I didn’t post here on Bright Boy last week, but I did record this 12-minute video conversation with my friend Vernell Jones. I met Vernell while writing a story for AARP, and then appeared with her on a virtual panel during the Tourette Association of America’s TIC-CON this summer. Vernell is a Tourette’s advocate, teacher, and mentor, and she’s the owner of Problem Solved Communications.

She’s also smart and cool, and she articulates her experiences with TS quite well. Since I’ve subtitled this substack “a Tourette’s Life,” I want to be sure that I cover the full range of the TS spectrum for readers who specifically subscribe for that kind of information. To do that, I will enlist the help of a number of people to share their stories. And I will do so via this video interview series, which I will post to my very spartan (for now) YouTube channel and here on substack. I’ve already recorded my second conversation, and I will post it later this week.

I will still write essays, just not every week.

A friend of mine recently asked me why I call this substack “Bright Boy,” and to me the answer is obvious. But when she asked me the question, I realized that it isn’t obvious at all—probably to anyone since it’s so ingrained in my experience of, well, life. So my next essay will explain what’s behind the name “Bright Boy.” [Hint: it has everything to do with Aesop’s brilliant fable “The Tortoise and the Hare.”]

In the meantime, please watch the interview with Vernell!