I went to a selective mutism conference in Chicago, hoping to meet others like myself. I found a few people with selective mutism, as well as a myriad of researchers and health professionals. One person named Dr. Kurtz was starting an experimental week-long intensive program called Brave Buddies, designed for young children with SM around the ages of 3 to 6.
I traveled to New York to be a volunteer counselor in his camp, and worked with a group of children, all of whom had SM, to help reach their goals. It was bizarre and touching to see a room-full of kids who were going through exactly what I went through all those years ago.
October 31, 2010
Today is Halloween. I feel like I’ve slipped off the road. I just don’t feel 100% today.
This summer I went to Chicago for a selective mutism conference. Rachel was out of town that weekend, and I made my way around the windy city alone. It was cool.
At the conference I met Dr. Kurtz who invited me to come to New York. I went. It was a week-long camp for little selectively mute children. I got paired up with Abigail who talked to me all the time. She did a lot of Brave-talking to bank tellers and ice cream cashiers, and thinking about her makes me pensive about our complexities and similarities. I used to be one of these kids. And I’ve overcome all that to become a lunatic pervert. Hah.
Right now I’m writing this on the steps of the Parthenon. There’s not many places you can run to when the thing you’re running from is yourself. This is close to peaceful though.
And what’s a journal entry without a mention of our favorite starlet? Nell is the farthest away from me as she can physically be on earth. On the other side of the globe, she still manages to pepper my day in Nashville.
*Side note: Nell was going to school in China
** Another side note: The lunatic pervert bit was a self-deprecating joke that had nothing to do with the sentences about kids that preceded it. All above board! I am only attracted to women from the ages of 18 to around 99.