THIS is a CLOSE-UP?

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. -- dead old white property-owning men, 1789 In Monday's afternoon and evening Intro Psych classes, I talked about health psychology, and in addition to the discussions of the HPA Axis and Cognitive-Mediational Theory and religiosity as a positive coping mechanism, we had a detailed discussion of suicide. In the U.S., the demographic most at risk for suicide is the rural white male, age 65+, with access to handguns. Because I can't seem to stop thinking about thinking, I started looking at some basic facts about guns in America from sources like the CDC and Vox and The Guardian -- keeping in mind that gun ownership surveys are largely inaccurate, as Americans can still legally purchase guns in many states without a permit or licence -- but I hit the wall and stopped after I accumulated the following: *The U.S. makes up 4.5% of th...

I first walked into a class room in the summer of 1996 at the age of 25, as an adjunct professor of Psychology at Kirtland Community College. I had the text book and a limited knowledge base, but what I had that set me apart -- in ways both good and bad -- was years of standing in front of drunks and introducing comedians or playing music. When you're in the middle of stumbling through a shitty joke, and an intoxicated strapping Native American dude stands up and tells you to shut the fuck up without breaking eye contact, talking about psychology in front of strangers for hours in a beige class room is quite simple in comparison. For many years, the classroom was my stage, a place where a failed performer with meager presentation skills and a mediocre knowledge base could find some measure of success. But about 15 years ago, a greater push towards a newer domain of education -- online (OL) courses -- took place, where face-to-face (F2F) interaction took a back seat to content cur...