#shrinkrants

[protoslacker]

Liz Sostre lovingly described her husband as a "very complicated" man. He was smart, funny and principled. He saw widespread injustice in the world, but he was optimistic that it could be fixed. He was a champion of the poor, but he dismissed people who said "money is evil" as people who usually had it. Money was a good thing, he said. The problem was that not everyone had enough of it.

Liz Sostre quoted in a report at NPR CodeSwitch (April 2017) by Joseph Shapiro. How One Inmate Changed The Prison System From The Inside

This morning Shrinkrants at Bluesky linked to an upcoming book release event for A Continuous Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Martin Sostre by Garrett Feiber.

I was eagerto learn a little about Martin Sostre and found Joseph Shapiro's report. It's really great and really gives a sense why a biography of Martin Sostre has been so anticipated.

Note from AK Press: For each copy of A Continuous Struggle preordered from AK Press or Burning Books, we'll send a free copy of the paperback Incarcerated Readers' Edition to someone in prison

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Nicholas Kalmakoff - The Underworld Voyage, 1911

[Guillaume Gris]

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In all kinds of healing practices, at least in West Africa, the idea is that knowledge is precious, and you learn it over a long period of time. In time, you become the custodian of that knowledge. Your greatest obligation, however, is to pass that knowledge onto the next generation. If the knowledge is correct, it will continue to be used. Everything that I’ve written about my teacher and my own experiences as his apprentice, has been an attempt to convey the wonder of the world he exposed me to. My hope is that my work will in some way ensure that this knowledge will not disappear. My hope is that Adamu Jenitongo’s wise practices will persevere and that they will be recognized, appreciated, and extended to the issues that we face today in the world.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, An anthropologist schooled in spiritual healing offers wisdom for troubled times. By Anna Badkhen 

(via shrinkrants)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

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[Thanks to shrinkrants]

via Greg Mitchell:

Andrew Coyne, a columnist for the venerable Globe and Mail in Toronto has written some terrific things about Trump, but this one had special urgency:

I wonder if we have underestimated the gravity of the situation the democratic world faces…..The United States, under Mr. Trump, cannot be considered an idle bystander in the great twilight struggle between the democracies and the dictatorships, as it was in the 1930s. It is now on the side of the dictatorships. The United States that openly threatens to invade Panama or Denmark – or to annex Canada – has not just stepped outside international law, including the basic Westphalian proscription of attempts to alter borders by force. Neither does a country that launches trade wars on a different country every day, including countries with which it has longstanding free trade treaties, reveal a simple lack of commitment to a rules-based approach to international trade. It is engaged in an all-out assault on both. It has become an outlaw state. And in this regard, too, it is aligning itself with the dictatorships. That is what dictatorships do. It is intrinsic to their nature. Just as they refuse to be bound by law internally so they recognize no law in their dealings with other states. It is not just that the democratic world can no longer count on America. It is that America, under Mr. Trump, is no longer necessarily part of the democratic world: neither fully democratic in its own affairs, nor committed to the welfare of other democracies, but hostile to both. If the international order is to be preserved, then, it will have to be preserved, in part, from the United States. Certainly it will have to be rebuilt without it. Which means abandoning all attempts to propitiate Mr. Trump on military matters, in hopes of “keeping NATO together,” that is with the United States in it. Not only will that do nothing to strengthen NATO, an organization to which Mr. Trump is viscerally opposed, but our desire to strike a deal only invites him to use it against us, as an instrument of blackmail. We need to face some unpleasant facts. NATO, as a transatlantic democratic alliance, is dead. Henceforth the defence of Europe will be the responsibility of Europe. (And the defence of Canada? Wedged as we are between the United States and Russia, with the North an increasingly tempting prize? We better get some allies, fast.) The same applies to the World Trade Organization, or any of the other instruments of international co-operation developed after the Second World War, in which the United States played such a constructive part: they will have to be reconstituted, de jure or de facto, without it. We will need new defence alignments, different trade arrangements, the works. That is not our choice. That is America’s, or at least the Trump administration’s. The democratic world must therefore regard and treat it as it does the other non-democracies: not as an ally to be consulted but as an adversary to be contained.

[narrativetherapy-blog]

The Little Sacraments of Daily Existence 

Surprises can be cultivated. Gary Snyder, in his book The Real Work, shows that the real work of a poet is to live with an attentiveness to one’s immediate context that is open and responsive to the poetry there. In narrative therapy, we attend to people’s lives, and the predicaments that bring them to therapy, listening, looking, and feeling for details that hint at possibilities that transcend their problem-dominated experience. 

I had one of those lovely moments today, as I was scrolling back through some of my previous posts on shrinkrants. I found the following quote from Pierre Bourdeau about Erving Goffman. 

In reading it, I flashed on another quote, one that Michael White was fond of:

To find these four men (this post is feeling pretty white male at this point) from different continents converging so as to echo and complexify each other’s points--I just had to share it. I’m wishing that it bind not just white men, but women, people who identify somehow else, and people of all colors into action toward bending the arc of justice toward hope.

[constellations-soc]

Hi, cheers for the message - and its good to see you are back. A lot of the accounts from a couple of years back are now either gone or dead. I only follow 80 folk these days, and I suspect a good number of them are dead accounts. Browsing through the list of those I follow and seeing a lot that have not posted for 1 year or more! Of those that have posted within the last month and might be of interest:

deleuzenotes

karlmarxquotes

dailymarx

shrinkrants

rhizmobie

everydayhybridity

socio-logic

rumagin

Because of the number of accounts that have become inactive I have actually been meaning for a while to make a post asking for any follow recommendations. If anyone knows any accounts worth following that cover sociology (and the social sciences more generally) or philosophy etc please leave a comment. Particularly, interested in any recommendations of folk who post quotes, links to articles, original content etc rather than reblogs, images, and gifs.

[md-admissions]

Do you know of any Psychiatrists on tumblr? I'm really having trouble figuring out whether I want to do psychiatry, psychology, or PA and work in psychology, and if there's anyone here who would be willing to answer questions, that would be great!

@shrinkrants is the first who comes to mind! Psychiatry people, shout out!!

[shrinkrants]

It's music day here on Shrinkrants. Listen to Willie & Sinead. Don't give up:

[medicalstate]

Tailored Presentations: Replies

Thumri: I like this post and think it is true, but from my experience, all of medical education is designed to help us avoid what you describe as the pain and shame of not knowing. I would be interested to know what you think would be a better way to summarize quickly and communicate about complicated patients.

ShrinkRants: ...I do wish standard medical practice were different. These tips, and the condensed presentations given as examples, are shot through and through with impersonal “objective” language. Such language hides the subjective nature of its collection. It works directly against any reflection on the discourses that shape what is included and excluded. It is all about knowing. The tips are offered in service of helping presenters look and feel knowledgable and avoid the shame of not knowing. The people the presentations describe are not present as people, as living breathing, hoping, fearing persons. They are reduced to a collection of facts, signs, and symptoms. This is not, cannot in this form be, “patient-centered medicine.” Until we as a profession change our everyday language, we will not be able to practice patient-centered medicine... (Read the rest at http://bit.ly/18M0bDz)

The shame of not knowing is pervasive but I would agree that it does not mean that it must remain an engrained part of this culture. There are positive ways of delivering feedback. It really depends on the doctor I work with. While subjectivity is generally excluded from these presentations, it helps bring the pertinent information to the forefront, the pieces that are most easily examined, investigated and followed. I always try my best to paint a picture of the person behind the presentation, to tell a story and not just a list of facts. From more descriptors to using a FIFE model to better understand this patient's subjective state, I try to keep them all intact, even if my audience is not completely interested. But the purpose is always to deliver concise presentation that informs enough for another doctor to draw his own conclusions and to do his job effectively. Having said that, some specialties simply do not lend well to subjective language at all in a presentation.

[wayfaringmd]

shrinkrants replied to your post: shrinkrants replied to your quote: She gets...

I’m sorry, I probably shouldn’t have said anything. I just get embarrassed when I think back on my residency days and remember saying things like this. They now seem to me to be making fun of people just because they don’t know a specialized jargon. It’s elevating of doctors…

I understand your concern, but I would never make fun of a patient in their presence or treat them in such a way as to make them feel stupid or "less than". And I really don't consider patient quotes as "making fun". I'm not posting quotes to call people ignorant or make them look bad--if I wanted to do that, I'd post their name. I think showing some of these pre-meds and med students how patients talk/think/act is a way to remind them to get on their patients' levels when interacting with them.

If I wanted to use this blog to elevate myself, I would. I'd write nothing but lies about perfect test scores and amazing accolades rather than write true posts about my struggles in medical school and residency. You of all people, as a shrink, would know that doctors need outlets just like everyone else, which is why I run this blog. And I keep it all anonymous in order to protect my patients. This blog is where I write and say all the things that I can't actually say out loud. 

So there that is. 

[protoslacker]

One Star Reviews

The wonderful Shrinkrants points to an essay by Nora Bateson, Communication is Sacred: Why changes happens in the spaces between us., which I would normally admire but for the context I cannot.

The essay is hosted as a guest post at Alexander Beiner's Substack, The Bigger Picture. At issue is a objection to a recent book by historian Benjamin Breen entitled, Tripping On Utopia" Margaret Mead, the Cold War and theTroubled Birth of Psychedelic Science, by Nora Bateson, Sevanne Kassarjian(Custodian: Mead's work), and other members of the Bateson Idea Group.

Nora Bateson published an open letter against Benjamin Breen's book. Beiner attempted to mediate the dispute between Bateson and Breen. Bateson apparently felt that responding to Breen's rebutal of her publisehd critique would lead to "an unending rabbit hole of bickering about old documents." So she decided to go "meta" or something in her essay.

Beiner helpfully points to Benjamin Breen's rebutal of Bateson's critique. Breen points to Bateson's critique on a one-star review of his book at GoodReads, as well as to one-star reviews on Amazon. A campaign by one-star reviews is dickishness, or in Bateson-speak, "schismogenetic." Disassociationg the Bateson Idea Group from such dickishness would have provided a different context for Bateson's essay.

Update Feb. 18, 2024:

The Wall Street Journal has published a letter by members of the Bateson Idea group responding to a review of Breen's book by Dominic Green. Both are behind the paywall so I can't see who signed the letter nor read Green's review.

My not being able to afford subscriptions to read the reviews in the WSJ, The New Yorker, and NYT, is good reason to discount anything I have to say about the Bateson Idea Group's negative campaign against Breen's book.

I wonder why I feel so butt-hurt over this affair? Nonetheless I am.

Certainly, I believe Gregory Bateson's and Margaret Mead's works and legacies are important. I also believe that accusing a scholar of falselhoods and manipulation of facts is a serious matter. Ad hominem attacks on Breen in lieu of substantive evidence are insufficient and unethical. It is espcieally strange given that the importance of "relationships" is central to Gregory Bateson's work as well at to Nora Bateson's and Phillip Guddemi's published writing.

It's that breech in that galls me so.

[protoslacker]

Al Green - How Can You Mend A Broken Heart (Official Audio)

Fat Possum Records

I always check to see what Shrinkrants posts. Today I learned about Nipun Mehta and Tiokasin Ghosthorse, neither of whom I'd heard of before. And from Tiokasin Ghosthorse reminded to reflect on Wakan Tanka of which I've heard, but surely do not know.

Music can touch my heart. In an interview with Tiokasin Ghosthorse in the Spring 2019 issue of Reflections something he said touched the soreness I feel over the calamity and suffering we are witnessing all around. I thought of this song as a kind of balm:

It’s not enough anymore to “do our best.” We have to do what’s required – a new way of thinking. Some people are ready for this. For others, I don’t think showing them the data will matter. You have to change the heart. If you can do that, you can change the body and the way people think about nature. It’s not sentimentalism. The earth moves for them. ~Tiokasin Ghosthorse

[protoslacker]

This is a strategy now known as Bargaining for the Common Good, which began with teachers’ unions, first in Chicago in their historic 2012 strike and then spreading to places like Los Angeles and St. Paul, where teachers have brought a variety of community demands to the bargaining table.

Sarah Jaffe at In These Times. The Most Important Labor Story Right Now Is in Minnesota—It Might Be the Model We All Need

A strategic alignment of major networks of unions and community groups in Minnesota have worked together for more than a decade to leverage their collective power.

Via Shrinkrants

I'm pretty sure I saw Tressie McMillan Cottom write something to the effect that when considering which candidate to vote for the deciding question she asks who would best represent the interests of a single Black mother? I thought that test aligns with my values and interests. It's so good to see the words "Common Good" these days. Deep down most people want everyone to live the best they can.

The strategy reported in this article is important.

[protoslacker]

Do What You Gotta Do (2021 Remaster)

Roberta Flack

I don't stop in at (X)Twitter much anymore, but recently when I did I saw a tweet by Roberta Flack with a snippett of this song. She asked if anyone could name the song. I couldn't so I fell into a rabbit hole.

Shrinkrants posted a video of Merle Haggard singing his song Footlights. Shrinkrants noted that Bob Dylan has been performing the song on his Rough and Rowdy Ways tour and suggested that Bob probably ought to have left the song for Merle. I'm more of the mind that songs are meant for singing.

Looking for the title of the song from the short clip Roberta Flack posted I found it's a Jimmy Webb song with many diverse artists recording it.

There's a wonderful interview by Rick Beato with Jimmy Webb up on Youtube., Wichita Lineman: Talking with Tunesmith Jimmy Webb. "Do What You Gotta Do" isn't mentioned in the interview, but the the interview does help to explain how The Four Tops, Johnny Rivers and Glenn Cambell recordings of the song came about. The interview really provides great insight into the history of popular music.

I did fall down a rabbit hole, and the trip took a strange turn, that feels too hard to connect back to this great song and performance. So I'll let it be.

[protoslacker]

I really enjoy Murieann Bradley's singing along with her confident guitar playing. In a perfomance at Acoustic Guitar Sessions, Muireann Bradley, Ireland’s Roots and Blues Prodigy she performs three songs from her new record, I Kept These Old Blues. She mentions that she first learned to sing the songs and loved singing them.

Shrinkrants enjoys Greg Mitchell's excellent newsletter Between Rock and a Hard Place. A friend of mine works at home and for many years has begun his work day by playing a record from his wonderful collection. Sometimes he posts what he plays to his Facebook. And he recently posted Gris-Gris by Dr. John. I remembered a great blog post about the record at The Music Afficianado. It's really wonderful blog and just learned that there are daily Facebook posts.

My brother-in-law just turned me on to Murieann Bradley. A very, very talented and tasteful young woman. I'm impressed. I have a deep love for the traditional blues she plays, and she plays them so, so well.

[protoslacker]

Scientists investigated the differences in genes for coat color of 31 ancient horse fossils from Siberia, Eastern and Western Europe and the Iberian Peninsula. The researchers found that a genetic mutation associated with the presence of white leopard-like spotting patterns on modern horses was present in six of the European horse fossils. Additionally, seven of the fossils had the genetic variation for black coat color, whereas 18 had bay coats.

As such, all the horse colors seen in these drawings have now been found to exist in prehistoric horse populations. The findings suggest that cave paintings of horses may be more realistic and less symbolic or fantastic than supposed.

[protoslacker]

Shrinkrants asks:  Can anyone tell me where this is from? It came across my feed with no identifiers. It fascinates me.

I don’t have an answer, but looking around sure has been fun. Clearly the image draws on the 25,000 year-old "The Dappled Horses of Pech-Merle.”

The hand prints are a familiar aspect of rock paintings, but something about this piece reminded me of Plains Indian art. That led me down a rather delightful rabbit hole. Here are a few links:

For These Native American Artists, the Material Is the Message A new exhibition traces the evolution of Plains tribes’ narrative art from the 18th century up through today’s contemporary works

Moving Pictures Plains Indian art at the Metropolitan Museum.

SEATTLE ART MUSEUM PAST EXHIBITIONS

The Seattle Art Museum page put the exhibition the previous links reference in context with other exhibitions of indigenous art. One of the exhibitions was of Ledger Art and here are a couple of links about that:

Milwaukee Public Museum: The Ledger Art Collection

Warrior's view of the Battle of the Little Bighorn on display at Stanford's Cantor Arts Center The Red Horse exhibition at the Cantor Arts Center provides a treasure trove of illustrations and insights on the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.

Finally a couple of links about the rock paintings in the Colombian Amazon which were recently disclosed:

Archaeologists Uncover Trove Of Ice Age Paintings In Colombian Amazon

Amazon rainforest rock art 'depicts giant Ice Age creatures'

My sense is the hunt for the image Shrinkrants posted might propose a bunch of other rabbit holes to follow.