A beautiful essay, written by my friend Amy Sequenzia, for Autism Acceptance Month. Autism Acceptance means more than love and understanding. It means belonging. Amy lived in Great Barrington for a time, and was very active in CATA. She has published a collection of poetry.
Category: Personal
Apr 08
The demise of mirror neurons?
The latest (April 2016) issue of Scientific American contains an article that caught my eye. It is billed as “Cognitive Psychology” and subtitled “By honing ax-making skills while scanning their own brains, researchers are studying how cognition evolved.” This is clearly a very speculative venture, and the article (“Tales of a Stone Age Neuroscientist” available …
Dec 09
Back in the Saddle
Alice and I had not taken the horses out for a long time, but we had a great ride on Monday.Some time ago, Stewart had developed a serious infection in one foot and was sidelined for several weeks while it healed. He seems all better now, but he and Spot had not done any riding for a while. …
Oct 22
My Round of Golf with Bob Hope
On a hot summer day, many years ago, I spent an afternoon with Bob Hope on the golf course. Hope was born in 1903, and he lived to be 100. The day I met him, he was in his mid-70s, and he was still very much a part of the entertainment scene and the celebrity …
Sep 11
Kudos to a Harrington’s driver; some other drivers, not so much
A big thank you to the Harrington’s driver this morning who stopped when he saw our horses in distress, very near my house, on East Road in Alford. He turned off his engine and waited patiently while we got the horses settled down, dismounted, and led them down my driveway. We of course thanked him …
Jun 07
Exciting news! My final symptoms are fading away
Exciting news! My final symptoms are fading away. According to this Harvard website, The ideal blood pressure is 120/80; as it rises above that threshold, the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and other health problems steadily rises. At 140/90, doctors generally recommend blood pressure medication. I have a new cuff at home that I am …
May 09
Two identical very different trips through the Alford Valley
Alford this past week was a string of turquoise days. Dry air and golden sunshine combined into a perfect backdrop for a couple of ambles through the Alford Valley. On two different days, I took identical routes with different forms of transportation. The first was a walk with my friend Bess, as we surveyed winter …
May 09
There are 10 types of people in the world…
Those who understand binary, and those who don’t. In my early days as a computer programmer, I studied the RCA 501, a 2nd generation computer (in the days of vaccuum tubes, before transistors). It was an octal machine. If you ever saw any of the original Startrek TV series, the console of the Starship Enterprise was actually …
Apr 12
Not just attention to detail, but fascination with detail
I guess you don’t have to be autistic to collect stamps (or coins, or bills, or anything else), but I’m sure it helps. For many years (and long before I figured out that I’m autistic), I collected stamps. More than collected, I accumulated. In the past few years, I’ve been gradually selling off my accumulation …
Apr 08
It May Be that Young People have been Paying Attention
This interesting report by NPR challenges the speculation that we may be moving to a cashless society. “People seem really wary of the mistakes of their parents,” Shahani says. “There is something relieving about, you know, that it’s not lost on them that their parents were deep into debt. And people seem to carry that maybe …