“Memory, in short, is engraved not merely by the life we have led but by the life of the mind…by all the lives we so nearly led but missed by an inch, and—if we grant enough leeway to the imagination—by the lives of others, which can cut into ours every bit as sharply as our own experience.” – Anthony Lane, writing about W.G. Sebald in The New Yorker (May 29, 2000)
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Tag Archives: depression
Don’t go get a gun—anger, hope, and compassion are more powerful
To the grieving families of Aurora, Colorado: What happened in that movie theater a week ago, the anguish of losing loved ones in such a swift and horrible way, watching the injured suffer and survivors grieve, is wrenching. Like so … Continue reading
Tarzan—in the jungle we call home
So, I’ve had a post half-ready to go for more than two weeks now. I don’t suffer from writer’s block; can’t even say I have its cousin, blog block. (I’ve written several posts in my head, in addition to the … Continue reading
Posted in Grief & grieving, Memory, Suicide
Tagged addiction, coffee, depression, drug abuse, grief, memory, New York City, prejudice, psychology, suicide
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The memory keepers: Remembering September 11th—and World Suicide Prevention Day, September 10th
My thoughts this weekend, along with much of America and many around the world, are on 9/11, remembering, mourning, thinking about what happened ten years ago and what has happened since. Two wars, much grieving, many shifts, small and large, … Continue reading
Posted in Memory, Motherhood, Suicide, War, Writing & Reading
Tagged 9/11, Aaron Fein, children, depression, Edwidge Danticat, grief, literature, suicide, White Flags, World Suicide Prevention Day
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My Father’s Guns (part 4) – Final Installment
©2007, originally published in Center: A Journal of the Literary Arts, Vol. 6, “My Father’s Guns,” by Kara Frye My Father’s Guns IV. Travel back. The early eighties: I might have been ten or eleven, and Dad had recently been … Continue reading
Antidepressants—and Sex & Motherhood—in the News
During the notorious summer lull in “serious” books, I have found a number of interesting articles to feed my brain in recent weeks on topics as varied as depression, divorce, subjectivity, sex, and motherhood. These essays—and their subjects—overlap and bump … Continue reading
My Father’s Guns (part 3)
©2007, originally published in Center: A Journal of the Literary Arts, Vol. 6, “My Father’s Guns,” by Kara Frye My Father’s Guns III. Stewart’s Gun Shop in Bloomington is on South Walnut, a side street perpendicular to central downtown. I’d … Continue reading
Posted in EXIT WOUND: Suicide is Not a Love Story, Memoir, Memory, Suicide
Tagged BATF, depression, divorce, father-daughter relationships, grief, gun laws, memoir, memory, suicide, suicide survivors, writing
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My Father’s Guns (part 2)
©2007, originally published in Center: A Journal of the Literary Arts, Vol. 6, “My Father’s Guns,” by Kara Frye My Father’s Guns II. On Bastille Day 1998, accidental marker of independence and revolt, I exit the plane from New York … Continue reading
My Father’s Guns (part 1)
©2007, originally published in Center: A Journal of the Literary Arts, Vol. 6, “My Father’s Guns,” by Kara Frye [Krauze] * Several names (of people not related to my father by blood or marriage) and some physical details have been … Continue reading
Posted in EXIT WOUND: Suicide is Not a Love Story, Memoir, Memory, Suicide
Tagged depression, grief, memoir, memory, suicide, suicide survivors, writing
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Hollywood and the army base, and bipolar realities
On the one hand, we have Catherine Zeta-Jones checking into an exclusive mental-health facility, diagnosed with bipolar II disorder within five days, and less than a month after that adorning the cover of People magazine. On the other, we find … Continue reading
Posted in Memory, Suicide, War, Writing & Reading
Tagged Andrew Solomon, army wives, bipolar disorder, Catherine Zeta-Jones, depression, Jennifer Egan, Jessica Harp, Kay Redfield Jamison, memory, military, post-traumatic stress disorder, reading, Styron, suicide attempt, suicide notes, The Noonday Demon
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What we want to say—when someone else is grieving
Grief and loss are difficult topics to broach. Death makes us uncomfortable, often renders our words inadequate. In recent months, several people in my life have been dealing with the death of an intimate (none by suicide), a child, a … Continue reading