Author: Newley

I had a bunch of photos from my time in Taiwan floating around in iPhoto and sort of forgot about ’em. I’ve uploaded them to flickr. Check ’em out here. There’re some gems, in particular, of Jill and I with our students. Like this one (though it’s a bit fuzzy).

I’ll never forget the kid on the far right. His name was James. He had a birthmark the size of a hamburger on his upper left arm. It was dark brown and hairy. Before important tests, all of the students would gather around James and rub his birthmark “for good luck.” He always smiled and acquiesced sheepishly. He had a calm demeanor and his concentration perpetually wandered during class — he was invariably more interested in drawing oddly compelling-looking aliens instead of doing his work.

One time, the kids were supposed to be filling in the coloring sheets I’d given them. I walked over to James and noticed that instead of doing that, he had taken a bright yellow highlighter out of his pencil box and was determinedly inking up the entire back of his hand. He wasn’t disturbing anyone so I let him continue.

AP:

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. –An expert in eating disorders collapsed in a supermarket after inhaling propellant from whipped cream cans, according to police.

Lisa G. Berzins, a prominent psychologist who has been on national television and radio shows and in newspaper articles, was arrested on a warrant Friday charging her in the May 29 incident, The Hartford Courant reported.

Berzins, 49, of Farmington, has a practice in West Hartford. She has written and lectured on eating disorders, female development, sex roles and self-esteem, according a speaker’s biography from the American Psychological Association.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, West Hartford police responded to the Farmington Avenue Stop & Shop and found Berzins lying on the floor and bleeding from her head. Berzins, the affidavit says, told police she did not know what happened.

Police interviewed witnesses and collected evidence, then determined that Berzins apparently inhaled from three cans of whipped cream containing nitrous oxide, known as laughing gas, the affidavit says.