Bill Brenner

Exeter Hospital’s Hepatitis C Scare Hits Close to Home

by Bill Brenner August 15, 2012 Medicine

David Kwiatkowski made national news for spreading Hepatitis C to patients at Exeter Hospital in N.H. He worked his way across the country, getting fired from several hospitals but escaping arrest until officials at Exeter blew the whistle. The story hits too close to home, as a relative was potentially exposed during an ER visit there last fall. Mood music: [spotify:track:6puCpCdHG5wmLUZB3BL7S9] To date, 31 patients have tested positive for Hepatitus C. The hospital realized something…  [Read More]

Ann Coulter and the Politics of Hate

by Bill Brenner August 14, 2012 Political discourse

Of all the political commentators out there, I think Ann Coulter and her politics of hate best illustrate why I’ve come to hate politics. I don’t dislike Coulter because she’s conservative. There are many conservative voices out there that I admire. I dislike her because everything that comes from her mouth is coated in vitriol. One example that has always stood out is this interview she did with self-proclaimed right-wing blogger John Hawkins. Some could…  [Read More]

A Legal Victory for Crohn’s Sufferers

by Bill Brenner August 13, 2012 Crohn's Disease

Though Crohn’s Disease has mostly left me alone in my almost-middle age, there’s one thing it still does to me on a regular basis. It strikes me with an out-of-nowhere urge to use the bathroom. It has hit me while driving, while sitting in work meetings and while standing in the supermarket cereal aisle. Mood music: [spotify:track:264rftGXMqqN31AZiurLAX] When the urge hits, the worst thing is being in a store where the restrooms are for employees…  [Read More]

Two Years Later, Remembering Joe Zippo

by Bill Brenner August 10, 2012 Gratitude

Hard to believe, but it’s been two years since the death of Joe “Zippo” Kelley. I’ve been listening to Zippo Raid’s Punk Is In Season disc a lot lately and I smile every time. I’ve made some wonderful friends these last two years and Joe is our common link. Sometimes it seems strange to me, because at the time of his death I hadn’t talked to Joe in years. Mood music: I’ve gotten to know his…  [Read More]

America’s Struggle Through Puberty

by Bill Brenner August 7, 2012 Political discourse

In yesterday’s post, “It’s the End of American Dominance and I Feel Fine,” I suggested that it’s no big deal if America is no longer number one. But if it’s no longer the top dog, what is it? America is like a confused, emotionally exhausted child trying to find itself. Mood music: [spotify:track:0oO29Ht2H9AiENqRsq3zIT] My friend Dave Marcus offered this reaction to yesterday’s post: Not so sure I fully agree with the tone. I think its…  [Read More]

It’s the End of American Dominance, and I Feel Fine

by Bill Brenner August 6, 2012 Political discourse

America is a nation in economic decline. But that reality isn’t necessarily a bad thing. My friend Larry Walsh said on Facebook yesterday: What neither Obama or Romney is telling us is the world we’ve known for the past 70 years is over and not coming back. Both parties are trying to control the decline of the U.S. standard of living long enough to avoid having to take responsibility. Pathetic. Mood music: [spotify:track:4e9eGQYsOiBcftrWXwsVco] It’s an…  [Read More]

Chick-fil-A Controversy: Free Speech or Corporate Irresponsibility?

by Bill Brenner August 3, 2012 Political discourse

Let’s take a short quiz: The controversy over Chick-fil-A’s president opposing gay marriage is a matter of: First Amendment rights Corporate irresponsibility Both None of the above Mood music: [spotify:track:1fU41e5cCCeZddm0Lk8WnJ] If you ask me, the answer is either C and D, depending on your political and social sensibilities. Yesterday I wrote that I don’t really care about the controversy because I don’t eat at Chick-fil-A and the story looked more like one of political grandstanding…  [Read More]

I Don’t Give a Chick-fil-A

by Bill Brenner August 2, 2012 Political discourse

A lot of people have been pissed off at Chick-fil-A lately. Some are outraged that the restaurant chain’s president, Dan Cathy, came out against gay marriage. Others are outraged because a guy can’t make a social stand without people taking it out on his poultry. I wasn’t going to write about it because, well, I don’t really care. But the noise has gotten too loud to ignore. Mood music: [spotify:track:2KLjwY9kRqYVBAgeYs8FxR] We Americans love to find things…  [Read More]

14 Years, and She Still Turns My Heart to Jelly

by Bill Brenner August 1, 2012 Marriage and relationships

You would think that after 14 years of marriage, I’d get over that gushy feeling you walk around with when you first fall in love. But the truth is that I still get that way. All the time. Because I know how blessed I am to have Erin as my wife. Mood music: [spotify:track:6NQDxrvhCvKfbH9jLELav9] Everything about her makes me that way. Her hair. Her smell. Her relentless drive to do right by God. She’s my…  [Read More]

Stoned and Panicked on the Interstate

by Bill Brenner July 31, 2012 Fear and anxiety

The memory was buried until yesterday, and frankly I’d have been happy had it stayed buried. Funny thing about suppressed memories — they spill out during the damndest moments, like a drive down I-95 in Maine. We were returning from a family camping trip near Old Orchard Beach yesterday, and as I drove the camper south, my stare caught the north-bound lanes. Sometime in the summer of 1991, Sean Marley, a couple others and I sped…  [Read More]

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