From: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org (onlyJMDL Digest) To: onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Subject: onlyJMDL Digest V2014 #583 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Website:http://www.jonimitchell.com Unsubscribe:mailto:onlyjoni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe onlyJMDL Digest Sunday, April 12 2015 Volume 2014 : Number 583 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Globe and mail [Marianne Rizzo ] Re: Patty Griffin tonight in Philadelphia, PA [Michael Paz ] Re: Globe and Mail [Anne Sandstrom ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2015 22:40:00 -0400 From: Marianne Rizzo Subject: Globe and mail Yeah, what anita said. ( I was thinking those things but she took the time to express them). And it is often women who get a psychological diagnosis. I understand there is a higher rate of morgellons in women ( maybe 60/40). In terms of etiology (and treatment) of morgellons . . . I am disappointed (appalled) in the "professionals" who call this a psychological disorder. Because they do not know the cause or the treatment, their forgone conclusion is "psychological." This short sighted conclusion is: job undone. They could rather just admit that they have not yet found the answers. The true scientist will. And To grab at this morgellons straw at this time also ( as some in the press have done) is not the way I would prefer. Yes, and what Michael said about us all having this candlelight vigil ( thank you Michael). This special place. Thank you for this, everyone. You are a comfort to me at this time. . . And at other times. . . "If you got a place like that to go, you just have to go there. If you got no place special, well then, you just go no place special." Thanks for this place special. Marianne ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2015 16:30:16 -0500 From: Michael Paz Subject: Re: Patty Griffin tonight in Philadelphia, PA Do they broadcast live?? On Apr 11, 2015, at 3:46 PM, Jim L'Hommedieu wrote: Apr 11 - Patty Griffin @ World Cafe Live - Philadelphia, PA I don't think Catgirl is home right now but, still, someone might benefit. Jim ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2015 21:10:53 -0400 From: Rebecca Alexander Subject: Joni's Illness Catherine & all. I don't really know much about Morgellon's Disease but as a long time psychotherapist there is one thing I do know, the mind & body can't be separated in how the body expresses it's illnesses. So if Joni's body is expressing some of her emotions in this creative way --well we all have our issues. It's tough getting old & frightening facing one's mortality. Years ago I heard a famous psychiatrist say that most illnesses that doctors believe are delusional (e.g. fibromyalgia in that day , which was primarily thought to be a factor of depression) would eventually probably be discovered to be a 'real condition who's etiology was just not known yet --so who knows? God Bless Joni Becky ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2015 15:24:31 -0400 From: Anne Sandstrom Subject: Re: Globe and Mail One word - rubbish! What a dreadful piece of horrible writing. When I had endometriosis, nobody knew what it was and they thought it was "all in my head" - and it may well be with Morgellons. As for people avoiding artists and entertainers with undesirable tendencies, seriously? What century does this guy live in??? Sheesh Lots of love, Anne Sent from my iPad > On Apr 11, 2015, at 10:57 AM, Michael Sentance wrote: > > 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. ------------------------------ End of onlyJMDL Digest V2014 #583 ********************************* ------- Post messages to the list by clicking here:mailto:joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:onlyjoni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe