RESTORATIVE SOLITUDE

Course materials, workshops, lectures, and resources

 

MARA ADELMAN, PH.D.
Seattle University

901 12th Ave, P.O. Box 222000, Seattle, WA 98122 -1090
Dept. of Communication
e-mail: mara@seattleu.edu

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friedrich wanderer above the mists

Solitude gives birth to the original in us,
to beauty and perilous—to poetry.
                                                 (Tomas Mann)

This website contains curriculum materials, workshop/lectures, resources that I have developed for a course entitled, “Restorative Solitude.” This is an upper-level multidisciplinary course. Workshops and lectures are also available. Your feedback on this material is greatly appreciated. If you use ideas presented on this website, please cite the author(s). Feel free to email me to discuss this course and innovative workshops.

FILMS:


Into the Great Silence
In this contemplative documentary from filmmaker Philip Gröning, the Grande Chartreuse monastery opens its doors to the public for the first time since being founded by St. Bruno in 1084 to offer an intimate look at a lifestyle rarely experienced by those outside of the brotherhood. Located in the remote regions of the French Alps, near the Dauphiné Alps, the Grande Chartreuse is the top monastery of the Carthusian order. In this documentary, the lives of the pious monks of Grande Chartreuse are captured on film as director Groening adapts to their ascetic lifestyle for six months and captures their daily life without the intrusion of voice-over, musical score, interviews, or archival footage. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
www.intogreatsilence.nl

 

Merton - A Film Biography
 www.amazon.com/Merton-Film-Biography-Alexander-Scourby/dp/B0002B55JS

 

Soul Searching:The Journey of Thomas Merton
http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Searching-Journey-Thomas-Merton/dp/B000LR6DWQ/ref=pd_sim_v_1/002-1948512-3068819

 

Affluenza (1 hour video/DVD)
Af-flu-en-za
n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by dogged pursuit of the American Dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth. 4. A television program that could change your life.   Affluenza is a one-hour television special that explores the high social and environmental costs of materialism and overconsumption
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/affluenza/


The Overspent American
Why We Want What We Don't Need (2004)
Summary:   In this powerful new video, Juliet Schor scrutinizes what she calls "the new consumerism"--a national phenomenon of upscale spending that is shaped and reinforced by a commercially-driven media system. She argues that "keeping up with the Joneses" is no longer enough for middle and upper-middle class Americans, many of whom become burdened with debilitating debt as they seek to emulate materialistic TV lifestyles.
Drawing on her academic research, Schor explains the cultural forces that cause Americans to work longer hours and spend more than they can afford in order to participate in a consumption competition with others. The video illustrates with numerous examples how more and more products are being used as social communicators to demonstrate material success. The Overspent American challenges the inevitability of the consumer lifestyle by proposing alternatives to the work and spend cycle that has so many Americans feeling trapped and unfulfilled. The video draws attention to--and ultimately raises serious questions about--the costs (both financial and societal) of relentlessly searching for happiness and identity through consumption.
Sections: The Cycle of Work and Spend/ The Stretching of Reference Groups/ The Visible Lifestyle/ The Costs of Overspending/ Getting Off the Consumer Escalator
http://www.mediaed.org/videos/CommercialismPoliticsAndMedia/OverspentAmerican

 

The New England Transcentalists
This film covers the ideas, ideals, and literary voices of Emerson, Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller.  It brings that period of time alive.
www.films.com