“Breaking Up With My Meds” is the first post of a new series of incredibly brave articles drolly titled “Going Off.” Diana Spechler is the writer, and her column appears in The New York Times, under the category Anxiety. The last two paragraphs grabbed me. They talk about our modern society’s yearning “to become spotless on the inside,” a flute tune that resonates with the drum I’ve been beating for some time — our need to reclaim the original definition of virginity.
“I wish I could meet that young woman,” I thought at the time. “She is a real live virgin.” I promptly forgot her name.
It is the magic of the Writers Conference of San Miguel de Allende that Sunday afternoon, yesterday, standing in the gardens of the Hotel Real de Minas, I asked a new acquaintance what she wrote. “I’ve just begun a series for The New York Times,” she answered, “about going off my meds for depression.”
And so begins a friendship, Facebook and otherwise. Diana Spechler. You should remember her name.
Welcome to Virgin Territory! 