Columnists

Clara Estelle Breed (1906-1994)

Do you assume much doesn’t go on in the lives of library staffers beyond the spectacles and reading all those books? Well, meet Miss Breed, a professional librarian who took chances, risked her career and income by taking an activist stance during World War II. Does any of this sound familiar in today’s library milieu? It does to me—for several reasons. Read on. -more-

On April 17th, my Berkeley Indivisible group hosted a two-hour discussion on "Reaching out to Trump voters," featuring UC professors Arlie Hochschild and George Lakoff. Participants learned how to approach a group that some consider a lost cause.

After November 8, many progressives were dismayed to learn that one or more members of their family had voted for Donald Trump. It wasn't some random Republican in a remote red state, it was someone they had shared holidays and vacations with. It was a beloved member of their family.

Indivisible was founded with two primary values in mind: inclusivity and nonviolence. Reaching out to a Trump voter is a reflection of inclusivity, including everyone in the conversation. Involving every voter regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, sexual preference, or how they voted on November 8th.

The Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn defined nonviolence as "love in action." Certainly reaching out to a family member who voted for Trump is love in action. -more-

This week's column recounts my episode with a pinched nerve, and how I discovered that it was probably caused by an antipsychotic medication.

Risperdal is one of the first, if not the first of what are now called, "second-generation antipsychotics." In the past they were dubbed, "atypical antipsychotics" because of the mistaken belief that they didn't do the absurdly bad things to the human body that older medications do.

Actually, I think Clozapine was the first. Clozapine is an incredibly powerful antipsychotic that causes agranulocytosis in about one percent of the people taking it. This is the loss of white blood cells that are responsible for our immunity to diseases and infections. Regular blood tests are required with Clozapine because of that. However, I digress...

It wasn't until the newer medications had been around for a while, that it became known that these medications in fact do the same horrible things to the human body as the old meds, and worse. -more-