Mental Illness and Creativity

There’s a game I like to play called “Diagnose the Writer.” Emily Dickinson? Social anxiety disorder. Fyodor Dostoevsky? Gambling addiction. Franz Kafka? Hypochondria. Ernest Hemingway? John Berryman? Clinical depression. I have realized in the past few years that every writer I enjoy reading has suffered some form of mental illness. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, I may not be too far off the mark, either. Why is that? What’s the link? Is there a comorbidity between the need to comment on life…

Saying Goodbye to Borders

Today was not a good day. I made my last purchase at Borders, well, Borders.com, using up the balance on a gift card my girlfriend gave me. As I navigated their unwieldy website, I couldn’t help but remember my first times at the store, and how regretful I am at its closing. [Cue Corny Flashback Music] I remember shopping at the Borders in the White Flint Mall in Rockville. You took an escalator to the second floor, which deposited you right on the shop floor….

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