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Sergei’s Death. Mistakes. Nonsense and a Chuckle
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Sergei Tretyakov, Russian Spy ‘Comrade J,’ Dead at 53
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Dateline Interview
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The arrest of eleven Russian “illegals” last week caused my phone to ring. The BBC, NPR, NBC, and Russian television wanted to speak to me. I said no because I was not familiar with the case, but then the media began reporting that the FBI had uncovered the spy ring because of a tip from Sergei Tretyakov, the subject of my book, COMRADE J, and a good friend.
A Never Ending Debate
Mental Health America asked me to moderate a thought-provoking panel that featured four nationally-known activists during its annual convention in Washington D.C.
Kay Redfield Jamison doesn’t need an introduction. Her memoir, An Unquiet Mind, was the first book I read after my son, Mike, became ill, and it spent five months on the New York Times bestseller list. She is not only brilliant and well-spoken, but also unassuming.
The other three panelists were new to me.
NAMI Changed My Life
When I was a Washington Post reporter, I did not believe in joining groups or organizations. I needed to be independent in order to be objective. Then my son, Mike, got sick and the first thing I did after I finished writing my book, CRAZY: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness, was join the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI.)
Why?