Carrie Seidman is an opinion columnist for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Sarasota, Florida, She is also the creator/producer of FACEing Mental Illness, a blog and podcast at faceingmi.substack.com that shares stories from people with lived mental health experiences. A graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism, Carrie was a reporter, critic, and columnist for daily newspapers for 45 years. As a staff writer for the New York Times, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, Albuquerque Journal, Albuquerque Tribune and Sarasota Herald-Tribune, she covered a broad range of subjects, from sports to arts to mental health, in formats ranging from reviews and features to long-form narratives and investigative enterprise reporting. Her work has received awards from local, state, and national organizations, among them the Society for Features Journalism, the American Society of News Editors, and the Florida Society of News Editors.
Seidman is a 2016-2017 fellow of the Carter Center for Mental Health Journalism which supported her community art/journalism project, “FACEing Mental Illness: The Art of Acceptance” (http://faceingmentalillness.heraldtribune.com). This project also resulted in a book and a documentary film, which had its world premiere at the Sarasota Film Festival in 2018.
“The S Word,” Seidman’s 2015 project on mental illness, received the National Media Award from Mental Health America, the nation’s leading community-based nonprofit dedicated to addressing the needs of those living with mental illness, and the Community Engagement Award from the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
Books By Carrie Seidman:
In the fall of 2016, Sarasota Herald-Tribune staff writer Carrie Seidman launched an art/ journalism project, in conjunction with her fellowship from the Carter Center for Mental Health Journalism, aimed at eliminating prejudice against individuals with mental illness. FACEing Mental Illness: The Art of Acceptance invited individuals within the community with a mental health condition of any kind, to create a self-portrait exploring their feelings about their challenges. A series of free workshops were held monthly, where art supplies and professional guidance were available to all. Many participants also chose to share their mental health journeys in depth, through interviews and in videos, and their stories ran weekly in the Herald-Tribune. Hundreds of community members volunteered time or gave generously to help underwrite the costs of the supplies, workshops, transportation and a film documenting the project’s progress. Dozens of local business contributed in-kind services, from framing to refreshments. The project culminated with a month-long exhibition of all the project artwork at the Selby Public Library in downtown Sarasota in March 2017. In the following pages, you will find many of the stories and most of the artwork created for the project. It is our hope that community efforts like this one will help change our culture’s attitudes about mental illness and promote better mental health for everyone.
Portraits by Sarasota Herald-Tribune photojournalists
Artwork photography by Wayne Eastep
Drawing on her memories of growing, cooking, foraging for, eating, and talking about food with family, friends, and strangers, Seidman explores the intersection between what sustains us physically and how it binds us emotionally. Whether creating pizza from scratch with a foster child who thinks it can only be delivered in a box, bemoaning the fate of a childhood pet who ended up in the freezer, or examining the impact of the loss of taste and smell from the Covid-19 virus, these timeless essays offer insight, humor, and storytelling as satisfying and comforting as a home-cooked meal.
Accompanied by charming chapter-head illustrations created by the author’s sister, a New Mexico artist, each commentary is followed by a treasured recipe from the Seidman family trove.
A PLACE AT THE TABLE will strike chords of remembrance and nostalgia in readers at a time when health and heritage have assumed a high priority and food has become an avenue for creativity, solace, and connection.
