http://www.synapticsilence.org Sun, 17 Feb 2008 21:26:44 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The report released today on the Virginia Tech killings made me reflect back on a piece I wrote in the immediate aftermath of the shootings. It was never published, but well worth going back to for reflection now. I took a break from work this week. I stepped back temporarily, partly ... http://www.synapticsilence.org/2007/08/30/virginia-tech-the-true-solution/ The proposal to place a measure declaring Columbia County an Illegal Worker Free Zone on an upcoming ballot has already prompted strong emotional reactions, pro and con. I do not doubt that the people who support this proposal do so out of a sincere conviction that such a measure is ... http://www.synapticsilence.org/2007/08/25/choosing-hope/ Two years ago, I authored an editorial in the Oregonian citing the courage of Senator Gordon Smith for speaking openly about his son’s suicide and highlighting the serious problems facing the mentally ill.  As a mental health investigator who works daily with the most seriously mentally ill in our society, ... http://www.synapticsilence.org/2007/03/27/an-open-letter-to-oregon-lawmakers/ It's early Monday and I'm wrapping up another weekend as the only aging-services crisis response worker on call for all of Multnomah County, a job I share on a rotating basis with three colleagues. Since Friday evening, I've gone seven times to the home of an elderly demented, blind and ... http://www.synapticsilence.org/2007/02/05/countering-the-wave-of-our-public-apathy-care-for-the-elderly/ In a world where success is defined in a moment, We seem an anomaly, Connected in some spiritual way Over hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles, Through relationships won and lost, In deaths and in new births, And by the almost silent voice That constantly calls us back together. Through darkness and light, The beautiful maze of mystery And the ... http://www.synapticsilence.org/2006/02/25/friendship/ I wish my dad were still alive to see it. Watching the leaders of the United States, Russia, Germany and Japan casually sharing a joke like old friends, as they did recently while meeting to celebrate the end of the war in Europe in 1945, would have seemed a surreal ... http://www.synapticsilence.org/2005/05/23/a-generations-truly-great-investments/ The testimony before a Senate subcommittee Tuesday by Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore, concerning the suicide of his son, Garrett, was truly courageous. Suicide of a loved one is a subject that is extremely difficult for most people to discuss in private among trusted friends, much less in a public forum ... http://www.synapticsilence.org/2004/06/25/suicide-one-senators-courage/ The Rogers/Grove Christmas Song (Sung to the tune of "Little Drummer Boy") Oh, Ruth is unemployed, bah rum pum pum pum. She's feeling less annoyed, bah rum pum pum pum. She draws all night and day, bah rum pum pum pum. With unemployment pay, bah rum pum pum pum Rum pum pum pum Rum pum pum pum. Jeff ... http://www.synapticsilence.org/2002/12/23/christmas-2002/ A eulogy I wrote and delivered at the funeral for a friend's baby who died far too suddenly from an undiagnosed congenital birth defect. When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that, in truth, you are weeping for that which has been your delight.From The ... http://www.synapticsilence.org/2002/06/08/a-tiny-miracle/ And with Him are the keys of the unseen treasures -- none knows them but He; and He knows what is in the land and the sea, and there falls not a leaf but He knows it, nor a grain in the darkness of the earth, nor anything green nor ... http://www.synapticsilence.org/2000/10/23/races/