Gary Freedman's Blog

Whatever Happened to Jeanette Gringo, Esq.?

Jeanette Gringo, Esq. was one of my coworkers in the Computer Applications Department at the law firm of Hogan & Hartson. She was hired in the fall of 1986 by then manager Sheryl Ferguson and left during the summer of 1987. She was a graduate of the Georgetown University Law School. She was a very bright young woman. She obtained employment on the DC Law Revision Commission.

On one occasion she made a comment about me and a coworker, Craig W. Dye. Jeanette Gringo… Continue

Added by Gary Freedman on September 18, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

Happy New Year To My Jewish Friends!

President Obama recorded a greeting to Jews around the world who will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, beginning at sundown Friday. "L'shana tova, tikatevu," Obama said, speaking in Hebrew. "May you have a good year, and may you be inscribed for blessings in the book of life."

Obama talks about the meaning of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and why during this time of year all people should work to "heal old divisions, seek new understandings and come together to build a… Continue

Added by Gary Freedman on September 18, 2009 at 10:00am — 2 Comments

Me and Martha Mitchell

The Martha Mitchell effect is the process by which a psychiatrist, psychologist, or other mental health clinician mistakes the patient's perception of real events as delusional and misdiagnoses accordingly.

According to Vaughan Bell, "Sometimes, improbable reports are erroneously assumed to be symptoms of mental illness," due to a "failure or inability to verify whether the events have actually taken place, no matter how improbable intuitively they might appear to the busy… Continue

Added by Gary Freedman on September 17, 2009 at 12:30pm — 2 Comments

Of Forensics and Fiddles

My sister worked as a secretary at the Temple University Law School in Philadelphia in the mid-1960s while she pursued an undergraduate degree in education at Temple. She worked in the law school's Unit in Law and Psychiatry.

One of the young psychiatrists in the Unit was Robert L. Sadoff, MD. When I was 13 years old, during the winter of 1967, I spent the afternoon at my sister's office where I met Dr. Sadoff. I wonder if he remembers that? Dr. Sadoff has gone on to have a notable… Continue

Added by Gary Freedman on September 17, 2009 at 10:30am — 2 Comments

Have You Ever Been a Victim of Mobbing in the Workplace?

Do you feel like you’re being singled out or “ganged up on” at work? Do your co-workers suddenly stop talking when you enter the room? Do you notice co-workers and/your boss rolling their eyes or exchanging glances when you talk in a meeting? Do you feel like people at work are undermining you or out to get you? Do you wonder if you’re just imagining things or being paranoid?

If so, you may be the target of a form of workplace bullying called mobbing. Mobbing isn’t illegal and is a… Continue

Added by Gary Freedman on September 16, 2009 at 12:00pm — 4 Comments

The Last Naked Man

It occurred to me last night that I haven't seen a naked guy in 35 years, not since the fall of 1974. I was watching TV last night: "Shaq Vs." In the final episode of the show, Shaq took on Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps in three swim races (best 2 out of 3 wins). O'Neal won the first race. Phelps swam 50 yards freestyle (with a five second head start) and Shaq swam only 25 yards.

In the fall of 1974, when I was a senior at Penn State, I took a swimming course at the McCoy… Continue

Added by Gary Freedman on September 16, 2009 at 11:00am — No Comments

Whatever Happened to Andrew Weil, MD?

The nutritional expert Andrew Weil, MD, appeared on the Martha Stewart show this morning in Washington, DC. Dr. Weil is from Philadelphia originally and attended The Central High School of Philadelphia.

Andrew Thomas Weil (born June 8, 1942) is an American author and physician, best known for establishing and popularizing the field of integrative medicine. Weil is the author of several best-selling books and runs a website and monthly newsletter, where he answers questions relating… Continue

Added by Gary Freedman on September 16, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

What You Don't Know

"What you don't know when you're eighteen is that you'll be eighteen for the rest of your life."

That's a great line. I quote it all the time. Unfortunately, I didn't make it up. The line was delivered by the actor Jeremy Sisto as the character Billy Chenowith in the HBO series, Six Feet Under. Jeremy Sisto was buck naked when he uttered the line.

Jeremy Merton Sisto (born October 6, 1974) is an American actor. He has had many prominent roles in movies and television, and… Continue

Added by Gary Freedman on September 16, 2009 at 9:30am — 2 Comments

The Hardy Ames Hill National Monument

Hardy Ames Hill, a native of York, Pennsylvania, was a contestant on the CBS reality series, Big Brother 2, hosted by Julie Chen, during the summer of 2001: the year the world changed. Hardy distinguished himself as a young man with integrity -- someone you would want for a friend. I thought he was a truly decent person, and definitely the finest person to participate in the Big Brother series since its inception in the year 2000.

Last Sunday night I watched the season finale of this… Continue

Added by Gary Freedman on September 15, 2009 at 12:30pm — 2 Comments

Wagner's Jewish Pallbearers

The remains of the opera composer Richard Wagner were laid to rest in the garden of his home, the Villa Wahnfried, in Bayreuth, Germany, on Saturday February 17, 1883. He had died in Venice, Italy, on the afternoon of February 13. Wagner's funeral cortege, which proceeded from the Bayreuth train station to his home, featured twelve pallbearers. Two of the pallbearers were Jews, an interesting fact since Wagner was a notorious anti-Semite.

The two Jewish pallbearers… Continue

Added by Gary Freedman on September 15, 2009 at 10:30am — No Comments

Scenes From A Piano Lesson

During the summer of 1969, when I was 15 years old, I took piano lessons with a private teacher, Miss Elisabeth Elaine Griffith. Miss Griffith taught piano in the living room of her home. She had a beautiful Steinway grand piano. Murray "Mike" Marion, a student in my class at Central High School (1971, CHS 230), was also a student of Miss Griffith's.

That summer I began my second year of piano lessons. Miss Griffith wanted me to study Kinderscenen (Scenes from Childhood), a… Continue

Added by Gary Freedman on September 15, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

One of the Finer Private Schools

During the year 1990 I saw a psychiatrist named Stanley R. Palombo, MD, at his office in Washington, DC. At my first consultation he asked me what college I went to. I told him I went to Penn State. He said, "I would have thought that you had gone to one of the finer private schools." Did I actually impress Dr. Palombo as being a Harvard alumnus? And, by the way, what's wrong with Penn State? I'm proud that I'm a Penn State alumnus. I think it's a very good school -- despite the fact that a…

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Added by Gary Freedman on September 15, 2009 at 10:00am — 1 Comment

The Art Of The Flim-Flam

Brian--

September 27, 2004

Hey, buddy. What's up, big guy? What's the long and short of it?

I don't have much on my mind this week. This will be a short. Yes. What they call in Dan Glickman's trade--the film industry--a documentary short. It's some old history with a new twist. I guess you could say Glickman has become the Master of the film industry, while I, for my part, spend my days mastering the art of the flim-flam.

This past week I've been busy… Continue

Added by Gary Freedman on September 13, 2009 at 1:31pm — No Comments

Hiroshima Day: America Has Been Asleep at the Wheel for 64 Years

Published on Thursday, August 6, 2009 by TruthDig.com

by Daniel Ellsberg

It was a hot August day in Detroit. I was standing on a street corner downtown, looking at the front page of The Detroit News in a news rack. I remember a streetcar rattling by on the tracks as I read the headline: A single American bomb had destroyed a Japanese city. My first thought was that I knew exactly what that bomb was. It was the U-235 bomb we had discussed in school and written papers about,… Continue

Added by Gary Freedman on September 13, 2009 at 12:30pm — 1 Comment

The Surprising Endurance of Jewishness -- My Recollections of Daniel Ellsberg

I live in an apartment building in Washington, DC. Throughout the 90s and up until about 2003 or 2004, Daniel Ellsberg and his wife, Patricia, lived in the building, in apartment 146. Daniel Ellsberg is a former US military analyst employed by the RAND Corporation who precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of US government decision-making about the Vietnam War, to The New York Times and other… Continue

Added by Gary Freedman on September 13, 2009 at 12:00pm — 6 Comments

Gotterdammerung

I got a ticket to see Gotterdammerung in November, to be performed by the Washington National Opera. It's the only Wagner opera I've never seen. I am so excited. I fell in love with Gotterdammerung when I was 12 years old, and it's been a life-long love affair. The performance I will be seeing will be a concert version. The Washington Opera can't afford a staging because of the economy. (Apparently, the Ginsburgs -- Ruth and Marty -- haven't donated enough to the Washington Opera to offset the… Continue

Added by Gary Freedman on September 13, 2009 at 10:30am — 2 Comments

What Did Nicole Rafanello Tell The U.S. District Court about John Hinckley?

http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:X78TOStre6IJ:https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc%3F1981cr0306-304+nicole+rafanello+st+elizabeths+hospital+2009&hl=en&gl=us

Added by Gary Freedman on September 11, 2009 at 11:00am — No Comments

Judge Paul Friedman

I sent my letter to Judge Paul Friedman. He probably thinks I'm a nut job. But how does that hurt me? If everybody thought I was normal, I'd be forced out of business. I'd have to go out and find a real job. Now that is truly frightening.

For those who don't remember, here's the text of the letter I sent to Judge Friedman:

The Honorable Paul L. Friedman

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse

William B. Bryant… Continue

Added by Gary Freedman on September 11, 2009 at 9:30am — 1 Comment

Buying Low and Selling High

Robert Jeffrey Sternberg (born December 8, 1949), is an American psychologist and psychometrician and the Dean of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University. He was formerly IBM Professor of Psychology and Education at Yale University and the President of the American Psychological Association. He is a member of the editorial boards of numerous journals, including American Psychologist. Sternberg has a BA from Yale University and a PhD from Stanford University. Gordon Bower was his PhD advisor. He… Continue

Added by Gary Freedman on September 11, 2009 at 9:00am — No Comments

The Plight of the Creative Individual

http://teebeedee.ning.com/group/TBDqa/forum/topics/are-you-a-creative-person-how

Added by Gary Freedman on September 10, 2009 at 10:28am — 2 Comments

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