Leonard Roy Frank, Revolution in Mental Health, My 42 Years & My 42 Months

IMG_0425(The following is a rough draft, the content has been placed on a new page for final editing.)

Leonard Roy Frank (LRF) Birthday

This is the 8th day of Creative Maladjustment (CM) Week.

A little more than 42 months later after I broke my neck in Eugene, Oregon.

In this time of my deep recovery I have listened to more than 40,000 hours of AM National Public Radio news via our local KLCC-FM (John H., host of Takeaway,

 

DAVID ONLY WAS ABLE TO EDIT THIS BLOG THIS FAR TODAY!

DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING IS FROM HIS NOTES DICTATED TO HIS NEW ADMIN AND ALSO TO HIS GREAT HOMECARE WORKER SARA ( ONE OF ABOUT SEVEN HE EMPLOYS). HE HAS NOT YET HAD A CHANCE TO EVEN READ THE BELOW, BUT THIS HUMOR ONLY WORKS ON 7/15, THE BIRTH DATE OF HIS FRIEND LRF, AND THE RELEASE OF GHOSTBUSTERS 3. THANKS TO ALL! DAVID SAID, “MY WIFE AND TRUE LOVE DEBRA FELL THAT NIGHT WHEN I FELL! THANKS TO ALL, PLEASE NOTE HER ABOVE, I LOVE HER AND I BELIEVE YOU WILL TOO!”

 

Only paid job: WHO consultant, almost done

In remarks for WHO manual, I made many remarks about:

  • Revolution may be good for mental well being for everyone.
  • Everyone will experience disaster, probably more than one disaster, because after all we are all mortal.
  • Prepare for your disaster, build your beloved community.

How did I go from lying alone with a broken neck in my writer’s study, alone, to leaving the emergency department more than 42 months ago with a big smile? I’m still working on answering that myself. Is it because I fell the same month as the end of the Mayan calendar, December 2012? Maybe it is. Maybe this is a fulfillment of prophesy. Or is it? The main thing I know is that I have a lot of you to thank! Breaking your neck is never a good idea.

But if you must break your neck, I would recommend Eugene, Oregon, USA. I have so very many of you to thank! Surprisingly, the absolute winners in the “Support David W. Oaks During His Recovery,” is the Fair Family connected to Oregon Country Fair.

And this is far beyond OCF, far far beyond festivals seen Bloom documentaries, maybe the whole universe beyond!

 

This message is to you all: The rest of my life could be weeping tears of joy thanking you all, every moment! How do I know? I can’t wait, I must act now and thank you! Thanks, thanks, thanks. The word for thanks in Lithuanian, origin for all my grandparents, sounds like a sneeze: Ah-h-h-h-h Ch-o-o-o-o-o! That word is spelled “aciu,” with some pronunciation marks. Sorry, no time for that, just thanks thanks thanks!

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Nuuuuuu Play Published Yesterday by IAACM: Is this funny? Your feedback is needed!

It is the year 2191. Is it getting weird… Or not? Latest flick:

 

Ghost Busters Sequuuuuel 42

 

A World

Thanks Itself:

Or: How to Have a Huge Achooooo!

(Imagine Improvving The Biggest O)

 

Characters  (shown here, Leonard Roy Frank, the late activist, author, psych survivor, friend, whose birthday would have been 15 July but he died, and that date is now the Ghostbusters sequel latest release; circumstances, such as his death, are making Leonard the first Ghost buster and his birthday the end of creative maladjustment week: 

 

Gaston and Alphonse (played by anyone everywhere)

Pooch Adams (not to be confused with Patch Adams, MD)

Jolly R-r-r-r-rogers (played by David Rogers)

Romeo the Red Parrot (played by Jillian Littell)

The Mad Manister (played by Rev. Phil Schulman)

Mad Genius Scientist (played by Ian McTeague)

Fruit & Nuts (played by Alter-Abled, Doors, etc.)

Aluna “LG” Moth (played by David W. Oaks)

All Earth is a Fair

Norm Al Itty (played by himself)

Elder Brother (played by Several Generations)

 

[IMPROV SCENARIOS FOR YOU! EVERYWHERE & ANYWHERE.]

 

[Two enthusiastic male ghosts encourage each other, in front of crowds and audiences at shopping places and gatherings. Use exaggerated gestures, smiles, your friendly Nuuuuu Vaudeville explains why global revolution has not started on time!]

 

GASTON: “After you, Alphonse!” [Pause for a beat.]

 

ALPHONSE: “After you, Gaston!” [Pause for another beat. The two busters continue to look each other in the eye, and get louder.]

 

GASTON: “After you, Alphonse!”

 

ALPHONSE: “After you, Gaston!”

 

GASTON: “After you, Alphonse!”

 

ALPHONSE: “After you, Gaston!”

 

GASTON: “After you, Alphonse!”

 

ALPHONSE: “After you, Gaston!” [KEEP LOOPING UNTIL…]

 

[POOCH ADAMS JUMPS UP. HE STARES INTO EVERYONE’S EYES AND TELLS THE AUDIENCE:]

 

POOCH: “ARF! ARF ARF ARF! Hello 2191! Hello world! You are seven generations ahead of a very weird time period. Suicide was not funny! Hunter S. Thompson said then ’When the going gets weird, the weird get going.’ Was it funny when he killed himself and had his ashes blasted up by a cannon? They were into self slaughter back then! But I howled that black lives truly mattered. When you hear the other N-word, Normality, please howl. I have seen some of the best minds of my generation, Generation Not Dead Yet, destroyed by what shall now be called Norm Al Itty.”

 

[VILLAGE ACTION. Jolly R-r-r-r-rogers kicks things off by improvving with the following scenario, reading proclamation:]

 

“THIS IS A PROCLAMATION FROM THE SUPREME COMMANDER OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION! You may already have won! The Love Earth Revolution begins now! You may call it by any name! It is only a game. Or is it? It was not televised but is now hereby visible. First do no harm! Now Now Now Now Now Now Now! We all all all all all all must thank everyone, the workers here and the crowd, and every particle. We share this golden thread to thank everyone because we are connected! Henceforth WHO will merge with International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment.”  

 

[ROMEO TIES THE ENDS OF GOLD THREADS TOGETHER. SPOOLS ARE SENT OUT.]

 

[POOCH CONTINUES:]“We must prepare for our emergencies because everyone will have at least two, like elbows. To prepare we need strong smart communities. And humor can help build that. We need to thank each other! Gesundheit Institute knows that Lithuanian for ‘thanks’ is the Lithuanian word that sounds like a ‘achoo!’ like a sneeze.

 

“Everyone, you are hanging on the edge of a cliff, you are hanging by this thread. Given the time, we need to do the impossible! Maybe do not sneeze now?”

 

[HEY, HOW ABOUT A LOVE PEACE REVOLUTION? WHO IS FOR THAT? ALARMS (SUCH AS BIKE HORNS) SEND OUT PULSE:]

 

[CROWD PRETENDS TO HAVE THE BIGGEST O IMAGINABLE, WITH A LONG FORPLAY:]  “Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah… ah-ah-ah-ah-ah… ah-ah-ah-ah-ah… A-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h.”

 

[THE IMPROV CLIMAX:] “Choo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!”

 

[CROWD THANKS EACH OTHER AND SELVES LIKE CRAZY.]

 

“Thank you everybody! And listen for the pulse of your golden thread!”

 

[ANY ATTORNEYS PRESENT OR ALL IF NONE PRESENT GET THE PREDICTED PUNCH LINE AFTER HEARING THE BIG O:]

 

“I’ll have what they’re having!”

 

– end –

 

***

All games are part of a series, “Nuuuuuuw42”

 

For permission to perform this play, please contact IAACM@loveearthrevolution.com

 

Copyright (c) 2016

 

Do NOT repost the text of this play online in any way, with the exception of a potential release on www.loveearthrevolution.com

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My Operation Tomorrow: Mental Health Justice, Speaking Out for Our Rights, and Creative Maladjustment

In a few minutes, I head up to Portlandia with my darling Debra, to get my throat slit tomorrow.

Do not worry, I have not been captured by ISIS for a beheading. My throat operation to insert a Gore-Tex  little implant in one of my vocal folds to help me, hopefully, be louder. For the past 42 years I have been a psychiatric survivor, and in the last few decades I have seen how working with the disability movement can amplify our voices.

Three-and-a-half years ago, I broke my neck in an accident, involving our cat, Bongo, really! Because of a pre-exisiting condition and complications, I ended up with not just a power chair, the new status of quad, but also about ten other disabilities, but who is counting?

I never expected the idea of trying to find my voice to become so literal!

And with good results, I hope to contribute my voice to Creative Maladjustment Week, which begins in two weeks, Thursday, July 7. This year the celebration week will become eight days long to include the birthday of the late psychiatric survivor, author, and friend, Leonard Roy Frank, July 15.

So what will be my first words after surgery? A documentary film maker David Zupan, another good friend, will be there to record it. I do not expect I will be as articulate as the late Charlie Chaplin, below, but you can enjoy him as he sums up what I would like to say!

For more info about CM week please go to the CM website and also please connect via the Facebook page.

Here is Charlie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKm_wA-WdI4

 

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Mad Memo #1: Dear Supreme Commander (You!) of Global Nonviolent Revolution!

Mad Memo #1: Dear Supreme Commander (You!) of Global Nonviolent Revolution!

Mad Memo #1

Dear Supreme Commander (You!):

Did you know you are a key leader of a global peaceful revolution? Surprise! My guess is that many of you reading this may not yet know that you are one of the “Supreme Commanders” of  world revolution.

In fact, if you wish, and you reflect the values of Martin Luther King, you may say you are leading the organization that he first envisioned, International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment (IAACM.)

Let me explain.

Yes, during World War II, Dwight D. (Ike) Eisenhower was the Supreme Commander during D-Day, which was one of the biggest operations in human history. This time, we need to do something far bigger than D-Day, encompassing the whole world. You and everyone are Supreme Commanders.

So I have a question for you:

“What does it look like if humanity even begins to attempt a global revolution?”

However you stand on the USA presidential campaign, you might admire the way Bernie Sanders has talked openly and frequently about “revolution.”

I have been calling for revolution for many decades. As a young adult back in the 1970’s, I experienced forced psychiatric drugging, and so I have spent my whole life

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Presidential Primary & Forced Outpatient Psych Drugs

Presidential Primary & Forced Outpatient Psych Drugs

This month, May 2016, the candidates for USA President compete in our usually-missed State of Oregon, so this is a very good time to ask the following question:

“How do you stand on the controversy of forced outpatient mental health drugs?”

This is my 40th year working as an advocate for people labeled “disabled,” and I know that the topic of involuntary psychiatry can be a little complicated for people. After all, if one of our beloved family members becomes irrationally self-destructive, we can become desperate for help. However, this is such an important topic that we need to go deeper than just a bumper-sticker answer.

So, let us find out where the candidates for President stand: Are you listening Hillary, Bernie, Donald, Ted, and John?

The past few years I have been working a bunch in disability advocacy, one of the biggest social change movements in human history. How we treat the most vulnerable people in a group can be very revealing.

Let me explain a little background in brief:

For many decades, almost all USA States have been quietly passing laws that allow court-ordered involuntary mental health care, that is, of people living out of institutions in the community, often in their own homes or group homes.

Sponsors of these “involuntary outpatient commitment” laws use a more euphemistic phrase: “assisted outpatient treatment” laws. “Assisted?” Sure, the way Donald Trump is “assisting” Muslims by seeking to ban them in a bigoted way. The way bigots in Bangladesh recently “assisted” a gay rights activist by killing him.   

To put it very simply: This is court-ordered coerced drugging, using a variety of methods for enforcement, sometimes even a daily visit to the person’s home.

There is a Congressperson, Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), who for years has been pushing a huge bill that has a section for national, federal incentives for more of this involuntary outpatient care. This Murphy Bill, HR 2646, is enormous, weighing in at 173 pages, but the worst part would be a national program for more forced outpatient psychiatry. If his bill — which he calls “Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act” — passes then thousands of more American citizens would have court-ordered psychiatric drugs administered to them, even though they are living out in the community, many even in their own homes!

Last year I asked one of the bill co-sponsors how many Americans they want to forcibly treat? After all, some of these zealots claim that 11 million Americans need but are not getting psychiatric care. Are you one of these 11 million? Unfortunately, the co-sponsor has stayed silent about how many citizens they are going after.

Every Person Ought to Oppose the Murphy Bill!

As far as I know, every group in the USA speaking for mental health consumers opposes increasing coerced care out in the community. There are far better ways to help people.

This Murphy bill is the worst I have seen in my 40 years of mental health advocacy. Many of us in this field are terrified and working hard for years to stop this type of care!

So where do the people running for Democratic and Republican nomination for President stand about this issue?

Note that a Republican congressperson is pushing this bill, even though Rep. Murphy claims he is for “small government.” A surprising number of congresspeople have co-sponsored this bill, even some who are considered progressive, such as my own Democratic congressperson, Rep. Peter Defazio.

Bernie and Friends: Where Do You Stand?

For more than a month, one of the main psychiatrists to publicly back Bernie Sanders for President has been asking one of the Bernie campaigners, Nick Carter, about Bernie’s position. You see, Bernie opposes certain regulations of firearms because Vermont, his home state, is so pro-gun. The National Rifle Association opposes gun regulation partly by claiming that better mental health care is the solution. So asking Bernie for his position is reasonable. Unfortunately, Bernie and Mr. Carter have apparently stayed silent.

The silence about this important topic is deafening. We need to insist on an answer from everyone. A few years ago, I saw something similar happen with Ralph Nader, who was referring mental health questions to his friend, Doctor Sidney M. Wolfe, who I know from personal experience has a terrible position about forced psychiatry. Let us stop throwing our folks under the bus, whether that is a Republican bus or a Democratic bus.

To show you how bad this can get, incredibly a few years ago when I directed the nonprofit MindFreedom International, we surfaced two people who received court-ordered involuntary outpatient ELECTROSHOCK. I would not blame you if you did not believe me. To provide evidence for this, you can google these phrases:

ray sandford electroshock

elizabeth ellis electroshock

When courts order forced drugging this can be very racist, because white doctors and white judges tend to disproportionately target African Americans and other minorities. You can read more about this here:

http://davidwoaks.org/blacklivesmatter-race-mental-health

After exchanging one e-mail with Rep. Defazio, he has gone totally silent with me. I tried to email his health person on this, Brittany Lundberg, but she has not responded to me. Readers of this blog can try to reach her in a civil way by emailing to: brittany.lundberg@mail.house.gov

Many of us wonder why our society is not showing more passion and more creativity in the face of climate crisis. Centuries of targeting our people may be one of the reasons that the population is so conformist right now, when we should have a revolution.

———-

For more information:

A Facebook group about stopping the Murphy bill:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/StopMurphyBill/

Promotion of the bill by Rep. Tim Murphy:

https://murphy.house.gov/helpingfamiliesinmentalhealthcrisisact114

A website dedicated to stopping this bill:

http://www.westernmassrlc.org/stop-the-murphy-bill

A moveon.org petition you can sign for free online against the Murphy Bill:

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop-the-murphy-bill

A change.org online petition against the Murphy Bill:

https://www.change.org/p/u-s-house-of-representatives-vote-against-the-helping-families-in-mental-health-crisis-act-h-r-2646

A psychiatrist explains opposition to the Murphy Bill in this MadInAmerica Blog entry:

http://www.madinamerica.com/2015/12/a-psychiatrist-opposes-h-r-2646-heres-why/

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