Month: March 2016

Run That Body Down

How long you think that you can run that body down?

PaulSimon1972February is often tough. In addition to the regular stuff – work, home, Friends of the Albany Library, church choir, et al, there’s Black History Month at church. I had everything arranged, or so I thought, but it never seems to work out as it is planned.

For instance, I had arranged for someone to talk about Black Lives Matter during the adult education hour on February 21. But a week and a half earlier, the speaker had an accident, which I found out because of Facebook. (See, it CAN be useful.)

A few days later, I asked if she could still do the gig, and the Friday before the Sunday class, she wrote that she could not. But she offered me a substitute and told me I’d get that person’s contact information.

By Sunday morning, when I had no info, I started throwing together some articles that I thought could start a discussion, such as Black Struggle Is Not a Sound Bite: Why I Refused to Meet With President Obama and I Don’t Discuss Racism With White People. But I barely touched on the former and didn’t even get to the latter as we discussed the history of what got us to the point in the American culture where Black Lives Matter is even necessary.

Two days later, I had no voice. My throat was sore, and I realized I was exhausted. I missed three days of work.

A certain Paul Simon song from his first, eponymous 1972 album came to mind:

Went to my doctor yesterday
She said I seem to be okay

She said “Paul, you better look around
How long you think that you can run that body down?
How many nights you think that you can do what you been doin?
Who, now who you foolin?”

LISTEN to Run That Body Down here or here.

H is for hero pose

A couple surgeons on the TV show Grey’s Anatomy utilized the superhero pose.

wonder-woman“When you’re weary, feeling small,” taking on the hero pose, specifically the stance of a comic book superhero may help.

“The ‘superhero stance’ — the physical pose in which the superhero stands with legs spread apart, arms on hips, elbows bent…. projects power. It’s an example of what psychologists refer to as an open posture, in which limbs are spread out in a way to take up more space…

“Open postures contrast with closed postures, in which the body takes up relatively little space. Numerous psychological studies have demonstrated that open postures convey a sense of the individual having power and closed postures convey a sense of the individual having little power.”

One article suggests the methodology: “Have a high-stakes event in the next few minutes? Before it begins, find a place to strike some grand heroic pose(s). Hold the aforementioned pose(s) for 2 minutes. That’s it.”

It has become so much of the culture that a couple of surgeons on the TV show Grey’s Anatomy utilized the technique.

Amy Cuddy, one of the researchers on power posing, along with Dana Carney and Andy Yap, has done a well-regarded TED talk on the topic.

John Marcotte has also done a TED talk, with an emphasis on getting women and girls to #PoseLikeASuperhero. He “challenges the audience to look beyond what is labeled as ‘girly’ or ‘feminine’ by covering everything from his superhero loving daughters, and the problem with genderized toy aisles, to the effects that Barbie, Mrs. Potato Head, ‘princess culture,’ and Frozen have on both girls and boys.”

Totally coincidentally, the Daughter is working on some Science Fair project involving the Pose, with herself as the subject. How one objectively measures feeling “better” I don’t know, yet.

abc18
ABC Wednesday – Round 18

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