Sunday Funday

Since I went out on Saturday with James and his friends on a late night adventure in search of the Electronic Music Festival, I decided upon my 5:00 AM arrival back at the house in Brooklyn that I would be sleeping through the first 10 AM workshop I was signed up for on Sunday, EMDR, AT & Trauma. It sounded awesome because it seemed like I could learn some really cutting-edge relaxation techniques from the class, I know I don't do well with less than 7 hours of sleep, so it really was the right decision for me so I could enjoy the rest of the day.

I woke up around 11:30, pulled myself together with James's help, and rushed over to 48th Street and Broadway just in time to sign in and sit in on the lunch talk, "Humor & The Group Process", led by Izzy Gesell. Not only was Gesell entertaining and the content informative, but I was pretty inspired by the talk to learn more about humor in general and how it will relate to my work.

I was pretty fascinated by his breakdown of the functions of humor. He argued that humor can be used as a shield; this is when someone would use it to protect, overcome awkwardness, set an audience at ease to maintain control, reassure the insecure, laugh at themselves, or laugh at things we do as humans. I appreciated his distinction between "self-deprecating" and "self-effacing" humor; he encouraged people to aim towards self-effacing humor, in which we laugh at things we do but we are not belittling ourselves. Gesell argued humor's next function is as a weapon, or as "the destroyer". He placed most instances of sarcasm under this label. In this manner, humor creates in and out groups between the people the humor is directed at; it's kind of divisive between who gets it and who doesn't. In this manner, humor can also be destructive, such as saying to someone who doesn't resonate with the joke as well as you, "you can't take a joke", which might be taken as "you're not funny or smart enough to get this". I totally resonated with this, as someone has spent quite a bit of time around highly sarcastic friends. Humor's third function is as a bridge or connector. In this usage of humor, the feeling of an enjoyable interaction is shared, and there is a shared perspective on an idea about truth. Humor's last function is as a spotlight; it can help us control the uncontrollable, distract from fear to put the spotlight on something else, or highlight a self or issue.

After Gesell elaborated about the four functions of humor, he explained how every joke has crucial elements; a story, structure, characters, a problem/conflict, and a resolution (punch line). He showed (with a couple joke examples) about how a story and structure and characters can change, but the punch line must always remain the same. Often a joke can be "reconstructed" using only the punch line. He argued that jokes are a play on the universal human condition. Gesell argued that humor strengthens our ability to see a different point of view, helps us understand conflict and resolution, exercises our bodies and maintains our wellness, helps us connect with people to trust them deeper, and lifts our spirits and rise above taking everything too seriously.

I also learned about some interesting concepts, like the power of "group efficacy", which is the collective belief of group members that the group can and will be effective. If a group is high in group efficacy, they will benefit deeper from the work the group does because they believe in it.

I really got a lot from the talk, so I went up to join the little crowd of people who wanted to connect with Gesell afterwards. While I was waiting to meet with him, I met another person from Cambridge, Jason, who happened to live with one of my colleagues in the expressive therapies program, Carmen. He was pretty awesome, and told me about the work he does with "Laughing Matters", a humor-based healing program that does a lot of work in hospitals. He's also connected to True Story Theater, the Arlington-based program internship that offered me an internship. Small world!

When I finally got a chance to speak to Gesell, I thanked him for the talk and introduced myself and began to speak about what interested me about the talk. He got really excited when I mentioned I went to Lesley, and said he really wanted to get over to Lesley to give a talk or workshop sometime soon. He handed me his card and emphasized his desire to have me contact him about that. Exciting! I'd love to speak to the faculty and see if we can bring him out.

I'll post later about the rest of my Sunday. Just a sneak peek: it includes Guided Imagery through Music, a tarot reading, and drinking pitchers and doing pool at Greenpoint. Badass.

On the Road Again: To the Expressive Therapies Summit!

Here I am, cramping up on a full-to-capacity Peter Pan bus to New York City. It's Friday night, so it's even harder for me to accept the fact that this bus is already an hour behind schedule. The minutes are ticking by ever-so-slowly.

I'll be spending the weekend at James' place in Williamsburg, so I'll be travelling from there to the conference Saturday and Sunday morning. The plan is for me to first volunteer on Saturday from 8 AM-6 PM (8?! ugh, so not a morning person and now I'm getting in even later!), and then I'll get my free admission to the summit Sunday. I'm excited to see the summit from both the angle of a volunteer and as an attendee- I'm sure that will open up some perspectives or opportunities I may have not had just as an attendee. One other awesome colleague in my Master's program cohort, Stephanie, will also be attending the conference on Saturday and Sunday, so I'm hoping to run into her and possibly hang out during or after the conference.

I took a look at the schedule for Sunday because I had to sign up for the workshops/talks I wanted in advance via email through the volunteer coordinator, so I know there are a ton of Lesley faculty members I am well acquainted with who will be presenting/leading workshops (Karen Estrella and Mitchell Kossak, to name a few!). Once again, seeing this kind of stuff in action reminds me how grateful and lucky I am to be in the best Expressive Therapies program in the United States. It's awesome.

I have to volunteer tomorrow, so chances are I won't be sitting in on any workshops or classes, but I'll be sure to post about that experience and who I met, and what my impression of the summit is so far!

As for Sunday: I haven't gotten confirmation on what workshops I am enrolled in yet, but I should be enrolled in some of these:

1. "Integrating EMDR and Art Therapy for Bilateral Transformation of Trauma" workshop from 10-1 PM on Sunday.

OR

"Identifying Defining Moments for Therapists through Meditation and Movement" workshop from 10-11:20 AM, then "Identity and Independence: Poetry and Multimodal Expressive Arts Therapy with Teens"
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2. "Humor's Impact on Group Process" during the lunch period
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3. "Intro to Guided Imagery and Music" workshop from 2:30-5:30 PM

OR

"Enhancing Body Image through Improvisational Tribal Style Belly Dance" from 2:30 to 3:50 PM, then "Exploring Hip-hop Songs by Inner City Adolescents" from 4:10-5:30.
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I'm really looking forward to this. I'm just arriving in the city now, and will be heading off to see James very, very soon. Thinking about that puts my excitement level at about a 10000 right about now.

Dreams That Fade

Now that we've reached a conclusion
I can't say you were ever more than a delusion
All I see are hallucinations of Saturns and dead Christians
As between us grows this distance

It was my journey to take alone
But I couldn't part with my phone
Your name flashed across the screen

Don't forget me, I love you
Forget me, I'm gone



© Melissa Lee Nilles (3/3/13)