Please Tell Everyone in Oregon: My Awesome Brother is Looking for a Job!
My big brother Tony Oaks, friend Rev. Phil Schulman, wife Debra Nunez and me.
Update 28 July 2015: Tony is open to even doing a good volunteer job, such as a bike coordinator in Eugene. Plus, while I do not want to take up his busy time, even a one-time note of encouragement to him would be great. His email address is below.
Do you know anyone in Oregon? Maybe you live in Portland or Eugene or in between? My brother, Tony, who has an amazing range of talents, is looking for a job here and if he finds one, he will relocate from Texas!
I sure am glad the economy is stronger here than it has been in years, because that means that Tony may find the job of his dreams here soon, and I truly love my only sibling!
Quick story: I was in the emergency room back in December of 2012 and my neck was badly broken because of a fall. The first call I made was to Tony, and within hours he flew from Houston, and was by my side for much of the time since then. Tony is a great ally for those of us with a disability, learning my rehab needs, helping to build our accessibility with Habitat for Humanity, raising money for my trust account for my independent living and much more.
A few months ago, Tony came back to Eugene and helped our mom during her departure from our planet at the age of 97. Mom, Violet Oaks, had us two children and definitely treated us as loving as any parent on Earth. Our dad, also Tony Oaks, died back in 1988, but along with our mom, raised us with tender loving care on the south side of Chicago.
To quote his Linkedin page, Tony is “Looking for Project Management Opportunities in the Pacific Northwest.” Tony has many skills beyond his MBA, computer wizardry and Project Management certification. Bicyclist, wilderness first aid, improvisational theater humor, parent with the amazing Charlene of four wonderful adult children, great chef, lover of film and so much more! Nora, Tony’s youngest, makes her dad so proud as she excels at Oregon State University, developing champion solar cars, saying “yes” to Ethan’s proposal, planning their departure next year for the PeaceCorps, etc.
Those who would like more info, especially with any leads about northwest jobs that might lead to bringing this fantastic Texan to Oregon, please see his Linkedin profile here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyoaks
Tony has told me about some interesting ideas about his career, and is very open to changes beyond his IT work. A smart employer would ask him about that. In fact a good employer anywhere with a fast Internet would inquire about hiring him in Oregon wherever they are located.
Something that anyone can and should do for me would be to thank Tony for being such a wonderful brother for me. You may email Tony: [email protected]
You may also leave a public comment with your encouragement and/or glowing praise here on this blog entry. Lead on, Tony!
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For a Well Mind, Try Revolution? Creative Maladjustment Week 2015
In the Oregon Country Fair, you will find a number of us who work for social change in the Community Village. (Photo by mylerdude via Flickr.)
Your mental wellness requires a global revolution. In fact, your physical wellness requires one, too.
For many years, I have noticed that there are people doing good social change work for mild reform. That is nice, but during my work in what we affectionately call the “mad movement,” I have often called for revolution, because the change we need is so big! Please do not misunderstand me, we need to attempt a peaceful revolution, which I do not think has been adequately tried; however, I am not a pacifist.
How do you know that a revolution has started? How does it feel? Maybe one has started but we did not get the memo? Or maybe you will start one? What is the connection between peaceful, nonviolent revolution and violent revolution, if any?
Given global warming, inequality, and so many other problems such as bee colony collapse, etc., etc., most people I talk with agree that there needs to be a revolution. My amazing wife, Debra, has helped name our revolution “Love Earth Revolution,” and maybe your name for this revolt is different?
It seems that whenever I hear about big problems in the world, the person concludes by saying that we know what needs to be done, we have the technology, a solution is affordable, but we need to act urgently and the main question is, “Do we have the collective will?”
There is a moral paralysis that blocks necessary revolution. Even Pope Francis is calling for a revolution because of global warming and poverty!
Hmmm, paralysis, seems like I might have some tips about that subject, in fact, maybe the disability movement might be able to help? Many other social change movements have also called for a nonviolent revolution.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said in his speeches and essays for about a decade that we all needed to be “creatively maladjusted” to oppression. In fact, he said that the future of the world lay in the hands of the “creatively maladjusted.” MLK said that we are in dire need of a new organization that he called, “International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment.” Because this was an obvious reference to NAACP, many in his audiences would laugh, but there is a very serious side here.
As many readers of this blog know, a few years ago, the mental health activist group MindFreedom launched Creative Maladjustment Week to help make MLK’s vision real. Tomorrow, July 7, is the start of this year’s CM week. Each day has been given a theme which you can read below:
7 July – Day of Creativity
8 July – Day of Action & Movement
9 July – Day of Laughter & Joyful Noise
10 July – Day of Kindness: This Friday, by the way, I will celebrate out at the Oregon Country Fair. The honorary chair of the IAACM has long been the real Patch Adams. Patch will speak at the Front Porch at 1:00 PM, however, we hear that he will be at the Community Village stage at 5:00 PM to kindly address creative maladjustment. Folk singer David Rogers will do a sign-along of the ancient freedom rebellion song, The Thoughts Are Free!
11 July – Day of Self Care
12 July – Day of Community Care
13 July – Legacy of Lunacy
14 July – Day of PRIDE: This is also Bastille Day and for decades, psychiatric survivors have used this day for international protest about changing the mental health system. When the revolution in France overthrew the Bastille, a psychiatric survivor was in there!
Your Leadership is Needed!
We know that leadership is best when it is near equal and everyone is a leader! This leaderful approach is known as a horizontal approach. That means you are in charge of creative maladjustment week, if you choose to! As long as your activity is in sync with the values of MLK, the sky is the limit.
Tomorrow, July 7, which this year happens to be a Tuesday, what will be your creative act of maladjustment to the seeming moral paralysis that is holding us back?
You may leave your answers on this blog’s comment area below. Or, if you are on Facebook, please search for our FB page https://www.facebook.com/IAACM , and you can leave your ideas there.
MindFreedom set up a webpage to promote Creative Maladjustment Week and you can read about that here: http://cmweek.org/
There is plenty of more info on the web, try these search terms: mad pride, MLK creative maladjustment, IAACM.
This year, for the first time, we will not have the activist present in this world, Leonard Roy Frank. This great psychiatric survivor worked in our movement for decades and died this year. My friend studied revolutionary social change by reading a lot about MLK, Gandhi, and many others who worked for social justice. Leonard was born July 15, 1932, and died January 15, 2015. So the next day after CM Week, Leonard would have turned 83. Personally, I think starting a global nonviolent revolution for justice on his birthday would be a great gift!
Here is a little-known aspect to CM Week that you might not know. There is actually a good reason to start this on July 7. From a Wiki article about Alleged Lunatics’ Friends Society:
“On July 7, 1845, Richard Paternoster, John Perceval, and a number of others formed the Alleged Lunatics’ Friend Society. A pamphlet published in March the following year set out the aims with which the Society was founded:
Read MoreAt a meeting of several Gentlemen feeling deeply interested in behalf of their fellow-creatures, subjected to confinement as lunatic patients.
It was unanimously resolved:… That this Society is formed for the protection of the British subject from unjust confinement, on the grounds of mental derangement, and for the redress of persons so confined; also for the protection of all persons confined as lunatic patients from cruel and improper treatment. That this Society will receive applications from persons complaining of being unjustly treated, or from their friends, aid them in obtaining legal advice, and otherwise assist and afford them all proper protection.
That the Society will endeavour to procure a reform in the laws and treatment affecting the arrest, detention, and release of persons treated as of unsound mind…“
When We Honor US Vets, Let Us Also Honor Their Brains!
Today is the Fourth of July, 2015, a day to celebrate the USA ideals of liberty, revolution and freedom! We put aside political divisions, and thank our Veterans for their service and sacrifice. Many Vets are returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with serious mental and emotional problems. A popular doctor in the media is Dr. Daniel Amen, and he warns that many of these Vets will be given psychiatric drugs in a haphazard way, or as he puts it, like throwing “darts in the dark.”
You can see Dr. Amen’s Ted Talk, less than 15 minutes long, from a couple of years ago, entitled “The most important lesson from 83,000 brain scans,” here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esPRsT-lmw8
While I learned a lot about how head injury tends to be ignored by much of psychiatry, this talk by Dr. Amen should also address how many of the psychiatric drugs, such as the neuroleptics which are also known as antipsychotics, can cause severe damage to higher level brain functions. Too often we focus on the fight between those who hate and those who take psychiatric drugs. But the real struggle is getting out the best information about the way non-drug alternatives have been shown to be more effective especially in the long run.
The website Mad in America has a lot of info about that topic.
As this 2011 US government article explains, current mainstream medical research has confirmed that the main psychiatric drugs used for people, including Vets, who are labeled schizophrenic can decrease the volume of their brains:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3476840/
Images from the scans of brains can be seen below:
Living in Denial: Climate Change, Emotions and Everyday Life
Professor Kari Norgaard of University of Oregon is author of a book on ‘denial’ and the climate crisis.
A presentation by Dr. Kari Norgaard
Global warming is the most significant environmental issue of our time, yet public response in Western nations has been meager. Why have so few taken any action?
Dr. Norgaard is an Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Oregon. Her studies and publications on this subject are well regarded both in the US and abroad.
Free to all….come and bring friends
Sunday July 26, 2015 at 4 pm
Unitarian Universalist Church
1685 W. 13th
Eugene, OR
sponsored by UUCE, 350.org. and OccupyInterfaith.
Here is a poster for this event, please click to enlarge and download:
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