I was on this panel at SkepTech! You can read my prepared thoughts here. Notes: -I improperly conflated psuedonymity with anonymity in the last third of the talk. Those are different things. I think pseudonymity (like Gravatar, Disqus, etc. offer) is one of the nice middle ground ways we can keep an eye on commenters …
Category Archive: Communications
Apr 08 2013
SkepTech
…was spectacular. -There were many more panels than I’d seen at previous cons. I don’t usually love panels, but I’m very supportive of this system if it means introducing new voices. (Olivia James, one of the first-timers, got spontaneous applause on multiple occasions throughout the Real World Activism panel. Damn.) We talk a lot about this being a young movement, a movement …
Apr 04 2013
SkepTech: Anonymity on the Internet
Like Miri, I’m going to be at SkepTech…[checks calendar]…holy crap, tomorrow! And lucky me, I’m going to be on a panel about anonymity on the internet, moderated by the lovely Chana. This panel will explore the conflict between online anonymity and harassment. In a world where absolute freedom is practically possible, what shall be permitted? …
Mar 23 2013
On Running Out of Feelings, and What to Do Next
Hello, internet. This is where I come to spill my secrets, right? Sometime between last week and this one, I went numb–ran out of feelings. I think it was somewhere after the third friend in forty-eight hours contacted me with questions about leaving abusive relationships, between finals and Steubenville and painful anniversaries and suddenly having …
Mar 07 2013
The AP Stylebook on Mental Health
The AP Stylebook hasn’t been my favorite in the news. Recently, a memo was leaked showing some bigoted plans for same-sex spouses. (After the inevitable doubling-down, the AP did retract it.) But this has put me in a slightly better mood–the AP Stylebook now has an entry in mental illness. I strongly suggest reading the …
Mar 06 2013
Psych Nerdery: Cool Facts Edition
Random stuff about mental health I’m hoping you haven’t heard before! Relevant citations and further reading are located in the links on each number. 1. You can’t be diagnosed with a personality disorder until you are 18 years of age. [use drop-down menu at link] 2. Capgras delusion: believing that a family member or …
Feb 06 2013
Forward Thinking: What Would You Tell Teens About Sex?
Libby Anne and Dan Fincke have been running a project called Forward Thinking. Prompts are proposed, and bloggers can respond. Every two weeks a roundup of links is published. The most recent topic is what we should be telling teenagers about sex. Being as I was a teenager a very short six months ago, I …
Dec 02 2012
Responding
Brief post today, as I write a not-so-brief paper and study for finals. I’ve been writing a lot about what not to do with respect to mental illness disclosure, so this quote from Jesse on how to respond when a friend shares, is a useful counterpoint. So the best thing to say forever and always (no …
Nov 25 2012
How To Respond Badly
Sharing problems is hard to do. Our society values being “drama-free” over dealing maturely when drama–as it inevitably does–happens. We’re supposed to fix it ourselves, or just ignore it. Because that’s what you do, right? (If I ever meet whomever made up the stupid rules of society, we are going to have Words.) As a result, we …
Sep 19 2012
The Friend Manual: Part I
Part II Part III Part IV I am a friend to some lovely brilliant people with mental illness. I also have my own experiences with persistent brainfail, and some really wonderful friends who show up and give me hugs, talk me through the worst nights, and know that when I say I’m not doing so …
About the Author
Kate Donovan
Ashley's co-blogger is a third year student at Northwestern University who runs on coffee and snark. . At some point, she'd like to make people sit on couches and tell her about their feelings, but right now she writes in different places around the internet and makes silly faces when she doesn't know what to say. She's the president of her local Secular Student Alliance affiliate, and she is on the Secular Woman speakers bureau. Opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Secular Student Alliance
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