With the passage of H.R. 1, colloquially known as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” I now know how I will die. I will die because the hospitals that take care of me either won’t exist any more, or they’ll charge me so much money that I cannot afford to seek medical care. I will die…
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Why Father’s Day hits harder for me
Long-time readers of my blog know that I am a survivor of child abuse. My biological father, Robert Miller, let me know for the longest time that I was a product of him not totally understanding the rhythm method of birth control, and I do recall several moments of emotional and physical abuse from my…
Read MoreI miss you already, Frieda.
Frieda Tillman was one of my first connections in high school. She was my first true friend, and we remained friends throughout our high school years. We took many classes together, we participated in several extracurricular activities together, and we were both champions on the WRGB Answers Please quiz show from 1981. On Monday, I…
Read MoreFor His Holiness, Francis
I was born during the last few months of the papacy of John XXIII. By the time I understood what a pope was and what he meant to the Catholic Church, that leader was Paul VI. After Paul VI passed in 1978, we had Pope John Paul I and then Pope John Paul II (the…
Read More“Sweet Purge” – a digital short about the crisis of eating disorders
About a dozen years ago, I worked with Tabatha Beshears on the Bottle Service webseries. But while Bottle Service never saw the light of day … Tabatha went on to create some other videos and media projects. Including this extremely important digital short called “Sweet Purge.” And I will preface this with a trigger warning…
Read MoreAllen’s Day is coming on February 20
55 years ago, on February 20, 1970, my 3-year-old baby brother Allen Miller was critically injured in a single car accident. He would pass away six months later. His death affected me in so many ways. At the time, my six-year-old brain couldn’t understand or rationalize the finality of death. Even today, I’m still struggling…
Read MoreLandmines
I’ve stepped on many figurative landmines in my life. Sometimes I know where the landmines are and I try to avoid them, but you can’t avoid every landmine. Sometimes you think you’ve stepped in a safe area, only to discover that you’ve placed your foot on an unmarked landmine and BOOM. And in that BOOM,…
Read MoreVale Alan Mansfield
The Facebook post hit me like a punch in the kidney. I’m reposting it here verbatim. From the Sharon O’Neill Facebook fan page. “Kia ora everyone, Yesterday morning I lost the love of my life, Alan. His daughter Lauren and I were with him and he passed comfortably and peacefully. Alan battled for three years…
Read MoreNine Hundred Eleven Words: a Personal Remembrance of September 11, 2001
NOTE: The following post was originally published on September 11, 2009, and was repeated on September 11, 2011. It is repeated today for obvious reasons. The day started out horribly. Two days beforehand, my wife’s grandfather, Samuel Ginsburg, passed away after a long and valiant battle against Alzheimer’s Disease. That day, we were going to…
Read MoreThose “thoughts and prayers” finally worked, didn’t they?
Yesterday. Winder, Georgia. Another city. Another town. Another school. Another Columbine. Another Stoneman Douglas High. Another Robb Elementary. Another and another and another. In Washington, D.C., a Republican Congressman spent the night in his Congressional office. He got down on his knees and prayed. I can imagine what he said when he heard about the…
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