Reflections on Klitzman, Kass, and Freudenberg’s Coalition building to prevent childhood lead poisoning While this article was written in 2006, and Klitzman, et al (2006) discuss lead poisoning in the water system of New York City, I have to ask, why there is no initiative federally to eliminate the poisons in our water, when, albeit only limitedly, unfortunately, the 14th amendment was used to break down some Jim… Read More
Reflections on Cropley’s Definitions of creativity, Richards’ Everyday creativity, and Richards’ Everyday creativity and the arts Creativity is part of human life and it may be a part of existence on earth whether it is human or not, but that is a conversation and a debate for a later day. Human beings, and this is my view, have an innate and vital need to create, whether it is procreation or some… Read More
Reflections on Christie, et al’s Peace psychology for a peaceful world, Hall and Pilisuk’s The social healer, Mang’s Toward a regenerative psychology of urban planning, Rountree’s Joining inner and outer approaches to freedom, Hoffman’s Existential activism, and Bargdill’s Existential activism While there is a rich history of peace psychology according to Christie, et al that dates back to William James (Christie, et al 2008), there is also a rich history of conflict resolution, of peaceful anti-war protests, of the Society of Friends (Quakers) engaging in conscientious objection and outward neutrality during conflicts while participating in… Read More
Reflections on Foshee’s Involving schools and communities in preventing adolescent dating abuse The title of Foshee’s (1998) article suggests preventative measures to minimize adolescent dating abuse. It is, but I will take issue with a few basic ideas and methods later. Towards that end, “Safe Dates,” a school- and community-based adolescent abuse prevention program was studied to determine if the intervention helped to alleviate intimate partner violence. … Read More
Reflections on Gutiérrez and Lewis’ Education, participation, and capacity building in community organizing with women of color Gutiérrez and Lewis (2006) discuss a topic close to my heart and one that will be an aspect of my participatory action research in the future, community organizing in communities of color, especially with women and girls of color since societally they are the most oppressed and taken for granted and forgotten by the larger… Read More
Reflections on Nelson’s Psychology, religion, and spirituality, Johnson and Friedman’ Enlightened or delusional? Schneider’s Awakening to an awe-based psychology, and Fehl’s Spirituality and existentialism Within the Universe, spiritually and otherwise, I see connections everywhere. Nelson (2009) posits that that interconnectedness between psychology and religion has been especially dominant over the last century, but I would argue that it has been especially for millennia, though not categorized under any specific labels of Western Psychology, as is the case with Hinduism,… Read More
A Critical Review of Hays’ Community activists’ perceptions of citizenship roles in an urban community Hays, R. A. (2007). Community activists’ perceptions of citizenship roles in an urban community: A case study of attitudes that affect community engagement. Journal of Urban Affairs, 29(4), 401-424 Introduction Allen Hays (Hays, 2007) looks at the connections and barriers between community activism (community-based organizations) and political participation in a small urban community to… Read More
Reflections on Qualitative Research Methods, the Qualitative Case Study and Reactions to Hays’ Community activists’ perceptions of citizenship roles in an urban community I am grateful for many experiences and environments in my life, including the ethnic influence of my father, that allowed me to experience different cultures and be open with others that were different from my bicultural identity. This influence, in many ways, brought me here to a place where I am curious about everything, with… Read More
Reflections on Rappaport’s The art of social change – Community narratives as resources for individual and collective identity Rappaport (1998) reinforces a previous written critique I had in another course. Researchers in community psychology as well as humanistic psychology are not there for themselves or to dictate a narrative, whether it is finding a means to evolve through a series of community problems or not. Rappaport explains it as being, “useful to people… Read More
Reflections on Hoffman’s Toward a deep diversity in humanistic psychology, Hoffman’s Multiculturalism, epistemological diversity, language, and Johnson’s Cultural competency and humanistic psychology Hoffman (2012) waxes about as nostalgic as I did when I left the sociology department at the University of West GA for the humanistic psychology department that eventually guided my light to Saybrook. Finding humanist psychology and intersectional feminist inclusiveness felt like home. Multiculturalism is a powerful manifestation of that and a subject that may… Read More