gracefully insane | a history of mclean hospital ~ then & now | review

McClean hospital has long been a place for the elite. Since it’s founding and original location near Charlestown and eventual move to Watertown on the outskirts of Boston, McClean has had a certain panache that other institutions just don’t have, and we are talking here of mental institutions, or perhaps a more polite term, places where people can get some rest from life, take a breather, get the help that they need and set themselves back on track.

<>Unlike twelve-step programs and the like, McClean is by contrast almost a country club. Yes, certain wards are locked wards, and true enough, when the famous Olmstead designed it, he created myriad underground tunnels so that residents did not travel above ground from building to building, thereby lessening the odds of escape. The tunnels connect almost every building, save for a few, which had remained largely independent. (select link to read more...)

http://www.blogger.com/http://www.tantmieux.squarespace.com/sadi-ranson-polizzotti-article/2005/6/1/a-graceful-insantiy-book-review-about-mclean-hospital-belmont-massachusetts.html

http://gracefulinsanity.blogspot.com/

down came the rain | brooke shields on postpartum depression, a review

On the glossy, slick surface of things, it seems that actress and model Brooke Shields has led a life of privilege and success with few problems. Considered one of the great beauties and sex symbols of our time, Shields has consistently courted the image of herself as the girl with the “right” morality (remember how publicly Shields spoke out about virginity and cigarette smoking?) and the all-American girl next door.

As an actress, Shields managed to portray a highly sexualized young girl in the film Pretty Baby without tarnishing her lily white, so-pure-it-floats image and more, Shields possesses that rare beauty that seems effortless; that comes of good-breeding and chance. And while anyone else with those bushy dark eyebrows may look simply under-groomed or inelegant, on Shields they became part of her signature look, even lending a sexiness that simply didn’t work on most others. And more, whatever she did, whether it was modeling or acting or being interviewed, Shields always seemed to have it all figured out: she was always poised and whatever role she happened to be playing, she played it convincingly, even in The Blue Lagoon, which would have been rather insipid in most ways were it not for Shield’s performance which made it seem almost conceivable that this beautiful, lithe long-haired girl lived a life of bliss and fist love, her long lithe (and nude) body slipping through the depths of the aqua water. (link to read more...)

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/25/134913.php

recent poetry publications | april - may, 05

Recent poetry publications include new work appearing in the esteemed Adagio Verse Quarterly and we're proud to be in such good company, so here are two recent poems (select link or click here.)

http://www.geocities.com/adagioversequarterly/p12.html

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We're also proud to add that yet more work has found its way to Underground Window, an excellent publication with two terrific senior editors and founders. Click here to see this work or select the link below.

http://www.undergroundwindow.com/sadiapril05.html

mood of the moment | may, 2005

May rains and rains and I find myself focusing more and more on writing and becoming absolutely absorbed in obscure material and old texts, filling my head with all sorts of fascinating information that, on the surface, would appear to have no practical use, yet if you look deeper, such things - philosophy, math, chaos theory, Taoism, programming, and certain sciences - are at the very core of our lives. Without these things, we have no ability to analyze, to think logically or in any sort of linear fashion (let us bow down to Socrates, Plato, Aristotle), and our self-discipline that keeps us going everyday no matter what (Marcus Aurelius), and how things work (Newton), and how to be revolutionary in everything that we do and take on -

These days, I turn to Guy Kawasaki, an amazing entrepreneur and former Apple Fellow who went on to form the VC firm Garage.com - highly successful - and then penned several books, one of which is Rules for Revolutionaries - a must read for anyone wishing to do anything and intending to make a difference.

I've taken up kick-boxing and tae bo, and see a marked change not only in my body (strengthening, lengthening), but in my mind as well: focus, will-power, determination.)

As you likely know by now, there are those that would gladly tear you down. And yes, even those whom you have trusted can turn in a heartbeat, and though it may not make sense at the time, my advice is to move forward, to not look back and try to understand because there is no understanding the purely irrational behavior of others. The best you can do is understand yourself - take yourself to task - know thyself - be firm, courageous, willing to take a chance when it feels right, and never afraid to jump from the high-board when the situation calls for it.

As Nelson Mandela said, "It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us..." and he ends by saying, "ask yourself, Who am i not to be? And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same." (inagural speech).

Thanks for listening,

s.r.p.
may, 2005
www.tantmieux.squarespace.com/

bob dylan | don't look back documentary '65

It always comes back to Bob Dylan. Or it does for me anyway. So why should it be a surprise that again, I wanted to watch the two tour films, Don’t Look Back (1965 tour) and Eat the Document (footage of the 1966 tour). There is something about Dylan in these early recordings that captures and holds me the way it captured and held so many. (select link for more...)
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/16/175908.php

bob dylan | eat the document footage of '66 tour

Watching Eat the Document, the footage of the Bob Dylan 1966 tour and the documentary that followed Don’t Look Back (the 1965 tour footage) is a perfect illustration of just how relative time can be. For Dylan, the differences between his 1965 young, acoustic, and fresh-scrubbed self and his louder, electric 1966 self show a markedly different man – and one who was not always accepted by even the most true and loyal fans who had shown up expecting a nice, quiet, acoustic show and were met instead with a screaming electric band and a Bob Dylan they did not recognize. (select link for more...)
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/18/160638.php