Mark Mathew Braunstein
Mark Mathew Braunstein
vegan vegetarianism, microgreens, cannabis
MEN & the ART of WHEELCHAIR MAINTENANCE
magazine articles by Mark Mathew Braunstein
Medical Marijuana 2.0 - - Stirring the Pot (3MB PDF, be a patient patient)
New Mobility - cover story in the July 2016 issue.
After my 20 years as a public advocate for medical marijuana, I asses the state of its law reform movement and how legalization has benefited all patients, even those who do not medicate with cannabis. Article is especially relevant to those with SCI or MS.
Artists & Writers Wanted - - Artist Retreats for Crips (2MB PDF)
New Mobility - feature article in the February 2018 issue.
About a program that awards grants to cripples who are afflicted with an artistic bent in addition to spinal cord injury.
Recounts especially my own Sept 2017 one-month residency at Vermont Studio Center (VSC) in Johnson, VT, a storybook village in the Green Mountains.
A Moving Experience (850K PDF)
New Mobility - January 2014 issue
A how-to guide to finding, buying, modifying, and moving into a new home. This article might interest those in the market for a new home, even if you are not a cripple. And if you are a cripple, you can blame me for the appellation Grim Wheeler in the second sentence.
VIDEO
(or, How NOT to Dive off a Bridge)
Documentary about my diving injury & recovery.
Narrated by John Forsyth, broadcast on Sunday evening primetime NBC-TV. This romanticized-for-TV segment is structured around original footage shot and edited by Judith Summers & Mark Braunstein.
Viewing time: 9 minutes.
Life Inside a Vacuum (Cleaner) (1.5MB PDF)
New Mobility - December 2012 issue
A crip buyer’s guide to selecting and using a vacuum cleaner. Humor might make the article interesting even if you are not in the market for a vacuum cleaner, or even if you are so crippled that your housekeeper (or spouse) cleans your floors for you.
Walking toward Fitness - For Folks of All Ages and from All Walks of Life (570K PDF)
Healing Our World - Fall 2011 “Fitness” issue
An essay about walking. Because I re-learned how to walk much more recently than when you first learned, I qualify as a master and an expert. Some have described this essay as “inspirational,” but I prefer to think of it as philosophical.
My Year of the Deer (1 MB PDF)
New Mobility - October 2011 issue
Photo essay about my befriending a family of deer. In regards to why they accepted me into their world, one reason I neglected to mention in the article is that as a vegan I do not smell like a predator, and deers' sense of smell is their most acute sensory perception.
A Walk on the Wild Side - Paraplegia & Marijuana (370K PDF)
Treating Yourself: The Alternative Medicine Journal - Spring 2009 issue
An autobiographical and social commentary chronicle of my 12 years of advocacy for an end to medicinal marijuana prohibition. Inset handheld-camera self-portrait photo (presently called a "selfie") taken August 2008.
Rx for Pot -- Is Medical Marijuana Coming of Age? (2.2MB PDF)
New Mobility - April 2010 issue cover story
While I cannot claim authorship of this well written article, I am prominently portrayed and profiled in it. I did photograph and photoshop the self-portrait photo illustrations that appear on the cover, in the table of contents, and on the article's first page.
Sex and the Single Male Cripple (1.6MB PDF)
New Mobility - February 2009 Valentine’s issue
This essay took me 19 years to live and three years to write. I began it in 2005 when a love affair filled me with bliss, and completed it in 2008 when another love affair filled me with sorrow. Fortunately the sorrow was as brief as the bliss. Inspired by graffiti on handicap parking signs, I take the blame for my iconoclastic (look up its etymology!) icon littering this webpage.
The Love Buggy (a sex toy for cripples) (1.6 MB PDF)
New Mobility - February 2008 Valentine’s issue
Satire about a sexual disability aid) with humor to make the subject socially acceptable. The photos are of the paraplegic I interviewed over the phone. His level of injury is T12, same as mine, except that he can come but not walk, while I can walk but not come. Go disfigure
A Connecticut Paraplegic Tells his Story (3MB PDF)
Hartford Courant Sunday Editorial section front page - January 12, 1997
My 1997 (1997!) ome-out-of-the-(cultivation)-closet confession, in which I proved myself far ahead of the pack on medicinal marijuana. This garnered more media attention than all my other previous writings combined. 3MB PDF -- be patient while it loads!
Can Bee Venom Cure Incontinence? and Other Tales of Natural Remedies (700K PDF)
New Mobility - November 2007 issue
A true story, perhaps similar to the ludicrous This Happened to Me cartoon page of Outdoor Life (Outdoor Death) hunting magazine.
Take the Pain (116K PDF)
From There to Here: Stories of Adjustment to Spinal Cord Injury - book published 2004
An autobiographical chapter in the 44 autobio book anthology by No Limits Communications, published as a Kindle edition in 2013.