Psychoanalysis

The Darkest Season of the Year: Notes on Difficult Family Gatherings

 It’s the most wonderful time of the year, so goes the carol.  But is it really?  December days are dreary and dark.  Rain presses down, and the chill of winter seeps into our bones.  It’s hard to rise from bed.  The holidays brim with stress: children’s activities and social occasions every week.  The shopping spree unleashes madness in the malls, leaving consumers […]

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Death, Sex, and the Middle Passage

A few summers ago, the plants on my rooftop patio wilted after a long heat-spell.  I was busy preparing my dissertation defence and neglected to water them consistently.  Baking in the sun, the plants struggled in the swelter – Delphinium, Hosta, Nepeta, and Euphorbia all.  However, I noticed that instead of shrivelling into crisp, they shed their flowers

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Faith without Belief: How to Face the Terror of Living

One of the challenges of growing older is dealing with the panic that comes with time’s passing. The days might be long, but the weeks are short. The years are merciless. The slip of vanishing days catches us in terror. We realize that this march of mortality is indifferent to our protest, oblivious to our

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