It feels like yesterday when I heard the music of The Cure for the first time. And although it’s been over twenty years I still remember it with the same nostalgia and sentimentality. Maybe because The Cure produced a unique post-punk psychedelic euphoria and an incredibly unusual chain reaction that shivered my spine. Maybe because The Cure bridged the gap between the punk and the pop; they managed their sound manners with sadness and rage; they established their own style creating armies of fans and imitators around the globe. The Cure built their myth using selective ingredients from their work and their life; and they have become a real cure for the souls of millions of people, who have cried, laughed, danced, and passed endless nights thinking about the meaning of life and the dark side of things.
Robert Smith, a dark personality himself, melancholic, eccentric, strange, unstable, had all those virtues that a person should have in order to create artistically. His amazing verses and his peculiar way to pronounce them soon idolized him to the eyes of the group’s fans and made The Cure the vehicle of his musical explorations and one of the most important post punk groups in the history of music. The Cure marked an entire generation with their music, their pioneering sound, their unique appearance and became an attitude of life for the young generation of the 80s.
In the early years, Smith’s melancholy was reflected on his dark verses. He was the dominant figure of the group, the composer and the singer. The first reward for the group was rewarded from Melody Maker in a competition for new groups. The Easy Cure got a new name and begun their magic journey of absolute creation that swept as a tycoon the psychedelic, pop, dark Gothic, rock and punk sounds and converted them into the sound of The Cure. During this journey, the group produced records that shook the global audience such as “Boys don’t cry”, “Pornography”, “Disintegration” and many others with tracks that literally brought up and stigmatised the generation of the 80s and the 90s.
The Cure’s success is also attributed to the fact that the group is not a one-dimensional Goth-punk band. The Cure are the post punk of “Three Imaginary Boys”, the funk of “Hot Hot Hot”, the pop of “Close To Me” and the overflowing love of “Just Like Heaven”. Even in their darkest moments from “Faith” or “Disintegration” they are more influenced from the French Existentialism (“Killing an Arab” is based on the “Etranger” of Albert Camus) than from the German roots of Bauhaus or The Sisters of Mercy, who would perfectly fit in Berlin during the Third Reich. The only group that could share the sense of loneliness and isolation is Joy Division. However, even after Ian Curtis’ suicide and the group’s rebirth as New Order, Joy Division suffer from an one-dimensional style, from which they cannot not escape, and they cover themselves with a new name, while being the patriarchs of the dance music. On the contrary, The Cure mix different music styles and produce great songs.
No matter how much light the music industry pours on the glamorous figure of Robert Smith, the dark side of music remains dark. Robert never wanted to see the cheerful side of life; at least not musically; His 25-years course with The Cure is a maelstrom of melancholy and gloom, which captures our souls and makes us think, open our minds, see our lives from a different perspective, value our time and set priorities. Smith’s lyrics practically save us from the emptiness of the trendy bullshit; fortunately for all of us. And this is the greatest contribution of The Cure to the society: they have created great thinkers…
1) show signs of regular cruelty to or indifference to cruelty to animals (which includes insects) or people during their preteen years (though not necessarily early preteen years) due to a lack of a long-term, loving care with the teaching of good morals by an authority figure (like a parent) which leads to the child doing wrong often in childhood and their conscience becoming seared to the point where it no longer will produce a feeling of guilt, even in adulthood;
2) They are okay with seeing someone do an occasional good deed and may praise them for it, but they have a hatred for people who do good deeds in general, hence why none of them have a charitable lifestyle, especially are nor charitable out of kindness. They are also highly resistant to being charitable even if it is to gain an advantage over others, which is because they associate charity with strong morality, which they hate. This is why they will accuse Christians of merely, “Shoving religion down everyone’s throat” and ignoring and not mentioning any good deeds Christians do no matter how many are done or how great, and may refer to those who do good as “goody-goodys”);
They are:
3) hypocritical in their rules and accusations and (due to having no conscience to let them know when they are doing wrong and their minds being narrowly focused on satisfying the desires of their heart rather than being careful to do what is logical and morally good);
4) unwilling to come up with any insight of their own on religion or philosophy, cannot, without explanation from a person with a conscience, belief in absolute right and wrong, punishment to restrain stubborn behavior, and belief in a god or gods or God, reason out the psychological, emotional, or physiological consequences of certain religions or philosophies, hence why
5) many or about all psychopaths are happy to make simplistic judgments on religion, especially complex ones, like, “(all) religions cause wars” or “(all) religion is responsible for deaths” as it conveniently excuses psychopaths to live without moral restraint and why they are
6) mentally shallow concerning anything at all despite specializing in something, like finding cheap air fair, the correct translation for a word, the correct answer to a mathematical formula. By immitating what others say in certain situations and with assistance they may appear to be smarter and wiser than they really are (as can anyone who imitates well and gets good help), and so then appear to be a anything, including lawyer, physicist, mathematician, biologist, baby-sitter, priest or even pastor.
7) There mental shallowness is also evidenced by very stupid questions (shocking to a normal person), for example, if they ask someone to strip naked for them and get the reply, “It’s against my religion to”, they may reply with something like, “Well can’t you change your religion?” or “What is you stopped being religious?”.
There mental shallowness is also evidenced by gullibility, sometimes great gulliblity (shocking to a normal person). For example they show that they have a hard time (in general) determing real from not real no matter how absurd or clearly wrong a fiction is (for example belief in a billions of years old giant exlposion creating all the wonders of the universe, including irreducably complex, very beautiful, living, emotional things of countless types). So when a person plays an obvious joke on a psychopath, the person playing the joke will find to his or her amazement (if they don’t realize the person was a psychopoath), the psychopath taking the joke seriously.
They are:
9) without empathy (in other words won’t imagine themselves in the painful situation of someone else in order to understand that person’s pain due to a lack of love for others);
10) emotionally shallow on immorality or good deeds (for example don’t feel anything or any deep anger of seeing someone do moral wrong or deep joy over seeing someone sacrifice themselves to help an innocent person or joy over someone suffering to help another who doesn’t deserve it – however they can and do feel great anger over themselves being wronged, especially if threatened by someone who can hinder their lifestyle – and at best experience someone deep wonderment or awe over seeing such things, which is also why
11) their displays of sorrow over wrong-doing or someone suffering or dying lack a sad expression and they do not feel very sad).
12) Though they may sometimes feel sorrow for seeing someone else in a bad position, it does not last long, are unwilling to give more than what they consider to be of little value to help the person they feel sorrow for, though for their own entertainment they are willing to give a little physical help to or chat for a while.
They:
13) may try to display appropriate sorrow to having done wrong or seeing wrong done or over some sad thing (like a suffering child dying in front of them) if they think they may lose their advantage over others or be unable to gain an advantage over others if they don’t display this sorrow;
14) feel great distress and worry when they perceive an immediate threat to their life-style.
15) emotionally shallow on immorality or good deeds (for example don’t feel anything or any deep anger of seeing someone do moral wrong or deep joy over seeing someone sacrifice themselves to help an innocent person or joy over someone suffering to help another who doesn’t deserve it – however they can and do feel great anger over themselves being wronged, especially if threatened by someone who can hinder their lifestyle – and at best experience someone deep wonderment or awe over seeing such things, which is also why
16) their displays of sorrow over wrong-doing or someone suffering or dying lack a sad expression and they do not feel very sad).
17) Though they may sometimes feel sorrow for seeing someone else in a bad position, it does not last long, are unwilling to give more than what they consider to be of little value to help the person they feel sorrow for, though for their own entertainment they are willing to give a little physical help to or chat for a while.
They:
18) may try to display appropriate sorrow to having done wrong or seeing wrong done or over some sad thing (like a suffering child dying in front of them) if they think they may lose their advantage over others or be unable to gain an advantage over others if they don’t display this sorrow;
19) feel great distress and worry when they perceive an immediate threat to their life-style.
They are:
20) rude (for example will tell someone who gets off a subject they want to be the focus of a discussion, “you’re wandering”, rather than asking them a question on the desired subject to bring them back to it, yet if themselves are asked a question to get them to give an immediate answer or more concise answer, tend to give a reply like, “well if you would let me finish” or “stop interrupting me” with a hostile or strained, high pitched, aggravated-sounding or condescending tone);
21) self-centered (for example may brush off a request from a friend’s request for some emergency merely because they desire more sleep or hoard money to the hurt of others though not necessarily out of greed);
22) arrogant (for example sees themselves as much better than most people yet having no evidence for this, and may boast aloud of some existing or non-existent trait they have (like clairvoyance) thinking that that trait gives them great uniqueness and a level of goodness or intelligence that makes them much more worthy of attention than other things, including people, and much more valuable than other things, and so if they are interrupted when they are wandering, rambling or ranting or interrupted at all, will make a reply like, “well if you would let me finish” or “don’t cut me off” even if what they are saying is not relevant or obvious, even if that is told to them, and will behave as if what they have to say is relevant, original/not obvious and profound and unable to be known by the person they are talking to unless they tell it to them);
23) obsessed with finding uniqueness and non-repetition in others (for example may insult someone for not being original and “repeating” themselves) and without realizing it is implying that the uniqueness and originality that they are seeming is immoral and illogical (which they often call “random”) behavior;
24) often quick to lie to save or keep an appearance of being very unique, wise and or whatever their idea of “good” is;
25) able to lie very well due to not being hindered by a conscience.
They:
26) will complain about and show frustration about the difficulty they had in learning subjects that require much patience and concentration which did not interest them (for example may say, “it was really hard to study these things”);
27) live a parasitic lifestyle/take advantage of others in order to survive and avoid having to work either mentally or physically hard for long;
28) will do complex mental work only if they see absolutely no other likely way for them to accomplish their long term goal of having an easy-going life (for example doing math work that bores them in order to get through college);
29) have no conscience (and therefore feel no regret or sorrow or guilt regardless of how badly or how many times they disobey God);
30) have poor emotional self-control/impulsive (for example will touch a person in a place where that person requests not to be touched if they think that they can escape being punished for it, though they may not be promiscuous or display their lust openly out of fear of being rejected for their inability to please another sexually and not having adequate sexually-pleasing physical characteristics);
31) are very resistant to accept that they’ve done wrong if it wasn’t intentional;
32) sadistic and cruel (for example will intentionally and repeatedly do wrong and laugh at seeing it greatly upset a person even if they see that their cruelty is causing great pain or damage to that person).
33) They will, when unable to find people to take advantage of to keep away their boredom or when having little more than shallow social contact, become delusional, imagining relationships or close relationships that don’t exist. They may even fool themselves into imagining people that don’t exist whom they imagine are their friends and converse with them, even going so far as to create false evidence to strengthen their belief in these people (for example may make imaginary Internet user accounts or email accounts supposedly used by these imaginary people and sending email to themselves from these accounts). This is either an insanity or they believe that they can, by their mere will, will things into reality, in other words, “wish” things into reality (including their being right about something).
34) They believe that they have an inherit right as a person, but not because of God’s word or the word of some other supposed god to do whatever they desire to do, so long as it is lawful, though like most people will question certain laws and believe some to be useless and pointless.
35) They don’t believe that there is a logical, discoverable reason for the occurrence of certain things (for example why they may go for a walk at a certain hour of the day and go to a certain street).
36) A psychopath, to protect his or her life-style, may attempt to ruin the life of, blackmail or murder the person who may ruin their life-style (for example if a psychopath suspects that someone is going to try to send them to jail, he may try to poison that person, or if he or she thinks he can get away with it, stab that person to death.)
A narcissist psychopath is one that sees themselves as beautiful or life style as noble despite regardless of the clear ugliness of either. A non-narcissist psychopath can recognize ugly and plain features of his body if they exist, and can imagine ugliness that doesn’t exist, for example, excess fat. Narcissists also admire those who they also believe to be superior in some way, like beauty, wealth, strength or eloquence or their fame or high status for having any of these and narcissists pander to such people in order to gain their love and become like them. A narcissist will, if they can do so, acquire many pictures of themselves and put them on display for their personal enjoyment and to show to others for them to obsess on. Narcissists are also easily offended by criticism against themselves, whether the judgment is right or not and will be quick to show their annoyance and disapproval even going so far as to say that all judgment is wrong in order to gain the love and support of others who hate being criticized. Narcissits will also, in order to better fit the high status or beauty they imagine that they have, try to match it by how they speak, both by their tone and choice of words. For example, they may try to speak eloquently and use rare words like “drek”, “ergo”, “notwithstanding” etc. (or if too mentally lazy or stupid to learn “hard” or rare words, simply call themselves smart, intelligent and wise and tell people that don’t see things as they do as not being able to notice the “obvious” and that they are “ridiculous” or “absurd” if not agreeing with the “obvious” (like in macro-evolution, or how beautiful they are). Becacuse of their impulsiveness and focus on using “smart” words more than making sense when using them, they often don’t make sense or contradict themselves. They may also use royal-sounding or wise-sounding phrases like, “intricate complexities”, “tight co-evolution”, “please do”, “may I suggest”, “me thinks [that] you”, “my dear friend”, including Shakespearean or Shakespearean-like phrases).
A person can be turned into a narcissist by praising whatever that person does, even if it is evil and praising their appearance even if they are ugly over all or praising some part of their body that is ugly as being beautiful, or praising their clothing as being beautiful in appearance when it isn’t, and getting them to focus on their appearance while disregarding more important things like their health, or the well-being of others.
A similar but more dangerous type of psychopath realizes the importance of theistic based morality yet attempts to subvert them as they realize that it threatens their care-free life-style (for example they may pretend to be moral by expressing concern that religion should be taught and yet in another situation slander theists in order to discredit all religions and may even go so far as pretending to be a Christian and then doing something they believe is contrary to the Christian religion, again: to give it a bad image to discredit it).
Basically: psychopaths are heartless and self-centered to everyone except to those who agree with and help sustain their life style and even towards those people are poor friends as they are unwilling to often suffer very long for them in order to help them improve morally, financially or physically.
As a consequence of these things psychopaths may have many short-term relationships (depending on how high the population is where they live) and due to their relentless disrespectfulness, unthankfulness, lack of appropriate emotional responses becoming unbearable and because the psychopath desires and seeks out new experiences to keep from feeling boredom.
A psychopath, like anyone who sins, can, by God only, be cured of their desire to disobey God, their illogical thinking, impulsiveness and imperfect moral judgment.
Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6
He who spares the rod hates his son,
but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.
Proverbs 13:24
A lying tongue hates those afflicted by it,
and a flattering mouth works ruin.
Proverbs 26:28
Even a child is known by his actions,
by whether his conduct is pure and right.
Proverbs 20:11
Fathers, do not exasperate your children;
instead, bring them up in the training
and instruction of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4
Children, obey your parents in the Lord,
for this is right.
Ephesians 6:1
It’s nearly 6 am. I don’t know why but I can’t sleep these days. I wake up a few times every night and lie there, wide awake, with a strange feeling that something bad is going to happen.Cole’s up already. I can smell the aroma of freshly ground coffee and hear him pottering around the kitchen. That reminds me that I also have to be up soon. There’s an inspection at my school this morning and everything has to be ready before the school opens at 9 am. Another ten minutes and I’ll drag myself out of bed.
I feel so lucky sometimes. One day, I looked at Cole and realised I had walked through my life blindfolded until I met him. I kept bumping into people who would either knock me down or ignore my existence. I had no idea where my life was going until fate navigated me onto Cole’s path. I was surprised that he proposed so soon. We’d known each other for about 3 months. He was in his last year of law school and was planning to travel before settling down. So when I saw an engagement ring in his hand I had to ask:
‘Are you sure? What about your plans?’
‘You can have roots and wings, Em.’
Two years after the wedding and backpacking across Europe I got pregnant. We were ready, scared but so ready. Cole decorated the nursery and I sent cute handmade cards to everyone to announce the good news. We lost the baby at twelve weeks. I got pregnant again. This time we decided to wait till sixteen weeks before telling the family, but the baby died at fourteen weeks. Then another one, and another. After my fifth miscarriage we stopped trying.
I have boxes, somewhere in the attic, full of scan pictures and good luck cards. We never stopped hoping that one day we’d bring a healthy baby home, but we did stop expecting it.
Cole
Emma screamed in her sleep again last night. For the last three months she’s been having nightmares which she never mentions in the morning, as if she doesn’t remember them.
‘Good morning,’ she says and sits down on one of the wooden chairs, grabs a hairpin from the table and twists her black hair into a knot. I pass her one of the coffees and lean across the table to kiss her head. Her hair smells of evergreen and mint.
‘How are you feeling, Em?’
‘Oh, you know,’ she looks exhausted. ‘Crap,’ she says and smiles. ‘You?’
‘Why don’t you stay in bed today? Ring the school and tell them you need a break.’
‘No, I’ll be fine. It’s just a headache,’ she says and takes a sip of coffee.
‘Okay, but please ring me later,’ I say and grab my briefcase off the floor. ‘I love you.’
‘Will do,’ she says calmly. ‘Good luck with the hearing. Love you, too.’
Emma
I hear his car drive away. Another day, another dollar. I drag myself to the bathroom for a shower. I wish this headache would cease. I’m rummaging through the medicine cabinet for painkillers when the phone starts ringing. The caller display shows my mother’s number. Now, that’s a whole different kind of pain.
First, there was the issue of Aunt Selena’s house. She was mother’s only sibling but they had never been close. Selena died two weeks ago and to my complete and utter surprise she left her house to me. I guess it made sense to her. She didn’t have children and must have known that Cole and I had been trying for a baby. We outgrew our flat years ago. Selena specifically requested in her will that the house goes to Mr & Mrs Cole Perry and their family. We haven’t decided whether we would actually move there as the house is on the other side of the island. Needless to say, as soon as my mother found out about the will, all hell broke loose and she embarked on a mission to talk me out of accepting it.
On top of that, five days ago, she and I had a huge fight and I’ve been avoiding her since. She said some horrible things at Selena’s wake. We were standing outside the pub, smoking and wondering who the hell were all those people that attended Selena’s funeral. There must have been at least fifty of all of us and apart from a few family members I didn’t recognize anybody. There were mainly women, two of them heavily pregnant and I remember thinking that it must have been important to them to say goodbye to Selena. My mother was very quiet. She looked fragile and tired and kept staring at her shoes. I suggested we speak to some of the other guests and ask how they knew Selena. She caught me off guard when she got so angry.
‘Just let go, Emma! Why the hell are you trying to ruin everything?’
My mother lost it completely and called Selena a witch and a psycho. In that moment I knew that whatever it was that came between them, it was a secret that she was not prepared to share with me.
Diane
I take my cup of tea out on to the patio and sit on one of the plastic lawn chairs. I feel restless.
I managed to keep this from her for over 30 years, so that she could have a normal life.
‘Damn you, Selena,’ I murmur to myself and go back inside to dial Emma’s number for the tenth time this morning.
Emma
I get the mail as I am running out the door to catch my bus to work. I look through the letter, some bills and one large envelope from Selena’s lawyers. I can feel my phone vibrating in my coat’s pocket. I answer it and before my mother can utter a word I say: ‘This isn’t a good time, mother, I’m a little busy.’
I switch the phone off and open the large envelope. They have sent me all the documents required to finalise Selena’s will and invite me to collect the keys to her house.
The headache is trying to split my head in halves and a wave of sudden nausea creeps up on me so I turn my attention to the little girl sitting with her mum two seats away from me. I listen to their chatter about her upcoming fourth birthday party.
My firstborn would have celebrated his or hers seventh birthday next week.
As soon as I step into my classroom I feel the need to throw up. The room starts spinning round and a moment later I can smell the sour stink of vomit and I realise it’s mine.
The kids suddenly go quiet and then I hear Mandy’s thin voice:
‘Miss Perry, are you alright?’
I look over my shoulder and see her concerned little face.
‘I don’t know,’ I admit.
Thirty minutes later, I’m in a taxi with instructions to go home, to bed and not to show my face till I’m better.
The taxi driver has his radio on. I’m beginning to relax and catch myself humming to ‘Sweet Home Alabama’. I make a snap decision.
‘Excuse me, sir. I’ve change my mind. Please, could you turn round and drive me to Provence Avenue instead?’
I collect the keys from Selena’s lawyers and ask the taxi driver to take me straight to her house. I need answers.
It’s a two hour journey, right through the centre of the island to its other end. I look out the window and absorb the beauty of this beautiful place. I have been so wrapped up in my problems that I forgot how much I love the Eyvinder Island. Stunning hillsides lovely draped with steep woods, the clay cliffs and the farms surrounded by fences that in summer are decorated in blossom. The wonderful species of birds, tracts of heather and blueberry, tall lighthouses and wild upland streams rich in fern. Cole fell in love with this place as much as I did. He laughs that it were the lamb sausages that sealed the deal for him.
It starts to rain as we are pulling up outside the house. It looks just as I remember it, but the garden has changed a lot. I’m instantly hit by the powerful aroma of wild thyme and yellow bedstraw that seem to have taken over one of the fences. The garden has been divided by a number of willow hedges and each section has something else growing in it, mainly herbs, some of which I don’t recognize. As the rain becomes heavier I hurry towards the building. Something is preventing me from opening the front door enough to let myself in. I push as hard as I can and to my surprise I find lots of letters that got stuck under the door. They are all addressed to Selena. I pick them up and make my way to the kitchen which is just on my right. There is a large pile of letters on the breakfast table. I wander around the living room and then down the hallway that opens into a small room. It resembles a healing room. I have seen some of those before when Cole and I did our research on alternative medicine and pregnancy. The room is light and there’s an aroma in the air that reminds me of hot summer days. The furniture is minimal. On the left there’s a corner unit containing lots of unlabelled bottles and jars, and a single medical-style bed with white sheets. On the right there is a small writing desk with an old wooden stool. There are no pictures on the walls, no curtains, no plants. I’m just about to leave when I notice an envelope on the desk. It’s addressed to me. I open it and my heart starts racing, fluttering as fast as hummingbird’s flight.
Cole
‘Diane? It’s me again. Any news?’
I have been trying to contact Emma since lunchtime. It’s nearly 7 pm and her mobile is still off. Her boss said they’d sent her home in a taxi, but when I arrived here a couple of hours ago there was no sign of her. I should have stayed with her. I should have stayed home.
‘No, nothing, I’m afraid,’ Diane replies slowly. She sounds tired and depressed. I know she feels bad about her recent fight with Emma.
‘Cole, I think I know where she is. But you need to hear something else first as I can’t keep it to myself any longer.’
Diane
I often wondered how it would feel to get this off my chest and now this moment has arrived I feel nothing. I have rehearsed this conversation with Emma over and over again. Perhaps it’s better that she hears it from Cole.
My sister promised to keep the secret but it seems like she changed her mind on her deathbed. That’s why she left the house to Emma. No doubt there would be a post-mortem letter somewhere between her magic trinkets. Selfish, misguided and manipulative woman! She must have known what she was planning to do would change everything. Now Emma will learn that Selena was her crazy birth mother and that I adopted her soon after the birth.
It all started when Selena had her first nervous breakdown. She couldn’t sleep and claimed that she could hear voices. Our parents were still alive and they let her move in with them to keep an eye on her. They paid for a private treatment but Selena kept refusing to take her medication. She insisted that the voices told her she was special and had power to heal others. I’d spent weeks poring over psychiatric texts trying to understand the nature of her illness. Soon after that, we found out that she was pregnant and her condition worsened. We had no choice but to have her sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
Cole
I’m so happy to see my mobile phone showing an incoming call from my wife.
‘Emma, thank God, are you okay? I’m coming to get you.’
‘How do you know where I am? Oh, it doesn’t matter. I have so much to tell you.’
She sounds excited but her voice is trembling.
‘I know, Em. I know everything. Diane told me.’
‘No, you don’t understand. You can’t possibly know… this is huge.’
‘Yes, it is. Are you okay?’
‘Come straight over, Cole. Bring me some food, I’m starving.’
Emma
I hang up the phone and sit down on the floor next to the pile of letters. I can’t wait to tell Cole about this. I chose one letter to show him first. It explains Selena’s incredible gift and tells a story of a couple, just like us, who nearly lost hope to ever have their own baby. Luckily, they heard about my aunt and her healing power. All those letters, thank you cards, photographs of newborns have blown me away.
I look at an unstoppered blue bottle that stands on the coffee table together with Selena’s instructions for the use of her medicine and think of the future. According to the letters from other women I should be able to feel the baby a lot sooner this time.
“Oct. 16 — Battling the bottle? Some medical experts have a controversial remedy: They’re looking at the merits of ‘LSD’ as a cure for alcoholism.
Imagine this. You are hooked on alcohol and you want help getting off the booze. You go to your doctor, and he or she says, “Drop some acid.”
That’s right. LSD, the infamous drug of choice for many hippies in the 1960s and ’70s. Lysergic acid diethylamide, the drug that caused hallucinations or “tripping,” was, of course, outlawed, giving it immeasurable street cred in its time, before fading away as flower-painted bodies grew into gray-flannel suits.
So, in the 21st century, why would a respected medical doctor even consider prescribing LSD as a wonder drug to help cure alcoholism?
And will it actually happen?
The answer, like an LSD trip, is elusive, but some in the scientific and medical community are beginning to discuss the possible merits of acid for this generation. Erika Dyck, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta, Canada, researches and teaches the history of medicine.
She raised the issue after studying a series of LSD tests of alcohol-addicted patients carried out in the 1960s in Saskatchewan. The tests were done by British psychiatrists Humphrey Osmond and John Smythies.
She tells ABC News that two-thirds of the alcoholics stopped drinking for at least 18 months after receiving one dose of LSD, compared to 25 percent who stopped after group therapy, and 12 percent after individual therapy.
According to Dyck, even Alcoholics Anonymous endorses the LSD research.
Alcoholics Anonymous “felt that one of the major obstacles to joining Alcoholics Anonymous was ‘Step 2, admitting that there is a higher power.’”
Even the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, Dyck said, “felt that LSD was the first intervention that helped many people to reach this step.” …”
Read more at http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/health&id=4666476
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“Medico Nycticorax” means “Owl Doctor” in Latin, which is written upon plaque (notice play of words here, plaque-plague) – like docs usually have.
nJoy!
ReCure
Now draw back from your computer monitor: (you can observe those bends in that electric grid in background – reaching out, 3D effect).
(Spoiler) In case you don’t understand what’s going on here – I’ll break it down for you. In the 1st eye, it is Plague Doctor. Skeletons want to kick his butt for not saving them from death and ahead of him are plague victim(s) coming to him but as he can’t do anything to help them he just wards them off with his stick.
The things happening in the 2nd eye generally represent modern medicine & practices and the disinfecting procedures that go along with them.
Dr. Leonard Coldwell has seen over 35,000 patients with a proven 92% success rate (statement and conclusion based on 2 European independent Studies), and has had over 2.2 million seminar attendees that wrote to him, sending in their comments and life stories. He has over 7 million readers of his newsletters and reports. He is the doctor that has, in the opinion of leading experts, the highest cancer cure rate in the world. Dr. Coldwell is convinced that his system could cure at least 90% of all cancer patients if he had the legal platform to work with these people the “Dr Coldwell Way.” Now, his historical protocol is available to all who read The Only Answer to Cancer. “As long as the patient is willing and still able to do whatever it takes and has not had surgery, chemotherapy or radiation, there is no reason Cancer cannot be cured,” says Dr. Coldwell.
The Only Answer to Cancer gives the reader hope, strength, self confidence and the belief in themselves and their own unlimited self healing powers. “Remember, you are the only one that can use the information of true health, using your common sense and instinct to create the health you deserve.” Your healing journey begins today
I’ve got reservations tonight for dinner at Cure Bistro and Bar on H Street in DC. Its located in the Grand Hyatt Hotel where the legendary Zinzi Christmas Party dances the night way in the midst of December (sponsored by my sisters’ lovely Bar and Restaurant Ozio). The whole concept behinf Cure is inspired by the age-old tradition of curing foods to preserve and enhance flavors. The service style involves the perfect pairing of food and beverages to create personalized taste profiles. I’ve got my taste buds geared up for Artisan Cheeses, Ham Mac & Cheese, and Vine Ripened Tomato Soup and Jumbo Asparagus. All washed down with a nice acidic white wine of course. =)
WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB) – When you meet Essa Khairi you can’t tell that beneath his playful spirit and infectious laugh, the 11-month-old suffers from a rare genetic disorder with potentially life-threatening complications. He was recently diagnosed with thalassemia major. His body produces dangerously low levels of hemoglobin, depriving his tissues of crucial oxygen.
To maintain his health, Essa is dependent on monthly blood transfusions. While effective, the high levels of iron he receives have potentially dangerous consequences for his heart and liver. The only cure for his condition is a bone marrow or cord blood transplant. Essa’s parents were discouraged to learn that there are very few people of Southeast Asian descent in the National Bone Marrow Registry. It is unlikely they will find a bone marrow donor so the Khairis have decided to proceed with a cord blood transplant.
Dr. Talal Khairi contacted a doctor at Duke University specializing in cord blood transplants. He was advised that while there are potential unrelated donors, Essa’s best chance of a match is a sibling. Essa’s parents are now preparing to have a third child in hopes that the umbilical cord blood will be a match for Essa. If not, they will proceed with looking for an unrelated cord blood donor.
While the Khairis are no longer actively looking for a bone marrow donor for their son, they are still hoping to organize a local bone marrow registry drive. They are calling on people of Southeast Asian descent to come forward and register, so that if someone is in need of a transplant there is a potential match waiting.
Dr. Khairi’s colleagues at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield are helping him organize the drive. Stay tuned for more information.
Over the years I have found that I know much more than I give credit to myself. The only area where I had to be careful was in the timing and how I put them into action.
At a time when my first marriage was sliding into a point of no return and there were traps set about me to keep me flat out, I had to take counter measures against them. With the passing of my father I was on my own. In a way it opened up a way out. I could think of asking for divorce, a matter which my father as a Christian would have found repugnant.
I had no problem with it. Only that there was a daughter to take care of. She was, as I sensed rightly was my ex-wife’s trump card. I knew the way she was being kept in her parent’s house every weekend so I may have little chance of seeing her when I had time and leisure for it,the way the game was progressing.
I was set that I shall not allow myself to be emotionally blackmailed. My daughter was old enough to know her mind and make her wishes known. Since she was a willing tool I didn’t wish to make an issue of it.
In 1994 before I decided to marry my old pen pal whom I had not seen or heard for 23 years, I decided her children would be my children. It was indeed the case. I could easily establish a friendly relationship with them. Because of this choice I could enjoy the best period of my life watching five of my grandchildren grow. Nothing else could match except the love and warmth I enjoyed in my marriage. Looking back I see that my mind could sense the way to effect an emotional healing. The cure was all in me.
I love leftovers. I can eat soup for days. Just about any meat can make a mean meal on day two. Mac and cheese, yes please. But fish – no thanks. Underwater creatures just don’t hold the same appeal to me when reheated, repurposed or redone.
So when I saw that I had a bit more salmon than I knew we would eat for dinner, I didn’t cook it. Thankfully, I remembered seeing a quick citrus salt cure on wrightfood when I was scoping foodblogsearch.com for info on fish in parchment. And once I popped those packets in the oven, I zested up some lemons and oranges, mixed some sugar and salt and had my first go at home cured salmon.
Knowing that the piece I was using was teeny-tiny (I cut off the thinner side from the salmon that I was using for the papillotes so it would all cook evenly), I wouldn’t feel terrible if it all went awry and I had to toss it.
Well, suffice it to say, it didn’t go awry. It was exactly how cured salmon should be. I prefer this to smoked salmon, as I think the smokiness can often be overwhelming (in the same way the 80’s are – and for some reason smoked salmon and the 80’s are very connected to me…I guess I saw it a lot as a kid at brunch).
Here, the citrus brings the same brightness that it would to cooked fish, but in a more subtle but also intense way. Subtle since the zest was washed away and the lemon isn’t the first thing to hit your tongue, but intense, as it has been marinating in the citrus oils for days – so it thoroughly permeates the meat of the fish.
And as the salmon is the so fresh, it doesn’t need to be camouflaged with cream cheese, a dense bagel, capers, onions, etc. etc. The cookbook where this recipe was originally published recommends serving the fish with a green salad and toast. Matt seconded that, preferring bread to toast.
However, since I am decadent, it’s winter and I was on the leftover prowl, I quickly roasted a few potato slices, to serve as the base, then topped it off with sour cream and dill. Maybe I’ll try the salad version in summer … maybe not! It would also be great with pumpernickel bread and mustard sauce.
This salmon is perfect party food, if you are willing to share. If you want to just savor all it on your own, it puts a tuna sandwich (even the best of’em) to shame.
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Citrus Cured Salmon
adapted from The Scandanavian Cookbook via Wrightfood
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NOTE: This recipe is for a full side of salmon. I did this with just a teeny piece of salmon, so I reduced the amounts here by quite a bit, but kept the ratio (well, the sugar/salt ratio – I went a bit wild on the zests). Oh, and I added the whole cracked peppercorns, because I’m crazy like that. I am excited to give it a go on a bigger piece.
Oh – and I forgot a bit about the freezing part, because I really wanted to try it out. Oops!
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zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
½ T. whole black peppercorns, cracked
1½ c. superfine sugar
10 oz sea salt
1 side of salmon, filleted, skinned, pin bones removed
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for serving: additional orange and lemon zest
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Mix the zests together with sugar and sea salt. Rub this mixture over the entire surface of the salmon (front and back), and wrap the fillet in a few layers of plastic wrap. I found it easiest put half the mixture on a large piece of plastic warp, top it with the salmon and then the remaining salt. That way all the cure stayed inside the little package.
Place it in a dish (it might well leak liquid) and refrigerate for 3 days, turning every 12 hours.
(If you are using a smaller piece of fish, you will need less time. For instance, I cured that little piece for about 1½ days, and it maybe didn’t even need that long, it was pretty firm. Matt {the bloke from whom I found this recipe} used a piece that was ¾lb. and felt 2 days would have been perfect. You will be able to feel the texture of the fish changing when you turn it. You don’t want it totally firm or hard.)
Take the salmon out of the fridge after 3 days (or less), remove the plastic wrap, and wash the fillet under cold water, to remove the cure. Wrap again in plastic wrap, and pop in the freezer for 12 hours.
Defrost the salmon in the fridge. When defrosted slice the salmon into thin slices. I like to lay the knife almost parallel to the cutting board, and just literally shave thin slices diagonally across the salmon fillet.
So, yesterday I posted two pics. Today I am going to get serious for a bit. Last year I decided to do something that took me WAY outside my comfort zone but that meant a lot to me. It was something I have wanted to take part in for several years but could never get my act together in time. This past year I kept hearing the commercials on the radio and something just kept saying to me “you gotta do this. Just bite the bullet and do it!” You know the one’s I’m talking about? The ones where it talks about how crazy it is to walk 60 miles in 3 days? Yep, I’m one of those crazies! And it was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done and one of the HARDEST things I’ve ever done. I guess it was last February, almost a year ago that I signed up for the Atlanta Susan G. Komen 3 day for the Cure Walk. We basically walked from Lake Lanier, GA to Turner Field.
Opening ceremonies at Lake Lanier October 2009
And it was HARD but it was so worth it to me. First off, you have to raise $2300 just to take part in the walk. I really had fears that I would not be able to fulfill that part of the bargain. I emailed about everyone I knew and sent out letters. It was really funny that in a lot of instances, people that you really did NOT think would support you DID… and some that you were SURE would… did not.
And the TRAINING…. I had NO idea how much time it would take up in training but I am so glad I did it. I have no idea how many miles I walked in that 8 or 9 months but I’m sure it was HUNDREDS of miles. I tried to walk every day for an hour. Some days I walked more and some days less. I ended up with three different pairs of shoes because I had such a hard time with blisters. I had never had a problem with them before but man or man did I after that. And it seemed no matter WHAT I did… I would still get them.
I tried moleskin, I tried bandaids, I tried deodorant on my heels, and Vaseline, and glide, and double socks, and bandages, and those toe things… I don’t know what you call them but I called them toe condoms.
Me & my teammates at the end of day 3 - right before closing ceremonies
During the walk I had blisters on my blisters but I did not get them on my heels which is where I kept getting them while I was training. I remember the last morning, on the bus, on the wait to the drop off point my mom called and asked about my blisters and I bragged that I hadn’t gotten ANY on my heels I thought due to these big thick moleskin pads she had sent me and sure enough that morning, we hadn’t even walked a MILE when I started feeling that familiar burning sensation on my right heel. By lunch time I had multiple blisters on each heel and had to stop at every pit stop to rearrange socks and redo my bandages. My feet were a mess. I ended up losing the toenail of my right big toe due to a HUGE blood blister underneath it… I know…. TMI… and it still hasn’t grown back so I haven’t been able to start my training yet for this year.
My poor feet after the walk
Yeah, I already signed up to do it again. My brother had asked me the other day if I did the walk for a specific person. Well yes, and no. Several specific people but also several people in general. I have aunts on both sides of my family who have been stricken with this dread disease of breast cancer. I also have a first cousin who has battled it. I have lost several friends over the years to breast cancer. The story I guess that has hit me the hardest personally is my brother (other brother’s) step daughter. A couple of years ago when she was only like 25 years old or so, she was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 5 months pregnant. They ended up having to do a mastectomy when she was pregnant. Last year they found a lump on the other breast but thankfully that one was benign. Then the other day my mom informed me that she (my niece) had just gotten out of the hospital. Apparently the cancer has spread to her chest (lungs? Mom wasn’t sure) and her brain. The doctors have apparently given her less than a year survival. This is a young woman with not one but TWO young daughters. Her daughters are like 1 and 4. These two little girls are most likely going to have to grow up without a mom. It totally breaks my heart. The thought of having to go through life without the person that should be the most important female in the world to you just kills me. THAT is why I’m going to do this walk AGAIN. I want them to find a CURE. I don’t want any more kids to have to grow up without their mom. I don’t want any more mom’s to lose their daughters, I don’t want to lose any more friends. I don’t want anyone else to have to lose another sister, mother, aunt, wife, friend, daughter, niece…. I am SICK of women dying from breast cancer. I WANT a cure! I will start walking again as soon as I can. I am going to start training. I learned a lot last year about what to and not to do. I do have some amusing stories to share from my training and the walk but I first wanted to share why this was so important to me.
There were amazing people I met during the 3 day walk. The survivor’s stories spurred me on. The number of people who approached us during the walk to thank US for being heroes and doing the walk spurred me on. The real heroes are the women who are fighting this disease every day. I was amazed at the people who lined the streets to clap and cheer us on. I tell you I cried more tears during those three days than I thought possible. I felt like I actually did something that MATTERED. I felt vital, important, and SO loved that you cannot even imagine. Like I said, it was the most incredible thing I have ever taken part in. SO… I will let you all in blogville out there know. I will occasionally this next 9 months or so be mentioning this and if you by chance want to donate… PLEASE DO. If you want to donate to MY walk, you can go to the 3 day website and type in Atlanta as the city and then type in my name… oh yeah. I guess some of you don’t know that… Peggy Burke. Or you can donate to someone else. Just donate to someone. You could help save a life. Thanks for listening. Here is the site to donate:
We’re thrilled to announce Piedmont Fayette Hospital Systems as our Primary Corporate Sponsor for our first annual Breast Cancer 1-Day Walk on March 27, 2010 in Peachtree City, GA!
More information and online Team / Walker registration available on our website www.bcsurvivorsnetwork.com
See previous blog entries to download walker and / or donor forms if you prefer to fax or mail in.
This video is a bit dark, and I am sure many people will find it offensive. It does raise an interesting point about people’s mixed motivations. For example, none of us want fires to happen, but I bet Fire Fighters get excited when the alarm goes off in the station. Similarly when a Highway Patrol Officer gets in a high speed chase it probably makes his month.
There is still a lot of work to be done to solve the AIDS crisis but hopefully when it is resolved all the organizations and government support will be channeled into something new in a similar manner something similar to what happened with March of Dimes. That organization was founded to cure Polio, they did that, and then re-focused on the broader issue of prenatal and newborn health.
Help support CURE Childhood Cancer with a night of good food, specialty drinks, advantageous networking and, of course, bowling! The Georgia Chapter of HSMAI (Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International) is hosting their 6th Annual Bowl-A-Thon on Wednesday January 27, 2010 at Ten Pin Alley in Atlanta.
Registration begins at 6:00 pm. Bowlers will have an opportunity to show off their unique bowling moves, and even win one of the prestigious awards of the evening for best bowler, worst bowler, or best team spirit.
For HSMAI members, it’s $40 for individuals and $325* for a team of 6. For non-members, it’s $50 for individuals and $375* for a team of 6. Students get a special rate of $25 per person and $125* for a team of 6.
A portion of the proceeds from the HSMAI-Georgia Bowl-A-Thon go to CURE. We hope you’ll join us for a fun night for a good cause.
For more information and for a schedule of the night visit www.hsmai-ga.org
* Team pricing includes the following benefits: 1) inclusion on the sponsor board at the event, 2) placement of promotional item in event goody bags, 3) recognition in the HSMAI-GA next newsletter, and 4) entry in the Team Spirit Award
The death of your child follows you everywhere you go, hovering in your blindspot. That’s how Lorrie Moore describes parenting a child with cancer in People Like That Are The Only People Here. In your blindspot: just out of reach, never in focus, but there.
So you move along, heading for that sacred destination (cure, survival) and on good days, you get into a groove, lulled into a feeling of comfort, of certainty even (certain that this child will be okay, this child will escape the worst fate). But then, for whatever reason, you reposition yourself and glance over your shoulder and there it is.
Just lingering, hovering. If you try to really look it in the face, try to grab it and shake it and tell it to leave you the hell alone, it would disappear. It’s unreachable, ungrabbable. But there.
Wilms’ tumor is one of the big success stories of pediatric cancer. But that’s because it’s relatively easy to beat the first time around. Once it makes it past that first round, once it survives the initial onslaught . . . well, then it’s not so easy to beat.
We don’t put much weight in survival statistics these days. Of course, there are no accurate numbers for a kid like Austin; he doesn’t fall neatly into any pre-existing category. When we pore over the research with his doctors, we inevitably say, “Well, he’s a little bit like this and a little bit like that,” and “Oh, this case looks like his except for (insert major event here).” So we really have no guidepost, no reliable map to follow.
But if we were forced to give a number, if we had to choose some random survival statistic, it would surely fall below the 50% mark. Which is partly why we don’t put much weight in survival statistics these days. Austin has always fallen outside of the range of normal. Since Day One, nothing about his cancer has been textbook. So we buck up and figure this won’t be textbook either; he’ll just continue beating the odds because that’s how he does it.
The treatment plan we’re following is a full-court press. We’re going whole hog, guns blazing, no holds barred, enter whatever metaphor you’d like to say we’re doing every damn thing we can. When I said in an earlier post that this plan “just might work,” I was wrong. It must work, it has to work.
About a year ago I watched a documentary called Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days. I watched with great skepticism. None of my doctors had ever even suggested dramatically changing my diet as a way to treat my Type II diabetes. They always reached for their prescription pad. Take two and call me in the morning. The meds they prescribed made me sick and sapped my energy which made me depressed which made me stuff my face. Vicious cycle. The people in this documentary were equally skeptical. At the end of 30 days though they had normal blood sugar and had all lost some weight. That’s some strong evidence and some strong medicine.
I immediately bought a ton of books all about the raw diet. I educated myself and I embarked on my first run at raw. In two months I had lost 20 pounds and my blood sugar levels were near and occasionally at normal. I was a believer. I burned myself out though. I didn’t realize how much work the raw diet would be. All that produce needed to be cleaned, processed, and prepared. I got to the point where I was eating a romaine salad twice a day because it was the easiest and quickest thing I could make. I’ve been off raw since this past summer. I haven’t gained the weight back which is surprising but my blood sugar is back up in the 300’s.
Its time for a change.
The new year has just arrived and with it I’ve made a hefty resolution. I have resolved to be diabetes free by 1/1/11. And come hell or high water I will succeed, my life depends on it.
I see now that variety is the key to staying motivated on the raw vegan diet. This time around I’ll also be adding green smoothies. For the first month I will be totally vegan, no animal protein. I may continue that throughout but I also think that a little fish here and there is not a bad thing. I plan to track my weight and blood sugar levels on this blog. I will also talk about what kind of food I’m eating and how I’m feeling. I hope to capture the transformation that is in my future. I want to change and I am ready to change. It is time to Re-Raw!
I don’t often “like” things on Facebook, but I liked this:
…courtesy of this group.
I ate tofu for lunch at the co-op today and feel incredibly guilty. Irrationally, I am more fearful of soy than of smoking. I’m half-convinced I’ll have a tumour by tomorrow.
Robert Smith, a dark personality himself, melancholic, eccentric, strange, unstable, had all those virtues that a person should have in order to create artistically. His amazing verses and his peculiar way to pronounce them soon idolized him to the eyes of the group’s fans and made The Cure the vehicle of his musical explorations and one of the most important post punk groups in the history of music. The Cure marked an entire generation with their music, their pioneering sound, their unique appearance and became an attitude of life for the young generation of the 80s.
There mental shallowness is also evidenced by gullibility, sometimes great gulliblity (shocking to a normal person). For example they show that they have a hard time (in general) determing real from not real no matter how absurd or clearly wrong a fiction is (for example belief in a billions of years old giant exlposion creating all the wonders of the universe, including irreducably complex, very beautiful, living, emotional things of countless types). So when a person plays an obvious joke on a psychopath, the person playing the joke will find to his or her amazement (if they don’t realize the person was a psychopoath), the psychopath taking the joke seriously.
Cole’s up already. I can smell the aroma of freshly ground coffee and hear him pottering around the kitchen. That reminds me that I also have to be up soon. There’s an inspection at my school this morning and everything has to be ready before the school opens at 9 am. Another ten minutes and I’ll drag myself out of bed.
By MIKE LEE and APARNAA SESHADRI
Help support CURE Childhood Cancer with a night of good food, specialty drinks, advantageous networking and, of course, bowling! The Georgia Chapter of HSMAI (Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International) is hosting their 6th Annual Bowl-A-Thon on Wednesday January 27, 2010 at Ten Pin Alley in Atlanta.