I was diagnosed with autism at 39. What happened next was not what I expected: I got a writing compulsion. I poured a lifetime of memories onto the page, lit through new understanding. I reached beyond my own mind and read everything I could about autism. Clinical studies, memoirs, evolutionary theory, diagnostic manuals. I started this newsletter to channel the storm.
Then the lens shifted. No longer was autism in the spotlight; instead, it became one of many stage lights. A way of seeing, a key to unlock fresh encounters with philosophy, literary criticism, gender history, the nature of creative obsession. The questions that kept me up changed from what is this thing I have to how and why do strange minds see things differently?
That’s what Strange Clarity is. Essays that start with a question that taps at my shoulder and end somewhere I didn’t expect. Why did Linnaean classification survive for a century after the discovery of evolution destroyed its premises — and how does that illuminate problems with schizophrenia diagnosis? Why do we film videos of concerts we’ll never rewatch? What happens inside the gap between knowing how to take a novel apart and being unable to write one?
I’m a lawyer by profession, a researcher by compulsion, and a cyclical obsessive who rotates between writing, handcrafting, and getting lost in video games. My interests change without warning. I’ve learned not to fight that — only to ride whatever wave comes and see where it takes me.
I publish when I have something worth reading.
If you’re new, start here:
Why “Fish” Don’t Exist — And What That Has to Do With Schizophrenia
The Category Error, Part 1: Why gender explains less than we think
And please, if you read something — consider leaving a comment, or tap the heart to like the post. This helps nudge my writing into the world.
Thanks for reading.
Laura
