Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos's Blog, page 10

“Take Your Broken Heart, Turn It Into Art”

Art. Storytelling. Humanity explored. I look to the award shows each new year for an overview of the latest highly-regarded films, television and mini series. I eagerly await a peak at clips and make notes accordingly. Rarely disappointed, I most welcome films and stories that broaden my understanding of the human experience. Any added perspective or inspiration from acceptance speeches is icing on the cake. During tonight’s Golden Globes Meryl Streep held me spellbound with her plea, which went beyond the arts. Beyond Art to Truth Meryl Streep called for...

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Triggered In A Way I Didn’t Expect

Triggered is a word I don’t take lightly. To be triggered is when anything, as an act or event, serves as a stimulus and initiates or precipitates a reaction or series of reactions. That’s why a trigger warning now seems appropriate. The correlations I draw here might leave you triggered. You may want to skip this post entirely. It took me nearly a decade to fully understand my trauma triggers and why they evoked such a visceral reaction. To recap for those newer to my blog posts. Some of my...

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The Human Side of Failed IVF

So for some time now I’ve been intrigued by the different ways countries treat the infertility experience. In the U.S. there’s a concerted effort by the commercial infertility industry to fund groups like RESOLVE and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine to grow market and customer reach. For the industry, patient/consumers aren’t humans with emotions and dreams seeking compassionate care and answers; they’re organs or cycles to be treated. The industry presents their work under the guise of helping people but the ‘helping’ part only concerns the sale of expensive,...

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It’s Performance Review Time, Fertility Industry!

Performance review time already for the fertility industry? Yes, it’s mid-October so it’s time to check in on the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) confab. This year it’s billed as a Scientific Congress and EXPO. As usual there are a few eyebrow raisers. I followed #ASRM2016 on Twitter over coffee this morning. (A decision made easier because it was raining buckets here in California). Before long I engaged in a few discussions. Here are some of the highlights and observations (also posted on Medium: What Tweets From Fertility Science...

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Human Nature Boils Down to This: We Want to Belong

Human nature — and the human ability to surprise through our actions, words and deeds — never cease to amaze. Sometimes we’re surprised on the upside and sometimes not so much. Today’s political climate and the polarized nature of society is particularly troubling. Makes one wonder about civilization and what led us to the current state of affairs. The topic is far too complex to tease apart in one blog post. I’ll focus instead on a more basic aspect of human nature: our fundamental desire for a sense of belonging....

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Avalanche Author Julia Leigh On the Untold IVF Story

Thank you to all who participated and read along in the Avalanche: A Love Story book tour. You can find a summary of the blog book tour here: Fertility Medicine Failures Illuminated. The full set of contributions are also included in this blog post: We’re Not Going to Sugar Coat Failed IVF: The Grief is Real. Wrapping up this book exploration, we have author Julia Leigh to answer a few questions. Feel free to comment further below. Q. Julia: What are some of the questions/issues you hoped to hear from...

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We’re Not Going to Sugar Coat Failed IVF: The Grief is Real

Welcome to the online blog book tour for Avalanche: A Love Story. Since author Julia Leigh is based in Australia (where it’s already September 21), and our participants hail from around the world, we’ll be rolling through the next few days. Please click on any of the links below to take you to a stop on the Avalanche blog book tour. Move from post to post to read a variety of opinions and insights. If you don’t have a blog, but you did (or will) read Avalanche, we encourage you to...

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Mark Your Calendar: Avalanche Blog Book Tour

Mark your calendar for a collaborative discussion in our corner of the blogosphere. As mentioned over a few previous posts, we’ll be reading and discussing Avalanche, a new memoir. In the words of novelist and filmmaker and Avalanche author, Julia Leigh: “This book felt incredibly necessary to me. This is always the test. The writer asks herself: is this truly a story worth telling?” she says. “And in this case, it was a yes, definitely this is a book I really want to write mainly because I feel there is so much IVF failure out there and it’s not really

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Let’s Start An Avalanche …

What a summer it’s been for opening up new conversations and tackling taboo topics. So many important journalism projects percolating and good things taking place.  (Thanks, all, for your generous time and help in sharing your stories!) On that score, our voices are gaining new ground on Huffington Post. I’ve happily read and shared pieces by Tracey, Mali, Keiko, Justine and others over the years. The latest writing from our tribe?  My just published review of Avalanche: A Love Story. Please take a moment to click over and give it a read. To truly make an impact in today’s noisy

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How Honest Talk About Infertility Breaks Down Barriers

You want to talk about a loaded topic? There are few disclosures as emotionally charged as admitting that you were unable to conceive children. If you think it’s awkward for a woman, try wading into that discussion as a man.  There are very few who possess the courage or emotional stamina to go there. As Eric writes: “Boxed in by the same profoundly evolutionary, not to mention social, archetypes, that can make a woman feel like a failure for being unable to get pregnant, what could make one less of ‘a man’ than being unable to ‘get the job done?’

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