Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Giulia’s second hospitalization was even harder than the first. On the quiet nights I spent at home, after Jonas fell asleep, the reality hit: This isn’t going away. In the psych ward Giulia took to collecting leaves and scattering them throughout her room. When I’d visit, she’d unleash a flood of paranoid questions and accusations,…
In 1983, two years after the AIDS virus was first discovered in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration issued guidelines for gay men who wanted to donate blood. If they had had sex with other men at any time since 1977, they would be prohibited from donating blood indefinitely. That policy lasted for…
Anti-abortion protesters at the Harris County Criminal Courthouse in Houston on Feb. 3, 2016.Eric Kayne/Getty Images In a political gambit to prove that they love fetuses more than anything else in the whole world, Texas lawmakers have put their constituents at higher risk of an HIV outbreak. The Texas Observer reports that since the…
Beyonce performs at a concert in Brazil, in 2011. Credit: A.RICARDO/Shutterstock.com Music may be food for the soul, but the food and beverages that pop singers endorse these days may be more like food for the grave, according to a new study. Nearly every food or beverage endorsed by musicians who scored a hit in…
With the exception of my health insurance company, everybody loves my breasts: My kids, who, at aged 12 and 8, harbor vague but fond memories of having been breastfed well into toddlerhood. My husband (big surprise), who has observed their middle-aged growth spurt from a perfectly respectable 32C to a seriously impressive 32DD with great…
Sleep deprivation used to be a badge of honor: a sign you were busy and important and very much in demand. Snoozing was losing and sleep was for wimps. Now, however, Arianna Huffington’s The Sleep Revolution, a call-to-bed that promises to transform your life, “one night at a time”, is a New York Times bestseller,…
When I was 18, my mom sat me down and said, “If there ever comes a time where you feel like a dark cloud is following you, you can get help. You can talk to me, talk to a therapist, talk to doctor. I want you to know that there are options.” I’m so thankful…
Photo Paramedics in Portland, Me., responded to a call of a heroin overdose last year. Credit Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald, via Getty Images WASHINGTON — The death rate in the United States rose last year for the first time in a decade, preliminary federal data show, a rare increase that was driven in part by…
The drugmaker Purdue Pharma launched OxyContin two decades ago with a bold marketing claim: One dose relieves pain for 12 hours, more than twice as long as generic medications. Patients would no longer have to wake up in the middle of the night to take their pills, Purdue told doctors. One OxyContin tablet in the…
Kolé Life Foods doesn’t really stand out at first glance. These days, lots of companies are trying to ride the wave of popular interest in neuro-everything, and Kolé, a Baltimore-based supplement manufacturer, is no exception. The company’s four “tonics” offer a variety of benefits, its website claims: one “is designed to support alertness, focus, healthy…