The other day I was chatting with my good friend Julie, the Julie I walk and pray with—I have many Julies in my life. I was explaining to her my shoulders are disproportionally large for my body. I apologized to her because my sizeable shoulders were atmospherically leaning over the table. Disagreeing, she said I …

He and my mom never married, but they were together for 35 years, and he was a welcome sober soul at boozy family gatherings. At one point, he had to stop drinking to save his liver, and for a while, he went to meetings. We had sobriety in common until he started to drink socially …

The year was 2017. I lay in a hospital bed, unsure of my surroundings. I could not walk, eat, remember my name, or correctly identify a lion on an aptitude test. I was informed that I’d had an alcohol withdrawal seizure so severe that my prognosis was uncertain. I had been in a medically induced …

Trigger Warning: Story contains accounts of domestic abuse and suicide attempts. Andy Gallie became a gambler at just nine years old when he won his first slot machine jackpot. What started out as a “harmless” game of Donkey Kong (a slot machine found in UK arcades back in the 80s and 90s) quickly became a …

On January 1st, 2025, I decided to make a major overhaul in my life. I wanted to change everything, from organization to exercise. My goal was to personally explore and evaluate personal development trends as someone living with a bipolar type 1 diagnosis. I’ll be honest; keeping up a high standard of spiritual, mental, physical, …

“Fun” Beginnings At first, gambling was just ‘fun’—a night out with friends, a way to feel like I was ‘winning’ in a world where I didn’t always feel successful. “Wow, this is easy money!” I thought. Of course, that’s exactly what the casino wants you to believe. But what I didn’t realize was that the …

We feature an expert in the mental health and substance use disorder field to answer questions. This issue we talk to Dr. Timothy Fong of UCLA Gambling Studies Program. Q: What is your role at the UT Gambling Studies program and what inspired and led you to work on problem gambling? I’m a professor of …

Imagine walking into a living room filled with overturned furniture, strewn belongings and piled-up bills. A close-up shot reveals shards of glass surrounding a family photo. You look up to see an elephant standing before you, looming amid the ruins. This scene isn’t the aftermath of a break-in or a tornado. It’s the premise of …

When we think about gambling, we often picture seasoned adults at casino blackjack tables or perhaps cheering on horses at the track. However, an alarming trend is emerging, as young people are becoming increasingly at risk of developing gambling problems. The intersection of technology, the normalization of gambling in the media, and peer pressure are …

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I left town mid-February, following the Mississippi as it twists and turns to New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. A life-long Minnesotan, I have stepped across that river over worn stones at its source in Itasca State …