Reflective Essays and Poetic Musings by Condemiang + Stories About the World

This year, “Autumn” left a little later than usual. Following behind, “Winter” arrived with a feisty temperament, sprinkling snow throughout last week. It wasn’t heavy, more like a teasing flurry—until Saturday the 24th, when it poured down all at once, as if Winter were making a grand entrance. The leaves on the fence trees were unusually persistent this year. Perhaps due to Autumn’s late departure, they seemed caught off guard by Winter’s sudden greeting. It wasn’t just the fence trees—other trees clustered around the neighborhood were the same. "The leaves hadn’t fully fallen yet."   Last Christmas, I had strung LED lights around the eaves of our house. Something about that season always lifts my heart. My wife and I had hung them together, hoping to bring a bit of comfort to close the bleak, oil-crash-stricken year of 2019. The lights stayed up well into February 2020. Joseph, our neighbor across the street, passed away in March 2018. This past March marked his second...

Washing My Hair and Showering with Just Water It’s been nearly five weeks since I tossed out the shampoo and started washing my hair with only water. My eldest son began doing this around March—washing his hair with water only—and by early September, after about six months, I decided to follow suit. I sniffed his hair out of curiosity, but it didn’t smell unpleasant. I wanted to test it for myself. According to him, the beginning feels sticky and uncomfortable, but the effects become noticeable over time. Those effects, he said, include the natural protective oil layer of the scalp being maintained, significantly reducing dryness-related dandruff, itchiness, and even hair loss. For the first three to four weeks, I didn’t feel clean at all after washing. My hair felt sticky and clumped together due to oiliness, and I wasn’t sure if the odor was truly gone. But once it dried, it sort of felt like I had washed it. That gave me enough reason to push through. My towel, after drying my h...

A Boy with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever / The Link Between Microbes and the Brain /  Gut Microbes and Memory /  Cognitive and Physiological Impact of Microbes /  Gut Microbes and Behavior /  Neurotransmitters Produced by Bacteria /  Microbiota, Antibiotics, and Autism /  Microbiota and Human Health A few days ago, my eldest child shared a highly interesting YouTube video titled “How the Gut Microbe Affects the Brain and Mind,” published by the channel What I've Learned. (It was posted on February 19, 2018, and runs for 13 minutes and 22 seconds.) It felt too valuable to watch alone, so I made time to summarize it. I’ve long suspected that certain microorganisms might influence not only the human body but also our mental and emotional states. I do not mean in the general sense of psychological damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but rather in the more direct form of microbes affecting the brain and mind. After watching this video, that idea feel...