Who is Actually Unsafe? 🤔
Before she and I reached the gate in the chain-link fence, a man approached us from the opposite direction. A hoodie shaded his face and his hands were in...
Words Have Meaning. 🪄
Shortly after I learned of the murder of Charlie Kirk, I thought of the manifesto from People Reluctant To Kill for an Abstraction. George Saunders wrote it...
Opening Doors. 🚪
For our first appointment, she didn’t come downstairs. The building staff, who described her as a high-priority patient, had predicted this. After I knocked...
Encouragement. 🌟
Some pieces that have brought me encouragement and made me think in the past few weeks: The Power We Use and the Power We Give. (Philip Bump) "Your...
Homelessness is Not a Crime.
Last week, the current Presidential administration released an executive order with a noble title, “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets.” Here is...
Loud Music Is Disorder. What About Memecoins? 🤑
I read this provocative essay about “disorder” when it was first published in September 2024. I found myself alternating between nodding and frowning. It’s...
Why I Never Went Camping. 🏕️
I have never gone camping. During my short stint in Girl Scouts[1], my parents never allowed me to go on troop camping trips. During our family vacations to...
Learning from Those Who Hear Voices.
When we learn that someone hears voices, we may assume that this person must be “crazy.” Some people who hear voices have a diagnosis of schizophrenia....
Your Six-Foot Radius.
I don't think I was that mouthy during my medical training. Some East Asian women are shy, deferential, and taciturn. It’s no wonder some people were...
A Pope's Death.
If he views attention as a zero-sum game, then, today, he lost. To a dead man, no less—a man who did not even rule over a state. He was just a pope. But he’s...
Geriatric Homelessness and Medicaid.
I submitted the following as an op-ed essay, though neither local publication accepted it. (I understand: Many people have many opinions about all the...
Standing Up.
Five years ago I was working as the medical director at the largest homelessness services agency in Seattle. My dad, who skimmed headlines from major...
The Word “Mental” in Project 2025. (iii)
Just to formally close out the series on Project 2025 and its intersections with mental health, let me comment on the third instance where “mental” shows up...
Observations from the Trump-Zelensky Meeting.
For your consideration, here are a few observations about the Trump-Vance-Zelensky argument in the Oval Office today from a psychiatrist: Vice President...
Obituary for Yang the Elder.
Yang the Elder died at the age of 77 on February 8th, 2025. He would not approve of this obituary. Mourning his death are his two older brothers, but his...
The Word “Mental” in Project 2025. (xiv + xv + xvi)
Guys, we’re getting to the end of this project! We’ve made it to the last three instances (14, 15, and 16) of the word “mental” in Project 2025. (I still...
The Word “Mental” in Project 2025. (xii)
The twelfth (and thirteenth) instance of the word “mental” in Project 2025 is on page 876, still in the section about the Federal Trade Commission: Other...
The Word “Mental” in Project 2025. (ix + x + xi)
The ninth, tenth, and eleventh instances of the word “mental” in Project 2025 are on page 875 in the section about the Federal Trade Commission: Protecting...
The Word “Mental” in Project 2025. (viii)
The eighth instance of the word “mental” in Project 2025 is on page 648 in the section about the Veterans Health Administration: Examine the surpluses or...
The Word “Mental” in Project 2025. (vi + vii)
The sixth instance of the word “mental” is on page 509 in the section about “First-Day and First-Year Administrative Reforms” for The Department of Housing...