Throughout my career as a School Psychologist, I have worked as an evaluator in over 80 schools. During the initial portion of the Psychological Evaluation, I always observed the child in the classroom setting. While observing one of my designated students in a fifth grade class, I was distracted by an enthusiastic, pint sized boy who was attempting to get the teacher’s attention, while she was reviewing the new spelling words for the week. She chose a word from the…..
This year has been marked with several events and celebrations in both Europe and the United States commemorating the eightieth anniversary of the Spanish Civil War. My uncle, Barton Carter, at the age of 21, left Williams College in Massachusetts for Spain in 1936 to volunteer his services, first as a truck driver, then as the administrator of several orphanages in Catalonia, and finally as a member of the International Brigade. Thirty-five thousand young recruits from several countries including France,…..
People often ask me if I could dine with anybody, who would it be. Being a philosophical psychologist who considers herself spiritual, I would naturally pick people like Sigmund and Anna Freud, Carl Jung, Jesus Christ, and Desmond Tutu. Yet, among my top choices would be David Brooks, the opinion writer for the New York Times. My favorite TV show is Friday’s version of the PBS news hour because of the political commentary between Mark Shields (a democratic syndicated columnist)…..
I don’t believe that there is any greater tragedy in life than the loss of a child. While this has never happened to me directly, I have witnessed this horrific event far too many times through the eyes of my friends, my clients, and my extended family. Although I can never actually put myself in their shoes, my heart breaks as I attempt to empathize with these bereaved parents. The death of a child is an injustice! From birth through…..
Adam Hochschild’s recently published nonfictional account of the Spanish Civil War, Spain in our Hearts, is both well written and fast paced. Hochschild presents the war through the eyes of various journalists, militiamen, and a sprinkling of medical personnel and businessmen. By integrating the stories of famous writers such as George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway, and talented military leaders such as Bob Merriman and George Watt within the backdrop of numerous turbulent conflicts, Hochschild succeeds in bringing the factual accounts…..
After listening intently to both political conventions and the commenters from both parties extolling the virtues or denigrating the limitations of the republican and the democratic candidates and reading a variety of newspapers representing different ideological perspectives, I came to the conclusion that I am discouraged about the questionable integrity of both of our candidates! I am a moderate; more specifically I am a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. As the daughter and wife of successful businessmen, most of…..
Graduation season has recently passed and represents an end to one of life’s main events and the right of passage to a new, yet uncharted beginning. A month ago, I attended the graduation of my grandson from the World Class Kayak Academy in White Salmon, Washington. As I boarded the plane in Boston en route to Portland, Oregon, I was reminded of a similar trip seventeen years before to attend Liam’s birth. Although I live 3000 miles from my…..
My book signing at Barnes and Noble in Nashua, New Hampshire was memorable. My stepdaughter, Martha and her family, pictured above, who were visiting from Raleigh, North Carolina, accompanied her father and me to the event. Since she and her family members have been extraordinarily supportive of my writing endeavors, I was silently hoping for a big crowd intent on purchasing my book. I woke up in the morning to a cold, howling wind, which I believed wouldn’t…..
With the recent passing of Mother’s Day and the rapid approach of Father’s Day, I have been contemplating the role of a parent. In fact, I believe that being a parent is perhaps the most important role in our lives! Although we may consider our career to be the salient definition of who we are and the difference we make in the world, I suggest our legacy as a mother or a father is perhaps more important. After…..
When you have warfare, things happen; people suffer; the noncombatants suffer as well as the combatants. And so it happens in civil war. Emmeline Pankhurst The following chart depicts the differences and similarities between the Spanish and the Syrian Civil Wars: Subject Spanish Civil War Syrian Civil War Duration 3 years/1936-1939 5+years/2011-Present Population at onset 25 million people 22 million people Refugees 400,000 adults/ 200,000 children displaced within Spain 465,000 Fled to France between 1936-1939 One million refugees left Spain…..
