Doreen Michele

I recently tripped across an article about the TV show House and kind of skimmed it. I used to watch the show sometimes. I like that the titular character is twice exceptional: brilliant and also handicapped. I disliked the fact that like a lot of TV shows, there were work romances that likely would have been against the rules. I know WHY TV shows do that: The audience WANTS romance and it's easier to write a romance between two existing recurring characters and a lot of shows are basically in a work setting. But I really wish they wouldn't in part because it gives people inaccurate ideas about how life works. Not only would a lot of these relationships not be okay under work policy, when they end it would likely have much more serious impact on their lives and careers than serving as a source of jokes or pranks. I think the most important thing about the show is that it was tentatively titled "Everybody lies" because most of the medical mystery and drama is rooted i...

This is a thought I've had a long time: If you served in the US military and were honorably discharged , you should get medical benefits for the rest of your life . That would drastically reduce the need for Obamacare which is a lousy solution to what's wrong with American healthcare. We have some of the best medical stuff in the world -- IF you're rich. In fact, people travel here to get it -- IF they're rich. Meanwhile, most of our people are left out in the cold and living with stupid levels of stress about the COST of medical care, etc. We should not be putting the health of wealthy foreigners above that of the American people. I mean unless you WANT the world to invade, take us over and etc. The people who raised their right hand and swore to give their life for their country and were honorably discharged should be told by actions, not words, "You are the kind of people America values." Obamacare just plays into this bullshit medical system where money ...

I'm a freelance writer and blogger. At some point, I was paid to write something about Papua New Guinea and in the process learned that the country faces development challenges rooted in the fact that the vast majority of the land is tribal lands, which means you can't get a mortgage. This led me to wonder How do you modernize when the tribe owns the land?  I've also written a few other pieces about developing Tribal Lands . Additionally, according to oral family tradition, my father was part Cherokee. I took no particular interest in that fact until after he died and I happened to trip across a photo of an actor named Gary Farmer.  That story is told here . There are also a few other pieces on that same site tagged as Native . Two other pieces elsewhere with related thoughts are: 1.  The Talk 2.  Redbone   So you can thank -- or blame -- Papua New Guinea, Gary Farmer and My Dad for my tendency to write a bit about Native themes.