Therapy Blog

I posted a couple of things on my other blog, one a video clip of Temple Grandin. I wonder if she was at CSU when Dad was there working on his Masters?

Your Weekly Dose of Art History

70 Million by Hold Your Horses ! from L'Ogre on Vimeo.

Hey I thought this was sweet and funny*. By way of Andrew Sullivan.

*but be aware that art history includes some (very mild) nudity

One Ring To Rule Them All

From the Bloggernacle.

We Went to Philadelphia.

We visited Dave and Devon (and Roxanne, on the table, above).

We also visited Piedrich*, the evil basement cat of the house, who is dominant to everyone but (apparently) John. *New name for Pierre, the One Cat to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them

We went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and did not take a photo of the Rocky statue. Devon did allow this one photo from safely behind Dave.

We had lunch--John and I had Philly cheesesteaks--at the Reading Terminal Market. And cookies.

We visited the campuses of Penn and Drexel. Above is the Drexel mascot, Morton or Merwin or something.

We visited Dave's office on Arch Street downtown.

Doesn't he look professional?

We went downtown again to a chamber orchestra concert at Kimmel Hall.


On Monday when D&D had to go to work, John and I visited the historic district.

Here is where the Declaration was signed, and where the Constitution was hammered out. John and I both had a renewal of patriotic fervor, remembering the American ideals of 8th grade civics class--honorable even when not attained.

We had a great time. Devon made cornmeal muffins and quiche to die for. We ate lots of good Asian food. Thanks D&D! And thanks to Rob too, for providing the partner airline passes so the cost was minimal.

Little Boys Whose Names Begin With "E"

Elias Rain in his mohawk today (above), and Ethan doing his Harold and the Purple Crayon face (below).
"More popcorn Mom!" (below).

I'm Just Really Sick of This

I live a very privileged and protected life. By global standards--even 1st world standards--I'm healthy, wealthy, educated, employed, safe in my majority culture, with strong family and social networks. I am lucky. The worst I have to deal with is my own anxiety/avoidance and tendency to procrastinate.

But the rape culture still sucks. I'm so tired of it. I try to forget about it--I want to forget about it--but sooner or later it's right up there in my face again in the lives of my patients or my family and friends.

How many women do I know who haven't been sexually assaulted--their boundaries smashed flat, their autonomy disrespected, their bodily integrity trampled upon and their sense of safety violated? Right now, of the women I've spoken to this week, in and out of psychotherapy--about one in four. One in four not sexually assaulted at one time or another in their lives. They tell me this randomly. Couples therapy, ten sessions into it--oh yeah, by the way, my first sexual experience was a rape. Anxiety disorder--I was molested when I was little, but that couldn't have anything to do with it, could it? Depression--I wonder if the fact that my ex-boyfriend date-raped me last year might be affecting my mood now?

And there's no recourse. I told but nobody believed me. My mom said to shut up about it. The prosecutor said it was "He said/she said" and there wasn't evidence for a case. It was just fondling not penetration. She was too young to really remember so it doesn't matter. She wanted it even if she did change her mind at the last minute. She shouldn't have led him on. She shouldn't have been: drunk; dressed like that; out that late; such a slut; so sexy-looking; so stupid; so unprotected; so available.

Rape is inevitable as long as we keep thinking this way--as long as we focus all our prevention efforts on the victims of sexual assault and not on the perpetrators.

Some days I am just full of rage. Sometimes I think I can afford to be angry because I am not one of the wounded. But even I hesitate to address the ones who actually do the raping. OMG I'll hurt their feelings. They'll be offended that I think they could be capable of behavior like that. They'll get mad at me.

Today I'm just too angry to care.

No rape jokes, rape as a compliment, rape as a metaphor for anything else.
No rape as entertainment, rape to sell stuff, rape as titillation.
Teach your sons not to be rapists.
And DON'T RAPE.

More R&R*

Chris and crew did the battle of the bands again at Timpview. They did Led Zeppelin Good Times Bad Times and a medley of two of their own songs. It was fun to watch/hear them for myself. A very low-key crowd though.

After seeing their show at Muse Music last week, Brett took one of Chris' guitars and rebuilt it for him. What a sweetie. We went north to pick up the guitar last night, and C is very excited about it.

I said to Chris how lucky he is to be able to hear and see all the old rocking greats on YouTube and iTunes rather than having to buy music one scratchy vinyl album at a time, and of course he said he'd rather do it the old way. "It was more real then," he said. He's always been nostalgic.

*Rock & roll Red & the Rovers rest & relaxation