Bill Brenner

I Don’t Care About Your Bra Color, Where You Put Your Purse Or Where You’re Going for 15 Months

by Bill Brenner January 17, 2012 Communication Skills

I’m all for raising awareness. Cancer. Mental Illness. People understand little about these and other maladies. But telling us your bra color isn’t going to help. In the last couple of years, we’ve seen these awareness campaigns where women throw some cryptic message on their Facebook pages. One time it was listing a color. Another time it was where they put their purse. The message would be something suggestive like this: “I like it on…  [Read More]

SOPA Shelved, But Fight Not Over

by Bill Brenner January 16, 2012 Political discourse

You might remember my warning about SOPA and the Protect IP ACT, legislation that as written would lead to massive censorship on the Internet. Today there’s some good news. Mood music: It appears SOPA is headed for the shelf due to the rising tide of opposition. Details on the site where I do my day job, CSOonline. I also wrote a post warning people that this isn’t over by a long shot. We’re working on…  [Read More]

OCD On My Left, ADD On My Right

by Bill Brenner January 16, 2012 Coping tools

It’s been an interesting month in mental disorder awareness. In taking steps to nip wintertime depression in the bud, I’ve learned that OCD isn’t my only mental defect. Mood music: It appears that as OCD messes with one side of my brain, Attention Deficit Disorder is toying with the other side. This little epiphany happened when I visited the nurse who helps me manage my regimen of medication. She asked a lot of questions she…  [Read More]

Joe Zippo’s Gift

by Bill Brenner January 13, 2012 Music therapy

Tomorrow night is the second annual benefit show for Joe “Zippo” Kelley. This post is to urge you to go. But it’s also to show you how his spirit lives on. Mood music: This is my own little example of how a life touches other lives, even after death. Joe died in August of 2010. That day, I didn’t know people like Anne Genovese, Audrey Clark or the guys in Up Your Bucket. I’ve met…  [Read More]

Two Wombs, Two Vaginas And A Lot Of Balls

by Bill Brenner January 13, 2012 Communication Skills

Joke all you want. In my opinion, Hazel Jones, a woman with two wombs and two vaginas, (the condition is called uterus didelphys) has more balls than many of us ever will. Mood music: Jones opened up about her condition on the This Morning show, and The Huffington Post ran this article, which says in part: Embarrassing Bodies health expert Dr Dawn Harper explained on the show that Hazel’s condition occurred because the uterus tube septum failed to break down when Miss…  [Read More]

Serotonin, Dopamine And Two Blue Pills

by Bill Brenner January 12, 2012 Coping tools

As the reader knows, I’ve had a persistent bout of winter depression. Not the “I’m sad and want to hurt myself” type, but the ho-hum, grumpy old man variety. Mood music: This afternoon I visited the nurse who manages my Prozac intake and walked out with a new drug: Wellbutrin. I’ll be taking it in addition to the 60 MG of Prozac I’ve been taking for a few years now. The Prozac increases the amount…  [Read More]

Forever Six: Thinking Of The Demenkow Family

by Bill Brenner January 12, 2012 Uncategorized

I’m thinking of two classmates from high school today: Anne Wallace-Demenkow and her husband, Shawn. Their daughter, Emily, would have turned 13 this week. Mood music: She died from cancer at age 6. I know from my brief Facebook exchanges with Anne that this was a terrible loss for her family. What could be worse than losing a child? I don’t know the answer and I hope to never find out. But I’ve lost a sibling and…  [Read More]

For Winter Blues, Listen To Van Halen

by Bill Brenner January 11, 2012 Depression

I originally wrote this in 2012. But as I sit here in 2015 listening to Van Halen to celebrate Eddie Van Halen’s 60th birthday — and with a major blizzard on its way to my neck of the woods — it’s worth a re-post. This is about using music in winter to put the brain in summer mode. Mood music: As I search for the necessary adjustments to get past bouts of S.A.D. (winter-induced depression) each winter,…  [Read More]

Never Have I Cared So Little About The N.H. Primary

by Bill Brenner January 10, 2012 Political discourse

I used to be a political junkie, getting my fix under the delusion that the fate of the world rested on the outcome on an election. I was particularly obsessed about the N.H. primary. Mood music: With the 2012 N.H. primary taking place today, I must confess: Never have I cared so little or felt so unrepresented. But this isn’t a post about gloom and doom or the fall of America. It’s simply about the…  [Read More]

Pearl Jam’s Brush With Crohn’s Disease

by Bill Brenner January 9, 2012 Courage

Watching some of the “Pearl Jam: 20” documentary, I learned something I didn’t know about lead guitarist Mike McCready: Like me, he has Crohn’s Disease. Mood music: Knowing what the disease does to you when you’re under attack, I’m impressed he’s been able to keep the kind of touring schedule Pearl Jam is known for. How anyone can spend two hours a night on stage when they’re taking Prednisone is beyond me. I’ve done a…  [Read More]

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