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Between Brilliance and Madness
By najwa
“In the end, what it comes down to for me is that I desperately
feel the need to connect with other folks like myself so I can validate
my experiences and not feel so damn alone in the world, pass along the
lessons I’ve learned to help make it easier for other people struggling
like myself,” states the community page of the Icarus Project’s
website.
The Icarus Project was created in the beginning of the 21st century
by a group of people diagnosed in the contemporary language as Bipolar
or Manic-Depressive. Unlike many traditional support groups,members
of the Icarus Project are working to redefine their condition as “a
dangerous gift to be cultivated and taken care of rather than as a disease
or disorder needing to be ‘cured’ or ‘eliminated.’”
Ashley McNamara and Sascha Altman DuBrul of the Icarus Project have
taken the work of the Icarus Projet on the road. On Apr. 2, the Icarus
Project road trip made a welcomed stop in Asheville, North Carolina.
In attendance at the meeting were about fifty people from Asheville.
The experiences of the individuals at the meeting were a testament to
the great need for such dialogues in our communities. Attendees of the
presentation and discussion ranged from folks who were almost completely
ignorant on the topic to several people who had been diagnosed and even
institutionalized for Bipolar or Manic-Depressive “disorders.”
For nearly two hours, attendees and organizers of the event shared their
stories of dealing with the social stigmas of and their personal battles
with Bipolar Disorder and Manic-Depressive Disorder. The diversity of
stories was a testament to the breadth of people struggling with these
“disorders.” Although some were advocating for herbal and
alternative remedies and others were in support of modern drugs, the
whole group seemed to accept that different things work for different
people. And despite any other differences, attendees all seemed to agree
that one thing is necessary to break the myth of and support people
struggling with Bipolar Disorder and Manic-Depression: communication.
That is exactly what The Icarus Project is doing. In addition to helping
demystify the realities of Bipolar Disorder and Manic-Depressive Disorder
by sharing their stories and initiating dialogues in different communities,
The Icarus Project is also touring around to spread word of its increasingly
popular website and new collection of essays.
To help others along in their own personal road trips, The Icarus Project
has put together Navigating the Space Between Brilliance and Madness:
A Reader and Roadmap of Bipolar Worlds.
Navigating the Space and www.theicarusproject.net are examples of how
people are taking control of their lives and the definitions of those
lives. As opposed to the traditional role of books and magazines on
psychology, Navigating the Space is a compilation of essays and clips
from emails written by people with Bipolar Disorder or Manic-Depressive
Disorder or their allies. Rather than taking a sterile, medical approach
to the topics, which range from Making Sense of Being Called Crazy in
a Crazy World to Hitchhiking the Road to Recovery, this collection approaches
the subject in a refreshingly personal and open manner. While it does
not claim to have any answers, it certainly does make the reader think.
The Icarus Project website has been set up as a place for people struggling
with Bipolar Disorder or Manic-Depressive Disorder to connect and build
an alternative support network outside the mainstream culture. It certainly
does just that. With its array of discussion rooms and its dedicated
members, this website shows that people can take control of their lives.
It has proven to be a great source of support, information, and guidance
for many people throughout the country.
In its different projects, The Icarus Project seems to be living up
to its goal of providing “a place that helps people like us feel
less alienated, and allows us – both as individuals and as a community
– to tap into the true potential that lies between brilliance and
madness.” At least in one community, The Icarus Project has sparked
a new dialogue.
Reality TV hits new low with parade of
The Ugly Ducklings
By Andrew Gumbel
Los Angeles, California, Apr. 4— By her own admission,
Rachel L. from Washington state is plain and not exactly overflowing
with self-esteem. “She’s a little average,” says her
husband Mike, less than reassuringly, “but I’m more than happy
with that.”
Right. Clearly he is not happy enough to have stopped Rachel signing
up for US television’s latest reality show, which arguably pushes
the genre to a new nadir of tastelessness and ethical questionability.
On The Swan, which to be shown on Rupert Murdoch’s Fox network
on Apr. 17, women with spotty faces, buck teeth, stretch marks, double
chins and flabby thighs — “ugly ducklings,” in the show’s
parlance — undergo a rigorous process of transformation through
psychotherapy, physical training, and head-to-toe cosmetic surgery.
“Total facial reinvention,” one of the show’s specialist
doctors calls his particular job.
And that’s not all. For three months after they go under the knife,
they are not allowed to look in the mirror to see what they have become.
Then, with barely a pause to take in their new selves — the so-called
“reveal moment” — they are entered in a beauty contest
against each other so their carefully resurrected self-esteem can be
demolished in an every-girl-for-herself catfight.
This show has gotten even the most unshockable television critics wondering
if they have now, finally, hit their limit. It is even a stretch for
Fox, the network that thought up Celebrity Boxing (Tonya Harding punching
it out with Paula Jones), The Chamber (humiliations falling just short
of torture), and Who Wants To Marry a Multi-Millionaire? (svelte nurse
from Los Angeles marries man she has only just clapped eyes on because
the producers ask her to).
As Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote last week: “Whenever
a reality television series is so repulsive in its premise or execution
that normally wise people believe that we, as a society, have hit bottom,
there’s only one thing to say in response.... Wait for it. Something
far worse is around the corner.”
Plastic surgery is becoming a trend in reality programming. An ABC show
called Extreme Makeover kicked off the fad last year. And now MTV has
I Want a Famous Face, in which young people have their bodies reworked
so they can look like their favorite celebrity.
Source: Independent (UK)
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