Great Disappointment

I received Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  This book is pure history, in possibly one of the most poetic forms possible. The letters that Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald wrote to each other are stunning.  Their emotions are spilled on the page in a way I expect could not be created by any lesser authors.  Their relationship is a great tragedy that even they felt necessary to fictionalize, and so reading through it is as easy as a novel.   The minimal notes do just enough to allow the reader an entire picture of their lives at the time of each letter.  I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to get to know these characters, the impact of mental illness, or get a personal picture of history.

I felt deeply connected to Zelda as I read through her letters.  Zelda's story is a story of promise along with the impact of mental illness and the problems with institutionalized care.  There is no better way to motivate myself to make a strong impact at work. 

I'm in my first week working at a facility that does inpatient, outpatient and hospital diversion.  Despite what some politicians recently stated, it is so important to make it so that mental health care is not institutionalized. The institutions of America consistently do harm than and mental illness has to be treated in a real world if we expect people to participate in the world.  I feel that is the work I am meant to do, to help change the systems that keep people sick, abused and treated as less than. 

I'm very excited to be back at work.  I am struggling with how to accept my level of illness and this environment.  I'll keep you updated on that one.