I've moved to SynapticAdventure.com (click me)

thoughts are important

 I'm in the process of making a film/series/talk show/book ( heck, maybe even a T-shirt or..or...a line of DOLLs!) about the internal/ emotional experience of  being "normal- yet -noticeably" different. Of "sticking out" in a crowd when you DON'T want to. Not the illustrious, star-studed dream life of a public figure (or so we imagine), but the everyday life of the average human who just wants to be.

 Imagine, if you will: you're going about your daily routines, errands and chores and are frequently the subject of someones disgruntled, nervous or curious stare. When you go to a restaurant to have a quiet meal and you're the one whose noisy (no, not your chewing). When you're in a movie and you involuntarily make commentary ( sometimes that's entertaining ). You're in a library and you have what feels like an uncontrollable urge to blurt absurd things about your surroundings or what those surroundings make you think about ( FIRE!) Or you're walking down the market isle side-stepping every 5 feet  because you just "have to". OR...you're walking down a city street and the police pull up on the curb blocking you with their car.. and JUMP OUT Keystone-Cop style and shout "what are you on!?

 I must say that talking to ones' self has become SO much easier with the advent of cell/digital phones. I feel a strange ... satisfaction... when I see folks all around me looking as though they are talking to THEMselves too!

This is a story about appearing to be normal, yet not quite. About appearing to be ok, yet not quite. About looking like you're fine, yet not quite. I'm thinking alot these days about " yet, not quite".

Superheros and Tourettes

Xmen, Avengers, Superheros. Those who have historically, if not mythic--ly, been given superhuman powers. They live among us, yet hide from us.They have been given something that is both a blessing and a curse. These "gifts" simultaneously give them special abilities yet take away the common ground of feeling part of society.  

I'm thinking of this today because I recently watched a program with Oliver Sacks called "Shane". Shane has Tourette's Syndrome. Oliver Sacks is a groundbreaking Neuroscientist, author and expert on Tourettes. As he talks, he explores Shane's experience with Shane openly sharing his whirlwind mannerisms, compulsions, rituals and even dangerous inclinations. Oliver and Shane also explore  Shane's heightened sense of taste, smell, tactile curiosity, perception, creative thought processes, and even increased physical abilities.   

Like our aforementioned  Superheros, there is a similarity within the nature of Tourettes as well as the other Spectrum "re-orders", to these mythical icons. Watch this video and observe for yourself, this amazing, insightful treatment of Tourettes by Dr Oliver Sacks:

National Tourettes Awareness is INTERNATIONAL!

You've heard of Tourettes Syndrome.  How about TOURETTES KARAOKE? Can you imagine?  Well imagine no more!  I had the honor of interviewing Toureteskaraoke.com internet "sensation" Guy  Francis. Exciting times!  National Tourettes Awareness is REALLY International!!  To be able to video interview a fellow Tourettes person across the ocean is for me, a great thing.  Guy has Tourettes and Aspergers.  He also has 6 + million views on youtube, where he first shared his  condition publicly. His only drive was to deal with his diagnosis of Tourettes Syndrome. We will share this interview in 5 parts.

            


                                                       visit www.touretteskaraoke.com

Tourettes and Coprolalia

Despite the popularity of an aspect of Tourette Syndrome that causes it's "recipients" to blurt curse words at any time and place, Coprolalia (as it's proper tittle) is only had by a small percentage (15-20%) of theTourette population. TV shows, movies and youtube have brought this symptom to the public eye/ear creating millions of curious folks. Shows like LA Law, Deuce Bigalo, Tourette Guy and South Park have all presented both a humorous and candid treatment of this unusual aspect of Tourette.      
As one who has lived with Tourettes for close to 40 years and experienced having Coprolalia as a child and now slightly as an adult,  I want to assure you that it can be both funny and challenging. In this video interview I talk about an alternative approach to this issue:

Tourettes Awareness...

Tick..Tock ..Tick..Tock..Tourette-Tic-Tic! Time to celebrate National Tourettes Awareness Day April 29th! Do you or anyone you know have experience with Tourettes, Autism and other spectrum disorders? I invite you to share it here as well as on my site: www.stephendijoseph.com. It could end up in the movie I'm producing "A Synaptic Adventure: Tourettes and Beyond"!

Check out these UK folks I've been in touch with: Jessica Thom is TourettesHero.com. This month she and her team of "heroes" were interviewed on BBC radio and had a flood of 18,000 people on her site!

Chris De Burgh is Touretteskaraoke.com.I discovered Chris in a karaoke video (one of his many) where he's sings classic hits with his tourette-interjected "blurts". He has 500,000 views on youtube.
 

There's more than the clock ticing here. TICING as in TWITCHING as in ..well…constant movement. Isn't that what life is? Constant movement? And that ticing, that persistent, driving force has created an explosion of awareness. There is a surge in expression  artisTICly, arTICulately, educationally, creatively and supportively. An increase in understanding of the unique, creative and challenging nature of Tourettes, Autism and other spectrum disorders.

What on Earth?

Today is Earth Day. I'm thinking about our birth on it. Our relationship to it. Most specifically, I'm thinking in terms of one's mind-journey, one's 'Synaptic Adventure'  and the Synaptic Adventure of all things alive. I don't believe it begins at birth, this Synaptic Adventure thingy. Hey, call me metaphysical, but I think this life is a chapter in a never ending story. Told, experienced... by day, by night, by minute, by month, by millennium, by eternity. We come and go, us humans. When someone we knew personally has suddenly moved on, we are hyper-reminded of the temporal nature of our "stay" here.

Now I've always been taught to leave things the way I found them. For the next person. I'm still working on that. I hopefully can leave things even better than they were but at the least, I'd like to know I didn't leave the place a mess. What on Earth...are we here for? A coexistence of the mundane and magnificent for sure. It seems to me that navigating, by awareness, ones' Synaptic Adventure, ones mind-journey, this is what connects us to each other, our purpose and our environment.

Today's blog is dedicated to the life of Richard Magidson who left things better than how he found them.