disfigurement

How This Grinch Forgave Her Mother (Mostly)

“Have you forgiven your mother?” Oddly, this gut-wrenching, intensely personal question follows me wherever I go. I am a psychologist and...

The Problem with "Women Talking"

Sarah Polley’s Women Talking is a beautiful ensemble piece, in which women gather to discuss how to handle a violent crisis. The...

Disfigurement: A Call for Awareness

(republished, with permission, from the Pennsylvania Psychologist) When I was four years old, I survived a fire which burned away my...

Your Accidental Activist

Somehow, I have become an activist. This was never my intent. All I ever planned was to write my memoir. I did not intend to be a public...

"Burn Baby Burn"

[Author note: In recognition of this back-to-school time, here is a reprint of my blog about bullying. Many children are bravely...

Happy To Be “Too Sensitive”

My mother used to tell me, “You're too sensitive.” It was a repeated refrain, deployed when I cried too long or hurt too much. She said...

Hey Hollywood – Scars Don’t Make You Evil

At the end of a weary work week, I sprawled on the couch ready to watch a movie. I wanted to be entertained by someone else’s problems...

A Tough Fall

(Part 5 in the series Choosing More Surgery) I spoke to a psychic two weeks before my recent operations. The psychic is a friend, an...

Somewhere Over My Rainbow(s)

(Part 4 in the series Choosing More Surgery) I have always loved “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” I identify with Dorothy in The Wizard of...

Why Me? Why Not Me?

(This is Part 3 in the series "Choosing More Surgery." See here for Part 1 and here for Part 2) “How are you doing today?” asked my...

I Hate Walter: Choosing more surgery (Part II)

(For Part I of this series, click here) “You need to make friends with it,” advised my surgeon. She smiled at me, her long straight...

5 Things to Say to a Scarred Person (and 1 Thing Not to Say)

A year ago, I sat eating lunch with my new friend, Betsy. We met when our kids performed in high school theater together. We both...

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