Laurna Tallman
Aug 8, 2017 · 2 min read

“We must push back on this dynamic, unyieldingly. Part of that will be our willingness to keep liking “unlikeable” ladies without cringe or caveat.”

Thank you for creating this window of light through the jaded murk of misguided snobbery. I first gained a non-journalistic perspective on Hillary through Emma Thompson’s portrayal of her in Primary Colors and it helped me to understand what she was dealing with personally in the context of the American political machine. I am about her age. I am similarly educated. I attended the same mainline church and, at least initially, formed my social conscience under some of the same influences. When I read her first (badly written) autobiography I realized I had developed some kinds of expertise and she others, but we remained “sisters” by virtue of our commitment to our ideals, our willingness to work hard, and to believe against all odds in what we are doing.

I came unexpectedly to new knowledge about the ears and behavior in my 60s and wrote about my discoveries, which fly in the face of the psychiatric profession and introduce new neurological understanding of behavior for a profession, medicine, in which I am not trained. Nevertheless, by dint of extensive research, I have broken new ground (in the field of behavior) in an extremely hostile environment, as has she. She inspires me. I believe everything she has done correctly and intelligently has provided precisely the background needed for all people to recognize sooner or later how terribly wrong is absolutely everything Donald Trump has done. She nailed it when she called his coterie and his followers “deplorables.” No person of conscience or intelligence can dispute her analysis now.

Like hers, the grand purpose of my work appears to have faltered as dreadful events have intervened to derail the track of dissemination of my knowledge I had planned. Forced into a backwater, I find it hard to see how my discoveries can reach the audience needed to change the world. Hillary must feel much the same way. Yet, I continue to believe her influence is vastly more important than Trump’s and more enduring. Your stance in this particular piece of writing protects that enormous contribution she has made to America. She continues to inspire me as she steps back into the spotlight to defend the values that define her mission. I persist in spreading the good news that high-frequency music has the power to cure mental illness, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, and many other diseases because that is my mission. Thank you for standing firm in your journalistic mission to tell the truth and deride the lies. You have encouraged me.

    Laurna Tallman

    Written by

    citizen scientist: ear function and behavior; writer; editor; artist