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More Aspen!

Best part of hiking the park trails in town is all the “hidden” art along the paths. Plus, on a Monday, almost nobody was on the trails! It is easy to meditate in Aspen. One kind soul did wander by so I could ask him to take my picture. He was one of the few [...]

Posted 26 September 2011 § Just fun ‡ Comments (0) °

Aspen!

These shoes once trod upon Machu Picchu, but this weekend they surmounted Ajax Mountain in Aspen. (They were made from recycled tires, so who knows where else they have been). Unsurprisingly, I was the only one clad completely in black hiking the tyro trail Sunday afternoon; dressed for texture and not color this morning. The [...]

Posted 25 September 2011 § Just fun ‡ Comments (0) °

Active Learning

[by me for the Dana Foundation blog. See more great stuff there!] Despite falling SAT scores and employers reporting that high-school grads can’t run the cash register, researchers, educators, and parents each have some pieces of the puzzle of how children learn best. But somehow, all these experts don’t always share what they know. Consider [...]

Posted 19 September 2011 § Brain science § Just fun § Playing ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

Where are we with pain?

At one session at a forum put on by One Mind for Research in Boston last spring, researchers described progress in treating the invisible wounds sustained by the brain, including post-traumatic stress disorder, concussions, and chronic pain (see earlier post: “Targeting the Effects of War on the Brain“). I learned a lot at the forum, [...]

Posted 08 September 2011 § Brain science ‡ Comments (0) °

No Expiration Date on PTSD

Even though I live near Washington, DC, I’m not a politics maven. I remember when Sen. Max Cleland lost his seat in 2002, but I hadn’t heard anything about him since, so I figured he had happily retired from the often-dirty fray. I could not have been more wrong. I saw him again last month [...]

Posted 13 July 2011 § Brain science ‡ Comments (0) °

Writers do New York

Romance Writers of America has taken over the Marriott Marquis in Times Square for its annual convention this year. This year’s theme is “Bright Lights, Big Stories,” and with more than 2,100 writers attending, there are a lot of great stories here. And books — I have three dozen already. Need another suitcase! Here’s the [...]

Posted 30 June 2011 § Writing ‡ Comments (0) °

National PTSD Awareness Day

As promised, for National PTSD Awareness Day, June 27, I wrote a post for the Dana Foundation blog about one survivor and how the illness may strike decades later than the original trauma. Sen. Cleland’s story, and the others I heard that day, brought home how important it is to learn more about our brains [...]

Posted 27 June 2011 § Brain science ‡ Comments (0) °

Targeting the effects of war on the brain

My second post from the One Mind for Research forum is up on the Dana site. It’s the science part of one of the sessions. I’m going to write about the emotional part for a post on June 27, National PTSD Awareness Day. Stay tuned!

Posted 17 June 2011 § Brain science § Thinking ‡ Comments (0) °

The country’s library

This past Saturday I got to tour the Library of Congress with my some of my buddies from Washington Romance Writers. A WRW member, Virginia Virtucci, worked at LoC for 38 years and now volunteers as a docent, and she took us down hallways, up stairs and all around, describing just a few of the [...]

Posted 09 June 2011 § Books § Learning § Playing ‡ Comments (0) °

Kitty adorableness

For some reason (holiday weekend?) I’ve been seeing a flood of adorable-kitty videos. And I learned a new phrase, “interrupting cats” (along with “interrupting dads,” etc.). Cat hug Interrupting cat 1 Interrupting Cat 2 (wait for it)

Posted 31 May 2011 § Just fun ‡ Comments (0) °