* Detailed instructions for making comments are in “News Items.”
* News items about research on DID Awareness Day and research on ritual abuse survivors’ experiences with social media are just above “Upcoming Holidays.”
At the beginning of February, I went to “An Infinite Mind’s” conference in Orlando, Florida. It was wonderful! Almost all of the 300 attendees were multiple and very few identified as ritual abuse survivors. This was new for me – new being around so many dissociated people – and new being outside of my own community.
One thing I noticed was that there was a greater percentage of men there. I don’t know whether men who lived through ritual abuse are more reluctant to be public or whether “An Infinite Mind” is especially welcoming to men. All I know is that when I was running Survivorship’s conferences I made a commitment to have at least one male speaker at each conference. I usually really had to scramble to find speakers.
It also seemed to me that there were more disabled people than at RA/MC gatherings, either of survivors or of therapists. Usually, I am the only person using a walker, which makes me a little self-conscious. Here there were people with walkers, crutches, and canes, even somebody with an electric scooter. Probably 2% of the attendees were blind. This felt very good.
I organized an informal lunch meeting for RA/MC people. It was great to be with “my people” and the group was helpful and supportive. We plan to stay in touch by email.
“An Infinite Mind” provided an abundance of presentations and workshops. There were six ninety-minute slots for presentations and you could choose between five different topics. Some of the subjects covered: eating disorders, creating financial opportunities, Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT), chronic disease, public education, integration, self-harm, and affect regulation. Art workshops, drama workshops, a workshop on yoga as therapy, and panel discussions were also included.
There were survivor support groups and yoga and meditation sessions before and after the official program. A Creative Corner with art supplies was always available and there was a labyrinth to walk and a quiet room with a volunteer for support if requested. The sponsors’ tables also had nifty things, like jewelry and books.
The hotel was right next to Disney World, if that seemed appealing. It didn’t to me, nor did the prospect of having breakfast with Disney characters, but I am sure some people enjoyed it. There was a wonderfully large warm pool with primo bird watching. I saw ospreys bringing food to their chick in a big nest in a fork formed by branches. A small white egret calmly drank from the pool and watched the swimmers from a rock formation in the center of the pool.
The people at “An Infinite Mind” have a wonderful energy. The whole Board of Directors volunteered for two and a half days straight! They were energetic and they were also always immensely optimistic and friendly. Nobody seemed the least bit anxious or uptight.
Obviously, I had a good time.
There was a bonus for me at the end of the conference. A group of people interested in activism met and, of course, I volunteered, even though I have more than enough to fill my spare time ten times over. The spark was Sarah Clark of PowertothePlurals, who must never sleep. She has made six websites, two Facebook pages, a Facebook groups, a shop, and a YouTube channel with a hundred videos. Start with these two: www.powertotheplurals.com and www.youtube.com/powertotheplurals.
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March 5 is DID Awareness Day. You are invited to celebrate it by explaining to somebody what DID is and what it isn’t. Certainly it is nothing like what is depicted on television! You can also explain to your insiders. There will in all probability be littles listening in, so it is good to keep your language simple
Power to the Plurals has a free poster. https://powertotheplurals.com/2019/02/15/free-poster-for-dissociative-identity-disorder-awareness-day/ You can print it on 8 1/2 by 11 paper. (A4 paper is what most of the rest of the world uses; it is about 8 1/4 x 11 3/4 inches.)
There is also a lovely ribbon available. Read about it at http://www.copingincrazyville.com/index/table-of-contents/didmpd-awareness-ribbon-links-and-info/ Read more at http://traumadissociation.com/awareness.
And here is a blog entry I liked: https://www.discussingdissociation.com/2018/03/dissociative-identity-disorder-awareness-day-march-5/.
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You can help gather data for a Ph.D. thesis on ritual abuse survivors’ experiences with social media. I took the survey yesterday. It wasn’t triggering to me and it made me grateful for the sense of community the Internet gives me.
(By the way, Izzy’s Promise is Scotland’s foremost RA resource.)
“My name is Joseph Lumbasi, the manager for Izzy’s Promise, www.izzyspromise.org.uk, and currently a Ph.D. Student at the University of Dundee, School of Social Work and Education.
“To participate in this research please copy and paste this link into your browser [do not click the link]\] https://dundee.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/views-and-experiences-of-self-identified-ra-survivors-on-t-4
“Please help me by completing and circulating the survey to your networks.”
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Upcoming Holidays
March
3/1 St. Eichstadt’s Day
3/5 Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras
3/6 Ash Wednesday/Beginning of Lent
3/17 St. Patrick’s Day
3/20 Full moon
3/20 Spring Equinox
3/24 Feast of the Beast/Bride of Satan
April
4/1 April Fool´s Day
4/8 Day of the Masters
4/14 Palm Sunday
4/19 Full moon
4/19 Good Friday
4/21 Easter Sunday
4/26 Grand Climax/De Meur
4/30 Walpurgisnacht/May Eve
May
5/1 Beltane
5/12 Mothers’ Day
5/18 Full moon
5/27 Memorial Day
Dates Important to Nazi and Neo-Nazi groups
1/20 – 1/21 Tu B´Shvat (Celebration of spring)
1/30 Hitler named Chancellor of Germany
3/20 – 3/21 Purim (Deliverance of the Jewish people from Haman in Persia)
4/19 – 4/27 Passover/Pesach (Deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt)
4/20 Hitler´s actual birthday
4/21 Hitler’s alternative birthday (Note: Hitler was born on Easter, so Nazis celebrate his actual birthday and half-birthday on 4/20 and his actual birthday and half-birthday on Easter of the current year.)
4/30 Anniversary of Hitler’s death
5/1 – 5/2 Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day)
5/7 – 5/8 Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day, Day of Remembrance)
5/8 N V-E Day (Victory in Europe, WW2)
5/8 – 5/9 Yom HaAtzma´ut (Israeli Independence Day)
(Note: Not all groups meet on Jewish holidays. Some groups also mark Candlemas, Beltane, Lammas, Halloween, the solstices and the equinoxes)
Ritual Abuse 