This is really more a reminder to myself to have something ready to post on Friday. Still, I thought I’d give you all a heads up. More details about this can be found at Diary of a Goldfish.

Now that the day is here, I have something to post! This is a comment on the Inside Higher Ed article,”One Year Later,” on the Virginia Tech shootings. The article itself was okay, although as usual the discussion centered around gun laws, not the rights of mentally ill persons to adequate treatment. The disabilism was very apparent in the comments though. The first comment, from Clayton Cramer, concluded

“Deinstitutionalization was one of the major mistakes of the 1960s and 1970s. The mentally ill are paying the price for it today, and so is the rest of our society.”

Of course, this fellow opposes gun control (and supports home schooling, and criticizes affirmative action. citizens of Idaho — do not vote for him!) So, his solution is to lock all the “crazies” away — oh wait, we’re already doing that at least according to what my colleagues in criminal justice say about the high rates of mentally ill persons in prison.

Rod Bell, Adjunct Professor at College of DuPage, said something similar, blaming this all on the hippies in the sixties who revolted against authority. Sheesh, I hope this guy isn’t an adjunct professor of history. This is just a sloppy historical analysis that would get an “F” in any of my classes. For the record, dude, it was John F. Kennedy, not the hippies, who initiated the move away from warehousing the mentally ill in asylums in favor of community-centered mental health. Also, exposes of the hideous conditions inside psychiatric hospitals were made by WWII conscientious objectors, i.e. long before Ken Kesey’s novel.

Added later:  In reply to Mr. Cramer’s comments, I would say first that my point is that it is indeed simplistic to attribute the current mental health crisis solely to the anti-psychiatry movement and/or the anti-authoritarian impulses of the 1960s (whatever is meant by that — a subject for another post). As Gerald Grob and Howard H. Goldman observe in their recent book, The Dilemma of Federal Mental Health Policy, the move from mental hospitals to a community-based system of mental health care delivery was the product of a broad coalition of mental health experts, patients and their advocates, and politicians such as President Kennedy among many others.  The complexity of this movement, I think, gets lost because of the fame of Ken Kesey’s book and the academy-award winning film that was made from it, as well as the notoriety of Thomas Szasz’s work (for the record, I have multiple problems with Szasz, but that too is a subject for another post).

The reason the Community Mental Health programs initiated in the 1960s failed is not because they emptied the hospitals, but because there was never enough funding to meet the need for services.   We have millions of uninsured individuals in this country, and many insurance plans do not offer mental health parity.  Although the state of Connecticut mandates this for all health plans, the new Charter Oak Health plan proposed by our Governor to cover uninsured adults excludes mental health parity because it is too costly. A bill (HB 5617) has been proposed to solve this problem.

I could go on and on, but I do have to get ready for class, where we will look at all those crazy feminists who messed things up for the rest of America by asking for the radical notion that women be treated like human beings.

Well, Historiann beat me to posting on this article from the Style section of Thursday’s New York Times. Most of the article discussed Facebook and Professors Strike Back, a reply to Rate My Professors (just FYI — there is also a site called Rate Your Students — can’t wait to contribute to that one).

Now, I joined Facebook last fall not so I could look “cool” but so I could create a group for the WGSS program and plug events to students and others in a place they were more likely to check than their email. I started a blog last spring partly as a way to get into new media so that I could eventually teach it to graduate students. Only a few of my students have checked out my blog, more contact me through Facebook but I think the novelty has worn off. Also, if the Times is writing about it, then it’s about to not be cool anymore!

I’m not about to use this blog as a voicepiece for my dog or cat, but I may follow Historiann’s example of using Fridays for blogging about dolls — the only one I have is Mrs. Beasley from the sitcom Family Affair. Stay tuned!

Well, once again our faculty listserv is totally out of control, this time over an issue regarding the Dean of our School of Business. I’m not going to comment on that here since all I know is based on second or third hand reports. After several days of tit for tat among a handful of individuals, my colleague suggested creating a “Civility Conservation Corps,” as a follow-up to a statement on civility crafted by concerned women on campus, and presented to the Faculty Senate in December. Of course, it won’t work (we’ve already caught flack about it from the chief offender, as well as a boring harangue about how we don’t know much about history and FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps — obviously this fellow has no sense of humor or irony!). Still, it’s a way to inject some levity into a very annoying situation.

Just read a column in the Careers section of this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education, entitled “How to Be an Author.” For those interested in writing the great American novel, look elsewhere. This article is how to promote your book once it’s been published. Here’s a summary of their advice and what I’ve done to follow it:

Talk to Your Publisher’s Publicity Department.

Yes, I did that and dutifully filled out the author’s questionnaire. This isn’t a trade book so I’m not expecting to get on Oprah, or even Fresh Air, although I did make the Tri-Town Post! And, my buddy Gil has booked me for the Central Authors Series on local access TV.

Make the Net Work for You.

Yup, got it on my blog — for the dozen or so folks who read it! Seriously, I also posted an announcement on several listservs and got a bunch of hearty congratulations from by friends around the country (and Canada). I did have some trepidation (like many women) about “tooting my own horn” but in reply to my reservations, received the following reply from someone on WMST-L:

“Tooting your own horn can be a public service — that is why you wrote
the book — to serve an audience like the students and faculty on my
campus (and others). It’s very important to let us know that the
material is there — think of how much time and effort you took and how
little we have to pay for all your work. ”

The rest of the article has advice about going out and giving lectures, making your work accessible to the general public, being realistic about sales, and so forth. So, I shall endeavor to get the word out without looking like a shameless self-promoter!

Go Out and Dramatize.

Check — was on the program for the AHA, will also be appearing at the Berkshire Conference on Women’s History in the summer.

Be Seen.

This means getting gigs at universities — better call up the ones where I did my research . . .

Don’t Get Flustered, Get Coherent.

This involves handling difficult questions.  I may be able to avoid this by NOT lecturing about contraception at Catholic institutions . . .

Inscribe, Dedicate, Thank.

Check — I am always a gracious guest!

Consider Trading Your Labor for Books.

Just as long as they pay my way to the gig!

Be Realistic About Sales Potential.

My husband said the same thing — I’ll be happy if the print run isn’t remaindered!

Stay in Touch.

Our public relations folks are terrific in this regard, although it helps I’m a nudge myself.

Open Up.

Be ready to speak to nonspecialists — well, the book was written with them in mind.