As a '60s liberal, I swallowed whole the storyline about our new president, John F. Kennedy. If appearances could be trusted, he was young, vigorous, and courageous (rescuing a fellow sailor in WWII.) Just the man to usher in the so-called Camelot years. I was a high school junior with a surgically repaired cleft-lip-and palate, finally able to talk without tell-tale nasality. But I'd been restricted from PE thru middle-school and from competitive sports during high school. Thus, I … [Read more...]
How to be a CLEFT HEART book booster and reap rewards.
Thought some of you Cleft Heart book fans might get a kick out of seeing a photo (top right of the collage below) of politicians Pelosi and Schumer under an umbrella in D.C, back in the day. Actually, it's my sister Barbara and me in front of the U.S. Capitol after my dad mustered out of the military as a journalist in Washington, D.C. for the Navy's All Hands magazine. My loving sis wrote last year about growing up with a brother with clefts here and here. She wanted to add to the book I'd … [Read more...]
Peyton Manning: Special treatment re sex scandal?
Today's blog begins to transition from the main prior focus of the website (clefts, disabled heroes, etc.). It embraces a newly added focus, loosely called 'discrimination' which includes special treatment of males, superstars, etc. by society. This blog features a compelling combination of both the former focus and the current focus of my website. The key phrase is "Peyton Manning cleft palate special treatment." Peyton Manning cleft palate special treatment. A little known fact about Peyton … [Read more...]
My brother’s clefts: When birth defects aren’t defects-Compete & Cooperate
A Disability, or Not? By Barbara Schonborn I didn’t think my brother Karl had birth defects. Nor did I think his cleft lip and cleft palate were disabilities. When we were children, Karl was just my competitor or my buddy. Brother with no birth defects completes the family. Steven, my second brother, was born when our family lived next door to our grandparents Schonborn in a rural neighborhood of Puyallup, Washington. Steven had no birth defects. His nose and mouth were normal, and he … [Read more...]
My brother’s clefts: When birth defects aren’t defects – Infancy to surgery.
I didn’t think of my brother Karl’s cleft lip and cleft palate as birth defects or disabilities. These birth defects a disability, or not? Guest blog by Barbara Schonborn** Part One: From Infancy to early surgeries. A Princess Usurped. Until I was almost two years old, my life was idyllic. My mother read to me often—I sitting in her lap, a book in mine. She sewed clothes for me, cooked for my father and me, and took me to the Sunday nursery at our church in Boise, Idaho. I knew how … [Read more...]
Cocaine, mental illness, trauma: What killed Carrie Fisher?
I'm working on a memoir tentatively titled Four Murders and a Funeral. In one of the murders, powdered cocaine plays a role. At least that's what the defendant and his attorney would like us to believe. Whether the drug was to blame for the murder and whether addiction was involved is part of the story I tell. Cocaine Carrie Fisher's use of cocaine never became much of a criminal justice issue. Some feel celebs get a pass for behavior that lands others of us in … [Read more...]
Cleft lip dad adopts cleft lip baby.
This cleft lip news out of Atlanta made my Father's Day last Sunday. The day had been marred by the death of my best friend's wife the day before. However, I then noticed this news about cute-as-a-boot Hattie Pierce, pictured below. Like myself and so many others, Hattie was born with a cleft lip and palate, . Hattie Pierce w cleft lip and palate. Cleft lip dad & daughter duo get surgery at same hospital. She was adopted by Brian Pierce who'd had his lip surgically restored long … [Read more...]