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........THE
FAMILIAR Vol 1, Iss 2..............................................................................................................................
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BEHIND
THE SCENES OF AN EMOTION LITERACY E-ZINE MISSION
STATEMENT THE FAMILIAR VOL. 1 ISS. 2. Missed an issue of the familiar? Click here to browse through our entire back-issue archive! |
courage, conflict and second thoughts A testimonial: Emotion Literacy Explorer: When working with the familiar group, I was asked by our facilitator why I wanted this story, this memory of mine, that holds so much power and meaning, to be published on the Internet, for all the world to see. Why I wanted to take this part of me that I always kept shut up and shut out to lie in the open like a book, throwing its pages into the wind. I lay back, leaning on the short plastic back of my school library's chairs, trying to find the answer. I sat and closed my eyes, tracing the invisible path to the reason which I knew lie in my mind somewhere. Finally, right before the awkward, empty silence that was left broke the attention of the group, I remembered the reason. I remembered all the forgotten times in my past that I sat in my bed, huddling beneath my Ninja Turtles blankets wishing. I remembered all those times when I felt like the only child in the world. I remember all that time I spent in my room, wishing for something to show me that I wasn't alone. Wishing that I could see someone like me, to know I wasn't totally isolated. I wrote this piece for all the other children out there underneath thick Ninja Turtles blankets. I wrote this in the dim hope that somewhere, I could spare some child a few moments of feeling totally alone. An email dialogue, for better or for worse. Emotion literacy advocate (ELA) and emotion literacy explorer (ELE). ELA: I have many thoughts about the piece that you have re-decided to exclude—one that I think is of the utmost importance for the objectives of the site and would shed great light on some of the things that adults overlook, not just the adults you know. I think I understand your discomfort around having that piece on the site and, naturally, I will honor your decision. It is a loss though because I think it's a really important piece of writing that should be shared. Hopefully, you have had a satisfying process in the writing of it and that, in itself, is of great value!!!!!!! It is always my inclination that when a piece of writing has the potential to enlighten adults who are so caught up in the daily grind, even for the best of reasons, that it should be made available and that's one of the reasons why this site exists—to wake up people, especially those in authority…wake them up out of the usual machinations that detract from tending to certain, subtle and fragile needs for unconditional love and attention. I'm not sure if you or the group fully understands the mission of the familiar…I apologize if I have not made that clear—this venue is set up to be less about the form and much more about the content. Oftentimes communication can be abstracted through artistic forms even if the form is used really, really well—if it obscures a clear, emotionally-based message, then I am moved to ask for additional first-person narrative to be written (much of those kinds of narratives are on the site now)— narratives that unequivocally inform the site visitors as to the intentions the writer had in creating any particular piece. The piece you are choosing to exclude not only used an artistic form really, really well, inherent in it are unequivocal, eye-opening statements which is why I find it so in keeping with the familiar’s mission. Still, I understand and will honor your request to leave it off the site. I will make every attempt to place some, if not all, of this additional work of yours on the site in a way that both honors your brilliant, heart-felt efforts and honors the mission of the site--"to raise questions, challenge common thinking patterns and offer feeling-inclusive perspectives on contemporary topics through the language arts, visual images and creative expression." ELE: I’m actually still very conflicted about the publishing of that one piece. On the one hand, I totally understand what you are saying about how it fits the "mission" and I would also love to have people understand exactly where I'm coming from. On the other hand, it is very personal…one of the reasons I want it up, however, is that I hope (it helps) someone who is dealing with a relationship where they feel the same way…I would hope that from that realization would come the desire to do something to change the situation…it is also an issue that is very important to me because, as much as I resist and hate it, I am very much like my mother and worry a good deal that should I ever have children, I would be the same way. So, that is another reason I feel it is important— to help people break free from such hereditary problems. Anyways, I've changed my mind once AGAIN. Why don't you put it up… talk to you soon. ELA: I want you to know that I think these issues you are grappling with are the labors of an evolving soul, an evolving individual, a developing artist and social change agent. I truly believe that art for art’s sake is not enough if we want to grow, develop and work through destructive patterns. It takes quite a dynamic individual to recognize, as you have, the complexity that faces you in making this kind of decision. I have been concerned about your conflict about this and how I might best serve you in your attempts to work through it. I do think you have come to a decision, for now, and we can still discuss it any time you like. This web site that we're developing is a huge undertaking and what you articulate in your email is precisely one of the reasons why it is so huge. Bringing emotion literacy into the world, especially the "working" world, is a difficult puzzle to figure out because it has so much to do with negotiating needs within the framework of survival. Of course, we're not exactly talking physical survival here—there are safety and security issues, emotionally-based, and the survival of an authentic self that yearns to be seen and heard and assisted through the growth process within this context. This is not a linear process which is why art is such a powerful tool for this challenging and off-the-usual-grid exploration. The emotion/feeling terrain is really still a very new frontier, relatively-speaking, and the kind of conflicts we've been dealing with, individually and within our group, are all part of the process of moving or spiraling forward. You are sooooooo correct in perceiving the threat of repetition. We internalize so much from our parents and unless we become fully conscious of their affects on us, both favorable and not so favorable, we WILL repeat the patterns. You are so wise to discern this. Creating art, that is catalyzed in the face of these conflicts, does well to carry us into a different place—one filled with the fruits of our labors to change and improve on things—of course, it’s a less familiar place so it does take courage…you see why I call this publication the familiar?—because I want to encourage people to become more familiar with growth and change…evolution, in the best sense of the word.
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