From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2014 #2002 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Unsubscribe:mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe Website:http://jonimitchell.com JMDL Digest Saturday, April 11 2015 Volume 2014 : Number 2002 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: Globe and Mail [Catherine McKay ] Re: Globe and Mail [Catherine McKay ] SFJAZZ Gala 2015 To Honor Joni Mitchell [Barbara Sullivan ] Re: JMDL is fragile too [Victor Johnson ] Re: Globe and Mail [Anita G ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2015 16:35:46 +0000 (UTC) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Re: Globe and Mail Sorry, everyone. I sent that in rich-text and it took away the url. Here it is: http://harpers.org/archive/2013/09/the-devils-bait/ - ----- Original Message ----- From: Catherine McKay To: Michael Sentance ; "joni@smoe.org" Cc: Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2015 12:08 PM Subject: Re: Globe and Mail Someone posted a link on Facebook yesterday to an article on Morgellon's that might have been posted here as well when it came out. Be warned: you will no doubt feel icky and itchy when you read it. I think the writer does a good job of balancing the crazies/addicts against the sane (or seemingly sane) people who say they have Morgellon's, or who have something that matches its symptoms. I reserve judgement on this. I remember years ago getting a phone call at work from a woman who described many of these symptoms and was looking for help, at a time when none of us had heard the word "Morgellon's" and thinking this woman did NOT sound crazy. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2015 16:08:20 +0000 (UTC) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Re: Globe and Mail Someone posted a link on Facebook yesterday to an article on Morgellon's that might have been posted here as well when it came out. Be warned: you will no doubt feel icky and itchy when you read it. I think the writer does a good job of balancing the crazies/addicts against the sane (or seemingly sane) people who say they have Morgellon's, or who have something that matches its symptoms. I reserve judgement on this. I remember years ago getting a phone call at work from a woman who described many of these symptoms and was looking for help, at a time when none of us had heard the word "Morgellon's" and thinking this woman did NOT sound crazy. [Essay] | The Devil's Bait, by Leslie Jamison | Harper's Magazine | B | | B | | B | B | B | B | B | | [Essay] | The Devil's Bai...Symptoms, signs, and the riddle of Morgellons | | | | View on harpers.org | Preview by Yahoo | | | | B | B From: Michael Sentance To: "joni@smoe.org" Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2015 10:57 AM Subject: Globe and Mail I find solace in the digest as we await information. It's like being part of a candlelight vigil. In the meantime, there is this unpleasant speculation from Toronto: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/its-time-to-stop-tiptoeing-around-j oni-mitchells-health-condition/article23883495/ Russell Smith: Itbs time to stop tiptoeing around Joni Mitchellbs health condition RUSSELL SMITH Special to The Globe and Mail he media have been unusually careful about reporting Joni Mitchellbs condition since she fell ill a couple of weeks ago. This is because people love her songs, and because they love her as a symbol of emotional sensitivity, of a certain idealistic age, of womenbs rights (since she succeeded in a male, rock bnb roll-dominated era of popular music) and perhaps of their own childhoods. So we are being extremely delicate in our reporting. No news items have revealed what exactly caused her sudden hospitalization, but all have mentioned that she bsuffers from Morgellons disease.b This is because Mitchell herself described the affliction and used its name in an interview in 2010. News stories may then carefully allude to the fact that this bdiseaseb is bmysteriousb or even bcontroversial.b But the damage is done: The phrase bsuffers from Morgellonsb is quite simply inaccurate, and even harmful, in that it perpetuates a delusion. Those who claim to be suffering from it are more likely suffering a psychiatric illness, experts say. If thatbs the case with Mitchell, we should really be saying she brevealed in 2010 that she suffers from delusional parasitosis.b The name Morgellons was invented by a person who is not a doctor and is not employed by any hospital, university or research institution. It was intensely studied by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, and the CDCbs conclusions, released in 2012, were straightforward: Researchers found no common cause of the disease, and say those who believe they have it have often self-diagnosed after encountering websites that describe it. In other words, it is a delusion that is spread by the Internet. The fact that newspapers are being so tactful about the possibility of psychiatric disturbance in Mitchellbs case is incongruent with the supposedly new attitudes about mental illness that are being trumpeted in those same newspapers. Arenbt we constantly reading about how we should bend the stigmab when it comes to mental illness? Arenbt we being told that there is no shame in psychiatric disorders, that their sufferers should not be morally judged, that they should be open about their ailments? Wasnbt that the goal of Bellbs massively hyped bLetbs Talkb campaign? If there is no shame in being depressed, why should we be afraid of the shame involved in suffering from delusions? Furthermore, recent years have seen a spate of studies, articles and books claiming a connection between mental illness and artistry or creativity. These have been eagerly received by anyone who has ever felt down in the dumps or nervous in an elevator; they have served to romanticize neurosis. It turns out there is a slightly higher incidence of certain mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder, among professional artists. Simultaneously, a popular idea identifies Aspergerbs syndrome as an infallible indicator of genius. Cue the endless lists of b10 eccentric artistsb and b20 great writers who were drunks.b Michelangelo never washed, so your occasional weeping jags and your fear of job interviews may mean you are actually a misunderstood artistic genius. Being an bintrovertb suddenly became sexy; 100 Internet quizzes bloomed, designed to show you that you were introverted. In fact, anyone who isnbt actually sociopathic will obtain a high score on these tests. They are designed to reassure you that you are actually sensitive and may yet create your artistic masterwork. This popular connection between sadness and creativity plays into a long-cherished myth of the artist as tortured, and it comforts everyone who has ever written poems by saying they are actually hypersensitive, that they are special. So why didnbt all these studies about the unusual and desirable craziness of artists get trotted out in the Joni Mitchell case? Because her belief in Morgellons is not sexy. Anxiety is romantic, depression is romantic. Delusional parasitosis is just sad and worrying. There is another reason for our reluctance to cast the singer in a bad light, and it is a particularly contemporary one. There has been a lot of worrying lately b particularly after the child-abuse accusations made against Woody Allen b about what artistsb personalities mean to our moral relationship with their art. I thought this question had been resolved centuries ago: Lots of artists did terrible things and held unacceptable views, and we studied their work in university. No problem. But a new radicalism seems to have taken hold of the young on this issue. There is now a sense that to digest a piece of art made by a bad person is to digest his badness, to become contaminated by it. So we should avoid the art of bad people. (Admittedly, the proponents of the theory are rather selective in the artists they choose to blacklist for moral crimes: I have not once ever heard anyone suggest a ban on the music of Michael Jackson, for example.) If you start requiring your favourite artists to be good people, then you start running into moral quandaries of your own. You find out too late, for example, that they did something bad in their youth, or that they just announced that they didnbt believe in feminism (as Joni Mitchell did in 2013). Then you must affect all kinds of intellectual contortions to justify that artistbs flaws, rather than just shrugging your shoulders and saying, bWhat an idiot. Nice rhyme scheme, though.b Life would be easier for Mitchell fans if they didnbt have to tiptoe around her condition. She may be a little unbalanced, or even highly neurotic b we donbt know for sure. But either way, we can still love her songs. And if shebs suffering from delusional parasitosis, it would in fact be more compassionate to describe her as a victim of mental illness than to preserve a fictitious persona. After all, her songs will live for much longer than she does. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2015 14:11:27 -0400 From: Barbara Sullivan Subject: SFJAZZ Gala 2015 To Honor Joni Mitchell Have you heard about this...you can attend for $1,000. or $100,000 for the BIG spender... http://sfjazz.org/jonimitchell SFJAZZ Gala 2015 To Honor Joni MitchellJoni Mitchell is an icon. Her innovative, far-ranging vision has influenced countless musicians across all genres. We honor her in an all-star tribute at the SFJAZZ Gala on May 8, where Ms. Mitchell will receive the SFJAZZ Lifetime Achievement Award, to be presented by Wayne Shorter. VIP Packages and Individual Tickets are currently available at sfjazz.org/galatickets.All-Star ConcertLed by musical directors Brian Blade and Jon Cowherd, the Gala concert will feature special guests Kris Kristofferson, Joe Jackson, Patti Austin, Kurt Elling, Tom Scott, Mark Isham, and Laurie Antonioli interpreting Ms. Mitchells groundbreaking work. The SFJAZZ Collective will also debut new arrangements of Joni Mitchell compositions. Other musicians appearing in the concert include Greg Leisz, Melvin Butler, Marvin Sewell, Kelly Jones, Christopher Thomas, Aaron Embry, and Jeff Haynes.SupperFollowing the Gala concert, guests at the Giant level and above will be treated to a late-night supper with menu by chefs Michael Tusk and Nancy Silverton and decor by Stanlee Gatti Designs. During supper, guests will enjoy performances by the SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Orchestra, which recently received Outstanding Solo Awards at the Crescent City Jazz Festival in New Orleans, and won their division at both the Monterey Jazz Festivals Next Generation Festival and DownBeat Magazines 38th Annual Student Music Awards.Trombone Shorty & Orleans AvenueThe party continues after supper with a full concert by Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue. Known to many through the HBO series Treme, Trombone Shorty has performed with everybody from B.B. King and Dr. John to Lenny Kravitz and Mick Jagger, with recent appearances at the White House and GRAMMY Awards. This Trombone Shorty performance is only open to guests at the Giant level and above.Chairs & Honorary CommitteeThis years Gala is chaired by Nion McEvoy and Penny Coulter. SFJAZZ Gala 2015 Honorary Committee: Rosanna Arquette and Todd Morgan, Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet, David Blaine, Orlando Cepeda, Sheryl Crow, Kurt Elling, United States Senator Dianne Feinstein, Jim Goldberg and Alessandra Sanguinetti, Glen Hansard, Bobby and Rosemary Hutcherson, Naomi Judd and Larry Strickland, Kelly Sultan, Philip Kaufman, Delroy and Nashormeh Lindo, Taj Mahal, Davia Nelson, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and Mr. Paul Pelosi, Bonnie Raitt, Ishmael Reed, Carla Reed, Tennessee Reed, Smokey Robinson, Winona Ryder, Mary Stallings, James Taylor and Caroline Smedvig, Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, and Lizz Wright.Packages7 $100,000 Legend Package - - Premier seating and private dinner with Joni Mitchell 7 $50,000 Hero Package - Premier seating 7 $10,000 Giant Package - Preferred seating Individual Tickets7 $10,000 Legend Ticket - Premier seating 7 $5,000 Hero Ticket - Premier seating 7 $2,500 Giant Ticket - Preferred seating 7 $1,000 Concert-Only Ticket - Concert-Only seating Have a Grrr8...phenomenal day! BARBEARUH ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2015 14:27:44 -0400 From: "Jim L'Hommedieu" Subject: Darkness, darkness, njc I guess I should apologize for that depressive post about the death of JMDL. I took it as a creative writing challenge. I was inspired and just ran with it. LOL. Sorry! Jim ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2015 10:51:06 -0700 From: Victor Johnson Subject: Re: JMDL is fragile too Jim, have you had your coffee yet this morning? Victor in Bend NP: Phish "Alumni Blues" On Sat, Apr 11, 2015 at 10:28 AM, Jim L'Hommedieu wrote: > If I remember correctly, the JMDL is on a platform called smoe. I think it is hosted on a liberal college server. Whomever started smoe abandoned it years ago, left no forwarding address, and no new leadership. > > It sounds like a science fiction script to me. Perhaps one day smoe, having no parent, and no (known) lineage, will be dropped without notice or recourse. > > Les floated the idea of moving the JMDL email list. He was quickly shot down, probably by the silent majority of non-technical people who don't even grasp the problem, or how profoundly simple the solutions are. > > One day, we will be JMDL's virtual orphans as we are in real life. There will be no farewell, no funeral, no wake, no resurrection. > > We'll go back to where we came; we will admire Joni in isolation, until each of us blink off too. > > Jim > > >> From: Birdie Breeze >> Yes the list does that sometimes. > >>> From: "mep chorus.net" >>> Has anyone else been getting a spurt of "digests" today that are only >>> single posts? >>> >>> I also seem to be getting a lot of repeat posts. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2015 20:46:18 +0100 From: Anita G Subject: Re: Globe and Mail On 11 April 2015 at 20:23, Catherine McKay wrote: > So, I wonder what the G&M's writer's point really was. > I don't know that there really is one. Suffering is suffering. Just who is this 'fictitious persona'? I think Joni is the victim of a pile of projection and transference, especially in this article, Anita ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2014 #2002 ****************************** ------- To post messages to the list,sendtojoni@smoe.org. 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