Spring Summer 2010 The Voice Help For Today: Fill & Download for Free

Wait, afraid of democracy?What kind of democracy do you mean?If I'm not wrong, democracy here refers to "representative democracy" right?To be more precise, it refers to the country represented by the United States that wants to promote democracy throughout the world, right?Wow, it's really scary~~1. Let's take a look at these "democracy" countries（1）Democracy brought to Iraq by the United States？Washington’s "Policy Research Institute" and "Foreign Policy Focus" released reports that simply estimated the losses caused by the Iraq War (as for the US$151.1 billion invested by the US government in the Iraq War, it should be the price of democracy)The picture shows a corporal of the U.S. Marine Corps mourning his dead comrades in Fort Pendleton, CaliforniaThe report stated that as of June 16, 2004, the number of civilian deaths in Iraq was between 9,436 and 11,317, and the number of injured was around 40,000. During the main fighting period of the war, the death toll of Iraqi soldiers ranged from 4,895 to 6,370. The unemployment rate of Iraqis surged from 30% before the war to 60% in the summer of 2003. At present, only 1% of Iraq’s 7 million workforce is involved in national reconstruction. While most of the contracts for Iraq’s reconstruction fell to the hands of American companies, few experienced Iraqi companies received them.Murders, rapes, and kidnappings became widespread after March 2003. The number of violent deaths increased from 14 per month in 2002 to 357 per month in 2003. To avoid becoming victims of attacks, Iraqi children dare not go to school during the day, and Iraqi women dare not go to the streets at night. UNICEF estimates that as many as 200 Iraqi schools were destroyed in the war and thousands of schools were in chaos. The enrollment rate in April 2004 was lower than the pre-war level.The depleted uranium weapons used by the coalition forces in the war in Iraq will cause health risks to the Iraqi people. The Pentagon estimates that the US-British coalition used 1,100 to 2,200 tons of weapons containing toxic substances or radioactive metals in the indiscriminate bombing that began in March 2003.(2) Democracy brought to Libya by the United States and European countries？On August 22, the Libyan opposition took full control of the capital Tripoli. From this day on, the world's only single-color national flag was lowered all over the world, and a brand new red, green, and black star and moon flag was rising.However, what this "controversy of changing flags" left to the world is a mess of broken social systems, shaky economic systems, and oil wealth waiting to be shared. For such a mess, not only the Libyans, Europe, and the United States who participated in the war, but the whole world paid no small price for it. The military expenses and property losses paid by all parties involved in the war alone exceeded 100 billion U.S. dollars.The Minister of Finance and Planning of the Libyan Government Abduhafiz Zeritani said that the Libyan military conflict has caused about 50 billion US dollars in economic losses to the country. In this war, the US military also actively assumed the role of vanguard. The Libyan war completely shattered the country's original system, which also produced a large number of refugees, and also had a serious impact on today's European countries. Even after the war ended, relevant American personnel in Libya were still under serious threats. For example, the attack on the American Embassy in Benghazi in 2011 was its representative, and even the American ambassador was killed.（3）Or is it democracy in Syria?Ten years of civil war caused Syria's economic loss of 1.6 trillion US dollars, which is equivalent to Russia's total GDP in one year. Conflicts and explosions have destroyed more than 1.5 million houses. According to estimates, the reconstruction of Syria will involve more than 10,000 high-rise buildings, requiring more than 5 million people to participate in the construction. Especially in the north and south of Syria, where the war is fierce, there is a purgatory among several adults.On the other hand, since the outbreak of the war, the total population of Syria has dropped from more than 24.5 million to more than 17 million, a decrease of about 7 million. On the other hand, public data reports that the Syrian war has caused more than 300,000 deaths and more than 1 million injured. About 11 million Syrians are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection. The number of refugees outside Syria exceeds 6.7 million, and 43 countries host Syrian refugees. Among them, the country that receives the most refugees in Turkey with 3.61 million Syrian refugees, followed by Lebanon 880,000, Jordan 650,000, and Germany 590,000. So far, the unemployment rate in Syria is as high as 30%.The United States and Western European developed countries have adopted a democratic political system. It seems that democracy is synonymous with prosperity. In fact, you may not know that most countries currently have democratic systems. Including many small African countries. For example, Zimbabwe. Not only are these countries not rich and strong, I feel that democracy is almost part of the reason why some countries fall behind.2. Let us look at these "democratic movements" that are happening or have already taken place（1）Ukrainian color revolutionOn December 1, 1991, Ukraine held a referendum and declared its independence from the Soviet Union. Ukraine has one of the three largest black soils in the world. The terrain is flat and fertile, which is very suitable for crop production. It has always had the title of "European Barn". But now Ukraine has become the poorest country in Europe.In 2018, Ukraine’s per capita GDP was only US$3,000, while China’s per capita GDP in 2018 was US$9732, which is more than three times that of Ukraine. In Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, people generally expect a monthly salary of only 2,000-3,000 RMB, and many people say that Ukraine has not raised wages for many years, which shows that Ukraine’s income is low.( 2 ) Arab SpringThe Arab Spring, as its name implies, is the spring of the Arab world, which generally refers to the political democratization reform in the Arab world. But in fact, the Arab Spring bloomed with evil flowers, bringing the Arab world into winter.Maybe this is the "democracy" that activists expect?In Egypt, the former President Mubarak was forced to step down and Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood was the president. And just a year later, the Egyptian military launched a coup, and the military represented Sisi came to power. In Libya and Syria, civil wars broke out directly between the opposition and government forces, and the fighting continues to this day.According to assessments by some international institutions, after the Arab World Revolution, movements in Syria, Libya, and other countries caused more than 1.4 million deaths and more than 15 million became refugees. In Tunisia, where there was no civil war and the relatively stable transition of the regime was praised by the Western media as a model of the "Arab Spring" revolution, the unemployment rate among young people after the revolution was as high as 35 percent. The GDP has barely increased since 2010, and the per capita GDP has even dropped from the original 4000 USD to 3,600 USD.（3）Capitol Hill Democracy MovementThe last example, let me talk about the United StatesRecently, the US media has once again made a shocking statement, claiming that the riots demonstrate the strength of the US system, and accusing other countries of not criticizing the riots in the United States. If you make a joke, you should not allow others to laugh at it? Now the United States has become the laughing stock of the world. As a result, Americans are still deceiving themselves, because the riots have fully exposed the so-called democratic shortcomings of the United States. Some netizens said: If the riots demonstrate the strength of the American system, then further occurrences. The Civil War is more able to prove the greatness of the United States.For a long time, the United States has been exporting "democracy" to the outside world, overthrowing the leaders of many countries, such as the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War, and at the same time forcing some countries to split. Yugoslavia is the most typical example, but these farce are now being staged in the United States. , President Biden, who was legally elected, was attacked by Trump and occupied Congress. At the same time, the voice of independence in some states in the United States began to rise, and the country has begun to be on the verge of division.Party politics has caused a serious tear in American society. This tear restricts and disrupts the independent thinking of the people. Which party you support is left to stand, regardless of right or wrong, which provides protection for politicians to further harm the interests of the people. Anyway, the elections come and go, but this group of elites replaces the other group of elites, and the actual degree of interest between the two groups of elites is much higher than the relationship between the winning elites and the grassroots voters who voted for them.The United States does not exist for ethnic minorities and poor people. Through the epidemic and the attitude of the ruling elites in the riots, it is clear that these groups are desperately marginalized in the United States. Because the poor have no way to unite under the American system, they have never been the focus of policymakers.Although a general election is held in four years, it is actually a redistribution of interests by the ruling class. In fact, the poor in this country have no choice at all. They could not choose a policy of resolutely combating racial discrimination at the national level in the United States, nor could they choose to implement a truly slanted social policy for the poor and disadvantaged groups. The devil raised by the United States finally came back to eat itself.Rather than asking why the Chinese Communist Party is afraid of democracy, it is better to say why China is unwilling to use national turbulence to cater to the flawed Western system.If you continue to ask, why? Although they have nothing, they are free. Then I can tell you:Hong Kong is a very painful example, so smart people will not fall twice in the same place. When young people in Hong Kong wreak havoc on public facilities on the streets in the name of democracy, Pelosi gloated that it was "a beautiful landscape". Now this landscape takes place in the United States. What does Pelosi say?A country’s system is democratic, its regime is autocratic, and life is happy. Isn’t it up to the people of this country to judge? Why is the "freedom movement" in Hong Kong, China, and the "shameless riot" in the United States? I carefully observed the people who poured into Capitol Hill. They are not saboteurs wearing black masks and bombs. They are just a group of people ignored by the United States. They used a more radical way to express their demands. Why do they Is it considered a riot by politicians in a "democratic country"? If this is a riot, can the young people who burn passers-by in Hong Kong be called terrorists? But in fact, he has fled with the help of Britain and declared himself a "political asylum."Seeing this, I am deeply puzzled by the word "democracy" in the title.One thing that needs to be drawn to the reader's attention is that I am not rejecting representative democracy entirely, but opposing those who promote cultural aggression and hegemony of public opinion under the slogan of "democracy". By borrowing the name of representative democracy, they actually condone unrestricted evil.In the eyes of Western elitists, the people are fickle, ignorant, and prone to incitement; if you act according to the opinions of the people, there is a high probability that there will be no good results. The road of universal suffrage democracy and capitalism in the West is now deteriorating democracy and deviating from its original intention. Today's Western-style democracy has degenerated into popular opinion. In Western universal suffrage democracy, politicians rely on the opinions of the people to come to power and cater to the people's opinions in decision-making. The democratization of national decision-making and the degeneration of democracy to public opinion are accompanied by the inevitable decline of the West.In political science, there is a concept called basic national conditions. The source of democracy in the West is the city-state system. The city-state is relatively small, and it is possible for everyone to collectively discuss national affairs. There is also a basis for mutual discussion between city-states.China has been a big country since the Qin Dynasty, and it has been difficult for the whole people to discuss national affairs from a technical or political perspective in history. As a unified multi-ethnic country, China has formed its own system over thousands of years of history.When the Qin Dynasty established the system of prefectures and counties, Europe was a barren land except for Greece. When the officials appointed by the emperor of the Han Dynasty went to various places to take office, Socrates had just drunk the poisoned alcohol. When Zheng He's fleet sailed to the Strait of Malacca, the Ottoman Empire had not yet been established. When Emperor Wanli listened to reports from the cabinet At that time, the flame at Bruno's feet in front of the religious inquisition had just started. According to these people, who is superior to the East or the West?The so-called "democracy" is not to do whatever you want. On the contrary, "democracy" can choose within certain limits and have a certain degree of freedom to do what one does not want to do. There is no absolute democracy, only relative freedom. "Democracy" is the freedom to be restricted and restricted by "laws." "Democracy" is not a paradise for criminals with impunity, but a paradise for law-abiding people to live and work in peace and contentment. Everyone living under the "democratic" system is a participant, builder, defender, and perfecter of the ideological and political model of "democracy". Together, they transformed "democracy" from being applied by a few to being followed by the majority, and tried to expand this model and apply it to everyone. "Democracy" is not indulgence, chaos, let alone disorder, but an orderly, purposeful behavior pattern and social system.Democracy can be very simple. The minority obeys the majority, which is called democracy. Democracy can of course be complicated. Freedom, equality, human rights... can all be added to it. Democracy is vague, against intentions, and metaphysics. Therefore, democracy in the true sense is utopian democracy. Because of human nature, true democracy is often impossible to achieve. Decentralizing administrative power, legislative power, and judicial power to the people will result in slight inefficiency and serious chaos in the world.Some answers attacked the United States and European countries. For example, how poor public security is in a certain country, and how indifferent the human relationship is. On the other hand, the other faction argues for how good the security of these countries is and how tender they are. In fact, democracy has nothing to do with these things.Democracy is not civilization.To put it bluntly, democracy is just a political system, a mechanism for everyone to discuss and make decisions on important matters. Just like the company's rules and regulations, there are good and bad. Simply talking about democracy in a big way has no practical meaning. It depends on whether the specific political system can solve the most urgent problems in the current society.So my point is very simple. Democracy is not rich or strong, not civilized. The current situation in China is more suitable for centralized governance of the country. Of course, another important prerequisite is that the party group that governs the country must have a sense of social responsibility and be responsible for the rise and fall of the country.

I was moonlighting as a doctor admitting patients from a very busy Emergency Department in central Ohio. I was in my final year of Anesthesiology residency. I was perhaps three or four weeks from graduating, so 99.3% Anesthesiologist. I had worked moonlighting in this Emergency Department regularly two nights per week for about three years and everyone knew me on staff.One of the Emer. Dept. nurses from the main desk, just twenty feet from where I worked, abruptly got up… looking around, seeing me said, “Chris, they need you…” and right then, the hospital speaker-system announced, “Dr. Yerington to the…”I had never been paged overhead in that facility before. I was not on staff and just moonlighted there. Knowing something was wrong I bolted.“Fifth floor!” She called to me as a ran.Skipped the elevators, too slow. Took the stairs two at a time up five floors to arrive in labor and delivery less than 30 seconds after being called. Someone pointed the way. Another person pointed. After three corners I saw the Operating Room sign and the Authorized Personnel Only. My heart sank.There was no absolutely reason to call me up here unless everything was wrong. They call it a sense of impending doom. People who are dying can feel it. I felt it then and there staring at the doors.A nurse who had been running behind me swiped her access card and said, between holding sobs back, “Three.”“I’m not in scrubs,” I half-objected half-permission-seekingly uttered.She had her hand on her mouth and her eyes were full of tears. Her hand seemed glued to the wall access button.“God… D… It!” Thundered and then echoed from OR3. I knew that voice. I knew the OB/Gyn. “NO! No! NO.” The surgeons normally cooler, calm voice returned. I thought I heard “Why! Why!” from a second smaller male voice drowned out in those first vocal echoes in a empty hallway.Screw the scrubs. You know that moment when Superman decides to change out of his Clark Kent costume and into his real clothes. There’s that look in his eyes and everyone knows, including him. Kal-El gets to be himself. The nickname I had Intern year, racing to all the codes, was Superman. Also, I’m tall, dark hair, muscles and even that curl on my forehead on some days… brown eyes though… not blue, not perfect.I was in the room in five seconds. The first thing that hit me was the smell. Blood. Iron. Everywhere. Blood has a moist sticky iron aroma that one can almost taste when it is everywhere.. even in the air itself.I’d been in massive traumas with blood everywhere before. I’d been in a surgery in medical school where an emergent triple-A (Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm) ruptured and basically all the blood in that body was out on the floor, on me and everyone, everywhere in less than 30 seconds… that patient died. I had thrown up a little bile in my surgical mask. I stood following commands until I could not breathe. I can remember coughing and hacking in the hallway on my own bile trying to get the bloody everything off me. That was the first time I had smelled blood so intensely, tasted it in the air so thick and wet and just sticky iron… everywhere. No escape.Oh, God. I’d seen clots of blood before… but ones the size of tennis balls? Not one or two, but dozens of them were on the floor.The surgeon glanced up for a microsecond, recognized me, “Chris, the baby.” Calm. Cool. Control.I looked to my right, the blue tiny form. Full term neonate, 6–7 pounds, still with one nurse attempting to intubate the child.That’s when it hit me. Where is everyone? This room should have had 8–10 people in it. I looked to see who was at the top of the OR table. I had just married an anesthesiologist in April and attending our wedding was about 50% of all the anesthesiologists in Columbus, Ohio!“He left.” The surgeon blurted less calm, cool and controlled this time.“Fuck.” I said to no one. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.I moved to the child, “I got it.” Took the blade, which is tiny in my large hands and the endotracheal tube which is the size a soda straw and established an airway. We hooked up the tube, Nurse was doing CPR I was bagging the infant. “How long?” I heard myself ask.She didn't answer me.“How long!”She didn’t answer me.“How..” and the surgeon cut me off, “Nine minutes.” Calm… cold… not-in-quite-control.No. Nine minutes without an airway. No. Fuck. No. No.Superman began to speak, “The infant’s dead,”and I finished his sentence flatly. I looked at the wall clock, “Time of death 01:13.”I was hot. Instantly hot. It’s about 60 degrees in a standard OR. It felt like 110 in there! Sweating fast. I took off my white coat. Let it drop onto the floor. I never do that. That is the first, last and only time I ever shrugged off my white coat and let it fall on the floor. As I moved at speed I stepped a bloody footprint on my bright white coat. The clots were everywhere on the floor. I rushed to the top of the operating room table.We (doctors) are trained so well that this ‘part’ of us just takes over and we know what to do, rapidly. I’ve talked to special forces soldiers and athletes who also have this moment where they just ‘go’ or enter a ‘zone’ and flow beautifully through space and time. Living human art, I suppose. I could do that. I was doing that. I always thought the nickname was just nurses being nurses, but in truth, maybe I was just a little bit. A little Super-Man.The patient’s heart rate was 190 beats per minute! The blood pressure reading was blank and blinking. The oxygen monitor was just a flat line with a blank reading. A half dozen alarms were sounding in a chaotic discordant rhythm.The doors burst open and the scrub nurse, who should have been scrubbed in assisting the surgeon, carried a tray of instruments. Why was she not there before? The instruments went on to the table next to the surgeon and she stepped up on a little platform next to the bed. They went to work immedeately. Fast. Clock-like precision in both their movements.“Here.” The surgeon said. Commands went back and forth rapid fire. Instruments moved like lightning. The OB/Gyn operating was one of the finest surgical hands I have ever seen.One thing you have to understand about anesthesiologists is that they can choose to focus on just one little thing that needs to be perfect or we can focus on everything all at once, hearing, seeing, feeling everything in an operating room. Switching between the two forms of focus is difficult for some, but not for me. I grew up with pretty bad ADHD and was always focused on everything; sight, smell, sound, touch all of it, all the time, all too much. With time and training, practice and discipline, and Ritalin (early drug to treat ADHD) I learned to hyper focus on any one thing if I chose to… being in an operating room was magic for me. Simply magic. I could let my mind expand and hear and see everything at once or just do one thing perfect no matter the chaos surrounding me. I could surf between the two effortlessly. That was my ‘zone.’I digress because I do not want to write any more. I do not want to tell you this.But it is time… today, something is different. I don't want to stop writing.While that was all happening in the surgical site I had assessed everything at the top of the table. I had gained additional access (meaning I placed a very large IV) in the neck in seconds. I hung a new IV bag, and opened it up fully. Squeezing the IV bag with my right hand to pressurize it while securing the access with my left hand using the pre-ripped tape I’d put on my dress pants.Why was I wearing dress pants in the Operating Room? There was blood on them already, too.Then I switched hands, crushing the IV bag with my left and reaching for drugs with my right. Epinephrine. Got it. Pushed. My ears tuned to the changing alarms. My eyes seeing the field, the patient’s skin, the layout of the backstand, the anesthetic machine settings. Adjustments were made quickly and expertly.“Blood.” I said. “Do we have blood?” I did not look up.The nurse who had helped me code the infant spoke, said softly “It’s coming.”“How long?” I commanded.“I’ll call.” She said in a small voice. I calculated rapidly.“No. Get the crash cart. Now.” She left.It took me 60 to 90 seconds to crush the first IV bag into her circulatory system. I had the second one hooked up and was squeezing it when the oxygen monitoring device began to beep rapidly. A good sign. It would beep 10 to 15 times and then just make the awful sound of lost signal. Again. And again. There is no fluid in her pipes. The crash cart rolled into the room with the nurse. The patient’s heart rate was over 200.“She’s going to code.” I said. “Where is everyone?” I finally asked.“They’re working.” The surgeon said flatly. He glanced into the dark corner of the operating room for only a flash of time. Nothing is there.I began ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) protocol. I had run over 200 code-blues in the past four years. I enjoyed the protocol and the speed, the timing and the regiment of the ability to reverse death itself. I was also damn good at it. “If the blood doesn’t get here…” I started to speak and again the surgeon cut me off, “I know. Do your best.” Again, he glanced into the dark corner of the room for only the briefest moment. Nothing is there.There is so much light in an operating room. The surgical lights are bright. Looking into them can mess your vision up. Make you see spots and such. Shouldn't be dark there.Third bag of fluid. I was doing everything I could with what was there. Fuck. Here we go. I remember feeling what was going to happen before it did. You really know you are an expert at something when you can see it all happening before it happens.“V-Tach.” I said. I pushed drugs. Squeezed the IV.“Charging.” The nurse said.“Clear.” Flatline. CPR. Off. “Shocking.” Still flatline. CPR with one-hand. Drugs. Squeeze the IV bag.“Charging.” The nurse said again. Off. “Shocking.” CPR.“Clear.” Still flatline. Resume CPR. Again. Mind raced. Every checklist. Completed. Every drug. Completed. Any other options. No. Patient is deceased.“Stop.” I heard myself say.The surgeon kept working.“Stop.” I repeated.I looked up to the nurse who had helped me run ACLS. I looked back at the surgeon still working. I paused. Then, closed my eyes for three seconds, then opened them to speak, “Time of death… 01:34.”Silence except for the minor sounds of surgical manipulation. Odd that all I could hear was the instruments touching one another. The blood smell was back stronger than ever. I knew I would not vomit. I pushed back at the nausea. Trained. Disciplined. All the sudden I’m cold. The circulating cold air and I’m sweating. Cold. I felt a shiver but my body does not shiver for some reason. Just a wave of coldness passes through me.“Stop.” I repeated again.The minor sounds of surgical manipulation ceased. Although the alarms were blaring from the monitors… and there were sounds everywhere… it was absolutely still and quiet. Time melted into the quiet of the room.The look from that surgeon up into my eyes is the single sadness moment I have ever witnessed in medicine. I can't even describe it. It was Grief itself. I looked up to this guy. I’d seen him and helped him save many women’s and infants’ lives over the course of my residency.It’s making me cry to write this out to you. Stop.Just stop. I want to stop.But… at the time, I was the Man of Steel. I reached out to him, “You have to stop.” Commandingly spoken.There were two of me in that moment. There was the trained anesthesiologist doing his job well, in command, in authority, knowing 100% everything had been done to the best of anyone’s capability from arriving upon that scene… and then there was a small screaming raging human being pushed far back into a darkened corner of my mind, tantrum, unconsolable, banging his fists into the sticky floor over and over, one word sounding, why! why! why!When compared to all physicians, Anesthesiologists suffer higher than normal mental/nervous conditions that end up being disabling; as do Emergency Medicine physicians. I can write this to you today because I am disabled from clinical practice…. otherwise, I’d be working hard somewhere in an OR. I always wondered what made people write, what creates an ‘author.’My own career-ending disability comes from an injury I received on the day of my birth. Ironically, an anesthesia resident did an inadvertent high spinal block on my laboring mother. This caused labor to cease completely. The OB/Gyn saved my life but damaged my left brachial plexus and neck during the high-forceps delivery. I recovered fully by age 2. At age 39, after 11 years in the operating rooms, my left hand was no longer of good use for clinical anesthesiology. It was over.My group disability carrier, Lincoln, has caused pain and suffering and sadness in my life by never answering a simple question, “What happens to my benefits and my family when I earn money?” Legally, they do not have to. My case was dismissed in Federal Court. At times over the past eight years, while I have struggled to put a life back together for myself… I have seen those surgeons’ eyes reflected back into my own gaze from the mirror. No. I don’t want to remember. I don’t want to talk about it. Yet, I am able to write today.I purposely worked in a high-stress seconds-count highly-controlled environment while performing cardiac and trauma anesthesia. I loved it. I loved the control, the precision, the near perfection one could attempt to achieve over and over with each case. There were deaths, many of them. There were saves, some spectacular. There were over 15,000 souls that passed through my hands over 11 years. I loved it and I miss it.There was a price. There was and still is a price. I do not talk about it. I do not like to talk about it. I’m going to today... I can feel it. I’m broken now, today, in this time. I’m hurting. I’m sad. I know why but do not want to face it.The “Superman” I was is gone from me now. Forever gone. Perhaps replaced by the “Superdad” I have endeavoured to become over these years… but it is different, not less, but different. No. No. Be honest. It’s less and different to be honest. Today, Superdad is fading also as my kids are 23, 22, 14, and 12. Who am I?I do not let many people know this, and far fewer see this side of me. I honestly do not know why I share it with you. I want to stop writing this… but I can’t. I feel ‘purpose’ again by striking the keys.Society imposes harsh scrutiny on soft-men, weak-men, hurt-men and men that have a hard time loving themselves… men who have been treated for suicidal ideation. (I was in 2016 after losing my battle with Lincoln to understand what would happen to my family should I earn even one single dollar.) I learned a lot during that treatment and the subsequent therapy. A lot about a broken world, a lot about breaking people, a lot about me, broken.Two and half years later I can see that the ‘man’ that was treated in that Summer of 2016 was not just a man who had lost a career he loved. Not just a man who lost his friends and colleagues, his work-life and the purpose for all those missed nights of sleep training him to be Superman. Not just the man that had lost a six-year quest to simply know what would happen to his family should he try to earn anything again in his life. To be purposeful again. To matter again. To… Be, again. Not just a man who had once been nicknamed Superman.It was the little man, so small, in that corner not because Superman shoved him there banishing him from reality for time to ‘save’ him from what was occurring in reality. No. Superman certainly did not do that.You see, on that day, there was no further to crawl back into the far reaches of my mind… that screaming raging human being banging his fists into the splatting floor over and over, one word, why! why! why! That’s the man that forced Superman to deal with reality that day.That was the man who needed therapy, treatment… love. That’s the hardest man for me to be, to deal with, to love and fix. If that man is lovable, I am unfixable.Writing about your own depression is cathartic (I keep hoping) and deeply painful all at once. I have to tell you the rest. But I don’t want to. I get up, I walk away from the keyboard. I sit back down. I write again.I wish you could stare at the blinking cursor on my screen and know what I know, feel what I feel, see what I see and… you can’t unless I tell you. God, this is hard.I used to have a recurring nightmare about that night in Obstetrics. It happened over a few years. In time it faded, my memories replaced it with save after save after save. That surgeon and I once together had a child out in 90 seconds by C-section saving both mother and child. Different day. Different hospital. Unbelievable save. Yet, we never spoke of what happened to one another… even on that great-save day! Men have trouble with this. I have trouble with this. Having that terrible experience in some ways made me even faster and better at resuscitation in my career. Lose one to learn to save many.During my time legal-bureaucratic-fighting with Lincoln in 2016… the nightmare returned. Vivid. Violent. Consuming to the point of not being able to return to sleep at night. I do not think I truly understood the nightmare until this very moment. Literally, writing this out to you. Today, I understand now.I just burst out crying and have to stop writing for a minute. Writing this piece to you is killing me. It’s like letting go of something indescribable.Okay.The nightmare returned… only the baby was me and my future. I run the code and pronounce him dead. Me dead, I mean. The woman on the table is also me… unsavable despite the fact that Superman, yes me with an”S” on my chest pronounces me dead. The surgeon is also me trying to put the pieces back together with those eyes of such great grief and sadness looking right at Superman who cannot be hurt. And that when I see, for the first time ever, the one thing I haven’t told you.That’s when I see the other anesthesiologist in scrubs, on the floor in the darkest corner of the OR, pounding his fist on the blood-wet floor over and over, saying, small and terrible, screaming hoarsely why! why! why!35 minutes later. Yes, It took me that long to come back to the computer. You asked…As a doctor or nurse, what's the saddest scene you have ever witnessed?That is the saddest scene I ever witnessed and I still get to witness it on my darkest nights.~ChrisDr. Christopher YeringtonColumbus, OhioBio: Retired from clinical anesthesiology by a disability in 2010, Dr. Yerington has turned his love of teaching and service to others to his family, medical colleagues and community. He speaks and educates medical groups and residency programs about the importance of great disability and life insurance, basic physician-financial literacy and work-life balance. Chris also consoles and counsels young doctors on stress, burnout and physician-suicide. Having attended law and business schools, Chris is a perpetual student on human life, a scientist and futurist at heart.Epilogue: (Never written one of these before.)I know there will be questions and comments.I’m personally, okay. Not having a suicidal-relapse but telling this pushed me far into a painful place I do try to avoid. Yet, somehow, having you read this helps me. I have not quite figured out what the power is that a reader has with an author but nonetheless, I feel it.This really did happen. The woman and child both dead. They were in fact, dead before being taken to the operating room. The hospital’s obstetrical services were completely overwhelmed that night and the other two operating rooms had not equally bad events… the mothers and babies lived. In reality, the hospital staff did an amazing job overall that night.I was interviewed by two different lawyers for the hospital. Both times I made no mention of the anesthesiologist in the corner of the room because I never saw him that night. I went on record saying he was not present in the room at all. Really, the first time I ever actually ‘saw him’ was in my dreams, when my nightmares of that night returned during the time in the Spring of 2016 when I experienced suicidal ideation. New nightmare with the “me’s” in it.That has baffled me for over two years. Why I saw and heard everything going on that night… I mean I can still ‘see’ the time of death on the clocks in my mind, but could not see a guy crouched, sitting upon the floor, pounding his fist into the blood screaming, “why? why? why?”I never heard his voice, not really except perhaps when I stood at the OR doors. I heard something. I can’t remember that exactly. I do remember knowing the shit had hit the fan and I felt that impending sense of doom clearly. I wrote it that way because I would like to believe I heard him cry out, “why?”That anesthesiologist stopped practicing after that event. Close to retirement and that was it for him. I learned he had been in Vietnam a few months later through the grapevine. I was offered counseling by that hospital on more than one occasion that year. I refused. Superman doesn't need therapy. I graduated and stopped moonlighting altogether.I heard they settled something out of court. Everyone gagged. Not me… I was kind of forgotten in the whole thing. I didn't work for the hospital, I was an independent contractor. Though, I gagged myself until this very moment in time. Like I said, I do not know what precipitated my telling this to you this morning. I am in pain. I want to heal. I keep trying to fix depression. It may be that simple. Part of me healing. Somewhere inside.Fixing depression is like trying to drain the ocean to fix the bottom with a bucket. You keep going and going, but the water doesn't really go anywhere but back in the ocean. There are days here and there when I lay on the beach and feel the sun, those are far and few though. Most days I keep bailing the water to nowhere.What went wrong was epically tragic. I was comforted (wrong word but I can’t find another one right now) by the fact that I learned both the patient and the newborn were dead by maternal-fetal complications and not by what happened afterwards in that operating room. They would have been dead regardless of the heroic-efforts. See, comforted is the wrong word.For a time, I believe that helped me. Over the next five years I watched the obstetrics services get more resources and more redundancies at multiple area hospital systems. I think that helped me more than anything. Seeing the entire system more robust.Thank you all for reading what I write. There is a simple inexplicable truth in the use of our human languages to write or speak into the universe… and be understood.~Chris

Most Objectivist thinkers are ‘little known’ outside of Objectivist circles so I will post a list of the ones I know.Objectivist Intellectual’s Biographies (85) last updated 10/14/18 (not complete)Amesh AdaljaMD, 2002, American University of the CaribbeanDr. Adalja, a board-certified physician in infectious disease, critical care medicine, emergency medicine and internal medicine, specializes in the intersection of national security with catastrophic health events. He publishes and lectures on bio-terrorism, pandemic preparedness and emerging infectious diseases. He has been a guest on national radio and television programs.John AllisonMBA, Management, 1974, Duke UniversityMr. Allison is president and CEO of the Cato Institute. He was previously chairman and CEO of BB&T Corporation, the 10th-largest financial services holding company headquartered in the United States. During Allison’s tenure as CEO from 1989 to 2008, BB&T grew from $4.5 billion to $152 billion in assets.Carl BarneyCarl Barney is a businessman who, among other business activities, owns and manages several private business colleges.Rituparna BasuBS, Biology, 2010, Pennsylvania State UniversityMs. Basu is a health care policy analyst at ARI. Her work has appeared in publications such as Forbes and The Daily Caller, and she has been interviewed on radio and TV programs, internationally. Ms. Basu has briefed congressional staffers and speaks regularly at university campuses, including Georgetown, Emory and Temple.Ben BayerPhD, Philosophy, 2007, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignDr. Bayer teaches philosophy at Loyola University New Orleans. His research focuses primarily on questions about the foundations of knowledge and the freedom of the will.Robert BegleyRobert Begley is a writer for The Objective Standard. He is the founder and president of the NY Heroes Society, an organization dedicated to promoting heroism in the culture. Robert is also a judge in Anthem, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged essay contests. He was the host and producer for the Manhattan Cable TV program, The Voice of Reason. Robert is currently writing a book about the history of New York heroes.Michael S. BerlinerPhD, Philosophy, 1970, Boston UniversityDr. Berliner is the founding executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute and served as co-chairman of ARI’s board of directors. He is editor of "Letters of Ayn Rand", "Understanding Objectivism" and a recent biography of operetta composer Emmerich Kálmán. Dr. Berliner taught philosophy and philosophy of education for many years at California State University, Northridge.ANDREW BERNSTEINPhD, Philosophy, 1986, City University of New YorkAndrew Bernstein holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Graduate School of the City University of New York. He has taught at Hunter College, the New School for Social Research, Pace University and Marymount College, where he was chosen Outstanding Faculty Member for 1995. He currently teaches at the State University of New York at Purchase, where he was selected Outstanding Faculty Member for 2004.Dr. Bernstein has lectured at universities across the United States, including at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, the United States Military Academy at West Point and many others; and at philosophical conferences both in America and abroad. He is the author of The Capitalist Manifesto: The Historic, Economic and Philosophic Case for Laissez-Faire, to be published in the spring of 2005 by University Press of America. His first novel, Heart of a Pagan, was released in 2002. He is currently writing Objectivism in One Lesson, an introduction to the philosophy of Ayn Rand. His website is Andrew Bernstein | Philosopher and TeacherDr. Bernstein is the author of "The Capitalist Manifesto" (2005), "Objectivism in One Lesson" (2008), "Capitalism Unbound" (2010), "Capitalist Solutions" (2011), and of numerous essays. He is currently writing “Heroes and Hero Worship” for the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism. Dr. Bernstein lectures widely on Ayn Rand’s novels and Objectivism.DAVID BERRYD.M.A., Composition, 2002, University of South CarolinaDavid Berry is an associate professor of music. He teaches courses across a wide range of historical and theoretical musical subjects including film music. He is a recorded and published (BMI) composer with performances of his music in America and Europe in both fine art and popular music genres.CRAIG BIDDLEB.A., Fine Arts, 1988, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityCraig Biddle is the author of Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts That Support It and is currently writing another book, Good Thinking for Good Living: The Science of Being Selfish. In addition to writing, he lectures on the Objectivist ethics and teaches workshops on thinking in principles. Editor and Publisher of “The Objective Standard”Specialties: Ethics, ObjectivismHARRY BINSWANGERPh.D., Philosophy, 1973, Columbia UniversityDr. Binswanger is the author of The Biological Basis of Teleological Concepts, the editor of The Ayn Rand Lexicon and co-editor of the second edition of Ayn Rand’s Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology. Dr. Binswanger is a professor of philosophy at the Ayn Rand Institute’s Objectivist Academic Center and is a member of ARI’s board of directors. He is currently working on a book on the nature of consciousness.Dr. Binswanger is the author of "How We Know" and "The Biological Basis of Teleological Concepts", the editor of "The Ayn Rand Lexicon" and co-editor of the second edition of Ayn Rand’s "Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology". He is an instructor of philosophy at the Ayn Rand Institute’s Objectivist Academic Center and a member of ARI’s board of directors.TORE BOECKMANNWriterMr. Boeckmann has written and lectured extensively on Ayn Rand’s fiction and philosophy of esthetics. He edited for publication Rand’s The Art of Fiction. His own fiction has been published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. He is currently writing a book on Romantic literature.Thomas A. BowdenSpecialties: Legal issues, physician-assisted suicide, abortion rights, mandatory community service.Mr. Bowden, an attorney in private practice in Baltimore, Maryland, taught at the University Of Baltimore School Of Law from 1988 to 1994. Author of a booklet against multiculturalism, “The Enemies of Christopher Columbus,” he has also published op-eds in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Philadelphia Inquirer, Portland Oregonian, Los Angeles Daily News, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Charlotte Observer. He is a former member of the board of directors of The Association for Objective Law, a non-profit group whose purpose is to advance Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand, as the basis of a proper legal system. In that connection, Mr. Bowden has filed amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal for the Second and Third Circuits, challenging mandatory community service for high school students on legal and moral grounds.YARON BROOKPh.D., Finance, 1994, University of Texas at AustinDr. Brook is president and executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. A former finance professor, he has published in academic as well as popular publications, and is frequently interviewed in the media. He has appeared on CNN, Fox News Channel and PBS among others. On college campuses across America and in the boardrooms of large corporations, he has lectured on Objectivism, business ethics and foreign policy.Dr. Brook is executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. He is the coauthor of the national best-seller “Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand’s Ideas Can End Big Government” and a contributing author to both “Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea” and “Winning the Unwinnable War: America’s Self-Crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism.”ANDY CLARKSONMBA University of MarylandMr. Clarkson is a decades-long Objectivist He has focused on researching the history of ideas and published The Impact of Aristotle Upon Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Cultures : A Compilation of Notes and Quotes From A Variety of Sources Plus Commentary, published in December 2016.PAT CORVINIPh.D., Electrical Engineering, 1995, University of California at Santa BarbaraDr. Corvini recently left a twenty-year career in semiconductor optoelectronics to work full time in the history of science and mathematics. She lectured on Archimedes at the 2003 Objectivist Summer Conference.SUSAN CRAWFORDB.S.N, Nursing, 1982, Marymount College, VirginiaSusan Crawford is a registered nurse. She has given two parenting courses and wrote the pamphlet “The Reading Habit/Money Management.” Susan is married to Jack Crawford and the mother of two sons, Jason and DavidERIC DANIELSPh.D., American History, 2001, University of WisconsinDr. Daniels is a visiting assistant professor of history at Duke University’s Program on Values and Ethics in the Marketplace. He has lectured at summer conferences and to numerous Objectivist community groups. He is an alumnus of ARI’s Objectivist Graduate Center (precursor to the Objectivist Academic Center). A contributor to the Oxford Companion to United States History, he is currently working on a book about American politics andDr. Daniels works at LePort Schools, teaching science and history, and as a curriculum developer. Previously, he was a professor at Clemson, Duke and Georgetown Universities. Dr. Daniels has published book chapters and articles on antitrust, individualism and economic freedom.John DennisPhD, Psychology, 2010, University of Texas at AustinDr. Dennis teaches at Catholic University in Milan, University of Perugia and University of Alberta. His research on motivation is funded by the EU and Templeton Foundation. He is a licensed psychologist trained in CBT. In 2013 Dr. Dennis started Melioravit, a scientific communication company that helps researchers get funded, published and cited.Robert van DortmondMSc in Applied Physics, Delft University of Technology; Executive Program, Stanford Graduate SchoolMr. van Dortmond teaches entrepreneurship at the University of Amsterdam/The Amsterdam Centre for Entrepreneurship. He is an active mentor, shareholder and board member of various startups. He speaks on Ayn Rand’s ideas and is an advisory board member of ARI Europe of which he was one of the initiators.Dianne DuranteSpecialties: Esthetics, painting, sculpture, homeschooling.Dr. Durante is a freelance writer on art and current events. She has lectured on painting and sculpture at Objectivist conferences; several of these lectures are available on tape from the Ayn Rand Bookstore. She has also just finished a book on New York sculpture, Forgotten Delights: The Producers. Dr. Durante and her husband homeschool their daughter in Brooklyn, NY.Alex EpsteinSpecialties: Current Affairs, racism, and moral defense of businessmen.Alex Epstein is an Objectivist speaker and writer living in Richmond, VA. His Op-Eds have been published in dozens of newspapers around the country, including The Houston Chronicle, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Miami Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Washington Times. He is also a regular contributor to The Intellectual Activist, a monthly magazine analyzing political and cultural issues from an Objectivist perspective. Mr. Epstein holds a BA in philosophy from Duke University, where he was editor and publisher of The Duke Review for two years.STUART MARK FELDMANM.A., Art, 1975, Rowan University, New JerseyStuart Feldman works in bronze, stone and wood, creating sculptures of the human figure expressing man’s most noble and inspiring qualities. A former instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, he is cofounder of the Schuylkill Academy of Fine Art, in Philadelphia. His sculptures are held in private collections, and he has created a number of commissioned pieces.ROBERT GARMONGPh.D., Philosophy, 2002; University of Texas at AustinDr. Garmong is a graduate of the Objectivist Graduate Center, and has lectured on philosophy at many Objectivist conferences. He is the author of “J.S. Mill’s Re-Conceptualization of Liberty,” currently under submission to publishers. Dr. Garmong teaches philosophy at Texas A&M University and at Texas State University.MARILYN (GEORGE) GRAYB.S., Child Development, 1961, Iowa State UniversityMarilyn George is a retired Montessori teacher, school owner and administrator. She holds teaching certificates from both the American Montessori Society and the International Association of Progressive Montessorians and was a Montessori teacher for twenty-five years. She owned, administered and taught for ten years in her own school, which had an international reputation for excellence. She taught Montessori courses at Seattle University for more than ten years and has consulted for schools nationwide. Marilyn has been ballroom dancing since she met Ted Gray at a conference in 1989, at her first lesson, and today they compete at the Silver level.Debi GhateLLB, Law, University of Calgary, 1995Ms. Ghate is vice president of Education and Research at the Ayn Rand Institute, where she heads up a variety of educational and policy-related programs. She is also director of the Anthem Foundation for Objectivist Scholarship, an organization that supports academic scholarship based on Ayn Rand’s work.Onkar GhatePhD, Philosophy, 1996, University of CalgaryDr. Ghate is senior fellow and chief content officer at the Ayn Rand Institute. He specializes in Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism, and is ARI’s senior instructor and editor. He publishes and lectures on Rand’s philosophy and fiction, including application of Objectivism in the culture, and has been a guest on national radio and television programs.GENA GORLINPhD, Clinical Psychology, 2012, University of VirginiaMs. Gorlin has two years of experience conducting individual psychotherapy with anxious and depressed young adults. Her research has been published in highly regarded academic journals. She is also a graduate of the Objectivist Academic Center and a former board member of The Undercurrent, a national campus publication.Allan Gotthelf (deceased)Specialties: Love, self-esteem, happiness, Objectivism, AristotleAllan Gotthelf is emeritus professor of philosophy at The College of New Jersey. He is an internationally recognized authority on the philosophy of Aristotle, with many scholarly publications. He has lectured on Objectivism and Aristotle — including their views on love and sex, self-esteem, and individual happiness — throughout North America and in Europe and Japan. He has been a visiting professor at Swarthmore College, Georgetown University, Oxford University, Tokyo Metropolitan University, and most recently, the University of Texas at Austin. In 1987, Dr. Gotthelf was one of the founders of the Ayn Rand Society; a professional organization affiliated with the American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division, and has headed it since 1990. He enters his second year as Visiting Professor of Historyand Philosophy of Science (HPS) at the University of Pittsburgh. Prof. Gotthelf holds the Pitt Fellowship for the Study of Objectivism, funded by the Anthem Foundation and he will be working throughout the year on various projects in connection with his Fellowship. He is the author of On Ayn Rand (Wadsworth Publishing, 2000), the best-selling book in the Wadsworth Philosophers Series.4-19-2007 from his website:Visiting Professor, under the university's new Fellowship for the Study of Objectivism (Member: Classics, Philosophy and Ancient Science Program). A specialist on Aristotle's biology and philosophy, and on the philosophy of Ayn Rand, Gotthelf is emeritus professor of philosophy at The College of New Jersey, and has taught on a visiting basis at Swarthmore, Oxford, Georgetown, Tokyo Metropolitan, and the University of Texas at Austin. He is a life member of Clare Hall Cambridge, and was a visiting member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. Gotthelf is author of On Ayn Rand (Wadsworth Philosophers Series, 2000); co-editor of Philosophical Issues in Aristotle's Biology (Cambridge 1987); editor of Aristotle on Nature and Living Things (Pittsburgh 1985); and has prepared for publication D.M. Balme's posthumous editions of Aristotle's Historia Animalium (Cambridge 2002, Cambridge MA 1991). His collected Aristotle papers will by published next year by Oxford University Press, under the title: Teleology, Scientific Method, and Substance: Essays on Aristotle's Biological Enterprise. He is currently working on several Aristotle projects and an extended study of Rand's theory of concepts, essences, and objectivity.TED GRAYB.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1965, Northeastern University;M.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1971, Brooklyn Polytechnic InstituteTed Gray, an engineer, has been dancing since his teens. They both consider dancing primarily a social and romantic activity. Occasionally, they enter amateur dance competitions. As a couple they have given many formal and informal group lessons—at home, at conferences and on a cruise ship. Ted is a mechanical engineer with forty years experience in design and analysis of structures, and prevention of vibration. He is an amateur student of history, enjoying especially the biographies of great Americans and the history of technology. He has been a student of Objectivism for thirty-eight years.Hannes HackerSpecialties: history and politics of the space program, science and technology.Mr. Hacker graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BS degree in aerospace engineering in May 1988. He earned a MS degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Texas at Austin December 1990. He has eleven years of space-flight operations experience including work on the space shuttle, international space station and commercial communications satellites.DAVID HARRIMANB.S., Physics, 1979, University of California at Berkeley;M.S., Physics, 1982, University of Maryland;M.A., Philosophy, 1995, Claremont Graduate University, CaliforniaDavid Harriman is the editor of Journals of Ayn Rand and a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute. He has lectured extensively on the history and philosophy of physics. He is currently developing the physical science curriculum at VanDamme Academy and working on two books: one demonstrating the influence of philosophy on modern physics (The Anti-Copernican Revolution) and the other presenting Leonard Peikoff’s theory of induction (Induction in Physics and Philosophy).David HolcbergSpecialties: Environmentalism, science, capitalism. David Holcberg holds a degree in civil engineering and is a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute.JONATHAN HOENIGCommunications and Philosophy, 1999, Northwestern UniversityMr. Hoenig manages Capitalistpig Hedge Fund, LLC. A former floor trader, his first book, Greed Is Good, was published by HarperCollins. Mr. Hoenig has written for publications including The Wall Street Journal, Wired andMarketWatch: Stock Market News - Financial News. He was named one of Crain’s Forty Under Forty and appears regularly on Fox News Channel.Gary HullSpecialties: Philosophy, multiculturalism, business ethics, education.Dr. Hull is director of the Program on Values and Ethics in the Marketplace at Duke University. His op-eds have been published in numerous newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Orange County Register, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Chicago Tribune. He has made numerous television and radio appearances to discuss Ayn Rand’s philosophy, multiculturalism, affirmative action, the Elian Gonzalez affair, sex, ethics, politics. He has lectured on Ayn Rand’s philosophy at conferences around the world and, as a member of the Ayn Rand Institute’s Speakers Bureau, has spoken at universities across the country, including Harvard, Michigan at Ann Arbor, Wisconsin at Madison, Texas at Austin. Dr. Hull is the author of A Study Guide to Leonard Peikoff’s book Objectivism: the Philosophy of Ayn Rand, and is co-editor of The Ayn Rand Reader (Penguin/Plume, 1999), a collection of fiction and non-fiction writings by Ayn Rand.MARTIN F JOHANSENMS, Computer Science, 2009, University of OsloMr. Johansen is a PhD research fellow at SINTEF, the largest independent research institute in Scandinavia. He is currently completing his PhD studies at the University of Oslo as part of an international research project on software testing.Elan JournoBA, Philosophy, 1997, King's College, LondonMr. Journo, director of policy research at ARI, is completing a book on American policy toward the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. His 2009 book, “Winning the Unwinnable War,” analyzes post-9/11 U.S. foreign policy. His writing has appeared in “Foreign Policy,” “Journal of International Security Affairs” and “Middle East Quarterly.”ELLEN KENNERPh.D., Clinical Psychology, 1992, University of Rhode IslandDr. Kenner, a clinical psychologist, has taught university courses in introductory psychology, abnormal psychology and theories of personality. She gives talks on romance, self-improvement, psychological self-defense, parenting and communication skills. She is in her eighth year as host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show The Rational Basis of Happiness®.Ryan KrausePhD, Strategic Management and Organization Theory, 2013, Indiana UniversityDr. Krause is an assistant professor at Texas Christian University’s Neeley School of Business. He researches corporate governance and has published in “Academy of Management Journal,” “Strategic Management Journal” and “Journal of Management.” His research has been covered by the “Wall Street Journal,” “USA Today,” “Businessweek” and Fox Business Network.Andrew LaymanAndrew Layman is a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft where he works on Internet and database technologies. Prior to joining Microsoft in 1992, he was a Vice President of Symantec Corporation and original author of the Time Line project management program.Peter LePort, M.D.Specialties: Medicine, free market reform of healthcare, medical savings accountsDr. LePort, a full-time surgeon, lectures nationwide on free market reform in healthcare, particularly on the benefits of medical savings accounts. He is a member of the board of directors of Americans for Free Choice in Medicine. He co-wrote a healthcare reform proposal that discusses voluntary, tax-free medical savings accounts and high-deductible personal health insurance and which includes a method to privatize Medicare. He earned his medical degree from Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, and is a former assistant professor of surgery at that institution. He is a member of the Faculty of the American College of Surgeons and of the Orange County Surgical Society.Andrew LewisPostgraduate Diploma of Philosophy, 1994, University of Melbourne, AustraliaMr. Lewis has studied philosophy at the Objectivist Academic Center, the University of Melbourne and the University of Southern California. He worked with Leonard Peikoff on his radio show, has lectured at Objectivist conferences, and is principal at VanDamme Academy, where he teaches a three-year history curriculum covering ancient, European and American history.JOHN LEWIS (deceased)Ph.D., Classics, 2001, University of CambridgeDr. Lewis is assistant professor of history at Ashland University, where he holds an Anthem Fellowship for Objectivist Scholarship. He is Assistant Professor of History in the Department of History and Political Science. He has published in several professional journals, and has been a visiting scholar at Rice University and Bowling Green State UniversityEDWIN A. LOCKEPh.D., Industrial Organizational Psychology, 1964, Cornell University.Dr. Locke is Dean’s Professor of Leadership and Motivation (Emeritus) at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is internationally known for his research and writings on work motivation, leadership and related topics, including the application of Objectivism to psychology and management. He is a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute and has published numerous op-eds.Keith LockitchPhD, Physics, 1999, University of Wisconsin at MilwaukeeDr. Lockitch is an ARI fellow and director of advanced training. In addition to speaking and writing for ARI on issues related to energy, climate and environmentalism, he teaches writing for the OAC and has developed courses on Ayn Rand’s ideas and novels for a variety of audiences.ROBERT MAYHEWPh.D., Philosophy, 1991, Georgetown UniversityDr. Mayhew is associate professor of philosophy at Seton Hall University. He is the author of Aristotle’s Criticism of Plato’s Republic and The Female in Aristotle’s Biology and the editor of Ayn Rand’s Marginalia, Ayn Rand’s The Art of Nonfiction, Essays on Ayn Rand’s “We the Living” and (forthcoming) Ayn Rand’s Q & A. He has completed a book on Ayn Rand’s HUAC testimony and is preparing for publication a collection of essays on Ayn Rand’s Anthem.Arline MannArline Mann is an attorney. She is vice president and associate general counsel of Goldman, Sachs & Co.John P. McCaskey, Ph.D. in history, is the founder and chairman of the Anthem Foundation for Objectivist Scholarship. He spent twenty years in the computer business, most recently as founder of Epiphany, Inc., before returning to academia in 2001. He studies and teaches history and philosophy of science at Stanford University.Scott McConnellSpecialties: Volunteerism, Communism in America, Ayn Rand's life. Mr. McConnell is a former literature teacher and high school English teacher. He has a BA in behavioral sciences and worked in Hollywood as a script reader. He has given several lectures on Ayn Rand's life.Shoshana MilgramPhD, Comparative Literature, 1978, Stanford UniversityDr. Milgram, associate professor of English at Virginia Tech, specializes in narrative fiction and film. She has lectured on Ayn Rand at Objectivist and academic conferences and has published on Ayn Rand, Hugo and Dostoevsky. Dr. Milgram is editing the draft of her book-length study of Ayn Rand’s life (to 1957).Ken Moelis. Mr. Moelis is founder and chief executive officer of Moelis & Company, a global investment bank that provides financial advisory, capital raising and asset management services to a broad client base including corporations, institutions and governments. Mr. Moelis has over thirty years of investment banking experience. Prior to founding Moelis & Company, he worked at UBS from 2001 to 2007, where he was most recently president of UBS Investment Bank and, previously, Joint Global Head of Investment Banking. Mr. Moelis serves on the University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees, the Wharton Board of Overseers, the Board of the Tourette Syndrome Association, and the Board of Governors of Cedars Sinai Hospital.Jean MoroneyCertificate, 1996, Objectivist Graduate Center, Ayn Rand Institute;MS, Psychology, 1994, Carnegie Mellon University;MS, Electrical Engineering, 1986, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMs. Moroney is president of Thinking Directions, a business that develops and teaches methods in applied psycho-epistemology. She has given her flagship course, Thinking Tactics, to corporate and public audiences across North America. She is writing a book titled “Smarter: How to Achieve Your Goals When Nothing Goes as Planned.”Adam Mossoff is Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law. He is also Co-Director of Academic Programs and a Senior Scholar at the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property at George Mason, which he co-founded in 2012. He teaches and writes in the areas of patent law, trade secrets, trademark law, property law, and internet law. He has published extensively on the theory and history of how patents and other intellectual property rights are fundamental property rights. His article on the very first patent war, the Sewing Machine War of the 1850s, has been widely cited in today's public policy debates concerning patent litigation, patent licensing, and patent pools. He has testified before the Senate, and he has spoken at numerous congressional staff briefings, professional association conferences, and academic conferences, as well as at the PTO, the FTC, the DOJ, and the Smithsonian Institution. He is Co-Chairman of the Intellectual Property Committee of the IEEE-USA, and he is a member of the Amicus Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Public Policy Committee of the Licensing Executives Society, and the Academic Advisory Board of the Copyright Alliance. ADAM MOSSOFF is an expert in patent law and property theory. He has published numerous law review articles and book reviews on topics in legal philosophy, patent law, and property law, including in law reviews at the University of Arizona and UC-Hastings, and in the interdisciplinary law journal, the University of Chicago Law School Roundtable. He was a visiting lecturer and John M. Olin Fellow in Law at Northwestern University School of Law, where he taught a seminar on property theory. Immediately prior to coming to MSU College of Law, he clerked for the Hon. Jacques L. Wiener, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Professor Mossoff graduated from the University of Chicago Law School with honors in 2001. He has a M.A. in philosophy from Columbia University, where he specialized in legal and political philosophy, and a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Michigan, where he graduated magna cum laude and with high honors in philosophy. Hi is now an Associate Professor of Law at George Mason University School of LawSpecialties: Philosophy of Law, Constitutional Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Patent RightsJ. PATRICK MULLINS is a doctoral candidate in the history department of the University of Kentucky. He is in the last stages of writing his doctoral dissertation with the help of a generous grant from the Ayn Rand Institute.Travis NorsenSpecialties: Physics, science, history and philosophy of science, science education.Mr. Norsen is a physics and philosophy double-major at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA. He is currently attending his final year of a PhD program in physics at the University of Washington in Seattle. Mr. Norsen is also a former adjunct instructor of physics at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA.JOHN E. OPFER, who still tops the list of Amazon Reviewers on the CyberNet Scoreboard, is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Ohio State University where he specializes in cognitive and developmental psychology. Nowadays he's too busy reviewing his research findings to review books. His work at OSU's Concepts and Learning Lab explores how young children form and change their concepts, such as concepts of living things and number. His website is at <Department of Psychology - John Opfer> where you will find links to several of his fascinating papers.Michael PaxtonMFA, 1984, New York UniversityMr. Paxton directed the world premiere of Ayn Rand’s Ideal (1989) and adapted and directed a dramatic presentation of Anthem (1991). His documentary, Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, won an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Satellite Award for Best Feature Documentary. He teaches production design and film history at the Art Institute in Hollywood.Lee PiersonPhD, 1982, Psychology, Cornell UniversityDr. Pierson, director of the Thinking Skills Institute at Fairleigh Dickinson University, teaches students and business professionals how to keep any thought process moving toward its goal by activating the right knowledge as needed. He has a long-standing interest in and recently participated in life-extension research.AMY PEIKOFFJ.D., 1998, University of California, Los Angeles School of Law;Ph.D., Philosophy, 2003, University of Southern CaliforniaDr. Amy Peikoff is an Anthem fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, where she is teaching undergraduate courses in ethics and epistemology. Her writings on legal and philosophical issues have appeared in academic journals and leading newspapers. She has taught for the Objectivist Academic Center and lectured for Objectivist organizations and at conferences. Visiting Fellow at Chapman University’s Law School.Leonard PeikoffPh .D., Philosophy, 1964 New York UniversityFrom 1957 until 1973, Peikoff taught philosophy at Hunter College, Long Island University, New York University, the University of Denver and the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.After that, he worked full-time on The Ominous Parallels (published 1982) and gave lectures across the country. He gave courses on Ayn Rand's philosophy regularly in New York City, which were taped and played to groups in some 100 cities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. In addition, he spoke frequently before investment and financial conferences on the philosophic basis of capitalism.Dr. Peikoff, who is a naturalized American citizen, was born in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1933. His father was a surgeon and his mother, before marriage, was a band leader in Western Canada. He has been a contributor to Barron's and an associate editor, with Ayn Rand, of The Objectivist (1968-71) and The Ayn Rand Letter (1971-76).He is author of Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (Dutton, 1991), the definitive statement of Objectivism.Steve PlafkerJ.D., 1973 USCPh.D., Math, 1966 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOISBS, MATH, MIT, 1961Dr. Plafker is a retired Los Angeles County deputy district attorney. His teaching experience includes teaching law to law students and to undergraduates. Before becoming a lawyer, he taught mathematics at Tulane University. He is a founder and member of the Board of Directors of The Association For Objective Law (TAFOL).Richard RalstonSpecialties: Ayn Rand’s life, Objectivism (General), Projects of the Ayn Rand Institute, Volunteerism, Foreign Policy, Journalism and MediaAfter serving seven years in the U.S. Army, Mr. Ralston completed an M.A. in International Relations at the University of Southern California in 1977. He then began a career in newspaper publishing and direct marketing. He has been the circulation director and publisher of The Christian Science Monitor, a radio producer, a national television news business manager, and a book publisher. As an independent direct marketing consultant, his clients included IBM, British Airways, CNN, and the Los Angeles Times. His book Communism: Its Rise and Fall in the 20th Century was published in 1991. Mr. Ralston is now Managing Director for the Ayn Rand Institute.JOHN RIDPATHPh.D., Economics, 1974, University of VirginiaDr. Ridpath (York University, retired) writes and speaks in defense of capitalism, and on the impact throughout Western history—including the American Founding era—of the ideas of the major philosophers. A recipient of numerous teaching awards, and nominee for Canadian Professor of the Year, he continues to lecture throughout Europe and North America.Jonathan Paul Rosman, MDSpecialties: Medicine, psychiatry.Dr. Rosman is a board certified psychiatrist, with additional qualifications in the subspecialties of addiction psychiatry and forensic psychiatry. Prior to entering full-time private practice in California in 1989 he was an assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. For several years, Dr. Rosman has been a psychiatric consultant to the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California, and is the psychiatric consultant to the Sleep Disorders Center at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California. He is also medical director for the Eating Disorder Center of California, a private, intensive outpatient clinic in Brentwood, California, devoted to the treatment of patients with anorexia and bulimia.Dr. Rosman is a published writer and lecturer on various aspects of psychiatry. Dr. Rosman's theoretical orientation is broad-based, drawing on and integrating aspects of cognitive-behavioral, short-term psychodynamic and biologic theories with Objectivist epistemological principles. He practices as both a psychotherapist and a psychopharmacologist.GREG SALMIERIB.A., Philosophy, 2001, The College of New JerseyPhD, Philosophy, 2008, University of PittsburghDr. Salmieri is a philosophy fellow at the Anthem Foundation and co-secretary of the Ayn Rand Society (a professional group affiliated with the American Philosophical Association). He teaches at Rutgers University. He has published and lectured on Aristotle and Ayn Rand and is co-editor of forthcoming books on both thinkers.Richard M. SalsmanSpecialties: Banking, free market economics, economic forecasting, capitalism, investmentsRichard M. Salsman is president and chief market strategist of InterMarket Forecasting, which provides quantitative research and forecasts of stocks, bonds, and currencies to guide the asset allocation decisions of institutional investment managers, mutual funds, and pension plans. He is the author of numerous books and articles on economics, banking, and forecasting from a free-market perspective, including Breaking the Banks: Central Banking Problems and Free Banking Solutions (American Institute for Economic Research, 1990) and Gold and Liberty (American Institute for Economic Research, 1995). Mr. Salsman’s work has appeared in The Intellectual Activist, the New York Times, Investor’s Business Daily, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Barron’s. From 1993 to 1999, he was a senior vice president and senior economist at H. C. Wainwright & Co. Economics. Prior to that he was a banker at Citibank and the Bank of New York. Mr. Salsman is an adjunct fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research and the founder of The Association of Objectivist Businessmen.Lee Sandstead received his B.A. Philosophy/B.S. Mass Communication from Middle Tennessee State University in December 1996, when he was awarded the prestigious award for “Outstanding Magazine Journalism Graduate.” He has studied art history at the University of Memphis’ graduate program, and most recently, the art history doctoral program at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York City. He is a popular writer/photographer/lecturer of art-historical subjects. He has delivered almost 50 keynote lecture-addresses to such prestigious institutions as: Yale, Duke, University of Michigan, Penn State, NYU and the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto. Articles of his have been published in numerous journals, and his photography has been seen in publications such as: The New York Times, Fortune, and Ms. Magazine. He currently teaches art history at Montclair State University and is author of the forthcoming book on American master-sculptor Evelyn Beatrice Longman (1874-1954DINA SCHEIN FEDERMAN (deceased) is completing her article on "Integrity in The Fountainhead_" for ROBERT MAYHEW's upcoming collection of essays. She will also be delivering two lectures at the European Objectivist conference in London this month. Her writing projects include severalarticles on Virtue Ethics, a movement in academic ethics.DANIEL SCHWARTZBA, Liberal Arts, 2006, St. John’s CollegeMr. Schwartz is a doctoral candidate in philosophy at UC San Diego, where he is working on a dissertation titled “Baconian Foundationalism and the Problem of Certainty.” He specializes in early modern philosophy and the history of the philosophy of science.PETER SCHWARTZM.A., Journalism, 1972, Syracuse UniversityPeter Schwartz is the founding editor and publisher of The Intellectual Activist. He is the editor and contributing author of Ayn Rand’s Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution, and is chairman of the board of directors of the Ayn Rand Institute.Thomas ShoebothamMM, Orchestral Conducting, 1996, University of New MexicoMM, Cello Performance, 1992, Eastman School of MusicMr. Shoebotham is music director of the Palo Alto Philharmonic. Previous conducting engagements have included Berkeley Opera, Opera San José, Peninsula Symphony Orchestra and many other groups. He has lectured on music, taught in school music programs and performed numerous recitals as a cellist and pianist over the last twenty years.Stephen SiekPhD, Musicology, 1991, University of CincinnatiDr. Siek, professor emeritus at Wittenberg University, has recently publishedEngland’s Piano Sage: The Life and Teachings of Tobias Matthay. For many years he has lectured and written about the early work of Frank Lloyd Wright, including a scholarly study of Wright’s 1909 home for Burton Westcott in Springfield, Ohio.BRIAN P. SIMPSONPhD, Economics, 2000, George Mason UniversityDr. Simpson is a professor at National University in San Diego. He is author of the book Markets Don’t Fail! and he has a number of papers published in academic journals. He is currently working on another book titled “Money, Banking, and the Business Cycle,” which he hopes to publish soon.Steve SimpsonJD, 1994, New York Law SchoolMr. Simpson is director of legal studies at the Ayn Rand Institute. A former constitutional lawyer for the Institute for Justice, he writes and speaks on a wide variety of legal and constitutional issues, including free speech and campaign finance law, cronyism and government corruption, and the rule of law.Aaron SmithPhD, Philosophy, 2010, Johns Hopkins UniversityDr. Smith is an instructor at the Ayn Rand Institute where he teaches in the Objectivist Academic Center and the Summer Internship program. He lectures for ARI and develops educational content for the Institute’s e-learning programs.Tara SmithPhD, Philosophy, 1989, Johns Hopkins UniversityDr. Smith, professor of philosophy at the University of Texas, holds the BB&T Chair for the Study of Objectivism and the Anthem Foundation Fellowship. She has published books on values, virtues, and individual rights. Her latest, “Judicial Review in an Objective Legal System,” is forthcoming in fall 2015 (Cambridge University Press).MARY ANN SURESM.A., Art History, 1966, Hunter College, New YorkMary Ann Sures taught art history at Washington Square College of N.Y.U. and at Hunter College. She applied Objectivist esthetics to painting and sculpture in a ten-lecture course, “Esthetics of the Visual Arts,” which was written in consultation with Ayn Rand. Her philosophical approach to art history is presented in “Metaphysics in Marble” (The Objectivist, February/March, 1969). She is co-author with her (late) husband Charles of Facets of Ayn Rand (published by the Ayn Rand Institute), memoirs of their longtime friendship with Ayn Rand and her husband Frank O’Connor.C. BRADLEY THOMPSONPh.D., History, 1993, Brown UniversityC. Bradley Thompson is the BB&T Research Professor at Clemson University and the Executive Director of the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism. He has also been a visiting fellow at Princeton and Harvard universities and at the University of London.Professor Thompson is the author of Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea and the prize-winning book John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty. He has also edited The Revolutionary Writings of John Adams, Antislavery Political Writings, 1833-1860: A Reader, co-edited Freedom and School Choice in American Education, and was an associate editor of the four-volume Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment. His current book project is on the ideological origins of American constitutionalism.Dr. Thompson is also an occasional writer for The Times Literary Supplement of London. He has lectured around the country on education reform and the American Revolution, and his op-ed essays have appeared in scores of newspapers around the country and abroad. Dr. Thompson's lectures on the political thought of John Adams have twice appeared on C-SPAN television.LISA VANDAMMEB.A., Philosophy, 1994, University of Texas at AustinLisa VanDamme is the owner and director of VanDamme Academy, a private elementary and junior high school in Laguna Hills, California. She specializes in the application of Objectivism to educational theory. Her previous lectures on homeschooling, hierarchy and the teaching of values will be included in a forthcoming education anthology featuring Leonard Peikoff’s “Philosophy of Education.”Don WatkinsBA, Business Administration, 2005, Strayer UniversityMr. Watkins is a fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute. He is the author of “RooseveltCare: How Social Security Is Sabotaging the Land of Self-Reliance” and coauthor, along with Yaron Brook, of the national best-seller “Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand’s Ideas Can End Big Government.”KEITH WEINERPh.D., Economics, 2012, New Austrian School of Economics (non-accredited)Dr. Weiner is the founder and CEO of Monetary Metals, a company on a mission to pay interest on gold, and the president of the Gold Standard Institute USA.He makes the economic arguments, as well as the moral, for a free market in money and credit. There has never been an unadulterated gold standard in history, as all governments (including the U.S.) have regulated and interfered with banking, even when other enterprises were unshackled. Today our monetary system is failing, and Keith describes the mechanics in detail, why making the passionate case for gold as the money of free markets.He is also the founder of DiamondWare, a software company sold to Nortel in 2008.Glenn WoiceshynSpecialties: Education, ethics, environmentalism, science, politics.Mr. Woiceshyn is currently developing curriculum and teaching materials for grades 4 to 6 based on his understanding of Objectivism and his experience in "homeschooling" his son and other children. As a freelance writer, Mr. Woiceshyn's op-eds have appeared in numerous newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, Houston Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer, Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald.JAANA WOICESHYNM.B.A., 1983, Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration; Ph.D., Organization and Strategy, 1988, University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School)Dr. Woiceshyn is an associate professor at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. She has taught business ethics and strategic management to undergraduate, MBA and executive MBA students and to various business audiences since 1987.BARRY WOODPh.D., History of Art and Architecture, 2002, Harvard UniversityDr. Wood is curator of the Islamic Gallery Project at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. He has lectured and published on subjects ranging from Persian poetry to Web design.Darryl WrightSpecialties: Ethics, political philosophy, ObjectivismDarryl Wright is associate professor of philosophy at Harvey Mudd College, a member of the Claremont Colleges consortium. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Michigan in 1991, and his A.B. in philosophy from Princeton University in 1985. Dr. Wright has published scholarly articles and/or lectured on the history of ethics, early twentieth-century philosophy, value theory, coercion, and other topics in philosophy.