Bill Brenner

The Shame a Binge Eater Feels

by Bill Brenner January 7, 2013 Addiction

As a recovering binge eater, I don’t necessarily see my own habits reflected in a recently released University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) study about the weird concoctions food addicts ingest. But I relate to the emotions study participants describes all too well. Mood music: [spotify:track:3mYHah7DK3DeWn8guf8CQp] The study says food concocting — making strange food mixtures like mashed potatoes and Oreo cookies; frozen vegetables mixed with mayonnaise; and chips with lemon, pork rinds, Italian dressing and salt —…  [Read More]

Defending Joe Biden (Updated June 1, 2015)

by Bill Brenner January 4, 2013 Political discourse

Updated June 1, 2015: The Vice President, who has suffered a lot of loss in his life, has more character and depth beneath his outward image of buffoonery than most people know. With news that his son Beau has died of brain cancer, I’m remembering the post below, originally written in 2013. I also recommend this column from Ezra Klein on Biden’s grief perspective. I’ll surely get a boatload of criticism for what I’m about to do: defend Vice President…  [Read More]

Partisan Politics Is a Mental Health Threat

by Bill Brenner January 3, 2013 Political discourse

Like everyone else, I’ve watched the debate over the so-called fiscal cliff with a combination of disgust and anxiety. I can’t remember a time when the nation’s economic health was so threatened by political partisanship. Mood music: [spotify:track:309o3PJag8FugLJTRTZa77] It threatens our jobs and our ability to feed our families. And it’s a threat to our mental health. I feel fortunate that this shit is happening now. Up until a few years ago, this type of…  [Read More]

But I Made All These End-of-the-World Plans

by Bill Brenner December 21, 2012 Lighthearted

Here I sit at 6 a.m. on December 21. We’re all still here as I expected we would be, despite all the end-of-Mayan-calendar, end-of-the-world talk we’ve been listening to for what seems like an eternity. I’m actually a little disappointed, because there were a few things I was looking forward to, such as: Mood music: [spotify:track:3lP4QgKArqyUAMDFPv3zFk] Avoiding the age-old problem of two kids who refuse to get out of bed on time during the school…  [Read More]

One Good Thing About Westboro Baptist Church

by Bill Brenner December 20, 2012 Communication Skills

The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) hates homosexuals. In fact, its members hate pretty much everybody. When terrible tragedy strikes, they praise it as God’s retribution for all the things they’re against. Mood music: [spotify:track:695TkRS0pEiVKg48sBiINi] That alone is reason for me to hate them back. But these people take it to even lower levels by picketing the funerals of fallen soldiers. Now they’ve threatened to picket funerals for the tiny victims of Friday’s Sandy Hook Elementary…  [Read More]

My ADD Ran Over My OCD

by Bill Brenner December 19, 2012 Mental health

As I struggle to get through all the stuff to be done at work and home before Christmas, something is occurring to me: My ADD runs over my OCD this time of year. Mood music: [spotify:track:5mR858YsHYG761aUqZoGkD] I guess I’ve understood what happens for a while now. It’s all part of the seasonal depression that whacks me upside the head come Christmastime. For most of the year my challenge is to control my OCD, to keep…  [Read More]

To the Siblings in Sandy Hook

by Bill Brenner December 18, 2012 Grief management

To the people of Newtown, Conn., particularly the surviving children of Sandy Hook Elementary School: I have no idea what it’s like to lose a child, and I pray to God I never will. But I’ve lost a sibling and know how that feels. So I’m hoping, nearly 30 years after my brother’s death, that some of what I’m about to say will be of some comfort to you. We all experience the death of…  [Read More]

Sandy Hook Lesson: Be the Change, One Soul at a Time

by Bill Brenner December 17, 2012 Lessons from the past

Like most of you, I’ve spent a good part of the weekend thinking about the lives lost at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. We all want specific solutions that will prevent more of these tragedies, but what we’re dealing with is too big and too gray for that.   A lot of people are debating gun control. Some people think the world would be safer if every law-abiding citizen had a firearm. Others say…  [Read More]

Heartbroken and Praying

by Bill Brenner December 14, 2012 Children's issues

This is not a post about whether we need more guns or fewer. This is not a post about what makes a man sick enough to fire a weapon at innocent children. It’s just a post to say how heartbroken we are in the Brenner house. Mood music: We don’t know any of the victims in Newtown, Connecticut. But we have children under this roof and couldn’t even begin to understand what so many families in…  [Read More]

People Who Talk About Themselves and Those They Torture

by Bill Brenner December 14, 2012 Lighthearted

I admit I haven’t always been the best listener. God knows I try, but sometimes my dysfunctional brain shuts down after more than 15 minutes of someone telling me about everything happening in their lives. I look like I’m listening, but I’m only quiet and staring at you because I’m numb. Mood video: I’ve invested a lot of time and energy into changing that. I took a class about ways to stay in the present…  [Read More]

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