tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62761112008-09-20T08:29:10.275-04:00:: narrative ::A study weblog for posts and ponderings about narrative applications in helping professionsKatherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comBlogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-35846746017895882552008-09-20T08:17:00.003-04:002008-09-20T08:29:10.450-04:00The big story of a life
Look at the book I just ordered from Amazon.com! I'm very excited about it. This morning first thing I read today's Writer's Almanac email newsletter (which I always do) and discovered today is the anniversary of the day Magellan's crew (18 remaining of 270) made it back to Spain, completing the first successful circumnavigation of the globe. On board was a quiet scholar Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-82861998996636812622008-09-16T08:42:00.002-04:002008-09-16T08:57:43.877-04:00A History of Healing
I received this link from a post on the Narrative Medicine listserv this morning: Mental Health Survivors' Movements. It's really a fascinating look at the development of mental health reform and growth in the U.K., from 1845 to the present day. The site offers a staggering number of links and resources--it's perfect if you're preparing a presentation, paper, or simply want Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-20595582777931861522008-09-13T07:17:00.002-04:002008-09-13T07:28:27.946-04:00Life as (a Prerequisite for) Art
I found this story from today's Writer's Almanac fascinating: "It's the birthday of Roald Dahl, born in Llandaff, South Wales (1916). He was sent off to private boarding schools as a kid, which he hated except for the chocolates, Cadbury chocolates. The Cadbury chocolate company had chosen his school as a focus group for new candies they were developing. Every so Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-75613882808102576102008-09-11T20:31:00.001-04:002008-09-11T20:31:23.538-04:00Who are you?
The more I notice stories around me, the more they begin to multiply and expand and move and change. Stories are very organic, living things--moving almost like streams through consciousness, sometimes full and expansive, sometimes barely trickling and drying up. A person with little access to his or her own story is like a dry creekbed. A person with a rich, rolling, full storyline Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-41964389603001314042008-07-10T11:59:00.003-04:002008-07-10T12:03:35.658-04:00Stories Aren't Words
If you have four free moments, take a look at this video clip from YouTube: Where in the Hell is Matt?. Talk about a profound way to connect everyone in one joyful, moving story!
Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-68688961216253556942008-05-10T11:47:00.003-04:002008-05-10T11:57:15.920-04:00Endings
Partly because of finishing grad school (yay), partly because of the passing of Michael White, and partly because it's been a year since my dad died, I've been thinking a lot about endings lately. Today as I drove my son's friend home, I noticed that the three sister cows I always enjoy seeing along that route weren't out in the pasture this year. I discovered that the barn where the pigsKatherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-26666692893330822462008-04-13T15:26:00.003-04:002008-04-13T15:37:31.187-04:00Remembering Michael White
A really sad event happened this week in the narrative therapy community. Michael White passed away suddenly on April 5 after a collapse the day before. Worldwide services are being held at sunset in a number of different countries around the globe this week to remember Michael and his family during this time. Here is a link to the Dulwich Centre Web site with more Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-79489157587851406732007-11-04T12:19:00.000-05:002007-11-04T12:21:19.421-05:00More on Conversations
Thanks to those of you who participated in the first set of interview questions for my new book on conversations! Here's the link to the second and final set of survey questions: Conversations survey, part 2
Please feel free to share this link with anyone you think might be interested. The more, the merrier!
:) kKatherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-52137070929679727072007-10-21T14:12:00.000-04:002007-10-21T14:13:01.913-04:00Want to be interviewed?
Hi! I'm beginning to research a new project on the dynamics and effects of conversation. I've created a simple survey--would you be willing to participate? It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes. All responses are confidential (I don't ask anything scary, anyway) and if I choose to quote you, I'll send you an e-mail message asking your permission first.
Here's the link, andKatherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-34666927071850871332007-08-31T07:50:00.000-04:002007-08-31T08:03:09.076-04:00Here like the "here" in this sentence
Great poem on Writer's Almanac this morning:
Poem: "After Reading T'ao Ch'ing, I wander Untethered Through the Short Grass" by Charles Wright, from Appalachia. © Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.
After Reading T'ao Ch'ing, I wander Untethered Through the Short Grass
Dry spring, no rain for five weeks.
Already the lush green begins to bow its head and sinkKatherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-88860848471273669012007-08-24T09:43:00.001-04:002007-08-24T09:45:54.508-04:00Imaginary Friends
I was checking in on the Dulwiche Centre site this morning to see what new things they are doing in the area of narrative, and I found this delightful article. I love the idea of creating the relationships with loving energy as a precursor to people coming to fill those roles. Enjoy.
Imaginary Friends: Who are they? Who needs them?, by Emily Betterton & David EpstonKatherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-65079127040544503152007-08-05T11:04:00.000-04:002007-08-05T11:25:14.171-04:00Ancestors and the Book of Learning
I read a quote from Chogyam Trungpa this morning and it got me thinking. He suggested we look at the way our ancestors were able (or not) to deal with issues like ego and neurosis (which is what he calls pain). There seems always to be a tension between the ages--we don't want to do what our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents did (we live in the "modern" Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-42252590754483297402007-07-18T19:58:00.000-04:002007-07-18T20:10:40.571-04:00Themes of Home
My son and I traveled 1600 miles to visit my brother and his family last week. We had a great time, seeing new places, visiting with family, going to special events, and just being together. I was very aware of all the feelings churning around inside the "leaving home" experience--all the newness, discomfort, worry (will we make the flight? Will security be scary? Will we be Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-9645857854555701452007-07-04T12:00:00.000-04:002007-07-04T12:30:25.630-04:00Freedom Rings
Last night we went to see Symphony on the Prairie, a family tradition on the Fourth of July. But last night was different--strange, somehow. Perhaps it's because of the massive and pervasive conflict of feelings about the U.S. involvement in Iraq, the administration, and our general sense of agency and responsibility as a nation, but the flag-waving, banner-raising, Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-31799074686747880212007-06-28T08:55:00.000-04:002007-06-28T09:17:22.905-04:00
A great (and fun) narrative study
If I were teaching a class on narrative, I would design a couple of classes around Stranger Than Fiction. I just watched it last night with my sons and it is wonderful! You'll find all the elements of First Order awareness...it is a story conscious of itself. It weaves together the mystical and the possible with the limiting and the joyless and comes up with Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-26641960195556955632007-06-27T09:11:00.000-04:002007-06-27T09:19:09.856-04:00Notes and Themes
Last night I found an old notebook from a few years ago in which I'd jotted bits of conversation and highlighted themes. I had recorded a bit of an overheard "first date" at a coffeeshop, where a man talked in depth about his sleep apnea to his wilting listener. I'd reflected on a conversation with a man I'd just met whose story was filled with "they won't let me do it" themes--Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-33712654150272100392007-06-05T11:47:00.001-04:002007-06-05T11:59:20.783-04:00Naming "Too-Muchness"
In an email conversation with a friend this morning, she mentioned the phrase "too-muchness" and to me it was like ringing a bell. What a powerful name for something many of us can identify with. Especially if you work in the helping professions--or you in any way invest your energies in trying to make the world a better place--you can be overwhelmed with a sense of "Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-74553019249114187652007-05-23T08:46:00.000-04:002007-05-23T08:49:28.230-04:00Fascinating NYT article on narrative
Thanks to Jim Higginbotham, pastoral care professor at ESR, for sending this: This Is Your Life (and How Your Tell It). This article is definitely worth signing up for free NYT online account, if you don't already have one.Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-43210405879641451622007-04-05T08:30:00.000-04:002007-04-05T08:33:32.210-04:00Embracing Our Stories
This is a perfect poem for anyone who works with other people and wants to find creative and living ways to approach the themes of separation and reconciliation. It is so wonderful and true--what if we turn to embrace our whole lives, with all the fleeting appearances of greatness and smallness, visible and hidden? This is a wonderful work. I hope you enjoy it. [source: Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-69737659296748072512007-03-31T09:35:00.000-04:002007-03-31T09:37:13.797-04:00What We Are to Each Other
This poem, which arrived in this morning's Writers' Almanac, took my breath away. It seems to me to perfectly reflect the mystical connection and reflection, the holy service we offer and receive from one another. Take a look:
Tracks
by Marge Piercy, from The Crooked Inheritance
The small birds leave cuneiform
messages on the snow: I have
been here, I am hungry, I
Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-62288115324660480642007-03-07T09:40:00.000-05:002007-03-07T09:44:34.728-05:00Teen and Parent Stories
If you work with teenagers and/or their parents, you may be interested in downloading the free e-book I just published: Stay in Touch with Your Teen. I wrote this book to tell the stories of the teenagers I knew who had green hair, pierced everything, and the counterculture look. My intention was to help parents understand what was going on inside these kids--what they Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-49571488724246130882007-02-28T08:48:00.000-05:002007-02-28T08:55:16.984-05:00In Search of the Opponent
Yesterday in a conversation with a friend he described his evolving understanding of life as a kind of chess game, meaning each move represents a choice that could turn out to be critical--or perhaps relatively unimportant and pawnish--to the safety of the king and queen. I began wondering about the opponent. If life is a chess game, who are we playing against?
I agree Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-1170349575291168122007-02-01T12:00:00.000-05:002007-02-01T12:06:15.306-05:00Themes of Peace
Here's an interesting poem from Writer's Almanac this morning: "At the Un-National Monument Along the Canadian Border" by William Stafford, from The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems. © Graywolf Press.
At the Un-National Monument Along the Canadian Border
This is the field where the battle did not happen,
where the unknown soldier did not die.
This is the field where grass Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-1168738627736786762007-01-13T20:28:00.000-05:002007-01-13T20:37:07.793-05:00Wondering about Dreamwork
This morning as I was working with my dreams, a thought occurred to me. Jung believed that the anima/animus and shadow often presented themselves in our dreams; he also felt that archetypes were particularly powerful dream characters. Ultimately, he felt that our dreams compensated for something--an idea, belief, action--we weren't aware of in our waking life, helping usKatherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276111.post-1168608413545639212007-01-12T08:21:00.000-05:002007-01-12T08:29:18.143-05:00The Art of Storytelling
This poem was in today's Writer's Almanac--and it's so true! In my family, we have strong women stories. My great-great grandmother took her daughter from Kentucky to Oklahoma after her husband died and started a boarding house on the edge of what was then Oklahoma territory. My great-grandma was a year too young to participate in the land rush, but she saw it all, as Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00232396177458297322noreply@blogger.com