Our Family History Mental illness spans at least three generations in our family. After my mother died in 2010, two of my sisters and I rescued a time capsule that had been locked in the chickenhouse on our homestead in northern Minnesota. It had lain untouched for almost twenty-five years. Some of my siblings wanted …
Kerosene Scrub down
Historical/Generational trauma are terms we often hear linked to government boarding schools that were designed to assimilate Native American children to our European immigrant culture. While researching a project I’m working on, the term “kerosene bath” popped up several times. An example, “[Native] Children were … cleansed with alcohol, kerosene, and synthetic pesticides.” From https://www.midwesternstoriesbsu.com/people …
Book giveaway: “BARBARA, Uncharted Course Through Borderline Personality Disorder.”
From Amber Heard to Disney’s “Moon Knight,” personality disorders have suddenly become part of public conversation. This was not the case when I first started researching and writing about BPD over a decade ago. For me, interest in this subject was not fueled by Hollywood or celebrity gossip. It was personal.
Borderline Personality Disorder and the Heard-Depp Lawsuit
Like Amber Heard, my mother had Borderline Personality Disorder. Even as a victim of her abuse, my feelings are complicated.
COMING SOON: Barbara, Uncharted Course Through Borderline Personality Disorder
Chickenhouse Chronicles Book 3 Launching November 2021
Coming Soon
Its been a long haul since the first discoveries in 2010 after my mother died. Later this summer “BARBARA, Uncharted Course Through Borderline Personality Disorder” will be in bookstores and available on-line. Here is an excerpt, “From the Author.”Two years ago, I thought I was close to completion on my BARBARA story, but an amazing …
My New-Found Family Visits Minnesota
My new-found brother, Louis and his wife Patty recently spent time with us her in the Bemidji area. It was a wonderful week not to be forgotten. Visit these links for a great interview Dennis Doeden with the Bemidji Pioneer did: https://www.bemidjipioneer.com/news/4699087-Finding-his-roots-Bemidji-man-connects-with-half-siblings-through-DNA-testing Malaak Khattab a reporter with Lakeland PBS did a wonderful job interviewing us. …
Meeting My New Family
Our host family: Patty and Louis at each end; daughter, Elizabeth Rose, Laurel, daughter Camille, and Wendell Back row: Janine, Laurel, Louis, David, Wendell, Laurie Jean. Middle row: Janine’s husband David, Ginger and Larry Grignon and their grandchildren. Three new brothers and baby sister—left to right: Louis, Guy, Wendell, Yvonne, Michael. (I met Larry later …
DNA Miracle: Discovering My Father, 72 Years Later
Tomorrow morning, June 14, 2019, I set off on a journey that began in New York the early winter of 1947. Questions from a lecture by my friend, Professor Mark Christensen haunt me as I pack my suitcase and map my route: What is my state of mind before I leave? Am I on a …
NEW RELEASE: CHICKENHOUSE CHRONICLES, BOOK II, “PAWNS”
A few years before my mother died I began interviewing her and making notes. After her death in January 2010 I discovered a treasure trove; 200 years of our family history locked in the chickenhouse—about seventy feet from where we had visited in the old farmhouse. Over the next eight years I studied and catalogued …
NEW RELEASE: “PAWNS” (Chickenhouse Chronicles Book II)
A few years before my mother died, I began interviewing her and making notes. After her death in January 2010, I discovered a treasure trove: 200 years of our family history locked in the chickenhouse—about seventy feet from the old farmhouse where she and I had visited. Over the next eight years I studied and …