3.
Obituaries
and whom to notify: Post Notice on my Website:
Adam Blatner has Passed Away: For brief obituary, see his
bio. Other obituaries are available depending on the reader's
affiliation–i.e., with which aspect of this man's multifaceted life are
you most associated?
Psychiatry
Psychodrama Drama Therapy Applied
Theatre
Square Dancing
Folk
Dancing Cartooning
Extended Family
Singing
Philosophy
Education Consciousness
Transformation
see autobio:/obituaries
Memorial:
In Sun City, Texas (if I'm still living there or
moved away within the previous year, perhaps): Those who might wish to
attend from elsewhere are welcome.
Schedule about 2 - 3 weeks after his death. Put out announcement:
Adam Blatner has passed away. Many of you might want to celebrate his
life in a memorial ceremony, where you can share with his relatives and
other friends what special memories you shared and what he has meant to
you. There will be a memorial service at the Sun City Ballroom on x...
x... time... Should you choose to offer a gift in his honor, in
lieu of flowers, a donation to the Institute for Noetic Sciences will
be appreciated.
3a. Notification
List: And see chart above re whom to send which obituaries.
(1). Family-Extended
(2). Professional:
(a) Psychiatry–American Psychiatric
Association Newspaper (He was a Life Fellow,-- a
member since around 1966, a
Fellow since around 1992, and a Life Fellow since around 2000.)
(b)
Psychodrama: www.asgpp.org
-- Grouptalk listserve: email to:
grouptalk@asgpp.org
--the American Society for Group Psychotherapy &
Psychodrama
--
The International Association of Group
Psychotherapy–psychodrama Section
--
The British Psychodrama Association
--
Helen Kress /or managing editor, Journal of Group Psychotherapy,
Psychodrama & Sociometry
(c)
Drama Therapy the National Association of Drama
Therapists www.nadt.org
(d) Miscellaneous
-- John Garcia, Texas State U. Dept of Counseling
jg12@txstate.edu
-- Thelma Duffey, Association for Creativity in Counseling
-- Derrick Klaasen or Paul Wong at the Institute for Personal Meaning
-- Joyce or Ken Beck at the Crossings Austin
www.thecrossingsaustin.org ?
-- David or Dana Tucker or others at www.senioruniversitygeorgetown.org
-- editor, the Arts in Psychotherapy Journal
-- Creative Arts Therapies
Ken Gorelick, M.D., Poetry
Therapist
Drama in Education, Applied
Theatre
Emotional Intelligence, Nexus
EQ Josh Freedman
Personal Meaning Network
Paul Wong, Derrick Klassen
Consciousness Transformation
ReVision also from HELDREF
www.heldref.org publishers
Recreation
Sun City:
SunDancers (square dance)
Sun City Singers (the chorus)
Theatre Club
Village Store, Computer Club, Fitness Center (men's
group)
Austin International Folk Dancers
Humanities Faculty, Salado Meetings
Senior University Georgetown 868-1982
Obituary, Notify:
Drama Therapy
Dramascope editor
Dramatherapy listserve
Sun City
Williamson County
Austin American Statesmen
New York Times
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Obituaries:
New York Times:
Adam Blatner, M.D.– a major pioneer of play, role play,
psychodrama–fostered the use of getting more alive and involved. A
physician and child and adult psychiatrist, Dr. Blatner also affiliated
with the sub-specialty of psychodrama and its associated role-playing
techniques, because these offered the richest and most exciting
aggregate of techniques and concepts available. Rather than promoting
these tools as a separate approach, Dr. B. (as many of his patients
called him) sought to have these fertilize and strengthen all the other
schools of psychotherapy. Whether one is psychoanalytic, Jungian,
Adlerian, a family therapist, or any of several score of other
approaches, all can be enhanced by weaving in principles and techniques
for promoting creativity, enhancing spontaneity, lubricating with a
dose of playfulness, vitalizing with some drama, and fostering an
enhanced capacity for self-reflection and consciousness.
Beyond his work as a psychiatrist, Dr. Blatner promoted a simpler
language for talking about psychology and interpersonal issues, based
on thinking about all this as roles in a kind of play–the "All the
world's a stage" approach mentioned by Shakespeare. This "user-friendly
language" in turn makes it possible to teach basic principles of
psychology so that high school students, elders, and others can benefit
from the harvest of insights garnered in the professional arena over
the last century. Always he emphasized practical applications,
promoting a more playful and yet serious use of psychology to foster
communications, problem solving, and self-awareness.
Raised in Los Angeles and weaned on the early MAD comic books and
science fiction literature, Dr. Blatner maintained a balance between
the playful and the serious, fantasy and hard science. He was also in a
way stuck "in the middle" between liking some parts of psychoanalysis
but criticizing other parts; ditto for religion. His spirituality was
influenced by what he felt was the liberating insights of Whitehead's
"process philosophy" and the associated writings (and friendship with)
Charles Hartshorne. Weaving this into his work, he was an exponent of
transpersonal psychology, current trends in philosophy, and weaving
spirituality and psychology together in a meaningful and practical
fashion.
Being a child of the mid-20th Century, and honoring and celebrating
these cultural influences, Adam was a romantic. He was a good ballroom
dancer, sang a surprising range of popular and folk songs, enjoyed
cartooning and drawing, and in other ways celebrated life. He claimed
that the joy of finding a soul-mate in his 2nd wife, Allee, was one of
the special gifts of the angels, and he cultivated this romance
throughout his life.
Adam Blatner fathered two children, David Blatner, a noted expert in
desktop publishing near Seattle, and Alisa Blatner Piette, a counselor
in San Luis Obispo, California. He enjoyed playing with and singing
with his grandkids and other family members.
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Drama in Education
Folk Dancing
Square Dancing
Socrates Café
Senior University
Dtucker@io.com
Crossings
Human potential network
ReVision
Medical School Network:
University O California Alumni
Barbara Breger, others
Process Philosophy Network
Cartoon
Key others (Christmas List)
Dear Friends of Adam Blatner
Alternative Obituary Notes.
Adam Blatner, philosopher, bon vivant, cartoonist, singer,
dancer, writer, psychiatrist, physician, promoter of playfulness,
"Whizzard of Ah's," romantic, character, teacher, grandpopala,
metaphysician, imaginologist, elf, psychodramatist, theoretician,
etc. Died x After a remarkably
full, rich, eventful, many-faceted life. He succeeded in promoting a
number of causes, developing a variety of ideas, including a fair
number of original ones, networking up a storm, mentoring a good many
folks, healing many others, and bringing out some extra magic in
countless numbers by fostering song fests and other activities that
celebrate the "child within."
He wrote, "If you want to understand me with your left brain, read the
books I wrote, and the papers–quite a variety–on my website. If you
want to understand with your right brain, listen to Tschaikowski's
Violin Concerto in D; and then Beethoven's Violin Concerto." Adam knew
a host of songs which served him in innumerable ways. For each new
adventure or significant role transition, he would sing Bob Dylan's
1964 "Mister Tambourine Man"–he found the lyrics and their symbols
particularly apt, with new meanings appearing each time.
One of the most significant elements of his life was his cultivation
and deep enjoyment, celebration and foundation in the great romance of
his second marriage to Allee. Being of an era that still valued the
traditional elements of freely-expressed and somewhat dramatized
romanticism, this dimension became an occasion for all manner of
tenderness, pet names, funny private jokes, and endless other aesthetic
elaborations.
In a similar vein, Adam enjoyed parenting and grandparenting,
especially through the medium of songs and modes of play. Also, he
applied psychological and therapeutic principles to his everyday life,
always seeking to clear communications and encounter loved ones most
authentically.
Adam sometimes claimed (to those who would understand this allusion) to
be a missionary of the ethos of the Northern California Human Potential
Movement, a mixture of cultural, intellectual, psychological, spiritual
ideas that flourished especially around the San Francisco Bay Area from
the 1950s through the early 21st Century. (In a way, it was the closest
thing to whatever his main ethnic roots were–aside from the more
superficially associated cultural background of his childhood.) Adam
did his college and most of his graduate education and young and middle
adulthood there, finally leaving for Texas and places beyond in the
early 1980s.
Adam felt blessed by the way his talents and opportunities came
together so that his purpose became clear. While feeling aware of the
limitations of his own knowledge, still, there seemed to be no one else
who brought together a certain blend of cultural influences: Trained in
the sciences and medicine in the mid-20th Century, full of the highest
ideals of these fields; exposed to the most dynamic expansions and
aspirations of the fields of psychotherapy and the human potential
movement; privileged to discover some especially promising developments
in philosophy; lubricated by a range of literary influences from
science fiction and fantasy to cartoonists and humorists; awakened by a
discovery of a sense of spirituality in the second half of his life;
graced with a flow of original ideas that seemed to integrate these
influences further; Adam felt these to be converging archetypal forces
that led to his mission: To promote a greater degree of psychological
mindedness in a wider sector of the population; to promote tools for
applying the harvest of the best insights of psychology and
psychotherapy in everyday life; to promote a greater degree of
imaginativeness and improvisation (i.e., spontaneity) in individuals
and the culture; to promote a greater involvement in the aesthetic
dimensions of dancing, singing, creative mythmaking, and other types of
celebrating life and community; and to promote a more vibrant
spirituality in the awakening world.
Adam was aware that as broad as his many involvements were, most people
didn't find either his ideals, ambitions, or ideas particularly
interesting or attractive. While he believed that most everyone could
benefit from some of the aforementioned causes, few actually cared much
about them. It was okay; those who felt some rapport with this
sensibility about life might be encouraged, and perhaps he could offer
some techniques and concepts that supported these aspirations.
While not achieving (or even particularly yearning for) personal
mystical union, Adam applied himself to his own vision of what God
wanted and needed in the world: Simply stated, to make the world a
nicer, better place, "better" including more differentiation,
creativity, harmony, integration, and innumerable other criteria for
enhanced value. In other words, he sought to be "God's water boy," akin
to a 12 year old boy who is allowed to bring water to the football
players on his big brother's high school team, and thrilled to be
permitted to wear the big kid's jacket.
There was more than a big streak of child-like-ness in Adam. His home
was full of hand puppets, stuffed animals, cute figurines, odd art, his
own cartoons, all expressing the myriad "elfin" spirits that celebrated
aspects of cute and funny, surprising and outrageous, contemplative and
diverting. His range of songs was likewise broad, folk songs, popular
songs, kids' songs, funny songs, love songs, spiritual chants, and so
forth. If a song lyric poetically expressed an idea, Adam was known to
break into singing a few lines to illustrate some point during a
lecture.
For Psychiatry: (Applying it to various groups)
In the sub-field of psychotherapy called psychodrama, that
deals with
role playing, Dr. Blatner became one of the most widely-read experts,
lecturing internationally, and publishing major textbooks on the
subject, along with numerous chapters in other books and professional
journal articles. In 1999, he was given the J.L. Moreno award for
lifetime service to the field by the American Society for Group
Psychotherapy and Psychodrama.
For
Extended Family:
Adam Blatner carried on a sense of family feeling, passing along a
tradition from his immigrant Jewish parents. His father, Abe, born in
Poland around 1889, came to the USA around 1910, served in the army
(the cavalry) during World War I (though not overseas), and then was a
shopkeeper in New York City. Adam's mother, Ann, was born in the Pale
of Settlement of Western Russia, around 1895, and came to the USA
around 1900. Dad had an accent, but not mom.
Over the years, Adam kept up contacts with the family, distributing
copies of old photos, family trees, and annual cartoon-letters.
Although he lived some distance from the centers of family activity–in
Northern California (instead of in the Los Angeles area, where he was
born and raised, and where a number of relatives continued to live; and
in New York City area -- and then Florida, where many of them
moved later on– but Adam in mid-life moved to central Texas to support
his mother-in-law and also because he could afford life there. His kids
had moved to other towns and so he, like so many others, needed to
travel to see family. But they did so, hanging in with family members
at times of need, celebrating rites of passage with others.
Although he didn't personally get much into genealogy, he read about
the great tradition, and knew his parents were part of one of the
greatest migrations and immigrations in history, the immigration of
millions of Eastern European Jews to America in the late 19th and early
20th centuries. The background to that story and its further
implications makes a singular window on major trends in history in
general. What mustit have been like to live in Eastern Europe in the
19th centuries, and then the years of settlement and assimilation. It's
a magnificent story that the children born near the end of the 20th
century should know about.
He and his dear (2nd) wife, Allee, maintained a correspondence with
many family members who seemed to want to keep in touch, and with many
others, at least they reached out occasionally.
So, many of you (family members), remember he loved you and hoped that
the cousins will keep some genealogical connection.
Folk Dancing
Adam first learned about folk dancing as one of the physical education
classes offered at the University of California, Berkeley, in the
mid-1950s. (Phys Ed was a requirement, and he also took classes in a
wide range of sports–tennis, diving, ballroom dancing, gymnastics, ice
skating, a little taste of this and that.)
Over the years, he found folk dance groups at several places where he
lived and would dip in and out. A special boost was given in a class
taught by Marilyn Wathen in Santa Rosa. Folk dancing in Louisville and
then in Austin was great fun. After doing it for many years, each dance
started being welcomed as an old friend. Some songs were especially
delicious, the music "dancing him" as he spoke of it. The waltzes and
Swedish "Hambos" were like being on a merry-go-round. He was a pretty
good dancer and would dance most all the dances! It was something
he felt everyone should learn about and try out–a real sleeper of a
recreational activity, relatively inexpensive, high participation, and
fun!
Singing see website
Website:
Adam Blatner may be dead, but his website will live on for a number of
years, and you can find out more about this fascinating fellow and his
ideas, cartoons, writings, on this website! He has many facets
and you can browse comfortably:
1. He wrote papers about psychodrama, role playing,
and sociometry, and you're welcome to browse among these.
Read his books on psychodrama. Buy them
new or used from the publishers.
2. Papers about psychotherapy and popular aspects of
psychology will be relevant to all manner of psychotherapists and
ordinary people interested in using principles of mental hygiene.
3. Papers on philosophy are thought-provoking and
open new avenues worth investigating.
4. Papers integrating the work of many
approaches are one of Adam's specialties. He was a visionary. That
doesn't mean he presumed to be "right" about what he envisioned, but
just that he did imagine what might be the extensions of current trends
in philosophy, psychology, and culture.
5. Adam was an inveterate cartoonist, but
more, a kind of artist who combined a measure of playfulness with
metaphysical speculation, science fiction, fantasy, and his drawings
are curiously evocative. Check ‘em out, use them.
6. Read his books about related subjects. His
Art of Play (co-authored with his wife, Allee) is a seminal work about
the potentials for making life more enjoyable. His "Who Else Can I Be?"
(Co-edited with Dan Wiener) invites folks to learn about the breadth of
creative ways of using interactive and improvisational drama, applied
theatre.
7. Dr. Blatner's autobiography weaves together many
themes, and it's perfect as a book in hypertext. Some themes will be of
more interest to some of you than other themes.
Chapters on the history of psychotherapy have
a number of associated papers; Similarly, the history of medicine.
8. Other hobbies and interests, such as the
nature of faeries and elves, the lore of alphabets and writing systems,
and some political themes, are addressed in a miscellany of papers.
Explore and enjoy.
LET ME TURN YOU ON
I would be delighted and honored to know that you have been stimulated
by my writings or teachings or stories enough to check out some of my
favorite things:
1. Popular songs–including that song titled, "My Favorite Things."
These lyrics are profound, a kind of poetry therapy. Make a list of ten
or twenty of your favorite things: It's a spiritual prayer of
gratitude, and your guardian angels will delight and appreciate it. It
will also help you sharpen your consciousness and daily awareness.
Perhaps add another five things each year.
2. More popular songs I've enjoyed. Check out the poetry and message in
some of these lyrics. I'll annotate them, and you can go to links to
read the words. (Perhaps as computers get stronger and I become more
skilled, I'll even be able to link to the actual music and singing.)
3. Classical Music. There are a few pieces you may not know about–I
didn't until different points in my middle and later adulthood.
Discovering these jewels was a major life lesson. The world is full of
these precious things.
A. Tchaikowski's Violin Concerto
B. Beethoven's Violin Concerto
C. Other favorites.
4. Art. For me, my favorite artists include:
Paul Klee; Wassily Kandinski;
Cartoon Art– Steinberg
Al Capp,
5. Etc. Philosophers, psychotherapy innovators, spiritual
teachers–mentioned throughout the autobiography section...
psychotherapeutic
the most exciting and practical themes
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E-Bay Auction for my Psychodrama Books
If help in publicizing, considering giving 10-20% to
ASGPP
Drama Therapy Books
ditto, for NADT?
Medical History Collection?
Transpersonal Psychology Books
publicity to IONS for donation 10-20%
Local Public Library Pick Through
Living Will:
Dear Family,
I've lived a long and happy life!
I've been greatly blessed by all of you, and am truly satisfied,
appreciative, and proud of y'all.
I have so much I want to share, it
makes a whole autobiography!
It's hard to give direct advice. You'll take what is interesting or
useful to you anyway, and leave the rest, so I don't want to put it as
"You should..." I mean, sure, the general truisms, be
nice, love, have faith (and by that I do not mean believing in anything
that twists your rationality), take responsibility, enjoy, seek to
understand, etc. But more you'll find as I reflect on what
has worked for me, what I've learned and am sharing–some of which may
be irrelevant to you, and some you may find is not true for you. But
some might be helpful, remind you of another person's reflections on
his experience.
Hey, Mister Tambourine-Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey, Mister Tambourine-Man, play a song for me,
In that jingle-jangle morning I'll come following you.
{Comment: God/Death, the dancing Shiva Nataraj, the Lord of the Dance,
The grand play of consciousness beyond the boundaries of
life,
This is a music-making, creating,
muse, inspiring faith.
I open to it, awaken to the higher reality, surrender to you.}
Verse:
Though I know that evening's empire has returned into sand,
Vanished from my hand, left me blindly here to stand,
But still not sleeping.
My weariness amazes me, I'm branded on my feet,
I have no one to meet, and my ancient empty streets
Too dead for dreaming.
Comment: At times, near death, or facing a major adventure or life
transition,
I own how the present can be empty and no longer fruitful;
I own the ache that can be transmuted by surrender into whatever your
Grace offers.
Chorus:
Take me on a trip upon your swirling ship,
My senses have been stripped, my hands can't hold the grip,
My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels to be wandering.
I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade
Into my own parade, Cast your dancing spell my way,
I promise to go wandering.
Chorus.
(Comment, pretty much the same as before)
Though you might see laughing, spinning,
Swinging madly across the sun,
It's not aimed at anyone, it's just escaping on the run,
And but for the sky, there are no fences facing.
And though you may hear vague traces
Of skipping reels of rhyme to your tambourine in time,
It's just a ragged clown behind, I wouldn't pay him any mind,
It's just a shadow that you're seeing that he's chasing.
Comment:
My life has had its dramatic moments, its bright spots,
Its enthusiasms and its stories–it's a piece of music or art,
But I surrender the vain pretense at it having greater or ultimate
significance.
More important is your greater unfolding of love and becomingness
In the cosmos, and I have chased with both humility and enthusiasm
My best understanding of the great mystery of your purpose.
Chorus
And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind,
Down the foggy ruins of time,
Far past the frozen leaves, the haunted, frightened trees,
Out to the windy beach, far past the twisted reach
Of crazy sorrow.
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free,
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus fans,
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves,
Let me forget about today until tomorrow.
[Comment:
As for the remaining wisps of my personal ego as it shucks off layers
upon layers of memory and illusion, belief and fear, letting go of
these as I might old clothes,
I embrace the freedom of the soul in joining your dance,
Glimpsing at the lovely images and fantasies that
accompany this ananda-bliss.}
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Suzanne Leonard Cohen
Suzanne takes you down to her place by the river,
You can hear the boats go by, you can spend the night beside her,
And she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China,
And you know that she's half-crazy, but that's why you want to be there.
And just when you mean to tell her that you have no love to give her,
Then she gets you on her wavelength and she lets the river answer
That you've always been her lover.
And you want to travel with her, and you want to travel blind,
And you think you'll maybe trust her,
For she's touched your perfect body with her mind.
And Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water,
And he spent a long time watching from a lonely wooden tower,
And when he knew for certain only drowning men could see him,
He said, "All men shall be sailors, then, until the sea shall free
them,"
But he himself was broken, long before the sky was open,
Forsaken, almost human, he sank beneath your wisdom
Like a stone.
And you want to travel with Him, and you want to travel blind,
And you think you'll maybe trust him,
For you've touched his perfect body with your mind.
Suzanne takes you down to her place by the river,
You can hear the boats go by, you can spend the night forever,
She is wearing rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters,
And the sun shines down like honey on Our Lady of the Harbor,
There are heroes in the seaweed, there are children in the morning,
They are leaning out for love, and they will lean that way forever,
While Suzanne holds the mirror.
And you want to travel with her, and you want to travel blind,
And you think you'll maybe trust her,
For you've touched her perfect body with your mind.
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4. What to do with my stuff:
Depending on time, might try to sell stuff on Amazon or e-bay, or
through half-price books...
You can have what you
earn... sheer profit.
Psychodrama books, also
advertise full library to the ASGPP and the Interational Association of
Group Psychotherapy--psychodrama section. They're hard to
find...many of them.
Send along with them
batches of notebooks and file cabinets on reprints..