To Karl and Elaine Stone we are grateful! Thank you for your snail-mail donation.
And to Don and Jean Stone, a thousand thanks for your contribution!
We've raised SO MUCH MONEY!! We're 83% of the way to our goal. Keep it coming, all!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
A month to go!
Hey starpilgrim, thanks for the previous post! It got me thinking... I think I'll post abot a few good books on mental illness as well.
But first, a shout-out to our latest snail-mail donors:
All the way from Rochester, MI, many thanks to the Romito's!
One of starpilgrims folks, Thelma Roher, many thanks for supporting us all the way from Indiana!
George and Nancy Lambert from Syracuse, NY -- thanks for donating!
and lastly but not leastly...
To Emily Wampler of Bridgewater, VA -- thanks for the note and for your donation!
We've got a month to go and have almost reached our goal! Maybe we can surpass it? We shall see!
But first, a shout-out to our latest snail-mail donors:
All the way from Rochester, MI, many thanks to the Romito's!
One of starpilgrims folks, Thelma Roher, many thanks for supporting us all the way from Indiana!
George and Nancy Lambert from Syracuse, NY -- thanks for donating!
and lastly but not leastly...
To Emily Wampler of Bridgewater, VA -- thanks for the note and for your donation!
We've got a month to go and have almost reached our goal! Maybe we can surpass it? We shall see!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Book Review #1
One of my favorite books about mental illness is Get Me Out of Here, by Rachel Reiland. It is a memoir of a woman who has borderline personality disorder and seeks out psychoanalysis to help her overcome it. Some people find the detail / plot slow, but I found it fascinating, as she gives a sometimes play-by-play description of what goes on, both in therapy and outside of it. It fosters compassion for a person with borderline's plight, as it intimates quite well the difficulty of the inner situation. In my work at the farm, people with borderline personality disorder have been some of the most amazing and intelligent and wonderful people, but also some of the most dramatic and confusing and frustrating people. Most folk with borderline personality disorder have trauma history, and so there is often a very dark inner world that mixes with a very compelling way of being in the outer world. This book helped me have compassion and understanding, and I would recommend it to anyone seeking to learn more about either borderline personality disorder.
It was also my introduction to psychoanalysis as a concept, and I found it very helpful in that regard. Yes, psychoanalysis is the dr. taking notes and the patient lying on a couch, just as you probably imagine it. It is also usually 4 times a week, 1 hour each session. The idea is that by not facing the analyst, the person in therapy gets more of a chance to be free to share without inhibition and even to project other relationships onto the analyst. When the patient "goes a little crazy on" the analyst (as is bound to happen because of the intensity of analysis), the analyst and the patient get a chance to look at old patterns, to understand them together, and to find other ways to encounter them that aren't as destructive as the old patterns perhaps were. The Freudian bent means that analysis recognizes a subconscious that makes meaning of actions and reactions in a way that the conscious mind is not aware of. Psychoanalysis is a fascinating field of psychology, and Get Me Out of Here is a good beginner's introduction to it.
So that is your first psychology / mental health book review... I'll see if I can get my running cohorts to post some of their favorite books, as well... stay tuned.
It was also my introduction to psychoanalysis as a concept, and I found it very helpful in that regard. Yes, psychoanalysis is the dr. taking notes and the patient lying on a couch, just as you probably imagine it. It is also usually 4 times a week, 1 hour each session. The idea is that by not facing the analyst, the person in therapy gets more of a chance to be free to share without inhibition and even to project other relationships onto the analyst. When the patient "goes a little crazy on" the analyst (as is bound to happen because of the intensity of analysis), the analyst and the patient get a chance to look at old patterns, to understand them together, and to find other ways to encounter them that aren't as destructive as the old patterns perhaps were. The Freudian bent means that analysis recognizes a subconscious that makes meaning of actions and reactions in a way that the conscious mind is not aware of. Psychoanalysis is a fascinating field of psychology, and Get Me Out of Here is a good beginner's introduction to it.
So that is your first psychology / mental health book review... I'll see if I can get my running cohorts to post some of their favorite books, as well... stay tuned.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Starpilgrim update
It's been a while since I've posted, so I wanted to give everyone an update...
I've traveled a bit this summer and had the chance to run in the Colorado Rockies (if you want a beautiful challenge, no place better!) and in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland (how often do you get to see a seal colony in the middle of a run!?)
The biggest update for me is that I am leaving Gould Farm soon, to work in a community in Scotland for a year. Though I leave the farm in person, I fully intend to stay connected in spirit to the farm, as it has had such an important and immeasurable impact on my life.
And never fear, marathon supporters -- I will still run on behalf of the farm, but in a different race. October 5th is the Loch Ness Marathon that begins at the south end of Loch Ness, runs the length of the loch along the southwest side, and finishes in the middle of Inverness. This race puts me running three weeks before the others, but I have stepped up my training so that I feel confident that I will be able to run the full marathon on the 5th. And I will certainly be telling anyone who will listen over there about Gould Farm, the reason for my running the race, and all the people who have supported our efforts.
And we are still awaiting confirmation, but I think there is a new Gould Farm volunteer (or perhaps a two-person team) who will be taking my registration in the Cape Cod Marathon.
Thank you so much for your donations and encouragement!
I've traveled a bit this summer and had the chance to run in the Colorado Rockies (if you want a beautiful challenge, no place better!) and in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland (how often do you get to see a seal colony in the middle of a run!?)
The biggest update for me is that I am leaving Gould Farm soon, to work in a community in Scotland for a year. Though I leave the farm in person, I fully intend to stay connected in spirit to the farm, as it has had such an important and immeasurable impact on my life.
And never fear, marathon supporters -- I will still run on behalf of the farm, but in a different race. October 5th is the Loch Ness Marathon that begins at the south end of Loch Ness, runs the length of the loch along the southwest side, and finishes in the middle of Inverness. This race puts me running three weeks before the others, but I have stepped up my training so that I feel confident that I will be able to run the full marathon on the 5th. And I will certainly be telling anyone who will listen over there about Gould Farm, the reason for my running the race, and all the people who have supported our efforts.
And we are still awaiting confirmation, but I think there is a new Gould Farm volunteer (or perhaps a two-person team) who will be taking my registration in the Cape Cod Marathon.
Thank you so much for your donations and encouragement!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Mailed donations trickling in!
To those folks sending checks through the mail, we're slowly recieving your contributions. It is a good day when I get an envelope in my box addressed to "cape cod marathoners". To the following folks, a thousand thanks:
The Kuzmas from Holly, MI, who donated "In memory of the late Ray Bennett".
John Otenesak from Harrisonburg, VA.
Janet McKee from Bethesda, MD.
and
Carrie Schaffner, from Cincinnati, OH.
And one more online donation from Nathan Yaple, who donated from a tiny island off the West Coast!
Thank you, ALL!!
P.S. Today is August 26th! That means exactly 2 months and we'll be in Cape Cod. Wahoo!
The Kuzmas from Holly, MI, who donated "In memory of the late Ray Bennett".
John Otenesak from Harrisonburg, VA.
Janet McKee from Bethesda, MD.
and
Carrie Schaffner, from Cincinnati, OH.
And one more online donation from Nathan Yaple, who donated from a tiny island off the West Coast!
Thank you, ALL!!
P.S. Today is August 26th! That means exactly 2 months and we'll be in Cape Cod. Wahoo!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
