..And so is resistance.
Sorry for the lack of stuff around here. I'm trying to write a review of Jeffrey Nealon's Foucault Beyond Foucault for possible inclusion in a journal, and that's taking up all my brain power. Well, that and the fact I'm in one of my "want to crawl in a hole and disappear" moods.
All the art fairs are happening in LA this weekend so that might be a good diversion. I'll snap out of it. Promise.
I've made a surprising discover lately regarding narrative practice and the business world. I've read two business books over the last couple of months and it seems to me that narrative ideas are beginning to bleed into corporate America in a surprising way. Now how is it that capitalist's are more accommodating to narrative ideas then our own mental health practitioners? Not sure, but a little of what I have found follows:
Exhibit A: Tell To Win: Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story by Peter Guber. Yes, it has the unfortunate "win at all costs" title that sells books in our culture, but inside what you find might surprise you. Some of the headings in the book include;
The Beauty of Metaphors
Witnessed Experience
The Hidden Power of Backstories
What Fuels Emotional Transportation
Playing The Story Forward
I would argue that you could find several of those headings or similar, in many books about narrative practice. This book still suffers from the discourse of competition and ideas about winning in business, but it was surprising all the same.
Exhibit B: REWORK by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson. We all know how narrative practitioners love to put RE in front of everything, Re-author, Re-story, Re-whatever, its become code for narrative practiced here. Well now there's Re-work. The authors, not narrative folk by any means, have done a very nice job of building quit a counter story to many of the dominant discourses that have floated around business for quite some time, unexamined. Some of their headings include;
Don't Be a Hero
Reasons To Quit
Throw Less at The Problem
Welcome Obscurity
Make Tiny Decisions
Go To Sleep
Yes, they do still fall into several dominant ideas out there in the business world but for the most part, they work to build an effective counter story for much of the discourse that still commands corporate America.
So I'm on the look out for that next book that moves these ideas further into the business world. Maybe it could be mine. I mean, I do have some material I could start pulling together...
I'm on a bit of a kick, and I'm never reading one book at a time.
Jeff Shartlet is one of the people behind the website Killing The Buddha, of which I've become a fairly regular reader. Because I'm on a sort of journey myself, I'm looking forward to Sweet Heaven When I Die, Shartlet's tour of religion in all its complexity, its messiness, and its wild parts.
For those that don't know, I'm sort of a political junkie. I think it started when I ran for student council in the third grade. Fortunately for me, my background will keep me from actually running for anything, but I still fantasize about it. A year from now we will be voting for a president again, so I thought I'd get in the spirit of the crazy season by reading Chris Matthews new book on Jack Kennedy. What are you reading?
There's probably four books I've saved from my time in grad school, minus the narrative stuff that was not from any class. The books I held onto include; McGoldrick & Hardy's Re-Visioning Family Therapy, Goldenberg & Goldenberg's classic, and probably my favorite, Collaborative Therapy with Multi-Stressed Families by Bill Madsen. All from Dr. Amy Tuttle's classes I might add.
From time to time I am asked by people I work with to help provide assessment documentation for various social work agencies or the courts. When I first started to write these types of documents it was always my intention to do a strength based assessment rather than a "professional discourse" assessment that often times leaves no room for the clients experience or words. I always tried to honor the clients experience when writing these documents, but felt that I was missing something. Several months back in one of Anne Arnold's consultation groups the topic was narrative documents. It was during this group that Anne read some examples of professional documents she had written where the clients voice was moved front and center.
This week I was asked to write a document for a client for an agency and rather than doing just a strength based assessment, I asked if I could include her words in the document. She agreed, and I went back to the Madsen's book to help guide my questions. In the book Madsen has great examples of questions that can be asked around professional documents. The collaboration went great and we were able to put together a great document detailing her experience of putting a family back together, change, and a good and healthy life. If you don't have Bill Madsen's book I highly reccommend you pick up a copy. It's a vision changer. Or better yet, new consultation groups are forming at the Narrative Project of Orange County where you can come learn how to do these types of documents in person. Ask me for details.
Thanks to Ash Rehn for pointing me in the direction of this opportunity to download David Epston's book Down under and up over: Travels with narrative therapy for free.
'Down under', contains previously published work from different periods of David Epston's writing career. As always, each chapter reflects David's creativity, and at times those of his co-writers. Part two, 'Up over', contains six examples of David Epston's current work, all of which are printed here for the first time, including inventive approaches to chronic bed-wetting, relationships between children and their estranged fathers, court reports, stealing, and sibling conflicts, as well as a long chapter on Anti-Anorexia, a subject close to David Epston's heart.
Get a copy HERE.
It's nice to see that there is a growing counter movement to the current epidemic of mental illness, the exploding use of antidepressants, and the growing influence of the pharmaceutical industry. I highly recommend that all DB readers take a look at Marcia Angell's review of three new books that take on different aspects of the epidemic of mental illness. These new books question if antidepressants work, if psychoactive drugs create worse problems than they solve, and begin to detail how the psychiatric profession has allied itself with, and is manipulated by, the pharmaceutical industry.
The shift from “talk therapy” to drugs as the dominant mode of treatment coincides with the emergence over the past four decades of the theory that mental illness is caused primarily by chemical imbalances in the brain that can be corrected by specific drugs. - “It now seems beyond question that the traditional account of depression as a chemical imbalance in the brain is simply wrong.” - Read More Here
At the conference I attended last Friday there was a workshop titled Cognitive-Behavioral/Narrative Therapy Group Treatment for.... I didn't attend. It has been my experience that there is a wide interest in learning about narrative therapy, but very little opportunity to learn narrative practice and theory in any rich, meaningful way. So what eventually happens is that when someone learns I practice narrative therapy I'll hear comments such as "so you're not the expert" or "externalizing is a nice technique" or "works great with kids." Thin descriptions of narrative practice tend to be the rule, rather than the exception.
So needless to say I was delighted after reading Narrative Therapy, the new book on narrative theory and practice by Stephen Madigan. Madigan's new book will be definitive text on narrative history, theory, and practice for sometime to come. Damn, It's worth the price just to have Foucault made understandable. There really is something for everyone here, from deep history and theory, to a wealth of potential questions, and an understanding of why you're asking those questions, for those that want to walk away with something they can bring right to their practice.
Recently I was at a conversation with David Epston where he mentioned that "Foucault never sent an email." I love that quote and have been carrying it with me for a while. If there's one thing that I find missing in the book, it is how technology and mass/social media will play a large part in the future developments of narrative practice. I mean, who writes a letter anymore? Our world is changing fast, and so will our practice, look at what mass/social media has brought about in the Middle East, astonishing.
There's so much in this new book by Madigan that I'm sure I will read and re-read it many times over. If you're interested in nothing less than the complete celebration of the other. Give it a read.
Never forget the power of a word.
I've been considering George Orwell lately. I typically bring him up when Michele breaks out her Kindle. Now, I'm no conspiracy theorist, but the thought of all our great literature and ideas being digitized, and therefore easily manipulated, has me always thinking of Orwell. Call me crazy, but you can have your eReader, and I will keep my books thank you. I like to turn a page.
I wanted to let everybody know that a new Michael White publication, Continuing Conversations, is available for pre-order over at Amazon. The new book is a collection of the work he left behind—writings on: turning points in therapy, conversations, and therapist responsibility, couples therapy, and narrative responses to trauma.
So much of Women's history is lost - Laurel Corona
That was one of the many memorable quotes from the writers workshop I attended yesterday. This week my friend Bruce invited me to the regular OC get together of the So Cal Writers Association. I was curious so I decided to tag along. The event was a moderated round-table, discussing the art, craft, and business of writing from three perspectives. The panel had a New York Times best selling espionage thriller writer, a historical fiction writer, and a former Pulitzer Prize winner who writes investigative non-fiction. It was very informative and inspiring. I have, for years, thought about writing. Sure, I have had a couple of poems published in literary journals, but I have always fantasized about writing a book. I suppose I'm not the only one.
I left the discussion with new inspiration, but I also left with many questions. For instance, what kind of book should I write? Should I tackle a few ideas I have around a non-fiction book? Or should I really go for it, and take on fiction? Then I thought about a piece of advice that all the writers could agree on, just sit down and write.
Yeah, that's probably the first step.
Now that graduate school is over I've started the process of doing a few things that I had put off for the last couple of years. Over a year ago a friend had invited me to participate in a "spiritual" reading group. I really wanted to participate but was unable, because of time constraints. I really liked that idea of tackling spiritual writing, old and new, and having lively conversations about what we read. I also thought it would be a break from all the therapy and theory stuff I was reading.
Well I was invited again now that school is done and I enthusiastically said yes! Then was told that I should pick the first book the group will read this year. Pressure! Well, I gave it some thought and decided to suggest a book I have already read. And some of you might be surprised that it wasn't a Buddhist related book.
The book I chose was Here if You Need Me by Kate Braestrup. Braestrup was a middle-aged mother who was suddenly widowed, then became a Unitarian-Universalist minister, and now works as chaplain to game wardens in Maine. Braestrup tells stories of lost children, suicides, drunken accidents and a murder, always confronting and considering the big questions brought about by tragic events. It was a book that stayed with me for a long time.
I have become more interested in books where I wont find words like enlightenment, transcendence, or especially mindfulness. I am now looking for writing that takes on the task of how we face and contend with the crazy life that we are all asked to live, and how we do that more fully, and with deeper understanding. Escape no longer holds me like it used too.
I'm looking forward to revisting this great book. Are there any other books you would recommend?? Following is a little video about the book..
Some of you may not know that one of my favorite places in the world is any book store. Well before I left for Dallas last week I ventured over to Barnes & Noble and was walking through the aisles when a certain book called out to me, stopped me in my tracks, and said READ ME. I tend to follow directions when books talk to me like that so I picked it up, gave it the once over and took it to the counter. Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup is a true story and that's about all I'm going to tell you about it. I was a little concerned that this book was going to be "churchy" but it is everything but that. For a small sample please view the video below to hear her definition of God and then go out and get the book. Two Thumbs Up! It's a very powerful book.
Looks like I might have to take a look at this book. Six figures from blogging? You mean I could sit in my room all day on the computer? Isn't that what I do here at the office all day anyway?? Don't I really need to get off the computer and go outside? hmmmm
Have no fear artists, the future is yours!
Tomorrow I'll be attending a luncheon put on by Arts Orange County that will feature Dan Pink author of the recent book Whole New Mind. I've been a fan of Mr. Pink's since he wrote the book Free Agent Nation so I'm looking forward to this talk.
In his new book he makes the argument that "the workplace terrain is changing yet again, and power will inevitably shift to people who possess strong right brain qualities."
Looks good for you artists. More info can be had here.
I was driving around at lunch today and caught the interview of Andrew Bridge on NPR. He was also in the LA Times this morning. You can catch the NPR interview here. If you are feeling down and in a little self pity, take a listen. Powerful.
I first picked up a copy of Monocle at the newsstand in South Coast Plaza a few months back and was impressed right away. For those interested in art, design, culture, business with an international focus you can't go wrong with this fairly new magazine. And as someone who still prefers a newspaper or magazine to the Internet I'm happy to support the new endeavor. Although the $150 subscription rate was a first. For those that don't want to fork over the steep subscription rate there's always your local newsstand or their informative website.
I tell people all the time that I'm usually reading about 5 different books at the same time. That's just how I do it.
Below is a pic of my nightstand. Tonight my wife mentioned that one of the gifts I can get her this Xmas is an agreement that I only keep 4 books/magazines on the nightstand at any one time. This drives her crazy:
Guess what she's not getting this year??
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