To Read & To Write

"Though nearly all statements a psychiatric patient can make are not believed, proclamations of insanity are the exception to the rule." To read "The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays" by Esmé Weijun Wang, you must be committed. I say this not to dissuade you, but more to prepare you for the type of book that it is: Wang's writing is decidedly dispassionate and the words less poetic in that flowery way than some may be looking for. However, that is precisely why I loved the book. Moreover, this style (which includes sharp handed, gorgeous prose, I might add) does not take away from the fact that "The Collected Schizophrenias" is for all those deeply committed to raising awareness about mental illness, indeed, mental health, under power structures (such as pharmaceutical industries and hospitals generally) that are imbalanced, difficult to decipher precisely because we all know that the trustworthy and untrustworthy are simultaneously engaged in th...

As I sat reading this in my living room late last night, it occurred to me that I was experiencing a quiet and stillness that I haven't in many years. It was only brief, a minute or so, but I cherished the moment completely. I sat there on my couch with the candles flickering, the room filled with lamplight against the darkness of late evening, the balcony window open letting in a cool midsummer breeze, the outdoor fountain pleasantly making the sounds of falling water.  "The Wild Remedy: How Nature Mends Us - A Diary" by Emma Mitchell (2019) is a book full of moments like the one I experienced above, yet highlighting the power and potency of the biological realm of plant-life in aiding illness and disease: here, Mitchell writes about her fight against the insidious grip of depression. Usually I'm tentative to read books that cover subjects such as mental illness: I suffer from a mental illness that is not as widespread/well-known as depression, but I was not dis...