As the annual Hajj pilgrimage gets under way in Saudi Arabia, we hear from those preparing for the journey after last year's deadly crush. And, after a photo by a person with depression of their tidied bedroom went viral, we ask people with the illness what coping mechanisms they use
Read MoreWFDD: Melody Moezzi's "Haldol and Hyacinths" →
Melody Moezzi is an Iranian-American lawyer, activist, and award-winning author. Her latest book is titled Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life. The memoir chronicles Melody's road to a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. In it she talks about an early battle with pancreatitis, she addresses psychotic breaks and manic episodes, details the project of writing her first book, War on Error: Real Stories of American Muslims, and comments on the stigma associated with mental illness. Melody brings out the humor and humanity in it all. This month, Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, the book was released in paperback.
Read MoreWHYY's Radio Times: Interview with Melody Moezzi (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane) →
Author MELODY MOEZZI writes there aren’t high profile advocates for her medical condition, “Silence and humiliation rule our playing fields. While others down performance-enhancing drugs and play on grass or Astroturf, we down antipsychotics and play on quicksand.” Moezzi was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder after years of struggling with delusions, melancholia and hallucinations. She attempted suicide. Having a supportive community with this unpredictable condition was bad enough, but Moezzi is an Iranian-American born in 1979, the year of the revolution, and the social stigma and stereotypes made her life especially difficult. The activist and attorney’s new memoir is “Haldol and Hyacinths: a Bipolar Life.”
Read MoreWUNC's The State of Things: Breaking The Silence Of Mental Illness (interview by Frank Stasio) →
Melody Moezzi has always been outspoken. As an Iranian-American writer and attorney, she has devoted herself to discussing controversial issues like religion, politics and culture in Iran. But when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, her family and doctors encouraged silence. On this issue, they thought, you could not speak the truth. Melody would not be quiet. She decided to write a memoir of her experiences so that others with the disorder, and those who know them, could better understand. The memoir is called “Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life,” (Avery/2013). Host Frank Stasio talks to her about her experience.
Read MoreKCRW's To the Point: Iran Comes Back to the Bargaining Table on Nuclear Program (Interview by Warren Olney) →
After more than a year since cancelling negotiation about its nuclear program, Iran's back at the bargaining table -- or is it? Talks are scheduled to start on Saturday, but there's real doubt they'll last much longer than that. We get a preview. Also, an update on Syria, and George Zimmerman goes to court in the Trayvon Martin killing.
Read MoreNPR: Remembering Ms. Willie Knight →
Yesterday morning, this country lost one of its finest. Ms. Willie Knight died at the age of 107. She was my friend. In our nearly three years of visits together, I saw lots of people come to see her. They always asked the same question, what's your secret? She told me on many occasion that her long life was undoubtedly the result of one of two things. Either I did something good to please the Lord or he's still got something for me to do. I met Ms. Knight on her 105th birthday and began visiting her nearly every week.
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