Dear sickened drama watchers, I write The Drama Review because I like doing it. It keeps my brain fresh and my mental muscles limber. I enjoy the process of turning my vaguely-grasped thoughts into specific expressions on paper. (For those who may be wondering, I’m using the pre-digital era term “paper” figuratively). And I have fun doing […]
Dear I-hope-I’m-not-a-narcissist readers, I spent some time last week spelling out what makes a narcissist a narcissist. Not how he or she got that way (stay tuned for that discussion at another time) but what distinguishes a narcissist from your run-of-the-mill, everyday jack wad. All narcissists are jack wads but not all jack wads are […]
Dear nearly-saturated drama-watchers, When this letter first came out back in March, I stated my intentions for it to be weekly. And then I missed a week. So, I started referring to it as my “weekly” letter, leaving myself some wiggle room to miss the mark on occasion. But since then, I’ve not missed a […]
Dear news, I mean, drama watchers, I said a few weeks ago that dramas are fun to watch but aren’t fun if you’re in them. Someone who had nothing better to do could be entertained 24 hours a day just watching the news lately. Tune in to any cable news channel and you’re likely to […]
I’d like to punch pause for a week on our discussion of drama person types—we looked at controllers last time—and address a quality that drama people lack. Integrity. No doubt, the word has been defined in many ways but here’s my best shot: Integrity is consistency between the public and private selves. In other words, who you […]
Dear drama-watchers, Have you ever noticed this? TV shows, books, or movies without disordered people are just boring. What gives a story texture and makes it enthralling is the presence of villains, jerks, and figures you love to hate. Or what we’re calling drama people. I’ll give you one example. Remember The Andy Griffith Show? I […]
Dear post-Independence Day readers, I hope this letter finds you well, still possessing all your fingers after an explosive Fourth. It never ceases to amaze me that I grew up in one piece, having never lost a body part due to my reckless handling of cherry bombs and M-80’s. Years ago, we lived in Gainesville, […]
Dear what-were-you-thinking drama participants, When I was half way through graduate school, I had to pick a research topic for my dissertation. I remember this sage-like graduate putting his hands on my shoulders, looking me in the eye, and saying, “Word to the wise, don’t pick a topic you like. Because when you’re through with […]
Dear I’ll-believe-it-when-I-see-it drama participants, I travel around the country conducting a seminar on manipulators, that fetching group we refer to in this weekly letter as “drama people.” I tell my audiences the same things I’ve explained here—that we’re all flawed, that our flaws show up most clearly in close relationships, and that drama people lack […]
Dear I-could-stand-a-little-less-drama readers, It seems to be one of those axioms of life that whichever line you choose at the bank drive-through will take the longest. And the bigger your hurry, the longer the wait. Why it works that way I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure the axiom operates at the same level of […]