Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Why soldiers in school are an injustice to all

by Kathy Barker

Counter-military recruiting in high schools is “my” social justice issue. It may strike many as a niche issue, an orphan issue, but I see it as a wedge to frame and integrate and confront many of deep and challenging problems of our society.

The USA is one of two United Nations members (Somalia is the other) that haven’t ratified the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. One reason is that an "optional protocol" to the convention ensures "persons who have not attained the age of 18 years are not compulsorily recruited into their armed forces” – and the USA military recruits and signs up minors.

We are wrapped up in two wars for which the military needs soldiers. The draft was suspended in 1973, and the Department of Defense, with its 700 plus bases all over the world, was having trouble meeting its quotas even before our current wars. High schools were the desired hunting grounds, and while many high schools gave military recruiters free reign in the schools, others were not as compliant.

To read entire article click here.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Socio Cultural Therapeutic Consult Group

TJP's socio-cultural therapeutic consult group has begun. Please consider joining us. It is an open group for now, but it will unlikely stay that way. To participate, contact Anne - annelphillips@gmail.com.

Come and have the experience of expanding your understanding of you and your clients' symptoms through the lens of oppression's impact by paying attention to our cognitive, emotional and somatic minds.

Our next meeting is January 7th. We meet every first Thursday of the month from 9:15-10:45am.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

TJP 2009 Year in Review

As the year draws to a close, we would like to reflect on where Therapeutic Justice Project has been in its first full year of existence, as well as look ahead to plans for next year. Consider this our holiday card to you, our supporters and participants who have helped to get this project off the ground.

I would like to name TJP’s first year the year of Limen. As most of you know, this was the name we started with, and in many ways it perfectly describes our first year. Limen means in between, threshold, and moment of transformation. This was the year we moved between being an idea and being an actual entity; we explored the territory between mental health and social justice; we crossed the threshold into existence and were transformed collectively in the process. Our name has since changed to Therapeutic Justice Project, which so aptly describes the work we want to do together, but Limen was our beginning.

To read entire article click here.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Where the Limen Things Are

by Stacey Prince

I don’t know how many of you have seen Where the Wild Things Are, but I thought it was a wonderful film and a brilliant adaptation of one of my favorite childhood books. There are many ways to interpret the story. Some reviewers have seen it as a simple depiction of the conflicts of childhood, including loneliness, disempowerment, and sibling rivalry. Others see a Freudian portrayal of Oedipal jealousy (mom, separated from the protagonist’s father, has a new boyfriend and her attention is diverted away from her son Max). Still others see in the story a tale of colonialism and cultural imperialism (the dominant culture sends in a ‘king’ to tame the wild things and take over the land). But all I could think of as I watched the movie was our group, TJP (which as many of you know started out as Limen), and how it related to us.

To read entire article click here.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Cristien Storm's new book


Congratulations to TJP member Cristien Storm who has published a book! Full description is below, and see the announcements column to the right for details regarding her book release party in January.

Living In Liberation: Boundary Setting, Self Care, & Social Change

What happens when a collection of artists, musicians, and radical activists imagine self defense as a revolutionary tool for social justice? What happens when this group, working for social change, holds a variety of collective visions of what safety and security mean that embody the complexity of how privilege and oppression operate? What happens when someone envisions boundary setting, self care and self defense that not only keep individuals safe, but also help energize progressive social movements making them more vibrant and resilient? For the past twenty years, Cristien Storm has grappled with these questions as a self defense instructor, a writer, musician, therapist, activist, survivor, partner, friend and community member.

To read the entire article click here.