The Love Chronicles, Part 2- In Which the Author Introduces the Story of the...
His name was Cole and beside him I looked like a midget. At six feet tall this is no mean feat. We met at The Chateau Marmont late on a Spring evening. I wore red leather fuck-me boots and eyes of...
View ArticleThe Siren Song of the Snuggie
It has been a long winter, and the season isn’t even half-over. I see in the news today that Snuggie has sold over four million units. How many times have I seen the Snuggie commercial? Too many. So...
View ArticleAnxiety Paints a Self Portrait
The windows around the front door look like aliens. I seem to be the only one who recognizes it, but it’s so obvious. They are tall, skinny aliens with arms that reach down to their knees. Their...
View ArticleDenial, Anger, Bargaining, Anger, Anger and… am I missing one?
Matthew Simmons wrote an hilarious post over at HTMLGIANT about the “Five Stages of Publishing“: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. I’m not sure it’s a linear path, but I can definitely...
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Coyotes–A Portentous Image of Anxiety in Iowa
The coyote is lying on the side of the road. Lazily, softly, as if it is sleeping. But dead—this is obvious. A dead coyote, the color of maple, with thick, lustrous fur that makes it seem pettable and...
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The Fix
Happy is the new skinny. Being happy is cool. Being sad, unsatisfied, depressed, lonely, moody or anxious is totally unattractive. Being bubbly, funny, enthusiastic, imaginative and wild is hot....
View ArticleEverything’s Amazing and Nobody’s Happy and I Don’t Want to Grow Up
That lucky old sun has been acting like a real pretentious son-of-a-bitch lately. Always hiding behind the clouds, poking out every once in a while and giving the snow a few minutes of hell. But he...
View ArticleBecause of Camp
Author’s Note: The American Camp Association created a video in which actors and musicians share how their lives were changed for the better “because of camp.” After watching their video, I realized...
View ArticleJen; or Hooked
I met Jen in rehab in 1995. She was trying to kick a methadone habit and I was in an ugly battle with the bottle. She’d been in treatment a few weeks before I arrived. And when I did arrive I was...
View ArticleCycle
I. I’m looking at the teacher’s carefully manicured hands as she clutches the Expo marker to write on the board. I’m aware of her shiny, high-heeled shoes, of her sculpted hairdo. She’s wearing a green...
View ArticleBed
I. I talked before I walked. My mother says I did this in order to boss around anyone willing to listen. No one was, really, except my older brother. We shared a bedroom then, and I’d sit in my crib,...
View Article12 Differences Between Caddyshack and Reality, as Dictated by Depression
1) Working as a caddy in a country club does not entitle one to liberalities of sexual congress with fellow caddies or with the beautiful daughters of influential club members. Also, you are...
View ArticleThe Reluctant Herbivore
One morning in early September I developed a small pain in my left foot while walking in to work. It felt like nothing more than one of the brief aches a habitual ambulator like myself occasionally...
View ArticleCan We Talk?
Major Depressive Disorder (Source: NIMH) Major Depressive Disorder is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for ages 15-44. Major Depressive Disorder affects approximately 14.8 million American...
View ArticleStrange Talents: Nervous Breakdown on The Nervous Breakdown
Since psychiatry has proven itself to be anything but a science, the entire concept of mental anguish must be reexamined. Might the elements of “mental illness” more properly be called personality...
View ArticlePunchlines Without Jokes
I am not innately funny. I am, in fact, a very solemn, somber, pensive man trapped in a funny man’s body. In much the same fashion, I am not a fat guy: I’m a little heavy because I am way out of shape,...
View ArticleDispatches from the Wasteland, Part Seven
(DISCLAIMER: The thoughts, opinions, and comments contained in this narrative in no way represent the views of the U.S. Army, Department of Defense, or the United States Government.) Bagpipes The sun...
View ArticleFun with Misery
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about pain, death, misery and failure. I tend to think about these things in January, and I doubt I’m alone. This year, as with last year, I find myself underemployed,...
View ArticlePurple House
The night before I checked myself into the hospital, I told my brother that I only had two episodes of the third season of House left to watch, and that once they were over, I didn’t know what I was...
View ArticleThe Bush Years, The Great Recession, & The Plight of America’s Creative Class
Scott Timberg, writing for Salon, with a compelling essay on the financial struggles of America’s creative class: Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen write anthems about the travails of the working man;...
View ArticleElopement Precaution
You’ve begun to feel like some neurasthenic Joan Didion character. Only without the shiny coating of beauty and glamour. Increasingly, you have nothing to say. You are, distressingly, empty. Empty...
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Against the Pursuit of Happiness: A Meditation
Listen. Happiness? It just looks different on people like me. —Lidia Yuknavitch, The Chronology of Water In Ithaca, New York, Tibetan prayer flags hang...
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Excerpt from Jeff, One Lonely Guy, by Jeff Ragsdale
I. Posting a Flyer If anyone wants to talk about anything, call me (347) 469-3173. —Jeff, one lonely guy 570-231-XXXX So how did everyone get your number in the first place? 516-859-XXXX Wow, I just...
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Our Souls So Perilously Close
When I first read The New York Times write-up “Fiona Apple Faces Outwards”, I am struck by how deeply her transformation over the past seven years from big-eyed girl-woman to gaunt and isolated artist...
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Love in Frequencies
“Most people would rather convince themselves of being in love than of being happy, just as most people would rather believe they are talking to others when talking to themselves.” –Sarah Manguso...
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My First
The first time I had a full-blown episode of depression I was seven years old. I knew that this was odd, but I was used to oddity. My sister had taught me to read when I was two, so I had become a...
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Split-Feather
When I was fourteen, my father got a split-feather tattoo. He came home one Saturday and rolled up the leg of his jeans, wincing and cursing as it chafed his skin, and revealed his calf with a red and...
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Scott Stossel: The TNB Interview
Scampering through Cape Cod, searching for an outhouse, looking out for Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Secret Service… So I’m staying at the Kennedy Compound because I’m writing a biography on Sargent...
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Marin Sardy: The TNB Interview
In the aftermath of Robin Williams’ suicide, a plethora of articles and blogs have been published on the topic of mental illness and depression. As a writer whose work often directly or indirectly...
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693. Candace Jane Opper
Now playing on Otherppl, a conversation with Candace Jane Opper, author of the debut memoir Certain and Impossible Events. It was selected by Cheryl Strayed as the winner of the Kore Press Memoir...
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695. Melissa Broder
Now playing on Otherppl, a conversation with Melissa Broder. Her new novel, Milk Fed, is available from Scribner. This is Melissa’s fourth time on the podcast. She first appeared in Episode 58 on...
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746. Roisin Kiberd
Roisin Kiberd is the author of The Disconnect: A Personal Journey Through the Internet, available from Serpent’s Tail. Kiberd’s essays have been published in the Dublin Review, the White Review,...
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