enforcement, however. I’m doing it to myself. Mood music: [spotify:track:4emCyQ2KnNU16c02l4ToPP] In the past, I’d binge myself sick in times of uncertainty, but these days the abuse takes other forms: I allow myself to get lost in the deep weeds of worry. The kicker is that I’m not worried about…  [Read More]

Control Freak-Out

by Bill Brenner April 5, 2013 Mental disorders

OCD sometimes makes me feel adrift even when things are going well. I’m feeling it a lot these days and this post, originally written in 2010, captures the malady well. Mood music: [spotify:track:44sz0rNbTA687rs9CYi0IN] There’s another byproduct of OCD that I’ve described indirectly before, but never head on. A byproduct for my own special blend of dysfunction, that is. Sometimes, no matter how well things are going — and no matter how good my mood is…  [Read More]

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