In my blogs I try to flag those cultural outputs like jokes, quotes, movies, and the like that cross the line with regard to oral facial disorders. Judge for yourself. Read this promo blurb for the dark comedy coming your way called "Men & Chickens." "Sexy “Hannibal” star Mads Mikkelsen (“The Hunt,” “A Royal Affair”) plays radically against type in “Men & Chicken.” The Danish film is a riotous and zany satire that every Mikkelsen fan needs to see. Wearing a prosthetic nose and a cleft … [Read more...]
“Heroes and villains” & Brian Wilson’s psychological disorders.
The overall theme of this website is Heroes, Villains and Fools, tho admittedly I concentrate on the heroics of kids (and their helpers) who overcome bullying and facial differences stemming from, say, a cleft lip and palate. So, it's no wonder that I've been intrigued by the Beach Boys' song "Heroes and villains" over the years. Turns out it's got a complex history, not unlike that of Brian Wilson whose battle against mental illness was told in the biopic "Love & Mercy" which hit theaters … [Read more...]
Cleft lip and palate for Dummies.
Am pleased to announce I've added an important new resource to my website. It's Wikipedia's latest info about clefts which is useful for Dummies—people who know next to nothing about clefts. But, wait, there's enough info that cleft-afflicted people like me, and even experts on the subject, can learn a lot. Plus, there are wonderful diagrams, a list of famous people through history with clefts, and a segment regarding animals with clefts. So, read on. And if you ever need to find info in the … [Read more...]
Heroines, bullies, and Batgirl’s final bow as a hero.
As I noted earlier in the week on various social media, Batgirl, whose face graces my "Heroes, Villains, and Fools" home page, has died. Ms Craig was a heroine to the kids of prior generations who were unused to superheroes at every turn. Superheroes could mainly be found in comic books. Among other villains, Craig fought bullies.Craig was trained as a dancer, which helped her perform her own stunts as Batgirl in the iconic 1960s TV series "Batman." Craig died at her home in Pacific Palisades, … [Read more...]
Cleft lip and palate repairs by Rotary Clubs.
Rotary Clubs in Australia raise money for repairs of cleft lips and palates—as well as speech therapy service—for poor children in Asia and Southeast Asia at no cost to their families. The Australian Rotarian Operation Cleft program is not unlike those sponsored by Smile Train and Operation Smile here in the US. What's different is that a team of volunteers from the Rotarian community are able to keep administration costs to a minimum. The cost for each operation is very low and covers … [Read more...]
Hear no, Speak no, See no? Important month and week for cleft lip kids and others.
May is Better Hearing and Speech month in America. At one end of the age spectrum, this is important for cleft lip/palate kids for whom their early surgeries are just the beginning of their struggle to look and sound 'normal.'Seniors as well as Cleft lip kids.At the other end of the age spectrum, many Boomers and Seniors are facing increasing hearing deficits from natural aging, speech issues from strokes and TIAs, etc. Speech Language Professionals are being minted in huge numbers these days to … [Read more...]
Cleft lip kids pay a big price in Vietnam.
I've benefitted from the Vietnam War. Because western doctors operated on innumerable cleft lip and palate kids during and after the war, they learned how to deal with the cartilage of the cleft nose. (More about this in my next blog.) In my 40s, I had my final cleft surgeries . . . on my "smushed down" nostril it turns out, in a bid to become a bit more facially symmetrical. The first surgery: Fail, big time. Even with a temporary stent in the nostril to keep the cartilage from reverting … [Read more...]