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Blog archive

October 2024

ARBORIST WALK: NOT FOR TREE HUGGERS ONLY!
10/29/2024

Bill Wishner: Visual Hunter
10/29/2024

Can a Village Group Fix Our Healthcare System?
10/29/2024

Community Board Directors Strengthen Village Board
10/29/2024

Connecting with Village Connections: The A, B, C, & D’s of Medicare @ 65+
10/29/2024

Grief is a Journey: Two Paths Taken
10/29/2024

Message from the President
10/29/2024

Promoting Informed & Involved Voters
10/29/2024

What Will Be Your Legacy?
10/29/2024

1619, Approaching the Election...
10/27/2024

Beyond and Within the Village - A Star is Born
10/17/2024

Happiness by Priscilla Leonard
10/11/2024

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
10/11/2024

Unpainted Door by Louise Gluck
10/11/2024

In the Evening by Billy Collins
10/10/2024

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
10/10/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

September 2024

August 2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

First Anniversary
08/19/2024

Alexandra Leaving by Leonard Cohen
08/16/2024

Muse des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden
08/16/2024

The God Abandons Antony by Constantinos P. Cavafy
08/16/2024

Ch – Ch – Ch –Changes
08/15/2024

Cultural Activities Team offers an ‘embarrassment of riches’
08/15/2024

Engaging in Pasadena Village
08/15/2024

Future Housing Options
08/15/2024

Message from the President
08/15/2024

There Are Authors Among Us
08/15/2024

Villagers Welcome New Members at the Tournament Park Picnic
08/15/2024

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
08/14/2024

A narrow Fellow in the Grass by Emily Dickinson
08/13/2024

Haikus
08/13/2024

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
08/13/2024

Poem 20 by Pablo Neruda
08/13/2024

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
08/13/2024

Trees by Joyce Kilmer
08/13/2024

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

Emergency Preparedness: Are You Ready?
05/28/2024

Farewell from the 2023/24 Social Work Interns
05/28/2024

Gina on the Horizon
05/28/2024

Mark Your Calendars for the Healthy Aging Research California Virtual Summit
05/28/2024

Meet Our New Development Associate
05/28/2024

Putting the Strategic Plan into Practice
05/28/2024

Washington Park: Pasadena’s Rediscovered Gem
05/28/2024

Introducing Civil Rights Discussions
05/22/2024

Rumor of Humor #2416
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2418
05/14/2024

Springtime Visitors
05/07/2024

Freezing for a Good Cause – Credit, That Is
05/02/2024

No Discussion Meeting on May 3rd
05/02/2024

An Apparently Normal Person Author Presentation and Book-signing
05/01/2024

Flintridge Center: Pasadena Village’s Neighbor That Changes Lives
05/01/2024

Pasadena Celebrates Older Americans Month 2024
05/01/2024

The 2024 Pasadena Village Volunteer Appreciation Lunch
05/01/2024

Woman of the Year: Katy Townsend
05/01/2024

April 2024

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

An Apparently Normal Person Author Presentation and Book-signing

By Karen Bagnard
Posted: 05/01/2024
Tags: bio, karen bagnard

Villager Bonnie Armstrong spent most of her life not knowing she had Dissociative Identity Disorder due to childhood trauma. It wasn’t until neurological symptoms surfaced at about age 50 that her discovery journey began.

The neurological symptoms Bonnie experienced baffled the medical community. They could find no physical problem to explain her symptoms. She was finally advised to seek the help of a psychologist.

Bonnie’s successful life of traveling and living abroad, receiving an education that led her to being an interpreter, working for government officials in the state of Florida, as well as Washington D.C., certainly gave the impression of “an apparently normal person.”

With the help of an excellent psychologist in Pasadena, Bonnie embarked on a complex, difficult and ultimately successful journey to uncover and understand her disorder. This revelation, her advocacy for children and her desire to destigmatize mental health issues is what inspired her to write this book.

An Apparently Normal Person was a book 10 years in the making. Bonnie does not hold back from the story of her trauma, her journey to mental health and her desire to help others understand this disorder. She has learned that it is far more common than most people are aware.  Studies show that as many people live with a dissociative disorder as live with bi-polar disorder or schizophrenia.

In the acknowledgments section of her book, Bonnie writes:

“I first used the African saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ in my 1992 book Making Government Work for Your City’s Kids, which I wrote for the National League of Cities. Now I have to acknowledge it also takes a village to write a book. Well, actually, it has taken a very large community to get this one written. And it started with the Pasadena Village and its memoir group, which has met for more than a decade now. They have encouraged me week by week, month by month to keep writing. Their loving curiosity and acceptance helped me own my truth and find my voice. Thank you, Linda and Tom, Mike and Carole, Kitty, Jo, Lois, and later arrivals, Judith, Sally A., Sally W. and Janet. Linda and Mike were the very first people to read the whole story and ask questions that helped the writing to improve and deepen. And Patrick Dunavan, thank you for helping me ‘come out’ for the first time as a multiple to a larger Pasadena Village audience. After reading that first draft, your kind clarity and copious notes pushed me forward in ways only you could have done.”

Bonnie will present at Connect 2 Rise, 2594 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena on May 21, at 10:00 a.m.  She will discuss her story, her book, and the healing journey of a lifetime that brought this book about. She is engaging, enlightening, very optimistic, and she will be signing her book. There will be a limited supply of books available for purchase. Or you can bring your own copy to be signed. An Apparently Normal Person is available at Vroman’s and other booksellers.

We encourage you to join us for a most interesting presentation and discussion, with Q&A. Registration is required. Call 626-765-6037 or register here.

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