Other women often smile indulgently when I describe myself as "shopping impaired" or "fashion deficient."  I guess they imagine that it takes me a few extra trips to the mall before I can find that just-right outfit that will accent all my fabulous qualities while rendering those minor flaws vir… Read full post »

I can't call up many facts about Wisconsin beyond a purported fondness for beer and cheese.  Turns out the state is a truly beautiful one, and the sections along Lake Michigan and Lake Superior are particularly breathtaking.  We took a detour up Door County to see the sand dunes… Read full post »

 In retrospect,  my high school Social Studies teacher was pretty awesome.  Actually, I'd say we were aware of it even at the time-- he asked us not to put our names on our papers, so he could grade them without bias.  At a school assembly he played… Read full post »

I might be singing a different tune if we were there in Winter, but Chicago in Summertime is a beautiful city.  There's so much green space, and flowers planted along the streets.  And bike lanes!  Everywhere!  I heard Mayor Daley is a biker, although the person who gave me this i… Read full post »

Below are a few pictures from previously-mentioned aspects of the trip... I finally found those disposable cameras I was using until we got to Montana and I bought my first-ever digital camera. 

All of these pictures are also available on flickr:        &… Read full post »

We now interrupt the regular road trip posts with this foray into the rocky waters of modern American mental health...

 The New York Times today published an excellent piece on "The Americanization of Mental Illness" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/magazine/10psyche-t.htm… Read full post »

Like baseball, the road trip is an American pastime.  So I suppose it’s logical that I first laid eyes on Wrigley field after traveling over 1,000 miles across the Eastern United States with my husband, camping out every night and then packing ourselves back into our white Taurus and drivi… Read full post »

The following installment in the Road Trip Diaries... I was feeling creativing in writing this particular account.  Enjoy!

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We’ve been on the road less than a week, and we’ve already seen Niagara Falls, Wrigley Field, and more antiqu… Read full post »

I think spending six weeks in a car with my husband was the smartest thing I've ever done.  Several people expressed some degree of horror at our plan (our very vague plan) to drive across the country and back the summer before last.  Between car breakdown problems, dwindling finances, and… Read full post »

For the past six months, I've been working three days a week at a state mental hospital.   Most of the time our patient are suicidal, depressed, and largely uninterested in our efforts to help them.  Once in a while, though, there are glimmers of the people they were before they starte… Read full post »