Jackie Danicki

Ged Carroll, whom I know from the London chapter of the Social Media Club, alerted me to this meme. Please, run with this on your own blog - I’d be interested in seeing what your week in media looks like.

What I’ve read: I lugged several magazines and books to and from London with me, but did so much socializing (and, on my flights, sleeping) that I mostly read only two books: Intimacy, Change, and Other Therapeutic Mysteries: Stories of Clinicians and Clients by David C. Treadway, PhD (read it for free via Google Books) and Character Transformation through the Psychotherapeutic Relationship by Robert E. Hooberman, PhD.

The first book was a fast and easy read. Treadway wrote a collection of short fiction to illustrate and instruct on various professional and ethical issues for psychotherapists. It’s intended for clinicians and grad students, but I found it useful anyway (despite the sort of cheesy dialogue). I tend to see my therapist as a person whose gifts as a healer have made him immune to negativity or struggle, which is clearly irrational of me; these stories helped me to see how even seasoned experts can make mistakes in their personal and professional lives.

I’m still working on Hooberman’s book, also intended for clinicians, which is very academic and takes much concentration - some sentences I’ve had to re-read multiple times in order to understand (or hope to understand), and had to look up some scientific terms. But it’s more accessible than I’d feared, and I’m learning a lot about resistance in therapy (I am a very resistant, if dedicated, patient), where it can come from, and how it can even end up being useful to the process.

What I’ve watched: I had hoped to watch some good, trashy British TV while I was in London, but all that seemed to be on was ballet. On multiple channels. Eff that. I did force Antoine and his mother to watch an especially horrifying episode of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares on YouTube with me (Hulu and fox.com viewing don’t work in the UK). The episode in question starts here and is broken into several parts if you want to watch. I HIGHLY recommend that you do.

What I’ve listened to: Lots of Amy Winehouse, because I am nothing if not predictable. It was also good to be immersed in French with Antoine and his family again, and realize that I still could reach fluency if I wasn’t so averse to uttering mistakes. (I did learn a new word this week, and a vile one at that: tiréjus, a slang term for Kleenex that will make you gag if you’re able to translate it literally.)

What I’ve surfed: Tons of Twitter, not nearly enough Scrabulous, and far too much related to Julia Allison and Jakob Lodwick. I’d link to them, but I don’t want you to hate me. Loren Feldman has a strongly worded - and somewhat hilariously tagged - video post that sums up the situation to date. He also supplies a typically blunt opinion about Julia, and one to which I am not unsympathetic. I will just say that what scares me about Julia Allison is that she says things I can imagine myself saying in a moment of thoughtlessness, things which hurt people and cause everyone observing to ask, “What was she thinking?!” I have done that and will probably do that again many times in my future. My reaction to her has less to do with her than it has to do with my stupid self. I half-agree with this:

The reason half of the world feels lonely is because the other half is pretending to be perfect.

No, most people are pretending to be perfect, even - especially - the most lonely.

So no, I don’t think Julia Allison is a monster, though she is insecure and yearning for more approval than she is ever going to find on the internet. She’s not the only one.

Filed under: Life