Blogs

These last two months have been thrilling. First two days in Italy in April, at the university of Rome, addressing students with a new presentation about teaching caring in schools, and the next day to the city of L’Aquila, site of the recent earthquake. Made the same address in a packed tent of students who had lost classrooms. I hear a longing to work in meaning.

Patch and Dennis

Dear Friends of Gesundheit, I am sorry it has been so long since I have written. There is so much to do and so little time to do it all in—I want to sing sweet gratitude for my life, for friends, for the joy of nature and the arts, and the radiant privilege of working every day for peace and justice for all people.

Dear Friends,

December 13-20 2008 Gesundheit! clowns journeyed to Cuba, to provide humanitarian assistance to communities devastated by hurricanes, and to study the impact of collaborative play on survivors of natural disasters.

Darn, so much time has passed since my last web diary entry, I just returned from a week-long college alternative spring break clown trip to Guatemala (while John G. was leading one to Nicaragua) with 20 clowns (students) from 5 countries. Our youth team made it run smoothly as we hit 2-3 engagements each day in Guatemala City and Antigua.

Carl Hammerschlag, MD, presenter at the Health Care System Design Intensive Feb 2009 in Baltimore, reflects on his experience in his blog (with video and photos): www.healingdoc.com/blogs

Here's some audio from the Health Care Systems Design Intensive at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. The first clip is a presentation by Patch Adams the potential of humanitarian clowning for establishing a connection with an isolated person. The whole presentation lasts 11.5 mintues.
Clowning with Cathy

I got a deeper understanding of Susan's idea of the bi-directionality of care from the stories Melissa and Tim told from their work: Melissa telling her staff that she's "bringing something today" but not saying what, creating a buzz of curiosity about what crazy thing she'll do, wig, costume, whatever ... Tim's story of meeting with the CEO to speak up for common sense ... and calling me on picking up the word "ownership" which he saw was becoming a cliché (!) ...

This morning was fantastic! Bowen White, M.D. author of Why Normal Isn't Healthy, was here from Kansas City and gave an incredible, funny and inspirational talk about infusing our life with play and fun as a part of the healing process. After that, I had a chance walk through the American Visionary Art Museum (where this conference is being held) on a break to see the beautiful and innovative art from artists around the world.