Tootfinder

Just finished "It's Lonely at the Center of the Earth" by Zoe Thorogood.
CW: Frank/graphic discussion of suicide and depression (not in this post but in the book).
It feels a bit wrong to simply give it my review here as I would another graphic memoir, because it's much more personal and less consensual than the usual. It feels less like Thorogood has invited us into her life than like she was forced to put her life on display in order to survive, and while I selfishly like to read into the book that she benefited in some way from the process, she's honest about how tenuous and sometimes false that claim can be. Knowing what I've learned from this book about Thorogood's life and demons, I don't want her to feel the mortification of being perceived by me, and so perhaps the best thing I could do is to simply unread the book and pull it back out of my memories.
I did not find Thorogood's life relatable, nor pitiable (although my instinct bends in that direction), but instead sacred and unknowable. I suspect that her writing and drawing has helped others in similar circumstances, but she leaves me with no illusion that this fact brings her any form of peace or joy. I wonder what she would feel reading "Lab Girl" or "The Deep Dark," but she has been honest enough to convey that such speculation on my part is a bit intrusive.
I guess the one other thing I have to say: Zoe Thorogood has through artistic perseverance developed an awe-inspiring mastery of the comic medium, from panel composition, through to page layout and writing. This book wields both Truth and Beauty.
#AmReading #ReadingNow

My aim for this Digest is to share the insights from my mental health journey,
from my travels and experiences;
to bring enchantment back into a disenchanted world,
to engage our sensory literacy
and help provide counter-narratives for polarised times.
There are many nuanced layers to the past and to us, as human beings. We can learn and grow from that.

From Breakdown to New Vocation: My Genius Loci Digest Journey
In the late 1990's I had a breakdown that ultimately led me, through a journey that took me away from depression, to a new career in photography. But what was the spark that ignited my journey?

Mechanisms for anesthesia, unawareness, respiratory depression, memory replay and sleep: MHb > IPN > PAG DRN MRN > claustrum > cortical slow-waves
Karin Vadovi\v{c}ov\'a
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.04454

Mechanisms for anesthesia, unawareness, respiratory depression, memory replay and sleep: MHb > IPN > PAG + DRN + MRN > claustrum > cortical slow-waves
My findings show, for the first time, what causes loss of awareness, anesthesia, memory replay, opioids induced respiratory depression (OIRD), and slow wave sleep. Opiates are fast pain relievers and anesthetics that can cause respiratory arrest. I found how mu-opioids and other medial habenula activators slowdown respiration during SWS and anesthesia. Using DTI method I observed that human hippocampus is connected to MHb via posterior septum, while amygdala via anteromedial BNST. MHb projected…