"Harm's Touch: The Gifts and Costs of What We Witness"

"Let your images echo what your heart knows."

-Barbara Fish, PhD, ATR-BC, LCPC

On September 27, 2010, Dr. Barbara Fish presented "Harm's Touch: The Gifts and Costs of What We Witness" for the SAIC Art Therapy Association.

Dr. Fish states, "Harm's Touch ... is the negative, cumulative effect of what we witness inside and outside of therapy." Examples of personal artwork are shown to visually illustrate the concept of "Harm's Touch" and response art in art therapy.

Please visit http://www.barbarafisharttherapy.com/ to contact Dr. Barbara Fish, ATR-BC, LCPC and learn more about her work as an artist, art therapist, and activist.

What you need to know...

Hey Gang, this is a little overdue, but better late than never, right? Of course, right!

Back on October 30th, Sangi, Amy, Katrina, Joyce, Stephany, and myself had a little meeting to discuss the future of this student group and how it will be organized. I'll spare you of the tedious details and fill you in on what you really need to know.

• We are hoping to have at least one event each month. These events will vary: movie nights, speakers, work shops, art shows, etc. Basically whatever we want!
• The ball is starting to roll for fund-raising! Stephany has taken charge of our future Etsy account, and we are hoping to start the cash flow in the near future. Be thinking about things you would be willing to donate to the group, be it existing art from forever ago, or things you want to make now.
  
• On the horizon are possible scholarships to attend the AATA conference. (This is still somewhat early in development, but we're getting there). In order to put our funds to practical use, we want to make the money available to people who need it! As we get closer to that (and as we actually get money), there will be more details.
• There is a Facebook page... join that (if you haven't already)
  
• Also, for some strange reason, our logo with the SAIC square is no longer allowed (can't use their logo), so we are calling for submissions for a new logo- all you graphic designers pull out your Macs and get to work!
• Finally, the blog itself, if you are reading this now, that's a good sign that you have found it! If you are interested in writing for the blog, please contact Katrina or Amy. They hold the blogging key.
  

I think that's it for now.

AATA conference is here

It's conference time!! I know there's seven of us from second year that are going.
Excited to see what's in store this year!

And Congratulations to Theresa for getting a scholarship!

AATA Conference in Sacramento

Tomorrow is the last day to sign up for early-bird registration for the AATA Conference in Sacramento (saves you $120).

Who's going?

Torture- redefined

Newspapers Helped Redefine Torture

July 26, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Student Journalists Document the Pandering
of Major Media to the Bush Administration:

Newspapers Collaborated
in Redefining Torture

“On the one hand, waterboarding is torture. On the other hand….
I’m sorry – there is no other hand. Waterboarding is torture, period. It’s been that way for decades…”

That’s the compelling lead of Will Bunch’s July 1, 2010, post on Media Matters for America. It’s titled “Torture” Study Reveals Appalling Cowardice of America’s Newspapers and it goes on:

“…it was torture when we went after Japanese war criminals who used the ancient and inhumane interrogation tactic, it was torture when Pol Pot and some of the worst dictators known to mankind used it against their own people, and it was torture to the U.S. military which once punished soldiers who adopted the grim practice.
“And waterboarding was described as “torture,” almost without fail, in America’s newspapers. Until 2004, after the arrival of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and their criminal notions of “enhanced interrogations.”

Please note that Bunch’s article includes sourcing for each of the above assertions, if you have any doubts about their accuracy.
He’s reacting to a devastating new study from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Torture at Times: Waterboarding in the Media. The study documents the fact that, since the 1930’s, America’s major newspapers had almost invariably referred to waterboarding as torture, or implied that it was torture, (The New York Times in 81.5% of its articles mentioning the subject; The Los Angeles Times in 96.3% of its articles.) Yet, after the controversy over the Bush administation’s use of the practice hit the news the same papers almost never referred to waterboarding as torture (The New York Times, 1.4% of articles; The Los Angeles Times, 4.8%.)

Credit Where it’s Due:

“Never before in my adult life,” says Bunch, “have I been so ashamed of my profession, journalism.” Yet neither he nor any of the other journalists whose commentaries I’ve seen has done anything more than mention the fact that the study was authored not by professional journalists, but by students. It’s both remarkable and disturbing that, while a host of professional writers have taken anecdotal note of the mainstream media’s acquiescence in administration “newspeak,” we had to wait on a group of students to come up with the hard evidence.
So, I want to at least take this opportunity to give much deserved credit to the student authors: Torture at Times: Waterboarding in the Media was done at Harvard’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy by law student Neal Desai and students Andre Pineda, Majken Runquist and Mark Fusunyan. The research team also included students Katy Glenn, Gabrielle Gould, Michelle Katz, Henry Lichtblau, Maggie Morgan, Sophia Wen and Sandy Wong.
Let’s hope we’ll see some of those names showing up as bylines in the major media not too long from now – and let’s hope they manage to hang onto their commitment to getting the facts.

Other online coverage of the Report include Bunch’s comments on the NY Times’ initial response to the study, Glenn Greenwald, at Salon.com, Adam Serwer, at American Prospect, and no doubt many others.

Source: http://blog.refugemediaproject.org/2010/07/26/newspapers-helped-redefine-torture/

Sumi Ink Workshop (with model) this Saturday

If you couldn't make it to Yoona's last workshop, here is another chance! This one includes a model who will create dynamic movements to tango music for your drawing pleasure. Email Yoona to inquire about a discount for MAAT students.

Randy Vick moderating panel at Intuit tomorrow

Randy Vick (Art Therapy Faculty)
"Who is Charles Steffen?" Panel Dicussion
Thursday, 06/10/2010, 6:00–7:30 p.m.
Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art
756 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL

Randy Vick will serve as the moderator for a panel discussion titled “Who is Charles Steffen? This panel is in conjunction with Life Lines: The Drawings of Charles Steffen . Steffen dedicated a large portion of his time towards drawing and amassed a body of over 2,000 pieces. Of the thousands of drawings, only works from the last six years of his life, 1989–1995, have survived. His oeuvre would have been lost completely if it had not been for the efforts of his nephew, Christopher Preissing, who took an interest in his uncle’s creations. Thanks to Preissing and gallery owner Russell Bowman, a fair amount of Steffen’s drawings were saved and brought to public attention. Panelists include Russell Bowman, curator Eugenie Johnson, and Christopher Preissing.

This event is free and open to the public.

See Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art for more details.