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  Alcoholism and Mental Illness   I attend AA, but early on they realized I had a mental illness requiring medication. Immediately they opposed this saying I didn’t need it and that I was addicted to drugs. It seemed foolish and really quite ignorant to me that they had no idea about my condition, schizoaffective a light combination of bipolar and schizophrenia, or what the signs and symptoms could be or how to treat it. They took simple phrases from their book, the big book as they called it, which really isn’t that big, 164 pages. So they found terms...

C.J. The Weird Woman   In the early millennium I attended a small tight i2-step group in a church recreation room further on down my street. The group was mostly successful older women, a few older men and me. They were politically conservative and voiced it, although the rules of the program told them not to. One day we had a new member, an attractive thin blonde excited to talk about her success in abstinence yet struggling desperately to get there. The women were uncomfortable with her. At the break she brought out her therapy journal and asked the women...

Alcohol and Addiction   The Kelly Thomas murder case charged three officers of the Fullerton Police Department for the beating and murder of schizophrenic homeless man Kelly Thomas., He was brutally battered for roughy ten minutes leaving him unconscious and unrecognizable left to die in a hospital bed moments tater.  I became an activist, political writer and fine artist observing the case. During this time I was asked to auction off my art at a police charity event. There was much talk about Kelly Thomas in negative ways. One high ranking officer in the homeless department sat down with me at...

Business   I studied business and finance my first three years of college. Not only was it stressful to keep up with difficult homework and tests, I found the whole thing empty and meaningless. I didn’t want to be in the business of being in business, I didn’t like making money from money alone. So my junior year I dropped out and studied art thinking I would get away from all that. But in order to paint I had to sell my paintings,. So my salesmanship skills immediately set in. Also making money that way I had to count the...