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Two videos on art and creativity

admin — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:15:00 +0000

One from MoMA:

One from Ira Glass of This American Life:

Stand by Me

admin — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:56:00 +0000

This is awesome. See more at Playing for Change.

Playing For Change | Song Around The World “Stand By Me”

The Power of Words

admin — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:27:00 +0000

There was once a wise sage who wandered the countryside. One day, as he passed near a village, he was approached by a woman who saw he was a sage, and told him of a sick child nearby. She beseeched him to help this child. The sage came to the village, and a crowd gathered around him, for such a man was a rare sight. One woman brought the sick child to him, and he said a prayer over her.

“Do you really think your prayer will help her, when medicine has failed?” yelled a man from the crowd.

“You know nothing of such things! You are a stupid fool!” said the sage to the man.

The man became very angry with these words and his face grew hot and red. He was about to say something, or perhaps strike out, when the sage walked over to him and said:

“If one word has such power as to make you so angry and hot, may not another have the power to heal?”

And thus, the sage healed two people that day.

— Author Unknown

On drugs and mental illness

admin — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:26:00 +0000

It’s funny how fast times change. When I was a kid in school, I didn’t know anyone who was on Ritalin. Acronyms like ADD and SSRI hadn’t entered the public lexicon yet. The only psychopharmeceuticals I had heard of were Valium (from the movies) and Haldol (from a novel I’d read). I remember how astounded I was when I discovered that my first college roommate took Prozac. Someone my age who seemed normal. Gradually, pills of all kinds were trickling into the mainstream. Now I am familiar with lots of them, from talking with friends, family, coworkers, you name it. I can easily rattle off several names – Lithium, Lexapro, Effexor, Paxil, Wellbutrin.

I’ve felt varying responses to the drugs that seem to have flooded American life. I know people who have said that these medications save their lives and make them normal and whole. I know others who have had or have tales of very bad experiences. In one case, I recall the trials of a friend whose parents chose a pharmacy as an answer to the emotional troubles of a dysfunctional family and the pain of being a teenager instead of you know, just talking about things or at least sending the kid to a therapist.

This kind of thing troubles me. Being a teenager is supposed to suck. And coming through all that pain and awkwardness is sort of a rite of passage to adulthood. It’s not a medical problem. And I doubt medication could have helped me deal with the social awkwardness and confusion at that time in my life. It could have, however, dulled my ability to deal with it adequately. I’ll never know – I did zero drugs in high school; I didn’t even drink alcohol. But nowadays the establishment seems to be a little less gung-ho about medicating teenagers for emotional trouble. Any mention of Prozac now carries the following disclaimer:

Antidepressants increased the risk compared to placebo of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in children, adolescents, and young adults in short-term studies of major depressive disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders.

I guess it ultimately troubles me that more and more, the response to even minor mental or emotional trouble (including PMS!) is to medicalize the problem, rather than recognize the complex forces at work on a person’s psyche. Or simply: if you’re sad (or anxious or shy or hyper), pop a pill.

There was an interesting story on NPR a few weeks back about how playtime for children has changed so much in the past several decades. Over time most children have less and less time for unscripted, improvised play, spending time rather with the television, with toys that do not require imaginative use, and at supervised “enrichment activities” like piano lessons and karate classes. Researchers have found that “time spent playing make-believe actually helped children develop a critical cognitive skill called executive function. Executive function has a number of different elements, but a central one is the ability to self-regulate. Kids with good self-regulation are able to control their emotions and behavior, resist impulses, and exert self-control and discipline.”

Could there be a causal relationship between loss of free playtime and a rise in ADD? If this is even possible how can we respond by drugging our kids? Just because we don’t have the time to really work on the actual problem?

The week before that NPR story came out, I happened upon an article in the Washington Post (while sipping the second yummiest* hot chocolate** I’ve ever had). The article was by Charles Barber, a lecturer at Yale University, who very eloquently expressed my sentiments on mental health. I recommend giving it a read.

I absolutely think that medication is appropriate to treat some mental illnesses. But I also think we have found that even with straight-up physiological conditions, a holistic approach to illness often results in more lasting health. I think this is especially true for mental health. Our ability to function mentally is tied to things like finding meaning in our lives and having supportive people to care for us and foster growth. And it’s also important to understand the mechanisms in our daily lives that lead us towards or away from a healthy mental state.

The film A Beautiful Mind is a wonderful example of how one can learn to cope with a pretty major (and frightening) mental illness. John Nash had delusional paranoid schizophrenia, and he learned how to live with it, found meaning in his life, and had a supportive family to cling to. Yes, it’s a movie, but the real Nash stopped medicating for his schizophrenia from 1970 onwards.

Just some food for thought.

To inject some levity into the subject, I offer you the music of Jonathan Coulton (who is playing at the Birchmere on Friday!)

Jonathan Coulton – I Feel Fantastic [mp3]

[I chose to edit this piece, because well, I just didn't like it as it was.]

* The yummiest hot chocolate I’ve ever had was from Butler’s Chocolate Cafe in Dublin. They had handmade marshmallows.
** I recommend The Lucy – semisweet hot chocolate infused with chipotle.

Maybe this is why people are often pack-rats…

admin — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:48:00 +0000

This article from the New York Times is awesome:

The Advantages of Closing a Few Doors

We can always tell ourselves that it’s good to keep options open, but is it really?

My friend Susanna shared it on Facebook. I know she’s thinking of it in the context of grad schools, but there are so many applicable contexts to the ideas in this article.

Man, the New York Times has some pretty kickass content. Good food for thought.

A little Valentine for all 5 you reading this blog

admin — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:53:00 +0000

For all of you out there who are feeling the tug of National Singles Awareness Day, a little quote for you:

Love is like a booger. You keep picking at it until you get it, then wonder what to do with it.

- Unknown

And if you’re panicking about whether you’ll ever find that special someone, here’s a comic to give you hope.

Also, if you’ve been single for a real long time, you might want to consider moving to another city. Apparently the odds are strongly in your favor if you’re a single male living on the east coast or a single female living in the western part of the country. But does San Francisco really count?

Also, if you’re feeling really lonely and ambitious, you could take a cue form Karen over at Cordarounds, and see if you can crowdsource yourself a partner. (Thanks to Nick O’Neill for sharing that tidbit.)

For myself, I’m going to enjoy the day. It’s cold but it’s sunny, and I have lots to smile about. I wish everyone lots of love (romantic or otherwise) and a Happy Valentine’s Day!

“No one could have conveyed how I was feeling better than Phil Collins.”

admin — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 16:24:00 +0000

I discovered yesterday that This American Life” is great listening for a run. I thought music would be better, because it has a beat and makes you want to move, but for my long run yesterday, hearing Ira Glass tell me stories made me forget I’m running at all.

During this week’s long run I listened to an old podcast, entitled “Break-Up.” It carried me through the first 6 miles of my 11-mile run to Bethesda.

I have to confess, my friend Jim turned me onto this particular episode. I was telling him about some recent difficulties in my romantic life, and he asked me if I’d ever heard it. He heard it when it first aired in August, when he too was having hard times in his relationship. The show really struck him, and he told me that I HAD to listen to it.

I now pass the recommendation along. You can listen for free streaming on the web. I will say I was disappointed to discover that there is now a charge for downloads of past episodes – they used to be all free. Still I paid the $0.95 so I could put it on my iPod. I can hardly begrudge Chicago Public Radio a dollar.

Listening to the episode actually did made me feel a lot better. And by better, I mean better.

Once

admin — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 04:46:00 +0000

If you have not seen the movie Once, I urge you, I implore you: rent it. I wish I had seen it in the theater, but I missed it. But finally it came in my Netflix this week. My mom and I watched it tonight.

The story is so simple and wonderful. But the music, the music. Together Glen Hansard (of The Frames) and Marketa Irglova create aching melodies, haunting harmonies, and beautiful lyrics that moved me to near tears a few times. I now cannot get the songs out of my head. (They’ve also since released another CD together called The Swell Season, which I want to check out.)

I really recommend watching the movie before listening to any of the music on its own. But if you really think you’ll never watch the movie, here’s a taste of what you’re missing.

[Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova]
[When Your Mind's Made Up - Glen Hansard and, Marketa Irglova]

I am absolutely buying the soundtrack. And then I’m moving to Ireland and starting a band.

An MP3 for Friday.

admin — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:41:00 +0000

I probably will be laughed at by some for liking this song, and even moreso for liking a lot of songs I’ve listened to by the band, Needtobreathe.

But whatever. So what if it was featured in the film P.S. I Love You, which was so schmaltzy that nearly made me roll my eyes a couple of times? (Though it still ended up making me teary – maybe because I like Irish dudes…) So what if this band is popular with Southern, alternative Christian music types? So what if their sound is a little more mainstream and poppy than the music I have lately been absorbed in?

So what? I like the song anyhow. It makes me feel dreamy. It makes me think of the movie, and how parts of it touched me.

So I’m going to share it.

[More Time - Needtobreathe]

Some quotes I’ve been digging lately

admin — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:08:00 +0000

“The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

-Aristotle