Wrestling with Demons

Kite Festival, northern French resort of Berck-sur-Mer, France. Reuters photo by Sarah Meyssonnier:

Born in Massachusetts in 1961, Keith Russell Ablow graduated magna cum laude from Brown and later received a Doctor of Medicine degree from Johns Hopkins. He completed his psychiatry residency at the Tufts-New England Medical Center. While a student, he worked as a reporter and a freelancer for major publications. He served as a medical director of three facilities. He wrote a book about his three-year residency: To Wrestle with Demons, A Psychiatrist Struggles to Understand his Patients and Himself, published in 1994. I just finished it. Each of the 25 essays begins with a quote, mostly from classical literature. It is written in a manner most folks would understand, the style clear and concise and largely free of difficult terminology. The 158 pages read like a lot less, especially given the many blanks between pieces. Here are excerpts I particularly liked: “…I have been lifted to a new optimism, a conviction that human beings are connected by a core goodness that may be just below the surface.” “…We all walk an emotional mindfield every day, with the explosives and treasures of the past spread everywhere before us…” “I have heard psychoses described as being a passenger on a plane perpetually about to crash…” The accounts of his patients’ issues are interesting. I was fascinated by the story of a man whose daughter was moving away, leaving him alone in his house. He believed she was an imposter, as his “real” child would never do such a thing. Only three users at Amazon have rated To Wrestle…, forging to a consensus of 4.6 on a scale of five. I’ll go with 3.25. It began strong but plateaued. Still, a valuable work. It contains several black and white illustrations by Richard Downs. Ablow is no longer praticing. The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine indefinitely suspended his medical license, concluding he posed an immediate and serious threat to the public health, safety and welfare. He has spoken out on same sex marriage, sex change operations on minors and other issues from a conservative perspective. He has done a lot of TV, including hosting his own show. He has settled several lawsuits out of court. Wiki lists eleven of his works of non-fiction and six novels. Photo from GI:

How often is there violence on passenger jets these days? Is the following another sign of the decline of civilization? Headline from nypost.com: “Sky-high melee: Airline passenger filmed beating flight attendants, cops — and terrifying a little girl.”

When things get tough in NYC, rest assured that Schmuck Schumer will be MIA.

Sci-fi Scarborough weekend, UK. Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty, posted at theguardian.com:

A gorgeous day, temperature perfect for doing business curbside. My thanks to Alice, who donated a handful of books, and to Wolf, who delivered one; and to my Constant Benefactress, who insisted on paying for Abigail Adams: A Life by Woody Holton despite donating several books; and to the Cook Book Lady, who took home five; and to Lulu, who bought The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins; and to the old-timer who purchased four books for his eight-year-old granddaughter, including Coraline by Neil Gaiman and an edition of the Bobbsey Twins by Laura Lee Hope. I am blessed.

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