When Your Child Isn’t the Child You Expected
Becoming a parent can be exhilarating. But sometimes children turn out differently than parents had hoped or expected. Maybe a child is deaf or has autism, or a child is gay or exceptionally gifted, or that child grows up and commits a crime. Writer and psychologist Andrew Solomon is the author of the best-selling book “Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity.” In the book, he looked at the struggles many parents face, and how they manage to find profound meaning in raising exceptional children.
Solomon also wrote the memoir “The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression,” which won the 2001 National Book Award for Nonfiction. He teaches clinical psychology at Columbia University Medical Center, and he says there are ways to differentiate depression from sadness.
A question Solomon has explored is why some people are more resilient through depression than others. And he found that those who see value in their struggles fare better. And they often discover they aren’t alone.
Solomon has been named the winner of UAB’s 2018 Ireland Distinguished Visiting Scholar Award. He gives a free lecture Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the UAB Hill Student Center Alumni Theatre.
UAB is a sponsor of WBHM programming. WBHM’s news and business departments operate separately.
Hurricane Erin update: Forecast sees huge storm moving closer to U.S.
Forecasts nudge Erin's likely path to the west, increasing the risks at U.S. beaches. Experts say the storm's massive size, rather than its windspeeds, is what makes it a threat.
In 2025, musicians keep making music for their inner child
Lately, artists are reaching back in time to revisit and retain the spirit of a younger self, opening a door to another world for both themselves and their listeners.
Publishing this week: A James Baldwin bio, the hope of solar, Snow White reimagined
Bill McKibben says solar is a "last chance for the climate." T. Kingfisher offers a dark retelling of Snow White. Nicholas Boggs tells James Baldwin's story. Plus new debut fiction.
Air Canada says flights will resume Tuesday night after flight attendants strike ends
Air Canada said it will gradually restart operations after reaching a deal with the flight attendants' union to end a strike that disrupted the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of travelers.
Spain battles record wildfires even as the end of a heat wave brings lower temperatures
The fires have ravaged small, sparsely populated towns in the country's northwest, forcing locals in many cases to act as firefighters. About 2,382 square miles have burned across Spain and Portugal.
Alabama sets October execution using nitrogen gas
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Monday set an Oct. 23 execution date for Anthony Boyd. Boyd is one of four men convicted in the 1993 killing of Gregory Huguley in Talladega.
