Submitted for KEXP’s Music Heals: Mental Health (http://blog.kexp.org/musicheals/) I’ve struggled with depression and anxiety for the past ten years — or at least, that’s when I was first diagnosed. I’m sure I was depressed and anxious long before that. There are better days and worse ones, times when it seemed I had found the perfect formula … Continue reading →

I was sitting at the table in a beautiful apartment in a darling yellow house built in 1811, about to fill out the rental application, when the tears came. Like a flood. Like a dam break. They were tears of frustration, and anguish. And most of all, desperation. And in that moment of despair, I … Continue reading →

Last fall, under the supervision of my doctor and my therapist, I discontinued one of my antidepressant medications. For a whole host of reasons. Namely, I had come to a point where the side effects outweighed any benefits — and I wasn’t entirely sure there even were benefits anymore. Over the course of eight weeks, I gradually … Continue reading →

There are two kinds of loss you experience volunteering at an animal shelter. The first one is the obvious one — death. As hard as it is to accept, not every animal can be saved. This is true even at the shelter where I volunteer, the Cleveland Animal Protective League, where no animal is euthanized … Continue reading →

Last May, at the American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting — which by great fortune took place in Seattle — there was a tribute honoring an esteemed colleague in the field who had recently passed away. In the video, the director of the National Museum of African Art, Johnette Betsch Cole, summoned the wisdom of … Continue reading →

It had been the smoothest flight I could ever remember. Not even the smallest bump in the air, no trouble with long lines, leg room, or making my connecting flight. Then, I heard the familiar tone as the “fasten seat belt” sign was illuminated, followed by the crackle of the PA system and the flight … Continue reading →

I meant to stop what I was doing yesterday at 2:49 pm. In Boston, at the White House, and probably in other places as well, there was to be a moment of silence at the exact time when, one year ago, two bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, claiming three lives … Continue reading →

The last time I saw Aubrey was on October 10, 2010. I know the exact date, because I took a few photos that day, digital pictures forever stamped with the date and time of a now cherished memory. It was a Sunday, and the final day of my second trip to Seattle. I had planned … Continue reading →

I had just arrived in Seattle for the first time. I didn’t know a single person in that city, apart from the DJs on KEXP who regularly indulged my email requests and even read my messages on the air from time to time. Excitedly, I tuned the radio in my hotel room to 90.3 FM … Continue reading →