Our memories are important. They make us who we are. They allow us to be a part of our world, and our friends and families’ too. Most importantly, they allow us to have a common experience, and share a common bond.

But what is memory?

When I was in graduate school, psychologists had developed the constructs of long-term and short-term memory. Short-term memory was famously codified by George Miller in his seminal paper The Magical Number Seven Plus or Minus Two. (It was a good paper, an even better title.) I say codified because in fact humans had figured this out. Phone numbers were 7 digits, zip codes were 5, etc. After reviewing the research, Miller concluded that humans can easily remember between 5-9 digits…but these numbers did not always get into long-term memory.

At the time, we assumed that long-term memory was like a filing cabinet, where we stored each memory. An inability to remember was due to the filing cabinet being full or being unable to find the “file.”

Without measures of brain functioning, all we could do were studies on memory, creating hypotheses based on recall or recognition and how memories were acquired, e.g., classical conditioning (where we pair two stimuli) and operant conditioning (where we reward behavior).

As usual in science, the advent of measurement allowed us to learn more about memory and made scientists aware that these views were way too simplistic.

Brain imaging studies revealed that a single memory is actually stored in multiple places. We have separate places in the brain where we store the sensory part of memory (taste, smell, sound, touch, visual), others where we store observations or events, and still others that store automatic memories (e.g., how to tie a shoe; how to drive a car).

The act of remembering requires the brain to locate and coordinate all of the information associated with that single memory from multiple parts of the brain. Instead of a single file we have multiple files of the same event and a mechanism for knowing which memories are connected to each other.

Even the amygdala gets involved. As many know, the primary function of the amygdala is to regulate emotions, such as fear and aggression. The amygdala plays a part in how memories are stored because storage is influenced by stress hormones. Also, we store that feeling from that event (e.g., phobias). In a study, researchers encoded fear memories in mice using classical conditioning, in this case pairing a shock with a tone. The amygdala allowed the mice to remember that a tone is associated with a shock, and they learned to fear the tone. It is suspected that this amygdala encoding is a source of anxiety, PTSD, phobias, and other psychological conditions. Some researchers have been successful in eliminating phobias using repeated exposure, and, more recently with lasers and injected drugs to directly impact the neurotransmitters and eliminating the association of the fear response.

The concepts of short and long-term memory are based on how long we store the memory. Before reaching long or short-term memory, information perceived by our senses and may be encoded into sensory memory (e.g., recognizing a red fire truck), which is immediate and fleeting. If we pay attention to that sensory memory (e.g., the fire truck) we can bring it to short-term memory (which lasts for 15-30 seconds). Then, in some cases, short-term memory transfers that memory to long-term memory.

Working memory is a type of memory that is often confused with short-term memory. Working memory uses both short-term information and requisite memories from long-term memory. (For example, when adding two numbers; the brain combines the short-term memory for the 2 numbers, plus the long-term memory of how to add.)

There are many types of long-term memory. For example, the memory to do an automatic task, such as tying a shoelace, involves different parts of the brain than recalling what we had for dinner last night.

The memory for tying a shoelace is called procedural memory or implicit memory. These are tasks we don’t need to consciously think about before we do them, for example, typing (if you learned how to type), writing, pouring water into a glass. Multiple parts of the brain are used to process and coordinate the muscle movements and steps. The basal ganglia (in the middle of the brain) and the cerebellum (near the brain stem) are most involved in coordinating the memories required to perform an automatic task. (But don’t forget the amygdala, if this task generates a fear response, such as pouring boiling water.)

Declarative or explicit memories, on the other hand, are consciously remembered events (such as someone’s name); basically, what most of us think of when we think of memory. It uses the hippocampus, which is a seahorse-shaped structure in the middle of the brain and the prefrontal cortex, located in the front of the brain.

And yes, there are other types of memories (we are rounding the curve, folks, I promise). Spatial memories capture geographically where an object is.

Semantic memory stores explicit facts and pieces of knowledge (e.g., what a horse looks like, your son’s birthday), while episodic memory stores events and occurrences (e.g., riding a horse, his 2nd birthday party).

Then there are the sensory memories: echoic memory, iconic memory, and haptic memory. Iconic memory retains sight information, echoic memory retains auditory information and haptic memory retains sensation or touch information.

Autobiographical memories are the memories that make us human and connect to others. They are typically combinations of semantic and episodic memories that contribute to our sense of self—your own life history and identity (Am I smart? Am I nice?).

See how complex it is? And, I believe that we are just getting started. The better the tools, the more we will learn.

My big question is “Okay, we know where memory is stored, but how does it get stored? How does the brain remember?”

Scientists believe that memories are created at synapses, by building new neurological connections. Simplistically, neurotransmitters connect the synapses, and the hippocampus helps the brain build new connections.

But here is the rub. And it is very, very important.

Scientists have discovered that the same neurotransmitters used to build memory connections are also used to recall a memory. And these neurotransmitters continue to build connections during recall, which enables the building of new connections capable of changing the original memory. That means that simply the act of recalling a memory can cause us to alter the original memory by using the same neural transmitters to add new connections to that memory.

Think about that, and its implications. Just the act of recalling a memory can cause us to change any of those types of memories!

The process allows us to add features of the present day to the original memory. I have done this many times. For example, when I am trying to recall where I left something, let’s say, my phone. I frequently create a memory that I placed it in a location that I did not. I can “recall” the color of the table, the room, the time of day, and the sound of it ringing. I created this false memory as part of the act of trying to recall where I left my phone.

Scientists have been able to successfully implant false memories in most subjects just through suggestion. Some “memories” are outlandish and can even go against that person’s nature.

For example, one gentle subject “remembered” that she had been in a fight with a friend and the police were called. That never happened. The researchers did this by telling the subject about this fight while the subject was recalling a related memory. In this example, the subject was asked the year, the park, and the name of the friend. The researcher then asked her, “Don’t you remember the fight you had with your friend in that park? Your parents described a fight with this friend where the police were called.” At first, the subject denied it. But over several sessions, the researcher continued to ask the subject about that fight while asking her to recall the related information. Over time, the subject added that false memory to hre original memory.

Think about the implications for us. It is one of the reasons that eyewitness testimony is often inaccurate. We build new connections for sensory, semantic, autobiographical, explicit, geographical, and other memories into the actual memory when we recall the event. How many times have you spoken to a person where you shared a “memory” and you had different dates, locations, etc.? You had the event memory of being together, but everything else was changed.

Today, we have video on cell phones to the capture the actual event. It can only help all of us because our memories have too many opportunities to fail.

Scary, isn’t it?

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

Thanksgiving is coming. It is a holiday that is universally celebrated throughout the United States. It is a time for reconnecting with family, celebrating new additions, mourning losses, and eating foods that we have enjoyed since we first appeared on the planet. And, of course, eating until we become comatose and appreciating our good fortune.

Like most people, I love it all. But always a bit of an iconoclast, this year I am going to be a contrarian and list the things that I am not grateful for. I hope my readers will join me and let me know of their ingratitude.

So here is a partial list.

Mosquitos. Mosquitoes are the deadliest animals on Earth. Historically, the one of the greatest killers of our species, it continues to menace us. Last year, 725,000 people died, and millions more were sickened by the diseases carried by this unpleasant pest. Mosquitoes have caused more human suffering than any other scourge, according to the World Health Organization. The general consensus among demographers is that that mosquito-borne diseases have killed close to half of the 108 billion human beings that have ever lived on this planet, the majority of them young children. Mosquitos have even changed our DNA.

And they serve no useful purpose. Scientists have concluded that if the mosquito were eradicated it would have little impact because all species that eat mosquitoes also dine on other insects.

So, mosquito, you are number one on the things that I am least grateful for.

Snakes

I know that our local snakes are a good thing. There is a very, very, very large black snake that resides in our neighborhood. Occasionally, I see him lounging across my brick porch step. He is so long, that I cannot see either his head or his tail, just this scaly, black, shiny, tube. He has never bothered me; his unfortunate appearance is his only crime. Yet, for being such a creepy creature, he makes my list. Number 2.

Death of a loved one (including pets)

When a beloved spouse or child or animal dies, it is devastating. Most of us say “everything happens for a reason,” just because we don’t know how to explain such a tragic loss. But I refuse to believe in a supreme being who chooses to inflict insufferable pain upon us. So, these losses are the most impactful on my ingratitude list.

Traffic

I am a relatively mild mannered person; the first to help someone cross the street, adding $5 to the round up donation at the local supermarket or pharmacy. But get me in traffic, and I become unrecognizable. Filled with expletives (fortunately, rarely voiced), looking for someone to blame, I can make any passenger wish they had never decided to ride with me. And sadly, it is hard for me to acknowledge that this person exists inside of me. Not a proud moment, so it belongs on my “not grateful” list.

Leaves

I love them when they are attached to a tree. Especially when they first appear in the spring. But in the fall, they become my nemesis. Trying to rid my property of them is a futile task. Despite working for hours in the yard, overnight they reappear, mocking my hard work. They taunt me, as do the squirrels who try to drop acorns on my head while I am trying to do the impossible. (I know that it is deliberate, you guys, and that is just mean!) So autumn leaves, congrats, you have the made the list.

Disdainful mocking

You might know this. It is the way occasional waiters look at you when you ask for your food, medium well or worse. I have had more than one chef leave the kitchen to tell me that he refuses to prepare the meal in this fashion. Although I don’t need to justify my choices, having suffered through salmonella and e-coli, I do not choose a repeat. So, sorry, not sorry.

Diets

When I was young, I could eat everything. Now I can eat nothing. Each bite includes the question, should I? I am reduced to rabbit status. I haven’t had a hot fudge sundae in decades, nor cotton candy, nor other delectable desserts. When I transgress, there is always a price to be paid.

Eating becomes an effort to talk myself into liking fewer desirable foods, while yearning for the others.

But, this holiday, we are freed from our diet jail. Thanksgiving is a time of caloric excess!

So, I guess that I am grateful after all.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

This summer, one of the local food establishments posted the following outdoor sign:

Local Crabs
Now Hiring

If would have been even funnier if they had reversed the order, but it brought me and my NYC daughter a good laugh.

I believe that it this is a good time for all of us to laugh…so here are a few funny signs that I curated from the Internet.

• Roadside Sign at Park: Warning Coyote Activity. Keep them at a distance. Never feed coyotes. Call Animal Control if you see dangerous coyote activity such as: Coyote carrying a box marked “Acme.” Coyote detonating explosives/TNT. Coyote in possession of a magnet. Coyote holding signs marked “Detour” or “Free Bird Seed.” Coyote in possession of a catapult. Coyote dropping anvil from a hot air balloon.
• Store Sign (During COVID): If you come into this shop without a mask on, we will have to take your temperature. We only have rectal thermometers. Choose wisely.
• Sign in front of a Liquor Store: Welcome back teachers!
• Sign at a Casino: Remember how your valet looks. Because we don’t have one.
• Garment Label (from a product made in China): Remove child before washing
• Store Sign: Water for your Dog or Short People with Low Standards (we don’t judge)
• Sign at Penguin House at an Aquarium:
  • Naughty Penguin of the Month: Timmy, stole fish, pushed another penguin over.
  • Good Penguin of the Month: Betty: Good swimmer. Waited patiently for fish.
• Road Sign: Camp in the mountains not in the left lane
• Sign at a Coffee House: Do not leave your drink unattended. The cat is an a**hole.
• Sign at a Starbucks: I saw a guy at Starbucks today. No phone. No tablet. No laptop. He just sat there. Like a psychopath.
• Roadside Sign: Caution: Sign has sharp edges. Do not touch edges of this sign. Also, the bridge is out.
• Outdoor Sign: Courage is knowing that it might hurt and doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. And that’s why life is hard.
• Sign at Veterinary Hospital: In ancient times cats were worshipped as Gods. They have not forgotten.
• Sign at Veterinary Hospital: Dinosaurs never took vaccines and look where they ended up.
• Store Sign: PLEASE do not drop your cigarette butts on the ground. The rabbits come out at night and smoke them, and we are trying to get the rabbits to quit.
• Warning Sign by Owner (of chihuahuas): WARNING: Death from the ankles down
• Sign in Park: Warning: Drugs sold in this park are of inferior quality
• Roadside Sign: Without freedom of speech, we wouldn’t know who the idiots are
• Handmade Sign (with a pile of sticks below): Dog Library…take a stick, leave a stick
• Road Sign: It’s a lane, not a birthright. Let them merge.
• Store Sign: Teenagers: Tired of being harassed by your stupid parents. ACT NOW. Go out. Get a job. Pay your bills. While you still know everything.
• Sign at Local Baseball Park: REMEMBER These are kids. Coaches are volunteers. Umpires are human. This is not Yankee stadium.
• Store Sign (on window): Push to open. If that doesn’t work, try pull. If those don’t work, try the actual entrance.
• Store Sign: Get a free ride in a police car just by shoplifting from this store
• National Park Sign: Please do not feed the animals. They will become dependent and demand cell phones.

Signs with Funny Errors:

• Political Road Sign: America is the best country in the Nation
• Sign at Parking Garage: Please pay your parking ticket before existing
• Restroom out of odor
• Sign at Christmas Bazaar and Craft Show: Fight Children with Diabetes Fundraiser

And that’s it, I hope that one of them made you laugh.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

Rude.

I was in a line to purchase produce at the market the other day. Ahead of me was a tourist couple (who didn’t purchase anything) questioning the salesclerk about the Eastern Shore. They were unconcerned about the line that was swelling behind them.

To address the long line of customers, the salesclerk began servicing the customers while continuing to talk to the couple. The couple was clearly annoyed and glared at each customer. In their definition of rude, they had been interrupted.

On the other hand, the customers viewed the couple as rude because they continued to probe for more information despite the line of customers.

And the salesclerk was trying to negotiate the differences in “rudeness.”

I reflected on what rudeness really is.

Some rudeness is direct and intentional. For example, the cruel comments that you see on the Internet, or direct disrespect by refusing to recognize anyone’s needs but one’s own.

But often, rudeness is inadvertent and just based on perspective. Many of our definitions of rude come down to our needs not being met due to someone else’s behavior. Often it involves time. The couple holding up the line were wasting our time. The customers were wasting that couple’s time. People who drive too slowly, people who hold up a line, when you think about it, a lot of it is just time.

We often attribute rudeness to those who prevent us from getting what we want. For example, the person ahead of you buying all of the tomatoes, someone who cuts in front of a line, someone in a line talking on their cellphone or other multitasking so that the clerk must wait.

Rudeness is often community-defined. For example, having lived Northeast and now in the more Southern Eastern Shore, I find there are large differences between these communities. In the Northeast, time is precious. In the South, relationship or connection is more important. I used to say that 20 people ahead of me in line in NYC takes the same amount of time as one person ahead of me in the South. In the northeast, it is transactional, so the quicker the better. In more rural areas, it is connection, so time has less value.

Communities also exist within families and cultural groups; and rudeness is defined by the norms of the community. Since America has multi-cultural roots, it is easy to be inadvertently rude. A simple example is attending churches and synagogues, in some being late is acceptable, in others it is rude.

Families have their own codes as well. In large and boisterous families, interrupting is the way to get your point across. In smaller, more discrete families, it is rude.

Rude really gets crazy when dealing with international cultures. It takes research to avoid inadvertent rudeness. For example, table manners. In some countries, leaving food on the plate is rude; in other countries it is rude not to.

I remember dining at a Korean friend’s house, and as I quickly began devouring the incredibly delicious food, I glanced over at her. Too late, I realized that she was eating her meal slowly and carefully, maintaining the relative portions and the appearance of the food on the plate, my messy plate was both embarrassing (and inadvertently rude).

In Chile, all food except bread must be eaten with silverware. In Norway, even sandwiches are eaten with a knife and fork. Parts of India and the Middle East use their right hands to eat food. In some parts of China and Japan, slurping is considered a compliment.

Punctuality rules are also unique to each country and community. How to make life hard for a hostess in America? Arrive early to a dinner party.

But my favorite custom came from a colleague who emigrated from Iran. You explained that in her community, it is polite to invite the hostess (or person you are talking to) to your home for dinner the next weekend. But she explained that the invitation isn’t sincere, it is simply a gesture to show how much you enjoyed their company. So, I asked her how do you know if an invitation is genuine? She said you can just tell.

I continued, “What would happen if someone appeared at that person’s house for dinner (thinking that it was a sincere invitation)?“

“Oh, that would be rude,” she explained.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

Women are its primary consumers. But men are increasingly getting into the act. Manufacturers rely on it. It is an over $3B industry in the US.

It can be a serious nuisance, unintentionally imposed upon innocent bystanders.

We are talking about perfume.

Exposure to perfumes can cause asthma attacks, headaches, lung irritation, migraines, and nasal congestion among other maladies. Some reactions can occur in less than three minutes. Overall, scents have an unpleasant impact on 5%-35% of the population. (The reason that the range is so wide is due to the variety of perfume products.)

A couple of studies have attempted to measure the impact of perfumes on their unwitting victims. A 2016 study in the United States found that a third of the population suffers from allergies associated with fragrances in perfumes and household products.

A 2016 study in Australia observed that 98% of the 1,100 people surveyed had been exposed to a fragranced environment at least once a week. Of those individuals, 33% reported symptoms, such as respiratory difficulties, asthma, headaches, and migraines. Sixty four percent of asthmatics had one or more attacks. Of the 33% of sufferers, there were problems with upper respiratory issues (43.3%) and migraine headaches (28.2%).

Most perfumes are classified as irritants rather than allergens The average perfume contains 14 chemicals that could trigger an allergic reaction. The most common irritants are citronella, oak moss, balsam of Peru, and synthetic components.

Over 26 million people in the US suffer from asthma. In the US, there are more than 4,000 asthma deaths each year and asthma is a contributing factor in another 7,000 deaths. A single exposure to perfume can cause an asthma flare. In a flare, the lungs become hypersensitive to irritants or allergens resulting in numerous attacks, and these flares can last for days, weeks, or months.

Children with upper respiratory and lung issues are particularly susceptible to perfume exposure.

Perfumes are also a known trigger for migraines, headaches, and nasal allergy symptoms. In sinus headaches, the inhaled chemicals irritate the sinuses, causing them to swell. Swollen sinuses do not drain properly which creates a pressure build-up that can cause a headache.

For those who suffer with migraines, perfumes can be debilitating. A 2014 study found that 70% of odor triggered migraine sufferers were triggered by perfumes within less than 3 minutes of exposure. There are 35 million migraine sufferers in the United States.

Perfume sufferers are fighting back. Some employers and officials have created perfume-free zones in the workplace, airports, and other public spaces. But, in general, those who suffer from perfumes are left to cope with it on their own.

So, what can responsible perfume and cologne users do?

Consider using a different perfume or cologne. Some perfumes have been created using fewer known irritants. There are organic products that use natural oils instead of chemicals. Rose water as a replacement for perfume, is a lesser irritant.

Avoid applying perfume when you are going out into public spaces, especially crowded ones such as theaters, concerts, restaurants, mass transportation, and especially where children will be present

Be careful when applying perfume. If you are going out, never, never, never spray perfume into the air and walk through it. The perfume oils land on your clothing, hair, skin, and, well, everywhere; and is simply impossible to remove. Consider using a stick perfume to avoid aerosol effects. Use perfume sparingly on just a few parts of your body.

As we age, our sense of smell is diminished, causing us to apply more or use a stronger scent. Start small, and have a trusted friend or partner tell you if it is too strong.

But for those who love perfume, consider changing your perfume routine. Instead of applying it before you go out, apply it when you get home, perhaps at bedtime, so that you can sleep enveloped in your favorite aroma, by the time you awaken it is has interacted with your own scent. Enjoy it on those special occasions when you get to be home, with someone who simply adores it.

As a fellow perfume sufferer, I thank you. There have been a number of incidents and events that I had to leave, due to perfume. I had to leave two Broadway plays, left several concerts, stopped attending church, and am now very reluctant to go out. Recently, I had to excuse myself from a long-awaited get together with old friends. A close friend (who forgot about my sensitivity to perfume) noticed me coughing even before I did. I never even smelled her perfume before the inevitable attack commenced. And because she sprayed and walked through it, it was impossible to remove. So, I regretfully had to leave.

(That was before COVID 19. If it occurred now, I would be able to put on a mask and skip the food.)

For those who love perfume, please remember before you apply it what the consequences might be. Fellow perfume sufferers will thank you!

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

In my New Jersey town, there was a homeless woman seen daily on the streets. Some called her The Mud Lady.

Before her mind turned against her, she must have been very accomplished.

She was striking. She wore her clothes well, carried a stuffed old designer bag. She was tall and slender with a long neck, and very careful about her appearance. Her face was tinted orange, probably from overuse of tanning products, her eyes rimmed with dark eyeliner, and her hair was short, neatly clipped, and fashionably tousled using a product that looked like mud.

She mostly kept to herself, with a rare outburst. Her mind had been abducted long ago by paranoid schizophrenia.

The story went that she had once been a successful marketing executive with an MBA, until her mind chose to concoct demons and sinister plotters against her. It was said that her family tried desperately to help her. She refused treatment or confinement, convinced that all of them were poisons.

The local eateries gave her food, the coffee houses supplied her with her coffee. The soup kitchens provided the rest. When the New Jersey winters got too frigid, local churches and public institutions would open their hallways. She never thanked them.

Mental illness is probably the greatest health crisis we face. Here are the numbers. Almost 50% of the population will suffer from some mental illness during their lifetime, usually depression or anxiety. At any time, 20% of the population is suffering from serious mental illness. Almost 5% are psychotic or seriously ill. Suicides, murders, drug abuse, homelessness…mental illness makes its presence felt in society.

Many of us suffer some temporary or manageable mental illness: depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorders, or ADHD.

In my lifetime, I have seen the emergence of medications. When I was an undergraduate psychology major, only a few drugs, such as Thorazine for schizophrenia (which caused most patients to lose effect), lithium for bipolar disease (good for manic moods, not for depression) were available.

At that time, the mental health profession was in the grip of Freudian psychotherapies which promoted talk therapy as a cure. Somehow learning about your early childhood sexual development would cause the neurons and neurotransmitters to magically be recalibrated.

But medicine, like science, is limited by its ability to measure. At that time, there were no tools for measuring brain chemistry or brain imagery. All that they had were people’s experiences, their voices, and from these and their own experiences, they developed theories and treatment. Therapies were a product of their times. Freud developed his theories during a time when sexuality was repressed. Other protégées, like Jung, expanded it beyond sexuality, but they remained limited by the technology. Sadly, the legacy resulted in treatment that was destructive to the LGBTQ community, women, and mothers in particular. Women’s diseases that did not display obvious physical symptoms were attributed to hysteria, women’s frailties. Homosexuality was considered a mental illness.

Lacking measurements, many professionals chose blame. It has taken decades to mitigate damage on homosexuality and female dominated diseases such as fibromyalgia, lupus, autoimmune diseases, and anxiety.

Stigma, blame, shame, and guilt have shrouded mental illness long before Freud. Brain chemistry abnormalities were the victim’s fault.

We have come a long way. Mostly because of basic research and the emergence of measuring tools that can teach us about brain activity.

Researchers believe that depression may be due to serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine imbalances. People with clinical depression often have increased levels of monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A), an enzyme that breaks down key neurotransmitters, resulting in abnormally low levels of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.

Despite progress, depression remains a very complex and enigmatic illness. In some cases, treatments replace the need for medication. Quality sleep, exercise, diet, music, meditation, and nature can boost dopamine levels. Talk therapy especially cognitive treatments offer non medication solutions, by providing techniques to control impulses and thwart brain chemistry.

Anxiety is more complex, similar neurotransmitters are considered suspect; but scientists have added others including another neurotransmitter, GABA, the thyroid hormone, and abnormal secretions by the adrenal gland.

Schizophrenia, on the other hand, is much more elusive. It was originally believed to be caused by high levels of dopamine, but recent research hasn’t confirmed that. For now, schizophrenia is associated with changes in the structure and functioning of a number of key brain systems, including prefrontal and medial temporal lobe regions involved in working memory and declarative memory. Since paranoid schizophrenia emerges primarily in men during adolescence and early adulthood, research suggests that low estrogen levels may leave the brain vulnerable while it is still developing. They suspect there is some type of toxicity that causes permanent brain damage. Unfortunately, these structural changes in the brain suggest that for now, it is a disease that can only be managed, not cured. Current imaging of the brain hints that this damage may worsen over time. But again, we are limited by our measurements.

Stigma, blame, shame, guilt. Those have been the hallmarks of mental illness.

Even today, mental illness remains an invisible disease, often attributed to a lack of discipline, a personality defect, a lazy person, a bad parent. A shame or blame disease. Hidden within a family, lest family deficiencies be discovered. It is only now being recognized for what it is, a plethora of diseases for which we have poor measurement and little treatment.

We have made progress, to be sure, but it is only a rudimentary beginning. As we get better measurement tools, our current theories and hypotheses will likely be seen as archaic as some types of psychotherapy do today.

I have faith that basic science will someday unlock these mysteries. For now, all we can do is advocate for more money spent on research, and, of course, compassion.

And the hope that someday there will be no more mud ladies.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

We have made remarkable progress in global disease prevention.

We have developed a vaccine to eliminate COVID 19.

We have an effective “cure” for AIDS.

We have eradicated childhood diseases including measles, whooping cough, chickenpox, polio, and mumps.

But we haven’t.

Because of the last mile.

The last mile is the term health officials use to describe bringing prevention treatment to the population. And it has always been its Achilles heel. COVID-19 is a good example, we have the “magic bullet,” but it is unlikely that we will ever eliminate COVID-19.

If everyone had taken the first COVID-19 vaccines, the disease would be in our rear view mirror. But since many refused to be vaccinated and it was unavailable to the young, it is probably too late. Unvaccinated people will continue to be a breeding ground for new mutations of the virus. Vaccines will be playing catchup for the foreseeable future. For those of us who try to protect society by doing the right thing and getting our vaccinations, it is a hard pill to swallow. And in our frustration and anger, we jump to judgement. The last mile, so close.

There is a resurgence in heretofore eliminated childhood diseases. Recent research (2019) identifies the availability of nonmedical exemptions (NME) for vaccinations as the culprit. Measles (rubeola) is a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable illness. Since 2014, an illness once eliminated has been reappearing due to low vaccination rates. Mumps has found its way onto college campuses (even Loyola University in Maryland), Patient Zero has consistently been identified as an unvaccinated student. Whooping cough infected 9,000 students in California, the source—an unvaccinated student. Chickenpox has reappeared, once again, the source—unvaccinated students.

While there are some religious exemptions, most parents choose not to vaccinate their children because of misinformation or fear. Many parents who request an exemption cling to the repudiated belief that vaccines cause autism. Others feel that as long as other parents are doing it, they didn’t need to expose their own children. And finally, there are anti-vaxers who are simply misinformed.

Sitting on the school board it was hard to listen to parents’ pleas to not immunize their child, knowing that I vaccinated my child for the good of the community.

HIV/AIDS has a similar pattern, but for different reasons. In the 80’s, HIV/AIDS was the number one killer of young people, more than suicide, more than accidents, more than drug overdoses. Dedicated scientists spent billions of dollars to bring us a type of cure. Not the vaccination they had hoped for, but an innovative way to prevent the spread of the disease, using a two-pronged approach.

Decades of research revealed that the HIV/AIDS virus mutated so rapidly that a vaccine virtually impossible. So, they decided to attack HIV/AIDS using a novel methodology aimed at two populations: the infected and the uninfected, at-risk population. Much like the malaria drugs that we take when we go overseas, PReP is a medication developed by scientists to prevent those at risk from contracting the HIV/AIDS virus. Scientists also developed medications for those infected with HIV/AIDS (called TasP) that reduced the virus load to “undetectable,” so that infected people could not transmit the virus.

But then came the last mile.

Early on, public health officials recognized that many people with HIV/AIDS lived on the margins of society. Sex workers, drug users, the mentally ill, homeless, low education, the abused, and closeted or untested LBGTQ individuals were key transmitters of the disease. And how the states addressed the last mile appears to be about judgement.

In San Francisco, health workers went on the streets searching for infected and at-risk individuals to offer them tests and medication. They provided free health care and HIV/AIDS medications. Subsequently, (before COVID 19) new HIV/AIDS infections dropped substantially.

A NOVA documentary covered the rise of HIV/AIDS in southeastern states. A handful of states in the south are responsible for 50% of all new HIV/AIDS cases nationally. Ten percent of these residents have no access to healthcare, healthcare insurance, or financial assistance, despite the prohibitive cost of HIV/AIDS medicines ($2,000 per month). Some Federal assistance is available, but in those states with large Christian populations that preach “morality,” there is little aid to those who are vulnerable. I suspect that the reason for this is judgement.

People who live on the margins of society can be challenging. But these dedicated healthcare professionals are able to care for them wholly without judgement. They understand that they cannot know the issues that many face and it is unkind to judge them.

Our rush to judgement is not surprising. In my church, I was raised on judgement. I was told by my tantes (German for aunt) that Missouri Synod Lutherans were the only ones who would go to heaven. How lucky was I, I thought, that my parents chose the one church that would get me to heaven, if I was good. Score! (Although, I still feared that every thunderstorm was God returning to send me to hell for whatever transgressions a little kid might have committed.)

As an adult, I remember listening to a sermon by a priest in my Episcopal church (by joining the Episcopal church, I guess that I gave up on heaven) reminding us that the Bible makes it clear, it is God’s job to judge, not ours. “After all,” he said. “You can get some time back in your busy day if you leave the judging job to God.”

I admire those who don’t judge, those who aren’t detoured by the roadblocks in the last mile. They are our hope for eradicating diseases.

As for me, I keep trying.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

PBS has a three part series entitled US and Holocaust. After seeing the first episode, I recommend that they change the title to: “Hard to Watch, But You Should: US and the Holocaust.”

It is simply heart wrenching. We get a ringside seat to the Nazi version of the death-fueled activities at the Roman Colosseum. It was especially painful watching the early oppression of the Jews and knowing that it was only going to become more sinister.

And very few were willing to help them. The Jews became a people without any country to protect them.

President Roosevelt tried to lead a country to save the Jews, but his constituents had little interest in sparing the “other” from their horrendous fate. For the German people, it is simply incomprehensible. For Americans, it is inexcusable, it is heartless, it is cruel, it is unthinkable, it is understandable.

Humans and most mammals have an innate fear of “other.” And Jews, with their different religion, different language, and different customs in those days were “other.” Remaining isolated from “other,” allows us to ignore their humanity.

By separating people into “other” we are able to ignore appalling acts; or worse, participate in them. In America, we have the days of Jim Crow to remind us that we are capable of turning a blind eye to despicable behavior.

Admittedly the Holocaust came at a difficult time, America was in a numbing depression. A depression that left a permanent scar on the country. Many Americans could not feed themselves, and the thought of caring for the “other,” when they were starving was unimaginable. There was also virulent antisemitism, especially among influential leaders and some clergy. And most Americans agreed with their leaders because they only “knew” Jews through caricatures. According to the documentary, over 85% of Christians and even 25% of American Jews turned a blind eye to the plight of the Jews.

It is a permanent stain on America. And this documentary makes that clear.

I think that many of us wonder what we would have done. We hope that we would have reacted with the better angels of our nature.

I wonder about myself.

I have pretty good credentials as being someone who would stand up against this oppression. My late husband was Jewish, and my daughter is half Jewish. All of my friends in NY and NJ were Jewish. Since my teens, I have been a vociferous activist for equal rights, attending protest rallies for women’s and civil rights.

But everyone has a powerful fear of “other;” it is in our DNA.

When Jeff and I married, Jewish-Christian marriages were still relatively uncommon. We experienced discrimination, and 100% of it was directed at me. I was an “other.” My husband’s Jewish Country Club would not let me in the women’s locker room. I had difficulty enrolling my daughter in a Temple preschools. The Conservative Temple refused entry (because in the Jewish faith, the mother determines the religion, and I did not wish to convert). The Reform Temple, which had opened its preschool to all children, made it clear that she would never be considered Jewish, or be allowed to attend Hebrew School, unless I converted. My husband and I rolled our eyes at sermons proclaiming interfaith marriages to be a diaspora to the Jewish people. There were a number of similar, trivial transgressions. But they didn’t bother us; because his family welcomed me with open arms full of love; I belonged in his family. To them, I was never an “other.”

(Parenthetically, this treatment seems to be unique to my area; my sister who lived in DC was allowed to send her children to Hebrew school and was even allowed near the bimah during their Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.)

Of course, what I experienced is trivial compared to the treatment of the Jews throughout history. But the point is simple…everyone, even those who have been treated as “other” for so long in an excruciating history of pogroms, oppressions, humiliations, inquisitions, displacements, and exterminations, are not immune to their DNA.

So, would I have been one of the better angels? Or would I have gone along with the crowd? I will never know; I can only hope that I would have done the right thing. But I do know had this happened after I met my Jewish friends and became a part of my husband’s Jewish family, I would have done anything to protect them. Anything!

And that is the other thing that we share as a species, our love is always stronger than our fear.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

On November 6th, we will be setting the clock back to Standard Time (ST) for the last time. The first Sunday in April of 2023, we will permanently change our clocks to Daylight Savings Time (DST).

Or maybe not so permanent. When Congress passed the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022, I was thrilled. I have yet to meet anyone who likes the time zone switches, especially parents. When I ran a global team, it wreaked havoc on our meeting schedules. Countries in the Southern Hemisphere had opposite DST’s and all countries set DST’s on different dates.

But how and why did we get time zones in the first place?

Short answer: train and ship schedules. Prior to the 24 time zone concept; cities, countries, states, could set their own time. Many used sunrise and sunset to set their time; allowing time to vary by minutes between countries and towns. At one point, there were over 300 local times in the US. Planning the time that a train would arrive, required knowledge of each town’s time. Imagine how confusing that would be!

Transportation industries desperately needed a resolution. In 1878, Sir Sanford Fleming, a Canadian engineer, proposed the use of worldwide time zones. The earth rotates 15 degrees every hour, or 360 degrees in 24 hours. So, Fleming divided the world into 24 time zones that were 15 degrees of longitude apart. It was such a brilliant idea that it was quickly adopted, and the US trains were trying to implement this system as early as 1883.

The International Meridian Conference of 1884 was convened in Washington, DC to set international time standards. They adopted Fleming’s model. They set the prime meridian for longitude and timekeeping at the Greenwich Observatory in the UK and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) as the world’s meridian and time standard. They set boundaries for the 24 time zones as well as the International Date Line.

But why was Greenwich selected? (Actually, there are two meridians in Greenwich, but you need to visit it to understand it.) Because the Greenwich observatory provided the most accurate data and Britain ruled the influential shipping industry.

While many US states and towns adopted time zones compatible with the Fleming’s model in 1883, there were too many discrepancies. To set a United States standard, Congress passed the Standard Time Act of 1918. This act set the time zones for each state.

There is a universal standard for time zones, but it doesn’t mean countries must use it. Some countries use half hour or quarter hour time zones, including, Iran, India, Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and certain parts of Australia. A few countries, China and India being the largest, use a single national time zone. It is particularly onerous in China, which spans five time zones.

I mistakenly believed that time zones and DST were sacrosanct in the US. But Congress and US Presidents have made 8 changes to DST and DST/ST (Daylight Savings Time/Standard Time). The first, was in the 1918 Standard Time Act which implemented time zones and set a time period for DST/ST schedule. The DST/ST switch was so unpopular that it was repealed in 1919. During WWII, Roosevelt instituted year-round DST (called War Time) from 1942 to 1945.

From 1945 to 1966 there was no federal law for DST/ST, so localities could choose when it began and ended. Not surprisingly, it resulted in a complicated patchwork of DST/ST policies that varied in length and by location. In 1965, 18 states observed DST/ST for six months each year, 18 states allowed cities or towns to set their own DST/ST and another 12 states didn’t implement DST/ST at all. It was so crazy that portions of North Dakota and Texas created a reverse DST/ST, basically setting their clocks back an hour instead of moving them forward.

The beleaguered transportation industry intervened again and in 1966 Congress passed a law which mandated the implementation of DST/ST and set dates and time (2 AM). It allowed states to exempt themselves, but only if the entire state did it (Arizona and Hawaii never implemented DST/ST.)

During the 1973 oil crisis, Congress enacted year-round DST from 1974 to 1975. It was unpopular with parents who were concerned about children boarding busses in the dark morning hours. After a serious school bus accident, Congress rescinded full-time DST. In 1986 and 2005 Congress changed the dates for implementing DST/ST.

Which brings us to 2022, where Congress has, yet again, implemented permanent DST. I hope this time that it sticks.

Some interesting facts. It is widely believed that DST/ST was instituted for farmers, in fact, farmers have always opposed DST/ST. Parents, for the most part, have decided that permanent DST is better than the havoc that changing times has caused. Today the only opponents are sleep institutions who prefer permanent ST instead.

So, what did I learn from this inquiry? Well, I had mistakenly believed that time zones, DST, and ST were very difficult to change. I was unaware how fluid it has been. I was surprised how some countries do not follow the international standards. So international time zones be damned, we can adopt permanent DST. And as write this at 6:30 p.m. it is still light. I hope this time that our switch to DST lasts.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.