Dear colleagues,
It’s been about five months since life felt normal here in New York. The strains of holding it all together in the spring – grocery shopping online, the impossible task of working while parenting, our kids descending into addiction to their screens – have yielded this summer to the strange, ever-shifting calculus about which activities outside the home are safe enough to hazard, and to the ever-renewing shock as to how many fellow citizens reside in a Dark Age of their own creation.
As an international collective, we grieved the loss of our Los Angeles gathering, the loss of our offices and usual work routines, the erasure of many other conferences, panels, workshops, talks and related professional endeavors, and of course the loss of colleagues, friends, family, neighbors, and a sea of fellow humans – approaching three-quarters of a million worldwide, with thousands more perishing daily.
We also lost one of the great contributors to contemporary relational/interpersonal theory and practice – not to the coronavirus, but gone just the same.
I think that every time I heard Philip Bromberg present, he found a way to work a lyric from the Great American Songbook into his remarks. When he gave a talk at his home base, the William Alanson White Institute, on Harry Stack Sullivan, he referenced the 1920 Eubie Blake song, “I’m Just Wild About Harry.” He bookended The Shadow of the Tsunami with chapters named for songs, both of which debuted in 1940: “It Never Entered My Mind” and “The Nearness of You.” Bromberg was erudite and well-read, quoting Shakespeare, Dickinson, Eliot, Burns, etc. A mind so capacious can be intimidating. I found his show tune references endearing, not only because I too have a deep love for Broadway and the American Songbook, but also because they suggested his comfort with an inviting, somewhat middle-brow vernacular alongside his loftier sphere of references.
I chatted with him once, after the Sullivan presentation. What stays with me from the encounter are the delight and vitality that radiated from his alert eyes and his large toothy grin.
So many colleagues expressed eagerness to memorialize Dr. Bromberg in this newsletter tribute that we’ve wound up with an abundance of contributions. This calls to mind another show tune reference, which I think Dr. Bromberg might appreciate my making, this one from Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella: the joyful and exuberant “Abbondanza.” To be sure, Philip Bromberg has left us with an abundance of books, papers, new ways of conceptualizing our work, and, to all those who had the good fortune to know him, exquisite memories.
Even in the midst of such loss, our work, and the activities of IARPP, have continued. As many cancellations of in-person events as there have been, chapters throughout the world have met remotely to engage together in study groups, workshops, clinical meetings, book launches and the like. This Bulletin edition will give you some snapshots of how colleagues from South America, Australia and Europe have managed to maintain a sense of community and going-on-being, thanks largely to the wonders of Zoom. “Unmute yourself” may become the first big catchphrase of the ‘20s.
I wish to thank those who have offered us their remembrances and appreciations of Philip Bromberg at a time when the sting of loss is still fresh. And I thank all the IARPP leaders who have made the effort during such a discombobulating period of time to send reports of their activities so that we might get a sense of how they and their communities and committees have been responding, adjusting and going on during the pandemic.
I hope you will submit news of any recent or upcoming publications and presentations for the next IARPP Bookshelf, to be published in October 2020. The submission deadline is Sunday, September 20, 2020.
Please include the following materials with your submission:
- Title of your recent or upcoming publication or presentation
- Brief description of its content (such as an abstract)
- Link to a publisher (if applicable) so that members might access or purchase a copy
- Book cover photo or artwork (if applicable)
- Digital photograph of yourself (jpeg format)
- Professional contact information as you would like it to appear publicly for our readers (email and mailing address)
- For books authors, please provide a brief bio of 50-75 words.
- For presenters, please include location and spell out any acronyms.
Submissions should be emailed to Matt.Aibel [@] gmail.com.
Wishing you and yours well,
Matt Aibel, LCSW
New York City & Long Island, NY
