Public Ponder

Why 27 Could Be Your Most Epic Birthday

Have you noticed I’ve been absent lately? Not replying to emails, texts, WhatsApps and phone calls? Always rushed? Well, it’s because my son’s 27th birthday consumed me for a while there. I attribute ...Read More →

Privilege Vs Merit: Confessions of A Spoiled Brat

If like me, you grew up with substantial privilege, you don’t go around bragging about it, am I right? That would be in bad taste. It also wouldn't reflect well on you that there was almost NO statistical...Read More →

What My Autistic Son’s Fear of Cycling Taught Me about Guilt and Blame

Two summers ago, my husband and I caused Diego, my 26-year-old autistic son, to fear biking. It didn't take much, which shows that you can never know who or what might turn something you actually like...Read More →

Prepare to Live the Most in 2021 by Taking Stock of 2020

Do you want 2021 to be the best year possible? I sure do. That’s why I’ve been pondering 2020 like crazy, to understand what lessons it taught me. This year brought me, you, and practically every human...Read More →

Am I Glad My Son’s Autistic?

Had someone asked me twenty years ago, “Are you glad your son's the way he is, I mean, autistic and all?” I’d have thought the person crazy. If she’d followed up with “Well, I’m glad mine is,” I’d have...Read More →

Gratitude: How to Show the Perfect Amount

“People are programmed to desire, not to appreciate.” Matt Ridley, in The Rational Optimist My autistic son Diego sure is great at many things most people never learn how to do well, including saying ...Read More →

Autism, Love and the 2020 Election

“For the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth — that Love is the ultimate and highest goal to which...Read More →

Autism and the Fascinating Power of Associative Thinking

Diego, my 26-year old son with autism and intellectual disability, loves the word “similar”. On one of our runs the other day, he began to recite this litany of similarities between movies: “Holes is ...Read More →

My Finger Picking Compulsion Feels Just Like an Addiction

I’ve been a finger picker for 37 years. I was in middle school when I began to notice and pull out flakes of skin around my fingernails. I can’t remember how long it took for finger picking to become ...Read More →