Goodbye Dad
See the link for how his death is partly a commentary on health care.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
JP Megivern Sr. 1946-2008
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About Me
- DMF
- Iowa/Minnesota, Midwest, United States
- I came into this world because the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) in Utah told my parents it was divinely prescribed that they marry, go forth and multiply. Odd how we often treat the coincidental as divine in our society, but I suppose two young strangers from Iowa who meet in Salt Lake City during a time when they are bubbling with the fullness of a new faith might seem like a prophesied pairing. This union provided me with a roller coaster ride of life experience...my father with his schizophrenia and my mother with her bipolar disorder...both of them with their religious fanaticism, fear of government, and dubious ability to cope with everyday reality, let alone the harshest kinds of reality. Untreated mental illness, confusion about the nature of evidence versus superstitious conjecture, long-term poverty, and a cast of characters fiction writers would envy, fundamentalist Mormonism complete with polygamy, exorcisms, foster care, suicide attempts, and suicide successes, all of these followed a very ill-advised joining together of John and Raine. A former assistant professor of social work and mental health services researcher, I am now just another writer with a Ph.D.
Where I Stand
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