#50: Tim Walz for Vice President.

On a Different Subject...or Maybe Not.

(A brief but timely essay before returning to my “What Are the Odds?” series about four of my friends on the verge of major life changes.)

Main Street, Brattleboro Vermont. Photograph courtesy of Reginald Martell.

A year or so ago, my wife Wendy and I attended a meeting of The Kennedy Forum, an organization that advocates for mental-health parity; i.e., putting insurance coverage for brain health on a par with insurance for physical health.

There were a lot of presentations…from social issues to scientific research. All were relevant. Most were provocative. But, having researched and written about the issue for many years—and knowing a good number of the presenters—there was nothing really surprising.¹

Then this guy we’d never heard of came out and started to speak. By the time he was done, Wendy and I were thinking the same thing: OMG this guy actually knows what’s going on in mental health, what needs to be done, and can explain it with passion and humor in language anyone can understand.

When we watched Kamala Harris announce her VP choice a couple of months ago we realized we had been listening to Tim Walz that day. Politics aside, he’s a really smart guy, great communicator, and understands the practicalities of addressing the mental health crisis in America.

If the topic of mental health—which has been sadly downplayed in this election cycle—is important to you (and especially if you’re still trying to decide whom to vote for) take a look at the Omnibus Mental Health Budget Bill which Tim Walz helped develop and signed into law as Governor of Minnesota.

Mental healthcare is a huge issue for many of my friends on the street (not to mention the rest of us). Glad there might be a Vice President who gets it.²

1

I was a producer/writer on the PBS Film Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness. And, years ago, I wrote David’s Inferno a book that looked at the issue of mental health through the lens of my own walk on the wild side of brain chemistry.

2

The name of my current series of posts is “What Are the Odds?” I guess this post does belong in it…