Peter Slattery

I have written about Richard Florida before. This is a kinda funny vid interview. Funny and yet he is saying something interesting I think. Check it out.

http://creativeclass.com/richard_florida/video/index.php?video=20070716-The_Colbert_Report-Richard_Florida

I am still waitng to find out if these ads are successful or not. These are the ads that suggest that young men doing crazy things in cars have small penises. We see someone do a burn out and we show the small finger indicating the puny penis.

All some variation on male genital humour I suppose.

The guy in the picture below though got angry when a woman made this sign to him and abused her…and ended up in court. So maybe a bit of a backfire.

I am a big fan of humour especially when it comes to elephants in the room and sacred cows, but I’m not sure about this one

I recently went to a seminar on ‘Masculinities and crime’. And the speakers talked about the way certain attitudes and behaviours are linked to gender, become in certain ways ‘masculinized.’ Michael Flood was one speaker and Kerry Carrington the other. Kerry spoke about the difference between monologic and dialogic aspects of masculinity, the former being somewhat closed, rigid, controlling and aggressive, the latter more open, fluid, discussive, democratic and friendly. As always I have provided the links here so check out for yourself what they more fully have to say. An important topic.

As is often the case, my source is Radio National ‘Life Matters’ 27th October 2008. A great story about Barry Dickins, writer and artist. Barry found himself with clinical depression. He more than survived it and more than returned to the land of the brave and joyful.

He says of himself, prior to his depression that:

‘I was full of unstoppable life’

And then unexpectedly:

‘I suddenly couldn’t speak…I had no idea who I was or where I was…
I could only lie in bed…There was no point to being animate…’

‘I wasn’t me….I lost all sense of identity.’

He was diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety. And he had electro-convulsive therapy, of which he is not a fan. He says also that his treatment was scheduled for 6.30 am. He asked if the treatments could be moved a little later and also the same for his interviews and Barry says he was told: ‘That’s about all the time we have for you today Mr. Dick1ns.’

I have no idea what happened nor what, in the end, was useful for Barry. But he says a significant moment came when he won a literary prize. And of that moment he says:

‘When I got that letter, it was time to check out’

And in a most delightful way Barry says:

‘And now I’m 59 and I’m reading to my 13 year old son in a double-decker bus.
I mean that’s incredible when you think about it…here I am I with a long white beard and baggy eyes, I mean I look like a stood-on apricot…and there’s my little boy listening until he goes to sleep…’

And:

‘The peace that I obtain from that is untellable or unshareable. It’s just heaven.’

When asked about the future, Barry says:

‘What I want to do now is what I’ve always wanted to do, which is to live every second.’

This is a pretty good story Barry. Congratulations.

I found the following video on the website of Chicago Public Radio presents:This American Life, and it’s charming…and makes an interesting comment on…well, not sure really…perception? Communication? Memory? Relationships? Gender? Imagination? Whatever…I think it’s deligtful. See what you think.

This is a bit of a development from the last thing I put up. The camp where most of us were young-ish…and some of us somewhat older. And good things happened:

And as our 5 day camp together came to a close I asked a question of a bunch of people of various ages ranging across 35 years. This is what I asked: What is the best thing in the world? And this is what they said:
Life
Music
Friends
Children
Life
Music
People
Life
Love
My daughters

So…how would you answer the question? What do you think is the best thing in the world?

This is the stuff that always worries me. The article in a widely read daily newspaper is called ‘Heaven and Hell’ and is about ‘Ice’, the crystalline form of methamphetamine. And I will assume the best of the journalist, that they were trying, in the course of doing what journalists do – which is to write articles – to be responsible in alerting us to the dangers of something in our society.

Yet I worry. One person talking of their use of ice said: ‘…you were instantly much, much higher. It’s hard to describe.’

The article goes on to say that a couple who had used found ‘…there was no hangover, no crash, no anxious-depressive speed comedown. It was the best of all worlds.’

The article also has a section which looked at the downside and this was called ‘The chilling facts.’
Chronic depression
Agitation
Severe paranoia
Proneness to acts of violence
The acceleration of apoptosis, or natural cell death…which…can result in…premature ageing.

So are we scaring people here, or just making them thoughtful? Would someone reading this reconsider using this or other drugs? What stands out for people as they read? Do we say to ourselves, as most of us do who get into cars, that (with considerable evidence to support our belief by the way) we will make it home safely?

I continue to worry about WARNINGS. Yes, we need to know what could await us if we do…X. And yes, we really do need information…and yet still people enter into relationships knowing that there is something like a 40% chance of that relationship ending up on the rocks. We continue in the hope that we will be happy, that our hearts will not be broken. That tragedy will befall us. That we are in the other group, the 60% who are make it. Or we tell ourselves that the risk is worth it.

Here is a footballer…with just a little damage…..

Concussion
Chipped tooth
Separation of joint in shoulder
Cracked ribs
Torn pectoral muscle
Externally rotated hip
Abdominal hernia
Shattered bone in finger
Snapped bone in finger
Cracked thumb
Bruised femur and tibia
Torn ligament
Hamstring sprains
Sprains
Bone erosion in ankle
Bone spurs in ankle

If we told him when he was younger that this would happen to him would he have continued? Well what do you think? I suppose we could point out this example to young players and they would ….do what? Stop playing? Or would they say to themselves…’it won’t happen to me.’ Or will they say: ‘It might happen…but it’s worth it!’

We really do need to be thoughtful about what we think might be useful.

So in June we went and did it again. The Beyond Empathy camp in Northern New South Wales. Many of the old crew, and some new crew. Around 50 or so of us, mostly yungins but some of us older ones to add something we hope. And we did a bunch of stuff. And the animoto video here gives you a pretty good idea of what that all was.

And if you can’t make that work for some reason or if you just prefer pics that don’t move about…here are some stills.

A very good experience of people working together, getting on, finding differences, finding the common ground…eating, talking, laughing, pushing boundaries a tad…all in all … a good thing.

I bet you thought you knew what was important? And you’d be right. Body hair! This newspaper article tells us so. Whether guy or doll, bloke or sheila, male or female, excess body hair is something you do not want.

And you can wax, or you can IPL (this is not canned fruit ha! ha! ha!); it is as you know, ‘intense pulsed light’. This starts at around $70 and a full body job is about $300. A bargain. Then there is threading which is of course rolling a cotton thread over what the article describes as ‘rebellious brows’ and a bunch of hairs is then ripped out. And we have of course the more familiar depilatory creams which seem at least to be painless. Sometimes there are just too many things to get excited about aren’t there.

And what’s just fabulous about this of course is that it used to be only women who were worried about such things. But with equal opportunity exploitation men can now line up for a new piece of superficiality to be concerned about. Oh lucky lucky.

Stephen Post is (Professor of Bioethics & Family Medicine in the School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University) and has established ‘The Institute for Unlimited Love’ which sounds very cool.

Stephen tells us that we gain health happiness and longevity when we contribute to those around us. He tells of a study which started with people in their teens which extended into their nineties. (Well only for some of course). Those who identified as having an altruistic approach to the world, had protection in terms of stuff like depression and anxiety, as well as physical stuff like cardiovascular diseases. This all sounds good and encouraging. And inspiring. And so here is a chance for you…when next you see me…be nice. It will be good for you. It really is encouraging isn’t it!